PEARLS. 89 
prices given for this kind of gem, that we are in- 
formed by Pliny that Julius Czesar presented Servilia, 
the mother of Brutus, with a pearl, for which he 
paid forty-eight thousand four hundred and fifty- 
seven pounds. The famous ear-rings which the 
profligate Cleopatra dissolved in vinegar, and drank 
to the health of Mark Antony, were valued at one 
hundred and sixty-one thousand four hundred and 
fifty-eight pounds. In emulation of which, the 
dissipated Clodius presented each of his guests with 
a glass of vinegar in which a valuable pearl had been 
dissolved. 
Nor were pearls of Oriental growth the only ones 
worn: the rivers of Germany and Saxony were ran- 
sacked for this favourite ornament; and it is recorded 
by Suetonius, that the reports which had reached 
Rome concerning the British pearls, were the ac- 
tuating motives which induced Czsar to attempt 
the conquest of the island. 
His expectations were not entirely realized; but 
a buckler formed of English pearls was carried by 
the conqueror to Rome, where it was dedicated to 
Venus, and hung up in her magnificent temple as an 
offering worthy of the sea-born goddess. 
As such was the general predilection, it will not 
appear extraordinary, that, while the imperial city 
was filled with patricians who had scarcely any other 
