﻿THE AGE OF PETROXIUS ARBITER. 83 



The same story, Avitli slight Aariatioiis, of au artist who had discovered a method of 

 making malleable glass is related by Pliny (Xat. Hist. 36. 26. 66. 195): "Feruiit Tibe- 

 rio principe excogitato vitri temperamento, ut flexile esset, totam officinam artificis ejus 

 abolitam, ne aeris argenti auri metallis pretia detraherentur, eaque fama crebrior diu 

 quam certior fiiit." It will at once be perceived how cautiously Pliny relates the story. 

 He introduces the account with the word " ferunt," and closes it with the still more 

 significant phrase, "eaque fama crebrior diu quam certior fuit," thus not only with- 

 holding his assent, but throwing doubt upon the story. This caution of Pliny is au 

 important circumstance, as, from the time in which he lived,! and from his well-known 

 facilities of investigating a fact of this kind, he was in possession of the means of ascer- 

 taining and confirming the truth of the story. His not doing it goes far to prove the 

 story apocryphal. Another circumstance which a comparison of the two accounts of 

 Pliny and Petronius brings out is, that what Pliny states to have happened, according to 

 report, in the reign of Tiberius, is, by the version of Petronius, ascribed to Caesar, which 

 may apply to Julius Ca?sar and Augustus, as well as Tiberius. It is well known that 

 fictions and inventions of this kind are frequently made to shift their time and locality, 

 as well as the persons to whom they are ascribed or who are introduced as actors. 

 Besides, it is by no means improbable that Petronius wished to throw ridicule upon 

 the whole stoiy, by putting it in the mouth of the boastful and ignorant Trimalchio. 

 While I look upon this story of malleable glass as a fiction, and am inclined to believe 

 that Petronius himself intended to ridicule it as such, I do not deny that, at the close 

 of the republic and under the first emperors, the art of glass-making and grinding was 

 farther advanced than some are disposed to concede. These it will be sufficient to refer 

 to the Excursus to the Seventh Scene in Becker's GaUus, where they will find that not 

 only wiudow-glass and vessels of all shapes and sizes were known and in common use, 

 but pieces of plate-glass large enough to cover the walls of entire aj)artments were 

 manufactured, and all kinds of precious stones imitated. 



tanto impetu, ut nee solidissima ct constantissima acris materia maneret illaesa. Caesar autem ad haec non 

 magis stupuit quam expavit. At ille de terra sustulit phialam, quae quidem non fracta erat sed coUisa, ac 

 si aeris substantia vitri speciem induisset. Deinde martiolum (al. marculum) de sinu proferens vitrum cor- 

 rexit aptissime, et tamquam collisum vas acneum crebris ictibus reparavit. Quo facto se coelum Jovis tenere 

 arbitratus est, eo quod familiaritatem Caesaris et admirationem omnium se promeruisse credebat. Sed secus 

 accidit. Quaesivit enim Caesar, an alius sciret banc condituram vitrorum. Quod cum negaret, eum decol- 

 lari praecepit Imperator dicens, quia, si hoc artificium innotesceret, aurum et argentum vilescerent quasi 

 lutuni. An vera sit relatio et fidelis, incertum est ; et de facto Caesaris diversi diversa sentiunt." 



* Pliny was born 23 A. D., and was consequently fifteen years old at the time of Tiberius's death, 38 A. D. 



