24 The Diamond 



a ram, which, however, must be fresh and warm. The stone must be 

 well steeped in it, and receive repeated blows, and even then will break 

 anvils and iron hammers unless they be of excellent temper. 1 This 

 fantasy has passed into the writings of St. Augustin, 2 and, further, 

 into our mediaeval poets, who interpreted the ram's blood as the blood 

 of Christ, likewise into our lapidaires. 3 



this belief. Theophrastus (De lapidibus, 19; opera ed. P. Wimmer, p. 343), in a 

 passing manner, alludes to the incombustibility of the diamond by ascribing the 

 same property to the carbuncle (anthrax) ; the lack of humidity in these stones renders 

 them impervious to fire (compare Krause, Pyrgoteles, p. 15 and note 4). Apol- 

 lonius Dyscolus, in the first half of the second century a.d. (Rerum naturalium 

 scriptores Graeci minores, ed. Keller, Vol. I, p. 50), says that the diamond, when 

 exposed to a fire, is not heated. 



1 Siquidem ilia invicta vis, duarum violentissimarum naturae rerum ferri ignium- 

 que contemptrix, hircino rumpitur sanguine, neque aliter quam recenti calidoque 

 macerata et sic quoque multis ictibus, tunc etiam praeterquam eximias incudes 

 malleosque ferreos frangens (ibid., § 59); also in the same work, xx, procemium: 

 sanguine hircino rumpente. 



2 Qui lapis nee ferro nee igni nee alia vi ulla perhibetur praeter hircinum sangui- 

 nem vinci (De civitate Dei, xxi, 4). Also Isidorus, Origines, xn, 1, 14; and Mar- 

 bodus, De lapidibus pretiosis, 1. 



8 F. Lauchert, Geschichte des Physiologus, p. 179. L. Pannier (Les Lapidaires 

 frangais du moyen age, p. 36): 



"Par fer ne par fou n'iert ovt66 

 S'el sang del buc chiald n'est tempr£e7' 

 F. Pfeiffer, Buch der Natur von Konrad von Megenberg, p. 433; Albertus 

 Magnus, De virtutibus lapidum, p. 135 (Amstelodami, 1669). The origin of the 

 Plinian story is hard to explain, as there is no other ancient or Oriental source that 

 contains it. C. W. King (Antique Gems, p. 107) thinks it is a jeweller's story, prob- 

 ably invented to keep up the mystery of the business. Blumner (Technologie, 

 Vol. Ill, p. 231) supposes either that the ancient lapidaries really used ram's blood 

 in good faith, without examining whether the diamond could also be broken without 

 it, or that they merely pretended such a procedure to the laymen as an alleged artifice 

 of their trade. These rationalistic speculations, unsupported by evidence, are 

 unsatisfactory. More plausible is the view of E. O. VON Lippmann (Abhandlungen 

 und Vortrage, Vol. I, p. 83), that the blood of the ram, owing to the sensual lust of 

 this animal, was regarded as particularly hot. As is well known, a ram was the 

 animal sacred to Bacchus (O. Keller, Antike Tierwelt, Vol. I, p. 305); and ram's 

 blood was a remedy administered in cases of dysentery (F. de Mely, Lapidaires 

 grecs, p. 92). What merits special attention, however, is that Capricorn as asterisk 

 of the zodiac, according to Manilius, belonged to Vesta; and that everything in need 

 of fire, like mines, working of metals, even bakery, was under its influence. More- 

 over, in ancient astrology, the twelve signs of the zodiac are associated with twelve 

 precious stones, and in this series adamas belongs to Capricorn (see the list in F. Boll, 

 Stoicheia, No. 1, p. 40). The idea of ram's blood acting upon the diamond, therefore, 

 seems to be finally traceable to an astrological origin. A curious custom relating to 

 ram's horn is reported by Strabo (xvi, 4, § 17). When the Troglodytae of Ethiopia 

 bury their dead, some of them bind the corpse from the neck to the legs with twigs 

 of the buckthorn [Paliurus; an infusion of this plant, according to Strabo, forms the 

 drink of these people in general]. They at once throw stones over the body, at the 

 same time laughing and rejoicing, until they have covered its face. Thereupon 



