1. Polybius, Histories, 39.3 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 55 | 39.3. Owing to the long-standing affection of the people for Philopoemen, the statues of him which existed in some towns were left standing. So it seems to me that all that is done in a spirit of truth creates in those who benefit by it an undying affection. <, Therefore we may justly cite the current saying that he had been foiled not at the door but in the street. (From Plutarch, Philopoemen 21) <, There were many statues and many decrees in his honour in the different cities, and a certain Roman at the time so disastrous to Greece, when Corinth was destroyed, attempted to destroy them all, and, as it were, to expel him from the country, accusing him as if he were still alive of being hostile and ill-disposed to the Romans. But on the matter being discussed and on Polybius refuting the false accusation, neither Mummius nor the legates would suffer the honours of the celebrated man to be destroyed. <, Polybius set himself to give full information to the legates about Philopoemen, corresponding to what I originally stated about this statesman. <, And that was, that he often was opposed to the orders of the Romans, but that his opposition was confined to giving information and advice about disputed points, and this always with due consideration. <, A real proof of his attitude, he said, was that in the wars with Antiochus and Philip he did, as the saying is, save them from the fire. <, For then, being the most influential man in Greece owing to his personal power and that of the Achaean League, he in the truest sense maintained his friendship for Rome, helping to carry the decree of the league, in which four months before the Romans crossed to Greece the Achaeans decided to make war from Achaea on Antiochus and the Aetolians, nearly all the other Greeks being at the time ill-disposed to Rome. <, The ten legates therefore, giving ear to this and approving the attitude of the speaker, permitted the tokens of honour Philopoemen had received in all the towns to remain undisturbed. <, Polybius, availing himself of this concession, begged the general to return the portraits, although they had been already carried away from the Peloponnesus to Acaria â I refer to the portraits of Achaeus, of Aratus, and of Philopoemen. <, The people so much admired Polybius's conduct in the matter that they erected a marble statue of him. < 39.3. 1. Owing to the long-standing affection of the people for Philopoemen, the statues of him which existed in some towns were left standing. So it seems to me that all that is done in a spirit of truth creates in those who benefit by it an undying affection.,2. Therefore we may justly cite the current saying that he had been foiled not at the door but in the street. (From Plutarch, Philopoemen 21),3. There were many statues and many decrees in his honour in the different cities, and a certain Roman at the time so disastrous to Greece, when Corinth was destroyed, attempted to destroy them all, and, as it were, to expel him from the country, accusing him as if he were still alive of being hostile and ill-disposed to the Romans. But on the matter being discussed and on Polybius refuting the false accusation, neither Mummius nor the legates would suffer the honours of the celebrated man to be destroyed.,4. Polybius set himself to give full information to the legates about Philopoemen, corresponding to what I originally stated about this statesman.,5. And that was, that he often was opposed to the orders of the Romans, but that his opposition was confined to giving information and advice about disputed points, and this always with due consideration.,6. A real proof of his attitude, he said, was that in the wars with Antiochus and Philip he did, as the saying is, save them from the fire.,7. For then, being the most influential man in Greece owing to his personal power and that of the Achaean League, he in the truest sense maintained his friendship for Rome, helping to carry the decree of the league, in which four months before the Romans crossed to Greece the Achaeans decided to make war from Achaea on Antiochus and the Aetolians, nearly all the other Greeks being at the time ill-disposed to Rome.,9. The ten legates therefore, giving ear to this and approving the attitude of the speaker, permitted the tokens of honour Philopoemen had received in all the towns to remain undisturbed.,10. Polybius, availing himself of this concession, begged the general to return the portraits, although they had been already carried away from the Peloponnesus to Acaria â I refer to the portraits of Achaeus, of Aratus, and of Philopoemen.,11. The people so much admired Polybius's conduct in the matter that they erected a marble statue of him. |
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2. Cicero, In Verrem, 2.4.4-2.4.6, 2.4.98, 2.4.126, 2.5.124 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52, 55, 156, 308 | 2.4.4. There was in the house of Heius a private chapel of great sacredness, handed down to him from his ancestors, very ancient; in which he had four very beautiful statues, made with the greatest skill, and of very high character; calculated not only to delight Verres, that clever and accomplished man, but even any one of us whom he calls the mob: — one, a statue of Cupid, in marble, a work of Praxiteles; for in truth, while I have been inquiring into that man's conduct, I have learnt the names of the workmen; it was the same workman, as I imagine, who made that celebrated Cupid of the same figure as this which is at Thespiae, on account of which people go to see Thespiae, for there is no other reason for going to see it; and therefore that great man Lucius Mummius, when he carried away from that town the statues of the Muses which are now before the Temple of Felicitas, and the other statues which were not consecrated, did not touch this marble Cupid, because it had been consecrated. [3] 2.4.98. Are you, forsooth, the only man who delights in Corinthian vases? Are you the best judge in the world of the mixture of that celebrated bronze, and of the delicate tracery of that work? Did not the great Scipio, that most learned and accomplished man, under stand it too? But do you, a man without one single virtue, without education, without natural ability, and without any information, understand them and value them? Beware lest he be seen to have surpassed you and those other men who wished to be thought so elegant, not only in temperance, but in judgment and taste; for it was because he thoroughly understood how beautiful they were, that he thought that they were made, not for the luxury of men, but for the ornamenting of temples and cities, in order that they might appear to our posterity to be holy and sacred monuments. [45] 2.4.126. For the Sappho which was taken away out of the town-hall affords you so reasonable an excuse, that it may seem almost allowable and pardonable. That work of Silanion, so perfect, so elegant, so elaborate, (I will not say what private man, but) what nation could be so worthy to possess, as the most elegant and learned Verres? Certainly, nothing will be said against it. If any one of us, who are not as happy, who cannot be as refined as that man, should wish to behold anything of the sort, let him go to the temple of Good Fortune, to the monument of Catulus, to the portico of Metellus; let him take pains to get admittance into the Tusculan villa of any one of those men; let him see the forum when decorated, if Verres is ever so kind as to lend any of his treasures to the aediles. Shall Verres have all these things at home? shall Verres have his house full of his villas crammed with, the ornaments of temples and cities? Will you still, O judges, bear with the hobby, as he calls it, and pleasures of this vile artisan? a man who was born in such a rank, educated in such a way, and who is so formed both in mind and body, that he appears a much fitter person to take down statues than to appropriate them. |
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3. Varro, On The Latin Language, 5.66 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52 | 5.66. This same thing the more ancient name of Jupiter shows even better: for of old he was called Diovis and Diespiter, that is, dies pater 'Father Day'; from which they who come from him are called dei 'deities,' and dius 'god' and divum 'sky,' whence sub divo 'under the sky,' and Dius Fidius 'god of faith.' Thus from this reason the roof of his temple is pierced with holes, that in this way the divum, which is the caelum 'sky,' may be seen. Some say that it is improper to take an oath by his name, when you are under a roof. Aelius said that Dius Fidius was a son of Diovis, just as the Greeks call Castor the son of Zeus, and he thought that he was Sancus in the Sabine tongue, and Hercules in Greek. He is likewise called Dispater in his lowest capacity, when he is joined to the earth, where all things vanish away even as they originate; and because he is the end of these ortus 'creations,' he is called Orcus. |
