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Ancient Bronze Gocks—Silver Pipes and Cocks. [Book V.

Tiberius at Capri, and preserved in the Museum at Naples , is not theleast interesting. No. 273 is a figure of it. The plug has become by

time immoveable, and having been shutwhen last used, the water within it isstill confined. This is made evident,for when two men raise the cock, thesplashing sound of the fluid is distinctlyheard.

This cock was found attached to areservoir, but in what manner it was con-nected we know not—by solder ? screws ?—particulars that cannot be determinedby the sketch. Had we an opportunityof examining it we would endeavor toascertain its weight, dimensions, &c.—whether the substance of the plug andchamber are the same, and if the former is secured in the latter by slightlyriveting its lower edge, as in our small cocks, or by a washer and screwas in large ones.

The mode of forming the handle, or that part by which the plug isturned, in a separate piece from the latter, is decidedly superior to thecommon practice of Casting both in one piece. It is a common occurrenceto throw aside a cock and replace it with a new one, simply because thispart has been broken from the plug, and can only be remedied by replacingthe latter with it. Now this would never occur if cocks were made likethis ancient one, for the part alluded to might be renewed with the samefacility as the key of a door or the handle of a hammer. The mode ofattaching this part to the plug by sliding it between two dove-tailed grooves,is ingenious, simple, and very effective.

In a great portion of modern cocks the area of the opening through theplug seldom exceeds one half of that through the chamber ; but in theabove one, the chamber is sufficiently large to allow a uniform passage-way throughout.

The modern name of these instruments is supposed to have arisen fromtheir having been made in the form of the male of the domestic fowl;hence weather-cock, the cock of a gun, &c.

The luxury of the Romans under the empire led them to monstrousexcesses, particularly with regard to baths ; the water to supply whichwas often conveyed through pipes of pure silver, and of course throughcocks of the same. Seneca , in a letter to Lucilius, describing the humblevilla of the great Scipio , deplores this degeneracy of his countrymen. “ Iwrite to you [he says] from the villa of Scipio Africanus , where I at presentam, and have worshipped his manes and his altars ... I surveyed this villa,which is built with square stone and surrounded with a wall. I viewedthe grooves and towers planted and erected on each side : a capaciouscistern and basin for water is below the house and gardens, large enoughto supply a whole army ; next a small bath, and that something dusky.It was a sensible pleasure to compare the manners of Scipio with ours.In this little hole, this corner, did that terror of Carthage, to whom aloneRome owed her not being taken a second time, wash and refresh himself,after being tired with his country toils ; for he used the country exercisesand ploughed his ground himself, as the ancients were wont to do. Be-neath this humble roof he stood, and this plain unartful floor supportedhim. Who now, in our days, would endure so mean a bath 1 Every mannow thinks himself poor if the walls of his bath shine not with large orbsof precious stones—unless the Alexandrian marble be embossed, crusted

No. 273. Ancient bronze cock.