Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

by Pliny the Elder

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  CHAP. 7.

  WHO WAS THE FIRST TO ENCRUST THE WALLS OF HOUSES AT ROME WITH MARBLE.

  The first person at Rome who covered the whole of the walls of his house with marble, according to Cornelius Nepos, was Mamurra, who dwelt upon the Cælian Hill, a member of the equestrian order, and a native of Formiæ, who had been præfect of the engineers under C. Cæsar in Gaul. Such was the individual, that nothing may be wanting to the indignity of the example, who first adopted this practice; the same Mamurra, in fact, who has been so torn to pieces in the verses of Catullus of Verona. Indeed, his own house proclaimed more loudly than Catullus could proclaim it, that he had come into possession of all that Gallia Comata had had to possess. For Nepos adds, as well, that he was the first to have all the columns of his house made of nothing but solid marble, and that, too, marble of Carystus or of Luna.

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  CHAP. 8.

  AT WHAT PERIOD THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MARBLE CAME INTO USE AT ROME.

  M. Lepidus, who was consul with Q. Catulus, was the first to have the lintels of his house made of Numidian marble, a thing for which he was greatly censured: he was consul in the year of Rome, 676. This is the earliest instance that I can find of the introduction of Numidian marble; not in the form of pillars, however, or of slabs, as was the case with the marble of Carystus, above-mentioned, but in blocks, and that too, for the comparatively ignoble purpose of making the thresholds of doors. Four years after this Lepidus, L. Lucullus was consul; the same person who gave its name, it is very evident, to the Lucullan marble; for, taking a great fancy to it, he introduced it at Rome. While other kinds of marble are valued for their spots or their colours, this marble is entirely black. It is found in the island of Melos, and is pretty nearly the only marble that has taken its name from the person who first introduced it. Among these personages, Scaurus, in my opinion, was the first to build a theatre with walls of marble: but whether they were only coated with slabs of marble or were made of solid blocks highly polished, such as we now see in the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, in the Capitol, I cannot exactly say: for, up to this period, I cannot find any vestiges of the use of marble slabs in Italy.

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  CHAP. 9.

  THE METHOD OF CUTTING MARBLE INTO SLABS. THE SAND USED IN CUTTING MARBLE.

  But whoever it was that first invented the art of thus cutting marble, and so multiplying the appliances of luxury, he displayed considerable ingenuity, though to little purpose. This division, though apparently effected by the aid of iron, is in reality effected by sand; the saw acting only by pressing upon the sand within a very fine cleft in the stone, as it is moved to and fro.

  The sand of Æthiopia is the most highly esteemed for this purpose; for, to add to the trouble that is entailed, we have to send to Æthiopia for the purpose of preparing our marble — aye, and as far as India even; whereas in former times, the severity of the Roman manners thought it beneath them to repair thither in search of such costly things even as pearls! This Indian sand is held in the next highest degree of estimation, the Æthiopian being of a softer nature, and better adapted for dividing the stone without leaving any roughness on the surface; whereas the sand from India does not leave so smooth a face upon it. Still, however, for polishing marble, we find it recommended to rub it with Indian sand calcined. The sand of Naxos has the same defect; as also that from Coptos, generally known as “Egyptian” sand.

  The above were the several varieties of sand used by the ancients in dividing marble. More recently, a sand has been discovered that is equally approved of for this purpose; in a certain creek of the Adriatic Sea, which is left dry at low water only; a thing that renders it not very easy to be found. At the present day, however, the fraudulent tendencies of our workers in marble have emboldened them to use any kind of river-sand for the purpose; a mischief which very few employers rightly appreciate. For, the coarser the sand, the wider is the division made in the stone, the greater the quantity of material consumed, and the more extensive the labour required for polishing the rough surface that is left; a result of which is that the slabs lose so much more in thickness. For giving the last polish to marble, Thebaic stone is considered well adapted, as also porous stone, or pumice, powdered fine.

