The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 6 (of 6)

Those among the colours which require a dry, cretaceous, coating,1928 and refuse to adhere to a wet surface, are purpurissum, indicum, cæruleum,1929 melinum, orpiment, appianum, and ceruse. Wax, too, is stained with all these colouring substances for encaustic painting;1930 a process which does not admit of being applied to walls, but is in common use1931 by way of ornament for ships of war, and, indeed, merchant-ships at the present day. As we go so far as to paint these vehicles of danger, no one can be surprised if we paint our funeral piles as well, or if we have our gladiators conveyed in handsome carriages to the scene of death, or, at all events, of carnage. When we only contemplate this extensive variety of colours, we cannot but admire the ingenuity displayed by the men of former days.