214 PLINY'S NATURA.L IIISTOBT. [Book XXXIV. 



CHAP. 48. (17.) 8TANNUM. ARGKXTAIHUU. 



"\Vhen copper vessels are coated with Btannum," they pro- 

 duce a less disagreeable flavour, and the formation of verdigris 

 is prevented ; it is also remarkable, that the weight of the 

 vessel is not increased. As already mentioned,'' 7 the iincst 

 mirrors were formerly prepared from it at Brundisium, until 

 everybody, our maid-servants even, began to use silver ones. 

 At the present day a counterfeit staiinum is made, by adding 

 one-third of white copper to two-thirds of white lead.'' 8 It 

 is also counterfeited in another way, by mixing together equal 

 parts of white lead and black lead ; this last being what is 

 called " argcntarium.' ?ro There is also a composition called 

 " tertiarium," a mixture of two parts of black lead and one of 

 white : its price is twenty denarii per pound, and it is used 

 for soldering pipes. Persons still more dishonest mix together 1 

 equal parts of tertiarium and white lead, and, calling the com- 

 pound " argon tarium," coat articles with it melted. This last 

 Foils at sixty denarii per ten pounds, the price of the pure un- 

 mixed white lead being eighty denarii, and of the black seven. 2 



White lead is naturally more dry ; while the black, on the 

 contrary, is always moist; consequently the white, without 

 being mixed with another metal, is of no use* for anything. 

 Silver too, cannot be soldered with it, because the silver be- 

 comes fused before the white lead. It is confidently stated, 

 also, that if too small a proportion of black lead is mixed with 



** A compound metal, probably, somewhat like pewter. Sec Xotc 95 

 above. Ho evidently alludes to the process of " tinning." 



9 " In B. xxxiii. c. 45 : whore ne says that the best mirrors were 

 formerly made of a mixture of stauuum and copper. 1>. See Beckmann, 

 Hist. Inv. Vol. II. pp. 6U-G2, 72. 8 Or tin. " u Silver mixture." 



1 Such a mixture as this would in reality become more valuable than 

 "argentarium," as the proportion would be two- thirds of tin and one of 

 lead. How then could the workmen merit the title of dishonest? Beck- 

 mann suggests that the tinning ought to ha/e been done with pure tin, but 

 that unprincipled artists employed tin mixed with lead. It is most 

 probable, however, that Pliny himself has made a mistake, and that we 

 should read ** equal parts of black lead" (our lead); in which case the 

 mixture passed olF as "argentarium," instead of containing equal parU of 

 tin and lead, would contain fac-surtht of leud. See Beckmann, His>t. Inv. 

 Vol. II. p. 221. llohn's Edition, 



2 All these readings are doubtful in the extreme. 



3 As bung too brittle, probably ; the reason suggested by Beckmann, 

 Vol. II. p. 221. 



