Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis

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	BOOK VI	123

	Egypt, Arabia, Pontus, Galatia, Thasos and Cyprus. The Indian gem is the best, then the Egyptian and last the Arabian. The Pontian stone is of little value because it lacks brilliancy. The Galatian, Thasian and Cyprian stones are dull and of little value. A third variety is called eristalis. This has a red color when inclined. Ophesus calls this variety opalius, unless I have made a mistake, and writes that it has the delicate coloring of a young boy, i.e., white tinted with red. There are many other varieties of paederos since by merely inclining the gem one can add to it's white luster either the golden yellow of wine, the blue of the heliotrope, the pale color of quartz which has less luster or a kind of blackness that darkens the gem. Pliny classes some of these as defective opals, hence it can be understood why one writer calls all gems of this genus opali, another paederotae. Species of paederos are also found in the localities mentioned above. The flaws found in these gems are usually scales, "salt" or hairs. Another gem also forms from the colorless quartz essence that has a white internal gleam which resembles that of a star. For this reason it has been called asteria, asterios, astroites, astrios, astrobolos and solis gemma by different writers, names which Pliny has collected from almost all writers. Pliny himself prefers the names asteria, because the gem reflects the dazzling white rays of the sun, and astrios because it receives and reflects the brightness of the stars. But each of these properties is common to all of the others. We know this to be one and not several gems because the names are almost identical; the places they occur are the same, for example, Carmania and India; they are the same white color; they have the same white brightness; when they are rounded one writer says they resemble the pupil of the eye, another the full moon, another the round disk of the sun. Pliny writes that when inclined the gem reflects the light from the interior as though it were moving from one point to another and it is not unlike the carbunculus in this respect. The gems that reflect a white light are the best. Those that reflect a blue light are inferior and are called ceraunia because of the belief that the place where they may have been found had been struck by lightning although this has been proven to be false. The gems reflecting a light similar to that of a lamp are the least valuable. The beauty and value of these gems is judged according to the place where they are found and on this basis the gems from Car-mania are regarded as the finest and less subject to flaws. Second quality gems come from India and the third from Pallene on the shores of the Thracian peninsula. This gem is quite hard and for that reason difficult to engrave. When polished it is usually given the form of a hemisphere. Sudines writes that astrobolos resembles the eye of a fish.¹¹ ¹¹ Agricola is without doubt here describing various adularescent gems, chalcedony moonstone, feldspar moonstone, girasol opal and sapphire, and he has probably included aventurine feldspar and labradorite. Some of these names embrace other minerals. Asteria may have embraced all the asteriated gems. Astroites is coral and is probably included here because of the radiating structure of certain species.

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