Leisure hours among the gems

by Augustus C. Hamlin

It was a great day for Rome when the Parthians approached its walls. The city was illuminated, and decorated with garlands and the movable wealth of the Empire. The Roman nobles were clad in white; and the splendid Pretorian guards, glittering with their arms and decorations, were drawn up in two lines stretching from the end of the Forum to the Rostra. Through these lines of steel, flanked by a vast assemblage of citizens, Tiridates and his proud nobles marched to the Rostra, and received from the hands of Nero the promised diadem. The Empire impoverished herself in this barbaric display and attempt to awe and charm her haughtiest foe. The accumulated spoils of three hundred triumphs at Rome formed a glittering prize to the minds of Alaric and his devoted Goths.

But six years before the capture of the city, Rome displayed her magnificence and her wealth in the ovation given to St. Melania on her return. The extent of the decoration of the temples and their shrines may be inferred from the quotations of the historians. Serena, the wife of the Roman general, Stilicho, on great occasions wore a magnificent necklace which she borrowed from the statue of Vesta. But the protection of the goddess could not protect the unfortunate woman from being strangled by the Romans during the siege by the Goths.

The fame of these treasures had spread all over the known world. And to the Goths the beauty of gems and the delights of luxuries were not entirely unknown. For, in previous times, they had invaded the coasts of the Euxine Sea and sacked many of the rich cities, like Trebizond. In the pillage of the city by the Goths, Alaric is said to have protected the consecrated plate and ornaments of the temples; but he undoubtedly confiscated the most valuable and notable of the treasures. The booty of the army was immense; and when the victorious soldiers took their departure the roads were incumbered with the rich and weighty spoils. The haughty victors, clad in the vestments of unexpected luxury, might have been seen resting by the wayside, waited on by their captives,—the sons and daughters of Roman senators,—drinking the wine of Italy in golden goblets, decorated with gems.

The treasures obtained by the Goths in the conquest and sack of Italy were borne away with them to Gaul. Besides these, the Gothic chieftains are said to have possessed many valuable gifts from other nations. The record of these wonderful works of art has been lost; but a few scraps of history, here and there, give glimpses of marvellous treasures. When the Franks pillaged the palace at Narbonne in France, in the sixth century, they found many curious and costly ornaments of gold.

But most of the treasures and choice works were undoubtedly carried along with the army into Spain, and deposited in the Gothic treasury at Toledo. These were eventually captured by the Saracens and sent to Damascus. Thus, by the singular fortunes of war, these remarkable and beautiful relics returned to the Holy Land whence some of them had been taken centuries before. Among these articles was the famous “Missorium,” or great dish for the service of the table, weighing five hundred pounds. It was formed of solid gold of exquisite workmanship, richly inlaid with gems, and was the pride of the Goths.

The wonderful emerald table, which has been so enthusiastically described by the Arabian writers, was also seized at the same time. The transparent top of this table was encircled with three rows of fine pearls, supported on three hundred and sixty-five feet, formed of gold and gems. This superb piece of workmanship was valued at five hundred thousand pieces of gold.

The marriage feast of Adolphus, the successor of Alaric, with Placidia, the daughter of the great Theodosius, was a memorable occasion in ancient history. It was celebrated at Narbonne, and displayed the prodigality and magnificence of the Goths. The ceremony was performed according to the lavish fashion of the Romans and the rude customs of the victors. Adolphus offered to his bride, in accordance with the manner of his nation, the spoils of her country. Fifty beautiful youths, attired in silken robes, presented the happy maiden with one hundred basins, one half of which were filled with gold, and the rest were heaped with gems of an inestimable price. Such was the inconstancy of fortune in those days, and such the cruelty of the times, that only a year after this grand event the beautiful woman, the daughter of a Roman emperor, and the wife of the Gothic chieftain, might have been seen marching on foot with a crowd of vulgar captives, in front of the horse of the assassin of her beloved husband. However, a few short days after the usurpation, the Gothic army, struck with pity and indignation at the sufferings of Placidia, attacked and slew her barbarous master.

Genseric, with his Moors and Vandals, fiercer in their pillage than the Goths of Alaric, ravaged Rome for fourteen days and nights. Everything of value, sacred or profane, was seized and borne away to the galleys of the invaders. Even the Empress Eudoxia was rudely stripped of her ornaments; and the holy relics, brought from Jerusalem by Titus and spared by Alaric, were taken from the temples and transferred to Carthage. One of the vessels, containing a part of the sacred utensils and other treasures, was shipwrecked on the same shore which a thousand years later swallowed up the wonderful and blood-stained emeralds which Cortez wrested from Mexico and carried with him when wrecked with the Admiral of Castile. The remainder were saved to swell the ponderous pile of booty when Carthage fell before the arms and genius of Belisarius. All these treasures, the collections of the Moor and the Vandal, were transported to the Bosphorus to enrich the city of the conquerors.

To the successful army and its general a triumph was decreed; and it was the first Byzantium had ever seen. The display on this historic occasion was worthy of the army and its hero. The wealth of nations was brought forth to heighten the splendor of the scene. Rich armor, golden thrones, chariots, varied forms of sculpture and furniture, statues, vases, and other objects of art, together with the holy relics of the Jewish Temple, were displayed in the procession.

But the grandest object of all was presented by the noble and majestic form of Belisarius, marching on foot at the head of a band of his bravest officers. Later in life, at the capture of Ravenna, Belisarius obtained the treasures of the Gothic army, which had been collected in that stronghold. These were transferred to the Byzantine palace; but the deserving general was deprived of his hard-won triumph, for Justinian had now become envious of the glory of his subject. The magnificent spectacle of the booty was not exhibited to the populace; but shown only to the flattering and subservient senate.