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the little children drawn up out of the water (Moses ?). For we must not engrave on them images of idols, which we are forbidden even to look at; nor a sword, nor a bow, being the followers of peace; nor drinking goblets being sober men. Yet many of the licentious world wear engravings of their naked minions and mistresses in their rings; so that not even if they wish it can they at any time enjoy a respite from the torments of desire. We must wear but one for the use of a signet; all other rings we must cast aside."

The earliest rings are made of pure gold, hollow, and the metal very thin. Such occur even of the Etruscan period, but are very rare, the signets of that nation still retaining the form of scarabei. The most magnificent Etruscan ring known, is that once in the collection of the Prince di Canino: it was formed of the fore parts of two lions, whose bodies composed the shank, whilst their heads and fore-paws supported the signet, a small Sard scarab, engraved with a lion regardant, and set in an elegant bizzel of filigree work. The two lions were beaten up in full relief out of thin gold plate, in a stiff archaic style, but very carefully finished. A Greek ring lately came in my way of a pretty and uncommon design, though the make was rude enough: two dolphins whose tails met formed the shank, and supported with their heads the setting, containing a circular crystal or paste.

Roman rings also, if of early date and set with good intagli, are almost invariably hollow and light, and consequently easily crushed. This and some other interesting points are well illustrated in the story told by Cicero of L. Piso, when

2 Macrobius says that Ateius Capito, a famous lawyer of the Republic, highly censured the practice of wearing figures of the deities engraved and set in rings; but this was on account of the profanation to which they were exposed. This

delicacy of notions was afterwards carried to such a degree that, under Tiberius, persons were actually executed on the charge of treason for having worn rings set with the portrait of Augustus during their visits to brothels.

praetor in Spain (in which province he was killed): "Whilst he was going through the military exercise, the gold ring which he wore was by some accident broken and crushed. Wishing to have another ring made for himself, he ordered a goldsmith to be summoned to the Forum of Cordova, in front of his own judgment-seat, and weighed out the gold to him in public. He ordered the man to set down his bench in the forum, and make the ring for him in the presence of all." This was done to prove to the provincials his scrupulous honesty, that he had not taken "even half an ounce" of gold out of the public treasury, but had merely given him his old broken ring to work up again into a new one. Here we have a picture of the ancient goldsmith carrying about with him his fire-pot and a few tools (like the Indian jeweller of the present day), and squatting down to execute his work under the eye of his employer. This mode of making the ring, by hammering it out of the gold, affords a pretty simile to Ovid, A. A. III., 221.

"Annulus ut fiat primo colliditur aurum."

"The gold is beat up ere the ring is made."

These hollow rings were convenient receptacles for poison, of which they would contain a large dose, being always of a bulky shape. Of this practice the instances in history are numerous, as the death of Hannibal and of Demosthenes suffice to show; and another less known instance-that of the custodian of the Capitol, who, being apprehended on account of the robbery of the gold deposited there by Camillus, which had been taken away by Crassus, "broke the stone of his ring in his mouth,"" and expired immediately, probably to

3 In the Mertens-Schaafhausen Collection is an Onyx intaglio, the back of which has been completely hollowed out into the form of a bowl, with the usual raised circle at the bottom. I

have no doubt it was thus formed as the receptacle of a dose of poison, for the gem was worked out so thin that it could easily be crushed by a sharp bite.

escape the torture for his supposed complicity in the sacrilege. The ancients were acquainted with vegetable poisons as speedy in their effects as the modern strychnine, as appears in the death of Britannicus from a potion prepared by Locusta, and in innumerable other instances. These hollow rings were put together with a degree of skill far beyond that of our modern jewellers; for the soldering of the numerous joinings of the gold plates of which they are formed is absolutely imperceptible even when breathed upon-a test under which the best modern solder always assumes a lighter tint. This is due to the different composition of the ancients, which was made of chrysocolla (carbonate of copper), verdigris, nitrum (carbonate of soda, natron) mixed with the urine of a child, and rubbed down in a copper mortar with a copper pestle. This solder was called santerna.1

