226 
Pliny's natural histoet. 
[Book YII. 
Scytliian, or, according to others, Hyperbius, the Corinthian, 
first invented the potter's wheel. Daedalus was the first 
person who worked in wood ; it was he who invented the saw, 
the axe, the plummet, the gimlet, glue, and isinglass the 
square, the level, the turner's lathe, and the key, were invented 
by Theodorus, of Samos.^^ Measures and weights were in- 
vented by Phidon, of Argos,^^ or, according to Gellius, by 
Palamedes. Pyrodes, the son of Cilix, was the first to strike 
fire from the flint, and Prometheus taught us how to preserve 
it, in the stalk of giant-fennel.^^ 
The Phrygians first taught us the use of the chariot with 
four wheels the Carthaginians the arts of merchandize,^^ and 
Eumolpus, the Athenian, the cultivation of the vine, and of 
trees in general. Staph^dus, the son of Silenus,^ was the first to 
mix water with wine; olive- oil and the oil-press, as also honey, 
we owe to Aristseus, the Athenian the use of oxen and the 
^ The inventions here ascribed to Daedalus, are, by many of the 
ancients, given to his nephew ; see Isidorus, Hyginus, Diodorus Siculus, 
and Ovid, Metam. B. viii. 1. 234, et seq.—B. 
" IchthyocoUa," perhaps more properly, Fish-glue." 
^2 Pausanias ascribes also to Theodorus the invention of forging iron 
and copper. According to Vitruvius, the square was invented by Pytha- 
goras. — B. 
S3 The same statement is made by Strabo, and other writers of antiquity, 
and is confirmed by the Arundelian Marbles. — B. 
^4 See B. xiii. c. 42. 
^5 Marcus informs us, that, according to the Arundelian Marbles, Erich- 
thonius, the fourth king of Athens, was the inventor of chariots. — B. See 
p. 229. 
86 Hardouin remarks, that Pliny, in the beginning of this Chapter, as- 
cribes the invention of commerce to Bacchus ; we may suppose, that the 
commerce there referred to, was the conveyance of goods by land, while 
that of the Carthaginians was traffic by sea. — B. 
87 Eumolpus was a native of Thrace ; but being expelled from his 
native country, he invaded Attica, and, after various contests with Erich- 
thonius, obtained the office of high-priest of Ceres, which was continued 
to his descendants. — B. 
88 We learn from the writings of Moses, that the planting of the vine, 
and the conversion of the juice of the grape into wine, was practised by 
Noah immediately after the Flood. The mixing of water with wine would 
seem to be a very obvious and natural mode of procuring a pleasant and 
refreshing beverage. — B. 
89 From the writings of Moses, we learn that the use of oil and of honey 
was known to the inhabitants of Palestine and Egypt, at a very early pe- 
riod. — B. 
