[65] This was made of an alloy known as Corinthian brass or bronze, and said to have been composed of gold, silver, and copper. In later times it was believed to have been first made, and that by accident, at this very taking of Corinth, when gold, silver, and other metals were found to have been melted by the violent conflagration and to have run together; but it had been known long before.
[66] About £9000.
[67] It was the Roman custom, and Polybius naturally uses Roman terms on this occasion, to set up a spear when an auction was going on.
[68] Something less than £1.
[69] The "Holidays of Saturn" (Saturnalia) occurred in the early part of the latter half of December. They extended to as many as seven days. It is not improbable that they were, in a way, carried on by the Christmas festivities.
[70] The Greek teachers of rhetoric were actually banished thirty years after this date.
[71] The Periplus of Hanno, probably written early in the fourth century B.C.
Transcriber's Notes
Punctuation and spelling standardized when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise unchanged. Simple typographical errors remedied; most retained.