Opening
Transcriber’s notes:
See further notes at the end of this volume.
THE
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
PLINY.
TRANSLATED,
WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE LATE JOHN BOSTOCK, M.D., F.R.S.,
AND
H. T. RILEY, ESQ., B.A., LATE SCHOLAR OF CLARE HALL, CAMBRIDGE.
VOL. III.
LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. MDCCCLV.
OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
XI. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF INSECTS
CHAP. Page
1. The extreme smallness of insects 1
2. Whether insects respire, and whether they have blood 3
3. The bodies of insects 4
4. Bees 5
5. The order displayed in the works of bees ib.
6. The meaning of the terms commosis, pissoceros, and propolis 6
7. The meaning of erithace, sandaraca, or cerinthos 7
8. What flowers are used by the bees in their work ib.
9. Persons who have made bees their study 8
10. The mode in which bees work ib.
11. Drones 10
12. The qualities of honey 11
13. Where the best honey is produced 12
14. The kinds of honey peculiar to various places ib.
15. How honey is tested. Ericæum. Tetralix, or sisirum 14
16. The reproduction of bees 16
17. The mode of government of the bees 18
18. Happy omens sometimes afforded by a swarm of bees 19
19. The various kinds of bees 20
20. The diseases of bees 21
21. Things that are noxious to bees 22
22. How to keep bees to the hive 23
23. Methods of renewing the swarm ib.
24. Wasps and hornets: animals which appropriate what belongs to others 24
25. The bombyx of Assyria 25
26. The larvæ of the silk-worm—who first invented silk cloths ib.
27. The silk-worm of Cos—how the Coan vestments are made 26
28. Spiders; the kinds that make webs; the materials used by them in so doing 27
29. The generation of spiders 29
30. Scorpions ib.
31. The stellio 31
32. The grasshopper: that it has neither mouth nor outlet for food ib.
33. The wings of insects 33
34. The beetle. The glow-worm. Other kinds of beetles 33
35. Locusts 35
36. Ants 37
37. The chrysalis 39
38. Animals which breed in wood 40
39. Insects that are parasites of man. Which is the smallest of animals? Animals found in wax even ib.
40. An animal which has no passage for the evacuations ib.
41. Moths, cantharides, gnats—an insect which breeds in the snow 41
42. An animal found in fire—the pyrallis, or pyrausta 42
43. The animal called hemerobion ib.
44. The nature and characteristics of all animals considered limb by limb. Those which have tufts and crests 43
45. The various kinds of horns. Animals in which they are moveable 44
46. The heads of animals. Those which have none 46
47. The hair ib.
48. The bones of the head 47
49. The brain ib.
50. The ears. Animals which hear without ears or apertures 48
51. The face, the forehead, and the eye-brows 49
52. The eyes—animals which have no eyes, or have only one eye ib.
53. The diversity of the colour of the eyes 50
54. The theory of sight—persons who can see by night ib.
55. The nature of the pupil—eyes which do not shut 52
56. The hair of the eye-lids; what animals are without them. Animals which can see on one side only 54
57. Animals which have no eye-lids 55
58. The cheeks ib.
59. The nostrils ib.
60. The mouth; the lips; the chin; and the jaw-bone 56
61. The teeth; the various kinds of teeth; in what animals they are not on both sides of the mouth: animals which have hollow teeth ib.
62. The teeth of serpents; their poison. A bird which has teeth 57
63. Wonderful circumstances connected with the teeth 59
64. How an estimate is formed of the age of animals from their teeth 60
65. The tongue; animals which have no tongue. The noise made by frogs. The palate 61
66. The tonsils; the uvula; the epiglossis; the tracheal artery; the gullet 62
67. The neck; the throat; the dorsal spine 63
68. The throat; the gullet; the stomach 64
69. The heart; the blood; the vital spirit ib.
70. Those animals which have the largest heart, and those which have the smallest. What animals have two hearts 65
71. When the custom was first adopted of examining the heart in the inspection of the entrails 66
72. The lungs: in what animals they are the largest, and in what the smallest. Animals which have nothing but lungs in the interior of the body. Causes which produce extraordinary swiftness in animals 67
73. The liver; in what animals, and in what part there are two livers found ib.
74. The gall; where situate, and in what animals it is double. Animals which have no gall, and others in which it is not situate in the liver 68
75. The properties of the gall 69
76. In what animals the liver increases and decreases with the moon. Observations on the aruspices relative thereto, and remarkable prodigies 70
77. The diaphragm. The nature of laughter ib.
78. The belly: animals which have no belly. Which are the only animals that vomit 71
79. The small guts, the front intestines, the anus, the colon. The causes of the insatiate voracity of certain animals ib.
