40 Pearls.
extent
was the fashion carried, that a lady's position in society was
estimated by the number and value of the Pearls she wore on any public
occasion. Hence the Margaritaria, or Pearl merchants, drove a
flourishing trade by the loan of Pearls. The relics of females exhumed
from the ashes of Pompeii, have in some cases been found decorated with
Pearl ear-rings.
Various
sumptuary laws were issued under successive emperors for the purpose
of stemming the tide of extravagance which threatened to ruin all
classes. Julius Caesar issued an edict, prohibiting the use of purple
and of Pearls to all persons who were not of a certain rank, and these
were only to wear them on occasions of public ceremonies. Un-· married
women were forbidden to wear precious stones, gems or Pearls—an edict
which led to a great increase in the number of marriages in every city
throughout the empire.
The
last of the sumptuary laws was passed by the Emperor Leo, in the year
460 A.D., and forbade all persons of whatever quality, to enrich their
baldrics, or the bridles and saddles of their horses with Pearls,
emeralds, or hyacinths.
In the dark ages which followed the j-uin of the Roman Empire, the Oriental trade in Pearls,
