Chap. 58.] EEMEDIES DERIYED EEOM C^EULEXJM. 143 



It is not so long since that indicum^'' was first imported to 

 Borne, the price being seventeen^^ denarii per pound. Painters 

 make use of it for incisures, or in other words, the division of 

 shadows from light. There is also a lomentum of very in- 

 ferior qualitj^, known to us as '' ground" lomentum, and valued 

 at only five asses per pound. 



The mode of testing the genuineness of cseruleum, is to see 

 whether it emits a flame, on being laid upon burning coals. 

 One method of adulterating it is to boil dried violets in water, 

 and then to strain the liquor through linen into Eretrian^^ 

 clay. 



CHAP. 58. TWO REMEDIES DERIVED FROM C-^IIXILETJM. 



Cseruleum has the medicinal property of acting as a deter- 

 gent upon ulcers. Hence it is, that it is used as an ingredient 

 in plasters, as also in cauteries. As to sil, it is pounded with 

 the greatest difficulty : viewed as a medicament, it is slightly 

 mordent and astringent, and fills up the cavities left by ulcers. 

 To make it the more serviceable, it is burnt in earthen 

 vessels. 



The prices of things, which I have in different places 

 annexed, vary, I am well aware, according to the locality, and 

 experience a change almost every year : variations dependent 

 upon the opportunities afforded for navigation, and the terms 

 upon which the merchant may have purchased the article. It 

 may so happen, too, that some wealthy dealer has engrossed 

 the market, and so enhanced the price : for I am by no means 

 forgetful of the case of Demetrius, who in the reign of the 

 Emperor Nero was accused before the consuls by the whole 

 community of the Seplasia.^^ Still, however, I have thought 



passage to the light, as it soon decayed and lost its colour. This would 

 have been the case in particular with lake, in whicli there was amixtui-e of 

 vegetable particles." — Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 480. 



^? "Indian" pigment. Probably our "indigo." It is again men- 

 tioned, and at greater length, in B. xxxv»c. 27. See also Beckmann, Hist 

 Inv. Vol. II. pp. 259, 267. Bolm's Edition. 



^^ This is probably a more correct reading than "seven." 



20 See B. xixv. c. 19. Vitruvius, B. vii. c. 14, describes an exactly 

 similar method adopted by dyers for imitating the colour of Attic sil, or 

 ochre, mentioned in Chapter 56. 



^1 A quarter in the city of Capua, inhabited by druggists and perfumers ; 

 see B. xvi. c. 18, and B. xxxiv. c. 25. 



