OPALS: SEVEN VARIETIES OF THEM

Latine · Mayhoff 1906

Minimum iidemque plurimum ab iis differunt opali, smaragdis tantum cedentes. India sola et horum mater est. qui ut pretiosissimarum gloria compositi gemmarum maxime inenarrabilem difficultatem adferunt. est in his carbmnculi tenuior ignis, est amethysti fulgens purpura, est smaragdi virens mare, cuncta pariter incredibili mixtura lucentia. alii summam fulgoris Armenio colori pigmentorum aequari credunt, alii sulpuris ardentis flammae aut ignis oleo accensi. magnitude abellanam nucem aequat, insignis etiam apud nos historia, siquidem exstat hodieque huius generis gemma, propter quam ab Antonio proscriptus est Nonius senator, filius Strumae Noni eius, quem Catullus poeta in sella curuli visum indigne tulit, avusque Servili Noniani, quem consulem vidimus. ille proscriptus fugiens hunc e fortunis omnibus anulum abstulit secum. certum est sestertio vicies tum aestimatum, sed mira Antoni feritas atque luxuria propter gemmam proscribentis, nec minus Noni contumacia proscriptionem suam amantis, cum etiam ferae abrosa parte corporis, propter quam periclitari se sciant, et relicta redimere se credantur.

Vitia opalis sunt, si color in florem herbae, quae vocatur heliotropium, exeat aut in crystallum aut grandinem, si sal interveniat aut scabritia aut puncta oculis occursantia. nullos magis fraus indiscreta similitudine vitro adulterat. experimentum in sole tantum: falsis enim contra radios libratis digito ac pollice unus atque idem tralucet colos in se consumptus; veri fulgor subinde variatur et modo ex hoc plus, modo ex illo spargit, fulgorque lucis in digitos funditur. hanc gemmam propter eximiam gratiam plerique appellavere paederota. qui privatum genus eius faciunt, sangenon ab Indis vocari tradunt. nasci dicitur in Aegypto et in Arabia, et vilissima in Ponto, item in Galatia ac Thaso et Cypro. qui praecellit ex his, opali quidem gratiam habet, sed mollius nitet, raro non scaber. summa illi coloris ex aëre et purpura constat, viriditas smaragdi deest. melior ille, cuius fulgor vini colore fuscatur, quam qui diluitur aquae.

Hactenus de principatu convenit mulierum maxime senatusconsulto. minus certa sunt de quibus et viri iudicant; singulorum enim libido pretia singulis facit praecipueque aemulatio, velut cum Claudius Caesar smaragdos induebat vel sardonyches. primus autem Romanorum sardonyche usus est Africanus prior, ut tradit Demostratus, et inde Romanis gemmae huius auctoritas. quam ob rem et proximum ei dabimus locum.

Sardonyches olim, sicut ex ipso nomine apparet, intellegebantur candore in sarda, hoc est veluti care ungui hominis inposita, et utroque tralucido. talesque esse Indicas tradunt Ismenias, Demostratus, Zenothemis, Sotacus, hi quidem duo reliquas omnes, quae non traluceant, caecas appellantes. quae nunc abstulere nomen, nullo sardarum vestigio Indicarum, Arabicae sunt, coeperuntque pluribus hae gemmae coloribus intellegi, radice nigra aut caeruleum imitante et ungue minium, redimitum candido pingui, nec sine quadam spe purpurae candore in minium transeunte. has Indis non habitas in honore Zenothemis scribit, tantae alias magnitudinis, ut inde capulos factitarent—etenim constat ibi torrentibus detegi —, placuisse in nostro orbe initio, quoniam solae prope gemmarum scalptae ceram non auferrent. persuasimus deinde Indis, ut ipsi quoque iis gauderent. utitur perforatis vulgus in collo; et hoc nunc est Indicarum argumentum. Arabicae excellunt candore, circulo praelucido atque non gracili neque in recessu gemmae aut in deiectu renidente, sed in ipsis umbonibus nitente, praeterea substrato nigerrimi coloris. hoc in Indicis caeruleum aut corneum invenitur. item circuli albi quaedam in iis caelestis arcus anhelatio est, superficies vero locustarum maris, crustis rubentibus. nam melleae aut faeculentae —hoc enim nomen est vitio—inprobantur, aut si zona alba fundat se, non colligat, simili modo si ex alio colore admittat in se aliquid enormiter. nihil in sua sede interpellari alieno placet. sunt et Armeniae, cetera probandae, sed pallida zona.

