詞源與文集 第 19 章 第 1/3 段

ON SHIPS, BUILDINGS, AND GARMENTS. I. ON SHIPS. I have taken pains next to note, in part, the terms of certain arts by which something is fabricated, or the instruments of craftsmen, or the things that furnish service, and anything of this kind. 'Craftsman' (artifex) is a general name, for one who practices an art (artem faciat), just as a goldsmith (aurifex) is one who [makes] gold. For the ancients used to say 'faxo' for 'facio' (I make). The 'nauclerus' is the master of the ship, so named because the ship is in his lot; for 'kleros' in Greek means 'lot' (sors). But the others in the ship are in a share (contribution). The 'gubernio,' who is also the helmsman (gubernator), as it were 'coibernator,' because by his prudence he restrains (coibeat) the winter storms (hiberna), that is, the tempests of the sea. The sailor (nauta) is named from the ship (navis) by derivation.

'Navita' is used for 'nauta' (sailor) poetically, just as 'Mavors' for 'Mars'; for the correct form is 'nauta.' The oarsman (remex) is so called because he plies the oar (remum gerit); and 'remex' is formed in the nominative case just as 'tubex' is. The 'epibata' is called by a Greek name, one who in Latin is called 'superveniens' (a passenger coming aboard). He has no business of his own, but having paid his fare (naulum) arranges to cross over to other lands. Some hold that a ship (navis) is so called because it seeks a diligent (navum) helmsman, that is, one skilled, wise, and energetic, who knows how to hold and steer it because of the perils and mishaps of the sea. Whence that saying of Solomon (Prov 1:5): 'The man of understanding shall possess governance.' The Lydians first built a ship, and seeking the uncertainties of the deep, made the sea passable for the use of men.

The raft (rates) is the first and most ancient kind of vessel, fashioned from rough beams and planks joined together; ships built in its likeness were called 'ratariae.' Now already ships are improperly called 'rates'; for properly 'rates' are beams joined to one another. The 'trieris' is a large ship, which the Greeks call 'durco.' Concerning which it is said in Isaiah (33:21): 'The great trireme shall not pass through it.' The Carpasian ship is named from the island Carpathos, just as the Rhodian from Rhodes, and the Alexandrian from Alexandria. The Liburnians (Liburnae) are named from the Libyans; for they are merchants' ships. Of which Horace (Epod 1,1): 'You will go among the Liburnians amid the tall ships.' Beaked ships (rostratae) are so called because on their prow they have bronze beaks (rostra) on account of the rocks, lest they be struck and dashed to pieces.

Long ships are those which we call 'dromones,' so named because they are longer than the rest: their opposite is the 'musculus,' a short vessel. The 'dromo' is named from running down (decurrendo); for the Greeks call running 'dromos.' The fleet (classis) is named from a Greek phrase, 'apo tōn kalōn,' that is, from timbers; whence also 'calones' are the little boats which carry timber for the soldiers. The 'ancyromachus' is so called because by its swiftness it is fit for carrying anchors and the other tackle of ships. The 'phaselus' is a vessel which we corruptly call 'baselus.' Of which Virgil (Georg 4,289): 'And with painted phaseli.' The 'scapha,' which is also 'kataskopos,' a vessel which in Latin is called 'speculatorium' (a scout-boat); for 'skopos' in Latin means to watch. The barque (barca) is that which carries all the ship's merchandise to the shore.

This ship, on the open sea because of the excessive waves, receives it into its lap: but when it has drawn near the harbor, the barque renders back its service to the ship which received it on the open sea. The 'paro' is a vessel suited to pirates, and so named from them. Cicero (Mar 3): 'Then he gives and entrusts himself to the wave-bearing paro.' And elsewhere (Com pall inc 21): 'He plays at the shore with swift little paros.' The 'mioparo' is as it were the smallest paro. For it is a skiff made of wicker, which, covered with raw hide, provides a kind of vessel; such as the German pirates use on the shores or marshes of the Ocean because of its nimbleness.

