INDUSTRY: PERFUMERS, BARBERS, GOLDSMITHS, LAPIDARIES, ETC.
It has been already observed that the shops of the perfumers[632] were,
for the most part, situated in the Agora or its neighbourhood, and much
frequented by newsmongers and young men of distinction. From this it
follows, that they must have been of spacious dimensions; and it is
extremely probable that they were fitted up with every attention to show
and elegance. They necessarily contained a number of seats and chairs
for the accommodation of customers, and there can scarcely be a doubt,
that the various unguents, perfumes, oils, and essences, were ranged on
shelves, along the walls, in fine jars, vases of Cyprian marble, and
boxes of alabaster,[633] sometimes of one piece, with vessels of glass
and silver,[634] or fine earthenware, or porcelain, or beautiful
sea-shells.[635] The counters were probably of marble or polished stone,
as at Pompeii; and the shopman was supplied with the usual paraphernalia
of scales and weights,[636] and measures, and ladles, and spoons, and
spatulæ, as in modern times. Peron, an Egyptian, the owner of one of
these shops, has been thought of sufficient consequence to have his name
transmitted to posterity.[637]
-----
Footnote 632:
Demosth. in Olymp. § 3. Athen. i. 33. Poll. vii. 177.
Footnote 633:
Herod. iii. 20. Pignor. De Serv. 192. Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 1015.
1027. Athen. xv. 39. Poll. x. 119.
Footnote 634:
Lucian. Amor. 39.
Footnote 635:
Horat. Carm. ii. 723. Dœring, however, supposes vessels in the shape
of shells to be meant.
Footnote 636:
Poll. x. 126.
Footnote 637:
From the way in which this perfumer is mentioned by the comic poets,
it may be inferred, that he demanded exceedingly high prices for his
commodities. For, in order apparently to tax a person with excessive
extravagance, he is said to have purchased unguents of Peron wherewith
to anoint the feet of some friend or patron. Athen. xv. 40. xii. 78.
-----
From the richness and variety of odours made use of by the ancients we
may infer, that the fragrance of such an establishment at Athens,
exceeded that of Araby the Blest. For every land and every sweet flower
that grew supplied some ingredient to the endless stock of the
perfumer.[638] There was incense, and frankincense, and spikenard,[639]
and myrrh, and oils of saffron and cinnamon,[640] and sweet
marjoram,[641] and fenugreek,[642] and roses,[643] and hyoscyamos,[644]
and maiden’s hair,[645] and iris,[646] and lilies,[647] and watermint,
and rosemary, and eastern privet,[648] and baccharis,[649] and thyme. In
truth the Athenians, who were esteemed the inventors of all good and
useful things,[650] delighted exceedingly in the luxury of sweet smells,
and therefore culled from Sicily, and Egypt, and Phœnicia, and Lydia,
and Babylonia, and India, and Arabia, whatever could communicate a
pleasing scent to their garments,[651] their apartments, or their
beards. Even the doves and swallows that flew tame about the house had
their feathers drenched with odoriferous essences, which they scattered
with their waving wings through the air.[652] This excessive passion for
perfumes rendered the favourite articles of it dear, so that of some
kinds a cotyla sold for two or five minæ;[653] of others, for ten; while
the balm of Gilead, even in the country where it was collected, was
valued at double its weight in silver.[654] There were, however,
inferior kinds of perfume, some of which were cheap enough, since we
find that an alabaster boxful, brought from the East, sometimes sold for
two drachmas.[655]
-----
Footnote 638:
Athen. i. 33. xii. 78. xiv. 50. Bochart. Geog. Sac. i. 272, seq. Max.
Tyr. p. 10.
Footnote 639:
Athen. xv. 42. Dioscor. 1. 75.
Footnote 640:
Dioscor. 1. 74.
Footnote 641:
Ἀμάρακος. Dioscor. i. 68. Poll. vi. 104.
Footnote 642:
Dioscor. i. 57.
Footnote 643:
Id. i. 53.
Footnote 644:
Id. i. 42.
Footnote 645:
Ἀδιάντον. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 14. 1.
Footnote 646:
Poll. vi. 104.
Footnote 647:
Id. vi. 105. Dioscor. iii. 116.
Footnote 648:
Dioscor. i. 124.
Footnote 649:
Poll. vi. 104. Dioscor. iii. 51. Παρὰ πολλοῖς δὲ τῶν κωμῳδιοποιῶν
ὀνομάζεται τι μύρον βάκκαρις· οὗ μνημονεύει καὶ Ἱππώναξ διὰ τούτων·
—Βακκάρει δὲ τὰς ῥῖνας
Ἤλειφον· ἔστι δ᾽ οἵη περ κρόκος.
Athen. Deipnosoph. xv. 41.
Footnote 650:
See on the various inventions of the Athenians, Frid. Creuzer, Orat.
de Civit. Athen. Omn. Human. Parent. Francfurt. 1826.
Footnote 651:
This we are told the person itself of Alexander did, being by nature
scented like a nosegay. Plut. Alexand. § 4. The same thing is related
of Catherine de Medicis, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Blumenbach’s
Physiology, Note. p. 182.
Footnote 652:
Cf. Il. ζ. 288. Athen. vi. 67. Poll. vi. 104. Plat. Rep. iii. p. 203.
Stallb.
Footnote 653:
Athen. xv. 44.
Footnote 654:
Dioscor. i. 18.
Footnote 655:
Lucian. Dial. Meret, xiv. § 2.
-----
Great use was made of saffron as a perfume.[656] Halls, courts, and
theatres were saturated with its odour,[657] and statues[658] were made
to flow, like common fountains, with saffron-water. From a great number
of other flowers, essences and unguents were likewise prepared; such as
our lady’s rose, southernwood,[659] vine-flowers,[660] the
narcissus,[661] anis-flower,[662] high taper, betel-leaf, and the
jasmine, which, in Persia, was used at banquets and in the baths.[663]
-----
Footnote 656:
Κρόκος. Dioscor. i. 64.
Footnote 657:
Æl. Spart. Vit. Adrian. c. 18. p. 16.
Footnote 658:
Lucan. Pharsal. 809.
Footnote 659:
Ἀβροτόνον. Dioscor. i. 60.
Footnote 660:
Οἰνάνθαι. Dioscor. i. 56. Theoph. de Caus. Plant. iii. 14. 8.
Footnote 661:
Dioscor. i. 63.
Footnote 662:
Ἄνηθον Dioscor. i. 61. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 1. 2.
Footnote 663:
Dioscor. Noth. p. 442. d.
-----
In the preparation of unguents, numerous articles were made use of,
either to give them consistency or to modify the scent: among these were
the root of the anchusa,[664] palm spatha,[665] butter,[666]
sweet-scented moss,[667] and the odoriferous reed.[668]
-----
Footnote 664:
Dioscor. iv. 23. Cf. Plin. xiii. 1.
Footnote 665:
Dioscor. i. 55. 150.
