Book XXXVII. The Natural History of Precious Stones.

Chaps. 1-10.

Chap. 1. (1.)—The First Use of Precious Stones.

That nothing may be wanting to the work which I have undertaken, it still remains for me to speak of precious stones: a subject in which the majestic might of Nature presents itself to us, contracted within a very limited space, though, in the opinion of many, nowhere displayed in a more admirable form. So great is the value that men attach to the multiplied varieties of these gems, their numerous colours, their constituent parts, and their singular beauty, that, in the case of some of them, it is looked upon as no less than sacrilege to engrave them, for signets even, the very purpose for which, in reality, they were made. Others, again, are regarded as beyond all price, and could not be valued at any known amount of human wealth; so much so that, in the case of many, it is quite sufficient to have some single gem or other before the eyes, there to behold the supreme and absolute perfection of Nature’s work.

We have already [In B. xxxiii. c..] stated, to some extent, when speaking on the subject of gold and rings, how the use of precious stones first originated, and from what beginnings this admiration of them has now increased to such an universal passion. According to fabulous lore, the first use of them was suggested by the rocks of Caucasus, in consequence of an unhappy interpretation which was given to the story of the chains of Prometheus: for we are told by tradition, that he enclosed a fragment of this stone in iron, and wore it upon his finger; [This being imposed as a punishment on him, in remembrance of his sacrilegious crimes, when released by Jupiter from the rock. Prometheus and Vulcan, as Ajasson remarks, are personifications of fire, employed for artistic purposes.] such being the first ring and the first jewel known.

Chap. 2.—The Jewel of Polycrates.

With a beginning such as this, the value set upon precious stones increased to such a boundless extent, that Polycrates, [See B. xxxiii. c..] the tyrant of Samos, who ruled over the islands and the adjacent shores, when he admitted that his good fortune had been too great, deemed it a sufficient expiation for all this enjoyment of happiness, to make a voluntary sacrifice of a single precious stone; thinking thereby to balance accounts with the inconstancy of fortune, and, by this single cause for regret, abundantly to buy off every ill-will she might entertain. Weary, therefore, of his continued prosperity, he embarked on board a ship, and, putting out to sea, threw the ring which he wore into the waves. It so happened, however, that a fish of remarkable size, one destined for the table of a king, swallowed the jewel, as it would have done a bait; and then, to complete the portentous omen, restored it again to the owner in the royal kitchen, by the ruling hand of a treacherous [For ultimately, Oroetes, the satrap of Sardes, contrived to allure him into his power, and had him crucified, B.C. 522. Fuller, in his Worthies, p. 370, tells a very similar story of the loss and recovery of his ring by one Anderson, a merchant of Newcastle-on-Tyne; and Zuinglius gives a similar statement with reference to Arnulph, duke of Lorraine, who dropped his ring into the Moselle, and recovered it from the belly of a fish.] fortune.

The stone in this ring, it is generally agreed, was a sardonyx, [See Chapter. According to Herodotus, Pausanias, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Suidas, the stone was an emerald; and Lessing thinks that there was no figure engraved on it. See Chapter of this Book. Without vouching for the truth of it, we give the following extract from the London Journal, Vol. xxiii. No. 592. “A vine-dresser of Albano, near Rome, is said to have found in a vineyard, the celebrated ring of Polycrates.—The stone is of considerable size, and oblong in form. The engraving on it, by Theodore of Samos, the son of Talikles, is of extraordinary fineness and beauty. It represents a lyre, with three bees flying about; below, on the right, a dolphin; on the left, the head of a bull. The name of the engraver is inscribed in Greek characters. The upper surface of the stone is slightly concave, not highly polished, and one corner broken. It is asserted that the possessor has been offered 50,000 dollars for it.”] and they still show one at Rome, which, if we believe the story, was this identical stone. It is enclosed in a horn of gold, and was deposited, by the Emperor Augustus, in the Temple of Concord, where it holds pretty nearly the lowest rank among a multitude of other jewels that are preferable to it.

Chap. 3.—The Jewel of Pyrrhus.

Next in note after this ring, is the jewel that belonged to another king, Pyrrhus, who was so long at war with the Romans. It is said that there was in his possession an agate, [“Achates.” A variegated chalcedony. It was probably what is called, from its radiated streaks, a fortification agate. See Chapter of this Book.] upon which were to be seen the Nine Muses and Apollo holding a lyre; not a work of art, but the spontaneous produce of Nature, [Ajasson remarks that there can be little doubt that Nature had at least been very extensively seconded by Art.] the veins in it being so arranged that each of the Muses had her own peculiar attribute.

