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GELLIUS GEMISTUS.

1769. G. was man of spotless virtue, but rather efemi ate in mind and character. He wrote fables, stories, didactic poems, spiritual odes and songs. His most popular writings were his fables and stories. They are marked by ease and naturalness of manner. His spiritual odes owe their continued popularity to their deep piety, and to a certain vigour and loftiness of flight not to be found in his other poems. G. is to be considered one of the pioneers of modern German literature. He marks, along with others, the transition from the dulness and pedantry of the previous generation of authors, to that rich and superabundant life which Goethe and Schiller poured into the national literature. G.'s collective works (Sämmtliche Werke) first appeared at Leipsic in 10 vols. (1769-1774), and have passed through various editions; the most recent is that published in the same city (6 vols., 1840-1841). Compare Gellert's Leben, by J. A. Cramer (Leip. 1774), and by Döring (2 vols., Leip. 1833).

GE'LLIUS, AULUS, a Latin author, who seems to have lived about 117-180 A.D. The exact date, either of his birth or death, is not known. He is supposed to have been born at Rome, where, at all events, he studied rhetoric. Subsequently, he proceeded to Athens to undergo a discipline in philosophy. On his return to Rome, he entered upon a legal career, without, however, abandoning his literary pursuits. G.'s well-known work, the Attic Nights (Noctes Attica), begun during the long nights of winter in a country-house near Athens, and completed during the latter years of his life, is a collection of miscellaneous matter on language, antiquities, history, and literature, in 20 books, of which the 8th is wanting. It contains many extracts from Greek and Latin authors no longer extant. The work is destitute of any plan or arrangement, is disfigured by archaisms, and derives its value mainly from being a repertory of curious knowledge. The Editio Princeps appeared at Rome in 1469; the most critical edition is that of Jak. Gronovius (Lug. Bat. 1706); a more recent but much less valuable one is that of Lion (2 vols., Göttingen, 1824-1825). G. has been translated into English by Beloe (Lond. 1795); into French by the Abbé de Verteuil (Paris, 1776); and (in part) into German by Von Walterstern (Lemgo, 1785).

GELON, 'tyrant' of Gela and Syracuse, was the son of Deinomenes, and was a native of the former city. His family was one of the oldest and most distinguished in the place. G. himself first figures in history as one of the body-guards in the service of Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela. On the death of the latter, he contrived to obtain the supreme power (491 B.C.), and about 485 B.C., he made himself master of Syracuse also, which then became the seat of his government, and to which he transferred the majority of the inhabitants of Gela. His influence soon extended itself over the half of Sicily. G. refused to aid the Greeks against Xerxes, as they declined to comply with his demand that he should be appointed commander-in-chief. About the same time, Terillus, ruler of Himera, in Sicily, invoked the aid of the Carthaginians against Theron of Agrigentum, who had dispossessed him of his state. G., who was in alliance with Theron, hastened to the assistance of the latter, and on the same day (according to tradition) on which the Greeks won the battle of Salamis, he gained a complete victory over the invaders at Himera. The consequence was an immediate treaty of peace between him and the Carthaginians, who were compelled to pay all the expenses of the war. His clemency and the wisdom of his measures rendered him so generally beloved, |

that when he appeared unarmed in an assembly of the people, and declared himself ready to resign his power, he was unanimously hailed as the deliverer and sovereign of Syracuse. The story current in later times, that one of the conditions on which he granted peace to the Carthaginians was, that their human sacrifices should be abolished, has probably no historical foundation, but it illustrates the general belief in the humanity of his character. G. died 478 B. C. The people, who, contrary to his desire, had erected splendid monument to his memory, paid him honours as a hero, and at a later period, when all the brazen statues were sold under Timoleon, his statue was made an exception to the general rule. He was succeeded by his brother Hiero.

GEM, a term often used to signify a precious stone of small size, such as may be used for setting in a ring, or for any similar purpose of ornament; but sometimes by mineralogists in a sense which they have themselves arbitrarily affixed to it, for the purpose of scientific classification, as the desig nation of an order or family of minerals, generally hard enough to scratch quartz, insoluble in acids, infusible before the blow-pipe, without metallic lustre, but mostly brilliant and beautiful. Among them are included some of the minerals, which, in popular language, are most generally known as gems ruby, sapphire, spinel, topaz, beryl, emerald, tourmaline, hyacinth, zircon, &c.-and some other rarer minerals of similar character; but along with these are ranked minerals, often coarser varieties of the same species, which are not gems in the ordinary sense of the word, as emery and common corundum, whilst diamond and some other precious stones, much used as gems, are excluded. GEMS.

