LAMPS. 315 



which had continued to shine upwards of fifteen hundred 

 years. This lamp was the workmanship of one Maximus 

 Olybius, who it appears, produced this wonderful light 

 by his profound skill in the chemical art. On the urn 

 which contained the lamp, as also the liquor by whose 

 virtue the brilliant light was produced, some Latin verses 

 were inscribed, which have been thus elegantly trans- 

 lated : — 



Plunderers, forbear this gift to touch, 



Tis awful Pluto's own ! 

 A secret rare the world conceals, 



To such as you unknown. 



Olybius, in this slender vase, 



The element has chain'd ; 

 Digested with laborious art, 



From secret science gain'd. 



With guardian care two copious urns 



The costly juice confine, 

 Lest, through the ruins of decay, 



The lamp should cease to shine. 



It has been remarked, that the perpetuity of these 

 lamps was owing to the tenacity of the unctuous matter 

 with which the flame was united ; and being so propor- 

 tioned to the strength of the fire, that, like the moisture 

 and heat in animals, neither of them could conquer or 

 destroy the other. This art, however, is lost. 



Curious as the history of this lamp appears, it is but 

 a gnat to sw r allow when compared with the account 

 given of another by Apollonius in his treatise called 



