The vogue of the pearl swept over Rome. This “disease of the oyster,” with its blush of rainbow colors over white, with its tint of beauty and its hint of underwater mystery, had indeed always been regarded as the queen of jewels. The Romans affected it to the degree of vulgar display. The historian Pliny (23-79 A.D.), who railed upon many customs of the time, commented on Pompey’s having a portrait of himself made in pearls and borne by slaves in his triumph. “Unworthy!” cried the satirist, “and a presage of the anger of the gods.” Pliny also recorded that a young bride was “covered from head to foot with pearls and emeralds.” He waxed indignant at the fact that women had pearls set in their shoes. But so did the Emperor Caligula, while the Emperor Nero, fond of the theatre, had pearls adorn his favorite players’ masks.
Not to be outdone by an Egyptian, Clodius—whose father was a favorite tragic actor—invited a great company to a feast; he dissolved and drank a large pearl, said that he enjoyed the flavor, and fed a similar gem to every guest.
Roman Luxury
The vogue of the pearl did not bring about the neglect of other gems. The Senator Nonius owned a great opal, valued at two million sesterces, approximately $150,000. The Emperor Augustus coveted the stone; rather than yield it to him, Nonius withdrew into exile.
Lollia Paulina, wife of the Emperor Caligula, possessed a great chain of emeralds and pearls worth over two million dollars.
It is significant of the change in Roman ways that when the Emperor Tiberius once more tried to limit the wearing of gold rings, he based his restrictions not on rank but on riches. Only those citizens might wear rings of gold, he ordained in 22 A.D., whose fathers and grandfathers held property valued at 400,000 sesterces, $30,000. Jewels, always the property, were thus also made the prerogative of the hereditary rich.
The Tide Turns East
Back from Rome toward the East, with Constantine in 330 A.D., went the flowering fashions, to riot in Byzantine luxury. The Eastern capital exceeded the declining city of the West—abandoned to the barbarians and the popes—in extravagance, in colorful splendor and elaborate intricacy of design. Gems, no longer reserved for the showy jewels, were sewn upon or woven into the very texture of garments. In all this profusion, the crafts of the goldsmith and the lapidary continued to thrive, while the West lapsed into the dun rigor of the Dark Ages.