With the exception of these two jewels, authors make no mention of any others that have been rendered famous. We only find it recorded by them, that Ismenias the flute-player [“Choraules.” One who accompanies the chorus on the pipe or flute.] was in the habit of displaying great numbers of glittering stones, a piece of vanity, on his part, which gave occasion to the following story. An emerald, [“Smaragdus.”] upon which was engraved a figure of Amymone, [One of the Danaïdes.] being offered for sale in the Isle of Cyprus at the price of six golden denarii, he gave orders to purchase it. The dealer however, reduced the price, and returned two denarii; upon which, Ismenias remarked—“By Hercules! he has done me but a bad turn in this, for the merit of the stone has been greatly impaired by this reduction in price.”

It seems to have been this Ismenias who introduced the universal practice among musicians of proclaiming their artistic merit by this kind of ostentation. Thus Dionysodorus, for instance, his contemporary and rival, imitated his example, in order that he might not appear to be his inferior in skill; whereas, in reality, he only held the third rank among the musicians of that day. Nicomachus, too, it is said, was the possessor of great numbers of precious stones, though selected with but little taste. In mentioning these illustrations, by way of prelude to this Book, it is by no means improbable that they may have the appearance of being addressed to those, who, piquing themselves upon a similar display, become puffed up with a vanity which is evidently much more appropriate to a performer on the flute.

Chap. 4.—Who Were the Most Skilful Lapidaries. The Finest Specimens of Engraving on Precious Stones.

The stone of the ring [This is said with reference to the one in the Temple of Concord, mentioned in Chapter.] which is now shown as that of Polycrates, is untouched and without engraving. In the time of Ismenias, long [But see Exodus xxvii. 9, et seq., where it is shown that the practice existed many hundreds of years before.] after his day, it would appear to have become the practice to engrave smaragdi even; a fact which is established by an edict of Alexander the Great, forbidding his portrait to be cut upon this stone by any other engraver than Pyrgoteles, [See B. vii. c. 38; where marble is the substance named. There are still two gems in existence said to have been engraved by this artist; but by some they are thought to be spurious.] who, no doubt, was the most famous adept in this art. Since his time, Apollonides and Cronius have excelled in it; as also Dioscurides, [There are many precious stones with his name, still extant: but only six appear to have been really engraved by him.] who engraved a very excellent likeness of the late Emperor Augustus upon a signet, which, ever since, the Roman emperors have used. The Dictator Sylla, it is said, always made use of a seal [This signet is mentioned also by Plutarch and Valerius Maximus.] which represented the surrender of Jugurtha. Authors inform us also, that the native of Intercatia, [See B. iii. c. 4.] whose father challenged Scipio Æmilianus, [The younger Africanus. This circumstance is mentioned in the Epitome of Livy, B. xlviii.] and was slain by him, was in the habit of using a signet with a representation of this combat engraved upon it; a circumstance which gave rise to the well-known joke of Stilo Præconinus, [See B. xxxiii. c., and end of Book ix.] who naively enquired, what he would have done if Scipio had been the person slain?

The late Emperor Augustus was in the habit, at first, of using the figure of a Sphinx [In reference to the ambiguous part which he acted, Ajasson thinks, in the early part of his career.] for his signet; having found two of them, among the jewels of his mother, that were perfectly alike. During the Civil Wars, his friends used to employ one of these signets, in his absence, for sealing such letters and edicts as the circumstances of the times required to be issued in his name; it being far from an unmeaning pleasantry on the part of those who received these missives, that the Sphinx always brought its enigmas [In reference to the story of Œdipus and the Sphinx.] with it. The frog, too, on the seal of Mæcenas, was held in great terror, by reason of the monetary imposts which it announced. At a later period, with the view of avoiding the sarcasms relative to the Sphinx, Augustus made use of a signet with a figure upon it of Alexander the Great.

Chap. 5.—The First Dactyliothecæ at Rome.

A collection of precious stones bears the foreign name of “dactyliotheca.” [A Greek word, signifying a “repository of kings.”] The first person who possessed one at Rome was Scaurus, [See B. xxxvi. c..] the step-son of Sylla; and, for a long time, there was no other such collection there, until at length Pompeius Magnus consecrated in the Capitol, among other donations, one that had belonged to King Mithridates; and which, as M. Varro and other authors of that period assure us, was greatly superior to that of Scaurus. Following his example, the Dictator Cæsar consecrated six dactyliothecæ in the Temple of Venus Genetrix; and Marcellus, the son of Octavia, [The sister of Augustus.] presented one to the Temple of the Palatine Apollo.

