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

Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis Page of 251 Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
BOOK VI
133
is not and this is called caeca. The best of the translucent material is a fine red on top and white on the bottom. This is found in India as many writers have recorded. A stone is judged to be the very finest when, having been turned toward the light and carefully examined, it shows a uniform red color. Certain stones are, in part, honey-yellow. The stones with circles on the bottom are most highly prized when the white zones of the circles are narrow. On the other hand stones with broad or pale colored zones are considered valueless. Good stones of this type are found in Armenia. Sardonyx is found, not only in India, but, in almost all the other localities where sard occurs. Moreover, any gem with sard on top, even though it is worthless, and a base of white onyx is properly called sar­donyx. It is not proper to use this name when the other layer is not white onyx, for example, when the lower layer is not similar in color to the human fingernail but is the color of wax or horn or is of some other color even though the top layer is sard. Another case where this name is not properly used is when the sardonyx has a white upper layer but with a lower layer that is not sard-red, for example, black or sky-blue. However we do call gems sardonyx which, when turned over, have the attractive appearance of onyx, not of sard. It is even more improper to call gems sardonyx that contain no trace of sard nor a whiteness similar to that of the fingernail but have a top layer ornamented with either white circles or with white grading into red and the bottom layer black or blue, such as the stones found in Arabia. The Arabian stones, according to Pliny, are famous for the brilliant whiteness of the circles and not for their thin banding. They have no brilliancy in the recesses or concave portions of the stone but only on the convex portions. These stones have a very black lower layer. We engrave this gem and set it in rings for, like sard, it can be used as a seal since wax does not stick to it. In India caskets are made from it since it is found in large masses and the common people, after perforating pieces of it, wear them around their necks. The Greeks believed that this gem possessed great powers as is shown by the following story of Pliny's. Polycrates, a tyrant of Samia, valued this gem so highly that when satiated and disgusted with continuing prosperity and good fortune and wishing to suffer adversity and misfortune he threw his ring set with sardonyx into the sea.311 am not ignorant of the fact that several Greek writers, including Herodotus, state that this ring was set with a smaragdus.
Since sardonyx is formed of sard and onyx and I have already described sard I will describe onyx before taking up the fiery red gems. The name onyx (Latin, onyx) comes from the white color of the stone which re­sembles that of the fingernails. Very often it is milky white, especially some of the layers. This is called onychites and lapis onychinus. It is found in northern Germany near the shrine of Vendelinus and according to
31 Polycrates' wishes were granted. A few years later he was crucified by the Persian Prince Orontes. Several writers have identified the stone as an emerald.
Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis Page of 251 Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis
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