See

GEMA'RA (Ghemára, a Chaldee word, signifying complement) is that portion of the two Talmuds which contains the annotations, discussions, and amplifications of the Mishnah by the academies of Palestine on the one hand, and those of Babylon on the other. The Babylonian Gemára, more complete as well as more lucid than the Palestinensian, possesses a much more highly valued authority. The final redaction of this latter falls in the middle of the 4th c. A.D., while the former was not completed till 500 A.D. See MISHNAH and TALMUD.

GE'MINI (the Twins), the third constellation in the zodiac, named from its two brightest stars, Castor, of the first magnitude, and Pollux, of the second.

GEMI'STUS, GIORGIOS, called GIORGIOS PLETHON, and more commonly GEMISTUS PLETHON, was the last of the Byzantine writers. The exact dates of his birth and death are uncertain, but he is known to have lived between 1350 and 1450. He was probably born at Constantinople, but the greater part of his life was passed in the Peloponnesus. He was one of the deputies sent by the Greek church to the council which was held at Florence in 1438, for the purpose of arranging a union between the Latin and Greek churches. The council, however, entirely failed in its purpose. G. was more celebrated as a philosopher than as a theologian. In his time, the Aristotelian philosophy reigned supreme, but it had degenerated into a mere science of words, from the study of which G. turned away disgusted, and applied himself to Plato. Plato's philosophy so charmed him, that thenceforward he devoted himself to its propagation; and in furtherance of this view, G., when in Italy, induced Cosmo de Medici to embrace it. Cosmo's example was followed by others in Florence, and

GEMMATION-GEMS.

thus a Platonic school was founded in the west which flourished for nearly 100 years afterwards. During the latter part of his life, G. was engaged in bitter conflict with the most eminent of the Aristotelians, among whom George of Trebizond held a high position, and between him and G. the discussion was carried on with most unseemly violence. G. is last heard of in history in 1441, when we find him in the Peloponnesus in an official capacity. G. wrote a great number of works in history, philosophy, theology, &c.

GEMMATION, or GEMMI'PAROUS GENERATION. See REPRODUCTION.

GEMOTE. Besides the great council of the nation-the Witena-gemot, or, as we more usually spell it, Witenagemôte (q. v.)-which corresponded to the Reichstage of the Franks, and which, though it took the place of the still more ancient meetings of the whole nation, to which Tacitus refers as characteristic institutions of the Teutonic tribes in his day, was a representative, though not perhaps an elective body (Kemble's Saxons in England, ii. p. 194), there were amongst the Anglo-Saxons various minor motes or moots, which did not partake of the representative character. The existence of these is an instance of the manner in which the spirit of localisation has always maintained its ground, and balanced that of centralisation amongst the Germanic nations, and more particularly in England. There was the shire-gemot, or county court, which met twice a year; and the burg-gemot, which met thrice; the hundred-gemot (see HUNDRED), which met every month, and an extraordinary meeting of which was held twice a year; the hallegemote, or court-buron. These institutions excluded not only central despotism, but local tyranny in the shape of individual caprice. The ealdorman decided only with the assent of the shire-gemote, just as the king was dependent upon that of the Witan. Lappenberg by Thorpe, ii. p. 322.

