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BOOK VIII
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177
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cold.
When a projecting piece of the metal is struck it makes a sound
because it is hard. Copper makes a black mark on wood. When rubbed on
a whetstone, Samian earth or similar hard substances it leaves its
natural color. When in a solid mass it sinks in water while thin sheets
will float. Silver is present in almost all copper although that
produced in the Moselle District near Herstein is almost free of
silver. Copper often contains imperfections they call aerugo especially
copper that has been exposed to acid solutions. Pliny is correct when
he writes that copper which is rubbed clean draws rust to itself more
quickly than that which is neglected and it is recognized that the
metal is best preserved in liquid pitch.
Many
more things are made from copper than from silver since it is cheaper.
Money, tablets upon which public regulations are engraved, goblets,
basins, vessels of many kinds used in baths, kitchen utensils and the
vats in which malt liquors are cooked are made from copper. It is used
in ladles, tanks, ovens, dining couches, gaming boards, pedestal
tables, shafts, small table tops, thresholds, doors, folding doors,
lamps, candelabra, lamp stands, three-legged stools and statues of
deities, animals and men. It is used in statues of horses and other
large statues. The shields of the singers of the Salii are made of
copper from Mamurius.14 The heifer of the sculptor Myro was
of copper as well as the horse by Domitius and the bull of Phalaris.
The hundred gates of Babylon were famous as well as the columns of
Hercules in Cadiz that were twelve feet high. The people of Sparta gave
Croesus a copper punch bowl with a capacity of seventeen gallons. The
manger of Mardonius was of copper as were the horses by Durius and the
lioness in Athens. In the center of Athens near the statue of Minerva
were copper spheres that were used by athletes to test their strength.
The Romans and Greeks erected a great many statues of this metal and
the casting of them made many men famous, especially among the Greeks.
I shall not discuss these statues since Pliny has mentioned almost all
of them. However I shall mention some others. In Taenarum there was a
statue of Arion of Methymna together with the dolphin that caught him
up and carried him on the sea. In Athens were statues of Harmodius and
Aristogiton who tried to protect the Athenians from tyranny. There was
a statue of Jupiter in Peri-bolus and another in Sparta. All of these
must have been very old as Pausanias the Laconian believed. Seutonius
writes that Caesar Augustus erected a statue to Antonius Musa, a
physician, close by the statue of Aesculapius. The ancient peoples
often used copper arms, not only the Greeks, Persians and Phoenicians
but also the Romans under Servius
14
The Salii were leapers, a college of priests of Mars, instituted by
Numa. Their sacred processions accompanied by singers and dancers
carrying shields took place annually in the beginning of March. A
shield was believed to have fallen from Heaven during the time of Numa
and the safety of the Roman Empire was supposed to depend upon its
preservation.
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