Footnote 666:
From which the unguent obtained the name of βουτύρινον. Dioscor. i.
64.
Footnote 667:
Βρύον. Dioscor. i. 20.
Footnote 668:
Dioscor. i. 17.
-----
Several unguents received their names from the persons who invented
them, or from the places whence they were imported, though others were
distinguished by appellations which are no longer intelligible: thus,
the Megalion or Megalesian derived its name from Megallos, a Sicilian
perfumer;[669] the Plangonian from Plango, a female perfumer of
Elis.[670] The black ointment, doubtless, received its name from its
colour; but wherefore the Sagdas is so called is not known:[671] both
these were of Egyptian manufacture. From Lydia was imported the
Brenthion,[672] and from Babylonia the Nardon, which disputed the prize
with the royal unguent. There was among the Egyptians a perfume called
Cyphi,[673] entirely appropriated to the use of the gods, into the
composition of which entered the following ingredients; the cyperus, a
quantity of juniper-berries, raisins, odoriferous reeds and rushes, the
aspalathos, myrrh, wine, resin, and honey, mixed in certain proportions,
and reduced to a fine paste. Unguent of roses was preserved by an
admixture of salt.[674]
-----
Footnote 669:
Athen. xv. 42. To this perfume Strattis alludes in his Medea:—
——Καὶ λέγ’, ὅτι μύρον φέρεις αὐτῇ
Τοιοῦτον, οἷον οὐ Μέγαλλος πώποτε
Ἥψησεν, οὐδὲ Δινίας Αἰγύπτιος
Οὔτ᾽ εἶδεν, οὔτ᾽ ἐκτήσατο.—
Footnote 670:
Poll. vi. 104. Athen. xv. 42.
Footnote 671:
Poll. vi. 104. Athen. xv. 43.
Footnote 672:
Poll. vi. 104.
Footnote 673:
Dioscor. i. 24.
Footnote 674:
Id. i. 53.
-----
But the perfumers dealt not in odours and essences only, their stock
containing every variety of cosmetic for the use of the ladies, who made
a complete business of beautifying their faces,[675] which at length
became wholly artificial, rather a mask than a countenance.[676] They
whitened their foreheads, dyed their eyebrows, and fashioned them like
arches, painted black the edges of their eyelids,[677] rendered their
eyes humid and bright by powder-of-lead ore, spread over their faces the
hues of the lily intermingled with the bloom of the rose, adorned
themselves with false ringlets, changed the yellow into black, the black
into auburn,[678] gave a ruby tinge to their lips, and blanched their
teeth into ivory. But the psimmythion,[679] (ceruse or white lead,)
which rendered them fair, undermined their constitution, and poisoned
their breath. On the subject of rouge, the Greeks had a very poetical
and beautiful saying:—“She plants roses in her cheeks,” said they,
“which, like those of Locris, will bloom in an hour and fade in
less.”[680]
-----
Footnote 675:
We do not hear, however, that they carried their rage against nature
so far as certain Parisian dames commemorated by Montaigne, Essais, t.
iii. p. 29, sqq. “Qui n’a ouy parler à Paris de celle, qui se fit
escorcher pour seulement en acquérir le teint plus frais d’une
nouvelle peau? Il y en a qui se sont fait arracher des dents vives et
saines, pour en former la voix plus molle, et plus grasse, ou pour les
ranger en meilleur ordre. Combien d’examples du mespris de la douleur
avons nous en ce genre? Que ne peuvent-elles? Que craignent-elles pour
peu qu’il y ait d’agencement à espérer en leur beauté?
‘Vellere queis cura est albos à stirpe capillos,
Et faciem demptâ pellere referre novam.’
Tibull. i. 9. 45, seq.
“J’en ay veu engloutir du sable, de la cendre, et ce travailler à
point nommé de ruiner leur estomac pour acquérir les pasles couleurs.
Pour faire un corps bien espagnolé, quelle géhenne ne souffrent-elles,
guindées et sanglées avec de grosses coches sur les costez, jusques à
la chair vive? Ouy quelquefois à en mourir.”
-----
One sort of rouge[681] appears to have been obtained from a species of
sea-moss or wrake,[682] which some have confounded with the
anchusa,[683] though the grammarians enumerate them as things entirely
different. One of the commentators supposes the _purpurissa_ to be
meant, by which the Romans understood a sort of cheek-varnish,
vermilion, or Spanish paint. There was in use a pigment for the
eyebrows, called Hypogramma,[684] and the edges of the eyelids were
tinged black with Stimmis,[685] an oxyde of antimony, which still
constitutes one of the articles of the female toilette in the East.
Sometimes the eyebrows were blackened with resin soot,[686] and the
eyelashes caused to lie regularly by naphtha,[687] and a sort of paste
composed of glue and pounded marble.[688] Another curious cosmetic was,
the Adarces,[689] a substance resembling congealed froth, found on reeds
and the dry stalks of plants about the ponds and marshes of Cappadocia.
It was said to remove freckles, and enjoyed, likewise, great credit in
medicine. A preparation composed of the flour of turnip-seed, lupines,
wheat, darnel, and chick-peas, was used for clearing the skin; so,
likewise, were the Chian and Selinusian earths,[690] which removed
wrinkles, and rendered the skin smooth and shining. They were in
constant use in the baths. Cassia,[691] honey,[692] pepper,[693] and
myrrh,[694] cured pimples and effaced spots; fenugreek[695] whitened the
hands and removed sunburns; briony,[696] isinglass,[697] costos,[698]
galbanum,[699] lupines, rainwater,[700] radishes,[701] and hare’s
blood,[702] the biscutella didyma,[703] truffles,[704] cinnamon,[705]
linseed,[706] ladanum,[707] iris-roots,[708] white hellebore,[709]
Sardinian honey,[710] onion-juice,[711] and spring-wheat, moistened with
oxymel,[712] were among the principal preparations for removing moles
and freckles, and beautifying the skin. In some parts of Greece
elm-juice,[713] expressed at the first putting forth of the leaves in
spring, was employed to give clearness and resplendency to the
complexion. Almond-paste,[714] also, with the roots of the bitter
almond-tree, effaced spots from the skin. Others, for the same purpose,
made use of the berries of the wild-vine,[715] and a paste was prepared
from lilies which induced fairness, and rendered the face smooth and
shining.[716] To protect the complexion from the sun, the whole
countenance was varnished, as it were, with white of egg;[717] and some
women, possibly rustics, used goose and hen’s grease as a cosmetic.[718]
The roots of the spikenard, when imported from the East, usually
retained about them a little of the soil in which the plant had
grown:[719] this was carefully rubbed off, and having been passed
through a fine sieve, was used for washing the hands, as it probably
retained something of the fragrance of the plant. Rose leaves, reduced
to powder, were sprinkled over persons as they issued from the bath,
particularly about the eyes, to heighten the freshness of the face.[720]
To communicate additional sweetness to their persons, Greek ladies
sometimes wore about their necks carcanets of rose pastilles[721]
instead of jewelled necklaces, into the composition of which, however,
several other ingredients entered, as nard, myrrh, costos, Illyrian
iris, honey, and Chian wine.
