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SMARAGDUS.
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297
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allowance
no more than was absolutely necessary for his maintenance ; and when
the King attended him down to his ship, as he was about to return to
Rome, and pressed upon his acceptance a very precious Emerald, set in
gold (for a ring), he declined this also until Ptolemy made him observe
it was engraved with his own portrait, whereupon, fearing his refusal
should be considered a mark of personal ill-will (his mission having
been unsuccessful), he at last accepted the ring as a keepsake.
This
notice of royal Emeralds may be aptly concluded with an unparalleled
specimen of Oriental caprice and extravagance. It is a finger-ring cut
out of a solid piece of Emerald of remarkably pure quality ; with two
Emerald drops, and two collets set with rose Diamonds, and Ruby borders
in Oriental mountings ; formerly belonging to Jehanghir, son of Akbar,
Emperor of Delhi, whose name is engraved on the ring. Diameter, 1-1/4 χ
1-1/8 in. This ring was presented by Shah Soojah to the East India
Company, and was purchased by the late Lord Auckland, when
Governor-General of India. Now in the possession of the Hon. Miss Eden.
In
Pliny's age, such was the estimation in which the Emerald was held on
account of its beauty and costliness, that, " by the common consent of
mankind, the stone was spared, beingnot allowed to be engraved." He
quotes, indeed, from some early Greek author (xxxvii. 3) a story to
illustrate the (professional) vanity of the musician Ismenias, in
Alexander's reign, who, having heard of a Smaragdus engraved with an
Amymone, on sale in Cyprus, at the price of six gold pieces, sent for
it ; and when his agent, having by chaffering reduced the price to
four, brought back the ring and the surplus, pretended to take offence
at the insult offered the gem's dignity by this beating down of the
price. But the locality, the age, and the comparatively
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