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PLANETARY AND ASTRAL INFLUENCES 343
royal
treasure at Fontainebleau was plundered in 1590, and the stone was
offered for sale, and was purchased, in 1619, by Emperor Eudolph II,
for the sum of 12,000 ducats.
A
ruby called sandastros is described by Pliny as containing stellated
bodies which he compares to the Hyades; hence, says he, they are the
objects of great devotion with the Chaldaei or Assyrian Magi.
According to Morales (De las piedras preciosas), the ruby and the
diamond were both under the influence of the sign of Taurus; the same
writer informs us that the Hyades and the sun were supposed to have a
potent effect upon the ruby or carbuncle. In ancient Babylonia the sign
of Taurus was regarded as the most important, and Winckler believes
that the presence in this sign of the five stars of the Hyades and the
seven of the Pleiades was brought into connection with the twelve-fold
division of the zodiac. The Hyades signified the five signs visible in
Babylonia at the summer solstice, while the Pleiades typified the seven
invisible signs. It seems probable that the Pleiades were associated
with the diamond, although Morales, who was very familiar with the
Moorish astrology current among the Spaniards of his time, attributed
the crystal to this group. His attribution proves at least that the
stone of the Pleiades was a colorless one.
In Sanskrit the diamond is called vajra, "thunderbolt," and also indrâjudha, "Indra's weapon"; another name is agira, "fire," or "the Sun."8 All these designations are probably suggested by the brilliant flashes of
'Garbe, "Die indische Mineralien," Naharari's Râjanighantu, Varga XIII, Leipzig, 1882, p. 80.
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