-----
Footnote 676:
Poll. v. 102.
Μὴ τοίνων τὸ πρόσωπον ἅπαν ψιμύθῳ κατάπλαττε,
Ὥστε προσοπεῖον, κ’ οὐχι πρόσωπον ἔχειν.
Anthol. Græc. xi. 408.
Footnote 677:
The pigment with which the interior of the eyelid is blackened at
present is the soot of Ladanum, or incense, which the ladies
themselves procure by casting a few grains of those precious
substances upon coals of fire, and intercepting the smoke with a
plate, on which the soot speedily accumulates. Chandler, ii. 140.
Footnote 678:
Τὴν κεφαλὴν βάπτεις, τὸ δὲ γῆρας οὔποτε βάψεις
Οὔδὲ παρειάων ἐκτανύσεις ῥυτίδας.
Anthol. Græc. xi. 408.
Footnote 679:
See Book iii. chapter v. and Pollux, v. 102.
Footnote 680:
Ῥόδον παρειαῖς φυτεύει, αὐθωρὸν ἀνθοῦν, καὶ θᾶττον ἀπανθοῦν κατὰ τὸ
Λοκρὸν. Poll. v. 102. This fugitive species of rose is alluded to by
Lycophron, in his Cassandra, 1429:
Λοκρὸν δ᾽ ὁποῖα παῦρον ἀνθήσας ῥόδον.
See the note of Meursius, t. iii. p. 1347. ed. C. G. Müller; and
Jungermann ad Poll. t. iv. p. 1010.
Footnote 681:
To this Lucillius alludes in the Anthology:
Οὔποτε φῦκος
Καὶ ψίμυθος τεύξει τὴν Ἑκάβην Ἑλένην.
Anthol. Græc. xi. 408.
Footnote 682:
Poll. v. 101.
Footnote 683:
Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. vii. 8. 3.
Footnote 684:
Poll. v. 101. vii. 95.
Footnote 685:
Ion, in his Omphalè. Poll. v. 101. Luc. Amor. 39.
Footnote 686:
Dioscor. i. 93. And lamp-black. Alex. Frag. ap. Athen. xiii. 23. Cf.
Luc. Bis Accus. § 31.
Footnote 687:
Dioscor. i. 101.
Footnote 688:
Ἡ λιθοκόλλα, μίγμα οὖσα μαρμάρου ἢ λίθου Παρίου καὶ ταυροκόλλης,
δύναται διὰ μηλωτίδος πεπυρωμένης τρίχας ἀνακολλᾷν τὰς ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς.
Dioscor. v. 164.
Footnote 689:
Dioscor. v. 137.
Footnote 690:
Id. v. 175.
Footnote 691:
Id. i. 12.
Footnote 692:
Id. ii. 101.
Footnote 693:
Id. ii. 189.
Footnote 694:
Id. i. 77.
Footnote 695:
Τῆλις. Id. i. 57.
Footnote 696:
Ἄμπέλος μελαίνα. Dioscor. iv. 185.
Footnote 697:
Id. iii. 102.
Footnote 698:
Id. i. 15.
Footnote 699:
Id. v. 97.
Footnote 700:
Dioscor. ii. 132.
Footnote 701:
Id. ii. 137.
Footnote 702:
Id. ii. 21. 97.
Footnote 703:
Ἄλυσσον. iii. 105.
Footnote 704:
Dioscor. ii. 200.
Footnote 705:
Id. i. 13.
Footnote 706:
Id. ii. 125.
Footnote 707:
Id. i. 128.
Footnote 708:
Id. i. 1.
Footnote 709:
Id. iv. 150.
Footnote 710:
Id. ii. 102.
Footnote 711:
Id. ii. 181.
Footnote 712:
Id. ii. 107.
Footnote 713:
Id. i. 101.
Footnote 714:
Id. i. 176.
Footnote 715:
Id. iv. 183. From the roots of the wild vine, also, a kind of paste
was prepared, which was thought to cleanse the skin, and remove
pimples and freckles. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 20. 3.
Footnote 716:
Dioscor. iii. 116.
Footnote 717:
Id. ii. 55.
Footnote 718:
Id. ii. 93.
Footnote 719:
Id. i. 6.
Footnote 720:
Id. i. 130.
Footnote 721:
These pastilles (τροχίσκοι) were about three oboloi in weight, and the
purpose for which they were worn is thus stated by Dioscorides:—χρῆσις
δὲ αὐτων ἐστιν, ἐπὶ γυναικῶν περιτιθεμένων τῳ τραχήλῳ ἀντὶ ὁρμῶν,
ἀμβλυνουσῶν τὴν τῶν ἱδρώτων δυσωδίαν. i. 131.
-----
The dentifrices[722] of the Greeks consisted chiefly of the purple fish,
burnt with salt, and reduced to powder;[723] the Arabic stone,[724]
calcined in like manner; and pumice-stone.[725] Asses’ milk was used as
a gargle to preserve the teeth.[726] The toothpicks[727] most commonly
used were small slips of cane, or green branches of the lentiscus,[728]
the ashes of which were likewise mingled with all kinds of tooth-powder.
The citron,[729] eaten as a remedy for longing, was thought to render
the breath sweet. There was a kind of ointment prepared of saffron,
which, mingled with water, they employed to restore brilliance to eyes
which had lost their colour.[730] A pomatum, composed of oil and the
husks of filbert-nuts burnt and reduced to powder, was used in infancy
to change blue eyes into black.[731]
-----
Footnote 722:
Lucian. Amor. § 39. The beauty, however, of the Grecian ladies’ teeth
was remarkable. Luc. Imag. § 9. False teeth were fastened in with gold
wire. Rhet. Præcept. § 24.
Footnote 723:
Dioscor. ii. 4.
Footnote 724:
Id. v. 149.
Footnote 725:
Id. v. 125.
Footnote 726:
Id. ii. 77.
Footnote 727:
Ear-picks were commonly of olive-wood. Poll. ii. 102.
Footnote 728:
Dioscor. i. 89.
Footnote 729:
Ἐὰν τις ἑψήσας ἐν ζωμῷ ἢ ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ τὸ ἔξωθεν τοῦ μήλου ἐκπιέση εἰς
τὸ στόμα καὶ καταροφήση, ποιεῖ τὴν ὀσμὴν ἡδεῖαν Theoph. Hist. Plant.
iv. 4. 2. Dioscor. i. 166.
Footnote 730:
Dioscor. i. 64.
Footnote 731:
Id. i. 179.
