INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



made a cup of the finest crystal, and such a one as 

 he thought worthy none but Caesar, got admission 

 with his present. The beauty of the gift and the hand 

 of the workman were highly commended, and the zeal 

 of the donor kindly received. When the man, that 

 he might change the admiration of the court into as- 

 tonishment and ingratiate himself still more into favor 

 of the emperor, begged the cup out of Caesar's hand 

 and dashed it against the pavement with such vehe- 

 mence that the most solid and constant metal could not 

 escape unhurt, Caesar was both surprised and hurt 

 at the action; but the other, snatching the cup from 

 the ground, which was not broken but only a little 

 bulged as if the substance of metal had assumed the like- 

 ness of glass, drew a hammer out of his bosom and 

 very dexterously beat out the bruise, as if he had been 

 hammering a brass kettle. And now the fellow was 

 wrapt in the third heaven, having, as he imagined, 

 got the friendship of Caesar and the admiration of 

 all the world; but it happened quite contrary to his 

 expectations. For Caesar asking him if anyone knew 

 how to make glass malleable besides himself, and he 

 answering in the negative, the emperor commanded 

 his head to be struck off; for, said he, 'if this art be 

 once propagated, gold and silver will be no more 

 valuable than dirt.'" 



It seems incredible that the use of glass for window 

 panes should have been forgotten once it had been 

 discovered; yet this appears to have occurred during 

 the Dark Ages. Window glass, which ' ' lengthens life by 

 introducing light into dwellings," entirely disappeared 



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