They Sold At Enormous
Prices; And Were Employed At The Tables Only Of The Great And Wealthy, As
Cups For Drinking; They Were In General Of A Small Size.
One, which held
three pints, sold for nearly 14,000_l_.; and Nero gave nearly
59,000_l_.
For another. So highly were they prized, that, in the
conquest of Egypt, Augustus was content to select, for his own share, out
of all the spoils of Alexandria, a single murrhine cup.[5] Precious stones
and pearls were imported from Persia and Babylonia; the latter country also
furnished the wealthy Romans with _triclinaria_, which was furniture
of some description, but whether quilts, carpets, or curtains is not
ascertained. Persia supplied also incense of a very superior quality. The
various and valuable commodities with which Arabia supplied the profusion
and luxury of Rome, reached that capital from the port of Alexandria in
Egypt. We cannot enumerate the whole of them, but must confine ourselves to
a selection of the most important and valuable. Great demand, and a high
rate of profits necessarily draw to any particular trade a great number of
merchants; it is not surprising, therefore, that the trade in the luxuries
of the east was so eagerly followed at Rome. Pliny informs us, that the
Roman world was exhausted by a drain of 400,000_l_. a year, for the
purchase of luxuries, equally expensive and superfluous; and in another
place, he estimates the rate of profit made at Rome, by the importation and
sale of oriental luxuries at 100 per cent.
Arabia furnished diamonds, but these were chiefly of a small size, and
other gems and pearls. At Rome the diamond possessed the highest value; the
pearl, the second; and the emerald, the third. Nero used an emerald as an
eye-glass for short sight. But though large and very splendid diamonds
brought a higher price at Rome than pearls, yet the latter, in general,
were in much greater repute; they were worn in almost every part of the
dress, by persons of almost every rank. The famous pearl ear-rings of
Cleopatra were valued at 161,458_l_., and Julius Caesar presented the
mother of Brutus with a pearl, for which he paid 48,457_l_.
Frankincense, myrrh, and other precious drugs, were also brought to Rome
from Arabia, through the port of Alexandria. There was a great demand at
Rome for spices and aromatics, from the custom of the Romans to burn their
dead, and also from the consumption of frankincense, &c. in their temples.
At the funeral of Sylla 210 bundles of spices were used. Nero burnt, at the
funeral of Poppaea, more cinnamon and cassia than the countries from which
they were imported produced in one year. In the reign of Augustus,
according to Horace, one whole street was occupied by those who dealt in
frankincense, pepper, and other aromatics. Frankincense was also imported
into Rome from Gaza, on the coast of Palestine; according to Pliny, it was
brought to this place by a caravan, that was sixty-two days on its journey:
the length of the journey, frauds, impositions, duties; &c. brought every
camel's load to upward of 22_l_.; and a pound of the best sort sold at
Rome for ten shillings.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 171 of 524
Words from 89059 to 89606
of 273188
