ornaments on his wife Fortunata amounted altogether in weight to six pounds and a half, yet durst not himself wear a solid gold ring, but "had on his little finger a large gilt one, and on the top joint of the next finger, another of gold studded with iron stars." Freedmen could only obtain the right of wearing a ring of solid gold by an express decree of the Senate; and, as may be supposed, there were not wanting instances of the nobles thus paying court to the favourite of the ruling prince : a degradation thus wittily commented upon by Pliny, in a letter to Montanus. "You must have already observed,

from my last letter, that I had lately remarked the monument of Pallas (a freedman of Claudius Cæsar) with this inscription, To this man the Senate, on account of his fidelity and affection towards his master and mistress, decreed the insignia of the prætorian office, together with the sum of 150,0007., of which vote he only accepted the honorary part.' I afterwards deemed it worth my while to look up the decree itself. I found it so exaggerated and extravagant, that, in comparison with it, that most arrogant of epitaphs appeared not merely modest but even humble. The collected and united glories, not only of those ancient heroes the Africani, the Achaici, the Numantini, but even of those of later times, the Marii, Syllas, and Pompeys, not to go down further in the list, will fall far short of the praises heaped upon a Pallas. Must I think the senators to have been joking, or to have been miserable wretches? I should say joking, if joking befitted the dignity of the Senate. Were they wretches then? But no one is sunk so low that he can be forced to commit such actions. Was it done then out of ambition, and the desire of rising in the State? But who could be so senseless as to wish to rise through his own or the public disgrace, in that commonwealth in which the sole advantage of the most exalted station was the privilege of being the first to sing the praises of a Pallas? I pass over the circumstance that the prætorian insignia are offered to Pallas, to a slave, inasmuch as they are offered by slaves. I pass over that they vote, 'He must not merely be urged but even compelled to wear the gold ring,' it being, forsooth, derogatory to the dignity of the Senate that a man of prætorian rank should wear one of iron." An apt illustration of the badge of an imperial freedman, is the following description of a ring once in the possession of an acquaintance. "An antique iron ring plated with gold; it has on the centre a

gold medallion, having the busts of Augustus and Livia facing each other, in high relief."

These rings are usually of

Silver Rings are very abundant, both solid ones with the devices cut upon the metal, and also set with intagli. In one found at Caerleon, Mon. (Isca Silurum), the stone, a Nicolo, engraved with a rude figure of Venus Victrix, was set in a gold collet let into the silver bizzel; an unique instance of this mode of setting. rough workmanship, as well as the intagli they contain, and appear to belong invariably to the Lower Empire. From their size and shape they were evidently made to be worn on the little finger, an additional proof of their late date. In this country they are often found in the vicinity of camps and military stations, and the subjects on them are usually Victories, Eagles, Ravens, and similar legionary devices. Arellius Fuscus, when expelled from the Equestrian Order, and consequently deprived of the right to wear a ring of gold, appeared in public, according to Pliny, with silver rings on his fingers, apparently out of bravado, and to show his contempt for the punishment inflicted upon him by the Senate. Rings are by no means rare formed entirely of this metal; but I have only met with one presenting a wellengraved device, a Venus, upon its face, for the work of such engravings is generally very coarse. The silver also is of the same base standard as the coinage of the period to which they belong; for the nature of their subjects, being legionary

U

insignia and rude attempts at imperial portraits, prove that they must be all assigned to the poorest classes and common soldiers of the Lower Empire.

These remarks apply equally to rings of Bronze, which are, as might be expected, the most numerous of all, with this addition, that they are often found of a fanciful design, and set with coloured pastes for ornamental wear. Paste intagli generally occur in bronze settings. I know but one instance of a paste, a fine cameo of a Sphinx, being found set in a gold antique ring; and have never met with any in rings of silver. Pastes thus set in antique bronze ornaments are almost the only kind I am disposed to consider as truly of ancient manufacture; as we have already noticed under the head of "Pastes." Stones rudely engraved are often set in the rings of this metal; and like those of silver, they were often made solid, with the device cut on the face, of which examples occur of Etruscan and Greek times. When the wife in the Ecclesiazusae talks of having a counterpart of her husband's signet-ring made for her own use for the small sum of half a drachma, she must mean one of bronze.2 Although such early examples are naturally rare, yet of the Roman times they abound; the most curious of the latter that I have met with is a very massy one preserved among the Rutupine antiquities in Trinity College Library. Its face bears the letters F and E, arranged in a square as a mono

Sealing up pantries.-Diogenes Laertius tells an anecdote illustrative of the simplicity of Lacydes the philosopher, that, whenever he had occasion to bring anything out of the pantry, after sealing up the door, he used to throw his ring into it through a hole in the door, for fear lest it should be taken off his finger when asleep, and used for resealing

the same door after the contents had been pilfered. But his servants, noticing this sapient device, soon found that, by exactly imitating his method of proceeding, they might help themselves with all security, and resealing the door, replace the signet in the same manner as the sagacious philosopher.

gram, and the outside of the shank is engraved with the inscription *STIMIVI'AMATO, where the device probably stands for "Feliciter," "Good luck to you; "Good luck to you;" and the legend "Stimius Amato N," "Septimius to Amatus," is curious from the very late form of the final S and A, which apparently belong to a later period than that of the departure of the Romans from this island. The entire ring has been strongly gilt. Roman bronze ornaments may be distinguished from the latton or brass of similar shapes belonging to mediaval times, so abundantly discovered in the earth of every old town, by an examination of the metal, for Roman relics are invariably composed of bronze (copper and tin), whilst those of the Middle Ages are made of "latton," that is "brass" (copper and zinc). Bronze when polished has always a brownish hue, and is very hard; whereas latton is more of a gold colour and much softer.

In Lead rings occur, though they are very rare, and even set with intagli of a good style of art and of early date, but such were doubtless gilt originally, and intended to pass for massy gold. A device which reminds one of the trick played by Polycrates upon his Spartan auxiliaries, whom, on quitting his service, he paid off in Samian gold pieces, which he had coined for the purpose in lead gilt. A singular fraud of some rogue of antiquity accidentally came to light in a ring in my own collection. It was hollow, and formed out of strong gold plate of very ancient Greek work, and set with a Sard intaglio, a full face of Jupiter Ammon. From the subject, and from the style of art, it may safely be ascribed to some citizen of Cyrene, a State in which, according to Eupolis (Aelian, xii. 30), "the poorest man had signet rings worth ten minae (307.), and the artists engaged in engraving gems were to be wondered at."3 The gem in question always had pro

3 He does not say whether for their numbers, or for their skill.