Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis Page 155



	BOOK VI	143

	city and people of Persia. Black glossopetra resembles the tongue and takes its name from this resemblance. The Germans call this stone "tongue of the water snake" (watter zungelien) which it does not resemble while it is similar to the tongue of the woodpecker. It is found in an aluminous earth at Luneburg, Saxony.⁶⁴ White or light gray astroites gives off black rays resembling those from stars and is very abundant. It takes its name from this property. Our people call it by a name derived from victory (sigstein) because they believe that if it is worn, it will aid them to stand their ground and conquer the enemy. Usually it has the shape of an eye although in rare cases it is oblong. Having been placed in oil it sets itself in motion and not uncommonly it will turn in a circle.⁶⁵ Chelonitis is so named because it resembles a tortoise and is hollow. The Germans have named it with a compound word derived from the words toad and stone because they believe that it forms in the head of this poisonous animal (krottenstein). Some of these stones are black, some dark blue and some are white in part. Some of the black stones are blood-red with white spots in the concave hollow, others are golden yellow. All are rounded in the form of an eye but not all are concave. All are of the same genus, rarely larger than a wolf's eye, commonly smaller.⁶⁶ Veneris crines (sagenitic quartz) has a very black fulgor with red hairlike inclusions. Certain gems have a pleasing variety of colors, for example, eupetalos, with blue, flame, vermillion and apple-green; orca, with black, reddish yellow, green and white; and nebrites, with colors similar to those on the pelt of a deer. Because of the colors the latter stone is sacred to Bacchus.⁵⁷ A certain darker stone is of this same genus. Hexacontalithos takes its name from the multitude of colors found in it. Panchros is so named for the same reason and actually almost every color can be found in it. Some of these are similar to spheres of glass that vary greatly in color because of the contents. Some have characteristic veins with a different color than that of the rest of the body. Thus blood-red nasamonites has black veins and black medea, golden veins. Two white bands in a black groundmass is characteristic of ophicardelus. In a similar fashion a white band cuts across the black groundmass of the gem veientana found at Veii. The Germans have named a similar stone for lard because it has a more unctuous white color. A gem that is either black or gray with white lines is called huia. The best material of this genus, especially that with broad white and ⁶⁴ These are all fossils or concretions. None would be considered a gem stone today. " Astroites is massive coral, a stone that can be polished. The rays are the septa of the polyp. ** Chelonitis is a concretion and would not be classed as a gem stone today. " It is difficult if not impossible to identify these three stones. They are probably varieties of quartz. It is difficult to understand why the last stone was sacred to Bacchus since he was more commonly associated with the panther.