80. The omentum: the spleen; animals which are without it 73
81. The kidneys: animals which have four kidneys. Animals which have none ib.
82. The breast: the ribs 74
83. The bladder: animals which have no bladder ib.
84. The womb: the womb of the sow: the teats 75
85. Animals which have suet: animals which do not grow fat ib.
86. The marrow: animals which have no marrow 76
87. Bones and fish-bones: animals which have neither. Cartilages 77
88. The nerves: animals which have none ib.
89. The arteries; the veins: animals without arteries or veins. The blood and the sweat 78
90. Animals, the blood of which coagulates with the greatest rapidity: other animals, the blood of which does not coagulate. Animals which have the thickest blood: those the blood of which is the thinnest: animals which have no blood ib.
91. Animals which are without blood at certain periods of the year 79
92. Whether the blood is the principle of life 80
93. The hide of animals ib.
94. The hair and the covering of the skin 81
95. The paps: birds which have paps. Remarkable facts connected with the dugs of animals 82
96. The milk: the biestings. Cheese: of what milk cheese cannot be made. Rennet; the various kinds of aliment in milk 83
97. Various kinds of cheese 85
98. Differences of the members of man from those of other animals 86
99. The fingers, the arms ib.
100. Resemblance of the ape to man ib.
101. The nails 87
102. The knees and the hams ib.
103. Parts of the human body to which certain religious ideas are attached 88
104. Varicose veins 88
105. The gait, the feet, the legs 89
106. Hoofs ib.
107. The feet of birds 90
108. The feet of animals, from those having two feet to those with a hundred.—Dwarfs 91
109. The sexual parts.—Hermaphrodites ib.
110. The testes.—The three classes of eunuchs 92
111. The tails of animals ib.
112. The different voices of animals 93
113. Superfluous limbs 95
114. Signs of vitality and of the moral disposition of man, from the limbs 96
115. Respiration and nutriment 97
116. Animals which when fed upon poison do not die, and the flesh of which is poisonous 98
117. Reasons for indigestion. Remedies for crudity ib.
118. From what causes corpulence arises; how it may be reduced ib.
119. What things, by merely tasting of them, allay hunger and thirst 99
XII. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF TREES
1. The honourable place occupied by trees in the system of nature 101
2. The early history of trees 102
3. Exotic trees. When the plane-tree first appeared in Italy, and whence it came 103
4. The nature of the plane-tree 104
5. Remarkable facts connected with the plane-tree ib.
6. The chamæplatanus. Who was the first to clip green shrubs 106
7. How the citron is planted ib.
8. The trees of India 107
9. When ebony was first seen at Rome. The various kinds of ebony 109
10. The Indian thorn ib.
11. The Indian fig ib.
12. The pala: the fruit called ariena 110
13. Indian trees, the names of which are unknown. Indian trees which bear flax 111
14. The pepper-tree.—The various kinds of pepper—bregma—zingiberi, or zimpirebi ib.
15. Caryophyllon, lycion, and the Chironian pyxacanthus 113
16. Macir 114
17. Sugar ib.
18. Trees of Ariana, Gedrosia, and Hyrcania 115
19. Trees of Bactriana, bdellium, or brochon, otherwise malacha, or maldacon, scordastum. Adulterations used in all spices and aromatics; the various tests of them and their respective values ib.
