Chapter X: Book XXXIII: The Natural History of Metals.647 (1)

CHAP. 1. (1.)—METALS.

We are now about to speak of metals, of actual wealth,[648] the standard of comparative value, objects for which we diligently search, within the earth, in numerous ways. In one place, for instance, we undermine it for the purpose of obtaining riches, to supply the exigencies of life, searching for either gold or silver, electrum[649] or copper.[650] In another place, to satisfy the requirements of luxury, our researches extend to gems and pigments, with which to adorn our fingers[651] and the walls of our houses: while in a third place, we gratify our rash propensities by a search for iron, which, amid wars and carnage, is deemed more acceptable even than gold. We trace out all the veins of the earth, and yet, living upon it, undermined as it is beneath our feet, are astonished that it should occasionally cleave asunder or tremble: as though, forsooth, these signs could be any other than expressions of the indignation felt by our sacred parent! We penetrate into her entrails, and seek for treasures in the abodes even of the Manes,[652] as though each spot we tread upon were not sufficiently bounteous and fertile for us!

And yet, amid all this, we are far from making remedies the object of our researches: and how few in thus delving into the earth have in view the promotion of medicinal knowledge! For it is upon her surface, in fact, that she has presented us with these substances, equally with the cereals, bounteous and ever ready, as she is, in supplying us with all things for our benefit! It is what is concealed from our view, what is sunk far beneath her surface, objects, in fact, of no rapid formation,[653] that urge us to our ruin, that send us to the very depths of hell. As the mind ranges in vague speculation, let us only consider, proceeding through all ages, as these operations are, when will be the end of thus exhausting the earth, and to what point will avarice finally penetrate! How innocent, how happy, how truly delightful even would life be, if we were to desire nothing but what is to be found upon the face of the earth; in a word, nothing but what is provided ready to our hands!

CHAP. 2.—GOLD.

Gold is dug out of the earth, and, in close proximity to it, chrysocolla,[654] a substance which, that it may appear all the more precious, still retains the name[655] which it has borrowed from gold.[656] It was not enough for us to have discovered one bane for the human race, but we must set a value too upon the very humours of gold.[657] While avarice, too, was on the search for silver, it congratulated itself upon the discovery of minium,[658] and devised a use to be made of this red earth.

Alas for the prodigal inventions of man! in how many ways have we augmented the value of things![659] In addition to the standard value of these metals, the art of painting lends its aid, and we have rendered gold and silver still more costly by the art of chasing them. Man has learned how to challenge both Nature and art to become the incitements to vice! His very cups he has delighted to engrave with libidinous subjects, and he takes pleasure in drinking from vessels of obscene form![660] But in lapse of time, the metals passed out of fashion, and men began to make no account of them; gold and silver, in fact, became too common. From this same earth we have extracted vessels of murrhine[661] and vases of crystal,[662] objects the very fragility of which is considered to enhance their value. In fact, it has come to be looked upon as a proof of opulence, and as quite the glory of luxury, to possess that which may be irremediably destroyed in an instant. Nor was even this enough;—we now drink from out of a mass of gems,[663] and we set our goblets with smaragdi;[664] we take delight in possessing the wealth of India, as the promoter of intoxication, and gold is now nothing more than a mere accessory.[665]

CHAP. 3.—WHAT WAS THE FIRST RECOMMENDATION OF GOLD.

Would that gold could have been banished for ever from the earth, accursed by universal report,[666] as some of the most celebrated writers have expressed themselves, reviled by the reproaches of the best of men, and looked upon as discovered only for the ruin of mankind. How much more happy the age when things themselves were bartered for one another; as was the case in the times of the Trojan war, if we are to believe what Homer says. For, in this way, in my opinion, was commerce then carried on for the supply of the necessaries of life. Some, he tells us, would make their purchases by bartering ox-hides, and others by bartering iron or the spoil which they had taken from the enemy:[667] and yet he himself, already an admirer of gold, was so far aware of the relative value of things, that Glaucus, he informs us, exchanged his arms of gold, valued at one hundred oxen, for those of Diomedes, which were worth but nine.[668] Proceeding upon the same system of barter, many of the fines imposed by ancient laws, at Rome even, were levied in cattle,[669] [and not in money].

CHAP. 4.—THE ORIGIN OF GOLD RINGS.

The worst crime against mankind was committed by him who was the first to put a ring upon his fingers: and yet we are not informed, by tradition, who it was that first did so. For as to all the stories told about Prometheus, I look upon them as utterly fabulous, although I am aware that the ancients used to represent him with a ring of iron: it was their intention, however, to signify a chain thereby, and not an ornament. As to the ring of Midas,[670] which, upon the collet being turned inwards, conferred invisibility upon the wearer, who is there that must not admit, perforce, that this story is even still more fabulous? It was the hand, and a sinister[671] hand, too, in every sense, that first brought gold into such high repute: not a Roman hand, however, for upon that it was the practice to wear a ring of iron only, and solely as an indication of warlike prowess.

