296 NATURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS STONES, &c.
could
amply buy off her spite by suffering this single grief, being fatigued
with uninterrupted happiness. Putting out therefore to sea, he threw in
his signet-ring ; but a fish of remarkable size, born for the royal
table, snapped it up for food, in order to give the omen, and restored
it to the owner in his kitchen, from the hand of that Fortune who was
plotting his destruction." Amasis, the wise Egyptian king, who had
counselled this mode of atonement, on hearing of this last proof of
the pertinacity of Polycrates' good luck, solemnly renounced his
alliance, being persuaded that he would have most signally to pay for
all in the end : as the event soon proved, for having fallen into the
hands of Orœtes the Persian, he was impaled.
There
can be little doubt this tale of " the Fish and the Eing " is true ;
indeed, it is too incredible for a fiction. Fish, especially the
mackerel, greedily swallow any glittering object dropped into the sea
(a bit of tin being the best bait for the latter) ; and within my own recollection, one when opened was found to contain a wedding-ring.
That
this stone was the true Emerald is evident from the enormous value
attached to it. With the Greeks it long continued the established
medium for the signet of the prince. This may be deduced from Pliny's
words (xxxvii. 4) :—" It is clear that in the times of Ismenias even
the Emerald used to be engraved. This opinion is confirmed by an order
of Alexander the Great, forbidding any other artist, except Pyrgoteles,
doubtless the most eminent in the profession, to engrave his portrait
upon this gem." And again we may draw the, same conclusion from
an anecdote Plutarch tells of Lucullus (cap. iii.) to illustrate his
disinterestedness. Being sent by Sulla on a mission to King Ptolemy
Lathyrus, he not merely refused all the splendid presents offered him,
amounting in value to eighty talents (16,000?.), but even received of
his table
