Nero princeps gladiatorum pugnas spectabat in smaragdo. The princeps Nero viewed the combats of the gladiators in a smaragdus. — Pliny, Natural History, 37.16. There are many fantastical stories to be found in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. Part of the lure of this encyclopedic work is the (often misleading) conviction with which the statesman explored the objects, peoples, and places … Continue reading I Wear My Sunglasses at the Fight? The Emperor Nero and the History of Sunglasses