BOOK XXXV. xxvii. 46-xxxi. 49 



pound. Used medicinally it allays cramps and fits 

 and dries up sores. 



XXVIII. Armenia sends us the substance '^ AznrUe, eic. 

 named after it Armenian. This also is a mineral 



that is dyed like malachite, and the best is that ^ 

 which most closely approximates to that substance, 

 the colour partaking also of dark blue. Its price 

 used to be rated at 300 sesterces per pound. A 

 sand has been found all over the Spanish provinces 

 that admits of similar preparation, and accordingly 

 the price has dropped to as low as six denarii. It 

 differs from dark blue by a light white glow which 

 renders this blue colour thinner in comparison. It 

 is only used in medicine to give nourishment to the 

 hair, and especially the eyelashes. 



XXIX. There are also two colours of a very 

 cheap class that have been recently discovered: 

 one is the green called Appian,^ which counterfeits 

 malachite ; just as if there were too few spurious 

 varieties of it already ! It is made from a green 

 earth and is valued at a sesterce per pound. XXX. 

 The other colour is that called ' ring-white,' which 

 is used to give brilliance of complexion in paintings 

 of women.'^ This itself also is made from white 

 earth mixed with glass stones from the rings of the 

 lower classes, which accounts for the name * ring- 

 white.' 



XXXI. Of all the colours those which love a dry 

 surface of white clay, and refuse to be applied to a 

 damp plaster, are purple, indigo, blue, Melian, 

 orpiment, Appian<^ and ceruse. Wax is stained 

 with these same colours for encaustic paintings, a 



^ Or ' which shines on the painted faces of women ' (K. 

 C. Bailey). Cf. § 46 and note ^ on p. 295. 



297 