black zone encircling it: (5) The sardonyx, which was a variety of the onyx, having black, blue, white, and red colours, and particularly used for cameos and vases, by cutting down the lighter coloured layers to the darkest for a background to the figures, a stone much prized by the ancients; the signet of Scipio Africanus the Elder being of this material, and the Emperor Claudius esteeming it and the emerald above all other gems: (6) The agate or achates, so named from a Sicilian river, embraced many varieties, as the jaspachates, dendryachates, but confounded with the jasper, considered a charm against scorpions and spiders, used for whetstones, and a talisman by athletes; it was obtained from Egypt, Greece, and Asia: (7) Plasma or the Prasius, root of emerald, much used under the lower empire; its varieties were the Molochates and Nilion: (8) Numerous varieties of the jasper, iaspis, green, blood-red, yellow, black, mottled or porcelain, and even blue, were employed for signets at the Roman period, and procured from India, Persia, and Cappadocia. Pliny mentions a remarkable statuette of Nero, weighing 15 ounces in this material: (9) Garnets, the granatici or red hyacinths of antiquity, which were principally in use at the latter days of the Roman empire, and amongst the Oriental nations-with which may be classed: (10) The carbunculus, supposed, however, by some to be' the name given by the ancients to the ruby, was brought from India, Garamantia, Carchedon, and Anthemusia: (11) The hyacinthus or jacinth, a yellow variety of the garnet, which was used for signets, and came from Ethiopia and Arabia: (12) The Lyncurium, or Lychnis, which is the ancient varieties of the emerald or smaragdus are cited by name of the true modern jacinth: (13) Several the ancients, as the Bactrian or Scythian, supposed to be a green ruby, principally derived from the emerald mines at Zabora, in the neighbourhood of Coptos, worked by conscripts, and described by Agatharcides. Many remarkable stories are told of this gem, which has only been found with engravings of a later period; one sent by a king of Babylon to a king of Egypt was 4 cubits long and 3 in width; an obelisk in the temple of Jupiter, 40 cubits high, is said to have been made out of four emeralds; and Theophrastus mentions an emerald column of great size in the temple of Hercules at Tyre. In the Egyptian labyrinths, according to Apion, was a colossal Serapis of great height, made of emerald. This stone was used by gem-engravers to 'refresh' the sight, or inlaid in the eyes of statues, as in Although the principal varieties of precious stones the Lion at Cyprus, erected to Hermias; it was were known to the ancients, yet owing to the set in the ring of Polycrates; and used as a lens absence of scientific and chemical analysis, they by Nero to behold the fights of the gladiators in appear to have distinguished precious, and other the circus: (14) The Beryl or Beryllus, obtained stones, only by colour, specific gravity, and density. from India, cut in shape of a hexagonal pyramid, The different nomenclature, too, used by different was used at an early period for engraving: (15) authors, multiplied synonyms, and caused confu- The amethyst, brought from Arabia Petræa and sion; so that it has become impossible to identify Armenia Minor, is found used for intagli at all all the stones mentioned by Theophrastus, Pliny, periods: (16) The sapphirus of the ancients, supand others. As a general rule, the ancients did posed by some to be lapis lazuli, came from Medía, not engrave such precious stones as the diamond, and appears in use amongst the Egyptians and Perruby, and sapphire, being content with those of sians: (17) The anthrax, supposed to be the ruby, less hardness and value. The principal stones was not engraved; the hyacinthus has also been used by engravers were: (1) The carnelian, and conjectured to be the blue sapphire: (18) The topaz, its more transparent variety the sard, sardion, in topazon, applied by the ancients to a green stone common use in the days of Plato (so called from found by the Troglodytes in the island of Cytis, in Sardes in Lydia, but chiefly obtained from India the Arabian Gulf, and first sent by Philemon to and Babylonia): (2) The chalcedony, supposed to Berenice, out of which also a statue of Arsinoe was be the ancient calchedonion, used for seals and made and placed in the so-called 'golden temple' by reliefs, of which two kinds have been found: (3) Ptolemy Philadelphus: (19) The Chrysolithus: (20) The onur or nail-stone, variously described by Pliny Chrysoprase, turquoise callais: (21) The magnes or and his predecessors, but distinguished by a white loadstone, were used for cylinders and gems of a layer resembling the nail: (4) The nicolo or Egup-late period: (22) The green tourmaline, or avantilla, obtained from the onyx, a blue spot with a turine, sandaresus: (23) The obsidian, obsidianus,

GEMS, ANCIENT. The term gem, which is applied to jewels and other valuable and precious stones, means in archæology engraved stones of the precious kinds, and even small engraved portions of hard and primitive rocks which have been set or worn as jewels by the ancients. Before entering, however, upon the subject of engraved stones, it will be necessary to mention the principal kinds which are mentioned by ancient authors, or have been found by modern researches to have been used for engraving.