As to the usage followed by the Roman kings, it is not easy to pronounce an opinion: the statue of Romulus in the Capitol wears no ring, nor does any other statue—not that of L. Brutus even—with the sole exception of those of Numa and Servius Tullius. I am surprised at this absence of the ring, in the case of the Tarquinii more particularly, seeing that they were originally from Greece,[672] a country from which the use of gold rings was first introduced; though even at the present day the people of Lacedæmon are in the habit of wearing rings made of iron. Tarquinius Priscus, however, it is well known, was the first who presented his son with the golden bulla,[673] on the occasion of his slaying an enemy before he had laid aside the prætexta;[674] from which period the custom of wearing the bulla has been continued, a distinction confined to the children of those who have served in the cavalry, those of other persons simply wearing a leather thong.[675] Such being the case, I am the more surprised that the statue of this Tarquinius should be without a ring.

And yet, with reference to the very name of the ring, I find that there has been considerable uncertainty. That given to it originally by the Greeks is derived from the finger;[676] while our ancestors styled it “ungulus;”[677] and in later times both Greeks and Latins have given it the name of “symbolum.”[678] For a great length of time, it is quite clear, not even the Roman senators wore rings of gold: for rings were given, and at the public expense, to those only who were about to proceed on an embassy to foreign nations, the reason being, I suppose, because men of highest rank among foreign nations were perceived to be thus distinguished. Nor was it the practice for any person to wear these rings, except those who for this reason had received them at the public expense; and in most instances, it was without this distinction that the Roman generals celebrated their public triumphs.[679] For whereas an Etruscan crown[680] of gold was supported from behind over the head of the victor, he himself, equally with the slave probably, who was so supporting the crown, had nothing but a ring of iron upon his finger.[681] It was in this manner that C. Marius celebrated his triumph over Jugurtha; and he never assumed[682] the golden ring, it is said, until the period of his third consulship.[683] Those, too, who had received golden rings on the occasion of an embassy, only wore them when in public, resuming the ring of iron when in their houses. It is in pursuance of this custom that even at the present day, an iron ring[684] is sent by way of present to a woman when betrothed, and that, too, without any stone in it.

For my own part, I do not find that any rings were used in the days of the Trojan War; at all events, Homer nowhere makes mention of them; for although he speaks of the practice of sending tablets[685] by way of letter,[686] of clothes and gold and silver plate being kept laid up in chests,[687] still he gives us to understand that they were kept secure by the aid of a knot tied fast, and not under a seal impressed by a ring. He does not inform us too, that when the chiefs drew lots to ascertain which one of them should reply to the challenge[688] of the enemy, they made any use of rings[689] for the purpose; and when he enumerates the articles that were manufactured at the forge[690] of the gods, he speaks of this as being the origin[691] of fibulæ[692] and other articles of female ornament, such as ear-rings for example, but does not make any mention of rings. [693] Whoever it was that first introduced the use of rings, he did so not without hesitation; for he placed this ornament on the left hand, the hand which is generally concealed,[694] whereas, if he had been sure of its being an honourable distinction, it would have been made more conspicuous upon the right. And if any one should raise the objection that this would have acted as an impediment to the right hand, I can only say that the usage in more recent times fortifies my opinion, and that the inconvenience of wearing rings on the left hand would have been still greater, seeing that it is with the left hand that the shield is held. We find mention made too, in Homer,[695] of men wearing gold plaited with the hair; and hence it is that I am at a loss to say whether the practice first originated with females.

CHAP. 5.—THE QUANTITY OF GOLD POSSESSED BY THE ANCIENTS.

At Rome, for a long period of time, the quantity of gold was but very small. At all events, after the capture of the City by the Gauls, when peace was about to be purchased, not more than one thousand pounds’ weight of gold could be collected. I am by no means unaware of the fact that in the third[696] consulship of Pompeius there was lost from the throne of Jupiter Capitolinus two thousand pounds’ weight of gold, originally placed there by Camillus; a circumstance which has led most persons to suppose, that two thousand pounds’ weight was the quantity then collected. But in reality, this excess of one thousand pounds was contributed from the spoil taken from the Gauls, amplified as it was by the gold of which they had stripped the temples, in that part of the City which they had captured.

The story of Torquatus,[697] too, is a proof that the Gauls were in the habit of wearing ornaments of gold when engaged in combat;[698] from which it would appear that the sum taken from the Gauls themselves, and the amount of which they had pillaged the temples, were only equal to the amount of gold collected for the ransom, and no more; and this is what was really meant by the response given by the augurs, that Jupiter Capitolinus had rendered again the ransom twofold.[699] As we were just now speaking on the subject of rings, it may be as well to add, by way of passing remark, that upon the officer[700] in charge of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus being arrested, he broke the stone of his ring between his teeth,[701] and expired upon the spot, thus putting an end to all possibility of discovering the perpetrator of the theft.

It appears, therefore, that in the year of the City 364, when Rome was captured by the Gauls, there was but two thousand pounds’ weight of gold, at the very most; and this, too, at a period when, according to the returns of the census, there were already one hundred and fifty-two thousand five hundred and seventy-three free citizens in it. In this same city, too, three hundred and seven years later, the gold which C. Marius the younger[702] conveyed to Præsneste from the Temple of the Capitol when in flames, and all the other shrines, amounted to thirteen thousand pounds’ weight, such being the sum that figured in the inscriptions at the triumph of Sylla; on which occasion it was displayed in the procession, as well as six thousand pounds’ weight of silver. The same Sylla had, the day before, displayed in his triumph fifteen thousand pounds’ weight of gold, and one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds’ weight of silver, the fruit of all his other victories.

CHAP. 6.—THE RIGHT OF WEARING GOLD RINGS.