Concerning which History says: 'The nation of the Saxons relies on light vessels (mioparones), not on strength, being ready rather for flight than for battle.' The 'celoces,' which the Greeks call 'keletes,' that is, swift biremes or triremes, nimble and fit for the service of the fleet. Ennius (Ann 478): 'The oiled keel of the celox glides over the white waters.' Biremes are ships having a double bank of oars. Triremes and quadriremes have three and four banks. So too the penteres and hexeres, having five or six banks. Actuary ships (actuariae) are those which are driven at once by sails and oars. The 'hippagogus,' in which it was customary to transport horses. The 'pontonium' is a river vessel, slow and heavy, which can advance only by rowing. This is also called 'traiectus,' that is, 'stretched out':

for it is broad; whence also a stretched-out rope is called 'transenna.' The 'lembus' is a short little boat, which by another name is called both 'cumba' and 'caupulus,' as also 'lintris,' that is, 'carabus,' which they use on the Po and in marshes. The 'carabus' is a small skiff made of wicker, which, covered with raw hide, provides a kind of vessel. The 'portemia' is a boat of the Syrian type, broad and without a keel, named from carrying (portando). They use these in Pannonia. The 'trabariae' are river ships which are hollowed out of single beams, which by another name are called 'litorariae.' These are also 'caudicae,' made of a single hollowed piece of wood; and hence 'caudicae' because they hold from four up to ten men. II. ON THE PARTS OF SHIPS AND THEIR RIGGING. The stern (puppis) is the rear part of the ship, as it were 'after' (post);

the prow (prora) is the front part, as it were 'foremost' (priora). The bilge (cumba) is the lowest place of the ship, because it lies upon the waters (aquis incumbat). The keel (carina) is named from running (currendo), as it were 'currina.' The gangways (fori) are the hollow sides of the ships, named from bearing (ferendo) a load; or they are the decks of ships that are laid down, so named because they bear the passage or project outward (foris). Of which Virgil (Aen 6,412): '[and he loosens the gangways].' The 'columbaria' are hollow places on the topmost sides of the ships through which the oars project; so named, I believe, because they are similar to the hiding-places of doves (columbae) in which they nest. The 'agea' are passageways, places in the ship through which the exhorter (hortator) goes to the oarsmen. Of which Ennius (Ann 492): 'He sets much down on the gangway, and the long passage (agea) is filled.' The thwarts (transtra) are the boards where the oarsmen sit, so called because they are set crosswise (in transverso); which Virgil (Aen

6,411) calls them 'yokes' (iuga). Oars (remi) are named from removing (removendis) and beating down the waves (and the 'tonsae' from clipping), just as barbers (tonsores) are named from clipping and cutting down the hair. The 'palmula' is the outermost breadth of the oar, named from the palm (palma), by which the sea is driven. The yardarms (antemnae) are so called because they are set before the stream (ante amnem); for the stream flows past them. The 'cornua' (horns) are the outermost parts of the yardarms, so called by a figure of speech. The mast (malus) is the 'tree' (arbor) of the ship by which the sails are held up. And the mast is called 'malus' because it has the likeness of an apple (malum) at its top, or because it is girded as it were with certain little wooden hammers (malleoli), by whose turning the sails are more easily raised. The 'modius' is that upon which the mast stands, so named from the likeness of a measuring vessel.

The 'carchesia' are pulleys (trochleae) at the top of the mast, shaped like the letter F, through which the ropes are drawn. Cinna (4): 'The bright carchesia of the tall mast gleam.' Pulleys are called 'trochleae' because they have little wheels; for 'trochos' in Greek means a wheel. The 'parastatae' are equal upright posts by which the mast is supported. Cato (inc 18): 'The mast fastened, the parastatae bound.' The 'clavus' (tiller) is that by which the rudder is guided. Of which Ennius (Ann 483): 'That I may hold the tiller straight and steer the ship.' The 'porticulus' is a mallet carried in the hand, by which somehow a signal is given to the rowers. Of which Plautus (Asin 518): 'For speaking and for keeping silent you yourself have the porticulus.' The 'tonsilia' is an iron or wooden hook to which, when fixed on the shore, the ships' ropes are tied.

