jan 1, 77 - Plinius (Elder) "Naturalis Historia"

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§ 2.106.1 Also a river that goes underground in the Plain of Atinas comes out 20 miles further on, as also does the Timavus in the district of Aquileia.

§ 2.106.2 On a small island in the sea at the mouth of the river Timavus there are hot springs that grow larger and smaller with the rise and fall of the tide.

§ 3.22.1 THE TENTH REGION OF ITALY: We now come to the tenth region of Italy, situate on the Adriatic Sea. In this district are Venetia, the river Silis, rising in the Tarvisanian mountains, the town of Altinum, the river Liquentia rising in the mountains of Opitergium, and a port with the same name, the colony of Concordia; the rivers and harbours of Romatinum, the greater and less Tiliaventum, the Anaxum, into which the Varamus flows, the Alsa, and the Natiso with the Turrus, which flow past the colony of Aquileia at a distance of fifteen miles from the sea. This is the country of the Carni, and adjoining to it is that of the Iapydes, the river Timavus, the fortress of Pucinum, famous for its wines, the Gulf of Tergeste, and the colony of that name, thirty-three miles from Aquileia. Six miles beyond this place lies the river Formio, 189 miles distant from Ravenna, the ancient boundary of enlarged Italy, and now the frontier of Istria. That this region takes its name from the river Ister which flows from the Danube, also called the Ister, into the Adriatic opposite the mouth of the Padus, and that the sea which lies between them is rendered fresh by their waters running from opposite directions... that the ship Argo came down some river into the Adriatic sea, not far from Tergeste; but what river that was is now unknown. The most careful writers say that the ship was carried across the Alps on men's shoulders, having passed along the Ister, then along the Savus, and so from Nauportus, which place, lying between Aemona and the Alps, from that circumstance derives its name.

§ 3.23.2 The towns of Istria with the rights of Roman citizens are Aegida, Parentium, and the colony of Pola, now Pietas Julia, formerly founded by the Colchians, and distant from Tergeste 100 miles: after which we come to the town of Nesactium, and the river Arsia, now the boundary of Italy. The distance across from Ancona to Pola is 120 miles. In the interior of the tenth region are the colonies of Cremona, Brixia in the territory of the Cenomanni, Ateste belonging to the Veneti, and the towns of Acelum, Patavium, Opitergium, Belunum, and Vicetia; with Mantua, the only city of the Tuscans now left beyond the Padus. Cato informs us that the Veneti are descendants of the Trojans, and that the Cenomanni dwelt among the Volcae in the vicinity of Massilia. There are also the towns of the Fertini, the Tridentini, and the Beruenses, belonging to the Rhaeti, Verona, belonging to the Rhaeti and the Euganei, and Julienses to the Carni. We then have the following peoples, whom there is no necessity to particularize with any degree of exactness, the Alutrenses, the Asseriates, the Flamonienses with those surnamed Vanienses, and the others called Culici, the Forojulienses surnamed Transpadani, the Foretani, the Nedinates, the Quarqueni, the Taurisani, the Togienses, and the Varvari. In this district there have disappeared — upon the coast — Iramene, Pellaon, and Palsatium, Atina and Caelina belonging to the Veneti, Segeste and Ocra to the Carni, and Noreia to the Taurisci. L. Piso also informs us that although the senate disapproved of his so doing, M. Claudius Marcellus razed to the ground a tower situated at the twelfth mile-stone from Aquileia.

