BOOK XVION STONES AND METALS[357]
ON STONES AND METALS[357]
Chapter 4. On the less common stones.
3.Gagates(jet) was first found in Cilicia, thrown up by the water of the river Gagates. Whence it was named, although it is very abundant in Britain. It is black, flat, smooth, and burns when brought near to fire. Dishes cut out of it are not destructible. If burned it puts serpents to flight, betrays those who are possessed by demons, and reveals virginity. It is wonderful that it is set on fire by water and extinguished with oil.
19.Amiantos(amianth) ... resists all poisons, especially those of the magi.
Chapter 7. On green gems.
8. Certain believe that the jasper gives both attractiveness and safety to its wearers, but to believe this is a sign not of faith but of superstition.
9. The topaz is of the green sort and it glitters with every color. It was found first in an island of Arabia in which Troglodyte pirates, worn out with hunger and storm, discovered it when they pulled the roots of herbs. This island was sought for afterward, and was at length found by seamen, being all covered with clouds. And on this account the placeand the gem received the name from cause. For τοπάζειν in the Troglodyte language denotes seeking.
12. Heliotropium[359]... receives the sun-light after the manner of a looking-glass, and reveals the eclipses of the sun, showing the moon passing under. In the case of this gem there is also a most manifest proof of the shamelessness of the magi, because they say its wearer is not visible if he takes an infusion of the plant heliotrope and in addition utters certain charms.
Chapter 8. On red gems.
1. ... The magi assert that [coral] resists thunder-bolts,—if it is to be believed.
Chapter 10. On white gems.
4.Galactites(milk-stone) is milk-white, and being rubbed it gives a white fluid that tastes like milk, and being tied on nursing mothers it increases the flow of milk. If it is hung on the necks of children it is said to create saliva, and it is said to melt in the mouth and take away the memory.
Chapter 13. On crystals.
1. It is said that crystal glitters and is of a watery color because it is snow that has hardened into ice in the course of the years.... It is produced in Asia and Cyprus, and especially in the Alps of the north, where there is no hot sun even in summer. Therefore the ice itself is bared, and hardening through the years gives this appearance which is called crystal. This, being set opposite to the rays of the sun, so seizes upon its flame that it sets fire to dry fungi or leaves. Its use is to make cups, but it can endure nothing but what is cold.
2.Adamas... Though this is an unconquerable despiser of the steel and of fire, yet it is softened by the fresh, warm blood of stags, and then is shattered by many blows of an iron instrument.
3. It is said to reveal poisons as does amber (electron), to drive away useless fears, to resist evil arts.
Chapter 14. On glowing gems.
7.Dracontitesis forcibly taken from the brain of a dragon, and unless it is torn from the living creature it has not the quality of a gem; whence magi cut it out of dragons while they are sleeping. For bold men explore the cave of the dragons, and scatter there medicated grains to hasten their sleep, and thus cut off their heads while they are sunk in sleep, and take out the gems.
Chapter 15. On yellow gems.
17.Glossopterais like the human tongue whence it took its name. It is said to fall from heaven when the moon is in eclipse, and the magi attribute great power to it, for they think that to it the motions of the moon are due.
21. There are also certain gems which the heathen use in certain superstitions.
22. By the fragrance of theliparia,[360]they relate that all wild beasts are summoned. By theananchitis[360]in divination by water they say the likenesses of demons are summoned. By thesynochitis[360]they assert that the shades of those below that have been summoned forth, are held.
23.Chenelitesis the eye of the Indian tortoise, of a varied purple. By means of this magi pretend that the future is foretold, if it is put on the tongue.
25.Hyaeniais a stone found in the eye of the hyena and they say that if it is placed under the tongue of a man he foretells the future.
Chapter 20. On bronze.
4. Corinthian bronze is a mixture of all metals, and it was first made by accident at Corinth, when the city was taken and burned. For when Hannibal had taken the city, he piled all the statues of bronze and gold and silver into one heap and burned them.
Chapter 21. On iron.
2. There is no body with elements so dense, so closely interlacing and interwoven, as iron; whence in it there is hardness and cold.
Chapter 25. On weights.
1. It is a delight to learn the manner of weights and measures. For all corporeal substances, as it is written, from the highest even to the lowest, are ordered and shaped within the limits of measure, number, and weight. To all corporeal things nature has assigned weight. Its own weight regulates everything.
2. Moses, who preceded all the philosophers of the nations in time, first told us of measures and numbers and weight in different passages in the Scripture. Phidon of Argos was the first to establish a system of weights in Greece.
19.Uncia... And it is reckoned a lawful weight for this reason, that the number of its scruples measures the hours of the day and night, or because reckoned twelve times it makes a pound.
20.Libra(pound) is made up of twelve ounces, and thence is counted a kind of perfect weight, because it is made up of as many ounces as a year is months. And it is calledlibrabecause it islibera(free) and embraces all the aforementioned weights within itself.
23.Centenariumis a weight of one hundred pounds. And this weight the Romans established because of the perfection of the number one hundred.
Chapter 26. On measures.
1. Measure is the limiting of something in amount or time. It has to do with either corporeal substance or time. It has to do with corporeal substance as, for example, the length or shortness of men, pieces of timber, and columns; even the sun has a measure proper to its circle, which geometricians dare to inquire into. It has to do with time as, for example, hours, days, years; whence we say that we measure the feet of the hours.
2. But speaking in a limited sense, measure (mensura) is so named because by it fruits and grain are meted, that is,wet and dry measure, asmodius(peck),artabo(three and half modi),urna(pitcher),amphora(jar).
10.Modius(peck) is so named because after its own mode it is perfect. It is a measure of forty-four pounds, that is, of twenty-twosextarii. The cause of this number is derived from this, that in the beginning God made twenty-two works. For on the first day he made seven, that is, matter in the rough, angels, light, the upper heavens, earth, water, and air. On the second day, the firmament alone. On the third day, four things: the seas, seeds, sowing, and plantings. On the fourth day, three things: the sun and moon and stars. On the fifth day, three: fishes, and creeping things of the water, and flying creatures. On the sixth day, four: wild beasts, flocks, creeping things of the earth, and man. And in all twenty-two kinds were made in the six days. And there are twenty-two generations from Adam to Jacob, from whose seed sprang all the people of Israel, and twenty-two books of the Old Testament as far as Esther, and twenty-two letters of the alphabet out of which the doctrine of the divine law is composed. According to these precedents a modius of twenty-twosextariiwas established by Moses according to the measure of the holy law, and although different nations in their ignorance add weight to this measure or detract from it, still among the Hebrews it is kept unchanged by divine ordinance.
Chapter 27. Abbreviations for weights.
1. The marks for weight are unknown to most and thence they cause readers to err. So let us add their shapes and characters as they were set down by the ancients.[361]