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CHRYSOLITHUS.
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167
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by Propertius (II. xvi.) amongst the bribes by which the " wealthy praetor from Illyria," gorged with the plunder of his province, had seduced his Cynthia away from him—
"quoscunque Sraaragdos Quosque dedit flavo luniine 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 stone then to be mentioned in the same breath as the Emerald,
the most precious gem in the Roman jeweller's list.
The
Oriental Topaz was formerly much esteemed, and that in comparatively
modern times. De Boot puts the value at 2 thalers for the first carat;
and after, as the weight squared: Dutens, at a third higher than the
Sapphire. The finest on record is that seen by Tavernier in the
treasury of Aurungzeb, weighing 157-1/4 carats, and but recently
purchased by that emperor for a sum equal to 11,000 1. 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.3 The only yellow gems
employed by them were the Jacinth, and occasionally the
Cinnamon-stone. From some unexplained cause, the yellow Crystal, though
equally abundant in nature with the purple (or Common Amethyst), was
very seldom engraved upon by the ancients : genuine works in it being
infinitely more unfrequent than in the Jacinth. The best examples known
to myself are a head of Julia Titi, an exact replica in miniature of
the famous Beryl by Evodus,
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