MYTILID.E. PEARLS. 57 



that she might say she had expended on a single enter- 

 tainment ten millions of sesterces, is too well known to 

 require repeating here ; suffice it to say that Pliny in- 

 forms us, that before the time of Antony and Cleopatra, 

 Clodius, the son of the tragic actor iEsopus, had done the 

 same at Rome ; " he, having dissolved in vinegar (or at 

 least attempted to do so) a pearl worth about £8000, 

 which he took from the earring of Cecilia Metella."*" 

 Pliny further adds that, by way of glorification to his pa- 

 late, Clodius iEsopus was desirous of trying what was the 

 taste of pearls, and as he found it wonderfully pleasing, 

 that he might not be the only one to know it, he had a 

 pearl set before each of his guests for him to swallow. "f 

 It was not unusual for the Romans to adorn their horses, 

 and other favourite animals, with splendid necklaces; J 

 and we are told that Incitatus, the favourite horse of 

 the Emperor Caligula, wore a pearl collar. The Roman 

 ladies even wore pearls at night, that in their sleep they 

 might be conscious of the possession of these valuable 

 gems. Julius Caesar prohibited the use of purple and 

 pearls to all persons who were not of a certain rank, and 

 the latter also to unmarried women. § From the twelfth 

 to the sixteenth centuries, extravagance in jewellery was 

 carried to an unlimited extent at the Courts in Europe ; 

 and from the reign of Francis I. to that of Louis XIII.,the 

 greater part of the jewels worn were set with pearls, and 

 these latter were worn in preference to all other orna- 

 ments until the death of Maria Theresa of Austria. || The 

 French call irregular-shaped pearls "Perles baroques/' 



* Hor. ii. Sat. iii. 239. f Pliny, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. b. ix. ch. 59. 



X Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities : " Monile," p. 768. 

 § ' Gems and Jewels,' p. 27, Madame de Barrera. 

 || ' Gems and Jewels,' p. 58. 



