Chap. 58.] 
PEARLS. 
439 
IS'or, indeed, are these the most supreme evidences of luxury. 
There were formerly two pearls, the largest that had been ever 
seen in the whole world : Cleopatra, the last of the queens of 
Egypt, was in possession of them both, they having come to 
her by descent from the kings of the East. When Antony 
had been sated by her, day after day, with the most exquisite 
banquets, this queenly courtesan, inflated with vanity and dis- 
dainful arrogance, affected to treat all this sumptuousness and 
all these vast preparations with the greatest contempt ; upon 
which Antony enquired what there was that could possibly be 
added to such extraordinary magnificence. To this she made 
answer, that on a single entertainment she would expend ten 
millions of sesterces. Antony was extremely desirous to 
learn how that could be done, but looked upon it as a thing 
quite impossible ; and a wager was the result. On the follow- 
ing day, upon which the matter was to be decided, in order 
that she might not lose the wager, she had an entertainment 
set before Antony, magnificent in every respect, though no 
better than his usual repast. Upon this, Antony joked 
her, and enquired what was the amount expended upon it ; to 
which she made answer that the banquet which he then be- 
held was only a trifling appendage to the real banquet, and 
that she alone would consume at the meal to the ascertained 
value of that amount, she herself would swallow the ten 
millions of sesterces ; and so ordered the second course to be 
served. In obedience to her instructions, the servants placed 
before her a single vessel, which was filled with vinegar, a 
liquid, the sharpness and strength of w^hich is able to dis- 
6^ A fourth of the sum mentioned in Note 55, 
6^ " Corollarmm/' 
62 " Et consumpturam earn coenam taxationem confirmans." 
6^ It was because pearls are calcareous, that Cleopatra was able to dis- 
solve hers in vinegar, and by these means to gain a bet from her lover, as 
we are told by Pliny, B. ix. c. 58, and Macrobius, Sat. B. ii. c. 13. She 
must, however, have employed stronger vinegar than that which we use 
for our tables ; as pearls, on account of their hardness and their natural 
enamel, cannot be easily dissolved by a weak acid. Nature has secured 
the teeth of animals against the effect of acids, by an enamel covering, 
which answers the same purpose ; but if this enamel happens to be injured 
only in one small place, the teeth soon spoil and rot. Cleopatra, perhaps, 
broke and pounded the pearls [pearl] ; and it is probable that she after- 
wards diluted the vinegar with water, that she might be able to drink it ; 
though dissolved calcareous matter neutralizes acids, and renders them imper- 
