l'28 pliny's natueal HISTOET. [Book X2XIII. 



CHAP 46. EGYPTIAN SILVEE. 



The people of Egypt stain their silver vessels, that they 

 may see represented in them their god Anubis ;^ and it is the 

 custom with them to paint,^ and not to chase, their silver. 

 This usage has now passed to our own triumphal statues even ; 

 and, a truly marvellous fact, the value of silver has been 

 enhanced by deadening its brilliancy.^ The following is the 

 method adopted : with the silver are mixed two- thirds of the 

 very finest Cyprian copper, that known as " coronarium,"' 

 and a proportion of live sulphur equal to that of the silver. 

 The whole of these are then melted in an earthen vessel well 

 luted with potter's clay, the operation being completed when 

 the cover becomes detached from the vessel. Silver admits 

 also of being blackened with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg ; a 

 tint, however, which is removed by the application of vinegar 

 and chalk. 



The Triumvir Antonius alloyed the silver denarius with 

 iron : and in spurious coin there is an alloy of copper em- 

 ployed. Some, again, curtaiP the proper weight of our de- 

 narii, the legitimate proportion being eighty-four denarii to a 

 pound of silver. It was in consequence of these frauds that a 

 method was devised of assaying the denarius : the law ordain- 

 ing which was so much to the taste of the plebeians, that in 

 every quarter of the City there was a full - length statue 

 erected^ in honour of Marius Gratidianus. It is truly mar- 

 vellous, that in this art, and in this only, the various methods 

 of falsification should be made a study :^° for the sample of 



out suflBcient proof. I consider it more probable, that some person had 

 tried, by means of a polished plate of gold, to collect the rays of light, and 

 to throw them either on the mirror pr the object, in order to render the 

 image brighter." — Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 72. 



^ The dog-headed divinity. The seat of his worship was at Cynopolis, 

 mentioned in B. v. c. 11. Under the Empire his worship became widely 

 spread both in Greece and at Rome. 



^ Under the word " pingit," he probably includes the art of ena- 

 melling silver. 6 " Fulgoris excaecati." 



' " Chaplet " copper. 



^ He either alludes to the practice of clipping the coin, or else to the 

 issue of forged silver denarii, short of weight. 



^ During the praetorship of Marius Gratidianus. He was on terms of 

 great intimacy with Cicero, and was murdered by Catiline in a most bar- 

 barous manner during the proscriptions of Sylla. 



^° By pjblic enactment probably; samples of the false denarius being 