Chap. 6.—Jewels Displayed at Rome in the Triumph of Pompeius Magnus.

But it was this conquest by Pompeius Magnus that first introduced so general a taste for pearls and precious stones; just as the victories, gained by L. Scipio [See B. xxxiii c..] and Cneius Manlius, [See B. xxxiv. c..] had first turned the public attention to chased silver, Attalic tissues, and banquetting-couches decorated with bronze; and the conquests of L. Mummius had brought Corinthian bronzes and pictures into notice.

(2.) To prove more fully that this was the case, I will here give the very words of the public Registers [“Acta.”] with reference to the triumphs of Pompeius Magnus. On the occasion of his third triumph, over the Pirates and over the Kings and nations of Asia and Pontus that have been already enumerated in the Seventh Book [Chapter.] of this work, M. Fiso and M. Messala being consuls, [A.U.C. 693.] on the day before [th of September.] the calends of October, the anniversary of his birth, he displayed in public, with its pieces, a chess-board, [“Alveum lusorium.”] made of two precious stones, three feet in width by two in length—and to leave no doubt that the resources of Nature do become exhausted, I will here observe, that no precious stones are to be found at the present day, at all approaching such dimensions as these; as also that there was upon this board a moon of solid gold, thirty pounds in weight!—three banquetting-couches; vessels for nine waiters, in gold and precious stones; three golden statues of Minerva, Mars, and Apollo; thirty-three crowns adorned with pearls; a square mountain of gold, with stags upon it, lions, and all kinds of fruit, and surrounded with a vine of gold; as also a musæum, [Probably meaning a shrine dedicated to the Muses.] adorned with pearls, with an horologe [See B. ii. c. 78, and B. vii. c. 60.] upon the top of it.

There was a likeness also in pearls of Pompeius himself, his noble countenance, with the hair thrown back from the forehead, delighting the eye. Yes, I say, those frank features, so venerated throughout all nations, were here displayed in pearls! the severity of our ancient manners being thus subdued, and the display being more the triumph of luxury than the triumph of conquest. Never, most assuredly, would Pompeius have so long maintained his surname of “Magnus” among the men of that day, if on the occasion of his first [That of Africa.] conquest his triumph had been such as this. Thy portrait in pearls, O Magnus! those resources of prodigality, that have been discovered for the sake of females only! Thy portrait in pearls, refinements in luxury, which the Roman laws would not have allowed thee to wear even! And was it in this way that thy value must be appreciated? Would not that trophy have given a more truthful likeness of thee which thou hadst erst erected upon the Pyrenæan [See B. vii. c. 27.] mountain heights? Assuredly such a portrait as this had been no less than a downright ignominy and disgrace, were we not bound to behold in it a menacing presage of the anger of the gods, and to see foreshadowed thereby the time when that head, now laden with the wealth of the East, was to be displayed, severed from the body. [As was the case, after the murder of Pompey in Egypt.]

But in other respects, how truly befitting the hero was this triumph! To the state, he presented two thousand millions of sesterces; to the legati and quæstors who had exerted themselves in defence of the sea coast, he gave one thousand millions of sesterces; and to each individual soldier, six thousand sesterces. He has rendered, however, comparatively excusable the Emperor Caius, [Caligula.] who, in addition to other feminine luxuries, used to wear shoes adorned with pearls; as also the Emperor Nero, who used to adorn his sceptres with masks worked in pearls, and had the couches, destined for his pleasures, made of the same costly materials. Nay, we have no longer any right, it would seem, to censure the employment of drinking-cups adorned with precious stones, of various other articles in daily use that are similarly enriched, and of rings that sparkle with gems: for what species of luxury can there be thought of, that was not more innocent in its results than this on the part of Pompeius?

Chap. 7.—At What Period Murrhine Vessels Were First Introduced at Rome. Instances of Luxury in Reference to Them.

