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BOOK VI
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133
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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.
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