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Hyacinthus, Sapphire, Corundum

Hyacinthus, Sapphire, Corundum Page of 453 Hyacinthus, Sapphire, Corundum Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
194
HYACINTHUS.
judge from Ovid's elegant lines upon its springing from the blood of the youth Hyacinthus :—
" Flos oritur formamque capit quam lilia, si non Purpureus color hie, argenteus esset in illis."
Visconti actually figures a statue of Hyacinthus holding in his hand, as an identifying symbol, a fieur-de-lys. This flower also exhibits on its petals (which the gladiolus does not) Apollo's cry of grief, AI, AI, mentioned as its great characteristic by Ovid, and by Pliny.
Pliny evidently believed that the gem derived its name from its resemblance to the flower in colour ; but there is as little foundation for this as for most other similar ancient etymologies. The Indian name of the stone, of which the Arabic Jacat pre­serves the sound, was readily assimilated by the poetical Greeks to that of Apollo's favourite Hyacinthus, or Hyacis—the more especially as there is some ground for believing that the gem (at least in Roman times) was held sacred to the Sun. The identity of names between Apollo's darling and the gem produced the epigram (Anth. ix. 751) :
Α σφρα-γϊς υάκινθος, 'Απόλλων δ iarlv kv airy Και Δάφνη, ποτέρου μάλλον ό AijTo'i'Sas.
But that the Hyacinthus of the ancients is the Sapphire of the moderns will be perfectly evident to any mineralogist who will carefully peruse the minute description of the same gem given by Solinus : " Amongst those things (in Ethiopia) of which we have treated, is found also the Hyacinthus, of a shining sky-blue colour : a stone of price, if it be found without blemish ; for it is extremely subject to defects. For generally it is either diluted with violet or clouded with dark shades, or else melts away into a watery hue with too much whiteness. The best colour of the stone is an equable one, neither dulled by too deep a dye, nor too clear with excessive transparency, but which draws a sweetly-coloured tint (florem) from the double mixture of brightness and violet (purpura). This is the gem that feels the influence of the air, and sympathises with the heavens, and does not shine equally if the sky be cloudy or bright. Besides,
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