and ground again and then washed. Skill is needed for this process; for some people make a great deal and others little or nothing out of an equal amount of sand. The washing is done from the top, and separate portions are wetted one after the other; what is left at the bottom is cinnabar, and the washings are what remains above in larger quantities.
59 They say that Kallias, an Athenian from the silver mines, discovered and demonstrated the method of preparation; for thinking that the sand contained gold because it shone brightly, he collected it and worked on it. But when he saw that it did not contain any gold, he admired the beauty of the sand because of its color and so discovered this method of preparation. This did not happen long ago, but about ninety years before Praxiboulos was archon at Athens.
60 It is clear from these facts that art imitates nature and creates its own peculiar products, some of them for use, and some only for show, such as paints,48 and others for both purposes equally, such as quicksilver; for this has its use too. It is made when cinnabar mixed with vinegar is ground in a copper vessel with a pestle made of copper. And perhaps several other things of this kind could be discovered.
61 Among the substances obtained by mining there still remain those that are found in earth-pits; these are caused, as we said in the beginning, from some conflux and separation of matter which is purer and more uniform than that of the other kinds. And all sorts of colors are obtained from them owing to the differences of the matter they contain . . . ;49 some of them are softened and others are ground and melted, and in this way the stones that are brought from Asia are constructed.
62 The natural kinds of earth, which are useful as well as superior in quality, are three or four in number, the Melian, the Kimolian, the Samian, and a fourth in addition to these, the Tymphaic or gypsos.50 Painters use only the Melian kind; they do not use the
48 This translates ά\ιφάς; &\wcis is unknown. The emendation d\i7reis (lit., "without fat") must refer to the type of earth mentioned in sec. 62; this was not greasy and was suitable for painting.
49 If καΐ διό τή* των διηθούνταν were read, the meaning would be "and of the matter that percolates."
50 A much broader term than the English word gypsum. It included not only the
