The topaz is said to free men from passions and sadness of mind; and that, if it be cast into boiling water, it will suddenly “astonish it into coldness.”
The agate is stated to be good against poisons. It is reported of the eagle that it doth carry this gem into her nest to secure her young from the bitings of venomous creatures. “If,” says Albertus Magnus, “you would avoid all dangers and overcome all earthly things and possess a stout heart, take an agate. It causes danger and opposition to vanish and makes a man strong, agreeable and of good cheer.”
The sapphire, according to St. Jerome, will procure the wearer the favor with princes and all others, pacify enemies, free him from enchantments, bonds and imprisonments and it looseth men out of prison and assuageth the wrath of God. It is reported of it that it is of so contrary a nature to poisons that if it be put into a glass with a spider or laid upon the mouth of the glass where it is, the spider will quickly die.[183] It is said to keep men pure and, therefore, is worn by priests.[184] The Gentiles consecrated this gem to Apollo, because, in their inquiries at his oracle, if they had the presence of this gem with them, they imagined they had their answer the sooner.
The opal is said to sharpen the sight of its possessor and cloud the eyes of those who stand about him, so that they can neither see nor mind what is done before them; for this cause it is asserted to be a safe patron of thieves and thefts. Albertus Magnus says, “If you wish to become invisible, take an opal and wrap it in a bay-leaf, and it is of such virtue that it will make the bystanders blind, hence it has been called the patron of thieves.” Nicols gives a glowing description of this stone.[185] “The opalus is a pretious stone which hath in it the bright fiery flame of a carbuncle, the pure refulgent purple of an amethyst, and a whole of the emerauld’s spring glory or virescency, and every one of them shining with an incredible mixture and very much pleasure.” It is reported of Nonius, a Roman senator, that he had rather been deprived of his country and senatorship than part with an opal which he had from Antonius.
It is asserted of the cornelian that it causeth him that weareth it to be of a cheerful heart, free from fear and nobly audacious and is a good protection against witchcraft and fascination.
“Chalcedony procureth victory to him that is the possessor of it and carrieth it about him. It is much used for signets, for it sealeth freely without any devouring of the wax.”[186]
The report on jaspers is that they preserve men from drowning; and “divers do very superstitiously attribute much power and virtue to them if figures, images and characters be engraven upon them. The effects which by this means are wrought in or for any, Andreas Baccius doth attribute to the devil.”[187]
We might presume that the ring of Gyges held the opal or the stone known as the Heliotrope or Oriental jasper; for Pliny gives the report of magicians that if this gem be anointed with the juice of the marigold, it will cause him that carrieth it to walk invisible.
The forget-me-not stone, turquoise or Turkey stone, “ceruleous like unto a serene heaven,” if worn in a ring of gold will, it is said, preserve men from falls and from the bruises proceeding of them by receiving that harm into itself which otherwise would fall upon the man; yet these virtues are said not to be in the gem except it has been received as a gift. “The Turkeys,” says Fenton, in his Secrete Wonders of Nature,[188] “doth move when there is any peril prepared to him that weareth it.” Ben Jonson and Drayton refer to the same superstition. Rueus says, that he saw a Turchoys, which, upon the death of its master, lost all its beauty and contracted a cleft, which, a certain man afterwards buying at an under price, returned again to its former glory and beauty, as if, observes he, by a certain sense, it had perceived itself to have found a new master. The same author says of it that it doth change, grow pale and destitute of its native color if he that weareth it do, at any time, grow infirm or weak; and again, upon the recovery of its master, that it doth recover its own lovely beauty, which ariseth of the temperament of its own natural heat and becometh ceruleous like unto a serene heaven. According to the ancients, the wearing of the turquoise had a most excellent quality: it destroyed animosity and, in particular, appeased discord between man and wife.
It is possible that Shakspeare had in his mind the seeming influence of the turquoise (as well as its value):