Both Juvenal[[105]] and Martial[[106]] relate that effeminate Romans used to hold balls of amber in their hands to cool them during the summer heat. If any such agreeable sensation was really experienced, it must have been due to the well-known electric properties of this substance. It is stated that the Chinese often place pieces of amber on or in their pillows,[[107]] a use that may have been suggested by the same considerations.
As a proof of the extravagant value set upon amber by the Romans of the first century, Pliny notes that a very diminutive figure of a man, cut out of this substance, sold for a higher figure than did a healthy, vigorous slave. The popularity of this material was also attested by the fact that in the gay world of Rome the term “amber hair” was used to designate a rare and peculiar shade that became fashionable in this period.[[108]] It seems probable that this modish shade was somewhat lighter than the “Titian hair” once so much favored, although the difference may not have been very great.
A change of hue in amber was thought to portend a waning of love on the part of the giver, as is shown by the following not especially melodious lines from “The Fruits of Jealousy” published by Richard Tofte in 1615:[[109]]
Thy tokens which to me thou sent
In time may make thee to repent;
Thy gifts do groan (bestow’d on me)
For grief that they thee guilty see.
The amber bracelet thou me gave
(For fear thou shouldst shortly wave[[110]])
From yellow turned is to pale,