gladiators
though an eye-glass of emerald; hence the name it sometimes bore,
Neronianus. Isidorus (Bishop of Seville, who has previously been
referred to) says of the emerald, that it not only surpasses any green
herb or plant in colour, but that it gives a green colour to the
surrounding air; and that the lapidaries who cut emeralds have good
eyesight, in consequence of the agreeable reflection they have
constantly before them. This stone was also used in the Middle Ages in
church cups and chalices, and one of the principal ornaments of the
crown of Charlemagne was a lustrous emerald.
After
the conquest of Peru, the emerald became much more common. The
Spaniards possessed themselves of the hoards which had accumulated for
centuries in the hands of the priests of the goddess Esmeralda, who was
supposed to reside in an enormous emerald, of the shape and size of an
ostrich egg. They persuaded the people that the goddess esteemed no
offering so much as one of her own daughters; and on the holy days,
immense numbers were brought as devotional offerings by the
worshippers. It is said that the conquerors of Peru came into the
possession of many hundredweights of this gem; but a priest who
accompanied the Spanish army persuaded the soldiers that the test of
their being genuine was to smite them with a hammer on an anvil, which
test of course destroyed a vast number of fine stones. In spite of
this, Cortez presented one hundredweight to the King of Spain; and on
the occasion of his (Cortez's) marriage, he gave