It does not appear that rings were in common use before the time of Cneius Flavius, the son of Annius. This Flavius was the first to publish a table[703] of the days for pleading,[704] which till then the populace had to ascertain each day from a few great personages.[705] The son of a freedman only, and secretary to Appius Cæcus,[706] (at whose request, by dint of natural shrewdness and continual observation, he had selected these days and made them public),[707] he obtained such high favour with the people, that he was created curule ædile; in conjunction with Quintus Anicius Prænestinus, who a few years before had been an enemy to Rome,[708] and to the exclusion of C. Pœtilius and Domitius, whose fathers respectively were of consular rank.[709] The additional honour was also conferred on Flavius, of making him tribune of the people at the same time, a thing which occasioned such a degree of indignation, that, as we find stated in the more ancient Annals, “the rings[710] were laid aside!”

Most persons, however, are mistaken in the supposition that on this occasion the members of the equestrian order did the same: for it is in consequence of these additional words, “the phaleræ,[711] too, were laid aside as well,” that the name of the equestrian order was added. These rings, too, as the Annals tell us, were laid aside by the nobility, and not[712] by the whole body of the senate. This event took place in the consulship of P. Sempronius and P. Sulpicius.[713] Flavius made a vow that he would consecrate a temple to Concord, if he should succeed in reconciling the privileged orders with the plebeians: and as no part of the public funds could be voted for the purpose, he accordingly built a small shrine of brass[714] in the Græcostasis,[715] then situate above the Comitium,[716] with the fines which had been exacted for usury. Here, too, he had an inscription engraved upon a tablet of brass, to the effect that the shrine was dedicated two hundred and three years after the consecration of the Capitol. Such were the events that happened four hundred and forty-nine years after the foundation of the City, this being the earliest period at which we find any traces of the common use of rings.

A second occasion, however, that of the Second Punic War, shows that rings must have been at that period in very general use; for if such had not been the case, it would have been impossible for Hannibal to send the three[717] modii of rings, which we find so much spoken of, to Carthage. It was through a dispute, too, at an auction about the possession of a ring, that the feud first commenced between Cæpio[718] and Drusus,[719] a dispute which gave rise to the Social War,[720] and the public disasters which thence ensued. Not even in those days, however, did all the senators possess gold rings, seeing that, in the memory of our grandsires, many personages who had even filled the prætorship, wore rings of iron to the end of their lives; Calpurnius,[721] for example, as Fenestella tells us, and Manilius, who had been legatus to Caius Marius in the Jugurthine War. Many historians also state the same of L. Fufidius, he to whom Scaurus dedicated the history of his life.

In the family of the Quintii,[722] it is the usage for no one, not the females even, ever to wear a ring; and even at the present day, the greater part of the nations known to us, peoples who are living under the Roman sway, are not in the habit of wearing rings. Neither in the countries of the East,[723] nor in Egypt, is any use made of seals, the people being content with simple writing only.[724]

In this, as in every other case, luxury has introduced various fashions, either by adding to rings gems of exquisite brilliancy, and so loading the fingers with whole revenues, as we shall have further occasion to mention in our Book on Gems;[725] or else by engraving them with various devices: so that it is in one instance the workmanship, in another the material, that constitutes the real value of the ring. Then again, in the case of other gems, luxury has deemed it no less than sacrilege to make a mark[726] even upon them, and has caused them to be set whole, that no one may suppose that the ring was ever intended to be employed as a signet. In other instances, luxury has willed that certain stones, on the side even that is concealed by the finger, should not[727] be closed in with gold, thus making gold of less account than thousands of tiny pebbles. On the other hand again, many persons will admit of no gems being set in their rings, but impress their seal with the gold[728] itself, an invention which dates from the reign of Claudius Cæsar. At the present day, too, the very slaves even, incase their iron rings with gold (while other articles belonging to them, they decorate with pure gold),[729] a licence which first originated in the Isle of Samothrace,[730] as the name given to the invention clearly shows.

It was the custom at first to wear rings on a single finger[731] only, the one, namely, that is next to the little finger; and this we see the case in the statues of Numa and Servius Tullius. In later times, it became the practice to put rings on the finger next to the thumb, even in the case of the statues of the gods; and more recently, again, it has been the fashion to wear them upon the little finger[732] as well. Among the peoples of Gallia and Britannia, the middle finger, it is said, is used for this purpose. At the present day, however, among us, this is the only finger that is excepted, all the others being loaded with rings, smaller rings even being separately adapted for the smaller joints of the fingers. Some there are who heap several rings upon the little finger alone; while others, again, wear but one ring upon this finger, the ring that sets a seal upon the signet-ring itself, this last being kept carefully shut up as an object of rarity, too precious to be worn in common use, and only to be taken from the cabinet[733] as from a sanctuary. And thus is the wearing of a single ring upon the little finger no more than an ostentatious advertisement that the owner has property of a more precious nature under seal at home!

