346 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXI. 



contained." The next in quality is the Cretan wax, which 

 " contains the largest proportion of propolis, 1 a substance of 

 which we have previously made mention when treating of 

 bees. Next to these varieties comes the Corsican wax, which, 

 being the produce of the box-tree, is generally thought to be 

 possessed of certain medicinal properties. 



The Punic wax is prepared in the following manner : yellow 

 wax is first blanched in the open air, after which it is boiled 

 in water from the open sea, with the addition of some nitre. 2 

 The flower of the wax, or, in other words, the whitest part of 

 it, is then skimmed off with spoons, and poured into a vessel 

 containing a little cold water. After this, it is again boiled 

 in sea-water by itself, which done, the vessel is left to cool. 

 When this operation has been three times repeated, the wax is 

 left in the open air upon a mat of rushes, to dry in the light of 

 the sun and moon ; for while the latter adds to its whiteness, 

 the sun helps to dry 3 it. In order, however, that it may not 

 melt, it is the practice to cover it with a linen cloth : if, when 

 it has been thus refined, it is boiled once more, the result is a 

 wax of the greatest possible whiteness. 



Punic wax is considered the best for all medicinal prepara- 

 tions. "Wax is made black by the addition of ashes of pa- 

 pyrus, and a red colour is given to it by the admixture of al- 

 kanet ; indeed, by the employment of various pigments, it is 

 made to assume various tints, in which state it is used for 

 making models, 4 and for other purposes without number, 

 among which we may mention varnishing walls 5 and armour, 

 to protect them from the air. We have given the other par- 

 ticulars relative to bees and honey, when speaking 6 of the 

 nature of those insects. We have now stated pretty nearly 

 all that we have to say on the subject of the pleasure garden. 



99 In reality, the wax has properties totally different from those of the 

 honey, and it is not always gathered from the same plants. 



1 A kind of hee-glue. See B. xi. c. 6. 



2 Neither the nitre nor the salt, Fee says, would be of the slightest utility. 

 3 t By causing the aqueous particles that may remain in it, to evaporate. 



4 Or " likenesses " " similitudines." Waxen profiles seem to have heen 

 the favourite likenesses with the Romans : See the Asinaria of Plautus, 

 A. iv. sc. i. 1. 19, in which one of these portraits is clearly alluded to. 

 Also Ovid, Heroid. xiii. 1. 152, and Remed. Amor. 1. 723. The "imagines'* 

 also, or husts of their ancestors, which were kept in their " atria," were 

 made of wax. 



5 To protect the paintings, probably, with which the walls were decorated. 

 In U. xi. 