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4. Strabo, Geography, 9.2.25, 14.1.14 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 55 | 9.2.25. The Thespiae of today is by Antimachus spelled Thespeia; for there are many names of places which are used in both ways, both in the singular and in the plural, just as there are many which are used both in the masculine and in the feminine, whereas there are others which are used in either one or the other number only. Thespiae is a city near Mt. Helicon, lying somewhat to the south of it; and both it and Helicon are situated on the Crisaean Gulf. It has a seaport Creusa, also called Creusis. In the Thespian territory, in the part lying towards Helicon, is Ascre, the native city of Hesiod; it is situated on the right of Helicon, on a high and rugged place, and is about forty stadia distant from Thespiae. This city Hesiod himself has satirized in verses which allude to his father, because at an earlier time his father changed his abode to this place from the Aeolian Cyme, saying: And he settled near Helicon in a wretched village, Ascre, which is bad in winter, oppressive in summer, and pleasant at no time. Helicon is contiguous to Phocis in its northerly parts, and to a slight extent also in its westerly parts, in the region of the last harbor belonging to Phocis, the harbor which, from the fact in the case, is called Mychus (inmost depth); for, speaking generally, it is above this harbor of the Crisaean Gulf that Helicon and Ascre, and also Thespiae and its seaport Creusa, are situated. This is also considered the deepest recess of the Crisaean Gulf, and in general of the Corinthian Gulf. The length of the coastline from the harbor Mychus to Creusa is ninety stadia; and the length from Creusa as far as the promontory called Holmiae is one hundred and twenty; and hence Pagae and Oinoe, of which I have already spoken, are situated in the deepest recess of the gulf. Now Helicon, not far distant from Parnassus, rivals it both in height and in circuit; for both are rocky and covered with snow, and their circuit comprises no large extent of territory. Here are the sanctuary of the Muses and Hippu-crene and the cave of the nymphs called the Leibethrides; and from this fact one might infer that those who consecrated Helicon to the Muses were Thracians, the same who dedicated Pieris and Leibethrum and Pimpleia to the same goddesses. The Thracians used to be called Pieres, but, now that they have disappeared, the Macedonians hold these places. It has been said that Thracians once settled in this part of Boeotia, having overpowered the Boeotians, as did also Pelasgians and other barbarians. Now in earlier times Thespiae was well known because of the Eros of Praxiteles, which was sculptured by him and dedicated by Glycera the courtesan (she had received it as a gift from the artist) to the Thespians, since she was a native of the place. Now in earlier times travellers would go up to Thespeia, a city otherwise not worth seeing, to see the Eros; and at present it and Tanagra are the only Boeotian cities that still endure; but of all the rest only ruins and names are left. 14.1.14. The distance from the Trogilian promontory to Samos is forty stadia. Samos faces the south, both it and its harbor, which latter has a naval station. The greater part of it is on level ground, being washed by the sea, but a part of it reaches up into the mountain that lies above it. Now on the right, as one sails towards the city, is the Poseidium, a promontory which with Mt. Mycale forms the seven-stadia strait; and it has a temple of Poseidon; and in front of it lies an isle called Narthecis; and on the left is the suburb near the Heraion, and also the Imbrasus River, and the Heraion, an ancient sanctuary and large temple, which is now a picture gallery. Apart from the number of the paintings placed inside, there are other picture galleries and some little temples [naiskoi] full of ancient art. And the area open to the sky is likewise full of most excellent statues. of these, three of colossal size, the work of Myron, stood upon one base; Antony took these statues away, but Augustus Caesar restored two of them, those of Athena and Heracles, to the same base, although he transferred the Zeus to the Capitolium, having erected there a small chapel for that statue. |
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| 5. Ovid, Tristia, 3.1.61 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52 |
6. Ovid, Fasti, 6.213-6.218 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52| 6.213. Quaerebam, Nonas Sanco Fidione referrem, 6.214. an tibi, Semo pater; tum mihi Sancus ait: 6.215. ‘cuicumque ex istis dederis, ego munus habebo: 6.216. nomina terna fero: sic voluere Cures.’ 6.217. hunc igitur veteres donarunt aede Sabini 6.218. inque Quirinali constituere iugo. | 6.213. I asked whether I should assign the Nones to Sancus, 6.214. Or Fidius, or you Father Semo: Sancus answered me: 6.215. ‘Whichever you assign it to, the honour’s mine: 6.216. I bear all three names: so Cures willed it.’ 6.217. The Sabines of old granted him a shrine accordingly, 6.218. And established it on the Quirinal Hill. |
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7. Livy, History, 5.21.1-5.21.4, 5.22.3-5.22.8, 9.40.16, 39.5 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 11, 156| 5.21.1. ingens profecta multitudo replevit castra. tum dictator auspicato egressus, 5.21.2. cum edixisset, ut arma milites caperent, “tuo ductu” inquit, “Pythice Apollo, tuoque numine instinctus pergo ad delendam urbem Veios tibique hinc decimam partem praedae voveo. te simul, 5.21.3. Iuno regina, quae nunc Veios colis, precor, ut nos victores in nostram tuamque mox futuram urbem sequare, ubi te dignum amplitudine tua templum accipiat.” 5.21.4. haec precatus superante multitudine ab omnibus locis urbem adgreditur, quo minor ab cuniculo ingruentis periculi sensus esset. 5.22.4. namque delecti ex omni exercitu iuvenes pure lautis corporibus, candida veste, quibus deportanda Romam regina Iuno adsignata erat, venerabundi templum iniere primo religiose admoventes manus, quod id signum more Etrusco nisi certae gentis sacerdos adtrectare non esset solitus. 5.22.6. inde fabulae adiectum est vocem quoque dicentis velle auditam; motam certe sede sua parvi molimenti adminiculis sequentis modo accepimus levem ac facilem tralatu fuisse integramque in Aventinum, 5.22.7. aeternam sedem suam, quo vota Romani dictatoris vocaverant, perlatam, ubi templum ei postea idem, qui voverat, Camillus dedicavit. Hic hic Veiorum occasus fuit, 5.22.8. urbis opulentissimae Etrusci nominis, magnitudinem suam vel ultima clade indicantis, quod decem aestates hiemesque continuas circumsessa, cum plus aliquanto cladium intulisset quam accepisset, postremo iam fato quoque urgente operibus tamen, non vi expugnata est. | 5.21.1. An enormous crowd went and filled the camp. After the Dictator had taken the auspices and issued orders for the soldiers to arm for battle, he uttered this prayer: [2] ‘Pythian Apollo, guided and inspired by thy will I go forth to destroy the city of Veii, and a tenth part of its spoils I devote to thee. 5.21.3. Thee too, Queen Juno, who now dwellest in Veii, I beseech, that thou wouldst follow us, after our victory, to the City which is ours and which will soon be thine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty will receive thee.’ [4] After this prayer, finding himself superior in numbers, he attacked the city on all sides, to distract the enemies' attention from the impending danger of the mine. [5] The Veientines, all unconscious that their doom had already been sealed by their own prophets and by oracles in foreign lands, that some of the gods had already been invited to their share in the spoils, whilst others, called upon in prayer to leave their city, were looking to new abodes in the temples of their foes; 5.22.6. The rest exclaimed that the goddess nodded assent. An addition to the story was made to the effect that she was heard to say, ‘I am willing.’ [7] At all events we have it that she was moved from her place by appliances of little power, and proved light and easy of transport, as though she were following of her own accord. [8] She was brought without mishap to the Aventine, her everlasting seat, whither the prayers of the Roman Dictator had called her, and where this same Camillus afterwards dedicated the temple which he had vowed. Such was the fall of Veii, the most wealthy city of the Etruscan league, showing its greatness even in its final overthrow, since after being besieged for ten summers and winters and inflicting more loss than it sustained, it succumbed at last to destiny, being after all carried by a mine and not by direct assault. |
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| 8. Horace, Sermones, 1.3.90-1.3.91 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52 |
