Fig. 96. | Fig. 97. |
The enormous sums expended by the wealthy on rings may be best understood by an allusion to the recorded value of two belonging to empresses of Rome. Thus, the ring of Faustina, we are told, cost £40,000, and that of Domitia £60,000, reckoning the Roman sestertia at its modern value.
Sometimes the decoration of a ring was not confined to a single gem, though such rings were comparatively rare. Valerian speaks of the annulus bigemmis, and Gorleus furnishes us with the specimen engraved in [Fig. 96]; the larger gem has cut upon it a figure of Mars, holding spear and helmet, but wearing only the chlamys; the smaller gem is incised with a dove and myrtle branch. Beside it are placed two examples of the emblematic devices and inscriptions adopted for classic rings, when used as memorial gifts. The first is inscribed, “You have a love pledge;” the second, “Proteros (to) Ugiæ,” between conjoined hands—a type of concord still familiar to us.
Though the ancients seem scarcely to have thought of decorating the circlet of the ring, they occasionally varied its form, producing novelty at the expense of convenience. [Fig. 98] is a whimsical example; it may, however, have been principally used as a signet. The same may be said of [Fig. 99], which has a very broad face, set with an incised stone bearing a figure of Hygeia.
Fig. 98. | Fig. 99. |
The ancients tell us of charmed rings; such was the ring of Gyges, which was reported to have rendered him invisible when he turned the stone inwardly, and closed it in his palm. Execetus, tyrant of the Phocians, carried two rings, which he was accustomed to strike together, to divine by the sound emitted what he had to do, or what was to happen to him.
The most curious adaptation of the finger-ring to a double use was made by the Romans. It was a combination of a ring and a key, as represented in Figs. [100] and [101], from originals engraved by Montfaucon in his great work on Roman antiquities. He has published many varieties, for they are very commonly discovered in all places where the Romans located themselves. Many have been found in London, York, Lincoln, and other old cities, as well as in the neighbourhood of Roman camps. The use of these rings is apparent: they opened the small cabinets or boxes in which the most precious articles were preserved, and they were less likely to be lost, mislaid, or improperly used by others, when thus worn night and day on the finger.
Fig. 100. | Fig. 101. |
It is recorded of the poisoning Pope Alexander VI. (Borgia), that he caused a somewhat similar key to be used in opening a cabinet; but the Pope’s key was poisoned in the handle, and provided with a small sharp pin, which gave a slight puncture sufficient to allow the poison to pass below the skin. When the Holy Father wished to rid himself of an objectionable friend, he would request him to unlock his cabinet; as the lock turned rather stiffly, a little pressure was necessary on the key-handle, sufficient to give the trifling wound that ultimately proved mortal. Poisoned rings were known to the ancients; when Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, was overcome by Scipio Africanus, it is recorded that he fled to Bithynia, and ended his life by poison, which for that purpose he had reserved in a ring.