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Sucoinum, Amber

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308                 NATURAL HISTORY OF GEMS.
by the nations of the South. Hair of this colour therefore became all the fashion amongst the Roman ladies, and false fronts were largely imported, obtained, and doubtless with­out much ceremony, from the female savages of Germany. They also changed their black locks into red by steeping them in a powerful alkali, thus satirized by Martial :—
" Caustica Teutonicos acceudit spuma capillos : Captiva poteris oultior esse coma."
" From caustic lather flames Batavia's hair : With captive locks thou may'st seem doubly fair."
The colour was equally admired in both sexes : Euripides makes his Electra sneer at Menelaus, vain of the auburn curls floating down his shoulders ; and six centuries later it embellishes the pretty portrait Lampridius draws of the Csesar Diadumenian, that embodiment of the Roman idea of beauty : " Puer fuit omnium speciosissimus statura longiuscula, crine fiavo, nigris oculis, naso deducto, ad omnem decorem mento composito, ore ad oscula parato, fortis naturaliter, exercitio delicatior."
Pieces of Amber containing insects speedily attracted the notice of the Romans, and guided them, for once, to a correct theory as to its origin ; for it was evident that it must have enveloped these foreign bodies whilst yet a liquid exudation from the tree. Hence they gave it the expressive designation of Suceinum, or the Gum-stone. The Greek Electrum is referred to its supposed connexion with the Sun-god, one of whose titles was Elector (" The Awa-kener"). Martial has three ingenious epigrams upon a viper (some small reptile), upon an ant, and upon a bee thus imprisoned :—
" Flentibus Heliadum ramis dum vipora repit Fluxit in ob stau tern suecina gutta feram ; Qua; dum miratur pingui se rore teneri Concreto riguit vincta repente gelu.
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