Chnp. 39.] IKON OKES. 205 



is desiccative, removes morbid excrescenses, and acts as a deter- 

 gent. It is tested by placing it on the tongue, which ouglit to 

 be instantly parched by it, a coppery flavour being perceptible. 



CHAP. 38. FAKTICULAKS RELATIVE TO THE SEKVILIAN TKIENS. 



AYe must not neglect to mention one other very remarkable 

 fact relative to copper. The Servilian famil)^, so illustrious in 

 our annals, nourishes with gold and silver a copper triens,"*^ 

 which devours them both. The origin and nature of this coin is 

 to me incomprehensible ;^^ but I will quote the very words of 

 the story, as given by old Messala^^ himself — " The family of 

 the Servilii is in possession of a sacred triens, to which they 

 offer every year a sacrifice, with the greatest care and magnifi- 

 cence ; the triens itself, they say, appears sometimes to increase 

 in size and sometimes to diminish ; changes which indicate the 

 coming advancement or decadence of the family." 



CHAP. 39 (14). IRON GEES. 



'Next to copper we must give an account of the metal known 

 as iron, at the same time the most useful and the most fatal 

 instrument in the hand of mankind. Tor by the aid of iron 

 we lay open the ground, we plant trees, we prepare our vine- 

 yard-trees,^^ and we force our vines each year to resume their 

 youthful state, by cutting away their decayed branches. It is 

 by the aid of iron that we construct houses, cleave rocks, and 

 perform so many other useful offices of life. But it is with 

 iron also that wars, murders, and robberies are effected, and 

 this, not only hand to hand, but from a distance even, by the 

 aid of missiles and winged weapons, now launched from en- 

 gines, now hurled by the human arm, and now furnished with 

 feathery wings. This last I regard as the most criminal 

 artifice that has been devised by the human mind ; for, as 

 if to bring death upon man with still greater rapidity, we 

 have given wings to iron and taught it to fly.^^ Let us there- 



•** A Roman coin, equal to the third part of the " as." — B. 



*5 We most fully coincide with Pliny in tin's sentiment, but Ave are 

 constrained to differ from him in giving credit to the alleged fact, as lie 

 appears to have done. — B. 



*^ See the hst of authors at the end of this Book. 



^'' " Arbusta :" trees on which vines were trained. See B. xvii. c. 35. 



^^ Holland has the following Note upon this passage ; " Pliny, what 

 wouldst thou say, if thou didst see and hear the pistols, muskets, culver- 

 mes, and cannons in these days." Vol. II. p. 513. — B. 