| 9. Vitruvius Pollio, On Architecture, 3.2.5 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 259 |
| 10. Propertius, Elegies, 2.31.3-2.31.4 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52 |
| 11. Tacitus, Histories, 1.36 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156 |
| 12. Plutarch, Philopoemen, 21.6 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 55 |
13. Plutarch, Lucullus, 37.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156| 37.2. ἐλθόντος δʼ εἰς ἀγῶνα τοῦ Λουκούλλου μέγαν οἱ πρῶτοι καὶ δυνατώτατοι καταμίξαντες ἑαυτοὺς ταῖς φυλαῖς πολλῇ δεήσει καὶ σπουδῇ μόλις ἔπεισαν τὸν δῆμον ἐπιτρέψαι θριαμβεῦσαι, οὐχ, ὥσπερ ἔνιοι, μήκει τε πομπῆς καὶ πλήθει τῶν κομιζομένων ἐκπληκτικὸν καὶ ὀχλώδη θρίαμβον, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν ὅπλοις τῶν πολεμίων οὖσι παμπόλλοις καὶ τοῖς βασιλικοῖς μηχανήμασι τὸν Φλαμίνειον ἱππόδρομον διεκόσμησε· καὶ θέα τις ἦν αὐτὴ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητος· | 37.2. Lucullus strove mightily against this decision, and the foremost and most influential men mingled with the tribes, and by much entreaty and exertion at last persuaded the people to allow him to celebrate a triumph; not, however, like some, a triumph which was startling and tumultuous from the length of the procession and the multitude of objects displayed. Instead, he decorated the circus of Flaminius with the arms of the enemy, which were very numerous, and with the royal engines of war; and this was a great spectacle in itself, and far from contemptible. |
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| 14. Plutarch, Galba, 26.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156 |
| 15. Plutarch, Comparison of Dion And Brutus, 5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156 |
16. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 5.128, 34.31, 35.114, 35.127, 35.139, 35.173, 36.14, 36.22, 36.24, 36.26-36.29, 36.35, 36.42-36.43, 36.114, 37.11, 37.13-37.14 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52, 55, 156, 259, 261 | 34.31. Some people have reported that misy is made by burning mineral in trenches, its fine yellow powder mixing itself with the ash of the pine wood burnt; but as a matter of fact though got from the mineral above mentioned, it is part of its substance and separated from it by force, the best kind being obtained in the copper-factories of Cyprus, its marks being that when broken it sparkles like gold and when it is ground it has a sandy appearance, without earth, unlike chalcitis. A mixture of misy is employed in the magical purification of gold. Mixed with oil of roses it makes a useful infusion for suppurating ears and applied on wool a serviceable plaster for ulcers of the head. It also reduces chronic roughness of the eyelids, and is especially useful for the tonsils and against quinsy and suppurations. The method is to boil 16 drams of it in a twelfth of a pint of vinegar with honey added till it becomes of a viscous consistency: this makes a useful preparation for the purposes above mentioned. When it is necessary to make it softer, honey is sprinkled on it. It also removes the callosity of fistulous ulcers when the patients use it with vinegar as a fomentation; and it is used as an ingredient in eye-salves, arrests haemorrhage and creeping or putrid ulcers, and reduces fleshy excrescences. It is particularly useful for troubles in the sexual organs in the male, and it checks menstruation. 36.14. Monoliths of this granite were made by the kings, to some extent in rivalry with one another. They called them obelisks and dedicated them to the Sun-god. An obelisk is a symbolic representation of the sun's rays, and this is the meaning of the Egyptian word for it. [Tekhen/sunbeam/obelisk] The first of all the kings to undertake such a task was Mesphres [Menes? ], who ruled at Heliopolis, the city of the Sun, and was commanded to do so in a dream. This very fact is inscribed on the obelisk; for those carvings and symbols that we see are Egyptian letters. Later, other kings also cut obelisks. Sesothes set up four of them in the city just mentioned, these being 48 cubits in height, while Rameses, who ruled at the time of the capture of Troy, erected one of 140 cubits. Rameses also erected another at the exit from the precinct where the palace of Mnevis once stood, and this is 120 cubits high, but abnormally thick, each side measuring 11 cubits. The completion of this work is said to have required 120,000 men. When the obelisk was about to be erected, the king feared that the scaffolding would not be strong enough for the weight, and in order to force an even greater danger upon the attention of the workmen, he himself tied his son to the pinnacle, intending that the stone should share the benefit of his deliverance at the hands of the labourers. This work was so greatly admired that when Cambyses was storming the city and the conflagration had reached the base of the obelisk, he ordered the fires to be put out, thus showing his respect for the mighty block when he had felt none for the city itself. There are also two other obelisks here, one set up by Zmarres, and the other by Phius: a both lack inscriptions and are 48 cubits in height. At Alexandria Ptolemy Philadelphus erected one of 80 cubits. This had been hewn uninscribed by King Neethebis, and it proved to be a greater achievement to carry it down the river and erect it than to have quarried it. According to some authorities, it was carried downstream by the engineer Satyrus on a raft; but according to Callixenus it was conveyed by Phoenix, who by digging a canal brought the waters of the Nile right up to the place where the obelisk lay. Two very broad ships were loaded with cubes of the same granite as that of the obelisk, each cube measuring one foot, until calculations showed that the total weight of the blocks was double that of the obelisk, since their total cubic capacity was twice as great. In this way, the ships were able to come beneath the obelisk, which was suspended by its ends from both banks of the canal. Then the blocks were unloaded and the ships, riding high, took the weight of the obelisk. It was erected on six stone baulks from the same quarries, and the deviser of the scheme received 50 talents for his services. The obelisk was once in the Arsinoeum, having been placed there by the king to whom we previously referred as a tribute to his affection for his wife and sister Arsinoe. From there, because it was in the way of the dockyards, it was moved to the market-place by a certain Maximus, a governor of Egypt, who cut off the point, intending to add a gilt pinnacle in its place, a plan which he later abandoned. There are two other obelisks at Alexandria in the precinct of the temple of Caesar near the harbour. These were cut by King Mesphres and measure 42 cubits., Above all, there came also the difficult task of transporting obelisks to Rome by sea. The ships used attracted much attention from sightseers. That which carried the first of two obelisks was solemnly laid up by Augustus of revered memory in a permanent dock at Pozzuoli to celebrate the remarkable achievement; but later it was destroyed by fire. The ship used by the Emperor Gaius for bringing a third was carefully preserved for several years by Claudius of revered memory, for it was the most amazing thing that had ever been seen at sea. Then caissons made of cement were erected in its hull at Pozzuoli; whereupon it was towed to Ostia and sunk there by order of the emperor, so to contribute to his harbour-works. Then there is another problem, that of providing ships that can carry obelisks up the Tiber; and the successful experiment shows that the river has just as deep a channel as the Nile. The obelisk placed by Augustus of revered memory in the Circus Maximus was cut by King Psemetnepserphreus, who was reigning when Pythagoras was in Egypt, and measures 85 feet and 9 inches, apart from its base, which forms part of the same stone. The obelisk in the Campus Martius, however, which is 9 feet less, was cut by Sesothis. Both have inscriptions comprising an account of natural science according to the theories of the Egyptian sages. 