20. Trees of Persis 117
21. Trees of the islands of the Persian Sea. The cotton tree ib.
22. The tree called cyna. Trees from which fabrics for clothing are made in the east 118
23. A country where the trees never lose their leaves ib.
24. The various useful products of trees 119
25. Costus ib.
26. Nard. The twelve varieties of the plant ib.
27. Asarum, or foal-foot 121
28. Amomum.—Amomis 122
29. Cardamomum 123
30. The country of frankincense ib.
31. The trees which bear frankincense 125
32. Various kinds of frankincense 126
33. Myrrh 129
34. The trees which produce myrrh 130
35. The nature and various kinds of myrrh ib.
36. Mastich 132
37. Ladanum and stobolon ib.
38. Enhæmon 134
39. The tree called bratus 135
40. The tree called stobrum ib.
41. Why Arabia was called “Happy” 136
42. Cinnamomum. Xylocinnamum 137
43. Cassia 140
44. Cancamum and tarum 141
45. Serichatum and gabalium 142
46. Myrobalanum ib.
47. Phœnicobalanus 143
48. The sweet-scented calamus; the sweet-scented rush 144
49. Hammoniacum ib.
50. Sphagnos 145
51. Cypros 146
52. Aspalathos, or erysisceptrum ib.
53. Maron 147
54. Balsamum; opobalsamum; and xylobalsamum ib.
55. Storax 151
56. Galbanum 152
57. Panax ib.
58. Spondylium 153
59. Malobathrum ib.
60. Omphacium ib.
61. Bryon, œnanthe, and massaris 154
62. Elate or spathe 155
63. Cinnamon or comacum ib.
Book XIII
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF EXOTIC TREES, AND AN ACCOUNT OF UNGUENTS.
1. Unguents—at what period they were first introduced 159
2. The various kinds of unguents—twelve principal compositions 160
3. Diapasma, magma; the mode of testing unguents 166
4. The excesses to which luxury has run in unguents 167
5. When unguents were first used by the Romans 168
6. The palm-tree 169
7. The nature of the palm-tree 170
8. How the palm-tree is planted 172
9. The different varieties of palm-trees, and their characteristics 173
10. The trees of Syria: the pistacia, the cottana, the damascena, and the myxa 178
11. The cedar. Trees which have on them the fruit of three years at once ib.
12. The terebinth 179
13. The sumach-tree ib.
14. The trees of Egypt. The fig-tree of Alexandria 180
15. The fig-tree of Cyprus 181
16. The carob-tree ib.
17. The Persian tree. In what trees the fruits germinate the one below the other 182
18. The cucus 183
19. The Egyptian thorn ib.
20. Nine kinds of gum. The sarcocolla 184
21. The papyrus: the use of paper: when it was first invented 185
22. The mode of making paper 186
23. The nine different kinds of paper 187
24. The mode of testing the goodness of paper 189
25. The peculiar defects in paper 190
26. The paste used in the preparation of paper 191
27. The books of Numa ib.
28. The trees of Æthiopia 193
29. The trees of Mount Atlas. The citrus, and the tables made of the wood thereof 194
30. The points that are desirable or otherwise in these tables 195
31. The citron-tree 198
32. The lotus ib.
33. The trees of Cyrenaica. The paliurus 200
34. Nine varieties of the Punic apple. Balaustium ib.
35. The trees of Asia and Greece; the epipactis, the erica, the Cnidian grain or thymelæa, pyrosachne, cnestron, or cneoron 201
