Chap. 77.] THE COMPABATITE TALUKS OF THINGS. 465 



copper, and iron, so long as it was deemed lawful to work 

 them, 92 Italy was held inferior to no country whatsoever. At 

 the present day, teeming as she is with these 'treasures, she 

 contents herself with lavishing upon us, as the whole of her 

 bounties, her various liquids, and the numerous flavours yielded 

 by her cereals and her fruits. Kext to Italy, if we except the 

 fabulous regions of India, I would rank Spain,, for my own 

 part, those districts, at least, that lie in the vicinity of the sea. 95 

 She is parched and eterilc in one part, it is true ; hut where 

 she is at all productive, she yields the cereals in abundance, 

 oil, wine, horses, and metals of every kind. In all these re- 

 spects, Gaul is her equal, no doubt; but Spain, on the other . 

 hand, outdoes the Gallic provinces in her jspartum'^' and her 

 Bpecular stono, 91 the products of her desert tracts, in her pig- 

 ments that minister to our luxuries, in the ardour displayed by 

 her people in laborious employments, in the perfect training 

 of her slaves, in the robustness of body of her men, and iu 

 their gem-nil resoluteness of character. 



As to the productions themselvep, the greatest value of 

 all, among the products of the sou, is attached to pearls : 

 of objects that lie upon the surface of the earth, it is crystals 

 that nre most highly esteemed : and of those derived from 

 the interior, udamas, 1 ' 5 smaragdus, 96 precious stones, and murr- 

 himy' 7 are the things upon which the highest value is placed. 

 The most costly things that are matured by the earth, are 

 the kermesberry w arid laser ; 93 that are gathered from trees, 

 nard 1 and Seric tissues; 2 that are derived Irom the trunks of 

 trees, logs of citrus 3 - wood ; that are produced by shrubs, cin- 



91 It having hern in rocont times declared unlawful to work them, as 

 be Las already in formed us. 



* 2 "Quaeunque omhitur man." "With these words the Natural His- 

 tory of -Pliny UrmiiwUH in all the former editions. M. lun was tbe first 

 among tin- 1< at md to express a suspicion tha*. the proper termination of 

 tin* work was wanting; an opinion in wliieh Sillier coincided, mid which 

 was happily confirmed, in the course of time', by the discovery of the Ham- 

 ber MS., the only copy :f the Natural History (or rather the la*t Six 

 Looks) in which the concluding part of this Chapter has lu-en found. 



w Set- H. xi.X. C. 7. ** See 1>. xxxvi. C. 45. 



93 See Chapter 15 of this Book. '- See Chapter 1C of this Book. 



: Sre. Chapters 7, 8 f and 11 of this Book. 



&tt ''Coceum." Sec ]>. xvi. c. 12, and U. ixiv. c. 4. 



w Sec 15. xi.x. c. 15. and li. xxii. c. 40. ! Stc T^. xii. c. 26. 



7 f?o J?. vi. c. 20, and U. xii. c. 1. 3 See B. xiii. c. 2i, and I*, xv. c.7. 



Vol.. VI. It II 