Some, too, make a parade of the weight of their rings, while to others it is quite a labour[734] to wear more than one at a time: some, in their solicitude for the safety of their gems, make the hoop of gold tinsel, and fill it with a lighter material than gold, thinking thereby to diminish the risks of a fall.[735] Others, again, are in the habit of inclosing poisons beneath the stones of their rings, and so wear them as instruments of death; Demosthenes, for instance, that greatest of the orators of Greece.[736] And then, besides, how many of the crimes that are stimulated by cupidity, are committed through the instrumentality of rings![737] How happy the times, how truly innocent, in which no seal was ever put to anything! At the present day, on the contrary, our very food even and our drink have to be preserved from theft[738] through the agency of the ring: a result owing to those legions of slaves, those throngs of foreigners which are introduced into our houses, multitudes so numerous that we require the services of a nomenclator[739] even, to tell us the names of our own servants. Very different was it in the times of our forefathers, when each person possessed a single servant only, one of his master’s own lineage, called Marcipor or Lucipor,[740] from his master’s name, as the case might be, and taking all his meals with him in common; when, too, there was no occasion for taking precautions at home by keeping a watch upon the domestics. But at the present day, we not only procure dainties which are sure to be pilfered, but hands to pilfer them as well; and so far is it from being sufficient to have the very keys sealed, that the signet-ring is often taken from off the owner’s finger while he is overpowered with sleep or lying on his death-bed.[741]

Indeed the most important transactions of life are now made to depend upon this instrument, though at what period this first began to be the case, I am at a loss to say. It would appear, however, so far as foreign nations are concerned, that we may admit the importance attached to it, from the days of Polycrates,[742] the tyrant of Samos, whose favourite ring, after being thrown in the sea, was recovered from a fish that was caught; and this Polycrates, we know, was put to death[743] about the year of our City, 230. The use of the ring must, of necessity, have become greatly extended with the increase of usury; one proof of which is, the usage still prevalent among the lower classes, of whipping off the ring[744] the moment a simple contract is made; a practice which takes its date, no doubt, from a period when there was no more expeditious method of giving an earnest on closing a bargain. We may therefore very safely conclude, that though money was first introduced among us, the use of rings was introduced very shortly after. Of money, I shall shortly have occasion to speak further.[745]

CHAP. 7.—THE DECURIES OF THE JUDGES.

Rings, as soon as they began to be commonly worn, distinguished the second order from the plebeians, in the same manner as the use of the tunic[746] distinguished the senate from those who only wore the ring. Still, however, this last distinction was introduced at a later period only, and we find it stated by writers that the public heralds[747] even were formerly in the habit of wearing the tunic with the purple laticlave; the father of Lucius Ælius Stilo,[748] for instance, from whom his son received the cognomen of “Præconinus,” in consequence of his father’s occupation as a herald. But the use of rings, no doubt, was the distinguishing mark of a third and intermediate order, between the plebeians and the senators; and the title of “eques,” originally derived from the possession of a war-horse,[749] is given at the present day as an indication of a certain amount of income. This, however, is of comparatively recent introduction; for when the late Emperor Augustus made his regulations for the decuries,[750] the greater part of the members thereof were persons who wore iron rings, and these bore the name, not of “equites,” but of “judices,” the former name being reserved solely for the members of the squadrons[751] furnished with war-horses at the public charge.

Of these judices, too, there were at first but four[752] decuries only, and in each of these decuries there was hardly one thousand men to be found, the provinces not having been hitherto admitted to the office; an observance which is still in force at the present day, no one newly admitted to the rights of citizenship being allowed to perform the duties of judex as a member of the decuries.

(2.) These decuries, too, were themselves distinguished by several denominations—“tribunes[753] of the treasury,” “selecti,”[754] and “judices:” in addition to whom, there were the persons styled the “nine hundred,”[755] chosen from all the decuries for the purpose of keeping the voting-boxes at the comitia. From the ambitious adoption, however, of some one of these names, great divisions ensued in this order, one person styling himself a member of the nine hundred, another one of the selecti, and a third a tribune of the treasury.

CHAP. 8.—PARTICULARS CONNECTED WITH THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER.

At length, however, in the ninth[756] year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, the equestrian order was united in a single body; and a decree was passed, establishing to whom belonged the right of wearing the ring, in the consulship of C. Asinius Pollio and C. Antistius Vetus, the year from the foundation of the City, 775. It is a matter for surprise, how almost futile, we may say, was the cause which led to this change. C. Sulpicius Galba,[757] desirous in his youth to establish his credit with the Emperor by hunting[758] out grounds for prosecuting[759] the keepers of victualling-houses, made complaint in the senate that the proprietors of those places were in the habit of protecting themselves from the consequences of their guilt by their plea of wearing the golden ring.[760] For this reason, an ordinance was made that no person whatsoever should have this right of wearing the ring, unless, freeborn himself as regarded his father and paternal grandfather, he should be assessed by the censors at four hundred thousand sesterces, and entitled, under the Julian Law,[761] to sit in the fourteen tiers of seats at the theatre. In later times, however, people began to apply in whole crowds for this mark of rank; and in consequence of the diversities of opinion which were occasioned thereby, the Emperor Caius[762] added a fifth decury to the number. Indeed to such a pitch has conceit now arisen, that whereas, under the late Emperor Augustus, the decuries could not be completed, at the present day they will not suffice to receive all the members of the equestrian order, and we see in every quarter persons even who have been but just liberated from slavery, making a leap all at once to the distinction of the golden ring: a thing that never used to happen in former days, as it was by the ring of iron that the equites and the judices were then to be recognized.

