by
Propertius (II. xvi.) amongst the bribes by which the " wealthy prsetor
from Illyria," gorged with the plunder of his province, had seduced the
poet's Cynthia away from him—
" quoscunque Smaragdos Quosquo dedit flavo luinine Chrysolithos."
This
" yellow lustre " of the Crysolithus, coupled with its value, points
out the Oriental Topaz as the gem here meant. The Jacinth was much too
common a thing then to be mentioned in the same breath as tho Emerald,
the most precious gem in the Roman jeweller's list.
The
Oriental Topaz was formerly much esteemed, and that in comparatively
recent times. De Boot puts the value at 2 thalers for the first carat;
and after, as the weight squared : Dutens, in the last century, at a
third higher than the Sapphire. The finest on record is that seen by Ta
vernier (1665) in the treasury of Aurungzeb, weighing 157-3/4 carats,
and but recently purchased (at Goa) by that emperor for a sum equal to
18,000^.* At present, their value is little more than nominal, because
in wear they are so easily confounded with the common stones of the
same colour.
This
stone (the Oriental Topaz) was too valuable, and perhaps too hard, for
the ancient artists to attack ; no genuine works of theirs are
therefore to be met with in it. j" The only yellow gems employed by
them were the
*
" 181,000 rupees " which he makes = 271,500 livres, but in reality it
would amount to 18.100Z. It was the only jewel Aurungzeb ever wore when
our traveller saw him. Its shape was an exact octagon, with two rows of
small facets along the top of the beasil.
t
Cellini indeed mentions as one of the three finest antiques procured
by him during his first visit to Rome (1524-27) a perfect Topaz the
size of a big hazel-nut, " una grossa nocciuola," engraved with a head of Minerva ; but he probably means by Topaz no more than the bright yellow crystal sometimes used by the Roman artists. Cellini
