226 pliny's natural history. [Book VII. 



Scythian, or, according to others, Hj'perbius, the Corinthian, 

 first invented the potter's wheel. Deedalus^ was the first 

 person who worked in wood ; it was he who invented the saw, 

 the axe, the plummet, the gimlet, glue, and isinglass f^ the 

 square, the level, the turner's lathe, and the key, were invented 

 by Theodoras, of Samos.®- Measures and weights were in- 

 vented by Phidon, of Argos,^^ or, according to Gellius, by 

 Palamedes. Pyrodes, the son of Cilix, was the first to strike 

 fire from the flint, and Prometheus taught us how to preserve 

 it, in the stalk of giant- fennel.^ 



The Phrygians first taught us the use of the chariot with 

 four wheels f^ the Carthaginians the arts of merchandize,*^ and 

 Eumolpus, the Athenian, ^^ the cultivation of the vine, and of 

 trees in general. Staphylus, the son of Silenus,^^ was the first to 

 mix water with wine; olive- oil and the oil-press, as also honey, 

 we owe to Aristteus, the Athenian f^ the use of oxen and the 



^ The inventions here ascribed to Daedalus, are, by many of the 

 ancients, given to his nephew ; see Isidorus, Hyginus, Diodorus Siculus, 

 and Ovid, Metam. B. viii. 1. 234, et seq. — B. 



''1 " Ichthyocolla," perhaps more properly, •' Fish-glue." 



82 Pausanias ascribes also to Theodoras the invention of forging iron 

 and copper. According to Vitruvius, the square was invented by Pytha- 

 goras. — B. 



83 The same statement is made by Strabo, and other writers of antiquity, 

 and is confirmed by the Arundelian Marbles. — B. 



^* See B. xiii. c. 42. 



85 Marcus informs us, that, according to the Arundelian Marbles, Erich- 

 thonius, the fourth king of Athens, was the inventor of chariots. — B. See 

 p. 229. 



86 Hardouin remarks, that Pliny, in the beginning of this Chapter, as- 

 cribes the invention of commerce to Bacchus ; we may suppo^, that the 

 commerce there referred to, was the conveyance of goods by land, while 

 tliat of the Carthaginians was traffic by sea. — B. 



8^ Eumolpus was a native of Thrace ; but being expelled from his 

 native country, he invaded Attica, and, after various contests with Erich- 

 thonius, obtained the office of high-priest of Ceres, which was continued 

 to his descendants. — B. 



•^8 We learn from the writings of Moses, that the planting of the vine, 

 and the conversion of the juice of the grape into wine, was practised by 

 Noah immediately after theFlood. The mixing of water with wine would 

 seem to be a very obvious and natural mode of procuring a pleasant and 

 refreshing beverage. — B. 



89 From the writings of Moses, we learn that the use of oil and of honey 

 was known to the inhabitants of Palestine and Egypt, at a very early pe- 

 riod.— B. 



