We have already[2889] stated, to some extent, when speaking on the subject of gold and rings, how the use of precious stones first originated, and from what beginnings this admiration of them has now increased to such an universal passion. According to fabulous lore, the first use of them was suggested by the rocks of Caucasus, in consequence of an unhappy interpretation which was given to the story of the chains of Prometheus: for we are told by tradition, that he enclosed a fragment of this stone in iron, and wore it upon his finger;[2890] such being the first ring and the first jewel known. CHAP. 2.—THE JEWEL OF POLYCRATES. With a beginning such as this, the value set upon precious stones increased to such a boundless extent, that Polycrates,[2891] the tyrant of Samos, who ruled over the islands and the adjacent shores, when he admitted that his good fortune had been too great, deemed it a sufficient expiation for all this enjoyment of happiness, to make a voluntary sacrifice of a single precious stone; thinking thereby to balance accounts with the inconstancy of fortune, and, by this single cause for regret, abundantly to buy off every ill-will she might entertain. Weary, therefore, of his continued prosperity, he embarked on board a ship, and, putting out to sea, threw the ring which he wore into the waves. It so happened, however, that a fish of remarkable size, one destined for the table of a king, swallowed the jewel, as it would have done a bait; and then, to complete the portentous omen, restored it again to the owner in the royal kitchen, by the ruling hand of a treacherous[2892] fortune. The stone in this ring, it is generally agreed, was a sardonyx,[2893] and they still show one at Rome, which, if we believe the story, was this identical stone. It is enclosed in a horn of gold, and was deposited, by the Emperor Augustus, in the Temple of Concord, where it holds pretty nearly the lowest rank among a multitude of other jewels that are preferable to it. CHAP. 3.—THE JEWEL OF PYRRHUS. Next in note after this ring, is the jewel that belonged to another king, Pyrrhus, who was so long at war with the Romans. It is said that there was in his possession an agate,[2894] upon which were to be seen the Nine Muses and Apollo holding a lyre; not a work of art, but the spontaneous produce of Nature,[2895] the veins in it being so arranged that each of the Muses had her own peculiar attribute.