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Aurum, Gold

Asteria, Girasol Page of 453 Aurum, Gold Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
AURUM.
93
AURUM: Χρύσας: Gold.
Pliny (xxxiii. 19) launches out into a set of reflections in his own quaint style, astonished as to what possible motives could have induced all mankind to make Gold, wherever known, the first and chiefest representative of value. It was and is indeed a strange coincidence in the notions of races, however remote from or unconnected with one another, that must early have puzzled every observer, and which still remains a problem ad­mitting of no satisfactory solution. " It was not so accepted," pursues the old philosopher, " on account of its utility, in which point it yields infinitely to iron ; nor for its heaviness or ductility, in which lead surpasses it (which however is far from true), nor yet for its colour, for yellow is not particularly admired in other things. The only reason, therefore, must have been its indestructibility, for gold is the only substance known that resists the fire, and is no more than improved by repeated fusion."
But this explanation, however satisfactory to the refined Stoic, is evidently much too transcendental to have influenced the primaeval savage mind to which the metal hath ever been to the full as precious, though existing only in the shape of a per­sonal decoration, as to the civilized intelligence which sees therein concentrated power, pleasure, and the veneration of his fellow mortals.
In spite of Pliny's dictum, the universal love must in the first instance have been won by its colour, a colour certainly the most gorgeous of all ; and the reason is manifested in its name, derived from Our and Or, words denoting in many ancient lan­guages the light of day ; the earliest synonym for life and all that is to be desired. Some of the ancients had seen this, though
Asteria, Girasol Page of 453 Aurum, Gold
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