[1150]. Aristoph. Eq. 1301. Vesp. 1001.
[1151]. Vid. Plin. xiii. 27. xvi. 70, cum not. Hard.—Antipat. ap. Anthol. Græc. vi. 249.
[1152]. Anacreon, 10. Athen. viii. 50. Suid. v. κοροπλάθοι t. ii. p. 1500. a.
[1153]. Plat. Tim. t. vii. p. 81.
[1154]. Large glass cups. Luc. Quomed. Hist. sit Conscrib. § 25. In the Antichita di Ercolano we see represented a glass vase so completely transparent, that the eggs with which it is filled are seen as distinctly as through water. t. ii. p. 111. Cf. t. iii. p. 287.
[1155]. Petron. Satyr, p. 99. Cf. Treb. Poll. Gallien. § 12. p. 321. Caylus supposes them to have mixed a small portion of lead with their glass. t. ii. p. 355.
[1156]. The allusions of ancient authors to these vases are few. They are mentioned, however, in a letter of Adrian to the Consul Servianus: “Calices tibi allassontes versicolores transmisi, quos mihi sacerdos templi obtulit, tibi et sorori meæ specialiter dedicatos, quos tu velim festis diebus conviviis adhibeas.” Vopisc. in Vit. Saturnin. cap. viii. Casaubon, in his note on this passage, speaks of these cups in the following terms: Allassontes qui colorem mutant sicut palumborum colla. The murrhine vases, the nature of which so many have attempted to explain, if they were not after all a species of glass, appear at least to have had many analogous qualities; and the following description of Pliny is calculated to create the highest idea of their beauty: “Splendor his sine viribus: nitorque verius quam splendor. Sed in pretio varietas colorum subinde circumagentibus se maculis in purpuram candoremque, et tertium ex utroque ignescentem, veluti per transitum coloris, in purpura, aut rubescente lacteo. Sunt qui maxime in iis laudent extremitates et quosdam colorum repercussus quales in cœlesti arcu spectantur.” Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 8.
[1157]. Winkelmann, Hist. de l’Art. i. 48.
[1158]. Winkel. Hist. de l’Art. i. 51. See Beckmann, Hist. of Inventions, vol. i. p. 240.
[1159]. Athen. xi. 28. Cf. Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 756.