Chap. 12.] OKYX AND ALABASTRITES. 329 



emitting a sound each morning when first touched by the rays 

 of the rising sun. 



Cli.VI'. 12. ONYX AND AL.UJA&T1UTES J SIX REMEDIKS. 



Our forefathers imagined that onyx 70 was only to be 

 found in the mountains of Arabia, an<l nowhere else; but 

 Sudines 71 was aware that it is also found in Carraania. 7 * 

 Drinking- vessels were made of it at first, and then the feet of 

 beds and chairs. Cornelius Xepos relates thnt great was the 

 astonishment, when P. Lentulus Spinther exhibited am phone 

 made of this material, as large as Chian wine-vessels in 

 size; " and yet, live years after," says he, "I saw columns of 

 this material, no loss than two-and- thirty feet in height." At 

 a more recent period again, some change took plac.. 73 with 

 reference to this stone; for four 74 small pillars of it were 

 erected by Cornelius JJalbus in his Theatre 7 * as something 

 quite marvellous : and I myself have seen thirty columns, of 

 larger size, in the bunquetting-room which Callistus 76 erected, 

 the ireedmaii of Claudius, so well known for the influence 

 which he possessed. 



(8.) This 76 * stone is called "nlabostritcs' 177 by some, and is 

 hollowed out into vessels for holding unguents, it having the 

 reputation of preserving them from corruption 7 * better than 

 anything else. In a calcined state, it is a good ingredient for 



posed that it represented a monarch of the second dynasty. Tips :s pro- 

 bably the statue still to he seen at Mcdinet Abou, on the Libyan side of 

 the Nile, in u pitting posture, and at least GO feet in height. The l-is, 

 arms, and other parts of the body ari; covered with inscriptions, which 

 atti-st that, in the third century of the Chriotian era, the prints tiil prac- 

 tised upon the credulitv of tho devotee*, bv pretending that it en-itud 

 sounds. Jt may possibly have- been erected t<r astronomical purposes, or 

 for tlie mystic worship of tliu sun. The (Jretk name " Menmon" is sup- 

 p-t^cil to have been derived from the K^yptian J/ti Aitmn 9 '* bcluvtd of 

 Arnuion." 



70 Ajasson remarks that under this name the nncients meant, first, yellow 

 calcan ous Alabaster, and secondly, Chalcedony, unclassified. 



71 See end of the present Book. . "- Sec B. vi. cc. 27, 20, 32. 



73 4t Variaturn c -t." 



74 Ajasson thinkHthat these columns, in reality, were made, in both 

 instances, of yellow jasper, or else yellow sardonyx, a compound of sard 

 and chalcedony. "> Erected A.U.C. 741. 76 See U. xxxiii. c. 47. 



" ft * The reading here is doubtful, and it is questionable whether he con- 

 sideis the two stones as identical. 



" 7 Probably calcareous Alabaster, Ajasson thinks. See B. xxxTii* c. 64. 

 78 See B. xiii. c. 3. 



