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Precious Stones and their uses in bygone times. 13
After
the Romans became possessed of the treasures of Asia and Africa, they
probably gained a much fuller knowledge of Precious Stones. The elder
Pliny must have been better informed than his predecessors as to the
places where gems were found. From him also we gain most of our
knowledge of the views of the Ancients as to Precious Stones. During
this period the luxury of Rome in respect to PreciousStones was
enormous. The Emperors adorned their robes with jewels of immense
value. Paulina, the wife of Caligula, covered her dress entirely with
Emeralds and Pearls of untold wealth. Pliny says " we drink out of a
mass of gems, and our drinking vessels are formed of Emeralds." A
little later they began to mount their sacred pictures in frames set
round with gems. Constantine entered Rome in a chariot of gold, adorned
with Precious Stones, which are described as having sent forth
brilliant rays of light. In his time the Royal Crown was first set
about with similar gems, a custom which has been continued to the
present day.
Passing
on to the Christian Era we find among writers upon Precious Stones,
that Isidorus, Bishop of Seville, in the year 630 A.D., takes a
prominent place. He classified gems according to their colour. In the
eleventh century Marbodus, Bishop of Rennes, wrote a Lapidarium, or
Latin poem on stones, of which a Norman-French version is also known. A
century later brought forth a really scienÂtific treatise by Mohammed
Ben Mansur—a work marked by great acumen, and evidently the result of
an extensive acquaintance with the stones which he describes. Coming
down to later times, attention may be specially directed to the
treatise De Gemmis et Lapidibus, written in 1609 by a Dutch physician, Anseimus de Boot, whose name is better known in its Latinised form of Boethius.
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