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AMETHYSTU8. " 61
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Or,
as Pliny explains it (xxxvii. 40), " because they never come up to the
colour of wine, since before they touch it their lustre falls off into
the colour of the viola" (i.e. pink cyclamen).
Pliny
divides them into five kinds, the Indian holding the first rank ;
others came from Arabia Petraea, Armenia Minor, Egypt, and Galatia ;
inferior sorts from Thasos and Cyprus. The Indian displayed the precise
colour of the imperial purple ; a variety of these " degenerated into
that of the Hyacinthus (Sapphire), and was called by the Indians
Sacondion, Sacon being their term for that particular tint ; if still
lighter, it took the name of Sapenos." The fourth sort was of a wine
colour ; the fifth and worst was so pale as to resemble a crystal. The
most admired tint was when a slightly rosy hue shone out from amidst
the purple, and became more conspicuous when viewed by transmitted
light (in suspectu) ; such were distinguished by the title of Pœderotes
(Cupids), or the " Gem of Venus," on account of the pre-eminence of
their kind and their beauty.
The
deeper the tint the less brilliant is the stone, for which reason the
ancient engravers preferred the light-coloured variety, which of all
gems, next to the Jacinth, possesses the greatest lustre ; or they may
have used it for cutting upon on account of its greater cheapness,
remarked above. That Amethysts of a fine colour (now so worthless) were
deemed too valuable by the ancients to have their surface diminished by
the sinking of intagli into them, appears from examples now extant.
They were either worn as mere ornamental jewels uncut, or else polished
to an extremely convex form, presenting in their exact centre a
diminutive intaglio, a Gorgoneion, or a mask, in the nature of a
talisman, that augmented the supposed virtue without detracting much
from the native beauty of the gem. Pliny notes the suitÂableness of all
the Amethyst family for engraving upon (scalp-
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