Chap. 6.] JEWELS DISPLAYED AT ROME. 391 



consuls, ^^ on the day before'^' the calends of October, the an- 

 niversary of his birth, he displayed in public, with its pieces, 

 a chess-board,^^ made of two precious stones, three feet in 

 width by two in length — and to leave no doubt that the re- 

 sources of Nature do become exhausted, I will here observe, 

 that no precious stones are to be found at the present day, at all 

 approaching such dimensions as these ; as also that there was 

 upon this board a moon of solid gold, thirty pounds in weight ! 

 — three banquetting - couches ; vessels for nine waiters, in 

 gold and precious stones ; three golden statues of Minerva, 

 Mars, and Apollo ; thirty-three crowns adorned with pearls ; 

 a square mountain of gold, with stags upon it, lions, and all 

 kinds of fruit, and surrounded with a vine of gold ; as also a 

 musceum,^^ adorned with pearls, with an horologe^^ upon the 

 top of it. 



There was a likeness also in pearls of Pompeius himself, his 

 noble countenance, with the hair thrown back from the fore- 

 head, delighting the eye. Yes, I say, those frank features, so 

 venerated throughout all nations, were here displayed in pearls ! 

 the severity of our ancient manners being thus subdued, and 

 the display being more the triumph of luxury than the triumph 

 of conquest. Never, most assuredly, would Pompeius have so 

 long maintained his surname of "Magnus" among the men of 

 that day, if on the occasion of his first^ conquest his triumph 

 had been such as this. Thy portrait in pearls, Magnus ! those 

 resources of prodigality, that have been discovered for the 

 sake of females only ! Thy portrait in pearls, refinements in 

 luxury, which the Koman laws would not have allowed thee to 

 wear even ! And was it in this way that thy value must be appre- 

 ciated ? Would not that trophy have given a more truthful like- 

 ness of thee which thou hadst erst erected upon the Pyrenaean^"* 

 mountain heights ? Assuredly such a portrait as this had been 

 no less than a downright ignominy and disgrace, were we not 

 bound to behold in it a menacing presage of the anger of the 

 gods, and to see foreshadowed thereby the time when that head, 

 now laden with the wealth of the East, was to be displayed, 

 severed from the body. 



28 A.xT.c. 693. 29 30th of September 'o " Alveum lusorium." 



'^ Probably meaning a shrine dedicated to the Muses. 



32 See B. ii. c. 78, and B. vii. c. 60. 33 That of Africa. 



3* See B. vii. c. 27. 



*» As was the case, after the murder of Pompey in Egypt. 



