228 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXX\V 



* 



subtleties of the grammarians will have it, from the word 

 " cluo." 2 * It was an abundant motive for valour, when upon 

 each shield was represented the features of him who had borno 

 it. The Carthaginians used to make both their bucklers and their 

 portraits of gold, and to carry them with them in the camp : at 

 all events, Marcius, the avenger af the Scipios* 5 in Spain, found 

 one of this kind on capturing the camp of Hosdrubal, and it 

 was this same buckler that remained suspended over the gate of 

 the Cnpitoline Temple until the time when it was first burnt. 30 

 Indeed, in the days of our ancestors, so assured was the safety 

 of these shields, that it has been a subject of remark, that in 

 the consulship of L. Munlius and (I. Fulvius, in the year of 

 the City, 575, M. Auiidius, who had given security for the 

 Fufety of the Capitol, informed the senate that tho bucklers 

 there which' for some lustra 31 had been assessed as copper, 

 were in reality made of silver. 



CHAP 5. THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ART OP PAINTING. MO- 

 NOCHROME PAINTINGS. TUB EAKLIKST PAINTERS. 



*^Ve have no certain knowledge as to the commencement of 

 the art of painting, nor docs this enquiry fall under our con- 

 sideration. The Egyptians assert that it was invented among 

 themselves, six thousand years before it passed into Greece ; a 

 vain boast, it is very evident. 3 * As to the Greeks, some say 

 that it was invented at Sicyon, others at Corinth ; but they 

 all agree that it originated in tracing lines round the human 

 shadow. 13 The first stage of the art, they say, was this, the 



* n He implies that the word is derived from the Greek y\i/0K, " to 

 carve" or emboss," and not from the old Latin * cluo," " to he famous." 

 Ajasson suggests the Greek <Xu7rrw," to cover." 



21 Cneius and Puhlius Scipio, who had been slain by Ilasdrubal. U. 

 As to L. Murcius, see JJ. ii. c. 3. 



5y See B. xxxiii. c. 6. 



31 u Lustrations." Periods at the end of the census, made by the cen- 

 sors every five years. The censors wore tho guardians of the temples, 

 and consequently these bucklers would come under their supervision. 



22 This period for the invention of painting by the Egyptians is evi- 

 dently incorrect ; but still there is sutlicitxit reason for concluding' that 

 there now exist specimens of Egyptian art, which were in existence pre- 

 vious to the time of the earliest Grecian painters of whom we have any 

 certain account. 15. 



* All the ancients who have treated of tho history of the art agree, 

 that the first attempt at what may be considered the formation of a pic- 



