The Delian brass was the first[1241] that became famous, all the world coming to Delos to purchase it; and hence the attention paid to the manufacture of it. It was in this island that brass first obtained celebrity for the manufacture of the feet and supports of dining-couches. After some time it came to be employed for the statues of the gods, and the effigies of men and other animated beings.
CHAP. 5.—THE ÆGINETAN BRASS.
The next most esteemed brass was the Æginetan; the island itself being rendered famous for its brass—not indeed that the metal was produced there, but because the annealing of the Æginetan manufactories was so excellent. A brazen Ox, which was taken from this island, now stands in the Forum Boarium[1242] at Rome. This is a specimen of the Æginetan metal, as the Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, in the Capitol, is of the Delian. Myron[1243] used the former metal and Polycletus[1244] the latter; they were contemporaries and fellow-pupils, but there was great rivalry between them as to their materials.
CHAP. 6. (3.)—STANDS FOR LAMPS.
Ægina was particularly famous for the manufacture of sockets only for lamp-stands, as Tarentum was for that of the branches;[1245] the most complete articles were, therefore, produced by the union of the two. There are persons, too, who are not ashamed to give for one a sum equal to the salary of a military tribune,[1246] although, as its name indicates, its only use is to hold a lighted candle. On the sale of one of these lamp-stands, Theon the public crier announced, that the purchaser must also take, as part of the lot, one Clesippus, a fuller, who was hump-backed, and in other respects, of a hideous aspect. The purchase was made by a female named[1247] Gegania, for fifty thousand sesterces. Upon her exhibiting these purchases at an entertainment which she gave, the slave, for the amusement of her guests, was brought in naked. Conceiving an infamous passion for him, she first admitted him to her bed, and finally left him all her estate. Having thus become excessively rich, he adored the lamp-stand as much as any divinity, and the story became a sort of pendant to the celebrity of the Corinthian lamp-stands. Still, however, good morals were vindicated in the end, for he erected a splendid monument to her memory, and so kept alive the eternal remembrance of the misconduct of Gegania. But although it is well known that there are no lamp-stands in existence made of the Corinthian metal, yet this name is very generally attached to them, because, in consequence of the victory of Mummius,[1248] Corinth was destroyed: at the same time, however, it should be remembered that this victory dispersed a number of bronzes which originally came from many other cities of Achaia.
CHAP. 7.—ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS.
The ancients were in the habit of making the door-sills and even the doors of the temples of brass. I find it stated, also, that Cneius Octavius, who obtained a naval triumph over King Perseus,[1249] erected the double portico to the Flaminian Circus, which was called the “Corinthian” from the brazen capitals of the pillars.[1250] It is stated also, that an ordinance was made that the Temple of Vesta[1251] should be covered with a coating of Syracusan metal. The capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are made of similar metal. Even the opulence, too, of private individuals has been wrested to similar purposes. Spurius Carvilius, the quæstor, among the other charges which he brought against Camillus,[1252] accused him of having brazen doors in his house.
CHAP. 8.—COUCHES OF BRASS.
We learn from L. Piso,[1253] that Cneius Manlius was the first who introduced brazen banquetting-couches, buffets, and tables with single feet,[1254] when he entered the City in triumph, in the year of Rome 567, after his conquests in Asia. We also learn from Antias,[1255] that the heirs of L. Crassus, the orator, sold a number of banquetting-couches adorned with brass. The tripods,[1256] which were called Delphian, because they were devoted more particularly to receiving the offerings that were presented to the Delphian Apollo, were usually made of brass: also the pendant lamps,[1257] so much admired, which were placed in the temples, or gave their light in the form of trees loaded with fruit; such as the one, for instance, in the Temple of the Palatine Apollo,[1258] which Alexander the Great, at the sacking of Thebes, brought to Cyme,[1259] and dedicated to that god.