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.
BOOK XXXIV.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS.
CHAP. 1. (1.)—THE ORES OF BRASS.[1215]
We must, in the next place, give an account of the ores of brass,[1216] a metal which, in respect of utility, is next in value; indeed the Corinthian brass comes before silver, not to say almost before gold itself. It is also, as I have stated above,[1217] the standard of monetary value;[1218] hence the terms “æra militum,” “tribuni ærarii,” “ærarium,” “obærati,” and “ære diruti.”[1219] I have already mentioned for what length of time the Roman people employed no coin except brass;[1220] and there is another ancient fact which proves that the esteem in which it was held was of equal antiquity with that of the City itself, the circumstance that the third associated body[1221] which Numa established, was that of the braziers.