DIAMONDS COMMERCIALLY 25
treasure
house of another, thereby weakening in the process ignorance and
prejudice, and leveling a racial plane on which to build a greater
India. The Persians looted Delhi. The Afghans robbed Persia. Greece and
Rome overran them all, the chief incentive in each case plunder, in
which the diamond shone most alluringly. Later, England sailed the seas
for the fabulous wealth of the Orient; Spain sent her adventurers to
the new hemisphere of the West; the world gathered at the mines of
Africa, and in all, the diamond was one of the forces that moved them.
It
is difficult, in these prosaic times, to realize the feelings of the
Ancients in their regard of the diamond. It was held in awesome
reverence by the multitude, and by a reflex action, in a lesser degree
by those who owned them. Nor did familiarity breed contempt in the
minds of the possessor, for his possessions were desired by all his
peers, many of whom were ready to barter great things to gain them. A
great diamond gave renown to the prince who owned it. It was a
lustrous sign of his power and wealth, bruited farther than his deeds.
And it was a reserve fund in emergency. With it he could raise troops,
win powerful friendships, and wield influence with men who then as now
flock close to those who have what they have not. Travelers and traders
told of its magnificence, and the hearers vied with each other in
swelling its glories and value when they retold the story. Far-off
monarchs despatched embassies to negotiate for it, as for something of
national importance, and the lives of subjects were not counted if
their sacrifice would gain it. How must the people regard a thing
which lying in the palm of a hand, was
