[chors]

Hello to everyone. I am translating into Spanish a Roman legal textbook written about the year AD 161 (Institutiones Gaii)
One paragraph states that: if gold (Latin word is "aurum") and copper-bronze (Latin word is "aes", and it could mean both) mix together, even though they alloy and cannot be separated (Latin words "deduci non possit"), each metal maintain its properties (Latin words are "utraque materia etsi confusa manet tamen").
Could someone please explain to me the chemical meaning of the statement, considering the state of the art in that time and place. Could any one tell if "aes" should be translated either as copper or bronze?

Thank you very much in advanced.

[Corribus]

Were I to totally guess, I'd say the text is referring to copper, not bronze. Bronze is already an alloy, predominantly made of copper with (usually) some tin added.

As to the second statement (also a guess), maybe the text means that although the metals are inseparable once they are alloyed, they retain some of the properties of both: the luster of gold but the better mechanical properties (hardness, say) of copper.