§ 3.24.1 THE ALPS, AND THE ALPINE NATIONS: Many nations dwell among the Alps; but the more remarkable, between Pola and the district of Tergeste, are the Secusses, the Subocrini, the Catali, the Menocaleni, and near the Carni the people formerly called the Taurisci, but now the Norici. Adjoining to these are the Rhaeti and the Vindelici, who are all divided into a multitude of states. It is supposed that the Rhaeti are the descendants of the Tuscans, who were expelled by the Gauls and migrated hither under the command of their chief, whose name was Rhaetus. Turning then to the side of the Alps which fronts Italy, we have the Euganean nations enjoying Latin rights, and of whom Cato enumerates thirty-four towns. Among these are the Triumpilini, a people who were sold with their territory; and then the Camuni, and several similar tribes, each of them in the jurisdiction of its neighbouring municipal town. The same author also considers the Lepontii and the Salassi to be of Tauriscan origin, but most other writers, giving a Greek interpretation to their name, consider the Lepontii to have been those of the followers of Hercules who were left behind in consequence of their limbs being frozen by the snow of the Alps. They are also of opinion that the inhabitants of the Grecian Alps are descended from a portion of the Greeks of his army, and that the Euganeans, being sprung from an origin so illustrious, thence took their name. The head of these are the Stoeni. The Vennonenses and the Sarunetes, peoples of the Rhaeti, dwell about the sources of the river Rhenus, while the tribe of the Lepontii, known as the Uberi, dwell in the vicinity of the sources of the Rhodanus, in the same district of the Alps.

§ 3.27.1 THE NORICI: In the rear of the Carni and the Iapydes, along the course of the great river Ister, the Rhaeti touch upon the Norici: their towns are Virunum, Celeia, Teurnia, Aguntum, Vianiomina, Claudia, and Flavium Solvense. Adjoining to the Norici is Lake Peiso, and the deserts of the Boii; they are however now inhabited by the people of Sabaria

§ 3.30.2 The coast of Illyricum is clustered with more than 1000 islands, the sea being of a shoaly nature, and numerous creeks and aestuaries running with their narrow channels between portions of the land. The more famous are those before the mouths of the Timavus, with warm springs that rise with the tides of the sea, the island of Cissa near the territory of the Istri, and the Pullaria and Absyrtides, so called by the Greeks from the circumstance of Absyrtus, the brother of Medea, having been slain there. Some islands near them have been called the Electrides, upon which amber, which they call "electrum," was said to be found; a most assured instance however of that untruthfulness which is generally ascribed to the Greeks, seeing that it has never yet been ascertained which of the islands were meant by them under that name.

§ 14.8.1 Julia Augusta gave the credit for her eighty-six years of life to the wine of Pizzino, having never drunk any other. It is grown on a bay of the Adriatic not far from the source of the Timavus, on a rocky hill, where the breeze off the sea ripens enough grapes to make a few casks; and no other wine is considered more suitable for medicinal purposes. I am inclined to believe that this is the wine from the Adriatic Gulf which the Greeks have extolled with such marvellous encomiums under the name of Praetutian.

§ 22.15.1 What can be more hateful than the nettle? Yet this plant, to say nothing of the oil which I have said is made from it in Egypt, simply abounds in remedies. Nicander assures us that its seed counteracts hemlock, and also the poison of fungi and of mercury. Apollodorus says that with the broth of boiled tortoise it is good for salamander bites, and as an antidote for henbane, snake bites and scorpion stings. Moreover, its pungent bitterness itself, by the mere touch, forces to subside swollen uvulas, restoring prolapsus of the uterus, and of the anus of babies, besides waking up lethargus patients if it touches their legs or better still their forehead.

§ 23.49.1 Oil of henbane is useful as an emollient but injurious to the sinews; indeed if drunk it causes derangement of the brain.

§ 26.26.1 Halus also, which the Gauls call sil and the Veneti cotonea, cures pain in the side, as well as kidney troubles, sprains and ruptures. It is like ox-eunila, and the tops are like those of thyme. It is sweet and allays thirst. Its roots are in some districts light, in others dark.

§ 28.21.1 A draught of woman's milk is especially efficacious against the poison of the sea-hare, of the buprestis, or, as Aristotle tells us, of dorycnium, and for the madness caused by drinking henbane.

§ 35.7.1 After Pacuvius, painting was not esteemed as handiwork for persons of station, unless one chooses to recall a knight of Rome named Turpilius, from Venetia, in our own generation, because of his beautiful works still surviving at Verona. Turpilius painted with his left hand, a thing recorded of no preceding artist.

