140 PLINY'S NATUIIAL HISTOUY. [Hook XXXIII. 



gus and the trial of Orestes, 93 upon two cups valued at twelve 

 thousand sesterces. There was. Pytheas* 1 also, a work of 

 whose sold at the rate of ten thousand denarii for 

 ounces : it was a drinking-bowi, the figures on which 

 sen ted Ulysses and Diomedes stealing the Palladium. 98 Tlie 

 same artist engraved also, upon some small drinking- vessels, 

 kitchen scenes, 5 * known as "magiriscia;"* 1 of such remarkably 

 line workmanship and so liable to injury, that it was quite 

 impossible to take copies 9 * of them. Teucer too, the inlay tT, w 

 enjoyed a great reputation. 



All at once, however, this art became so lost in point of 

 excellence, that at the present day ancient specimens are the 

 only ones at all valued ; and only those pieces of plate are held 

 in esteem the designs on which are so much worn that the 

 figures cannot be distinguished. 



Silver becomes tainted by the contact of mineral waters, 

 and of the salt exhalations from them, as in the interior of 

 Spain, for instance. 



CHAP. 56. SIL : THE PERSONS WIIO FIRST USED IT IN PAINTING, 



AND THE METHOD THEY ADOPTED. 



In the mines of gold and silver there are some other pig- 

 meiits also found, sil 1 and c&rulcuin. Sil is, properly speak- 

 ing, a sort of slime. 2 The best kind is that known as Attic 

 sii ; the price of which is two denarii per pound. The next best- 

 kind is the marbled 3 sil, the price of which is half that of the 

 Attic kind. A third sort is the compressed sil, known to some 

 persons as Scyric sil, it coming from the Isle of Scyros. 

 Then, too, there is the sil of Achaia, which painters make use 

 of for shadow-painting, and the price of which is two sesterces 

 per pound. At a price of two asses less per pound, is sold the 



83 For the murder of his mother Clytfcmnestra. 



91 Nothing is known of this artist, 95 From Troy. 



* * Coquos," literally, "cooks." ^ tl Cooks iu. miniature." 



* 5 By the process of moulding, probably. 



93 " Crustarius." Of this artist nothing further is known. 



1 Yellow or brown Ochre, probably. Aj:i.son thinks that under this 

 name may be included peroxide of iron, hydroxide of iron in a stalactitic 

 and mamillary form, and compact peroxide of iron, imparting a colour to 

 argillaceous earth. 



~ " Scaly and ochrey brown iron ore are decomposed earthy varieties, 

 often soli like chalk ; yellow ochre is here included." JJana, Syst. Mineral, 

 p. 430. 3 Marmorosuin." 



