Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/176

 142 Flint's nattjeal htstoet. [Book II. of the earth ^ ? "Wliat must be the nature of that thing, which, in all parts of the world, supplies this most greedy voracity without destroying itself? To these fires must be added those innumerable stars and the great sun itself. There are also the fires made by men^, those which are innate in certain kinds of stones, those produced by the friction of wood^ and those in the clouds, which give rise to lightning. It really exceeds all other wonders, that one single day should pass in which everything is not consumed, especially when we reflect, that concave mirrors placed opposite to the sun's rays produce flame more readily than any other kind of fire ; and that numerous small but natural fires abound every- where. In Nymphssum there issues from a rock a fire which is kindled by rain ; it also issues from the waters of the Scan- tia". This indeed is a feeble flame, since it passes ofi", re- maining only a short time on any body to which it is applied : an ash tree, which overshadows this fiery spring, remains always green". In the territory of Mutina fire issues from the ground on the days that are consecrated to Vulcan^, It is stated by some authors, that if a burning body falls on the fields below Aricia'', the ground is set on fire ; and that the stones in the territory of the Sabines and of the Sidicini^, if they be oiled, burn with flame. In Egnatia^, a 1 " Tot regis terrse ?" in reference to the remark in a former chapter, "natura terras cremat." 2 " Humani ignes," according to Hardouin, " Hi nostri ignes, quos vit£B usus requirit, ut Tullius ait de Nat. Deor. ii. 67 ;" Lemaire, i. 457. 3 This is the mode which many savage tribes employ for exciting flame. ■* It is not known whether the Scantia was a river or a lake, or where it was situated ; see Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 457. ^ This may have been owing to the emission of an inflammable gas which burns at a comparatively low temperature, as was observed on a former occasion. 6 These are said by Columella, xi. 3, to occm* in August ; the state- ment as to the fire occurrmg on these pai-ticular days we may presume is erroneous. 7 Aricia was a town in Campania, near the modern Lake of Nemi : this place, as well as the other places mentioned by our author, were probably of volcanic origin. s Sidicinura was a town in Campania, also called Teanura ; probably the modern Teano. circumstance mentioned by our author is ridiculed by Horace, in his well-
 * Egnatia was a town in Calabria, on the coast of the Adriatic : the