[23] Odyssey XVI., 172, and X., 238.
[Pg 41][24] Odyssey XXIV., 1, etc. The Caduceus of Hermes had also the power of turning things to gold, and it is interesting to note that in its oldest form, as the insignia of heralds and of ambassadors, it had two prongs.
[25] In a general way venae profundae were fissure veins and venae dilatatae were sheeted deposits. For description see [Book III].
[Pg 42][26] These mines are in the Erzgebirge. We have adopted the names given in the German translation.
[27] The quotation from Pliny (XXXIII., 31) as a whole reads as follows:—
"Silver is found in nearly all the provinces, but the finest of all in Spain; where it is found in the barren lands, and in the mountains. Wherever one vein of silver has been found, another is sure to be found not far away. This is the case of nearly all the metals, whence it appears that the Greeks derived metalla. It is wonderful that the shafts begun by Hannibal in Spain still remain, their names being derived from their makers. One of these at the present day called Baebelo, furnished Hannibal with three hundred pounds' weight (of silver) per day. This mountain is excavated for a distance of fifteen hundred paces; and for this distance there are waterbearers lighted by torches standing night and day baling out the water in turns, thus making quite a river." Hannibal dates 247-183 B.C. and was therefore dead 206 years when Pliny was born. According to a footnote in Bostock and Riley's translation of Pliny, these workings were supposed to be in the neighbourhood of Castulo, now Cazlona, near Linares. It was at Castulo that Hannibal married his rich wife Himilce; and in the hills north of Linares there are ancient silver mines still known as Los Pozos de Anibal.
BOOK III.
