Famous Pearls. 283 



that waited at her trencher (as they had in charge 

 before) set before her one onely crewer of sharpe 

 vinegar, the strength whereof is able to resolve 

 Pearles. Now she had at her eares hanging those 

 two most precious Pearles, the singular and onely 

 jewels of the world, and even Nature's wonder. As 

 Antonie looked wistfully upon her, and expected 

 what she would doe, shee tooke one of them from her 

 eare, steeped it in vinegar, and so soon as it was 

 liquified, dranke it off. And as she was about to 

 do the like by the other, L. Plancius, the judge of 

 that wager, laid fast hold upon it with his hand, and 

 pronounced withall that Antonie had lost the wager. 

 Whereat the man fell into a passion of anger." 



The other Pearl of Cleopatra's pair which was 

 thus preserved from a like fate, passed into the 

 possession of the Roman emperor, and was after- 

 wards sawn asunder and made into earrings, by 

 Agrippa, for the statue of the goddess Venus, in 

 the Pantheon. Pliny remarks that the statue was 

 satisfied with one half of Cleopatra's banquet. 



With reference to the solution of Pearls, we 

 may add that Cleopatra was not the only personage 

 who performed the costly experiment, but that the 

 Emperor Caligula is likewise said to have drunk 

 Pearls dissolved in vinegar. It is related too that 

 Clodius, the son of ^sop, the tragic actor, a man 



