440 Pliny's natubal histoet. [Book IX. 



solve pearls. At this moment she was ■wearing in her ears 

 those choicest and most rare and unique productions of Nature ; 

 and while Antony was waiting to see what she was going to 

 do, taking one of them from out of her ear, she threw it into the 

 vinegar, and directly it was melted, swallowed it. ^ Lucius 

 Planous,** who had been named umpire in the wager, placed 

 his hand upon the other at the very instant that she was 

 making preparations to dissolve it in a similar manner, and 

 declared that Antony had lost — an omen which, ^* in the result, 

 was fiiUy confirmed. The fame of the second pearl is equal 

 to that which attends its, feUow. After the queen, who had 

 thus come off [victorious on so important a question, had been 

 seized, it was cut asunder,. in order'that this, the other half of 

 the entertainment, might serve as .pendants for the ears of, 

 Venus, in the Pantheon at Eome. > 



CHAP. 59. HOW PEARLS EIEST CAME nrTO TTSE AT EOJtE. ' 



Antony and Cleopatra, however, wUl not bear away the palm 

 of prodigality in this respect, and will be stripped of even 

 this boast in the annals of luxury. For before their time, 

 Clodius, the son of the tragic actor JEsopus,'* had done the 



ceptible to the tongue. That pearls are not peeuliar to one kind of shell- 

 fish, as many believe, was known to Pliny." Beolcmann' s Sistory of In- 

 ventions, vol. i. p. 258, note 1, Bohn's Ed. We may remark, howeverr 

 that as the story is told by Pliny, there is no appearance that Cleopatra 

 pounded the pearl. It is more likely that she threw it into the vinegar, 

 and immediately swallowed it, taking it for granted that it had melted. 



** Macrobius, Saturn. B. iii. says, " Monatius " Plancus. His name 

 was in reality Lucius Munatius Plancus. He afterwards deserted Antony, 

 and took the side of OotaTianus ; and it was on his proposal that Octa- 

 vianus received the title of Augustus in B.C. 27. He built the temple of 

 Saturn, in order to secure the emperor's favour. It is not known in what 

 year he died. 



65 " Omine rato." He means, that in the result, it was only too true 

 that Antony was " victus," conquered, and that by his enemy Octavianus. 



« Claudius, or Clodius .Ssopus, was the most celebrated "tragic actor at 

 Rome in the time of Cicero, and was probably a freedman of the Clodian 

 family. Horace and other authors put him on a level with Eoscius. 

 From Cicero we learn that bis acting was characterized chiefly by strong 

 emphasis and vehemence. Cicero characterizes him as a " summus artl- 

 fex," a " consummate artist." He was a firm friend of Cicero, whose 

 cause he advocated indirectly more thau once during his banishment 

 from Home. It appears from Pliny, B. x. c. 72, that he was far from 

 frugal, though he left a large fortune to his spendthrift son, Clodius 



