Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXXIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS., CHAP. 7.

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CHAP. 7.—ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS.

The ancients were in the habit of making the door-sills and even the doors of the temples of brass. I find it stated, also, that Cneius Octavius, who obtained a naval triumph over King Perseus,¹ erected the double portico to the Flaminian Circus, which was called the "Corinthian" from the brazen capitals of the pillars.² It is stated also, that an ordinance was made that the Temple of Vesta³ should be covered with a coating of Syracusan metal. The capitals, too, of the pillars, which were placed by M. Agrippa in the Pantheon, are made of similar metal. Even the opulence, too, of private individuals has been wrested to similar purposes. Spurius Carvilius, the quæstor, among the other charges which he brought against Camillus,⁴ accused him of having brazen doors in his house.

1 A. U. C. 585; we have an account of it in Livy, B. xiv. c. 42.—B.

2 This building is referred to by Velleius Paterculus, in the beginning of the Second Book of his History.—B. According to Aurelius Victor, it was situated in the Ninth Region of the City.

3 The Temple of Vesta is described by Ovid, Fasti, B. vi. 1. 265, et seq.—B.

4 C. Camillus probably, the Roman jurist and friend of Cicero.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 7.—ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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Table of Contents:

CHAP. 7.—ORNAMENTS OF THE TEMPLES MADE OF BRASS.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.