§ 36.48.1 In Umbria and Venetia, moreover, there is a white stone that can be cut with a toothed saw. These stones, besides being easy to work, can also bear a heavy load, provided that they are under cover. When exposed to spray, frost or rime they break up into slabs, nor do they show much resistance to sea breezes.

§ 37.11.3 It is well established that amber is a product of islands in the Northern Ocean, that it is known to the Germans as 'glaesum' and that, as a result, one of these islands, the native name of which is Austeravia, was nicknamed by our troops Glaesaria, or Amber Island, when Caesar Germanicus was conducting operations there with his naval squadrons. To resume, amber is formed of a liquid seeping from the interior of a species of pine, just as the gum in a cherry tree or the resin in a pine bursts forth when the liquid is excessively abundant. The exudation is hardened by frost or perhaps by moderate heat, or else by the sea, after a spring tide has carded off the pieces from the islands. At all events, the amber is washed up on the shores of the mainland, being swept along so easily that it seems to hover in the water without settling on the seabed. Even our forebears believed it to be a 'sucus,' or exudation, from a tree, and so named it 'sucinum.' That the tree to which it belongs is a species of pine is shown by the fact that it smells like a pine when it is rubbed, and burns like a pine torch, with the same strongly scented smoke, when it is kindled. It is conveyed by the Germans mostly into the province of Pannonia. From there it was first brought into prominence by the Veneti, known to the Greeks as the Enetoi, who are close neighbours of the Pannonians and live around the Adriatic. The reason for the story associated with the River Po is quite clear, for even today the peasant women of Transpadane Gaul wear pieces of amber as necklaces, chiefly as an adornment, but also because of its medicinal properties. Amber, indeed, is supposed to be a prophylactic against tonsillitis and other affections of the pharynx, for the water near the Alps has properties that harm the human throat in various ways. The distance from Carnuntum in Pannonia to the coasts of Germany from which amber is brought to us is some 600 miles, a fact which has been confirmed only recently. There is still living a Roman knight who was commissioned to procure amber by Julianus when the latter was in charge of a display of gladiators given by the Emperor Nero. This knight traversed both the trade-route and the coasts, and brought back so plentiful a supply that the nets used for keeping the beasts away from the parapet of the amphitheatre were knotted with pieces of amber. Moreover, the arms, biers and all the equipment used on one day, the display on each day being varied, had amber fittings. The heaviest lump that was brought by the knight to Rome weighed 13 pounds. It is certain that amber is to be found also in India. Archelaus, who was king of Cappadocia, relates that it is brought from India in the rough state with pine bark adhering to it, and that it is dressed by being boiled in the fat of a sucking-pig. That amber originates as a liquid exudation is shown by the presence of certain objects, such as ants, gnats and lizards, that are visible inside it. These must certainly have stuck to the fresh sap and have remained trapped inside it as it hardened.

§ 37.12.2 However, amber is found to have some use in pharmacy, although it is not for this reason that women like it. It is of benefit to babies when it is attached to them as an amulet. Callistratus says that it is good also for people of any age as a remedy for attacks of wild distraction and for strangury, both taken in liquid and worn as an amulet. This writer also introduces a fresh distinction, giving the name 'chryselectrum,' or 'gold amber,' to a kind which is golden in colour and has a most delightful appearance early in the day, but which very easily catches fire and flares up in a moment when it is close to flames. According to Callistratus, this kind of amber cures fevers and diseases when worn as an amulet on a necklace, affections of the ears when powdered and mixed with honey and rose oil, as well as weak sight if it is powdered and blended with Attic honey, and affections even of the stomach if it is either taken as a fine powder by itself or swallowed in water with mastic. Amber plays an important part also in the making of artificial transparent gems, particularly artificial amethysts, although, as I have mentioned, it can be dyed any colour.

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