-----
The barbers, who, both in locality and repute, were next-door neighbours
to the perfumers, enjoyed much the same sort of reputation as they do in
modern times. In their shops scandal was fabricated, and news, good and
bad, put into circulation. It was at a barber’s in the Peiræeus that
some stranger first disclosed the intelligence of the defeat in Sicily,
thereby bringing the longue-tongued shaver into the greatest trouble;
for as he straightway ran up to the city and gave vent to the evil
tidings, he was apprehended and put to the torture, in order to discover
the real author of what was supposed to be an atrocious
fabrication.[732] But that which sometimes thus brought them into
straits, proved most commonly a source of profit, since to hear their
laughable stories and anecdotes many more persons congregated under
their roofs than stood in need of new wigs or curling-irons,[733] and
probably got shaved by way of compliment to the master of the house.
Such of them as were remarkably unskilful sought to make up for their
awkwardness[734] by the number and elegance of their razors, and the
large size of their mirrors.[735] But it was not, we are told,
unfrequent for men to get shaved by some humble practitioner,[736] with
one razor and a cunning hand, and afterwards to lounge into the more
dashing shops, to put their curls in order before the large mirrors
which adorned the walls.[737]
-----
Footnote 732:
Plut. Nic. § 30.
Footnote 733:
These irons were heated in the ashes. Pignor. de Servis, p. 194. Cf.
Poll. ii. 31.
Footnote 734:
Luc. adv. Indoct. § 29. In Asia Minor, where numbers of ancient
customs still linger, congealed blood is often used for shaving
instead of soap. Chandler, i. 96. Can this practice plead a classical
origin?
Footnote 735:
Cf. Artemid. Oneirocrit. ii. 7. p. 88. Gitone, Il Costume Antico e
Moderno di tutti i Popoli, t. i. p. 24. Tav. 15.
Footnote 736:
We learn from an anecdote of Crates, that these barbers, like their
descendants in modern times, were accustomed to envelope their
patients in linen or cotton cloths. The Cynic, thinking proper one day
to walk the streets in his shirt, was reprimanded by the Astynomos. “I
will show you Theophrastus in a similar garb,” he replied. “Where?”
inquired the magistrate. “There!” answered Crates, pointing to a
barber’s shop where the philosopher was undergoing the operation of
shaving. Diog. Laert. vi. 90.
Footnote 737:
Lucian. adv. Indoct. § 29. Cf. Poll. ii. 27.
-----
If we may judge by the works of art that have come down to us, however,
the barbers of Hellas generally understood their business in great
perfection, since nowhere do we find more shapely heads or finer curls
than on the statues of antiquity.[738] Even here, however, we discover
few traces of that variety in the manner of cutting and dressing the
hair,[739] for which they were chiefly distinguished. While the
beard[740] was worn, their principal occupation must have been the
clipping, curling, and perfuming of it; but afterwards when persons
shaved in order to appear young,[741] and had learned to cover their
bald pates with wigs,[742] their business grew to be much the same as it
is at present. Their arts were necessarily in great request among the
ladies, for whom they contrived false eyebrows,[743] and innumerable
dyes for giving whatever colour they desired to the hair, rendering it
luxuriant and preventing it from turning grey. Hog’s lard and even
bear’s grease mixed with powder of burnt filberts[744] were then in
great request for strengthening and restoring the hair, together with
onion-juice,[745] olives steeped in wine,[746] myrrh,[747] wild-olive
oil[748] mingled with water, according to Aristotle,[749] the glutinous
humour of snails obtained by passing a needle through them, and
immediately applied to the roots of the hair,[750] a bruized
cabbage-leaf,[751] a hare’s head reduced to ashes,[752] the ashes of the
asphodel-root,[753] burnt frogs,[754] and goat’s hoof,[755] Naxian
stone,[756] halcyonion,[757] burnt walnuts,[758] and oil of pitch.[759]
The soot of pitch restored fallen eyelashes.[760] Among the depilatory
preparations[761] used by ancient barbers may be enumerated the
fumitory,[762] the scolopendra thalassia,[763] oak-fern,[764] juice of
vine-leaves,[765] orpiment,[766] flour of salt,[767] sea-froth,[768] and
the blood of the chamelion.[769]
-----
Footnote 738:
Zoëga, Bassi Rilievi. ii. 239.
Footnote 739:
Cf. Plut. Thes. §. 5.
Footnote 740:
Vid. Il. δ. 533. Plut. Thes. § 5. Dion Chrysost. i. 261, seq. Κάλυμμα.
Aristoph. Lysist. 530. et Schol. Eq. 578.
Footnote 741:
Schol. Aristoph. Acharn. 118. The practice of shaving does not appear
to have grown common until the times of Alexander of Macedon. Athen.
xiii. 18.
Footnote 742:
Sch. Aristoph. Eq. 631. Casaub. ad Theoph. Char. p. 115. Luc. Dial.
Meret. xii. § 5. Poll. ii. 30. Dutens, in his Origines des Découvertes
attribuées aux Modernes, p. 290, seq. has collected an ill-digested
heap of materials on ancient wigs, principally, however, on those of
the Romans.
Footnote 743:
Pignor. De Serv. p. 193.
Footnote 744:
Ὅλα δὲ καέντα λεῖα μετὰ ἀξιουγγίου ἢ στέατος ἀρκτείου, ἀλωπεκίας
ἐπιχρισθέντα δασύνει. Dioscor. i. 169.
Footnote 745:
Dioscor. ii. 181. Maidenhair, black and white, pounded in oil to the
consistence of a paste, prevented the hair from falling off. Theoph.
Hist. Plant. vii. 14. 1.
Footnote 746:
Dioscor. iii. 25.
Footnote 747:
Id. i. 77.
Footnote 748:
Id. i. 140.
Footnote 749:
This fact is mentioned in a very curious passage of the treatise De
Generatione Animalium, v. 5: Ὅτι δὲ γίγνεται ἡ πολιὰ σήψει τινὶ, καὶ
ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν (ὥσπερ οἴονταί τινες) αὔανσις, σημεῖον τοῦ προτέρου
ῥηθέντος, τὸ τὰς σκεπαζομένας τρίχας πίλοις ἢ καλύμμασι, πολιοῦσθαι
θᾶττον· (τὰ γὰρ πνεύματα κωλύει τὴν σῆψιν· ἡ δὲ σκέπη ἄπνοιαν ποιεῖ)
καὶ τὸ βοηθεῖν τὴν ἄλειψιν τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ τοῦ ἐλαίου μιγνυμένων Τὸ μὲν
γὰρ ὕδωρ, ψύχει· τὸ δὲ ἔλαιον μιγνύμενον, κωλύει ξηραίνεσθαι ταχέως.
Τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ εὐξήραντον.
Footnote 750:
Dioscor. ii. 11.
Footnote 751:
Id. ii. 146.
Footnote 752:
Id. ii. 21.
Footnote 753:
Id. ii. 199.
Footnote 754:
Id. ii. 28.
Footnote 755:
Id. ii. 46.
Footnote 756:
Id. v. 168.
