CHAP. 5.—THE FIRST DACTYLIOTHECÆ AT ROME.
A collection of precious stones bears the foreign name of
"dactyliotheca." [Note] The first person who possessed one at Rome
was Scaurus, [Note] the step-son of Sylla; and, for a long time,
there was no other such collection there, until at length Pompeius
Magnus consecrated in the Capitol, among other donations,
one that had belonged to King Mithridates; and which,
as M. Varro and other authors of that period assure us, was
greatly superior to that of Scaurus. Following his example,
the Dictator Cæsar consecrated six dactyliothecæ in the Temple
of Venus Genetrix; and Marcellus, the son of Octavia, [Note] presented
one to the Temple of the Palatine Apollo.