36. The tragion: tragacanthe ib.
37. The tragos or scorpio; the myrica or brya; the ostrys 202
38. The euonymos 203
39. The tree called eon ib.
40. The andrachle 204
41. The coccygia; the apharce ib.
42. The ferula ib.
43. The thapsia 205
44. The capparis or cynosbaton, otherwise ophiostaphyle 206
45. The saripha 207
46. The royal thorn ib.
47. The cytisus 208
48. The trees and shrubs of the Mediterranean. The phycos, prason, or zoster 209
49. The sea bryon 210
50. Plants of the Red Sea 211
51. Plants of the Indian Sea ib.
52. The plants of the Troglodytic Sea; the hair of Isis: the Charito-blepharon 212
XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT-TREES
1 and 2. The nature of the vine. Its mode of fructification 215
3. The nature of the grape, and the cultivation of the vine 218
4. Ninety-one varieties of the vine 222
5. Remarkable facts connected with the culture of the vine 233
6. The most ancient wines 236
7. The nature of wines 238
8. Fifty kinds of generous wines 239
9. Thirty-eight varieties of foreign wine 245
10. Seven kinds of salted wines 247
11. Eighteen varieties of sweet wine. Raisin-wine and hepsema 248
12. Three varieties of second-rate wine 251
13. At what period generous wines were first commonly made in Italy 251
14. The inspection of wine ordered by King Romulus 252
15. Wines drunk by the ancient Romans 253
16. Some remarkable facts connected with wine-lofts. The Opimian wine 254
17. At what period four kinds of wine were first served at table ib.
18. The uses of the wild vine. What juices are naturally the coldest of all 255
19. Sixty-six varieties of artificial wine 256
20. Hydromeli, or melicraton 261
21. Oxymeli ib.
22. Twelve kinds of wine with miraculous properties 262
23. What wines it is not lawful to use in the sacred rites 263
24. How must is usually prepared ib.
25. Pitch and resin 264
26. Vinegar—lees of wine 268
27. Wine-vessels—wine-cellars ib.
28. Drunkenness 270
29. Liquors with the strength of wine made from water and corn 274
XV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT-TREES
1. The olive.—How long it existed in Greece only.—At what period it was first introduced into Italy, Spain, and Africa 277
2. The nature of the olive, and of new olive oil 278
3. Olive oil: the countries in which it is produced, and its various qualities 279
4. Fifteen varieties of the olive 281
5. The nature of olive oil 284
6. The culture of the olive: its mode of preservation. The method of making olive oil 285
7. Forty-eight varieties of artificial oils. The cicus-tree or croton, or sili, or sesamum 286
8. Amurca 291
9. The various kinds of fruit-trees and their natures. Four varieties of pine-nuts 292
10. The quince. Four kinds of cydonia, and four varieties of the struthea ib.
11. Six varieties of the peach 293
12. Twelve kinds of plums 294
13. The peach 296
14. Thirty different kinds of pomes. At what period foreign fruits were first introduced into Italy, and whence 297
15. The fruits that have been most recently introduced ib.
16. Forty-one varieties of the pear 300
17. Various methods of grafting trees. Expiations for lightning 302
18. The mode of keeping various fruits and grapes 303
19. Twenty-nine varieties of the fig 307
20. Historical anecdotes connected with the fig 309
21. Caprification 311
22. Three varieties of the medlar 314
23. Four varieties of the sorb ib.
24. Nine varieties of the nut 315
25. Eighteen varieties of the chesnut 318
26. The carob 319
27. The fleshy fruits. The mulberry ib.
28. The fruit of the arbutus 320
29. The relative natures of berry fruits 321
30. Nine varieties of the cherry 322
31. The cornel. The lentisk 323
32. Thirteen different flavours of juices ib.
33. The colour and smell of juices 325
34. The various natures of fruit 326
35. The myrtle 328
36. Historical anecdotes relative to the myrtle 328
37. Eleven varieties of the myrtle 330
38. The myrtle used at Rome in ovations 331
39. The laurel; thirteen varieties of it 332
40. Historical anecdotes connected with the laurel 334
XVI. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FOREST TREES
1. Countries that have no trees 339
2. Wonders connected with trees in the northern regions 340
3. The acorn oak. The civic crown 341
4. The origin of the presentation of crowns 342
5. Persons presented with a crown of leaves 343
6. Thirteen varieties of the acorn 345
7. The beech 346
8. The other acorns—wood for fuel ib.
9. The gall-nut 350
10. Other productions on these trees besides the acorn ib.
11. Cachrys 351
12. The kermes berry 353
13. Agaric ib.
14. Trees of which the bark is used 354
15. Shingles 355
16. The pine ib.
17. The pinaster 356
18. The pitch-tree: the fir ib.
19. The larch: the torch-tree 357
20. The yew 360
21. Methods of making tar—how cedrium is made 361
22. Methods by which thick pitch is prepared ib.
23. How the resin called zopissa is prepared 363
24. Trees the wood of which is highly valued. Four varieties of the ash 365
25. Two varieties of the linden-tree 366
26. Ten varieties of the maple 367
27. Bruscum: molluscum; the staphylodendron 368
28. Three varieties of the box-tree ib.
29. Four varieties of the elm 370
30. The natures of the various trees according to their localities: the mountain trees, and the trees of the plain ib.
31. Trees which grow on a dry soil: those which are found in wet localities: those which are found in both indifferently 372
32. Division of trees into various species 373
33. Trees which do not lose their foliage. The rhododendron. Trees which do not lose the whole of their foliage. Places in which there are no trees ib.
