“Sed vim cristalli cruor antea temperet hirci
Sanguis enim facilem ferro facit his adamantem.”
Mrs. Merrifield (I, 194) has incorrectly rendered this passage, “But let the blood of a goat first temper it, for this blood makes the iron so hard that even adamant is soft compared to it.” What Heraclius says is,
“But first let the blood of a he-goat temper the force of the crystal,
For this blood makes adamant soft to the iron.”
[3047] Schedula diversarum artium, III, 98.
[3048] Ibid., III, 94.
[3049] Ibid., III, 21.
[3050] Berthelot (1893), I, 63. His French translation omits some of the Latin text as published in Archaeologia, cap. 288.
[3051] “Cardan’s concentric circles,” according to Berthelot (1893), I, 64.