ON ORICHALCUM. 



Learn next that silver, gold,* 1 

 Load, hardier COPPER, iron, first were trac'd 

 When o'er the hills, some conflagration dire 

 Burn'd from its basis the deep-rooted grove ; 

 By lightnings haply kindled, or the craft 

 Of hosts contending o'er the woodland scenes, 

 A double fear thus striking through their foes : 

 Or by the shepherd's wish his b mds t' enlarge 

 O'er tracts of specious promise ; or, perchance, 

 Wild beasts to slaughter, and their spoils possess; 

 For such, with fire and guileful pit, mankind 

 First caught, ere hounds were marshall'd to the chace, 

 Or round the copse the mazy net. work drawn. 



Whate'er the cause, when now the unctuous flame 

 Had from their utmost roots, with hideous crash, 

 Fell'd the tall trees, and, with its torrid heat, 

 The soil deep-redden'd, rills of liquid gold, 

 Lead, silver, copper, through its fervid pores 



* Quod super cst, JES atque aurura, femimque reperlum est, &c. 



Lib. V. v. 1240. 



The passage is too long for us to quote the original at length ; upon the part 

 of it before us the learned translator has the following note : " The term <r$, 

 in the original, is generally interpreted in the different versions brass, which 

 as a generic substantive, it will undoubtedly include, as well as copper* But 

 brass, the appropriate term for which is nnrichalcum, being a compound metal, 

 and the invention of subsequent ages, it is obvious the poet here refers to the 

 original metal whence brass was manufactured. Marchetii employs the term 

 ramc, which is equally general with as, and may alike be adopted to signify 

 either copper or brass. 



The existence of the metali here referred to in the interior of the earth, is 

 thus described by (iarth, in his Dispensary : 



Here, sullen to the sight, at large is spread 



The dull unwieldy mass of lumpish lead t 



There, glimmering in their dawning beds, are seen 



The more aspiring seeds of sprightly tin. 



The copper spnrkles next in ruddy streaks, 



And in the gloom betrays its glowing cheeks: 



The silver then, with bright and burnih'd grace, 



Youth, and a blooming lustre in its fare, 



To th' arms of those more yielding metals flies, 



And in the folds of their embraces lies. 



On the invention and composition of brass or aur -halcum among the Greek* 

 and Romans, see (he same work, Note on Book VI, v. II 13. 