Footnote 757:
Id. v. 136.
Footnote 758:
Id. i. 178.
Footnote 759:
Id. i. 96.
Footnote 760:
Id. i. 96.
Footnote 761:
Sch. Aristoph. Acharn. 157.
Footnote 762:
Dioscor. iv. 110.
Footnote 763:
Id. ii. 16.
Footnote 764:
Δρυοπτερὶς, Dioscor. iv. 189.
Footnote 765:
Dioscor. v. 1.
Footnote 766:
Id. v. 121.
Footnote 767:
Id. v. 129.
Footnote 768:
Id. v. 127.
Footnote 769:
Id. iv. 170.
-----
To dye tresses auburn,[770] a colour much admired by the Greeks, they
pounded a quantity of the leaves of eastern privet[771] in a mortar, and
then steeping it in the juice of fuller’s-herb, applied the preparation
to the hair. The same effect was produced by a decoction of lotus
stems,[772] or of the herb lycion.[773] As black hair, however, obtained
the preference of the majority, partly[774] perhaps because it better
suited their complexions, the number of recipes for giving it that hue
is very great. Among the most remarkable substances employed for this
purpose we may mention the ampelitis,[775] a black earth imported from
Seleucia, in Syria, and the sory,[776] a mineral found chiefly in Egypt.
To these may be added decoctions of wood-blade,[777] myrtle, and
myrtle-berries,[778] ivy,[779] and dwarf-elder berries,[780] sage,[781]
mulberries,[782] and palm-spathæ,[783] as also cypress cones, boiled in
vinegar.[784] There prevailed an opinion in Italy[785] that the birds
which fed on the berries of the smilax or yew-tree became black, though
we do not find, that the barbers had thought of introducing them among
the hair dyes.
-----
Footnote 770:
Poll. v. 102. ii. 37. Plat. De Rep. vi. 87.
Footnote 771:
Κύπρος. Dioscor. i. 124.
Footnote 772:
Dioscor. i. 171.
Footnote 773:
Id. i. 132.
Footnote 774:
Luc. Dial. Meret. xi. § 3.
Footnote 775:
Dioscor. v. 181.
Footnote 776:
Id. v. 119.
Footnote 777:
Φλόμος. Dioscor. iv. 104. Theoph. Hist. Plant. ix. 123.
Footnote 778:
Dioscor. i. 155. v. 37.
Footnote 779:
Dioscor. ii. 210.
Footnote 780:
Χαμαιάκτης καρποὶ. Dioscor. iv. 175.
Footnote 781:
Dioscor. iii. 40.
Footnote 782:
Id. i. 180.
Footnote 783:
Id. i. 150.
Footnote 784:
Dioscor. i. 102.
Footnote 785:
Id. iv. 80. The berry of the yew-tree, known to be perfectly harmless,
was often eaten in antiquity. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 10. 3.
-----
Another class of tradesmen who selected the Agora[786] or its
neighbourhood, for their residence, was the goldsmiths, silversmiths,
jewellers, and lapidaries, who were possibly of more importance in the
ancient than the modern world,[787] since a much greater quantity of the
precious metals was then wrought up into plate, whether for the temples,
chapels and sanctuaries of the gods,[788] or for private
individuals.[789] How much or how little of the articles they produced
could be seen at one time in their shops, it is now impossible to
determine; but if their practice resembled that of the moderns, it would
be difficult to imagine a greater blaze of magnificence[790] than must
have met the eye upon entering their establishments,—where piles of gold
and silver vessels[791] of all forms and dimensions, some burnished[792]
and plain, others embossed with every variety of figure in high or low
relief, others crusted with seed pearls,[793] or brilliants, or set with
gems[794] of every shade and hue, from the ruby, the emerald, and the
hyacinth, to the turquoise, the chrysoprase, the amethyst, the beryl,
and the jasper, might be beheld rising to the ceiling.
-----
Footnote 786:
Dem. cont. Mid. § 8.
Footnote 787:
The kings and courtiers of Persia even during the dangers of their
military expeditions carried along with them not only bowls and
goblets, but complete services for the table in silver and gold.
Herod. vii. 119. These instruments of luxury appear often to have
operated as an incitement to victory upon the enemies of Persia, at
least they constituted its reward. Thus in the plunder of Mardonios’s
camp at Platæa, the Helots found, we are told, tents sumptuously
decorated with silver and gold, bedsteads plated with the same
precious metals, gold bowls, cups, and other drinking vessels, and
carriages laden with golden and silver caldrons: σάκκους τε ἐπ᾽
ἁμαξέων εὕρισκον, ἐν τοῖσι λέβητες ἐφαίνοντο ἐνεόντες χρύσεοι τε καὶ
ἀργύρεοι. Id. ix. 80.
Footnote 788:
Thucyd. vi. 46.
Footnote 789:
Plut. Alcib. § 4.
Footnote 790:
Athen. vi. 17. xi. 105. Demosthen. adv. Tim. § 5. 7. Winkelm. Hist. de
l’Art, i. 277. Poll. i. 28.
Footnote 791:
Plat. Tim. vii. 77. 19. De Rep. t. vi. p. 86. 164. Schol. Acharn.
Arist. 1187. Among the cabinet ornaments of the ancients, we find
ostrich eggs set in silver. Plin. x. 1.
Footnote 792:
Goldsmiths made use, in burnishing, of the Samian stone. Dioscor. v.
173.
Footnote 793:
Athen. iv. 29. Casaub. ad. Theoph. Char. 311. These rich articles we
find were sometimes pledged to raise money. Dem. adv. Spud. § 4.
Footnote 794:
Athen. xi. 17.
-----
Occasionally articles of plate of enormous size were manufactured,[795]
such as cisterns,[796] or vases, or tripods, or salvers, or goblets of
gold or silver, presented as offerings by whole cities or communities to
some divinity. In these cases the workmanship was very frequently so
elaborate and exquisite as to be still more costly than the materials.
Entire landscapes, including innumerable figures and objects were
sometimes represented on the swell of a vase or goblet: Bacchanalian
processions, for example, with whole troops of satyrs and mænades moving
along some wooded valley, or desert mountain, or rocky shore, at the
heels of the Seileni and Dionysos, groups of nereids, nymphs, and
tritons, sporting in the warm sunshine, on the unruffled expanse of
ocean; and sacrifices, marriages, chariot-races, and chorusses of youths
and virgins, moving through the mazes of the dance, around the altar of
Apollo or Artemis. It is also to Hellenic goldsmiths that we are
evidently to attribute those marvellous productions of art reckoned
among the most boasted possessions of the Persian kings, such as that
vine of gold,[797] with its vast grape clusters, imitated both in size
and colour by the most precious gems, which formed a canopy over the
royal couch, or that golden platane-tree[798] and other vine, which,
rising from behind the throne, stretched its branches, tendrils, and
leaves of gold aloft over the monarch as he sat in state to give
audience to his people. Here the bunches of grapes in various stages of
ripeness were represented by emeralds, Indian carbuncles, and other
precious stones of the richest and most dazzling hues. These things we
know were not the works of Persians, having been presented to Darius by
Pythios, the Lydian, who, doubtless, caused them to be fashioned by
Grecian artists. What may have been the exact dimensions of this
platane-tree we know not; but, no doubt, Antiochos took an orator’s
licence, when, in an assembly of the Arcadians, he described it as too
diminutive to afford shelter to a grasshopper.[799]
-----
Footnote 795:
Athen. ix. 75. From the quantity of gold and silver plate laid up in
the Egyptian temples, it is evident the same taste prevailed also in
Egypt. Luc. Toxar. § 28.
