Chapter XII: Book XXXIII: The Natural History of Metals.647 (3)

The caprice of the human mind is marvellously exemplified in the varying fashions of silver plate; the work of no individual manufactory being for any long time in vogue. At one period, the Furnian plate, at another the Clodian, and at another the Gratian,[1078] is all the rage—for we borrow the shop even at our tables.[1079]—Now again, it is embossed plate[1080] that we are in search of, and silver deeply chiselled around the marginal lines of the figures painted[1081] upon it; and now we are building up on our sideboards fresh tiers[1082] of tables for supporting the various dishes. Other articles of plate we nicely pare away,[1083] it being an object that the file may remove as much of the metal as possible.

We find the orator Calvus complaining that the saucepans are made of silver; but it has been left for us to invent a plan of covering our very carriages[1084] with chased silver, and it was in our own age that Poppæa, the wife of the Emperor Nero, ordered her favourite mules to be shod even with gold!

CHAP. 50.—INSTANCES OF THE FRUGALITY OF THE ANCIENTS IN REFERENCE TO SILVER PLATE.

The younger Scipio Africanus left to his heir thirty-two pounds’ weight of silver; the same person who, on his triumph over the Carthaginians, displayed four thousand three hundred and seventy pounds’ weight of that metal. Such was the sum total of the silver possessed by the whole of the inhabitants of Carthage, that rival of Rome for the empire of the world! How many a Roman since then has surpassed her in his display of plate for a single table! After the destruction of Numantia, the same Africanus gave to his soldiers, on the day of his triumph, a largess of seven denarii each—and right worthy were they of such a general, when satisfied with such a sum! His brother, Scipio Allobrogicus,[1085] was the very first who possessed one thousand pounds’ weight of silver, but Drusus Livius, when he was tribune of the people, possessed ten thousand. As to the fact that an ancient warrior,[1086] a man, too, who had enjoyed a triumph, should have incurred the notice of the censor for being in possession of five pounds’ weight of silver, it is a thing that would appear quite fabulous at the present day.[1087] The same, too, with the instance of Catus Ælius,[1088] who, when consul, after being found by the Ætolian ambassadors taking his morning meal[1089] off of common earthenware, refused to receive the silver vessels which they sent him; and, indeed, was never in possession, to the last day of his life, of any silver at all, with the exception of two drinking-cups, which had been presented to him as the reward of his valour, by L. Paulus,[1090] his father-in-law, on the conquest of King Perseus.

We read, too, that the Carthaginian ambassadors declared that no people lived on more amicable terms among themselves than the Romans, for that wherever they had dined they had always met with the same[1091] silver plate. And yet, by Hercules! to my own knowledge, Pompeius Paulinus, son of a Roman of equestrian rank at Arelate,[1092] a member, too, of a family, on the paternal side, that was graced with the fur,[1093] had with him, when serving with the army, and that, too, in a war against the most savage nations, a service of silver plate that weighed twelve thousand pounds!

CHAP. 51.—AT WHAT PERIOD SILVER WAS FIRST USED AS AN ORNAMENT FOR COUCHES.

For this long time past, however, it has been the fashion to plate the couches of our women, as well as some of our banquetting-couches,[1094] entirely with silver. Carvilius Pollio,[1095] a Roman of equestrian rank, was the first, it is said, to adorn these last with silver; not, I mean, to plate them all over, nor yet to make them after the Delian pattern; the Punic[1096] fashion being the one he adopted. It was after this last pattern too, that he had them ornamented with gold as well: and it was not long after his time that silver couches came into fashion, in imitation of the couches of Delos. All this extravagance, however, was fully expiated by the civil wars of Sulla.

CHAP. 52.—AT WHAT PERIOD SILVER CHARGERS OF ENORMOUS SIZE WERE FIRST MADE. WHEN SILVER WAS FIRST USED AS A MATERIAL FOR SIDEBOARDS. WHEN THE SIDEBOARDS CALLED TYMPANA WERE FIRST INTRODUCED.

In fact, it was but very shortly before that period that these couches were invented, as well as chargers[1097] of silver, one hundred pounds in weight: of which last, it is a well-known fact, that there were then upwards of one hundred and fifty in Rome, and that many persons were proscribed through the devices of others who were desirous to gain possession thereof. Well may our Annals be put to the blush for having to impute those civil wars to the existence of such vices as these!