Indeed, so promiscuously was this privilege at last conferred, that Flavius Proculus, one of the equites, informed against four hundred persons on this ground, before the Emperor Claudius, who was then censor:[763] and thus we see, an order, which was established as a mark of distinction from other private individuals of free birth, has been shared in common with slaves!

The Gracchi were the first to attach to this order the separate appellation of “judices,” their object being at the same moment a seditious popularity and the humiliation of the senate. After the fall of these men, in consequence of the varying results of seditious movements, the name and influence of the equestrian order were lost, and became merged in those of the publicani,[764] who, for some time, were the men that constituted the third class in the state. At last, however, Marcus Cicero, during his consulship, and at the period of the Catilinarian troubles, re-established the equestrian name, it being his vaunt that he himself had sprung from that order, and he, by certain acts of popularity peculiar to himself, having conciliated its support. Since that period, it is very clear that the equites have formed the third body in the state, and the name of the equestrian order has been added to the formula—“The Senate and People of Rome.” Hence[765] it is, too, that at the present day even, the name of this order is written after that of the people, it being the one that was the last instituted.

CHAP. 9.—HOW OFTEN THE NAME OF THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER HAS BEEN CHANGED.

Indeed, the name itself of the equites even, has been frequently changed, and that too, in the case of those who only owed their name to the fact of their service on horseback. Under Romulus and the other kings, the equites were known as “Celeres,”[766] then again as “Flexuntes,”[767] and after that as “Trossuli,”[768] from the fact of their having taken a certain town of Etruria, situate nine miles on this side of Volsinii, without any assistance from the infantry; a name too which survived till after the death of C. Gracchus.

At all events, in the writings left by Junius, who, from his affection for C. Gracchus, took the name of Gracchanus,[769] we find the following words—“As regards the equestrian order, its members were formerly called ‘Trossuli,’ but at the present day they have the name of ‘Equites;’ because it is not understood what the appellation ‘Trossuli’ really means, and many feel ashamed at being called by that name.”[770]—He[771] then goes on to explain the reason, as above mentioned, and adds that, though much against their will, those persons are still called “Trossuli.”

CHAP. 10.—GIFTS FOR MILITARY SERVICES, IN GOLD AND SILVER.

There are also some other distinctions connected with gold, the mention of which ought not to be omitted. Our ancestors, for instance, presented torcs[772] of gold to the auxiliaries and foreign troops, while to Roman citizens they only granted silver[773] ones: bracelets[774] too, were given by them to citizens, but never to foreigners.

CHAP. 11.—AT WHAT PERIOD THE FIRST CROWN OF GOLD WAS PRESENTED.

But, a thing that is more surprising still, crowns[775] of gold were given to the citizens as well. As to the person who was first presented with one, so far as I have enquired, I have not been able to ascertain his name: L. Piso says, however, that the Dictator[776] A. Posthumius was the first who conferred one: on taking the camp of the Latins at Lake Regillus,[777] he gave a crown of gold, made from the spoil, to the soldier whose valour had mainly contributed to this success. L. Lentulus, also, when consul,[778] presented one to Servius Cornelius Merenda, on taking a town of the Samnites; but in his case it was five pounds in weight. Piso Frugi, too, presented his son with a golden crown, at his own private expense, making[779] it a specific legacy in his will.

CHAP. 12. (3.)—OTHER USES MADE OF GOLD, BY FEMALES.

To honour the gods at their sacrifices, no greater mark of honour has been thought of than to gild the horns of the animals sacrificed—that is, of the larger victims[780] only. But in warfare, this species of luxury made such rapid advances, that in the Epistles of M. Brutus from the Plains of Philippi, we find expressions of indignation at the fibulæ[781] of gold that were worn by the tribunes. Yes, so it is, by Hercules! and yet you, the same Brutus, have not said a word about women wearing gold upon their feet; while we, on the other hand, charge him with criminality[782] who was the first to confer dignity upon gold by wearing the ring. Let men even, at the present day, wear gold upon the arms in form of bracelets—known as “dardania,” because the practice first originated in Dardania, and called “viriolæ” in the language of the Celts, “viriæ”[783] in that of Celtiberia, let women wear gold upon their arms[784] and all their fingers, their necks, their ears, the tresses of their hair; let chains of gold run meandering along their sides; and in the still hours of the night let sachets filled with pearls hang suspended from the necks of their mistresses, all bedizened with gold, so that in their very sleep even they may still retain the consciousness that they are the possessors of such gems: but are they to cover their feet[785] as well with gold, and so, between the stola[786] of the matrons and the garb of the plebeians, establish an intermediate[787] or equestrian[788] order of females? Much more becomingly do we accord this distinction to our pages,[789] and the adorned beauty of these youths has quite changed the features of our public baths.

At the present day, too, a fashion has been introduced among the men even, of wearing effigies upon their fingers representing Harpocrates[790] and other divinities of Egypt. In the reign of Claudius, also, there was introduced another unusual distinction, in the case of those to whom was granted the right of free admission,[791] that, namely, of wearing the likeness of the emperor engraved in gold upon a ring: a circumstance that gave rise to vast numbers of informations, until the timely elevation of the Emperor Vespasianus rendered them impossible, by proclaiming that the right of admission to the emperor belonged equally to all. Let these particulars suffice on the subject of golden rings and the use of them.