34. The nature of the leaves which wither and fall 374
35. Trees which have leaves of various colours; trees with leaves of various shapes. Three varieties of the poplar 375
36. Leaves which turn round every year 376
37. The care bestowed on the leaves of the palm, and the uses to which they are applied 377
38. Remarkable facts connected with leaves ib.
39. The natural order of the production of plants 379
40. Trees which never blossom. The juniper 380
41. The fecundation of trees. Germination: the appearance of the fruit 381
42. In what order the trees blossom 383
43. At what period each tree bears fruit. The cornel 384
44. Trees which bear the whole year. Trees which have on them the fruit of three years 385
45. Trees which bear no fruit: trees looked upon as ill-omened 385
46. Trees which lose their fruit or flowers most readily 386
47. Trees which are unproductive in certain places 387
48. The mode in which trees bear ib.
49. Trees in which the fruit appears before the leaves ib.
50. Trees which bear two crops in a year. Trees which bear three crops 388
51. Which trees become old with the greatest rapidity, and which most slowly 389
52. Trees which bear various products. Cratægum 390
53. Differences in trees in respect of the trunks and branches 391
54. The branches of trees 392
55. The bark of trees 393
56. The roots of trees ib.
57. Trees which have grown spontaneously from the ground 394
58. How trees grow spontaneously—diversities in their nature, the same trees not growing everywhere 395
59. Plants that will not grow in certain places 396
60. The cypress 397
61. That the earth often bears productions which it has never borne before 399
62. The ivy—twenty varieties of it ib.
63. The smilax 402
64. Water plants: the rush: twenty-eight varieties of the reed 403
65. Reeds used for arrows, and for the purpose of writing 404
66. Flute reeds: the reed of Orchomenus; reeds used for fowling and fishing 405
67. The vine-dresser’s reed 408
68. The willow: eight varieties of it 409
69. Trees, in addition to the willow, which are of use in making withes 410
70. Rushes: candle-rushes: rushes for thatching 411
71. The elder: the bramble ib.
72. The juices of trees 412
73. The veins and fibres of trees 413
74. The felling of trees 415
75. The opinion of Cato on the felling of timber 416
76. The size of trees: the nature of wood: the sappinus 417
77. Methods of obtaining fire from wood 421
78. Trees which are proof against decay: trees which never split 422
79. Historical facts connected with the durability of wood 423
80. Varieties of the teredo 425
81. The woods used in building 426
82. Carpenters’ woods 427
83. Woods united with glue ib.
84. Veneering 428
85. The age of trees. A tree that was planted by the first Scipio Africanus. A tree at Rome five hundred years old 429
86. Trees as old as the City 430
87. Trees in the suburban districts older than the City ib.
88. Trees planted by Agamemnon the first year of the Trojan war: other trees which date from the time that the place was called Ilium, anterior to the Trojan war 431
89. Trees planted at Argos by Hercules: others planted by Apollo. A tree more ancient than Athens itself ib.
90. Trees which are the most short-lived 432
91. Trees which have been rendered famous by remarkable events ib.
92. Plants which have no peculiar spot for their growth: others that grow upon trees, and will not grow in the ground. Nine varieties of them: cadytas, polypodion, phaulias, hippophæston 433