GEMS.

so-called after its founder Obsidius, four elephants made of which were dedicated by Augustus in the temple of Concord were also known; and a statue of Menelaus, made of the same material, was returned to the Heliopolitans by Tiberius: (24) The opal opalites, or paderos, obtained from India, the largest of which then known, of the size of a hazel-nut, belonging to the senator Nonius, was valued at about £2000, which he would not yield to M. Antony; this stone was sometimes engraved: (25) The adamas, of which seven varieties were known to the ancients, was only used for cutting other gems, or worn rough, but was not engraved, or even faced, the art of polishing it having been discovered by Louis de Berghem in the 15th century. The list of Pliny, indeed, contains many other stones, which have been either confounded with those already described their names having been derived from different sources-or else they are species of the same. Many of these had fanciful names, as (26) the Aromatites of Arabia and Egypt, so-called from its fragrance: (27) The alectorius, worn by the wrestler Milo, so-called from being taken out of the gizzard of a fowl: (28) The aspilates, a fiery stone, said by Democritus to be found in the nest of Arabian birds. In the selection of stones for engraving, the gem-engravers adapted the material to the subject Bacchanalian subjects were often engraved on amethysts; marine, on beryls; martial, on carnelians, sards, and red jaspers; rural, on green jasper; celestial, on chalcedonies. Superstitious virtues were also attributed to the different varieties of gems thus the amethyst was supposed to protect from the influence of wine; and according to Dioscorides, the jasper was particularly adapted for amulets; and Alexander of Tralles recommends the subject of Hercules engraved on a Median stone, to be worn on the finger as a remedy against the cholic.

one cylinder having a name like that of Nebuchad nezzar. The Babylonian are of the same type, and chiefly of hæmatite, loadstone, steatite, and jasper; have also figures of deities, and the names of deities or the possessors, generally executed in a coarse rude style by the graver. Oval gems, indeed, appear, from the impressions on the clay tablets, to have been in use at the same time; that of cylinders passed to the Persians, under whom the art became much better, and chance has preserved the cylinder signet of Darius I., found in Egypt.

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These cylinders were abandoned for conical gems,
principally of chalcedony, engraved on the base
with figures of deities, in use prior to the con-
quest of Alexander, and were at a later period,
commencing in the 3d c. A.D., followed by hemi-
spherical agate gems, with heads, animals, and
Pehlevi inscriptions, generally of a rude and debased
style of art. These, again, at a later period, were
succeeded by convex stones en cabochon, often
garnets, sards, carbuncles, engraved on the upper
surface, with rude figures of animals, heads and other
devices also, accompanied with Pehlevi inscriptions,
and these probably continued till the rise of Moham-
medanism in the East, when the art was confined to
the engraving of cufic legends on the most valuable
of oriental stones, often with a great degree of
dexterity. In Judea, the use of signets (see SEALS)
prevailed, and the most important known instance
is the Urim and Thummim, or breastplate of the
high-priest, consisting of twelve precious stones,
engraved with the names
of the twelve tribes;
but no Hebrew engraved stones earlier than the
5th or 6th century are known. Amongst the other
oriental nations of antiquity, the Bactrians and early
Hindus seem to have exercised the art of engraving
on stones, although no works of great merit of these
nations have been found, and those of a later age are
mere seals engraved with sentences of the Koran,
or the names of the possessors, and when smeared
with black or coloured inks, were impressed on
documents as stamps. Of the other nations of
antiquity, the Chinese only have had seals (see
SEALS) of crystal, soapstone, porcelain, and other
substances, with devices in relief for using as
stamps, the subjects being mottoes from poetical
and other works.

The art of engraving precious stones at the earlier periods of the Egyptian monarchy was comparatively unknown, although these people made beads of carnelian, felspar, root of emerald, jaspers, lapis lazuli, amethyst, and other hard stones. For the purposes of seals, however, and for intagli, steatite scarabaei were generally used, and engraved gems are either of the greatest rarity or suspected, till the time of the Ptolemies. A remarkable exception to this rule is a square signet of yellow jasper, engraved with the name and titles of Amenophis II. (about 1450 B. C.) and his horse, in the British Museum. Under the Ptolemies and Romans, the Gnostic gems, called Abraxas, generally of lapis lazuli, blood-stone, and jasper, begin to appear, but these are made by the same process as the Greek, from which they were derived. The Green Jasper Abraxas, Ethiopians, according to with figure of Iao. Herodotus, engraved signets. The same may be said of the neighbouring Phoenicia, which either imitated the The Greeks, at the earliest period, are not supcylinders of the Babylonians, or the scarabaei of posed to have employed engraved stones for their the Etruscans. In Assyria, the oldest gems are of signets, the earliest rings being of solid metal, such cylindrical shape, from one to two inches long, and as the legendary ring of Minos; but at a later period, half an inch thick, pierced through their long axis for those of Helen, Ulysses, and the legendary one of a cord to attach round the wrist. The earlier ones Gyges, are said to have had engraved stones. Orestes, are of serpentine, the later of the time of Sargon or in the tragedies, is also recognised as the son of Shalmaneser, of agate, jasper, quartz, and syenite, Agamemnon by his engraved ring; and Mnesarchos, engraved with figures of the gods, and the names the father of Pythagoras, who lived about 700 B. C., of their possessors in cuneiform. The inscriptions, was an engraver of gems. The earliest instance indeed, are often difficult to read, but names similar of an engraved gem is the emerald ring of Poly to those of Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs occur, crates, set in gold or engraved by Theodorus al

