Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 106 h Magda El-Nowieemy “She alone of all girls who deserves that Tyre should give soft wool twice soaked in costly juice, 30 and that she may possess what the rich Arab, cultivator of the perfumed land, sends from the nice smelling fields, and whatever gems from the Red Sea shore, which the nearest black Indian collects from Eastern shores”. 31 Implicit in this view is the concept of the high value of Eastern production. The best way to pay a girl for love is to offer her Eastern products as a present. Thus from the East came much of value, from the North came little of value. Eastern pearls from the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean were highly thought of, 32 compared with British pearls which were a disappointment, as we know from both Pliny ( Historia Naturalis, IX.116) and Tacitus ( Agricola, 12.6f.). 33 Eastern pearls were worn, among other things, 34 in ear–rings. Seneca ( De Beneficiis, 7.9.4) attacks women who wore on single ear pearl ear–rings the value of two or three estates. Ear–rings were usually so heavy that they might distort the shape of the ears. According to Seneca’s words, women’s ears were used as beasts of burden, trained to carry the load. 35 The point was fully developed by Ovid who gave instructions to young women on how to make the best of themselves in order to become a pleasing sight for men. Ovid gave an outstanding lead to feminine cultus at Rome, as he believed that “with adornments we (men) are caught” munditiis capimur ( Ars 3.133). Again in his Remedia Amoris , he says: 30 The costly juice is the purple dye, which was the prestige product of the Phoenicians. For its costliness, see El-Nowieemy (2000), 147, n.60. 31 Most likely the pearl divers in the Indian Ocean, in the Red Sea, and in the Arabian Gulf are meant here. It is worth noting that Tacitus ( Agricola, 12 ) holds a comparison between British di- vers and the Red Sea divers. He states with evidence that the British lack skill. 32 In vain did Iulius Caesar try to restrict the use of pearls, as we know from Suetonius ( Divus Iulius, 43). Cf. Horace's call to the Romans ( Odes, 3.24. 47–50) either to deposit gems, precious stones and useless gold, the root of the worst evils, in the Capitol or to throw them into the nearby sea, if the Romans are truly repentant of their crimes. 33 British pearls were a disappointment on the grounds that they were undersized and clouded. Tacitus ( Agricola, 12) recorded that quality was lacking in the British pearls than greed in Romans. That is why the Romans were more attracted to the pearls of the Red Sea. The poor quality of the British pearls was attested in the ancient world. Pliny ( Historia Naturalis , IX.116), comparing British pearls to others, assured ( certum est ) that in Britain grew small pearls ( parvos ) of poor colour ( decolores ). 34 Eastern pearls were also used in rings, bracelets, necklaces, and hair-nets. 35 In Petronius ( Satyricon, 67) a husband is complaining that it has drained him to get his wife ear-rings. He adds that if he had a daughter, he would cut her ears.