36.22. At Cyzicus too there survives a temple; and here a small gold tube was inserted into every vertical joint of the dressed stonework by the architect, who was to place within the shrine an ivory statue of Jupiter with a marble Apollo crowning him. Consequently very fine filaments of light shine through the interstices and a gentle refreshing breeze plays on the statues. Apart from the ingenuity of the architect, the very material of his device, hidden though it may be, is appreciated as enhancing the value of the whole work. 36.24. But this is indeed the moment for us to pass on to the wonders of our own city, to review the resources derived from the experiences of 800 years, and to show that here too in our buildings we have vanquished the world; and the frequency of this occurrence will be proved to match within a little the number of marvels that we shall describe. If we imagine the whole agglomeration of our buildings massed together and placed on one great heap, we shall see such grandeur towering above us as to make us think that some other world were being described, all concentrated in one single place. Even if we are not to include among our great achievements the Circus Maximus built by Julius Caesar, three furlongs in length and one in breadth, but with nearly three acres of buildings and seats for 250,000, should we not mention among our truly noble buildings the Basilica of Paulus, so remarkable for its columns from Phrygia, or the Forum of Augustus of revered memory or the Temple of Peace built by his Imperial Majesty the Emperor Vespasian, buildings the most beautiful the world has ever seen? Should we not mention also the roof of Agrippa's Ballot office, although at Rome long before this the architect Valerius of Ostia had roofed a whole theatre for Libo's games? We admire the pyramids of kings when Julius Caesar gave 100,000,000 sesterces merely for the ground on which his forum was to be built, and Clodius, who was killed by Milo, paid 14,800,000 sesterces (if references to expenditure can impress anyone now that miserliness has become an obsession) just for the house in which he lived. This amazes me for my part just as much as the mad schemes of kings; and therefore I regard the fact that Milo himself incurred debts amounting to 70,000,000 sesterces as one of the oddest manifestations of the human character. But at that time elderly men still admired the vast dimensions of the Rampart, the substructures of the Capitol and, furthermore, the city sewers, the most noteworthy achievement of all, seeing that hills were tunnelled and Rome, as we mentioned a little earlier, became a hanging city, beneath which men travelled in boats during Marcus Agrippa's term as aedile after his consulship. Through the city there flow seven rivers meeting in one channel. These, rushing downwards like mountain torrents, are constrained to sweep away and remove everything in their path, and when they are thrust forward by an additional volume of rain water, they batter the bottom and sides of the sewers. Sometimes the backwash of the Tiber floods the sewers and makes its way along them upstream. Then the raging flood waters meet head on within the sewers, and even so the unyielding strength of the fabric resists the strain. In the streets above, massive blocks of stone are dragged along, and yet the tunnels do not cave in. They are pounded by falling buildings, which collapse of their own accord or are brought crashing to the ground by fire. The ground is shaken by earth tremors; but in spite of all, for 700 years from the time of Tarquinius Priscus, the channels have remained well-nigh impregnable. We should not fail to mention an occasion that is all the more worthy of record because the best-known historians have overlooked it. Tarquinius Priscus was carrying out the work using the common folk as his labourers, and it became doubtful whether the toil was to be more notable for its intensity or for its duration. Since the citizens were seeking to escape from their exhaustion by committing suicide wholesale, the king devised a strange remedy that was never contrived except on that one occasion. He crucified the bodies of all who had died by their own hands, leaving them to be gazed at by their fellow-citizens and also torn to pieces by beasts and birds of prey. Consequently, the sense of shame, which is so characteristic of the Romans as a nation and has so often restored a desperate situation on the battlefield, then too came to their aid; but this time it imposed upon them at the very moment when they blushed for their honour, since they felt ashamed while alive under the illusion that they would feel equally ashamed when dead. Tarquin is said to have made the tunnels large enough to allow the passage of a waggon fully loaded with hay., The works that we have so far mentioned amount in all to little; and before we touch upon fresh topics we will show that just one marvel by itself bears comparison with them all. Our most scrupulous authorities are agreed that in the consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus as fine a house as any in Rome was that of Lepidus himself; but, I swear, within 35 years the same house was not among the first hundred. Confronted by this assessment, anyone who so wishes may count the cost of the masses of marble, the paintings, the regal budgets, the cost, in fact, of a hundred houses, each of which rivalled one that had been the finest and the most highly appreciated in its time, houses that were themselves to be surpassed by countless others right up to the present day. Fires, we may be sure, are punishments inflicted upon us for our extravagance; and even so, human nature cannot be made to understand that there are things more mortal than man himself., However, all these houses were surpassed by two. Twice have we seen the whole city girdled by imperial palaces, those of Gaius and Nero, the latter's palace, to crown all, being indeed a House of Gold. Such, doubtless, were the dwellings of those who made this empire great, who went straight from plough or hearth to conquer nations and win triumphs, whose very lands occupied a smaller space than those emperors' sitting-rooms! Indeed, one begins to reflect how small in comparison with those palaces were the building-sites formally granted by the state to invincible generals for their private houses. The highest distinction that these houses displayed was one accorded, for example, after his many services to Publius Valerius Publicola, the first of our consuls along with Lucius Brutus, and to his brother, who — also as consul — inflicted two crushing defeats on the Sabines. I refer to the additional decree which provided that the doors of their houses should be made to open outwards so that the portals could be flung open on to the public highway. This was the most notable mark of distinction in the houses even of men who had celebrated a triumph., I shall not allow these two birds of a feather, two Gaiuses or two Neros as you please, to enjoy unchallenged even renown such as this; and so I shall show that even their madness was outdone by the resources of a private individual, Marcus Scaurus, whose aedileship may perhaps have done more than anything to undermine morality, and whose powerful ascendancy may have been a more mischievous achievement on the part of his stepfather Sulla than the killing by proscription of so many thousands of people. As aedile he constructed the greatest of all the works ever made by man, a work that surpassed not merely those erected for a limited period but even those intended to last for ever. This was his theatre, which had a stage arranged in three storeys with 360 columns; and this, if you please, in a community that had not tolerated the presence of six columns of Hymettus marble without reviling a leading citizen. The lowest storey of the stage was of marble, and the middle one of glass (an extravagance unparalleled even in later times), while the top storey was made of gilded planks. The columns of the lowest storey were, as I have stated, each 38 feet high. The bronze statues in the spaces between the columns numbered 3000, as I mentioned earlier. As for the auditorium, it accommodated 80,000; and yet that of Pompey's theatre amply meets all requirements with seats for 40,000 even though the city is so many times larger and the population so much more numerous than it was at that time. The rest of the equipment, with dresses of cloth of gold, scene paintings and other properties was on so lavish a scale that when the surplus knick-knacks that could be put to ordinary use were taken to Scaurus' villa at Tusculum and the villa itself set on fire and burnt down by the indigt servants, the loss was estimated at 30,000,000 sesterces., Thoughts of this wasteful behaviour distract our attention and force us to leave our intended course, since with this theatre they cause us to associate another, even more frenzied, fantasy in wood. Gaius Curio, who died during the Civil War while fighting on Caesar's side, could not hope, in the entertainment which he provided in honour of his father's funeral, to outstrip Scaurus in the matter of costly embellishments. For where was he to find a stepfather like Sulla or a mother like Metella, who speculated by buying up the property of the proscribed, or a father like Marcus Scaurus, who was for so long a leader in the government and acted for Marius and his cronies as their receiver of goods plundered from the provinces? Even Scaurus himself could no longer have matched his own achievement, for since he had collected his material from all parts of the world, he gained at any rate one advantage from that fire, namely that