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

Chapter 293: CHAP. 61.—THE FIRST PAVEMENTS IN USE AT ROME.

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An encyclopedic survey that first catalogs marine animals, algae, and shellfish, describing habitats, curious behaviors, reported antipathies, and numerous folk remedies and practical uses attributed to specific species, organized by ailments and applications. The later portion treats metals and their ores—including gold, silver, mercury, copper, and brass—describing modes of occurrence, extraction, alloying, testing, gilding, and decorative and monetary uses, alongside technical observations and medicinal remedies derived from metallic substances, with systematic lists and practical instructions interwoven throughout.

CHAP. 61.—THE FIRST PAVEMENTS IN USE AT ROME.

The first pavements, in my opinion, were those now known to us as barbaric and subtegulan 2815 pavements, a kind of work that was beaten down with the rammer: at least if we may form a judgment from the name 2816 that has been given to them. The first diamonded 2817 pavement at Rome was laid in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, after the commencement of the Third Punic War. That pavements had come into common use before the Cimbric War, and that a taste for them was very prevalent, is evident from the line of Lucilius—

“With checquered emblems like a pavement marked.”2818