Shakespeare and Precious Stones
Geneva Bible went through no less than sixty editions in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and even after the issue of the "Authorized Version" in 1611 it competed successfully with this for a time.
That Shakespeare may have seen Philemon Holland's (1552-1637) excellent translation of Pliny is nowise unlikely. A notable passage in his Othello seems in any case to indicate that it was suggested by Pliny's words (Bk. II, chap. 97, in Holland's version):
And the sea Pontus evermore floweth and runneth out into Propontic, but the sea never retireth backe againe within Pontus.
Othello replies thus to Iago's conjecture that he may change his mind (Act iii, sc. 3):
Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea, Whose icy current and compulsive course Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the Propontic and the Hellespont, Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love. First Folio, "Tragedies," p. 326, col. B, lines 34-39.
There is, however, no trace of any familiarity on Shakespeare's part with the precious stone lore of the Roman encyclopaedist, either from the Latin text of his great "Historia Naturalis," or from the translation published by Holland in
