146 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &e.
the
Paris Bibliothèque with some of its choicest productions. A Norman
peasant, one Tronchin, in ploughing his field at Bernay, struck upon a
large tile, covering a hoard of silver articles, weighing altogether 60
pounds Troy (25 kilo.). It was the treasure of Mercurius Cannetonensis,
the local divinity, as the dedicatory inscription» upon several of the
pieces attest, hastily buried in some time of trouble and never
reclaimed. Of the vases, a pair of canthari have emblemata in the
purest Greek style, as early as Alexander's epoch, representing
subjects connected with the Mysteries.* Two pairs more, of the same
period, bear Bacchic scenes and symbols ; some other minor pieces are
similarly decorated ; but the most important are the two " œnochoas,"
tall flagons (" Cellini-shape " in modern phrase) embossed with scenes
from the Iliad, the design of which refers them to the epoch of
Pasiteles. The episodes chosen by the artist are Achilles weeping over
the slain Patroclus ; its counterpart being the Ransoming of the body
of Hector: the other, Achilles dragging Hector behind his car, with its
companion scene, the Death of the hero. With the vessels were found two
spirited statuettes of the god to whom they were dedicated, in the same
metal, and executed by the same process ; one of them being the most
important example preserved of statuary in silver. The pieces of Roman
workmanship declare the more practical character of their epoch :
consisting mostly of large flat dishes having for sole ornament a
chasing in the centre. But this chasing is solid and strong, being
first cast and