Of which Ennius (Ann 499): 'They seize the mooring-hooks (tonsillae), they fix the hooked ones into the shore.' The anchor (anchora), an iron tooth, takes its name from Greek etymology, because it grasps as it were with a man's hand either the rocks or the sands. For 'hand' in Greek is called 'kura' (cheir): among the Greeks, however, it does not have the aspiration, for it is called 'agkura'; whence too among our ancestors it was pronounced without the aspiration. The 'pulvini' are the machines by which ships are launched and drawn down into harbor. The 'pons' is the ship's ladder (gangplank). III. ON SAILS. The Greeks call sails 'armena,' because they are moved by air; but among the Latins, sails (vela) are named from flight (volatu). Whence is that verse (Virgil Aen 3,520): 'We spread the wings of our sails.' Kinds of sails: 'acation,' 'epidromos,' 'dolo,' 'artemo,' 'siparum,' 'mendicum.'

Of these the 'acation' is the largest sail, and is set in the middle of the ship. The 'epidromos' is of the second size, but toward the stern. The 'dolon' is the smallest sail, and is fixed at the prow. The 'artemo' is contrived rather for directing the ship than for speed. The 'siparum' is a kind of sail having a single foot, by which ships are wont to be aided in sailing whenever the force of the wind slackens. Of which Lucan (5,428): 'And spreading the topmost topsails (sipara) of the sails he gathers the perishing breezes'; which they think is named from separation (separatione). The 'pes' (sheet) is the outermost corner of the sail, which the sailors so call. IV. ON ROPES. Ropes (funes) are so called because formerly they were wrapped with wax for use as a light (lumen); whence also 'funalia' (torches). The 'restes' (cables), either because they hold rafts (rates) together, or because with them nets (retes) are stretched.

The 'rudentes' are ship's ropes so called from their excessive creaking (stridore). The 'spirae' are ropes which they use in storms; which sailors in their own fashion call 'cucurbae.' The 'spirae' are named from esparto grass (spartum). The 'propes' is the rope by which the foot of the sail is tied, as it were 'for the foot' (pro pedes). Of which Turpilius (215): 'As when a favorable wind bears the ship out to sea, if someone lets out the propes ... the left of the sail.' The 'tormentum' is a long rope in ships, which is stretched from prow to stern so that they may be bound the tighter. And 'tormenta,' ropes and cables, are named from twisting (tortu). The 'scaphon' is a rope set at the prow. Of which Caecilius (256): 'I came with a Venus-course, with the sheet let out all the way to the scaphon.' The 'opisphora' are ropes which are stretched to the horns of the yardarm on the right and left, drawn backward.

The 'prosnesium' is the rope by which a ship is tied to a stake on the shore. The 'mitra' is the rope by which the middle of the ship is bound. The 'anquina' is that by which the yardarm is bound fast to the mast. Of which Cinna (5): 'And may the strongest anquina guide the steady course.' The tow-rope (remulcum) is the rope by which a bound ship is drawn in place of an oar. Of which Valgius (4): 'Here, coming close with a long tow-rope on my prow, he sets me rejoicing amid welcome hospitality.' The 'struppi' are bindings made of thong or flax by which the oars are tied to the thole-pins (scalmi). Of which Livius (10): 'And then he ordered the oars to be tied fast with struppi.' The 'catapirates' (sounding-line) is a line with a leaden weight, by which the depth of the sea is tested. Lucilius (1191): 'Let the boy swallow down this greased sounding-line, a very little lump of lead and the thread of a line.' V. ON NETS.

