Note 932 — CHIMNEYS.
William Johnston translation
Such wood in Greek was called ἄκαπτα, in Latin acapna, in Homer’s Odyssey, book vi. κάγκανα and δανὰ, Pollux, p. 621, καύσιμα. This wood is mentioned also by Galen, in Antidot. lib. i. Trebellius Pollio in Vita Claudii, in an account of the firing allowed to him when a tribune, shows that wood was given out or sold by weight, as it is at present at Amsterdam. On the other hand, the coctilia were measured like coals. Martial, lib. xiii. ep. 15: Ligna acapna:—
Si vicina tibi Nomento rura coluntur, Ad villam monco, rustice, ligna feres.
It would seem that in the above-mentioned neighbourhood there was no wood proper for fuel, so that people were obliged to purchase that which had been dried. Some hence conclude that the acapna must not have been dear, because it is recommended to a countryman. But the advice here given is addressed to the possessor of a farm who certainly could afford to purchase dried wood.