Our own age, however, has waxed even stronger in this respect. In the reign of Claudius, his slave Drusillanus, surnamed Rotundus, who acted as his steward[1098] in Nearer Spain, possessed a silver charger weighing five hundred pounds, for the manufacture of which a workshop had had to be expressly built. This charger was accompanied also by eight other dishes, each two hundred and fifty pounds in weight. How many of his fellow-slaves,[1099] pray, would it have taken to introduce these dishes, or who[1100] were to be the guests served therefrom?

Cornelius Nepos says that before the victory gained[1101] by Sylla, there were but two banquetting couches adorned with silver at Rome, and that in his own recollection, silver was first used for adorning sideboards. Fenestella, who died at the end of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, informs us that at that period sideboards, inlaid even with tortoiseshell,[1102] had come into fashion; whereas, a little before his time, they had been made of solid wood, of a round shape, and not much larger than our tables. He says, however, that when he was quite a boy, they had begun to make the sideboards square, and of different[1103] pieces of wood, or else veneered with maple or citrus:[1104] and that at a later period the fashion was introduced of overlaying the corners and the seams at the joinings with silver. The name given to them in his youth, he says, was “tympana;”[1105] and it was at this period, too, that the chargers which had been known as “magides” by the ancients, first received the name of “lances,” from their resemblance[1106] to the scales of a balance.

CHAP. 53.—THE ENORMOUS PRICE OF SILVER PLATE.

It is not, however, only for vast quantities of plate that there is such a rage among mankind, but even more so, if possible, for the plate of peculiar artists: and this too, to the exculpation of our own age, has long been the case. C. Gracchus possessed some silver dolphins, for which he paid five thousand sesterces per pound. Lucius Crassus, the orator, paid for two goblets chased by the hand of the artist Mentor,[1107] one hundred thousand sesterces: but he confessed that for very shame he never dared use them, as also that he had other articles of plate in his possession, for which he had paid at the rate of six thousand sesterces per pound. It was the conquest of Asia[1108] that first introduced luxury into Italy; for we find that Lucius Scipio, in his triumphal procession, exhibited one thousand four hundred pounds’ weight of chased silver, with golden vessels, the weight of which amounted to one thousand five hundred pounds. This[1109] took place in the year from the foundation of the City, 565. But that which inflicted a still more severe blow upon the Roman morals, was the legacy of Asia,[1110] which King Attalus[1111] left to the state at his decease, a legacy which was even more disadvantageous than the victory of Scipio,[1112] in its results. For, upon this occasion, all scruple was entirely removed, by the eagerness which existed at Rome, for making purchases at the auction of the king’s effects. This took place in the year of the City, 622, the people having learned, during the fifty-seven years that had intervened, not only to admire, but to covet even, the opulence of foreign nations. The tastes of the Roman people had received, too, an immense impulse from the conquest of Achaia,[1113] which, during this interval, in the year of the City, 608, that nothing might be wanting, had introduced both statues and pictures. The same epoch, too, that saw the birth of luxury, witnessed the downfall of Carthage; so that, by a fatal coincidence, the Roman people, at the same moment, both acquired a taste for vice and obtained a license for gratifying it.

Some, too, of the ancients sought to recommend themselves by this love of excess; for Caius Marius, after his victory over the Cimbri, drank from a cantharus,[1114] it is said, in imitation of Father Liber;[1115] Marius, that ploughman[1116] of Arpinum, a general who had risen from the ranks![1117]

CHAP. 54. (12.)—STATUES OF SILVER.

It is generally believed, but erroneously, that silver was first employed for making statues of the deified Emperor Augustus, at a period when adulation was all the fashion: for I find it stated, that in the triumph celebrated by Pompeius Magnus there was a silver statue exhibited of Pharnaces, the first[1118] king of Pontus, as also one of Mithridates Eupator,[1119] besides chariots of gold and silver.

Silver, too, has in some instances even supplanted gold; for the luxurious tastes of the female plebeians having gone so far as to adopt the use of shoe-buckles of gold,[1120] it is considered old-fashioned to wear them made of that metal.[1121] I myself, too, have seen Arellius Fuscus[1122]—the person whose name was erased from the equestrian order on a singularly calumnious charge,[1123] when his school was so thronged by our youth, attracted thither by his celebrity—wearing rings made of silver. But of what use is it to collect all these instances, when our very soldiers, holding ivory even in contempt, have the hilts of their swords made of chased silver? when, too, their scabbards are heard to jingle with their silver chains, and their belts with the plates of silver with which they are inlaid?