CHAP. 13.—COINS OF GOLD. AT WHAT PERIODS COPPER, GOLD, AND SILVER WERE FIRST IMPRESSED. HOW COPPER WAS USED BEFORE GOLD AND SILVER WERE COINED. WHAT WAS THE LARGEST SUM OF MONEY POSSESSED BY ANY ONE AT THE TIME OF OUR FIRST CENSUS. HOW OFTEN, AND AT WHAT PERIODS, THE VALUE OF COPPER AND OF COINED MONEY HAS BEEN CHANGED.

The next[792] crime committed against the welfare of mankind was on the part of him who was the first to coin a denarius[793] of gold, a crime the author of which is equally unknown. The Roman people made no use of impressed silver even before the period of the defeat[794] of King Pyrrhus. The “as” of copper weighed exactly one libra; and hence it is that we still use the terms “libella”[795] and “dupondius.”[796] Hence it is, too, that fines and penalties are inflicted under the name of “æs grave,”[797] and that the words still used in keeping accounts are “expensa,”[798] “impendia,”[799] and “dependere.”[800] Hence, too, the word “stipendium,” meaning the pay of the soldiers, which is nothing more than “stipis pondera;[801] and from the same source those other words, “dispensatores”[802] and “libripendes.”[803] It is also from this circumstance that in sales of slaves, at the present day even, the formality of using the balance is introduced.

King Servius was the first to make an impress upon copper. Before his time, according to Timæus, at Rome the raw metal only was used. The form of a sheep was the first figure impressed upon money, and to this fact it owes its name, “pecunia.”[804] The highest figure at which one man’s property was assessed in the reign of that king was one hundred and twenty thousand asses, and consequently that amount of property was considered the standard of the first class.

Silver was not impressed with a mark until the year of the City 485, the year of the consulship of Q. Ogulnius and C. Fabius, five years before the First Punic War; at which time it was ordained that the value of the denarius should be ten libræ[805] of copper, that of the quinarius five libræ, and that of the sestertius two libræ and a half. The weight, however, of the libra of copper was diminished during the First Punic War, the republic not having means to meet its expenditure: in consequence of which, an ordinance was made that the as should in future be struck of two ounces weight. By this contrivance a saving of five-sixths was effected, and the public debt was liquidated. The impression upon these copper coins was a two-faced Janus on one side, and the beak of a ship of war on the other: the triens,[806] however, and the quadrans,[807] bore the impression of a ship. The quadrans, too, had, previously to this, been called “teruncius,” as being three unciæ[808] in weight. At a later period again, when Hannibal was pressing hard upon Rome, in the dictatorship of Q. Fabius Maximus, asses of one ounce weight were struck, and it was ordained that the value of the denarius should be sixteen asses, that of the quinarius eight asses, and that of the sestertius four asses; by which last reduction of the weight of the as the republic made a clear gain of one half. Still, however, so far as the pay of the soldiers is concerned, one denarius has always been given for every ten asses. The impressions upon the coins of silver were two-horse and four-horse chariots, and hence it is that they received the names of “bigati” and “quadrigati.”

Shortly after, in accordance with the Law of Papirius, asses were coined weighing half an ounce only. Livius Drusus, when[809] tribune of the people, alloyed the silver with one-eighth part of copper. The coin that is known at the present day as the “victoriatus,”[810] was first struck in accordance with the Clodian Law: before which period, a coin of this name was imported from Illyricum, but was only looked upon as an article of merchandize. The impression upon it is a figure of Victory, and hence its name.

The first golden coin was struck sixty-two years after that of silver, the scruple of gold being valued at twenty sesterces; a computation which gave, according to the value of the sesterce then in use, nine hundred sesterces to each libra of gold.[811] In later times, again, an ordinance was made, that denarii of gold should be struck, at the rate of forty denarii[812] to each libra of gold; after which period, the emperors gradually curtailed the weight of the golden denarius, until at last, in the reign of Nero, it was coined at the rate of forty-five to the libra.

CHAP. 14.—CONSIDERATIONS ON MAN’S CUPIDITY FOR GOLD.

But the invention of money opened a new field to human avarice, by giving rise to usury and the practice of lending money at interest, while the owner passes a life of idleness: and it was with no slow advances that, not mere avarice only, but a perfect hunger[813] for gold became inflamed with a sort of rage for acquiring: to such a degree, in fact, that Septimuleius, the familiar friend of Caius Gracchus, not only cut off his head, upon which a price had been set of its weight in gold, but, before[814] bringing it to Opimius,[815] poured molten lead into the mouth, and so not only was guilty of the crime of parricide, but added to his criminality by cheating the state. Nor was it now any individual citizen, but the universal Roman name, that had been rendered infamous by avarice, when King Mithridates caused molten gold to be poured into the mouth of Aquilius[816] the Roman general, whom he had taken prisoner: such were the results of cupidity.

One cannot but feel ashamed, on looking at those new-fangled names which are invented every now and then, from the Greek language, by which to designate vessels of silver filagreed[817] or inlaid with gold, and the various other practices by which such articles of luxury, when only gilded,[818] are made to sell at a higher price than they would have done if made of solid gold: and this, too, when we know that Spartacus[819] forbade any one of his followers to introduce either gold or silver into the camp—so much more nobleness of mind was there in those days, even in our runaway slaves.