Footnote 796:
Herodot. i. 51.
Footnote 797:
Athen. xii. 8. Herod. vii. 27.
Footnote 798:
Athen. xii. 55. The kings of America, guided by the same taste, far
exceeded the Persian monarchs in magnificence. Montaigne, having
spoken of the natural quickness and intelligence of the Indians, adds:
“L’espouvantable magnificence des villes de Cusco et de Mexico; et
entre plusieurs choses pareilles, le jardin de ce roy, où tous les
arbres, les fruicts, et toutes les herbes, selon l’ordre et grandeur
qu’ils ont en un jardin, estoient excellemment formées en or: comme en
son cabinet tous les animaux, qui naissoient en son estat et en ses
mers: et la beauté de leurs ouvrages, en pierrerie, en plume, en
cotton, en la peinture, montrent qu’ils ne nous cédoient non plus en
l’industrie.” Essais, l. iii. c. vi. t. viii. p. 33. Cf. Solis,
Histoire de la Conquête du Mexique, l. iii. c. xiv.
Footnote 799:
Xenoph. Hellen. vii. 1. 38.
-----
We may here perhaps with propriety make mention of that multitude of
golden statues[800] which thronged the temples of Greece. For it is not
true, as Lucian pretends, that the Hellenic gods and goddesses were
contented to shroud their beauty in marble, bronze, or ivory, while
Mithras exhibited his rude visage, and Anubis his dog’s snout, in
gold.[801] Even private individuals had statues erected to them of this
precious metal; and there were not wanting those who, like Gorgias, at
their own expense did the same honour to themselves.[802]
-----
Footnote 800:
Poll. viii. 86.
Footnote 801:
Lucian. Jup. Trag. § § 8. 9. Toxar. § 28. Cf. Alexand. § 18. Not to
mention other statues we find, that there was at Proconnesos, and
afterwards at Cyzicos, an image of Dindymenè of massive gold, except
the face, which was wrought with the teeth of the hippopotamos.
Pausan. viii. 46. 4. See also Winkel. Hist. de l’Art, on the statues
of gold and ivory found in Greece, t. i. p. 35. The Minotaur, whether
in picture or statue, was represented as a man with a bull’s head.
Lucian. Var. Hist. lib. ii. § 41.
Footnote 802:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 24. According to the general testimony of
ancient writers, however, the golden statue at Delphi was erected to
the Leontine sophist, by a general subscription. Eudoc. Ion. p. 101.
Valer. Max. viii. 15. Ext. 2. But from a passage in the Phædros, it
may be inferred, that the practice prevailed as described in the text:
Καὶ σοὶ ἐγώ, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐννέα ἄρχοντες, ὑπισχνοῦμαι χρυσῆν εἰκόνα
ἰσομέτρητον εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀναθήσειν, οὐ μόνον ἐμαυτοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ σήν.
Plat. Opp. t. i. p. 19.
But the variety of articles thus composed of the precious metals was so
great as almost to defy description.[803] There were candelabra,[804]
thrones,[805] and chairs, shields,[806] basins and ewers,[807] flagons,
censers, goblets in form of walnut-shells, ladles,[808] spoons,
vinegar-saucers,[809] with almost every other article of the table.
Crowns, likewise, for the heads of statues of princes, and successful
generals, and other individuals whom the public desired to honour; with
bread[810] and work baskets probably in filigree, clasps,[811] and
spindles[812] for ladies, with armlets, anklets, bracelets, rings,
necklaces of carbuncles,[813] earrings,[814] and circlets for the head.
That these articles were usually formed with much taste and elegance we
may infer from the fact, that artists of the greatest respectability
were employed to make designs for them, while even the engravers of cups
and goblets, as Mys, for example, sometimes acquired great
celebrity.[815]
Footnote 803:
Among the Athenian chasers in metal Lycios obtained celebrity.
Demosth. adv. Timoth. § 7. Cf. Suid. t. ii. p. 66. d. e.
Footnote 804:
Gitone, Il Costume, tavv. 61, 62. Raccolta de’ Monumenti più
interessanti del Real Museo Borbonico, &c. tavv. 29, 30, 53, 54, 55.
Athen. xi. 48.
Footnote 805:
Xenoph. Hellen. v. 1. 3. Plut. Lysand. § 9.
Footnote 806:
Pausan. i. 25. 7.
Footnote 807:
Athen. ix. 75.
Footnote 808:
Id. iii. 100.
Footnote 809:
Suid. v. Ὀξύβαφον. t. ii. p. 319. d.
Footnote 810:
Athen. vi. 15.
Footnote 811:
Ælian. Var. Hist. i. 18.
Footnote 812:
Herod. iv. 162.
Footnote 813:
Lucian. Dial. Meret. vi. i. Plut. Phoc. § 19. Among the necklaces in
fashion were some of gold and amber beads intermixed. Luc. Heracl. §
3. A pair of earrings sometimes cost no more than five drachmas. Id.
Somn. seu Gall. §29. Cf. Athen. xii. 46. Hom. Odyss. σ. 290.
Footnote 814:
Il. x. 182. Poll. ii. 102.
Footnote 815:
Athen. xi. 19.
-----
The ancients understood well the art of washing and plating articles
formed of the inferior metals with gold and silver, as well as many
ingenious devices for soldering, mixing, varying the colours, frosting
the surface, and inlaying and flowering one metal with another. Statues
in Attica were commonly lacquered with gold;[816] and, from the remotest
antiquity, the art of gilding appears to have flourished in Greece,
since we find mention of it in Homer, who speaks of gilding[817] the
horns of victims offered up to the gods. The ancients, unquestionably,
employed much thicker gold leaf in this process than the moderns; from
which it has been inferred, that they were incapable of reducing it to
greater tenuity. But, besides that, when the leaves were too thin, the
quicksilver which they employed as a glue appeared through, and dimmed
the splendour of the gold, they seem to have aimed at that very duration
which causes us to admire the fragments of their gilding that still
exist:—in the subterraneous chambers, for example, of the Villa Borghese
on the Palatine hill, where the figures in gold scattered over a ground
of celestial blue, look as fresh as if just laid on.[818] Metals of all
kinds were likewise gilt—as copper, and silver, and bronze. In gilding
marble the leaf was attached to the stone with white of egg, which was
likewise employed, instead of quicksilver, by dishonest workmen, who
could thus make use of a much thinner leaf.[819] The moderns in gilding
marble substitute the juice of garlic and figs. The practice of gilding
wood and leather was also common in antiquity, as we find mention of
gilt wooden statues and beads,[820] and harness, and sandal-thongs. The
walls and roofs of chambers were covered, moreover, with gilding, and
this ornament was laid as well on wainscot as stucco.[821] The
conjecture of a modern writer,[822] that the ancients were acquainted
with the art of gilding in ormolu seems to be unfounded.