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  CHAP. 10. (7.)

  STONE OF NAXOS. STONE OF ARMENIA.

  For polishing marble statues, as also for cutting and giving a polish to precious stones, the preference was long given to the stone of Naxos, such being the name of a kind of touchstone that is found in the Isle of Cyprus. More recently, however, the stones imported from Armenia for this purpose have displaced those of Naxos.

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  CHAP. 11.

  THE MARBLES OF ALEXANDRIA.

  The marbles are too well known to make it necessary for me to enumerate their several colours and varieties; and, indeed, so numerous are they, that it would be no easy task to do so. For what place is there, in fact, that has not a marble of its own? In addition to which, in our description of the earth and its various peoples, we have already made it our care to mention the more celebrated kinds of marble. Still, however, they are not all of them produced from quarries, but in many instances lie scattered just beneath the surface of the earth; some of them the most precious even, the green Lace-dæmonian marble, for example, more brilliant in colour than any other; the Augustan also; and, more recently, the Tiberian; which were first discovered, in the reigns respectively of Augustus and Tiberius, in Egypt. These two marbles differ from ophites in the circumstance that the latter is marked with streaks which resemble serpents in appearance, whence its name. There is also this difference between the two marbles themselves, in the arrangement of their spots: the Augustan marble has them undulated and curling to a point; whereas in the Tiberian the streaks are white, not involved, but lying wide asunder.

  Of ophites, there are only some very small pillars known to have been made. There are two varieties of it, one white and soft, the other inclining to black, and hard. Both kinds, it is said, worn as an amulet, are a cure for head-ache, and for wounds inflicted by serpents. Some, too, recommend the white ophites as an amulet for phrenitis and lethargy. As a counter-poison to serpents, some persons speak more particularly in praise of the ophites that is known as “tephrias,” from its ashy colour. There is also a marble known as “memphites,” from the place where it is found, and of a nature somewhat analogous to the precious stones. For medicinal purposes, it is triturated and applied in the form of a liniment, with vinegar, to such parts of the body as require cauterizing or incision; the flesh becoming quite benumbed, and thereby rendered insensible to pain.

  Porphyrites, which is another production of Egypt, is of a red colour: the kind that is mottled with white blotches is known as “leptospsephos.” The quarries there are able to furnish blocks of any dimensions, however large. Vitrasius Pollio, who was steward in Egypt for the Emperor Claudius, brought to Rome from Egypt some statues made of this stone; a novelty which was not very highly approved of, as no one has since followed his example. The Egyptians, too, have discovered in Æthiopia the stone known as “basanites;” which in colour and hardness resembles iron, whence the name that has been given to it. A larger block of it has never been known than the one forming the group which has been dedicated by the Emperor Vespasianus Augustus in the Temple of Peace. It represents the river Nilus with sixteen children sporting around it, symbolical of the sixteen cubits, the extreme height to which, in the most favourable seasons, that river should rise. It is stated, too, that in the Temple of Serapis at Thebes, there is a block not unlike it, which forms the statue of Memnon there; remarkable, it is said, for emitting a sound each morning when first touched by the rays of the rising sun.

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  CHAP. 12.

  ONYX AND ALABASTRITES; SIX REMEDIES.

  Our forefathers imagined that
onyx was only to be found in the mountains of Arabia, and nowhere else; but Sudines was aware that it is also found in Carmania. Drinking-vessels were made of it at first, and then the feet of beds and chairs. Cornelius Nepos relates that great was the astonishment, when P. Lentulus Spinther exhibited amphoræ made of this material, as large as Chian wine-vessels in size; “and yet, five years after,” says he, “I saw columns of this material, no less than two-and-thirty feet in height.” At a more recent period again, some change took place with reference to this stone; for four small pillars of it were erected by Cornelius Balbus in his Theatre as something quite marvellous: and I myself have seen thirty columns, of larger size, in the banquetting-room which Callistus erected, the freedman of Claudius, so well known for the influence which he possessed.