Nets (retes) are so called either from retaining (retinendis) fish, or from the ropes (restes) by which they are stretched. A smaller net is called 'synplagium' from the meshes (plagae); for properly 'plagae' are those ropes by which the nets are held around the lowest and highest part. The 'funda' is a kind of fishing net, so called because it is cast into the depth (fundum). The same is also called 'iaculum' from throwing. Plautus (frag 175): 'Indeed before this you were a good thrower (iaculator).' The 'tragum' is a kind of net named from the fact that it is dragged (trahitur). The same is also the 'verriculum'; for 'verrere' means to drag. The 'nassa.' The 'cassis' is a kind of hunting net, because it catches (capiat). Hence it is that we say 'in vain' (incassum), that is, 'without cause'; as it were 'without nets' (sine cassibus), without which the hunt is empty. The 'conopia' are nets by which gnats are shut out in the manner of a tent;

which the Alexandrians use the more, because there gnats are born plentifully from the Nile. Whence also it is called 'conopeum'; for Canopus is in Egypt. VI. ON THE FORGE OF SMITHS. The smith (faber) has his name imposed from working (faciendo) iron. Hence the name is derived to other materials of the arts, so as to call them 'fabri' or 'fabricae'; but with an addition, as 'faber lignarius' (carpenter) and the rest, namely because of the firmness of the work. In the forge of smiths the gentiles say Vulcan is the author, figuratively signifying fire by Vulcan, without which no kind of metal can be melted and drawn out. For there is almost nothing which is not effected by fire. For in one place it produces glass, in another silver, in another lead, in another vermilion, in another pigments, in another medicines.

By fire stones are dissolved into bronze, by fire iron is begotten and tamed, by fire gold is perfected, by fire, the stone burnt, cements and walls are bound together. Fire by cooking whitens black stones, by burning darkens white timbers, makes black coals from glowing embers, brittle things from hard woods, imperishable things from perishable ones; it dissolves compacted things, binds together dissolved things, softens hard things, and makes soft things hard. It has also the use of medicine. For often to be cauterized is beneficial. It is certain too that it is a help against pestilence, which is contracted by the darkening of the sun. In a work too it produces one thing by the first fires, another by the second, another by the third. Fire has also yet another diversity within itself.

For there is one fire which appears for human use, another which appears for divine judgment, whether that which draws lightning from heaven, or that which erupts from the earth through the peaks of mountains. Fire (ignis) is so called because nothing can be begotten (gigni) from it; for it is an inviolable element, consuming all things which it seizes. A forge (fabrica) consists of two things: winds and flame. But flame (flamma) is properly said of the furnace, because it is stirred up by the blowing (flatu) of the bellows. The furnace (fornax) is named from fire; for 'phos' is fire. 'Kaminus,' furnace, is Greek, derived from 'kauma.' A cinder (favilla) is a spark deserted by fire. It is an ember (pruna) so long as it burns; but when it has been extinguished, it is called charcoal (carbo). The ember (pruna) is named from burning through (perurendo); charcoal (carbo), because it lacks flame. And this, while it is thought to have perished, becomes of greater strength;

for kindled again it glows with a stronger light. And so great is its firmness even without fire that it is corrupted by no moisture and overcome by no age. For once extinguished it endures so incorruptibly that those who fix boundary-markers bury pieces of it underneath in the ground, and set stones above them to convict a litigant, so that after however many ages they may recognize that the fixed stone is a boundary. VII. ON THE INSTRUMENTS OF SMITHS. The anvil (incus) is that on which iron is beaten, named from striking (caedendo), because on it we hammer something (cudamus), that is, produce it by striking; for 'cudere' means to strike and to beat. The ancients, however, did not call it 'incus,' but 'intus,' because on it metal is beaten, that is, stretched;

whence too the hammer 'tudis,' from beating (tundendo), that is, stretching. The hammer (malleus) is so called because, while something is hot and soft (molle), it strikes and shapes it out. The 'marcus' is a larger hammer; and it is called 'marcus' because it is larger for striking and stronger. The 'martellus,' a middling one. The 'marculus,' a tiny hammer. Lucilius (1165): 'And just as in a forge when the hot little hammer (marculus) beats the iron with the great blows of many.' Tongs (forcipes), as it were 'ferricipes,' because they grasp and hold red-hot iron (ferrum candens), or because with them we grasp and hold something hot (forvum), as it were 'forvicapes.' For 'forvum' is hot; whence too 'fervidum' (fervent); whence too we call those 'formosi' (shapely) in whom the heat of the blood from redness creates beauty. The file (lima) is so called because it makes smooth (lene). For 'limum' (mud) is smooth.