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GEMS.

Samos about 740 B.C.; while the laws of Solon against counterfeiting signets shew that they may have been in early use. At the period of the Persian war they were by no means uncommon. Later, the writings of the Platonists and Stoics constantly allude to gems, and the flute-player Ismenias, 437 B. C., purchased an emerald engraved with a figure of Amymone. Still later, the poet Eupolis instances the extravagant prices given by the Cyrenæans for engraved stones in rings. Yet it is doubtful if any real Greek Greek Sard, with Indian Bacchus. intagli earlier than the war of Peloponnesus can be identified, those hitherto cited in low relief, enclosed in a guilloche or engrailed border, and of a hard and stiff style of art, having been probably cut from the bases of scarabaei of Etruscan work. At a later period, their use was universal, and the names of celebrated engravers, such as Pyrgoteles and Apollonides, are known, the first named having the privilege of engraving the portrait of the monarch, Alexander the Great: Ptolemy V., presented as a most precious gift his portrait engraved on an emerald to Lucullus; and Cleopatra had a gem with Bacchus. The style of engraving of this age is fine and noble, the hair indicated by fine wiry lines; the subjects are generally heroic, but busts and portraits of divine, regal, and historical personages appear. Sards, amethysts, and jacinths were in use. Contemporaneous with the Greek school, if not earlier, was the Etruscan, consisting of scarabs entirely carved out of sard, carnelian, agate, with engraving often of exquisite work, but generally harsh, and sometimes of severe style, with subjects derived from the earliest Hellenic myths, and occasional inscriptions in the Etruscan language, the names of the personages represented, seldom more than one figure appearing on the gem. The subject is surrounded with a guilloche or engrailed border, and the scarabs were pierced through their long axis, to set as rings or to wear as other objects of attire. Similar scarabs, but of green jasper, and of Phoenician workmanship, have been found in Sardinia. These gems probably were made from the beginning to the middle of the 3d c. B. C., when Etruria fell into the power of the Romans, who derived their engraved stones from the Greek successors of Alexander, as engraved rings, with their subjects, are mentioned at the close of the republic, the device of Scipio Africanus being a head of Scyphax; that of Sylla, the submission of Jugurtha; of Pompey, a lion carrying a sword; and of Cæsar, Venus armed with a dart. So great had the passion for these charming little works of art increased, that Scaurus, the step-son of Sylla, had even a collection of gems, dactyliotheca. Pompey sent the collection of Mithridates as an offering to the Capitol; and Cæsar, to outvie his great competitor, presented six such collections to the shrine of Venus Genetrix; and Marcellus another to the cella of the Palatine Apollo. At the commencement of the Empire, the portraits follow the costume and art of the period; the hair is expressed by broad

Carnelian Etruscan Scarabæus:

Centaur and Deer.

strokes, the compositions rarely contain more than two figures., Artists of great merit, as Dioscorides, Apollonides, and Chronios flourished at this age.