At the present day, too, the continence of our very pages is secured by the aid of silver:[1124] our women, when bathing, quite despise any sitting-bath that is not made of silver: while for serving up food at table, as well as for the most unseemly purposes, the same metal must be equally employed! Would that Fabricius could behold these instances of luxuriousness, the baths of our women—bathing as they do in company with the men—paved with silver to such an extent that there is not room left for the sole of the foot even! Fabricius, I say, who would allow of no general of an army having any other plate than a patera and a salt-cellar of silver.—Oh that he could see how that the rewards of valour in our day are either composed of these objects of luxury, or else are broken up to make them![1125] Alas for the morals of our age! Fabricius puts us to the blush.

CHAP. 55.—THE MOST REMARKABLE WORKS IN SILVER, AND THE NAMES OF THE MOST FAMOUS ARTISTS IN SILVER.

It is a remarkable fact that the art of chasing gold should have conferred no celebrity upon any person, while that of embossing silver has rendered many illustrious. The greatest renown, however, has been acquired by Mentor, of whom mention has been made already.[1126] Four pairs [of vases] were all that were ever[1127] made by him; and at the present day, not one of these, it is said, is any longer in existence, owing to the conflagrations of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus and of that in the Capitol.[1128] Varro informs us in his writings that he also was in possession of a bronze statue, the work of this artist. Next to Mentor, the most admired artists were Acragas,[1129] Boëthus,[1130] and Mys.[1131] Works of all these artists are still extant in the Isle of Rhodes; of Boëthus, in the Temple of Minerva, at Lindus; of Acragas, in the Temple of Father Liber, at Rhodes, consisting of cups engraved with figures in relief of Centaurs and Bacchantes; and of Mys, in the same temple, figures of Sileni and Cupids. Representations also of the chase by Acragas on drinking cups were held in high estimation.

Next to these in repute comes Calamis.[1132] Antipater[1133] too, it has been said, laid, rather than engraved,[1134] a Sleeping Satyr upon a drinking-bowl.[1135] Next to these come Stratonicus[1136] of Cyzicus, and Tauriscus:[1137] Ariston[1138] also, and Eunicus,[1139] of Mytilene are highly praised; Hecatæus[1140] also, and, about the age of Pompeius Magnus, Pasiteles,[1141] Posidonius[1142] of Ephesus, Hedystratides[1143] who engraved battle-scenes and armed warriors, and Zopyrus,[1144] who represented the Court of the Areopagus and the trial of Orestes,[1145] upon two cups valued at twelve thousand sesterces. There was Pytheas[1146] also, a work of whose sold at the rate of ten thousand denarii for two ounces: it was a drinking-bowl, the figures on which represented Ulysses and Diomedes stealing the Palladium.[1147] The same artist engraved also, upon some small drinking-vessels, kitchen scenes,[1148] known as “magiriscia;”[1149] of such remarkably fine workmanship and so liable to injury, that it was quite impossible to take copies[1150] of them. Teucer too, the inlayer,[1151] enjoyed a great reputation.

All at once, however, this art became so lost in point of excellence, that at the present day ancient specimens are the only ones at all valued; and only those pieces of plate are held in esteem the designs on which are so much worn that the figures cannot be distinguished.

Silver becomes tainted by the contact of mineral waters, and of the salt exhalations from them, as in the interior of Spain, for instance.

CHAP. 56.—SIL: THE PERSONS WHO FIRST USED IT IN PAINTING, AND THE METHOD THEY ADOPTED.

In the mines of gold and silver there are some other pigments also found, sil[1152] and cæruleum. Sil is, properly speaking, a sort of slime.[1153] The best kind is that known as Attic sil; the price of which is two denarii per pound. The next best kind is the marbled[1154] sil, the price of which is half that of the Attic kind. A third sort is the compressed sil, known to some persons as Scyric sil, it coming from the Isle of Scyros. Then, too, there is the sil of Achaia, which painters make use of for shadow-painting, and the price of which is two sesterces per pound. At a price of two asses less per pound, is sold the clear[1155] sil, which comes from Gaul. This last kind, as well as the Attic sil, is used for painting strong lights: but the marbled sil only is employed for colouring compartitions,[1156] the marble in it offering a resistance to the natural acridity of the lime. This last kind is extracted also from some mountains twenty miles distant from the City. When thus extracted, it is submitted to the action of fire; in which form it is adulterated by some, and sold for compressed sil. That it has been burnt, however, and adulterated, may be very easily detected by its acridity, and the fact that it very soon crumbles into dust.