The 'cilium' is that with which silversmiths work; from which too chased vessels (caelata vasa) are named. VIII. ON THE BUILDING OF WALLS. In the building of walls and roofs the Greeks assert that Daedalus was the inventor; for he is said to have first learned the craft from Minerva. And the Greeks call smiths or craftsmen 'tektones,' that is, builders. The architects (architecti) are the masons who lay out the foundations. Whence also the Apostle says concerning himself (1 Cor 3:10): 'As a wise architect I have laid the foundation.' The 'maciones' (masons) are so called from the machines (machinae) on which they stand because of the height of the walls. IX. ON LAYOUT. The parts of buildings are three: layout (dispositio), construction (constructio), beauty (venustas). Layout is the marking-out of the site or ground and of the foundations. X.

ON CONSTRUCTION. Construction is the building-up of the sides and of the height. And it is called 'constructio' or 'instructio' because it binds tight (instringat) and makes things cohere, as stones with mortar, and timbers and stones with one another. For the tempering (intinctio) of iron in water too is an 'instrictura'; for unless the red-hot iron is dipped, iron cannot be bound and made to cohere. Likewise construction is named from the multitude of stones and timbers; whence too 'strues' (a heap). For building (aedificatio) is one thing, restoration (instauratio) another; for building is a new construction, but restoration is that which is repaired to the likeness of what was before. For the ancients used 'instar' for likeness (similitudo): hence too they said 'instaurare.' Construction consists of foundation, stones, lime, sand, and timbers.

The foundation (fundamentum) is so called because it is the bottom (fundus) of the building. The same is also 'cementum,' named from cutting (caedendo), because it rises from a thick cut stone. Stones suitable for structures: white, Tiburtine, dove-colored, river-stone, sponge-stone, red, and the rest. Of the white stone, one kind is hard, another soft. The soft is cut with a toothed saw and is workable in the job, so that on it, as on wood, letters may be written. The Tiburtine is named from a place in Italy, which, though it is strong for building, yet bursts apart in heat. The tufa (tophus) is useless for buildings but suitable for foundations, on account of its perishableness and softness. For it is crumbled by the heat and breath of the sea and battered by the rains. The sandy stone (arenacius) is compacted from the sands of the sea. This is also called 'bibulus' (thirsty); for it keeps the moisture it has received.

The same in Baetica is the Gaditane stone, from the island in the Ocean where a great deal of it is quarried. The 'piperinus' is whitish with black specks, hard and very strong. The 'cochleacius' is compacted of shells (cochleae) and pebbles and sand, very rough and sometimes full of holes. The 'columbinus' is named from the color of the bird (the dove), being close to gypsum by nature and most similar to it in softness. The millstone-stone (molaris) is useful in walls, because its nature is somewhat greasy, and hard and rough. From it too millstones (molae) are made; whence too it has drawn its name. Of it there are four kinds: white, black, mixed, and full of holes. The sponge-stone (spongia) is a stone created from water, light and full of holes and suitable for vaults. Flint (silex) is a hard stone, of whose kind the black flints are best, and in certain places also reddish ones.

White flints remain uncorrupted against age: the same, when carved in monuments, remain uncorrupted, and not even fire harms them; for from these too molds are made in which bronzes are cast. Green flint is itself also vehemently resistant to fire, but nowhere plentiful; and where it is found, it is a stone (lapis), not a rock (saxum). The pale kind is rarely useful in cement. The 'globus' (round stone) is strong against injuries, but untrustworthy in a structure unless it has been secured with much bracing. River flint is always as if damp. This ought to be exposed to the air in summer and not inserted into the structures of houses before two years. Of earthenware works, for walls and foundations they are fitted with baked bricks, and for roofs with small gutter-tiles and roof-tiles.

