Book 34. Bronze Art

Having dealt with gold and silver in hierarchical fashion Pliny in Book 34 ²⁴⁹ deals next with copper alloys, with iron and with lead. It is stated unequivocally in the very first sentence that because of its usefulness bronze is the next subject matter ^,250 and thus Pliny plainly indicates what is the basis for his classification. He adds that Corinthian bronze is valued more highly than silver and almost as highly as gold. As he said earlier, the use of bronze coinage contributes to the prestige of bronze. ²⁵¹ In order to demonstrate this Pliny shows how the word for bronze, aes, is employed in a number of significant compound words in Latin. ²⁵² In other words, he emphasizes the relevance of the subject by referring to linguistic usage. He also does this by adding that already in Book 33 he has rendered an account of the length of time during which the Roman people continued to use bronze coinage and by demonstrating that bronze was known in Rome since the very beginning.