  (8.) This stone is called “alabastrites” by some, and is hollowed out into vessels for holding unguents, it having the reputation of preserving them from corruption better than anything else. In a calcined state, it is a good ingredient for plaisters. It is found in the vicinity of Thebes in Egypt and of Damascus in Syria, that of Damascus being whiter than the others. The most esteemed kind, however, is that of Carmania, the next being the produce of India, and then, those of Syria and Asia. The worst in quality is that of Cappadocia, it being utterly destitute of lustre. That which is of a honey colour is the most esteemed, covered with spots curling in whirls, and not transparent. Alabastrites is considered defective, when it is of a white or horn colour, or approaching to glass in appearance.

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  CHAP. 13.

  LYGDINUS; CORALLITIC STONE; STONE OF ALABANDA; STONE OF THEBAIS; STONE OF SYENE.

  Little inferior to it for the preservation of unguents, in the opinion of many, is the stone, called “lygdinus,” that is found in Paros, and never of a larger size than to admit of a dish or goblet being made of it. In former times, it was only imported from Arabia, being remarkable for its extreme whiteness.

  Great value is placed also upon two other kinds of stone, of quite a contrary nature; corallitic stone, found in Asia, in blocks not more than two cubits in thickness, and of a white some-what approaching that of ivory, and in some degree resembling it; and Alabandic stone, which, on the other hand, is black, and is so called from the district which produces it: though it is also to be found at Miletus, where, however, it verges somewhat more upon the purple. It admits of being melted by the action of fire, and is fused for the preparation of glass.

  Thebaic stone, which is sprinkled all over with spots like gold, is found in Africa, on the side of it which lies adjacent to Egypt; the small hones which it supplies being peculiarly adapted, from their natural properties, for grinding the ingredients used in preparations for the eyes. In the neighbourhood of Syene, too, in Thebais, there is a stone found that is now known as “syenites,” but was formerly called “pyrrhopœcilon.”

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  CHAP. 14.

  OBELISKS.

  Monarchs, too, have entered into a sort of rivalry with one another in forming elongated blocks of this stone, known as “obelisks,” and consecrated to the divinity of the Sun. The blocks had this form given to them in resemblance to the rays of that luminary, which are so called in the Egyptian language.

  Mesphres, who reigned in the City of the Sun, was the first who erected one of these obelisks, being warned to do so in a dream: indeed, there is an inscription upon the obelisk to this effect; for the sculptures and figures which we still see engraved thereon are no other than Egyptian letters.

  At a later period other kings had these obelisks hewn. Sesosthes erected four of them in the above-named city, forty-eight cubits in height. Rhamsesis, too, who was reigning at the time of the capture of Troy, erected one, a hundred and forty cubits high. Having quitted the spot where the palace of Mnevis stood, this monarch erected another obelisk, one hundred and twenty cubits in height, but of prodigious thickness, the sides being no less than eleven cubits in breadth. (9.) It is said that one hundred and twenty thousand men were employed upon this work; and that the king, when it was on the point of being elevated, being apprehensive that the machinery employed might not prove strong enough for the weight, with the view of increasing the peril that might be entailed by due want of precaution on the part of the workmen, had his own son fastened to the summit; in order that the safety of the prince might at the same time ensure the safety of the mass of stone. It was in his admiration of this work, that, when King Cambyses took the city by storm, and the conflagration had already reached the very foot of the obelisk, he ordered the fire to be extinguished; he entertaining a respect for this stupendous erection which he had not entertained for the city itself.