it was impossible in the future for anyone to emulate his madness. Curio, therefore, had to use his wits and devise some ingenious scheme. It is worth our while to be acquainted with his discovery, and so to be thankful for our modern code of morality and call ourselves 'elders and betters,' reversing the usual meaning of the term. He built close to each other two very large wooden theatres, each poised and balanced on a revolving pivot. During the forenoon, a performance of a play was given in both of them and they faced in opposite directions so that the two casts should not drown each other's words. Then all of a sudden the theatres revolved (and it is agreed that after the first few days they did so with some of the spectators actually remaining in their seats), their corners met, and thus Curio provided an amphitheatre in which he produced fights between gladiators, though they were less in chancery than the Roman people itself as it was whirled around by Curio. Truly, what should first astonish one in this, the inventor or the invention, the designer or the sponsor, the fact that a man dared to plan the work, or to undertake it, or to commission it? What will prove to be more amazing than anything is the madness of a people that was bold enough to take its place in such treacherous, rickety seats. Here we have the nation that has conquered the earth, that has subdued the whole world, that distributes tribes and kingdoms, that despatches its dictates to foreign peoples, that is heaven's representative, so to speak, among mankind, swaying on a contraption and applauding its own danger! What a contempt for life this showed! What force now have our complaints of the lives lost at Cannae! What a disaster it could have been! When the earth yawns and cities are engulfed, whole communities grieve. Here the entire Roman people, as if on board two frail boats, was supported by a couple of pivots, and was entertained with the spectacle of its very self risking its life in the fighting arena, doomed, as it was, to perish at some moment or other if the framework were wrenched out of place. And the aim, after all, was merely to win favour for the speeches that Curio would make as tribune, so that he might continue to agitate the swaying voters, since on the speaker's platform he would shrink from nothing in addressing men whom he had persuaded to submit to such treatment. For, if we must confess the truth, it was the whole Roman people that struggled for its life in the arena at the funeral games held at his father's tomb. When the pivots of the theatres were worn and displaced he altered this ostentatious display of his. He kept to the shape of the amphitheatre, and on the final day gave athletic displays on the two stages as they stood back to back across the middle of the arena. Then suddenly the platforms were swept away on either side, and during the same day he brought on those of his gladiators who had won their earlier contests. And Curio was not a king nor an emperor nor, indeed, was he particularly rich, seeing that his only ficial asset was the feud that had arisen between the heads of state., But we must go on to describe marvels which are unsurpassed in virtue of their genuine value. Quintus Marcius Rex, having been ordered by the senate to repair the conduits of the Aqua Appia, the Anio, and the Tepula, drove underground passages through the mountains and brought to Rome a new water-supply called by his own name and completed within the period of his praetorship. Agrippa, moreover, as aedile added to these the Aqua Virgo, repaired the channels of the others and put them in order, and constructed 700 basins, not to speak of 500 fountains and 130 distribution-reservoirs, many of the latter being richly decorated. He erected on these works 300 bronze or marble statues and 400 marble pillars; and all of this he carried out in a year. He himself in the memoirs of his aedileship adds that in celebration games lasting for 59 days were held, and the bathing establishments were thrown open to the public free of charge, all 170 of them, a number which at Rome has now been infinitely increased. But all previous aqueducts have been surpassed by the most recent and very costly work inaugurated by the Emperor Gaius and completed by Claudius, inasmuch as the Curtian and Caerulean Springs, as well as the Anio Novus, were made to flow into Rome from the 40th milestone at such a high level as to supply water to all the seven hills of the city, the sum spent on the work amounting to 350,000,000 sesterces. If we take into careful consideration the abundant supplies of water in public buildings, baths, pools, open channels, private houses, gardens and country estates near the city; if we consider the distances traversed by the water before it arrives, the raising of arches, the tunnelling of mountains and the building of level routes across deep valleys, we shall readily admit that there has never been anything more remarkable in the whole world. One of the most remarkable achievements of the same emperor, Claudius, neglected, though it was, by his malicious successor, is, in my opinion at least, the channel that he dug through a mountain to drain the Fucine Lake. This, I need hardly say, entailed the expenditure of an indescribably large sum of money and the employment for many years of a horde of workers because, where earth formed the interior of the mountain, the water channel had to be cleared by lifting the spoil to the top of the shafts on hoists and everywhere else solid rock had to be cut away, and operations underground (and how vast they were!) had to be carried out in darkness, operations which only those who witnessed them can envisage and no human utterance can describe. Incidentally, I must forbear to mention the harbour works at Ostia, and likewise the roads driven through hills in cuttings, the moles that were built to separate the Tyrrhenian sea from the Lucrine Lake, and all the bridges erected at such great cost. Among the many marvels of Italy itself is one for which the accomplished natural scientist Papirius Fabianus vouches, namely that marble actually grows in its quarries; and the quarrymen, moreover, assert that the scars on the mountain sides fill up of their own accord. If this is true, there is reason to hope that there will always be marble sufficient to satisfy luxury's demands. 36.26. It is said that a stone from the island of Syros floats on the waves, but that it sinks when it has been broken into small pieces. 36.27. At Assos in the Troad we find the Sarcophagus stone, which splits along a line of cleavage. It is well known that corpses buried in it are consumed within a period of forty days, except for the teeth: Mucianus vouches for the fact that mirrors, scrapers, clothes and shoes placed upon the dead bodies are turned to stone as well. There are similar stones both in Lycia and in the East; and these, when attached even to living persons, eat away their bodies. 36.28. However, there are stones that are gentler in their effects in that they preserve a body without consuming it, for example, the 'chernites,' which closely resembles ivory and is said to be the material of which the coin of Darius is said to have been made, and, again, a stone called 'porus,' which is similar to Parian marble in whiteness and hardness, only not so heavy. Theophrastus is our authority also for a translucent Egyptian stone said by him to be similar to Chian marble. Such a stone may have existed in his time: stones cease to be found and new ones are discovered in turn., The stone of Assos, which has a salty taste, relieves gout if the feet are plunged into a vessel hollowed out of it. Moreover, all affections of the legs are cured in the quarries where it is hewn, whereas in all mines the legs are attacked by ailments. Belonging to the same stone is what is called the efflorescence, which is soft enough to form powder and is just as effective as the stone for certain purposes. It looks, incidentally, like reddish pumice. Combined with Cyprian wax it cures affections of the breasts, and, if mixed with pitch or resin, disperses scrofulous sores and superficial abscesses. Taken as an electuary it is also good for consumption. When blended with honey, it causes scars to form over chronic sores, reduces excrescences of flesh and dries up matter discharging from a bite when it will not yield to other treatment. In cases of gout a plaster is made of it with an admixture of bean-meal. 36.29. Theophrastus, again, and Mucianus express the opinion that there are certain stones that give birth to other stones. Theophrastus states also that fossil ivory coloured black and white is found, that bones are produced from the earth and that stones resembling bones come to light., In the neighbourhood of Munda in Spain, the place where Julius Caesar defeated Cn. Pompeius, occur stones containing the likeness of a palm branch, which appears whenever they are broken. There are also black stones, like that of Taenarum, that have come to be esteemed as much as any marble. Varro states that black stones from Africa are harder than the Italian, but that, on the other hand, the white stone of Cora is harder than that of Paros. He mentions too that Carrara stone can be cut with a saw, that Tusculan stone is split by fire and that the dark Sabine variety actually becomes bright if oil is poured on it. Varro also assures us that rotary querns have been found at Bolsena; and we find in records of miraculous occurrences that some querns have even moved of their own accord. 