abaris, minium, red lead, and
rubrica, red ochre. There were various kinds of rubricae; all were,
however, red oxides, of which the best were the Lemnian, from the Isle
of Lemnos, and the Cappadocian, called by the Romans rubrica sinopica,
from Sinope in Paphlagonia. Minium, red oxide of lead, red lead, was
called by the Romans cerussa usta, and, according to Vitruvius,
sandaracha.

The Roman sandaracha seems to have had various significations. Pliny
speaks of the different shades of sandaracha; there was also a
compound color of equal parts of sandaracha and rubrica calcined,
called sandyx, which Sir H. Davy supposed to approach our crimson in
tint; in painting it was frequently glazed with purple, to give it
additional lustre.

_Yellow._--Yellow-ochre, hydrated peroxide of iron, the _sil_ of the
Romans, formed the base of many other yellows, mixed with various
colors and carbonate of lime. Ochre was procured from different
parts--the Attic was considered the best; sometimes the paler sort of
sandaracha was used for yellow.

_Green._--Chrysocolla, which appears to have been green carbonate of
copper, or malachite (green verditer), was the green most approved of
by the ancients; there was also an artificial kind which was made from
clay impregnated with sulphate of copper (blue vitriol) rendered green
by a yellow dye. The commonest and cheapest colors were the Appianum,
which was a clay, and the creta viridis, the common green earth of
Verona.

_Blue._--The ancient blues were very numerous; the principal of these
was coeruleum, azure, a species of verditer, or blue carbonate of
copper, of which there were many varieties. The Alexandrian was the
most valued, as approaching the nearest to ultramarine. It was also
manufactured at Pozzuoli. This imitation was called coelon. Armenium
was a metallic color, and was prepared by being ground to an
impalpable powder. It was of a light blue color. It has been
conjectured that ultramarine (lapis lazuli) was known to the ancients
under the name of Armenium, from Armenia, whence it was procured. It
is evident, however, from Pliny's description, that the "sapphirus" of
the ancients was the lapis lazuli of the present day. It came from
Media.

Indigo, indicum, was well known to the ancients.

_Purple._--The ancients had several kinds of purple, purpurissimum,
ostrum, hysginum, and various compound colors. Purpurissimum was made
from creta argentaria, a fine chalk or clay, stee