Natural Hiflory of the Ancients. 245 



of ordinary luxury at Rome. During the reigns 

 of the Caefars, in the firft century after Chrift, 

 pearls were highly valued, and were prominently 

 difplayed by the Romans at 



" Their fumptuous gluttonies and gorgeous feafts 

 On citron tables or Atlantic ftone, 

 Their wines of Setia, Cales and Falerne, 

 Chios, and Crete," 



when they would 



" Quaff in gold, 



Cryftal, and myrrhine cups, embofTed with gems 

 And ftuds of pearl." 1 



The oyfter, however, was well known to the 

 Greeks. In early times, indeed, it feems to have 

 been curioufly defpifed as an article of food. The 

 only time that it is mentioned in Homer is when 

 Patroclus, in the " Iliad," hurls Cebriones, the 

 charioteer of Hector, from his place in the chariot, 

 and, after_ the fafhion of the time, mocks him : 

 " Ye gods ! truly he is an active man ! How 

 cleverly he dives ! If, indeed, he were on the 

 fifhy fea, this fellow would fatisfy many men by 

 groping on the bottom for oyfters, leaping off his 

 fhip even if it were very ftormy weather, fo cleverly 

 does he now dive head-foremoft from his chariot 

 to the plain!" 2 This paffage is curious both in 

 itfelf, and alfo becaufe it was much ufed in con- 

 troverfy by the Chorizontes (thofe who would 

 affign the " Iliad " and " Odyffey " to different 

 authors), inafmuch as the Homer of the " Iliad," 

 it was faid, does not introduce his heroes as eaters 



J "Par. Regained," iv. 114. 

 2 "II.," xvi. 14.5. 



