fa which can be cut with a toothed saw, like wood.

2. All these soft kinds have the advantage that they can be easily
worked as soon as they have been taken from the quarries. Under cover
they play their part well; but in open and exposed situations the frost
and rime make them crumble, and they go to pieces. On the seacoast, too,
the salt eats away and dissolves them, nor can they stand great heat
either. But travertine and all stone of that class can stand injury
whether from a heavy load laid upon it or from the weather; exposure to
fire, however, it cannot bear, but splits and cracks to pieces at once.
This is because in its natural composition there is but little moisture
and not much of the earthy, but a great deal of air and of fire.
Therefore, it is not only without the earthy and watery elements, but
when fire, expelling the air from it by the operation and force of heat,
penetrates into its inmost parts and occupies the empty spaces of the
fissures, there comes a great glow and the stone is made to burn as
fiercely as do the particles of fire itself.

3. There are also several quarries called Anician in the territory of
Tarquinii, the stone being of the colour of peperino. The principal
workshops lie round the lake of Bolsena and in the prefecture of
Statonia. This stone has innumerable good qualities. Neither the season
of frost nor exposure to fire can harm it, but it remains solid and
lasts to a great age, because there is only a little air and fire in its
natural composition, a moderate amount of moisture, and a great deal of
the earthy. Hence its structure is of close texture and solid, and so it
cannot be injured by the weather or by the force of fire.

4. This may best be seen from monuments in the neighbourhood of the town
of Ferento which are made of stone from these quarries. Among them are
large statues exceedingly well made, images of smaller size, and flowers
and acanthus leaves gracefully carved. Old as these are, they look as
fresh as if they were only just finished. Bronze workers, also, make
moulds for the casting of bronze out of stone from these quarries, and
find it very useful in bronze-founding. If the quarries were only near
Rome, all our buildings might well be constructed from the products of
these workshops.

5. But since, on account of the proximity of the stone-quarries of
Grotta Rossa, Palla, and the others that are nearest to the city,
necessity drives us to make use of their