BOOK XXXIII. XXIV. 82-xxv. 84 



XXIV. The first gold statiie of all that was made Goiden 

 of soHd metal and even before any was made of "'"*** 

 bronze, of the kind called ' made of solid beaten 

 metal,' is said to have been erected in the temple of 

 Anaitis, in the region of the earth where we have 

 designated this name," that goddess' deity being 

 held in the highest reverence by those races. This 

 statue was taken as booty during the campaigns of c. 36 b.c. 

 Antonius in Parthia, and a story is told of a witty 

 saying of one of the veterans of our army who was 

 entertaining his late lamented Majesty Augustus 



as a guest at dinner at Bologna. He was asked 

 whether it was true that the man who was the 

 first to commit this sacrilege against that deity was 

 struck blind and paralysed and so expired. His 

 answer was that the emperor was at that very 

 moment eating his dinner off one of the goddess's 

 legs, and that he himself was the perpetrator of the 

 sacrilege and owed his entire fortune to that piece of 

 plunder. The first solid gold statue of a human 

 being was one of himself set up by Gorgias of 

 Leontini in the temple at Delphi about the TOth 

 Olympiad. ^ So great were the profits to be made 

 by teaching the art of oratory ! 



XXV. Gold is efiicacious as a remedy in a variety Medidnai 

 of ways, and is used as an amulet for wounded g^i^f^ 

 people and for infants to render less harmful 

 poisonous charms that may be directed against 

 them. Gold has itself however a maleficent eifect if 

 carried over the head, in the case of chickens and 



the young of cattle as well as human beings. As a 

 remedy it is smeared on, then washed off and 

 sprinkled on the persons you wish to cure. Gold 

 is also heated with twice its weight of salt and 



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