The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6)Pliny, the Elder
History
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6)
Pliny, the Elder
Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works
The next most esteemed brass was the Æginetan; the island itself
being rendered famous for its brass—not indeed that the metal was
produced there, but because the annealing of the Æginetan manufactories
was so excellent. A brazen Ox, which was taken from this island,
now stands in the Forum Boarium[1242] at Rome. This is a specimen
of the Æginetan metal, as the Jupiter in the Temple of Jupiter
Tonans, in the Capitol, is of the Delian. Myron[1243] used the former
metal and Polycletus[1244] the latter; they were contemporaries and
fellow-pupils, but there was great rivalry between them as to their
materials.
CHAP. 6. (3.)—STANDS FOR LAMPS.
Ægina was particularly famous for the manufacture of sockets only for
lamp-stands, as Tarentum was for that of the branches;[1245] the most
complete articles were, therefore, produced by the union of the two.
There are persons, too, who are not ashamed to give for one a sum
equal to the salary of a military tribune,[1246] although, as its name
indicates, its only use is to hold a lighted candle. On the sale of
one of these lamp-stands, Theon the public crier announced, that the
purchaser must also take, as part of the lot, one Clesippus, a fuller,
who was hump-backed, and in other respects, of a hideous aspect. The
purchase was made by a female named[1247] Gegania, for fifty thousand
sesterces. Upon her exhibiting these purchases at an entertainment
which she gave, the slave, for the amusement of her guests, was brought
in naked. Conceiving an infamous passion for him, she first admitted
him to her bed, and finally left him all her estate. Having thus become
excessively rich, he adored the lamp-stand as much as any divinity, and
the story became a sort of pendant to the celebrity of the Corinthian
lamp-stands. Still, however, good morals were vindicated in the end,
for he erected a splendid monument to her memory, and so kept alive
the eternal remembrance of the misconduct of Gegania. But although it
is well known that there are no lamp-stands in existence made of the
Corinthian metal, yet this name is very generally attached to them,
because, in consequence of the victory of Mummius,[1248] Corinth was
destroyed: at the same time, however, it should be remembered that this
victory dispersed a number of bronzes which originally came from many
other cities of Achaia.
CHAP. 7.—ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS.
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