The orator Messala has informed us that Antonius the triumvir made use of golden vessels when satisfying the most humiliating wants of nature, a piece of criminality that would have reflected disgrace upon Cleopatra even! Till then, the most consummate instances of a similar licentiousness had been found among strangers only—that of King Philip, namely, who was in the habit of sleeping with a golden goblet placed beneath his pillows, and that of Hagnon of Teos, a commander under Alexander the Great, who used to fasten the soles of his sandals with nails of gold.[820] It was reserved for Antonius to be the only one thus to impart a certain utility to gold, by putting an insult upon Nature. Oh how righteously would he himself have been proscribed! but then the proscription should have been made by Spartacus.[821]

CHAP. 15.—THE PERSONS WHO HAVE POSSESSED THE GREATEST QUANTITY OF GOLD AND SILVER.

For my own part, I am much surprised that the Roman people has always imposed upon conquered nations a tribute in silver, and not in gold; Carthage, for instance, from which, upon its conquest under Hannibal, a ransom was exacted in the shape of a yearly[822] payment, for fifty years, of eight hundred thousand pounds’ weight of silver, but no gold. And yet it does not appear that this could have arisen from there being so little gold then in use throughout the world. Midas and Crœsus, before this, had possessed gold to an endless amount: Cyrus, already, on his conquest of Asia,[823] had found a booty consisting of twenty-four thousand pounds’ weight of gold, in addition to vessels and other articles of wrought gold, as well as leaves[824] of trees, a plane-tree, and a vine, all made of that metal.

It was through this conquest too, that he carried off five hundred thousand[825] talents of silver, as well as the vase of Semiramis,[826] the weight of which alone amounted to fifteen talents, the Egyptian talent being equal, according to Varro, to eighty of our pounds. Before this time too, Saulaces, the descendant of Æëtes, had reigned in Colchis,[827] who, on finding a tract of virgin earth, in the country of the Suani,[828] extracted from it a large amount of gold and silver, it is said, and whose kingdom besides, had been famed for the possession of the Golden Fleece. The golden arches, too, of his palace, we find spoken of, the silver supports and columns, and pilasters, all of which he had come into possession of on the conquest of Sesostris,[829] king of Egypt; a monarch so haughty, that every year, it is said, it was his practice to select one of his vassal kings by lot, and yoking him to his car, celebrate his triumph afresh.

CHAP. 16.—AT WHAT PERIOD SILVER FIRST MADE ITS APPEARANCE UPON THE ARENA AND UPON THE STAGE.

We, too, have done things that posterity may probably look upon as fabulous. Cæsar, who was afterwards dictator, but at that time ædile, was the first person, on the occasion of the funeral games in honour of his father, to employ all the apparatus of the arena[830] in silver; and it was on the same occasion that for the first time criminals encountered wild beasts with implements of silver, a practice imitated at the present day in our municipal towns even.

At the games celebrated by C. Antonius the stage was made of[831] silver; and the same was the case at those celebrated by L. Muræna. The Emperor Caius had a scaffold[832] introduced into the Circus, upon which there were one hundred and twenty-four thousand pounds’ weight of silver. His successor Claudius, on the occasion of his triumph over Britain, announced by the inscriptions that among the coronets of gold, there was one weighing seven thousand[833] pounds’ weight, contributed by Nearer Spain, and another of nine thousand pounds, presented by Gallia Comata.[834] Nero, who succeeded him, covered the Theatre of Pompeius with gold for one day,[835] the occasion on which he displayed it to Tiridates, king of Armenia. And yet how small was this theatre in comparison with that Golden Palace[836] of his, with which he environed our city.

CHAP. 17.—AT WHAT PERIODS THERE WAS THE GREATEST QUANTITY OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE TREASURY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

In the consulship of Sextus Julius and Lucius Aurelius,[837] seven years before the commencement of the Third Punic War, there was in the treasury of the Roman people seventeen thousand four hundred and ten pounds’ weight of uncoined gold, twenty-two thousand and seventy pounds’ weight of silver, and in specie, six million one hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred sesterces.

In the consulship of Sextus Julius and Lucius Marcius, that is to say, at the commencement of the Social War,[838] there was in the public treasury one million[839] six hundred and twenty thousand eight hundred and thirty-one pounds’ weight of gold. Caius Cæsar, at his first entry into Rome, during the civil war which bears his name, withdrew from the treasury fifteen thousand pounds’ weight in gold ingots, thirty thousand pounds’ weight in uncoined silver, and in specie, three hundred thousand sesterces: indeed, at no[840] period was the republic more wealthy. Æmilius Paulus, too, after the defeat of King Perseus, paid into the public treasury, from the spoil obtained in Macedonia, three hundred millions[841] of sesterces, and from this period the Roman people ceased to pay tribute.

CHAP. 18.—AT WHAT PERIOD CEILINGS WERE FIRST GILDED.

The ceilings which, at the present day, in private houses even, we see covered with gold, were first gilded in the Capitol, after the destruction of Carthage, and during the censorship of Lucius Mummius.[842] From the ceilings this luxuriousness has been since transferred to the arched roofs of buildings, and the party-walls even, which at the present day are gilded like so many articles of plate: very different from the times when Catulus[843] was far from being unanimously approved of for having gilded the brazen tiles of the Capitol!

CHAP. 19.—FOR WHAT REASONS THE HIGHEST VALUE IS SET UPON GOLD.

