[1051] For some account of this artist, see Chapter [55] and the [Notes] at the end of this Book.
[1052] “Silver mirrors were known long before this period, as is proved by a passage in the Mostellaria of Plautus, A. 1, S. 3, l. 101, where they are distinctly mentioned. To reconcile this contradiction, Meursius remarks that Pliny speaks only of his countrymen, and not of the Greeks, who had such articles much earlier, though the scene in Plautus is at Athens.”—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 62. Bohn’s Edition.
[1053] “Nuper credi cœptum certiorem imaginem reddi auro opposito aversis.”—“Of what Pliny says here I can give no explanation. Hardouin (qy. if not Dalechamps?) is of opinion that mirrors, according to the newest invention, at that period were covered behind with a plate of gold, as our mirrors are with an amalgam. But as the ancient plates of silver were not transparent, how could the gold at the back of them produce any effect in regard to the image? May not the meaning be that a thin plate of gold was placed at some distance before the mirror, in order to throw more light upon its surface? Whatever may have been the case, Pliny himself seems not to have had much confidence in the invention.”—Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 62.
[1054] Dr. Watson (Chemical Essays, Vol. IV. p. 246) seems to think that Pliny is here speaking of glass mirrors: “If we admit that Pliny was acquainted with glass mirrors, we may thus understand what he says respecting an invention which was then new, of applying gold behind a mirror. Instead of an amalgam of tin, some one had proposed to cover the back of the mirror with an amalgam of gold, with which the ancients were certainly acquainted, and which they employed in gilding.” See Chapter [20] of the present Book. On the above passage by Dr. Watson, Beckmann has the following remarks: “This conjecture appears, at any rate, to be ingenious; but when I read the passage again, without prejudice, I can hardly believe that Pliny alludes to a plate of glass in a place where he speaks only of metallic mirrors; and the overlaying with amalgam requires too much art to allow me to ascribe it to such a period without sufficient proof. I consider it more probable, that some person had tried, by means of a polished plate of gold, to collect the rays of light, and to throw them either on the mirror or the object, in order to render the image brighter.”—Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 72.
[1055] The dog-headed divinity. The seat of his worship was at Cynopolis, mentioned in B. v. c. 11. Under the Empire his worship became widely spread both in Greece and at Rome.
[1056] Under the word “pingit,” he probably includes the art of enamelling silver.
[1057] “Fulgoris excæcati.”
[1058] “Chaplet” copper.
[1059] He either alludes to the practice of clipping the coin, or else to the issue of forged silver denarii, short of weight.
[1060] During the prætorship of Marius Gratidianus. He was on terms of great intimacy with Cicero, and was murdered by Catiline in a most barbarous manner during the proscriptions of Sylla.