"
I expected, that according to the rest of his haughtiness, he would
have told us they had been brought him from Corinth: But he better:
"And perhaps," said he, "you'll ask me why I am the only person that
have them. And why, but the copper-smith from whom I buy them, is
called Corinthus? And what is Corinthian but what is made by
Corinthus? But that ye may not take me for a man of no sence, I
understand well enough whence the word first came. When Troy was
taken, Hannibal, a cunning fellow, but withal mischievous, made a pile
of all the brazen, gold and silver statues, and burnt them together,
and thence came this mixt metal; which workmen afterwards carried off;
and of this mass made platters, dishes, and several other things; so
that these vessels are neither this nor that metal, but made of all of
them. Pardon me what I say; however others may be of another mind, I
had rather have glass ware; and if it: were not so subject to
breaking, I'd reckon it before gold; but now it is of no esteem.
"There was a copper-smith that made glass vessels of that pliant
harness, that they were no more to be broken than gold and silver
ones: It so happened, that having made a drinking-pot, with a wide
mouth of that kind, but the finest glass, fit for no man, as he
thought, less than C?¦sar himself; he went with his present to
C?¦sar, and had admittance: The kind of the gift was praised, the
hand of the workman commended, and the design of the giver accepted.
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