Roof-tiles (tegulae) are so called because they cover (tegant) the buildings, and gutter-tiles (imbrices) because they receive the rains (imbres). 'Tegula' is the name of the first laying-down, whose diminutive is 'tigillum.' Bricks (laterculi) are so called because they are formed broad (lati) with four boards turned round on every side. Unbaked bricks are 'lateres crudi,' which themselves too are named from this, that they are made broad (lati) in wooden molds. Of these the 'crates' (hurdles) are so called, in which they are wont to carry mud in place of those unbaked bricks. For they are joinings of reeds, named 'apo tou kratein,' that is, because they hold one another. Some think that mud (lutum) is named by antiphrasis because it is not clean (mundum); for everything washed (lotum) is clean. Quicklime (calx viva) is so called because, while it is cold to the touch, it holds a hidden fire within; whence, when water is poured on, the latent fire at once bursts forth.

Its nature does something wonderful: for after it has burned, it is set aflame by waters, by which fire is wont to be extinguished; and it is extinguished by oil, by which fire is wont to be kindled. Its use in the structures of a building is necessary; for stone cannot adhere to stone more firmly unless it is joined with lime. Gypsum is akin to lime, and it is a Greek name. There are several kinds of it. But of all the best is that for the mirror-stone (lapis specularis). For it is most pleasing for the figures and cornices of buildings. Sand (arena) is named from dryness (ariditas), not from adhering (adhaerendo) in buildings, as some hold. The proof of it is if, pressed by the hand, it creaks, or if, scattered on white clothing, it leaves no dirt behind. Columns (columnae) are named for their length and roundness, upon which the weight of the whole building is raised up.

The ancient rule was that the height of columns should be a third part of their width. There are four kinds of round columns: Doric, Ionic, Tuscan, Corinthian, differing among themselves in the measure of thickness and height. There is a fifth kind of those which are called Attic, with four angles or more, with equal intervals between the sides. Bases (bases) are the supports of columns, which rise from the foundation and hold up the weight of the structure set upon them. And 'basis' is the name of the strongest rock in the Syrian tongue. Capitals (capitolia) are so called because they are the heads (capita) of columns, as it were the head above the neck. Architraves (epistolia) are those which are placed above the capitals of columns: and it is a Greek word. Pavements (pavimenta) have the origin of the work from the Greeks;

and they are called 'pavimenta' because they are rammed (paviantur), that is, beaten down (caedantur). Whence also 'pavor' (fear), because it strikes the heart. The 'ostracus' is an earthenware pavement, because it is beaten with broken potsherds (testae) mixed with lime; for the Greeks call a potsherd 'ostra.' Rubble (rudus) the craftsmen call crushed stones mixed with lime, which they pour over the surface in making pavements; whence too they are called 'rudera.' A channel (canalis) is so called because it is hollow in the manner of a reed (canna). Indeed we do better to bring forth 'canalis' in the feminine gender than in the masculine. Water-pipes (fistulae) are so named because they pour out (fundant) and send (mittant) waters. For 'stolē' in Greek means to send. Their forms are made according to the size and capacity of the water, through which the waters are divided by fixed measures (moduli).

Of these there is the 'uncia' and the 'quinaria,' the square digit, the round digit, and the several other measures. XI. ON BEAUTY. Thus far the parts of construction: there follows the matter of the beauty of buildings. Beauty (venustas) is whatever is added to buildings for the sake of ornament and adornment, such as the coffered ceilings of the roofs distinguished with gold, and the veneers of precious marble, and the pictures of colors. XII. ON COFFERED CEILINGS. Coffered ceilings (laquearia) are those which underlie and adorn the vault, which are also called 'lacunaria' because they have certain square or round hollows (lacus) of wood or gypsum or colors, painted with figures gleaming among them. But principally it is called 'lacus,' as Lucilius (1290): 'The buildings and the pools (lacus) resound.' Its diminutive makes 'lacunar,' as Horace (C 2,18):