Exponenda est et onychis ipsius natura propter nominis societatem. hoc aliubi lapidis, hic gemmae vocabulum est. Sudines dicit in gemma esse candorem unguis humani similitudine, item chrysolithi colorem et sardae et iaspidis, Zenothemis Indicam onychem plures habere varietates, igneam, nigram, corneam, cingentibus candidis venis oculi modo, intervenientibus quarundam et obliquis venis. Sotacus et Arabicam tradit onychem distare, quod Indica igniculos habeat albis cingentibus zonis singulis pluribusve aliter quam in sardonyche Indica; illic enim momentum esse, hic circulum; Arabicas onychas nigras inveniri candidis zonis; Satyrus carnosas esse Indicas, parte carbunculi, parte chrysolithi et amethysti, totumque id genus abdicat; veram autem onychem plurimas variasque cum lacteis habere venas, omnium in transitu colore inenarrabili et in unum redeunte concentum suavitate grata.

Nec sarda differenda est, huic gemmae dividua ex eodem et ipsa nomine, obiterque omnium ardentium gemmarum indicanda natura.

English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57

Opals are at once very similar to, and very different from, beryls, and only yield to the smaragdus in value. India, too, is the sole parent of these precious stones, thus completing her glory as being the great producer of the most costly gems. Of all precious stones, it is opal that presents the greatest difficulties of description, it displaying at once the piercing fire of carbunculus, the purple brilliancy of amethystos, and the sea-green of smaragdus, the whole blended together and refulgent with a brightness that is quite incredible. Some authors have compared the effect of its refulgence to that of the colour known as Armenian pigment, while others speak of it as resembling the flame of burning sulphur, or of flame fed with oil. In size, the opal is about as large as a hazel-nut, and, with reference to it, there is a remarkable historical anecdote related. For there is still in existence a stone of this class, on account of which Antonius proscribed the senator Nonius, son of the Nonius Struma, whom the poet Catullus was so displeased at seeing in the curule chair, and grandfather of the Servilius Nonianus, who in our own times was consul. On being thus proscribed, Nonius took to flight, carrying with him, out of all his wealth, nothing but this ring, the value of which, it is well known, was estimated at two millions of sesterces. How marvellous must have been the cruelty, how marvellous the luxurious passion of Antonius, thus to proscribe a man for the possession of a jewel! and no less marvellous must have been the obstinacy of Nonius, who could thus dote upon what had been the cause of his proscription; for we see the very brutes even tear off the portion of their body for the sake of which they know their existence to be imperilled, and so redeem themselves by parting with it.

Defects in opal are, a colour inclining to that of the flower called heliotropium, or to that of crystal or of hailstones; salt-like grains intervening; roughness on the surface; or sharp points, presenting themselves to the eye. There is no stone that is imitated by fraudulent dealers with more exactness than this, in glass, the only mode of detecting the imposition being by the light of the sun. For when a false opal is held between the finger and thumb, and exposed to the rays of that luminary, it presents but one and the same transparent colour throughout, limited to the body of the stone: whereas the genuine opal offers various refulgent tints in succession, and reflects now one hue and now another, as it sheds its luminous brilliancy upon the fingers.

This stone, in consequence of its extraordinary beauty, has been called “pæderos” by many authors; and some who make a distinct species of it, say that it is the same as the stone that in India is called “sangenon.” These last-mentioned stones, it is said, are found in Egypt also, Arabia, and, of very inferior quality, in Pontus. Galatia, too, is said to produce them, as also Thasos and Cyprus. The finest in quality of them have all the beauty of opal, but they are of a softer brilliancy, and are mostly rough on the surface. Their colour is a mixture of sky-blue and purple, and the green hues of the smaragdus are wanting: those, too, are preferred, which have their brilliancy deepened by a vinous hue, rather than those which have their colours diluted, as it were, with water.

