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PRASIUS.
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267
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The
commonness of the stone when Pliny wrote, is clearly shown by his
expression " vilioris est turbaä Prasius," " the Prase belongs to the
vulgar herd." It was extensively used for intagli by the Romans of the
Lower Empire, though but little at an earlier date, to judge from the
circumstance that although engravings in it are more abundant than in
any other material except the Sard and Carnelian, yet any of really
fine Roman work are excessively rare ; and of the Greek period, hardly
to be met with. Indeed, the sole intaglio in Plasma possessing great
artistic merit, that has ever come under my notice, is a bust of
Severus in a large gem of remarkable beauty for its purity and tint,
lately acquired by the British Museum. The subjects also engraved upon
it are usually of the class most in fashion in the times of the
Decline, such as Eagles, Victories, Venus and the Graces. It is strange
that it should not have been more employed by the artists of a better
period, both on account of its agreeable colour, and its resemblance to
Calcedony in the facility of working. One would argue from this that
the material was of late importation into the Roman world, and, to
support this belief, another good work known to me in it represents a girl, with her name added
lauded
by Martial), wearing her hair in the odd fashion that came in under
Domitian. As for camei in this stone, though abundant enough, yet they
seem with few exceptions to belong to the times of the Eenaissance, or
later.
The
native country of the fine, antique Prase is now unknown* (though an
inferior sort is obtained in the Faroe Isles), but lumps of it unworked
are sometimes
*
There is good reason for believing it India : for Dionysius Perie-getes
describes the natives of Ariania as collecting the " grass-green Jaspis
along with the Diamond, the Beryl, and other stones of price from amongst tho gravel of their torrents.
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