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Ch. 5: Secular Uses of Gems

Ch. 5: Secular Uses of Gems Page of 401 Ch. 5: Secular Uses of Gems Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
SECULAR USES OF PRECIOUS STONES.                  83
The excessive use of ornaments by the women of Rome
aroused the remonstrances and condemnation of the sterner sex,
who, of course, had the expenses to defray, and one burdened
husband declared he would cut off the ears of any daughter
who might be born to him, in order to save his future son-inlaw the ruinous cost of ear-rings. Seneca said that " they " —
the women—-"are not satisfied with one pearl in each ear, but
they must have three." These aggrieved husbands and fathers
had good reasons for remonstrance, if it was true that immense
fortunes were spent on ear-rings and other jewels, as appears to
have been the case with some of the Roman ladies. It is said
the fair owners were liable to severe injuries from the weight
of these costly pendants, and that a special vocation existed at
Rome, having for its object the healing of their ears. This
luxury of wearing jewels in the ears was prohibited to men
by an edict of the Emperor Alexander Severus, 222-235 A. D.,
which proves they were worn by the male sex before his reign.
Precious stones were used for architectural decoration by the
nations of antiquity, as they have been by those of the Middle
Ages ; the Ptolemies afford an illustration of this custom. The
poet Lucan describes the luxury and splendor of the palace of
Cleopatra, which would seem like a fabric of the imagination
were not his narratives authenticated by contemporary history.
Pavements of onyx, thresholds of doors made of tortoise-shell
set with emeralds, furniture inlaid with jasper, and couches
studded with various kinds of precious stones, met the bewildered gaze of the Roman soldiers who invaded Egypt under
Augustus.
The Goths. — The excessive use of gems indulged in by the
Romans was early adopted by the swarming tribes that conquered the Empire and occupied her territories. The victors
carried off an innumerable amount of beautiful vessels cut from
Ch. 5: Secular Uses of Gems Page of 401 Ch. 5: Secular Uses of Gems
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