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Batrachites, Toadstone

Batrachites, Toadstone Page of 453 Beryllus, Beryl Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
BATRACHITES.
129
eye, and reflecting all kinds of hues, of virtue moreover inde­scribable, like the ring of Gyges. Often too doth the dragon seize the Indian, axe, charm, and all, and escape with him into his hole, all but making the mountain tremble."
The Hyaenia, existing within the eye of that beast, which was hunted in order to procure it, placed under the tongue con­ferred the gift of prophecy; and lastly, the Saurites was to be procured out of the belly of a lizard cut open with a knife made' of a sharp reed.
Pliny concludes his alphabetical list with this not uncalled-for observation : " There are many stones besides these, and of an even more prodigious description, to which writers have given foreign names, allowing them to be minerals (lapides), and not gems; it will be enough for us to have, in the foregoing list, exposed a few of their awful lies" (dira mendacia).
Batrachites, Toadstone Page of 453 Beryllus, Beryl
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