-----
Footnote 816:
That is if Pollux has been rightly interpreted, ii. 214. vii. 163,
with the notes of the commentators, t. iv. p. 486. t. v. p. 472.
Footnote 817:
Odyss. γ. 437, seq. Macrob. Saturn. i. 17. Ovid. Metam. vii. 161, seq.
x. 271, seq. Cf. Herod. ii. 63.
Footnote 818:
“Les deux chambres souterraines du palais des empereurs sur le mont
Palatin dans la villa Borghèse, nous offrent des ornemens dorés aussi
frais que s’ils venoient d’être faits, quoique ces chambres soient
fort humides à cause de la terre qui les couvre. On ne peut voir sans
admiration les bandes de bleu céleste en forme d’arcs, et chargées de
petites figures d’or, qui décorent ces pièces. La dorure s’est aussi
conservée dans le ruines de Persépolis.” Winkelm. Hist. de l’Art. t.
ii. p. 91.
Footnote 819:
On the gilding of the ancients see Beckmann, Hist. of Inventions. Vol.
iv. p. 176, seq. Winkelmann, Hist. de l’Art. t. i. p. 34. t. ii. p.
90, seq. 647. Goguet. t. iv. p. 53, sqq.
Footnote 820:
Xen. Œconom. x. 3. 61.
Footnote 821:
Plin. xxxiii. 18. Senec. Epist. 115.
Footnote 822:
Dutens, Orig. des Découvertes, &c. p. 180.
-----
One of the minor, but most flourishing, branches of the goldsmiths’
trade seems to have been the making and setting of rings,[823] for which
the Greeks indulged an extraordinary fondness. They accordingly had them
of every form and material. Some persons, for example, wore a plain
gold, or silver, or even iron, hoop; others a silver ring encircled by a
narrow band of gold, or a gold ring with a band of silver, or an iron
ring inlaid with gold.[824] Some persons were satisfied with a bronze
ring, or one of gilt iron,[825] which they wore apparently in memory of
Prometheus, who, to preserve Zeus’ word unbroken, was fabled to bear on
his finger an iron ring set with a piece of Caucasian stone as a signet,
so that, by a divine sort of quibble, he might for ever be said to be
chained to Caucasus.[826] Others, again, delighted in rings of
amber,[827] white or yellow, or ivory, or porcelain, at least these were
fashionable in Egypt. Sometimes, they wore silver rings with signets of
gold, or the contrary. Mention, too, is made of a ring formed entirely
of carnelian, which, to preserve it, was encircled by a narrow hoop of
silver, and set with a golden signet.[828]
-----
Footnote 823:
Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 331. 756. Poll. ii. 155. See Kirchman, de Annulis,
p. 12, and _passim_.
Footnote 824:
Plin. xxxiv. 4.
Footnote 825:
Kirchman, de Annulis Veterum, c. iii. p. 10.
Footnote 826:
Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 41.
Footnote 827:
Σούκινοι καὶ ἐλεφάντινοι, δάκτυλοι ταῖς γυναιξίν εἰσι σύμφοροι. Suid.
t. ii. 775. c. Artemid. l. ii. c. v. Plin. xxxvii. 2.
Footnote 828:
Kirchman, de Ann. Vet. c. iii. p. 16. The Egyptians were accustomed to
wear little images of carnelian suspended from the neck. A specimen of
these figures, representing Typhon, or the evil principle, I brought
home with me to Europe. It had been found in the ruins of Thebes.
-----
Jugglers sold to persons of large faith rings[829] that would cure the
colic;[830] and articles of this description with magic and talismanic
virtues appear to have been at all times abundant and in great request.
-----
Footnote 829:
Lucian speaks of a talismanic ring having engraved on it the figure of
a Pythian Apollo. Philopseud. § 38; and of another made from the
iron-work of a cross, § 17.
Footnote 830:
Athen. iii. 96.
-----
Of signets[831] the most ancient would appear to have been small bits of
wood, which, having been worm-eaten in a grotesque or fanciful
manner,[832] were cut and polished, and used by some rough Thane for a
crest, in memory of which practice precious stones were in after ages
engraved so as to imitate exactly these rude materials.[833] In process
of time nearly every variety of precious stone[834] came to be engraved
for rings and seals.[835] Of these the most remarkable was the
carbuncle, in colour like a ripe mulberry, which when held up in the sun
glows like a flame or burning coal,[836] probably the reason why it was
supposed to shine in the dark like a lamp.[837] Under this name many
gems known at present by different appellations seem to have been
included, as the ruby,[838] whose proper colour is a cochineal red of
surpassing richness, admitting, however, occasionally, various
intermixtures of blue, producing the rose-red ruby, the former of a full
carmine, or rose colour, the latter tinged with a mixture of blue; the
rubacelle whose glowing red is dashed with a cast of yellow; the true
and the sorane garnet; the rock ruby of a violet red; the almandine and
the hyacinth, now confounded with the amethyst. Next to the above was
the carnelian[839] of a deep ensanguined hue, chiefly obtained from the
island of Sardinia: the jasper of a dark green, with spots of many
colours, the sapphire blue bespangled with gold.
-----
Footnote 831:
Treasurer’s ring. Athen. viii. 29. See Long. de Annul. Sig. p. 42,
sqq. Gorl. de Annul. Orig. Kornman. de Tripl. Ann. p. 44. We may here,
by the way, mention that law of Solon which forbade a lapidary to
retain in his possession the copy of any ring he had engraved. Diog.
Laert. i. 2. 9.
Footnote 832:
Theoph. Hist. Plant. v. i. 2. Θριπήδεστα, ξυλήφια τὰ ὑπὸθριπων
βεβρωμένα, οἷς ἐχρῶντο οἱ σφόδρα οἰκονομικοὶ ἀντὶ γλυπτῶν σφραγίδων.
Eustath. ad Odyss. α. t. iii. p. 37. 12. Suid. θριπηδέστατον. t. i. p.
1329. b. Etym. Mag. 456. 23.
Footnote 833:
“Dans le cabinet de Stosch il y a une pierre dont la gravure imite
très-bien les sillons d’un bois rongé par les vers.” Winkel. Hist. de
l’Art. t. i. p. 43.
Footnote 834:
Plat. Tim. vii. 80. Plin. ii. 63. xxxiii. 1. Herod. i. 195.
