In ancient times this gem was not only prized as an ornament, but also as a talisman, and even as a medicine in the powdered state. Its beauty captivated the vain and frivolous, and its supposed virtues endeared it to the rich and the wise. It was supposed to exercise a good effect upon the eyesight; hence it was worn as a seal to be looked at; when worn as an amulet it endowed the wearer with courage, drove away evil spirits, assuaged terror, and prevented attacks of epilepsy. Pliny states that Paulina, at the Banquet, was literally covered with emeralds and pearls, arranged over her dress in alternate rows. The famous and fatal ring which Polycrates cast into the sea, as an offering to the gods in return for forty years of prosperity, was set with a beautiful emerald. The ancient Etruscans carved the emerald at a very remote period, and the fact is proven by the scarabeus in the Townley collection. The Castellani collection exhibits ear-rings of gold set with pendants of emeralds which were found in the tombs at Bolsena. In the Devonshire gems there is a large emerald cut into a Gorgon’s head, in high relief,--evidently a gem of great antiquity and of exceeding value at the time of its conversion into a work of art. Within the sarcophagus of Maria Honorii fifty rings set with different stones were found, and among them an emerald set in gold and engraved with a head supposed to be that of Honorius himself. It was probably fashioned for a royal signet and buried with the remains of its owner. The famous mirror or lens, in or through which the cruel and near-sighted Nero was wont to view the bloody combats in the arena at Rome, is supposed to have been cut from an emerald; but it was probably a lens cut from green glass. It appears, however, from the researches of the antiquaries, that the gem was very rare until the Imperial epoch, when they were introduced from Asia and other countries in accordance with the luxury and extravagance of the age. Castellani’s collection displays some fine examples of the jewelry of this period set with emeralds. Among them there is a beautiful necklace formed of sixteen natural crystals of emerald fastened in gold; and also another composed of ten natural crystals of emerald set in double chains of gold. Among the engraved gems may be seen an emerald intaglio, representing a Nereid on a sea bull, and two other intaglios of beryl, with pictures of Mars, and a portrait of Julia Paula.