93. Three varieties of mistletoe. The nature of mistletoe and similar plants 434
94. The method of making birdlime 435
95. Historical facts connected with the mistletoe 435
XVII. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE CULTIVATED TREES
1. Trees which have been sold at enormous prices 438
2. The influence of weather upon trees: what is the proper situation for the vine 441
3. What soils are to be considered the best 446
4. The eight kinds of earth boasted of by the Gauls and Greeks 452
5. The employment of ashes 455
6. Manure 456
7. Crops which tend to improve the land: crops which exhaust it 459
8. The proper mode of using manure ib.
9. The modes in which trees bear 460
10. Plants which are propagated by seed ib.
11. Trees which never degenerate 461
12. Propagation by suckers 463
13. Propagation by slips and cuttings 464
14. Seed-plots ib.
15. The mode of propagating the elm 467
16. The holes for transplanting 468
17. The intervals to be left between trees 472
18. The nature of the shadow thrown by trees 473
19. The droppings of water from the leaves 474
20. Trees which grow but slowly: those which grow with rapidity 475
21. Trees propagated from layers ib.
22. Grafting: the first discovery of it 477
23. Inoculation or budding ib.
24. The various kinds of grafting ib.
25. Grafting the vine 482
26. Grafting by scutcheons 483
27. Plants which grow from a branch 485
28. Trees which grow from cuttings: the mode of planting them 486
29. The cultivation of the olive ib.
30. Transplanting operations as distributed throughout the various seasons of the year 487
31. The cleaning and baring of the roots, and moulding them 491
32. Willow-beds 492
33. Reed-beds 493
34. Other plants that are cut for poles and stakes 494
35. The culture of the vine and the various shrubs which support it 495
36. How grapes are protected from the ravages of insects 517
37. The diseases of trees ib.
38. Prodigies connected with trees 526
39. Treatment of the diseases of trees 528
40. Methods of irrigation 529
41. Remarkable facts connected with irrigation ib.
42. Incisions made in trees 530
43. Other remedies for the diseases of trees ib.
44. Caprification, and particulars connected with the fig 531
45. Errors that may be committed in pruning ib.
46. The proper mode of manuring trees 532
47. Medicaments for trees ib.
GREEK AND ROMAN MONEY, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES MENTIONED BY PLINY.
Acetabulum. R 1/8 of a Sextarius, .1238 pint. Actus. R 120 Pedes or Roman feet. Amphora. R 48 Sextarii, 5 gall. 7.577 pints. As. R 2-1/8 farthings. Copper. As. R [weight] See “Libra.” Concha, Smaller, G and R .0412 pint. Concha, Larger, G and R .1238 pint. Congius. R 5.9471 pints. Cubitus. G 1 foot 6.2016 inches. Cubitus. R 1 foot 5.4744 inches. Culeus. R 20 Amphoræ, 118 gall. 7.546 pints. Cyathus. G and R 1/12 of a Sextarius, .0825 pint. Denarius. R 16 Asses, 8-1/2 pence. Silver. Denarius. R. [weight] 52.5 to 60 grains. Digitus, or Finger. R 1/16 of a Pes, .7281 inch. Drachma. G .63 grains. Hemina. R See “Semisextarius.” Jugerum. R 240 Pedes or Roman feet by 120. Libra, or Pound. R 11-3/4 ounces 60.45 grains, avoird. Mina.[1] G 15 ounces 83.75 grains, avoird. Modius. R. [dry measure] 1/3 of an Amphora, 1 gall. 7.8576 pints. Obolus, G 1-1/2 pence + .5 farthings. Silver. Obolus. G. [weight] 10.5 grains. Palmus, or Handbreadth. R 2.9214 inches. Passus, or Pace.[2] R 5 Roman feet, 4 ft. 10.248 inches. Pes, or Foot. R 12 Unciæ, 11.6496 inches. Pollex, or Thumb. R See “Uncia” [lineal measure]. Quadrans. R .53125 farthings. Copper. Quadrans. R [weight] 3 Unciæ, 2-3/4 ounces 97.21 grs. Quadrantal. R See “Amphora.” Quartarius. R 1/4 of a Sextarius, .2477 pint. Quinarius. R 1/2 of a Denarius. Scripulum, or Scruple. R 1/24 of an Uncia, 18.06 grains. Semisextarius. R 1/2 of a Sextarius. Sestertius. R 1/4 of a Denarius. Brass or Silver. Sestertium. R 1000 Sestertii, £7 16s. 3d. Sextarius. R 1/6 of a Congius, .9911 pint. Spithama, or Span. G 9.1008 inches. Stadium. G and R 1/8 of a Roman mile, 606 feet 9 in. Teruncius. R See “Quadrans” [weight & money]. Ulna, or Ell. R 6 feet, 81 inch. Uncia, or Inch. R 1/12 of a Pes, .9708 inch. Uncia, or Ounce. R 1/12 of a Libra. 433.666 grs. Urna. R 1/2 of an Amphora. Victoriatus. R See “Quinarius.”
The Schœnus, an Egyptian and Persian lineal measure, varied considerably; being sometimes thirty, and sometimes forty Stadia. See B. v. c. 11, B. vi. c. 30, and B. xii. c. 30.
The Attic Talent, as a weight, was equal to 56lb. 15-1/4oz. 100.32 grains. The Commercial Talent was 85lb. 2-1/2oz. 70.7 grs. The Silver Attic, or Great Talent, was in value £343 15s. or, according to Pollux, £406 5s. The Gold, or Sicilian Talent, was equal in weight to six Attic Drachmæ, or about 3/4 oz. and 71 grs. The Egyptian Talent, as a measure of weight, was equal to about twice the Attic Talent.
NATURAL HISTORY OF PLINY.