~ of Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. $13 
A Butinthefecond triall and boiling that which remaineth behind, is called Diphryges. Well,be 
it what it will,the fame reafon there is of itin Phyficke,as of the reft of thiskind found in furna- 
ces :forby nature itis deficcative: it confumeth befides all excreffences,and doth cleanfe migh- 
tily. The triall of it is by the tongue, for if it be good Diphryges,no fooner toucheth it the toung, 
butir drieth ic,and withall cafteth of brafle. | ! 
Butbefore! depart from thefe brafle mines andfurnaces, Icannot conceale from youone 
miraculous thing as touching this mettall, There is (you. know) a noble familie in Rome of the 
Servily swell renowmed, as may appeare by the Romane kalender and ats of record: and thefe 
have among thema certaine peece of brafle coine called a Triens(/.the third part *of a Romane * Whichis@~ 
Affe) which they doe keepe and feed with filverand gold, Foreat andcon{ume it dooth both the hs, 
B_ one andthe other : from whence itcame firft, and what the reafon in nature of this propertieis, 
Iknow®not yet. Bur for my warrant, I will er downe as touching this matter the verie words of 
old Meffala : The houfe(quoth he)of the Servily hath a certaine faced Trient, inthe honour of 
which peece they doe facrifice yearely with great devotion and folemnitie omitting no magnifi- 
cence norceremoniestherto belonging.And this Trient the common fpeech is of them all, that 
it feemeth one while to grow bigger,and another while to deminifhand bee {maller: according 
to which encreafe or decreafe,the {aid Serv:l7 take prefage, That their familie hall either rife to 
more honour, or decay in credit and reputation. — : 
CuHap. XIf11. 
2& Of yron and yron mines and the different kinds of yron. 
T remaineth now in thenext place to difcourfé of the mines of yron,a mettall which wee may 
| vt fay is both the beftand the worft implement ufed nowin the world : For with the helpe of 
yron we breake up and earthe ground, we plant and plot our groves, we fet our hortyards and 
range our fruitful wees in rewes : we prune our Vines,and by cutting off the fuperfluous branches 
and dead wood,we make them every yeare to looke frefh and young againe : by meanes of yron 
and fteele we build houfes,hew quarries, and cut in:ftone, yea and in one word, we ufc it to all o- 
ther neceflarie ufes of thislife.Contrariwife,the fame yron ferveth for warres,murders,and rob- 
beries, not onely to offend and {trike therewith in hand, but alfo to reach and kill afarre off, with 
D divers forts of darts and fhor; one whiles difchargedand fent out ofengins, another while laune «4 pine nad 
ced and flung by force of the arme ;yea and fometiine let flie with wings zand this I take tobee wouldeft thot 
the wickedft invention that ever was devifed by the head of man: fortotheend that death may pute e didft 
fpeed away the fafter to aman, and furorife him more fodainly, we makeit to flie asa bird inthe the pitol., 
aire, and ro the arrow headed at one end with deadly yron, wefet feathers atthe other: whereby Muskets, Cul. 
itis evident,that the mifcheefe proceeding from yron, is not to bee imputed to the nature of it; FS? aie 
but to the unhappie wit of man.For good proofe we had alreadie by many experiments other- dayes, 
wifethat yron might be employedand occupied, without any hurt or harmeatall to mankind. 
And verely in thofe capitulations of peace,which after the expulfion of the kings, Po-/ena, king 
of the Tufcanes tendered untothe people of Rome,] find this exprefle article & impofition, That 
E they thould not ufe yron,but onely about tillage of the ground. And as our Chronicles of grea- 
reft antiquiti¢e have left recorded, it was not thought fafe to permit writing and engraving letters 
with a ftyle of yron. Certes,in the third Confulfhip of Pompey the great,by occafion of a tumule 
and commotion raifed within the citie of Rome for the murder committed upor the perfon of 
P.Clod:us,there was an edi&t came fourth (whichnowis extant upon record)aiter the manner of 
an inhibition in this forme : Ne u/um telum in urbe effet, 1. That no man throughout all Rome 
fhould be feenc to weare a weapon.Nevertheleffe men did not forbear and give over to dofome 
honour unto yronalfo in fome other occafions of this life, tending to the entertaining of civili- 
tie and humanitie ; for 47iitowidas the cunning attificer, minding to reprefent in an image the 
fiitious rageof Athamas beginning now to coole and bee allaied, together with his repentance 
F forthecruell murdering of his owne fonne ZLearchus,whom he flung headlong againft the hard 
{tones,and thereby dafht out his braines; made a temperature of brafle and yron together, to 
the end, that the ruftie yron appearing through the bright luftre of the brafle, mightlivelyex- 
refle a blafhing ted in the countenance, befeeming aman confufed anddifmaied for{fo unnatu- 
ralla fact. This ftatue isat this day to befeene at Thebes. Within the fame cittie there is another 
amage 
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