214

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

NOTE XXL Sect. II. p. ?<S.

Pliny, lib. ix. c. }<;. Principiutn ergo culmenqueomnium rerum pra;tii Margaritae tenent. In Lb. xxxvii.c. 4. be affirms, Maximum in rebus humanis pratiura, nonfolum inter gemmas , babet \damas. Thefe two paffagesftand i;; fuch direct contradiction to one another, that itis impoffible to reconcile them * or to determine which ismoil conformable to truth. 1 have adhered to the former,becaufe we have many inftances of the exorbitant price ofpearls. but none , as far as I know , of diamonds havingbeen purchafed at a rate l'o high. In this opinion 1 amconfirmed by a paffage in Pliny, lib. xix. c 1.5 havingmentioned the exorbitant price of Atbeftos , he fays ,“ sequat prastia excellentium Margaritarum ; ” whichimplies , that he confidered them to be of higher price th 3 nany other commodity.

NOTE XXII. Sect. II. p. 57 .

Pliny has devoted two entire books of his NaturalHiftory , lib. xii. and xiii. to the enumeration and defcriptionof the fpices , aromatics, ointments, and perfumes , the ufeof which luxury had introduced among his countrymen.As many of thefe were the productions of India , or ofthe countries beyond it, and as rhe trade with the Eaftwas carried on to a great extent in the age of Pliny, wemay form fome idea of the immenfe demand for them ,from the high price at which they continued to be fold inRome . To compare the prices of the fame commoditiesin ancient Rome , with thofe now paid in our own country,is not a gratification of curiofity merely, but affords aftandard by which we may eftimate the different degree offuccefs with \Vhich the Indian trade has been conductedin-ancient and modern times. Many remarkable paffage