36.35. Sponge stones are found in sponges, and therefore belong to the sea. They are sometimes called in Greek stone-solvents because they cure affections of the bladder and break up stone in it if they are taken in wine. 36.42. We must not forget to discuss also the Pumice. characteristics of pumice. This name, of course, is given to the hollowed rocks in the buildings called by the Greeks Homes of the Muses, where such rocks hang from the ceilings so as to create an artificial imitation of a cave. But as for the pumice which is used as a depilatory for women, and nowadays also for men, and moreover, as Catullus reminds us, for books, the finest quality occurs in Melos, Nisyros, and the Aeolian Islands. The test of its quality is that it should be white, very light in weight, extremely porous and dry, and easy to grind, without being sandy when rubbed. In pharmacy it has a reducing and drying effect. It is calcined three times in a fire of pure charcoal and quenched the same number of times in white wine. It is then washed like cadmea, and having been dried is stored in a place as free from damp as possible. The powder is used mostly for eye-salves, since it gently cleanses ophthalmic ulcers and heals them, and removes the scars. Incidentally, some pharmacists, after calcining the pumice three times, prefer to let it cool rather than quench it, and then to pound it mixed with wine. It is added also to poultices, and is then most useful for treating sores on the head or the private parts. Tooth powders, too, are prepared from it. Theophrastus assures us that topers competing in drinking contests first take a dose of the powder, but states that they run a grave risk unless they fill themselves with wine at a single draught. He adds that the cooling properties of pumice are so powerful that new wine stops bubbling when pumice is added to it. 37.11. The next place among luxuries, although as yet it is fancied only by women, is held by amber. All the three substances now under discussion enjoy the same prestige as precious stones; but whereas there are proper reasons for this in the case of the two former substances, since rock-crystal vessels are used for cold drinks and myrrhine-ware for drinks both hot and cold, not even luxury has yet succeeded in inventing a justification for using amber., Here is an opportunity for exposing the falsehoods of the Greeks. I only ask my readers to endure these with patience since it is important for mankind just to know that not all that the Greeks have recounted deserves to be admired. The story how, when Phaethon was struck by the thunderbolt, his sisters through their grief were transformed into poplar trees, and how every year by the banks of the River Eridanus, which we call the Po, they shed tears of amber, known to the Greeks as 'electrum,' since they call the sun 'Elector' or 'the Shining One' — this story has been told by numerous poets, the first of whom, I believe, were Aeschylus, Philoxenus, Euripides, Nicander and Satyrus. Italy provides clear evidence that this story is false. More conscientious Greek writers have mentioned islands in the Adriatic named the Electrides, to which, they say, amber is carried along by the Po. It is quite certain, however, that no islands of this name ever existed there, and indeed that there are no islands so situated as to be within reach of anything carried downstream by the Po. Incidentally, Aeschylus says that the Eridanus is in Iberia — that is, in Spain — and that it is also called the Rhone, while Euripides and Apollonius, for their part, assert that the Rhone and the Po meet on the coast of the Adriatic. But such statements only make it easier to pardon their ignorance of amber when their ignorance of geography is so great. More cautious but equally misguided writers have described how on inaccessible rocks at the head of the Adriatic there stand trees which at the rising of the Dog-star shed this gum. Theophrastus states that amber is dug up in Liguria, while Chares states that Phaethon died in Ethiopia on an island the Greek name of which is the Isle of Ammon, and that here is his shrine and oracle, and here the source of amber. Philemon declares that it is a mineral which is dug up in two regions of Scythia, in one of which it is of a white, waxy colour and is called 'electrum,' while in the other it is tawny and known as 'snaliternicum.' Demonstratus calls amber 'lyncurium,' or 'lynx-urine,' and alleges that it is formed of the urine of the wild beasts known as lynxes, the males producing the kind that is tawny and fiery in colour, and the females, that which is fainter and light in colour. According to him, others call it 'langurium' and state that the beasts, which live in Italy, are 'languri.' Zenothemis calls the same beasts 'langes' and assigns them a habitat on the banks of the Po, while Sudines writes that a tree which produces amber in Liguria is called 'lynx.' Metrodorus also holds the same opinion. Sotacus believes that it flows from crags in Britain called the Electrides. Pytheas speaks of an estuary of the Ocean named Metuonis and extending for 750 miles, the shores of which are inhabited by a German tribe, the Guiones. From here it is a day's sail to the Isle of Abalus, to which, he states, amber is carried in spring by currents, being an excretion consisting of solidified brine. He adds that the inhabitants of the region use it as fuel instead of wood and sell it to the neighbouring Teutones. His belief is shared by Timaeus, who, however, calls the island Basilia. Philemon denies the suggestion that amber gives off a flame. Nicias insists on explaining amber as moisture from the sun's rays, as follows: he maintains that as the sun sets in the west its rays fall more powerfully upon the earth and leave there a thick exudation, which is later cast ashore in Germany by the tides of the Ocean. He mentions that amber is formed similarly in Egypt, where it is called 'sacal,' as well as in India, where the inhabitants find it more agreeable even than frankincense; and that in Syria the women make whorls of it and call it 'harpax,' or 'the snatcher,' because it picks up leaves, straws and the fringes of garments. Theochrestus holds that it is washed up on the capes of the Pyrenees by the Ocean in turmoil, a view which is shared by Xenocrates, the most recent writer on the subject, who is still living. Asarubas records that near the Atlantic is a Lake Cephisis, called by the Moors Electrum, which, when thoroughly heated by the sun, produces from its mud amber that floats upon the surface of its waters. Mnaseas speaks of a district in Africa called Sikyon and of a River Crathis flowing into the Ocean from a lake, on the shores of which live the birds known as Meleager's Daughters or Penelope Birds. Here amber is formed in the manner described above. Theomenes tells us that close to the Greater Syrtes is the Garden of the Hesperides and a pool called Electrum, where there are poplar trees from the tops of which amber falls into the pool, and is gathered by the daughters of Hesperus. Ctesias states that in India there is a River Hypobarus, a name which indicates that it is the bringer of all blessings. It flows from the north into the eastern Ocean near a thickly wooded mountain, the trees of which produce amber. These trees are called 'psitthacorae,' a word which means 'luscious sweetness.' Mithridates writes that off the coast of Carmania there is an island called Serita covered with a kind of cedar, from which amber flows down on to the rocks. Xenocrates asserts that amber in Italy is known not only as 'sucinum,' but also as 'thium'; and in Scythia as 'sacrium,' for there too it is found. He states that others suppose that it is produced from mud in Numidia. But all these authors are surpassed by the tragic poet Sophocles, and this greatly surprises me seeing that his tragedy is so serious and, moreover, his personal reputation in general stands so high, thanks to his noble Athenian lineage, his public achievements and his leadership of an army. Sophocles tells us how amber is formed in the lands beyond India from the tears shed for Meleager by the birds known as Meleager's Daughters. Is it not amazing that he should have held this belief or have hoped to persuade others to accept it? Can one imagine, one wonders, a mind so childish and naive as to believe in birds that weep every