Thus far we have spoken in reference to the stones, which, it is generally agreed, belong to the highest rank; in obedience, more particularly, to a decree that has been passed by the ladies to that effect. There is less certainty with respect to those upon which the men as well have been left to form a judgment; seeing that the value of each stone depends more particularly upon the caprice of the individual and the rivalry that exists in reference thereto; as, for example, when Claudius Cæsar was so much in the habit of wearing the smaragdus and the sardonyx. The first Roman who wore a sardonyx, according to Demostratus, was the elder Africanus, since whose time this stone has been held in very high esteem at Rome: for which reason, we shall give it the next place after the opal. By sardonyx, as the name itself indicates, was formerly understood a sarda with a white ground beneath it, like the flesh beneath the human finger-nail; both parts of the stone being equally transparent. Such, according to Ismenias, Demostratus, Zenothemis, and Sotacus, is the sardonyx of India; the last two giving the name of “blind” sardonyx to all the other stones of this class which are not transparent, and which have now entirely appropriated the name to themselves. For, at the present day, the Arabian sardonyx presents no traces whatever of the Indian sarda, it being a stone that has been found to be characterized by several different colours of late; black or azure for the base, and vermilion, surrounded with a line of rich white, for the upper part, not without a certain glimpse of purple as the white passes into the red.

We learn from Zenothemis that in his time these stones were not held by the people of India in any high esteem, although they are found there of so large a size as to admit of the hilts of swords being made of them. It is well known, too, that in that country they are exposed to view by the mountain-streams, and that in our part of the world they were formerly valued from the fact that they are nearly the only ones among the engraved precious stones that do not bring away the wax when an impression is made. The consequence is, that our example has at last taught the people of India to set a value upon them, and the lower classes there now pierce them even, to wear them as ornaments for the neck; the great proof, in fact, at the present day, of a sardonyx being of Indian origin. Those of Arabia are remarkable for their marginal line of brilliant white, of considerable breadth, and not glistening in hollow fissures in the stone or upon the sides, but shining upon the very surface, at the margin, and supported by a ground intensely black beneath. In the stones of India, this ground is like wax in colour, or else like cornel, with a circle also of white around it. In some of these stones, too, there is a play of colours like those of the rainbow, while the surface is redder even than the shell of the sea-locust.

Those stones which are like honey in appearance, or of a fæculent colour—such being the name given to one defect in them—are generally disapproved of. They are rejected also when the white zone blends itself with the other colours, and its limits are not definitely marked; or if, in like manner, it is irregularly intersected by any other colour; it being looked upon as an imperfection if the regularity of any one of the colours is interrupted by the interposition of another. The sardonyx of Armenia is held in some esteem, but the zone round it is of a pallid hue.

We must give some account also of onyx, because of the name which it partly shares in common with sardonyx. This name, though in some places given to a marble, is here used to signify a precious stone. Sudines says, that in this stone there is a white portion which resembles the white of the human-finger nail, in addition to the colours of chrysolithos, sarda, and iaspis. According to Zenothemis, there are numerous varieties of the Indian onyx, the fiery-coloured, the black, and the cornel, with white veins encircling them, like an eye as it were, and in some cases running across them obliquely. Sotacus mentions an Arabian onyx, which differs from the rest; that of India, according to him, presenting small flames, each surrounded by one or more white zones; in a manner altogether different from the Indian sardonyx, which presents a series of white specks, while in this case it is one continuous circle. The Arabian onyx, on the other hand, is black, he says, with a white zone encircling it.

Satyrus says, that there is an onyx in India of a flesh colour, partly resembling carbunculus, and partly chrysolithos and amethystos; a variety, however, which he altogether disapproves of. The real onyx, according to him, has numerous veins of variegated colours, interspersed with others of a milk-white hue; the shades of which, as they pass into one another, produce a tint which surpasses all description, and blends itself into one harmonious whole, of a most beautiful appearance.

Not unlike sardonyx, too, is sarda, a stone which also has, in part, a kindred name with it; but before passing on to it, we must first take some notice of all those precious stones which have a brilliancy like that of flame.