We have already stated, in the Seventh[844] Book, who were the first discoverers of gold, as well as nearly all the other metals. The highest rank has been accorded to this substance, not, in my opinion, for its colour, (which in silver is clearer[845] and more like the light of day, for which reason silver is preferred for our military ensigns, its brightness being seen at a greater distance); and those persons are manifestly in error who think that it is the resemblance of its colour to the stars[846] that is so prized in gold, seeing that the various gems[847] and other things of the same tint, are in no such particular request. Nor yet is it for its weight or malleability[848] that gold has been preferred to other metals, it being inferior in both these respects to lead—but it is because gold is the only[849] substance in nature that suffers[850] no loss from the action of fire, and passes unscathed through conflagrations and the flames of the funeral pile. Nay, even more than this, the oftener gold is subjected to the action of fire, the more refined in quality it becomes; indeed, fire is one test of its goodness, as, when submitted to intense heat, gold ought to assume a similar colour, and turn red and igneous in appearance; a mode of testing which is known as “obrussa.”[851]

The first great proof, however, of the goodness of gold, is its melting with the greatest difficulty: in addition to which, it is a fact truly marvellous, that though proof against the most intense fire, if made with wood charcoal, it will melt with the greatest readiness upon a fire made with chaff;[852] and that, for the purpose of purifying it, it is fused with lead.[853] There is another reason too, which still more tends to enhance its value, the fact that it wears the least of all metals by continual use: whereas with silver, copper, and lead, lines may be traced,[854] and the hands become soiled with the substance that comes from off them. Nor is there any material more malleable than this, none that admits of a more extended division, seeing that a single ounce of it admits of being beaten out into seven hundred and fifty[855] leaves, or more, four fingers in length by the same in breadth. The thickest kind of gold-leaf is known as “leaf of Præneste,” it still retaining that name from the excellence of the gilding upon the statue of Fortune[856] there. The next in thickness is known as the “quæstorian leaf.” In Spain, small pieces of gold are known by the name of “striges.”[857]

A thing that is not the case with any other metal, gold is found pure in masses[858] or in the form of dust;[859] and whereas all other metals, when found in the ore, require to be brought to perfection by the aid of fire, this gold that I am speaking of is gold the moment it is found, and has all its component parts already in a state of perfection. This, however, is only such gold as is found in the native state, the other kinds that we shall have to speak of, being refined by art. And then, more than anything else, gold is subject to no rust, no verdigris,[860] no emanation whatever from it, either to alter its quality or to lessen its weight. In addition to this, gold steadily resists the corrosive action of salt and vinegar,[861] things which obtain the mastery over all other substances: it admits, too, beyond all other metals, of being spun out and woven[862] like wool.[863] Verrius tells us that Tarquinius Priscus celebrated a triumph, clad in a tunic of gold; and I myself have seen Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, on the occasion of a naval combat which he exhibited, seated by him, attired in a military scarf[864] made entirely of woven gold without any other material. For this long time past, gold has been interwoven in the Attalic[865] textures, an invention of the kings of Asia.

CHAP. 20.—THE METHOD OF GILDING.

On marble and other substances which do not admit of being brought to a white heat, gilt is laid with glair of egg, and on wood by the aid of a glutinous composition,[866] known as “leucophoron:” what this last is, and how it is prepared, we shall state on the appropriate occasion.[867] The most convenient method for gilding copper would be to employ quicksilver, or, at all events, hydrargyros;[868] but with reference to these substances, as we shall have occasion to say when describing the nature[869] of them, methods of adulteration have been devised. To effect this mode of gilding, the copper is first well hammered, after which it is subjected to the action of fire, and then cooled with a mixture of salt, vinegar, and alum.[870] It is then cleansed of all extraneous substances, it being known by its brightness when it has been sufficiently purified. This done, it is again heated by fire, in order to enable it, when thus prepared, with the aid of an amalgam of pumice, alum, and quicksilver, to receive the gold leaf when applied. Alum has the same property of purifying copper, that we have already[871] mentioned us belonging to lead with reference to gold.

CHAP. 21. (4.)—HOW GOLD IS FOUND.

Gold is found in our own part of the world; not to mention the gold extracted from the earth in India by the ants,[872] and in Scythia by the Griffins.[873] Among us it is procured in three different ways; the first of which is, in the shape of dust, found in running streams, the Tagus[874] in Spain, for instance, the Padus in Italy, the Hebrus in Thracia, the Pactolus in Asia, and the Ganges in India; indeed, there is no gold found in a more perfect state than this, thoroughly polished as it is by the continual attrition of the current.

A second mode of obtaining gold is by sinking shafts or seeking it among the debris of mountains; both of which methods it will be as well to describe. The persons in search of gold in the first place remove the “segutilum,”[875] such being the name of the earth which gives indication of the presence of gold. This done, a bed is made, the sand of which is washed, and, according to the residue found after washing, a conjecture is formed as to the richness of the vein. Sometimes, indeed, gold is found at once in the surface earth, a success, however, but rarely experienced. Recently, for instance, in the reign of Nero, a vein was discovered in Dalmatia, which yielded daily as much as fifty pounds’ weight of gold. The gold that is thus found in the surface crust is known as “talutium,”[876] in cases where there is auriferous earth beneath. The mountains of Spain,[877] in other respects arid and sterile, and productive of nothing whatever, are thus constrained by man to be fertile, in supplying him with this precious commodity.