year or that shed such large tears or that once migrated from Greece, where Meleager died, to the Indies to mourn for him? Well then, are there not many other equally fabulous stories told by the poets? Yes; but that anyone should seriously tell such a story regarding such a substance as this, a substance that every day of our lives is imported and floods the market and so confutes the liar, is a gross insult to man's intelligence and an insufferable abuse of our freedom to utter falsehoods., It is well established that amber is a product of islands in the Northern Ocean, that it is known to the Germans as 'glaesum' and that, as a result, one of these islands, the native name of which is Austeravia, was nicknamed by our troops Glaesaria, or Amber Island, when Caesar Germanicus was conducting operations there with his naval squadrons. To resume, amber is formed of a liquid seeping from the interior of a species of pine, just as the gum in a cherry tree or the resin in a pine bursts forth when the liquid is excessively abundant. The exudation is hardened by frost or perhaps by moderate heat, or else by the sea, after a spring tide has carded off the pieces from the islands. At all events, the amber is washed up on the shores of the mainland, being swept along so easily that it seems to hover in the water without settling on the seabed. Even our forebears believed it to be a 'sucus,' or exudation, from a tree, and so named it 'sucinum.' That the tree to which it belongs is a species of pine is shown by the fact that it smells like a pine when it is rubbed, and burns like a pine torch, with the same strongly scented smoke, when it is kindled. It is conveyed by the Germans mostly into the province of Pannonia. From there it was first brought into prominence by the Veneti, known to the Greeks as the Enetoi, who are close neighbours of the Pannonians and live around the Adriatic. The reason for the story associated with the River Po is quite clear, for even today the peasant women of Transpadane Gaul wear pieces of amber as necklaces, chiefly as an adornment, but also because of its medicinal properties. Amber, indeed, is supposed to be a prophylactic against tonsillitis and other affections of the pharynx, for the water near the Alps has properties that harm the human throat in various ways. The distance from Carnuntum in Pannonia to the coasts of Germany from which amber is brought to us is some 600 miles, a fact which has been confirmed only recently. There is still living a Roman knight who was commissioned to procure amber by Julianus when the latter was in charge of a display of gladiators given by the Emperor Nero. This knight traversed both the trade-route and the coasts, and brought back so plentiful a supply that the nets used for keeping the beasts away from the parapet of the amphitheatre were knotted with pieces of amber. Moreover, the arms, biers and all the equipment used on one day, the display on each day being varied, had amber fittings. The heaviest lump that was brought by the knight to Rome weighed 13 pounds. It is certain that amber is to be found also in India. Archelaus, who was king of Cappadocia, relates that it is brought from India in the rough state with pine bark adhering to it, and that it is dressed by being boiled in the fat of a sucking-pig. That amber originates as a liquid exudation is shown by the presence of certain objects, such as ants, gnats and lizards, that are visible inside it. These must certainly have stuck to the fresh sap and have remained trapped inside it as it hardened. 37.14. Now I shall discuss those kinds of gemstones that are acknowledged as such, beginning with the finest. And this shall not be my only aim, but to the greater profit of mankind I shall incidentally confute the abominable falsehoods of the Magi, since in very many of their statements about gems they have gone far beyond providing an alluring substitute for medical science into the realms of the supernatural. |
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17. Suetonius, Caligula, 22.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52 | 22.2. But on being reminded that he had risen above the elevation both of princes and kings, he began from that time on to lay claim to divine majesty; for after giving orders that such statues of the gods as were especially famous for their sanctity or their artistic merit, including that of Jupiter of Olympia, should be brought from Greece, in order to remove their heads and put his own in their place, he built out a part of the Palace as far as the Forum, and making the temple of Castor and Pollux its vestibule, he often took his place between the divine brethren, and exhibited himself there to be worshipped by those who presented themselves; and some hailed him as Jupiter Latiaris. |
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| 18. Suetonius, Iulius, 10.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156 |
19. Martial, Epigrams, 12.15 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156 | 12.15. A COMPLIMENT TO TRAJAN, ON HIS MUNIFICENCE TO THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER: Everything that glittered in the Parrhasian palace has been given to our gods and to the eyes of all. Jupiter wonders at the Scythian radiance of the emeralds set in gold, and is amazed at the objects of imperial magnificence, and at luxuries so oppressive to the nation. Here are cups fit for the Thunderer; there for his Phrygian favourite. We all now rejoice with Jupiter. But very lately (and with shame, yes, with shame I confess it) we were all poor as well as Jupiter. |
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| 20. Appian, The Illyrian Wars, 28 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 259 |
21. Martial, Epigrams, 12.15 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156 | 12.15. A COMPLIMENT TO TRAJAN, ON HIS MUNIFICENCE TO THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER: Everything that glittered in the Parrhasian palace has been given to our gods and to the eyes of all. Jupiter wonders at the Scythian radiance of the emeralds set in gold, and is amazed at the objects of imperial magnificence, and at luxuries so oppressive to the nation. Here are cups fit for the Thunderer; there for his Phrygian favourite. We all now rejoice with Jupiter. But very lately (and with shame, yes, with shame I confess it) we were all poor as well as Jupiter. |
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22. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 14.72, 19.7, 19.10 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52, 55| 14.72. παρῆλθεν γὰρ εἰς τὸ ἐντὸς ὁ Πομπήιος καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν οὐκ ὀλίγοι καὶ εἶδον ὅσα μὴ θεμιτὸν ἦν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις ἢ μόνοις τοῖς ἀρχιερεῦσιν. ὄντων δὲ τραπέζης τε χρυσῆς καὶ λυχνίας ἱερᾶς καὶ σπονδείων καὶ πλήθους ἀρωμάτων, χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ἐν τοῖς θησαυροῖς ἱερῶν χρημάτων εἰς δύο χιλιάδας ταλάντων, οὐδενὸς ἥψατο δι' εὐσέβειαν, ἀλλὰ κἀν τούτῳ ἀξίως ἔπραξεν τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν ἀρετῆς. 19.7. τῶν τε ἱερῶν τῶν ̔Ελληνικῶν οὐδὲν ἔτι ἀσύλητον κατέλιπεν, ὁπόσα γραφῆς ἢ γλυφῆς ἐχόμενα καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς κατασκευὰς ἀνδριάντων καὶ ἀναθημάτων ἄγεσθαι κελεύσας παρ' αὐτόν: οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἑτέρῳ τὰ καλὰ κεῖσθαι καλῶς ἔχειν ἢ ἐν τῷ καλλίστῳ, τυγχάνειν δὲ τοῦτο οὖσαν τὴν ̔Ρωμαίων πόλιν. 19.7. Τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Χαιρέαν ὑπερβολαὶ τὸ καθ' ἡμέραν ἦσαν ὀκνούντων πολλῶν οὐ γὰρ Χαιρέας ἔσται ἑκὼν εἶναι τοῦ πράσσειν ἀναβολὴν ἐποιεῖτο, πάντα καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον τῇ πράξει νομίζων. | 14.72. for Pompey went into it, and not a few of those that were with him also, and saw all that which it was unlawful for any other men to see but only for the high priests. There were in that temple the golden table, the holy candlestick, and the pouring vessels, and a great quantity of spices; and besides these there were among the treasures two thousand talents of sacred money: yet did Pompey touch nothing of all this, on account of his regard to religion; and in this point also he acted in a manner that was worthy of his virtue. 19.7. Nor did he abstain from the plunder of any of the Grecian temples, and gave order that all the engravings and sculptures, and the rest of the ornaments of the statues and donations therein dedicated, should be brought to him, saying that the best things ought to be set no where but in the best place, and that the city of Rome was that best place. 19.10. and wrote to Caius those accounts, as his apology for not having done what his epistle required of him; and that when he was thence in danger of perishing, he was saved by Caius being dead himself, before he had put him to death. |
