BOOK XXXIV. XXXIX. 139-xLi. 143 



in his third consulship at the time of the disorders 52 b.o. 

 accompanying the death of Clodius, prohibiting the 

 possession of any weapon in the city. 



XL. Further, the art of former days did not fail to 

 provide a more humane function even for iron. 

 When the artist Aristonidas desired to represent the 

 madness of Athamas subsiding in repentance after 

 he had hurled his son Learchus from the rock, he 

 made a blend of copper and iron, in order that the 

 blush of shame should be represented by rust of the 

 iron shining through the brilHant surface of the 

 copper ; this statue is still standing at Rhodes. 

 There is also in the same city an iron figure of 

 Heracles, which was made by Alcon, prompted by 

 the endurance displayed by the god in his labours. 

 We also see at Rome goblets of iron dedicated in 

 the temple of Mars the Avenger. The same benevo- 

 lence of nature has limited the power of iron itself 

 by inflicting on it the penalty of rust, and the same 

 foresight by making nothing in the world more 

 mortal than that which is most hostile to mortality. 



XLL Deposits of iron are found almost every- iron ores 

 where, and they are formed even now in the Italian f,"^ ^"^Scei. 

 island of Elba, and there is verv Uttle difficulty in 

 recognizing them as they are indicated by the actual 

 colour of the earth. The method of melting out the 

 veins is the same as in the case of copper. In 

 Cappadocia alone it is merely a question whether the 

 presence of iron is to be credited to water or to earth, 

 as that region suppUes iron from the furnaces when 

 the earth has been flooded by the river Cerasus but 

 not otherwise, There are numerous varieties of 

 iron ; the first difference depending on the kind of 

 soil or of climate — some lands only yield a soft iron 



231 