Under Claudius it became the fashion to engrave the device upon the gold of the ring itself, now made solid; at first this engraving was the bust of the emperor, and such rings could only be worn by those that had the entrée at court. A fine example of this sort, with busts of M. Aurelius and L. Verus facing each other, is to be seen in the Florence Gallery. This was but a revival of the ancient practice, for Macrobius, vii., 13, quotes Ateius Capito to the effect that the devices were originally always cut upon the substance of the ring itself, whether it was of gold or of iron; and that the progress of luxury introduced engravings upon precious gems to augment the value of the signet. "

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In Pliny's time it was the fashion to wear but one on the

• Cellini's receipt for solder is Native Verdigris, 6 parts, Sal-ammoniac 1, Borax 1, ground down and mixed to a paste with water. The modern, used for gold of tolerable quality, is made of equal parts of gold and silver, to which a little

arsenic is added to promote fusion.

I have seen a splendid head of a nymph, apparently of Sicilian work, engraved upon the gold of a solid ring; and other instances of less importance, but certainly far earlier than the age of Claudius.

little finger; previously the signet had always been carried on the ring-finger of the left hand from a notion that a vein passed down it direct from the heart. At the late period of the empire when Macrobius wrote (late in the third century), this had again become the usual finger to wear the signet-ring upon, for the assembled guests in his 'Saturnalia,' vii., 13, express their surprise at seeing Avienus wear his upon the little finger of his right hand; for which he excuses himself on the plea of his left hand being swollen by an injury. Pliny's words are, "At first it was the custom to wear but one ring on each of the fingers next to the little finger of each hand, as we see in the statues of Numa and Servius Tullius (the only Roman kings represented as wearing rings). Next they put them on the fore finger, even in the statues of deities. Last of all they thought proper to grant this honour even to the little finger. The natives of Gaul and Britain are said to have worn them on the middle finger. This, now, is the only one excepted, all the others are loaded; and even the joints individually with others of smaller size. Some pile three upon the little finger alone, others wear on this but a single ring which they use as their signet. This is treasured up, and, like a precious rarity unjustly profaned, is drawn forth from its sanctuary: and to wear a single ring on the little finger is but a way of showing off the more precious collection locked up at home." The custom of covering all the joints of the fingers with rings when in full dress was so prevalent, that Quintilian, in his directions to orators as to their costume, attitude, and action (xi., 3), deems it necessary expressly to caution them against this senseless piece of foppery: "The hand must not be overloaded with rings, especially with such as do not pass over the middle joints of the fingers." This fashion of

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The minute size of many antique gold rings has often puzzled

archæologists from their ignorance of the passages above quoted.

having rings for each finger-joint is the one condemned by Clemens Alexandrinus; and continued in use, in spite of his objurgations, down to the close of the empire; for Ammian, writing at the beginning of the fifth century, speaks of the Roman nobles, on leaving the baths, receiving from the attendant their rings, which they had taken off lest the wet should injure them, and then strutting away "digitis sicut metatis," with their fingers measured off by the rings placed on each separate joint. The origin of the quarrel between Plato and Aristotle was because the former found fault with his luxurious style of dress and his custom of wearing a number of rings, at least so says Aelian, iii. 19. Lucian, writing in the second century, makes the girl tell her mistress that Parmeno has returned from the wars quite a rich man, and as a proof, "that he has on his little finger a large polygonal gold ring set with a three-coloured gem, red on the surface (an oriental Onyx)."

Taste had so far declined even when Pliny wrote that some persons "made a boast of the weight of their rings," of which one found in Hungary, and now in the Fould Collection, is a most convincing testimony. Though evidently intended for the little finger its weight was three ounces, the shank was triangular in section, increasing rapidly in width on each side towards the head of the ring, which thus formed a long and pointed oval. It was set with a large oriental Onyx of the very finest quality and not engraved; quite the ring of Parmeno-when the consideration of the mere intrinsic value of an ornament had entirely banished all regard for art. In my own collection is a ring of this date weighing 15 dwts. (a modern Roman ounce), set with an Onyx rudely engraved with a dancing girl; and I have seen another of similar form, the Onyx intaglio of which was a pigeon both illustrative of the remarks of Clemens

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