Footnote 835:
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 994. See Mawe, Treatise on Diamonds, p. 85—134.
Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 954.
Footnote 836:
Ἀλλο δὲ τι γένος ἐστὶ λίθων ὥσπερ ἐξ ἐναντίων πεφυκὸς, ἄκαυστον ὅλως,
ἄνθραξ καλούμενος, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὰ σφραγίδια γλύφουσιν, ἐρυθρὸν μὲν τῷ
χρώματι, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἥλιον τιθέμενον ἄνθρακος καιομένου ποιεῖ χρόαν.
Theoph. de Lapid. § 18.
Footnote 837:
“Is vulgo putatur in tenebris carbonis instar lucere; fortassis quia
Pyropus, seu Anthrax appellatus à veteribus fuit.” Anselm, Boet.
Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia, t. ii. c. viii. p. 140.
Footnote 838:
Sir John Hill, Notes on Theophrastus, de Lapidibus, p. 76, seq.
Footnote 839:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 23.
-----
Another gem held in high estimation by the ancients was the
emerald,[840] the exquisite colour of which, generally the most intense
green, was supposed to be more grateful to the eye than the sight of
vernal woods or meadows. For this reason many persons selected it for
seals in preference to all other stones.[841] Even the lapidaries
employed in cutting it were believed to have their vision improved by
its refreshing virtues. All emeralds, however, are not of one hue, but
exhibit every possible shade of green, from the dusky tint of the olive
leaf to the pale verdure of the acacia.[842] The Greek jewellers appear
to have judged of the genuineness of this stone by plunging it into
clear water: for if it were a true emerald it would, they thought,
impart its colour to the whole of the surrounding element; if not, a
small part only of it would be tinged.[843]
-----
Footnote 840:
Plin. xxxvii. 16. Boetius, l. ii. c. lii. 195. Menand. ap. Athen. iii.
46. Luc. Saturn. Epist. § 29. Suid. v. σμάραγδος. t. ii. p. 769. a.
Footnote 841:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 24.
Footnote 842:
See Baldæus, description of the Coasts of Malabar and Coromandel,
chap. xxiv.
Footnote 843:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 23.
-----
The ancients possessed a species of bastard emerald, found in vast
blocks, so that we read of an emerald obelisk in Egypt, which, though
consisting of but four pieces, rose to the height of sixty feet.[844] Of
this stone, probably, was the famous pillar which adorned the entrance
of the temple of Heracles at Tyre.[845] Of real emeralds the largest
known does not exceed six inches in length, and two in diameter. It may
be observed, that much pains and labour were expended in bringing the
emerald to its lustre.[846]
-----
Footnote 844:
Id. § 24. Plin. xxxvii. 19.
Footnote 845:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 25.
Footnote 846:
Id. § 27, seq.
-----
The lyncurios or modern hyacinth is enumerated among the seal gems.[847]
Its colour is that of flame with an intermixture of deep red, though it
is sometimes found of a full saffron hue, or even resembling amber. It
has by several writers been supposed to be the tourmaline. The lyncurios
was exceedingly hard and difficult to work. They likewise cut and
engraved for seals the amber, which Theophrastus describes as a native
mineral; the hyaloides, the omphax, the crystal,[848] the sardonyx, the
agate, the onyx, and the amethyst.[849] A gem of extraordinary beauty
was once found in the gold mines of Lampsacos, which, having been
engraved by a Tyrian lapidary, was presented to the Persian King.[850]
-----
Footnote 847:
Anselm. Boet. Gem. et Lapid. Hist. l. ii. c. 258, p. 477.
Footnote 848:
Winkelm. ii. 110.
Footnote 849:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 30. Poll. iii. 87. Luc. Dial. Meret. ix. § 2. Cf.
de Syr. Dea, § 32. Precious stones of various kinds were employed to
represent the eyes in statues, when the white was imitated by thin
silver plates. Winkelm. Hist. de l’Art. t. ii. p. 94.
Footnote 850:
Theoph. de Lapid. § 32.
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Respecting the various processes by which precious stones were engraved,
the ancients have left us but a few scattered hints. It appears certain,
however, that they polished precious stones with emery,[851] and
possessed the lapidary’s wheel, with all the finer tools at present in
use, including the diamond point,[852] which there is reason to believe
they likewise fixed on the wheel.[853] At any rate, they contrived with
the instruments they possessed to engrave figures, as of lions, heroes,
bacchantes, caryatides, trophies,[854] both in relief and intaglio,
which for beauty and delicacy have never yet been equalled. It was at
one time a question whether or not they were acquainted with the
microscope,[855]—though how they could engrave without it figures which
we require its assistance distinctly to perceive, seems somewhat
difficult to comprehend. The gem, for example, called the seal of
Michael Angelo, in the French king’s cabinet, though it does not exceed
half an inch in diameter, contains fifteen figures most elaborately
wrought.[856] A private gentleman at Rome possessed a wolf’s tooth on
which was a representation of the twelve gods.[857] Cicero commemorates
an individual who had written the whole Iliad in characters so minute
and in so small a compass, that it could be contained in a
walnut-shell.[858] Myrmecides, the Milesian, and Callicrates, the
Lacedæmonian, manufactured ivory chariots so small, that they could be
covered with the wing of a fly; and wrote two verses in gold letters on
a grain of sesame.[859]
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Footnote 851:
Σμύρις λίθος ἐστιν, ᾗ τὰς ψήφους οἱ δακτυλιογλύφοι σμήχουσι. Dioscor.
v. 166.
Footnote 852:
Plin. Nat. Hist. xxxvii. 15, with the authors cited by Hardouin.
Footnote 853:
Winkelm. Hist. de l’Art. t. ii. p. 108.
Footnote 854:
Plut. Alexand. § 1. Timol. § 31. Herod. iii. 41.
Footnote 855:
Cf. Senec. Quæst. Nat. i. 6. Macrob. Saturn. viii. 14.
Footnote 856:
Dutens, Origine des Découvertes, &c. p. 265.
Footnote 857:
Winkelm. Hist. de l’Art. t. i. p. 36. n. 4.
Footnote 858:
Plin. Hist. Nat. vii. 21.
Footnote 859:
Ælian. Var. Hist. i. 17.
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We find mention, however, of burning-glasses as early as the age of
Socrates;[860] and a number of lenses, more powerful than those employed
by our own engravers, have been found among the ruins of
Herculaneum.[861] We may here, also, remark by the way, that the Greek
astronomers appear to have been acquainted with the telescope.[862]
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Footnote 860:
Aristoph. Nub. 764, seq. Cf. Aristot. Analyt. Post. i. 31. 8.
Barthelémy St. Hilaire de la Logique d’Aristot. t. ii. p. 367.
Footnote 861:
Dutens, Origine des Découvertes, &c. p. 265. i.
Footnote 862:
Id. p. 115, seq. Nixon. in Phil. Trans. v. lii. p. 125.
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