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SARDONYX.
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engraving
upon it by so famous an artist, was the object the sacrifice of which
to Nemesis was deemed sufficient to atone for all the other over-great
favours of Fortune, and to avert her jealousy.*
The
Sardonyx is said by Marbodus to typify three of the Cardinal Virtues :
the black, Humility; the white, Chastity; and the red, Modesty or
Martyrdom. Strange to say, however, in spite of its beauty and high
estimation, it possessed jo medicinal or mystic qualities.
(Köhler
: ' Untersuchung über den Sard, den Onyx, und den Sardonyx.'
Briickmann's reply to him in his 'Nachtrag über den Sarcler, &c.'
Böttiger : ' Ueber die Echtheit und das Vaterland der Antiken
Onyxcameen von ausserordentlicher Grösse.' [A most copious and
instructive dissertation.] Veitheim : ' Etwas über die Onyxgebirge des
Ctesias.')
* Hardly a relic of the kind equals in historic, nay, romantic interest, the flue, simply-polished Sardonyx (2 inches wide) discovered by Mr. Newton in a drain under the Mausoleum, into which it had doubtless been tossed by the mediasval despoilers of the royal corpse, after stripping the gem of its gold framework. It had evidently been worn as Calli-gone's above quoted.
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