Naturalis historia 37.204

37.204

Rerum autem ipsarum maximum est pretium in mari nascentium margaritis; extra tellurem crystallis, intra adamanti, smaragdis, gemmis, myrrinis; e terra vero exeuntibus in cocco, lasere, in fronde nardo, Sericis vestibus, in arbore citro, in frutice cinnamo, casia, amomo, arboris aut fruticis suco in sucino, opobalsamo, murra, ture, in radicibus costo; ex iis, quae spirare convenit, animalibus in terra maximum dentibus elephantorum, in mari testudinum cortici; in tergore pellibus, quas Seres inficiunt, et Arabiae caprarum villo, quod ladanum vocavimus; ex iis, quae terrena et maris, conchyliis, purpurae. volucrum naturae praeter conos bellicos et Commagenum anserum adipem nullum adnotatur insigne. non praetereundum est auro, circa quod omnes mortales insaniunt, decumum vix esse in pretio locum, argento vero, quo aurum emitur, paene vicensimum.

As to the productions themselves, the greatest value of all, among the products of the sea, is attached to pearls: of objects that lie upon the surface of the earth, it is crystals that are most highly esteemed: and of those derived from the interior, adamas, smaragdus, precious stones, and murrhine, are the things upon which the highest value is placed. The most costly things that are matured by the earth, are the kermes-berry and laser; that are gathered from trees, nard and Seric tissues; that are derived from the trunks of trees, logs of citrus-wood; that are produced by shrubs, cin- namon, cassia, and amomum; that are yielded by the juices of trees or of shrubs, amber, opobalsamum, myrrh, and frankincense; that are found in the roots of trees, the perfumes derived from costus. The most valuable products furnished by living animals, on land, are the teeth of elephants; by animals in the sea, tortoise-shell; by the coverings of animals, the skins which the Seres dye, and the substance gathered from the hair of the she-goats of Arabia, which we have spoken of under the name of "ladanum;" by creatures that are common to both land and sea, the purple of the murex. With reference to the birds, beyond plumes for warriors' helmets, and the grease that is derived from the geese of Commagene, I find no remarkable product mentioned.

We must not omit, too, to observe, that gold, for which there is such a mania with all mankind, hardly holds the tenth rank as an object of value, and silver, with which we purchase gold, hardly the twentieth! HAIL to thee, Nature, thou parent of all things! and do thou deign to show thy favour unto me, who, alone of all the citizens of Rome, have, in thy every department, thus made known thy praise. SUMMARY.—Facts, narratives, and observations, one thousand three hundred. ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—M. Varro, the Register of the Triumphs, Mæcenas, Iacchus, Cornelius Bocchus. FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—King Juba, Xenocrates the son of Zeno, Sudines, Æschylus, Philoxenus, Euripides, Nicander, Satyrus, Theophrastus, Chares, Philemon, Demostratus, Zenothemis, Metrodorus, Sotacus, Pytheas, Timæus the Sicilian, Nicias, Theochrestus, Asarubas, Mnaseas, Theomenes, Ctesias, Mithridates, Sophocles, King Archelaüs, Callistratus, Democritus, Ismenias, Olympicus, Alexander Polyhistor, Apion, Horus, Zoroaster, Zachalias.