are

The names of the artists who engraved the gems, and of the proprietors, are occasionally found upon them. The devices were various: Augustus had first a sphinx, then his portrait engraved by Dioscorides; Nero, Apollo and the Muses; Galba used first a dog, subsequently the head of Augustus. After the Antonines, indeed, the art rapidly declined, and portraits after Severus rare, although even that of Mauricius is said to occur. Sard Portrait of Caligula. At the middle period of the Empire, the work is exceedingly rude, often merely scratched out by a diamond point in carnelians, jaspers, and garnets. Some works, indeed, of the later or Byzantine period exist, but they are of poor merit and execution, and the subjects are taken from Christian subjects. The gems of this later period are sometimes square, generally, however, the long or convex oval. The camei, or gems in relief, the ancient ectypa scalptura, appear at the period of the Roman Empire. This term camei, of uncertain origin, is applied to engravings on stones of two or more layers, such as the onyx or sardonyx, and niccolo, and is different from the relief-gems cut out of stones of one colour. Ancient camei, indeed, are of the greatest rarity, and are not older than the imperial days of Rome. The smaller ones were used for rings; the larger, which are often perforated, are supposed to have been worn in the armour or dress, phalera. They were worked out with the diamond point; chiseled, so to say, out of the stone; and have, when examined, a rough appearance. The most remarkable ancient camei known are those of the Vienna collection, supposed to represent the apotheosis of Augustus, on which are Augustus, Jupiter, and Rome enthroned, the Earth, Ocean, Abundance, Germanicus, Victory, a triumphal car, Tiberius, and German captives; another, in the same collection, with Ptolemy II. and Arsinoe, the great cameo in the Bibliotheque at Paris, representing the apotheosis of Augustus; another in the collection of the Netherlands; and a fourth in the Vatican; a cameo at St Petersburg, one foot long, and another, eight and a half inches wide by six inches high, in the Marlborough collection, with the heads of Didius Julian and Manlia Scantilla. At a later period, the art had considerably declined, and the Christians of the later days of the Empire were content with engraving inscriptions on camei. These gems were principally worn as objects of attire, and Heliogabulus is said to have placed even intagli in his shoes. The names of artists are rarely found upon camei; a celebrated one of the Marlborough collection, indeed, has the name of Tryphon, but there is considerable doubt about the authenticity of the inscription.

The subjects of ancient gems embrace the whole circle of ancient art, and follow the laws of its development, animal forms being succeeded by those of deities and subjects derived from the battles of Greeks and Amazons and Centaurs, the exploits of Hercules, and other heroes; then by scenes from tragedians and later myths; and, finally, by portraits, historical representations, and allegories. The inscriptions consist of the names of deities, heroes, and subjects; dedications to deities; the names of artists, sometimes in the genitive case, but often accompanied with the verb epoei,

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GEMS.

'was making' (the affected imperfect used after the tue of Alexander the Great); addresses to individuals; gnomic or other sayings, indicating that the gems are amulets against demons, thieves, and various evils; or charms for procuring love; the rimes of the possessors, and sometimes addresses, occasionally even distichs of poetry, and various n.ottoes. These inscriptions were often added by subsequent possessors, and are not of the age of the gem itself. The number of artists, although very considerable, does not exceed 100 authentic names; and the true names are supposed to be distinguished from false ones by being placed at the side of the composition in very small letters terminating in dots; but even these have been successfully imitated by modern artists, and the greatest criticism and learning have been displayed to detect real ancient names by their orthography and palæography. The number of false antique stones produced by eminent engravers since the revival of the arts, has rendered the diagnosis of gems so difficult, that no branch of archæology requires greater judg. ment. All gems of high artistic merit and great finish are suspected, especially those with groups of many figures, regular edges, and polished faces, or too great a polish in the deep parts. Coarser imitations have been produced by backing pastes or coloured glass (see GEMS, IMITATION) with stones, and mounting them in rings, so as to pass for a gem. The appearance of wear and friction has been produced by introducing them for awhile into the gizzards of turkeys, or in pierced boxes plunged in the beds of rivers. The judgment upon gems can be, however, only matured by a careful study and familiarity with all branches of ancient art. The coarser imitations of pastes, the tongue, the file, and the graver will detect; but old gems re-engraved, or new compositions invented, require the most careful survey. The place or circumstance of discovery is only a feeble guarantee against deception, the commerce in false antiques being successfully plied upon the unwary even in the far East.

