[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Foreign](https://indike.org/pramana/inf) › [Latin](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la) › [Principate (31 BCE – 300 CE)](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial) › [Naturalis historia](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder) › 9.122 # Naturalis historia 9.122 Naturalis historia 9.122 - **Language:** Latin ### [9.122](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.9.122) non ferent hanc palmam spoliabunturque etiam luxuriae gloria. prior id fecerat Romae in unionibus magnae taxationis Clodius, tragoedi Aesopi filius, relictus ab eo in amplis opibus heres, ne triumviratu suo nimis superbiat Antonius paene histrioni comparatus et quidem nulla sponsione ad hoc producto (quo magis regium fiat), sed ut experiretur in gloriam palati, quidnam saperent margaritae. atque ut mire placuere, ne solus hoc sciret, singulos uniones convivis quoque absorbendos dedit. > CHAP. 59.—HOW PEARLS FIRST CAME INTO USE AT ROME. Antony and Cleopatra, however, will not bear away the palm of prodigality in this respect, and will be stripped of even this boast in the annals of luxury. For before their time, Clodius, the son of the tragic actor Æsopus, had done the same at Rome; having been left by his father heir to his ample wealth and possessions. Let not Antony then be too proud, for all his trumvirate, since he can hardly stand in comparison with an actor; one, too, who had no wager to induce him—a thing which adds to the regal munificence of the act —But was merely desirous of trying, by way of glorification to his palate, what was the taste of pearls. As he found it to be wonderfully pleasing, that he might not be the only one to know it, he had a pearl set before each of his guests for him to swallow. After the surrender of Alexandria, pearls came into common and, indeed, universal use at Rome; but they first began to be used about the time of Sylla, though but of small size and of little value, Fenestella says—in this, however, it is quite evident that he is mistaken, for Ælius Stilo tells us, that it was in the time of the Jugurthine war, that the name of "unio" was first given to pearls of remarkable size. > — John Bostock & Henry Thomas Riley 1855, The Natural History of Pliny - [Previous: 9.121](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.9.121) - [Next: 9.123](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.9.123) - [Up: 9](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.9) ## Translations (1) - [The Natural History of Pliny](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder~en-bostock-riley.9.59) — John Bostock & Henry Thomas Riley 1855, English --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.9.122](https://indike.org/pramana/inf.la.imperial.pliny-elder.9.122) · Pramāṇa