'Nor does a golden coffered ceiling (lacunar) gleam in my house.' From this is made another diminutive, 'lacunarium'; and by metathesis (antistichon) it makes 'laquearium.' XIII. ON VENEERS. Veneers (crustae) are slabs of marble; whence too marbled walls are called 'crustati' (veneered). But who devised the cutting of marbles into veneers is not certain. They are made with sand and iron and a saw, the saw pressing the sands along a very thin line and cutting by the very drawing of it; but coarser sand erodes more of the marble, for fine sand is suited to fine works and polishings. XIV. ON MOSAIC PAVEMENTS. Mosaic pavements (lithostrota) are things elaborated by the art of painting, with tiny veneers and little cubes dyed in various colors. And the 'tesselli' are named from 'tesserae,' that is, from square little stones, by diminution. XV. ON MODELING.

Modeling (plastice) is to express figures and images of walls from gypsum and to paint them with colors. And 'plastice' is a Greek term, which in Latin means to fashion (fingere) likenesses in earth or gypsum. For to make some form of impressed clay is 'plastis.' Whence too man is called the 'first-formed' (protoplastus), who was first fashioned from mud. XVI. ON PAINTING. Painting (pictura) is an image expressing the appearance of some thing, which, when it has been seen, leads the mind back to recollection. And painting is called as it were 'fictura' (a feigning); for it is a feigned (ficta) image, not the truth. Hence too 'fucata' (painted over), that is, smeared with a certain feigned color, having nothing of faith and truth.

Whence too there are certain paintings which exceed the bodies of truth in their zeal for color and, while they strive to enhance, carry it over into falsehood; as those who paint the three-headed Chimaera, or Scylla, a human being above but girded below with dogs' heads. The Egyptians first devised painting, from the shadow of a man traced round with lines. And so at the beginning it was such, then the second stage with single colors, afterward with diverse ones; and so little by little the art itself became refined, and discovered light and shadows and the differences of colors. Whence too now painters first draw certain shadows and lines of the future image, then fill them in with colors, keeping the order of the art as it was discovered. XVII. ON COLORS.

Colors (colores) are so called either because they are perfected by the heat (calor) of fire or of the sun, or because at the beginning they were strained (colabantur) so that they might be of the highest fineness. Colors either are born or are made. They are born, such as Sinopis, ruddle, Paraetonium, Melinum, Eretria, orpiment. The rest are fashioned either by art or by mixture. Sinopis was first found in Pontus: thence it took its name from the city Sinope. Its kinds are three: red, and less red, and a middle one between these. Ruddle (rubrica) is so called because it is red (rubra) and next to the color of blood. This is produced in very many places, but the best in Pontus; whence too it is called Pontic. Syricum is a pigment of red color, from which too the headings of books are written.

The same is also 'Phoeniceum,' so called because it is gathered in Syria on the shores of the Red Sea, where the Phoenicians dwell. But 'sericum' is one thing and 'Syricum' another. For 'sericum' is the wool which the Seres send; but 'Syricum' is a pigment which the Syrian Phoenicians gather on the shores of the Red Sea. It is also among the artificial ones; for it is often made mixed with Sinopis or with sandyx. Minium (vermilion) the Greeks are said first to have found in the soil of the Ephesians. Of this pigment Spain abounds more than the other regions; whence too it gave its name to a river of its own (the Minius). Its distillation produces liquid silver (quicksilver). Some say that this minium is cinnabar. Cinnabar (cinnabaris) is named from the dragon (draco) and the 'barrus,' that is, the elephant.

For they say that it is the blood of dragons while they entwine elephants. For the beasts fall and the dragons are crushed, whose spilled gore stains the earth, and whatever it dyes the ground becomes pigment. And it is a powder of red color. Prasin, that is, green chalk, though it is produced indiscriminately in some lands, yet the best is in Libyan Cyrenaica. Chrysocolla is leek-green (prasine) in color, so called because its vein is said to contain gold. This is born also in Armenia, but the approved kind comes from Macedonia. For it is dug from the mines of copper, whose finding betrays silver and Indian pigment. For its veins have a natural fellowship with these. The Cyprian kind is from the island Cyprus, where very much is found.