BOOK XXXV 



I. We have now practically indicated the nature 

 of metals, in which wealth consists, and of the sub- 

 stances related to them, connecting the facts in such 

 a way as to indicate at the same time the enormous 

 topic of medicine and the mysteries of the manufac- 

 tories and the fastidious subtlety of the processes of 

 carving and modelHng and dyeing. There remain 

 the various kinds of earth and of stones, forming an 

 even more extensive series, each of which has been 

 treated in many whole volumes, especially by Greeks. 

 For our part in these topics we shall adhere to the 

 brevity suitable to our plan, yet omitting nothing 

 that is necessary or follows a law of Nature. And ^a»"^»«^ 

 iirst we shall say what remains to be said about 

 painting, an art that was formerly illustrious, at the 

 time when it was in high demand with kings and 

 nations and when it ennobled others whom it deigned 

 to transmit to posterity. But at the present time 

 it has been entirely ousted by marbles, and indeed 

 finally also by gold, and not only to the point that 

 whole party-walls are covered — we have also marble 

 engraved with designs and embossed marble slabs 

 carved in wriggHng Hnes to represent objects and 

 animals. We are no longer content with panels nor 

 with surfaces displaying broadly a range of moun- 

 tains in a bedchamber ; we have begun even to 

 paint on the masonry." This was invented in the 



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