Note 1700 — BOOK VII.

Samos produced a particular kind of earth (Samia creta), peculiarly serviceable in the potter's art. Hence the earthenware of Samos acquired, even in very early ages, considerable celebrity; and the potters at Samos, as at Corinth, Athens, and Ægina, formed a considerable portion of the population. See the pun on "Vas Samium," Plaut., Bacch., II., ii., 23. Vid. Müller's Ancient Art, § 62. With the sharp fragments of the Samian potsherds, the Galli, or priests of Cybele, were accustomed to mutilate themselves. Plin., XXXV., xii., 46. Juv., vi., 513, "Mollia qui ruptâ secuit genitalia testâ." Mart, iii., Ep. lxxxi., 3.