The chief implement used by the ancient engravers appears to have been made by splitting diamonds into splints (adamantis crusta) by a heavy hammer, and then fixing these points like glaziers' diamonds into iron instruments, with which the work was executed by the hand (ferra retusa). The drill, terebra, was also extensively used for hollowing out the deeper and larger parts of the work, and emery powder, the smaris or Naxian stone, for polishing. The so-called wheel, a minute disk of copper, secured to the end of a spindle, and moistened with emery powder or diamond dust, and driven by a lathe, does not appear to have come into use till the Byzantine epoch. It has been conjectured that the artist used lenses of some kind, or globes filled with water, to execute his minute work; but the ancient, like the modern engraver, rather felt than saw his way. All these processes were not employed by the same artist, for besides the engraver (scalptor cavarius, dactyliographus), there was a polisher (politor), not to mention arrangers (compositores gemmarum), and merchants (gemmarii, mangones gemmarum) who drove a flourishing trade in emeralds and pearls and engraved stones in the days of Horace.

The general fall of the arts at the period of the Byzantine Empire, seems to have been accompanied by the decline of the art of engraving on gems; and the Merovingian and Carlovingian monarchs were obliged to use antique gems, instead of those engraved by the artists of their day. Rockcrystals, however, were engraved in a Byzantine style of art, with sacred subjects, in the 9th c.; but

the art was all but lost till the rise of Lorenzo de Medici, when Giovanni delle Corniole at Florence, and Domenico dei Camei at Milan, worked under his patronage. A subsequent school of gem. engravers originated with Pietro Maria de Pescia, who worked for Leo X.; the chief representatives of the school are Michelino, Matteo de Benedetti, the celebrated painters Francia, M. A. Moretti, Caradosso of Milan, Severo of Ravenna, Leonardo da Vinci, J. Tagliacarne, Bernardi of Castel Bolog nese, who died 1555, celebrated for a Tityus copied from M. Angelo. These were succeeded by Matteo del Nassaro of Verona, who worked for Francis L, and produced a crucifixion on heliotrope, so that the red spots seemed drops of blood issuing from the wounds of Christ; Caraglio, who flourished in Poland in 1569; Valerio dei Belli, who chiefly employed rock-crystal; Marmita, Domenico di Polo, Nanni, Anichini of Ferrara, and Alessandro Cesari, celebrated for a cameo head of Phocion; Dei Rossi, a Milanese, engraved the largest cameo of modern times; Jacomo da Trezzo, celebrated for his portrait, is said to have been the first to engrave on the diamond in 1564-an honour disputed, however, by Birago, another Milanese, both artists having been in the service of Philip II. of Spain, who made a portrait of Don Carlos and the arms of Spain on this gem.

The art, which had declined at the close of the 16th c. in Italy, flourished in the 17th c. in Germany under Rudolph II., for whom Lehmann engraved at Vienna; and in France, where Coldoré worked for Henri IV. and Louis XIII. In the 17th c., Sirletti, who died at Rome in 1737, excelled in portraits, and copied antique statues with great excellence. The two Costanzi are celebrated in 1790, one for the head of Nero on a diamond. Rega of Naples is said to have come nearest to the antique. Natter of Nuremberg, who died in 1763, is celebrated for his intagli; Guay and Barier were celebrated in the French school; and the English produced Reisen, who died 1725; Claus, who died 1739; Smart, celebrated for the rapidity of his works; and his pupil Seaton, a Scotchman, who engraved portraits of the great men of his day. The greatest artist of the age, however, was Natter, who died in 1791. Of the subsequent Italian school, Ghinghi, Girometti, Cerbara, Bernini, and Putenati are much praised. The 19th c. produced many good English engravers, as Marchant, Burch, Wray, and Tassie; while Pistrucci, celebrated for his charming cameo, Weigall, and Saulini, who made intagli, complete the list of modern gem-engravers.

With respect to ancient gems in the dark and middle ages, they were preserved in shrines, châsses, and other ecclesiastical vessels in which they were set, the passion for collecting them as works of art having commenced with Lorenzo de Medici, who formed the Florentine collection, and had his name incised on his gems. The large camei of the European collections, however, appear to have been brought by the Crusaders from the East. The French collection dates from Charles IX., and was augmented by the successive kings of France; it is very rich in gems of all kinds; that of Berlin containing the united cabinets of the Elector of Brandenburg and the Markgraf of Anspach, collected by Stosch, consists of nearly 5000 stones. The Vienna collection, far less numerous, is remark able for its large camei. In England, the collection of the British Museum, collected originally by Townley, Hamilton, Payne, Knight, and Cracherode, consists of about 500 stones, some of great beauty and merit, but is very poor in camei. The private collection of the Duke of Devonshire, formed in the last half century, comprises upwards of 500 intagli

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