MODE V. PORPHYRY. 



to be one of the Ophites, or snake-stones of 

 Pliny. 



Saussure, and innumerable others, misled me Ophite, 

 concerning the Ophites of Pliny. The passages are : 



Pretiosissimi qu&dam [marmora] generis, sicut 

 Lacedcemonium viride, cunctisque h Harms. Sic et 

 Augustatm, ac delude Tiberianum, in JEgypto, 

 Augusti ac Tiberii primum principatu reperta. 

 Different iaque eorum est ab Ophite, cum sit illud 

 serpent him maculis simile ', unde et nomen accepit ; 

 quod h&c. maculas diverse modo colligunt ; Angus- 

 team undatim crispum in vertices; Tiberianum 

 sparsa, non convoluta, canitie. Nequc e.v Ophite 

 columnte nisi parvtf admodum inveniuntur. Duo 

 ejus genera, rnolle candidum, nigricans durum, 

 xxxvi. 7. edit. Brotier, Paris 1779, 12mo. 



Again, c. 22, speaking of stones used for 

 making mortars. Potiorem ex alabastrite JEgyptw^ 

 vel ex Ophite albo. Est enirn hoc genus Ophitis, 

 ex quo vasa etiam et cados faciunt. 



These passages may be thus interpreted : 



" Some marbles are of a very precious kind, as 

 the green c-f Lacedemon, which is also more cheer- 

 ful than any of the others. So also the Augustean, 

 and afterwards the Tiberian, first discovered in 

 Egypt during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. 

 The difference between these marbles and ophite 

 consists in .this, that the latter resembles the spots 



