BOOK VII. 251 



will be found in the bottom of the cupel. The fire consumes both of those 

 metals more quickly if they are heated in that furnace which draws in air. It 

 is better to cover the upper half of it with a lid, and not only to put on the 

 muffle door, but also to close the window of the muffle door with a piece of 

 charcoal, or with a piece of brick. If the copper be such that the silver can 

 only be separated from it with difficulty, then before it is tested with fire in 

 the cupel, lead should first be put into the scorifier, and then the copper should 

 be added with a moderate quantity of melted salt, both that the lead may 

 absorb the copper and that the copper may be cleansed of the dross which 

 abounds in it. 



Tin which contains silver should not at the beginning of the assay be 

 placed in a cupel, lest the silver, as often happens, be consumed and converted 

 into fumes, together with the tin. As soon as the lead^^ has begun to fume 

 in the scorifier, then add that^^ to it. In this way the lead will take the 

 silver and the tin will boil and turn into ashes, which may be removed with a 

 wooden splinter. The same thing occurs if any alloy is melted in which there 

 is tin. When the lead has absorbed the silver which was in the tin, then, 

 and not till then, it is heated in the cupel. First place the lead with which 

 the silver is mixed, in an iron pan, and stand it on a hot furnace and let it 

 melt ; afterward pour this lead into a small iron mould, and then beat it 

 out with a hammer on an anvil and make it into leaves in the same way as 

 the copper. Lastly, place it in the cupel, which assay can be carried out in 

 the space of half an hour. A great heat is harmful to it, for which reason 

 there is no necessity either to cover the half of the furnace with a lid or to 

 close up its mouth. 



The minted metal alloys, which are known as money, are assayed in the 

 following way. The smaller silver coins which have been picked out from 

 the bottom and top and sides of a heap are first carefully cleansed ; then, after 

 they have been melted in the triangular crucible, they are either resolved 

 into granules, or made into thin leaves. As for the large coins which weigh 

 a drachma, a sicilicus, half an uncia, or an uncia, beat them into leaves. 

 Then take a bes of the granules, or an equal weight of the leaves, and likewise 

 take another bes in the same way. Wrap each sample separately in paper, 

 and afterwards place two small pieces of lead in two cupels which have first 

 been heated. The more precious the money is, the smaller portion of lead 

 do we require for the assay, the more base, the larger is the portion required ; 

 for if a bes of silver is said to contain only half an uncia or one uncia of copper, 

 we add to the bes of granules half an uncia of lead. If it is composed of equal 

 parts of silver and copper, we add an uncia of lead, but if in a bes of copper 

 there is only half an uncia or one uncia of silver, we add an uncia and a half 

 of lead. As soon as the lead has begun to fume, put into each cupel one of 

 the papers in which is wrapped the sample of silver alloyed with copper, and 

 close the mouth of the muffle with charcoal. Heat them with a gentle fire 

 until all the lead and copper are consumed, for a hot fire by its heat forces the 



^^Lead and Tin seem badly mixed in this paragraph. 

 "It is not clear what is added. 