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| 23. Suetonius, Tiberius, 13.1 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 156, 259 |
24. Suetonius, Titus, 8.4 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 308 | 8.4. He chose commissioners by lot from among the ex-consuls for the relief of Campania; and the property of those who lost their lives by Vesuvius and had no heirs left alive he applied to the rebuilding of the buried cities. During the fire in Rome he made no remark except "I am ruined," and he set aside all the ornaments of his villas for the public buildings and temples, and put several men of the equestrian order in charge of the work, that everything might be done with the greater dispatch. For curing the plague and diminishing the force of the epidemic there was no aid, human or divine, which he did not employ, searching for every kind of sacrifice and all kinds of medicines. |
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| 25. Tacitus, Agricola, 6.5 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 55 |
26. Tacitus, Annals, 15.45, 16.23 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52| 16.23. At Baream Soranum iam sibi Ostorius Sabinus eques Romanus poposcerat reum ex proconsulatu Asiae, in quo offensiones principis auxit iustitia atque industria, et quia portui Ephesiorum aperiendo curam insumpserat vimque civitatis Pergamenae prohibentis Acratum, Caesaris libertum, statuas et picturas evehere inultam omiserat. sed crimini dabatur amicitia Plauti et ambitio conciliandae provinciae ad spes novas. tempus damnationi delectum, quo Tiridates accipiendo Armeniae regno adventabat, ut ad externa rumoribus intestinum scelus obscuraretur, an ut magnitudinem imperatoriam caede insignium virorum quasi regio facinore ostentaret. | 16.23. As to Barea Soranus, the Roman knight, Ostorius Sabinus, had already claimed him for his own, in a case arising from Soranus' proconsulate of Asia; during which he increased the emperor's malignity by his fairness and his energy, by the care he had spent upon clearing the harbour of Ephesus, and by his failure to punish the city of Pergamum for employing force to prevent the loot of its statues and paintings by the Caesarian freedman, Acratus. But the charges preferred were friendship with Plautus and popularity-hunting in his province with a view of the winning it for the cause of revolution. The time chosen for the condemnation was the moment when Tiridates was on the point of arriving to be invested with the crown of Armenia; the object being that, with public curiosity diverted to foreign affairs, domestic crime might be thrown into shadow, or, possibly, that the imperial greatness might be advertised by the royal feat of slaughtering illustrious men. < 16.23. As to Barea Soranus, the Roman knight, Ostorius Sabinus, had already claimed him for his own, in a case arising from Soranus' proconsulate of Asia; during which he increased the emperor's malignity by his fairness and his energy, by the care he had spent upon clearing the harbour of Ephesus, and by his failure to punish the city of Pergamum for employing force to prevent the loot of its statues and paintings by the Caesarian freedman, Acratus. But the charges preferred were friendship with Plautus and popularity-hunting in his province with a view of the winning it for the cause of revolution. The time chosen for the condemnation was the moment when Tiridates was on the point of arriving to be invested with the crown of Armenia; the object being that, with public curiosity diverted to foreign affairs, domestic crime might be thrown into shadow, or, possibly, that the imperial greatness might be advertised by the royal feat of slaughtering illustrious men. |
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27. Suetonius, Nero, 24.1-24.2, 32.4, 38.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52, 55 | 32.4. He never appointed anyone to an office without adding: "You know what my needs are," and "Let us see to it that no one possess anything." At last he stripped many temples of their gifts and melted down the images of gold and silver, including those of the Penates, which however Galba soon afterwards restored. |
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28. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.27.2-9.27.4 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 55, 259| 9.27.2. Ἔρωτα δὲ ἄνθρωποι μὲν οἱ πολλοὶ νεώτατον θεῶν εἶναι καὶ Ἀφροδίτης παῖδα ἥγηνται· Λύκιος δὲ Ὠλήν, ὃς καὶ τοὺς ὕμνους τοὺς ἀρχαιοτάτους ἐποίησεν Ἕλλησιν, οὗτος ὁ Ὠλὴν ἐν Εἰλειθυίας ὕμνῳ μητέρα Ἔρωτος τὴν Εἰλείθυιάν φησιν εἶναι. Ὠλῆνος δὲ ὕστερον Πάμφως τε ἔπη καὶ Ὀρφεὺς ἐποίησαν· καί σφισιν ἀμφοτέροις πεποιημένα ἐστὶν ἐς Ἔρωτα, ἵνα ἐπὶ τοῖς δρωμένοις Λυκομίδαι καὶ ταῦτα ᾄδωσιν· ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπελεξάμην ἀνδρὶ ἐς λόγους ἐλθὼν δᾳδουχοῦντι. καὶ τῶν μὲν οὐ πρόσω ποιήσομαι μνήμην· Ἡσίοδον δὲ ἢ τὸν Ἡσιόδῳ Θεογονίαν ἐσποιήσαντα οἶδα γράψαντα ὡς Χάος πρῶτον, ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτῷ Γῆ τε καὶ Τάρταρος καὶ Ἔρως γένοιτο· 9.27.3. Σαπφὼ δὲ ἡ Λεσβία πολλά τε καὶ οὐχ ὁμολογοῦντα ἀλλήλοις ἐς Ἔρωτα ᾖσε. Θεσπιεῦσι δὲ ὕστερον χαλκοῦν εἰργάσατο Ἔρωτα Λύσιππος, καὶ ἔτι πρότερον τούτου Πραξιτέλης λίθου τοῦ Πεντελῆσι. καὶ ὅσα μὲν εἶχεν ἐς Φρύνην καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ Πραξιτέλει τῆς γυναικὸς σόφισμα, ἑτέρωθι ἤδη μοι δεδήλωται· πρῶτον δὲ τὸ ἄγαλμα κινῆσαι τοῦ Ἔρωτος λέγουσι Γάιον δυναστεύσαντα ἐν Ῥώμῃ, Κλαυδίου δὲ ὀπίσω Θεσπιεῦσιν ἀποπέμψαντος Νέρωνα αὖθις δεύτερα ἀνάσπαστον ποιῆσαι. 9.27.4. καὶ τὸν μὲν φλὸξ αὐτόθι διέφθειρε· τῶν δὲ ἀσεβησάντων ἐς τὸν θεὸν ὁ μὲν ἀνθρώπῳ στρατιώτῃ διδοὺς ἀεὶ τὸ αὐτὸ σύνθημα μετὰ ὑπούλου χλευασίας ἐς τοσοῦτο προήγαγε θυμοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὥστε σύνθημα διδόντα αὐτὸν διεργάζεται, Νέρωνι δὲ παρὲξ ἢ τὰ ἐς τὴν μητέρα ἐστὶ καὶ ἐς γυναῖκας γαμετὰς ἐναγῆ τε καὶ ἀνέραστα τολμήματα. τὸν δὲ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν Ἔρωτα ἐν Θεσπιαῖς ἐποίησεν Ἀθηναῖος Μηνόδωρος, τὸ ἔργον τὸ Πραξιτέλους μιμούμενος. | 9.27.2. Most men consider Love to be the youngest of the gods and the son of Aphrodite. But Olen the Lycian, who composed the oldest Greek hymns, says in a hymn to Eileithyia that she was the mother of Love. Later than Olen, both Pamphos and Orpheus wrote hexameter verse, and composed poems on Love, in order that they might be among those sung by the Lycomidae to accompany the ritual. I read them after conversation with a Torchbearer. of these things I will make no further mention. Hesiod, Hes. Th. 116 foll. or he who wrote the Theogony fathered on Hesiod, writes, I know, that Chaos was born first, and after Chaos, Earth, Tartarus and Love. 9.27.3. Sappho of Lesbos wrote many poems about Love, but they are not consistent. Later on Lysippus made a bronze Love for the Thespians, and previously Praxiteles one of Pentelic marble. The story of Phryne and the trick she played on Praxiteles I have related in another place. See Paus. 1.20.1 . The first to remove the image of Love, it is said, was Gaius the Roman Emperor; Claudius, they say, sent it back to Thespiae, but Nero carried it away a second time. 9.27.4. At Rome the image perished by fire. of the pair who sinned against the god, Gaius was killed by a private soldier, just as he was giving the password; he had made the soldier very angry by always giving the same password with a covert sneer. The other, Nero, in addition to his violence to his mother, committed accursed and hateful crimes against his wedded wives. The modern Love at Thespiae was made by the Athenian Menodorus, who copied the work of Praxiteles. |
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29. Cassius Dio, Roman History, 48.42, 53.32.4, 60.6.8, 63.11-63.12, 63.25 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 52, 55, 156 | 53.32.4. For this act he received praise, as also because he chose in his stead Lucius Sestius, who had always been an enthusiastic follower of Brutus, had fought with him in all his wars, and even at this time kept alive his memory, had images of him, and delivered eulogies upon him. Augustus, it would appear, so far from disliking the man's devotion and loyalty, actually honoured these qualities in him. |
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| 30. Festus Sextus Pompeius, De Verborum Significatione, 108l (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •caligula, appropriates praxiteles’ eros •praxiteles, eros •conquers britain, repatriates praxiteles’ eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 55 |
| 31. Lactantius, Divine Institutes, 2.7.11, 2.16.11 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 11 |
| 32. Various, Anthologia Planudea, 16.26a, 203, 204, 205, 206, 167 Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 55 |
| 33. Velleius Paterculus, Roman History, 2.1.2 Tagged with subjects: •praxiteles, eros Found in books: Rutledge, Ancient Rome as a Museum: Power, Identity, and the Culture of Collecting (2012) 259 |