It was the same conquest, too, that first introduced murrhine [Modern writers differ as to the material of which these vessels were composed. Some think that they were of variegated glass, and others of onyx; but the more general opinion is, that they were Chinese porcelain, and we have the line in Propertius, B. iv. El. 5, l. 26. “And murrhine vessels baked on Parthian hearths.” Ajasson is of opinion, from the description given by Pliny, that these vessels were made of Fluor spar, or fluate of lime. “Myrrhine” is another reading of the word.] vessels at Rome; Pompeius being the first to dedicate, at the conclusion of this triumph, vases and cups, made of this material, in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus: a circumstance which soon brought them into private use, waiters, even, and eating-utensils made of murrhine being in great request. This species of luxury, too, is daily on the increase, a single cup, which would hold no more than three sextarii, having been purchased at the price of seventy thousand sesterces. A. person of consular rank, who some years [“Ante hos annos.” Sillig is of opinion that the reading here should be “L. Annius,” and that L. Annius Bassus, who was Consul suffectus in the year 70 A.D., is the person referred to; or possibly, T. Arrius Antoninus, who was Consul suffectus, A.D. 69.] ago used to drink out of this cup, grew so passionately fond of it, as to gnaw its edges even, an injury, however, which has only tended to enhance its value: indeed there is now no vessel in murrhine that has ever been estimated at a higher figure than this. We may form some opinion how much money this same personage swallowed up in articles of this description, from the fact that the number of them was so great, that, when the Emperor Nero deprived his children of them, and they were exposed to public view, they occupied a whole theatre to themselves, in the gardens beyond the Tiber; a theatre which was found sufficiently large even, for the audience that attended on the occasion when Nero [The Gardens of Nero, in the Fourteenth Region of the City.] rehearsed his musical performances before his appearance in the Theatre of Pompeius. It was at this exhibition, too, that I saw counted the broken fragments of a single cup, which it was thought proper to preserve in an urn and display, I suppose, with the view of exciting the sorrows of the world, and of exposing the cruelty of fortune; just as though it had been no less than the body of Alexander the Great himself!

T. Petronius, [He had been formerly a sharer in the debaucheries of Nero. Tacitus called him “Caius.”] a personage of consular rank, intending, from his hatred of Nero, to disinherit the table of that prince, broke a murrhine basin, which had cost him no less than three hundred thousand sesterces. But Nero himself, as it was only proper for a prince to do, surpassed them all, by paying one million of sesterces for a single cup: a fact well worthy of remembrance, that an emperor, the father of his country, should have drunk from a vessel of such costly price!

Chap. 8.—The Nature of Murrhine Vessels.

Murrhine vessels come from the East, in numerous localities of which, remarkable for nothing else, they are to be found. It is in the empire of the Parthians, more particularly, that they are met with, though those of the very finest quality come to us from Carmania. [See B. vi. cc. 27, 28, 32.] It is generally thought that these vessels are formed of a moist substance, which under ground becomes solidified by heat. [Ajasson is of opinion that this passage bears reference to crystallization. Both he and Desfontaines see in the present Chapter a very exact description of Fluor spar; and there is certainly great difficulty in recognizing any affinity between murrhine vessels, as here described, and porcelain.] In size they never exceed a small waiter, [“Abacus.”] and, as to thickness, they rarely admit of being used as drinking-cups, so large as those already [In the preceding.] mentioned. The brightness of them is destitute of strength, and it may be said that they are rather shining than brilliant. [Meaning that they are semitransparent, Ajasson thinks. One great characteristic of Fluor spar is its being subtranslucent.] But the chief merit of them is the great variety of their colours, and the wreathed veins, which, every here and there, present shades of purple and white, with a mixture of the two; the purple gradually changing, as it were, to a fiery red, and the milk-white assuming a ruddy hue. Some persons praise the edges of these vessels more particularly, with a kind of reflection in the colours, like those beheld in the rain-bow. Others, again, are more pleased with them when quite opaque, it being considered a demerit when they are at all transparent, or of a pallid hue. The appearance, too, of crystals [This would appear to be the meaning here of “sales.” See p..] in them is highly prized, and of spots that look like warts; not prominent, but depressed, as we mostly see upon the human body. The perfume, [One of the grounds, Ajasson says, on which may be based the opinion that they were artificial.] too, of which they smell, is looked upon as an additional recommendation.

Chap. 9—The Nature of Crystal.

