BOOK XXXIII. II. 5-iv. 8 



of wealth, the true glory of luxury, to possess some- 

 thing that might be absolutely destroyed in a moment. 

 Xor was this enough : we drink out of a crowd of 

 precious stones, and set our cups ^vith emeralds, we 

 take dehght in holding India for the purpose of 

 tippUng, and gold is now a mere accessory. III. 

 And would that it ° could be entirely banished from 

 Hfe, reviled and abused as it is by all the worthiest 

 people, and only discovered for the ruin of human 

 life — how far happier was the period when goods 

 themselves were interchanged by barter, as it i-^ 

 agreed we must take it from Homer ^ to have been the 

 custom even in the days of Troy. That in my view 

 was the way in which trade was discovered, to procure 

 the necessities of Hfe. Homer relates how some 

 people used to make their purchases with ox-hides, 

 others with iron and captives, and consequently, al- 

 though even Homer himself <^ was already an admirer 

 of gold, he reckoned the value of goods in cattle, 

 saying that Glaucus exchanged gold armour worth 

 100 beeves with that of Diomede worth 9 beeves. 

 And as a result of this custom even at Rome a fine 

 under the old laws is priced in cattle. 



lY. The worst crime against man's Hfe was Ooid riTtjs 

 committed by the person who first put gold on his 

 fingers, though it is not recorded who did this, for 

 I deem the whole story of Prometheus mythical, 

 although antiquity assigned to him also an iron ring, 

 and intended this to be understood as a fetter, not 

 an ornament. As for the story of Midas's ring, 

 which when turned round made its wearer invisible, 



* Horaer, II. VII. 472 S. 

 « II. VI. 234-6. 



