It is a disputed question, however, how the
naphtha is produced, though most writers conceive its combustible
principle to be supplied by the greasy and fiery nature of the soil;
for all the district of Babylonia is fiery hot, so that often barley
is cast up out of the ground in which it is sown, as if the earth
throbbed and vibrated with the heat, and during the hottest part of
summer the inhabitants are wont to sleep upon leathern bags filled
with water for the sake of coolness. Harpalus, who was appointed
governor of the district, took an especial delight in adorning the
palace and the public walks with Greek flowers and shrubs; but
although he found no difficulty with most of them, he was unable to
induce ivy to grow, because ivy loves a cold soil, and the earth there
is too hot for it. These digressions, provided they be not too
lengthy, we hope will not be thought tedious by our readers.
XXXVI. When Alexander made himself master of Susa, he found in the
palace forty thousand talents worth of coined money, besides an
immense mass of other valuable treasure. Here we are told was found
five thousand talents weight of cloth dyed with Hermionic[411] purple
cloth, which had been stored up there for a space of two hundred years
save ten, and which nevertheless still kept its colour as brilliantly
as ever. The reason of this is said to be that honey was originally
used in dyeing the cloth purple, and white olive oil for such of it as
was dyed-white: for cloth of these two colours will preserve its
lustre without fading for an equal period of time.
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