  There are also two other obelisks, one of them erected by Zmarres, and the other by Phius; both of them without inscriptions, and forty-eight cubits in height. Ptolemæus Philadelphus had one erected at Alexandria, eighty cubits high, which had been prepared by order of King Necthebis: it was without any inscription, and cost far more trouble in its carriage and elevation, than had been originally expended in quarrying it. Some writers inform us that it was conveyed on a raft, under the inspection of the architect Satyrus; but Callixenus gives the name of Phœnix. For this pur- pose, a canal was dug from the river Nilus to the spot where the obelisk lay; and two broad vessels, laden with blocks of similar stone a foot square, the cargo of each amounting to double the size, and consequently double the weight, of the obelisk, were brought beneath it; the extremities of the obelisk remaining supported by the opposite sides of the canal. The blocks of stone were then removed, and the vessels, being thus gradually lightened, received their burden. It was erected upon a basis of six square blocks, quarried from the same mountain, and the artist was rewarded with the sum of fifty talents. This obelisk was placed by the king abovementioned in the Arsinoœum, in testimony of his affection for his wife and sister Arsinoë. At a later period, as it was found to be an inconvenience to the docks, Maximus, the then præfect of Egypt, had it transferred to the Forum there, after removing the summit for the purpose of substituting a gilded point; an intention which was ultimately abandoned.

  There are two other obelisks, which were in Cæsar’s Temple at Alexandria, near the harbour there, forty-two cubits in height, and originally hewn by order of King Mesphres. But the most difficult enterprise of all, was the carriage of these obelisks by sea to Rome, in vessels which excited the greatest admiration. Indeed, the late Emperor Augustus consecrated the one which brought over the first obelisk, as a lasting memorial of this marvellous undertaking, in the docks at Puteoli; but it was destroyed by fire. As to the one in which, by order of the Emperor Caius, the other obelisk had been transported to Rome, after having been preserved for some years and looked upon as the most wonderful construction ever beheld upon the seas, it was brought to Ostia, by order of the late Emperor Claudius; and towers of Puteolan earth being first erected upon it, it was sunk for the construction of the harbour which he was making there. And then, besides, there was the necessity of constructing other vessels to carry these obelisks up the Tiber; by which it became practically ascer- tained, that the depth of water in that river is not less than that of the river Nilus.

  The obelisk that was erected by the late Emperor Augustus in the Great Circus, was originally quarried by order of King Semenpserteus, in whose reign it was that Pythagoras visited Egypt. It is eighty-five feet and three quarters in height, exclusive of the base, which is a part of the same stone. The one that he erected in the Campus Martius, is nine feet less in height, and was originally made by order of Sesothis. They are both of them covered with inscriptions, which interpret the operations of Nature according to the philosophy of the Egyptians.

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  CHAP. 15. (10.)

  THE OBELISK WHICH SERVES AS A DIAL IN THE CAMPUS MARTIUS.

  The one that has been erected in the Campus Martius has been applied to a singular purpose by the late Emperor Augustus; that of
marking the shadows projected by the sun, and so measuring the length of the days and nights. With this object, a stone pavement was laid, the extreme length of which corresponded exactly with the length of the shadow thrown by the obelisk at the sixth hour on the day of the winter solstice. After this period, the shadow would go on, day by day, gradually decreasing, and then again would as gradually increase, correspondingly with certain lines of brass that were inserted in the stone; a device well deserving to be known, and due to the ingenuity of Facundus Novus, the mathematician. Upon the apex of the obelisk he placed a gilded ball in order that the shadow of the summit might be con- densed and agglomerated, and so prevent the shadow of the apex itself from running to a fine point of enormous extent; the plan being first suggested to him, it is said, by the shadow that is projected by the human head. For nearly the last thirty years, however, the observations derived from this dial have been found not to agree: whether it is that the sun itself has changed its course in consequence of some derangement of the heavenly system; or whether that the whole earth has been in some degree displaced from its centre, a thing that, I have heard say, has been. remarked in other places as well; or whether that some earthquake, confined to this city only, has wrenched the dial from its original position; or whether it is that in consequence of the inundations of the Tiber, the foundations of the mass have subsided, in spite of the general assertion that they are sunk as deep into the earth as the obelisk erected upon them is high.