It is a diametrically opposite cause to this that produces crystal, [Colourless crystals, quartz, or rock crystal; called “white stone” in jewellery.] a substance which assumes a concrete form from excessive congelation. [See B. xxxvi. c.. This was a very general opinion of the ancients with respect to crystal.] At all events, crystal is only to be found in places where the winter snow freezes with the greatest intensity; and it is from the certainty that it is a kind of ice, that it has received the name [Κρύσταλλος, from κρύος, “cold.”] which it bears in Greek. The East, too, sends us crystal, there being none preferred to the produce of India. It is to be found, also, in Asia, that of the vicinity of Alabanda, [See B. v. c. 29.] Orthosia, [In Caria, see B. v. c. 29.] and the neighbouring mountains, being held in a very low degree of esteem. In Cyprus, also, there is crystal, but that found upon the Alpine heights in Europe is, in general, more highly valued. According to Juba, there is crystal in a certain island of the Red Sea, opposite the coast of Arabia, called “Necron;” [The Island “of the dead.” Brotero supposes it to be the island of Maceira.] as, also, in another neighbouring island [See B. vi. c. 34. As Ajasson remarks, there could be no snow or ice here.] which produces the precious stone known as the “topazus;” where a block of crystal was extracted, he says, by Pythagoras, the præfect of King Ptolemæus, no less than a cubit in length.

Cornelius Bocchus informs us that in Lusitania, there have been blocks of crystal found, of extraordinary weight, in sinking shafts in the Ammiensian [See B. iv. c. 35.] mountains there, to a water-level for the supply of wells. It is a marvellous fact, stated by Xenocrates of Ephesus, that in Asia and in the Isle of Cyprus, crystal is turned up by the plough; it having been the general belief that it is never to be found in terreous soils, and only in rocky localities. That is much more probable which the same Xenocrates tells us, when he says that the mountain streams often bring down with them fragments of crystal. Sudines says, that crystal is only to be found in localities that face the south, a thing that is known to be really the fact: indeed, it is never found in humid spots, however cold the climate may be, even though the rivers there freeze to the very bottom. Rain-water and pure snow are absolutely necessary for its formation, [Dioscorides attributes the hardening of crystal to the action of the sun.] and hence it is, that it is unable to endure heat, being solely employed for holding liquids that are taken cold. From the circumstance of its being hexagonal [“Its shape is rhombohedral, and hemihedral in some of its modifications. The planes on the angles between the prism and pyramidal terminations, incline sometimes to the right, and sometimes to the left, and the crystals are termed right and left-handed crystals.”—Dana, System of Mineralogy, Art. Quartz.] and hexahedral, it is not easy to penetrate this substance; and the more so, as the pyramidal terminations do not always have the same appearance. The polish on its faces is so exquisite, that no art can possibly equal it.

Chap. 10.—Luxury Displayed in the Use of Crystal. Remedies Derived from Crystal.

The largest block of crystal that has ever been beheld by us, is the one that was consecrated by Julia Augusta in the Capitol, and which weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds. [Ajasson remarks that blocks have been found in Switzerland, weighing above eight hundred pounds.] Xenocrates speaks of having seen a vase of crystal, which held one amphora, [Forty-eight sextarii. See Introduction to Vol. III.] and we find other writers mentioning a vessel from India which held four sextarii. For my own part, I can positively say, that there is crystal amid the crags of the Alps, so difficult of access, that it is usually found necessary to be suspended by ropes in order to extract it. Persons who are experienced in the matter detect its presence by certain signs and indications.

Crystal is subject to numerous defects, sometimes presenting a rough, solder-like, substance, or else clouded by spots upon it; while occasionally it contains some hidden humour [This “vomica,” Ajasson says, is either water, azote, rarified oxygen, or water in combination with naphtha.] within, or is traversed by hard and brittle knurrs, [“Centra,” knots, or flaws. See B. xvi. c. 76, where he speaks of the “centra” in marble. See also Beckmann, Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 471. Bohn’s Edition.] which are known as “salt grains.” [“Sale.” See Note above.] Some crystal, too, has a red rust upon it, while, in other instances, it contains filaments that look like flaws, a defect which artists conceal by engraving it. But where crystals are entirely free from defect, they are preferred uncut; in which case, they are known as “acenteta,” [“Without flaw.”] and have the colour, not of foam, but of limpid water. In the last place, the weight of crystals is a point which is taken into consideration.

I find it stated by medical men that the very best cautery for the human body is a ball of crystal acted upon by the rays of the sun. [See B. xxxvi. c..] This substance, too, has been made the object of a mania; for, not many years ago, a mistress of a family, who was by no means very rich, gave one hundred and fifty thousand sesterces for a single basin made of crystal. Nero, on receiving tidings that all was lost, in the excess of his fury, dashed two cups of crystal to pieces; this being his last act of vengeance upon his fellow-creatures, preventing any one from ever drinking again from these vessels. Crystal, when broken, cannot by any possibility be mended. Vessels in glass have been brought to a marvellous degree of resemblance to crystal; and yet, wonderful to say, they have only tended to enhance the value of crystal, and in no way to depreciate it.