Polygnotus[1157] and Micon[1158] were the first to employ sil in painting, but that of Attica solely. The succeeding age used this last kind for strong lights only, and employed the Scyric and Lydian kinds for shadow painting. The Lydian sil used to be bought at Sardes; but at the present day we hear nothing of it.

CHAP. 57. (13.)—CÆRULEUM.

Cæruleum[1159] is a kind of sand. In former times there were three kinds of it; the Egyptian, which was the most esteemed of all; the Scythian, which is easily dissolved, and which produces four colours when pounded, one of a lighter blue and one of a darker blue, one of a thicker consistency and one comparatively thin;[1160] and the Cyprian, which is now preferred as a colour to the preceding. Since then, the kinds imported from Puteoli and Spain have been added to the list, this sand having of late been prepared there. Every kind,[1161] however, is submitted to a dyeing process, it being boiled with a plant[1162] used particularly for this purpose,[1163] and imbibing its juices. In other respects, the mode of preparing it is similar to that of chrysocolla. From cæruleum, too, is prepared the substance known as “lomentum,”[1164] it being washed and ground for the purpose. Lomentum is of a paler tint than cæruleum; the price of it is ten denarii per pound, and that of cæruleum but eight. Cæruleum is used upon a surface of clay, for upon lime it will not hold. A more recent invention is the Vestorian[1165] cæruleum, so called from the person who first manufactured it: it is prepared from the finer parts of Egyptian cæruleum, and the price of it is eleven denarii per pound. That of Puteoli is used in a similar manner,[1166] as also for windows:[1167] it is known as “cylon.”

It is not so long since that indicum[1168] was first imported to Rome, the price being seventeen[1169] denarii per pound. Painters make use of it for incisures, or in other words, the division of shadows from light. There is also a lomentum of very inferior quality, known to us as “ground” lomentum, and valued at only five asses per pound.

The mode of testing the genuineness of cæruleum, is to see whether it emits a flame, on being laid upon burning coals. One method of adulterating it is to boil dried violets in water, and then to strain the liquor through linen into Eretrian[1170] clay.

CHAP. 58.—TWO REMEDIES DERIVED FROM CÆRULEUM.

Cæruleum has the medicinal property of acting as a detergent upon ulcers. Hence it is, that it is used as an ingredient in plasters, as also in cauteries. As to sil, it is pounded with the greatest difficulty: viewed as a medicament, it is slightly mordent and astringent, and fills up the cavities left by ulcers. To make it the more serviceable, it is burnt in earthen vessels.

The prices of things, which I have in different places annexed, vary, I am well aware, according to the locality, and experience a change almost every year: variations dependent upon the opportunities afforded for navigation, and the terms upon which the merchant may have purchased the article. It may so happen, too, that some wealthy dealer has engrossed the market, and so enhanced the price: for I am by no means forgetful of the case of Demetrius, who in the reign of the Emperor Nero was accused before the consuls by the whole community of the Seplasia.[1171] Still, however, I have thought it necessary to annex the usual price of each commodity at Rome, in order to give some idea of their relative values.

SUMMARY.—Remedies, narratives, and observations, one thousand one hundred and twenty-five.

ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Domitianus Cæsar,[1172] Junius Gracchanus,[1173] L. Piso,[1174] Verrius,[1175] M. Varro,[1176] Corvinus,[1177] Atticus Pomponius,[1178] Calvus Licinius,[1179] Cornelius Nepos,[1180] Mucianus,[1181] Bocchus,[1182] Fetialis,[1183] Fenestella,[1184] Valerius Maximus,[1185] Julius Bassus[1186] who wrote on Medicine in Greek, Sextius Niger[1187] who did the same.

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Theophrastus,[1188] Democritus,[1189] Juba,[1190] Timæus[1191] the historian, who wrote on Metallic Medicines, Heraclides,[1192] Andreas,[1193] Diagoras,[1194] Botrys,[1195] Archidemus,[1196] Dionysius,[1197] Aristogenes,[1198] Democles,[1199] Mnesides,[1200] Attalus[1201] the physician, Xenocrates[1202] the son of Zeno, Theomnestus,[1203] Nymphodorus,[1204] Iollas,[1205] Apollodorus,[1206] Pasiteles[1207] who wrote on Wonderful Works, Antigonus[1208] who wrote on the Toreutic art, Menæchmus[1209] who did the same, Xenocrates[1210] who did the same, Duris[1211] who did the same, Menander[1212] who wrote on Toreutics, Heliodorus[1213] who wrote on the Votive Offerings of the Athenians, Metrodorus[1214] of Scepsis.