“Book of Wings,” by Ragiel, one of the curious treatises composed about
the thirteenth century under the influence of Hebrew and Greco-Roman
tradition. Although it owes its origin to the Hebrew “Book of Raziel,”
it bears little if any likeness to that work. As will be seen in the
following items, the fact that the design is on its appropriate stone
is always insisted on:
[Illustration: MOSS AGATE MOCHA STONES, HINDOOSTAN.]
The beautiful and terrible figure of a dragon. If this is found on a
ruby or any other stone of similar nature and virtue, it has the power
to augment the goods of this world and makes the wearer joyous and
healthy.
The figure of a falcon, if on a topaz, helps to acquire the goodwill
of kings, princes, and magnates. The image of an astrolabe, if on
a sapphire, has power to increase wealth and enables the wearer to
predict the future.
The well-formed image of a lion, if engraved on a garnet, will protect
and preserve honors and health, cures the wearer of all diseases,
brings him honors, and guards him from all perils in travelling.
An ass, if represented on a chrysolite, will give power to
prognosticate and predict the future.
The figure of a ram or of a bearded man, on a sapphire, has the
power to cure and preserve from many infirmities as well as to free
from poison and from all demons. This is a royal image; it confers
dignities and honors and exalts the wearer.
A frog, engraved on a beryl, will have the power to reconcile enemies
and produce friendship where there was discord.
A camel’s head or two goats among myrtles, if on an onyx, has the
power to convoke, assemble, and constrain demons; if any one wears it,
he will see terrible visions in sleep.
A vulture, if on a chrysolite, has the power to constrain demons and
the winds. It controls demons and prevents them from coming together
in the place where the gem may be; it also guards against their
importunities. The demons obey the wearer.
A bat, represented on a heliotrope or bloodstone, gives the wearer
power over demons and helps incantations.
A griffin, imaged on a crystal, produces abundance of milk.
A man richly dressed and with a beautiful object in his hand, engraved
on a carnelian, checks the flow of blood and confers honors.
A lion or an archer, on a jasper, gives help against poison and cures
from fever.
A man in armor, with bow and arrow, on an iris stone, protects from
evil both the wearer and the place where it may be.
A man with a sword in his hand, on a carnelian, preserves the place
where it may be from lightning and tempest, and guards the wearer from
vices and enchantments.
A bull engraved on a prase is said to give aid against evil spells and
to procure the favor of magistrates.
A hoopoo with a tarragon herb before it, represented on a beryl,
confers the power to invoke water-spirits and to converse with them,
as well as to call up the mighty dead and to obtain answers to
questions addressed to them.
A swallow, on a celonite, establishes and preserves peace and concord
among men.
A man with his right hand raised aloft, if engraved on a chalcedony,
gives success in lawsuits, renders the wearer healthy, gives him
safety in his travels and preserves him from all evil chances.
The names of God, on a _ceraunia_ stone, have the power to preserve
the place where the stone may be from tempests; they also give to the
wearer victory over his enemies.
A bear, if engraved on an amethyst, has the virtue of putting demons
to flight and defends and preserves the wearer from drunkenness.
A man in armor, graven on a magnet, or loadstone, has the power to aid
in incantations and makes the wearer victorious in war.[191]
An Italian manuscript, dating from the fourteenth century, gives the
following talismanic gems:
If thou findest a stone on which is graven or figured a man with a
goat’s head, whoever wears this stone, with God’s help, will have
great riches and the love of all men and animals.
If a stone be found on which is graven or figured an armed man or
the draped figure of a virgin, bound with laurel and having a laurel
branch in her hand, this stone is sacred and frees the wearer from all
changes and haps of fortune.
When thou findest a stone on which is graven the figure of a man
holding a scythe in his hand, a stone like this imparts strength and
power to the wearer. Every day adds to his strength, courage and
boldness.
Hold dear that stone on which thou shalt find figured or cut the moon
or the sun, or both together, for it makes the wearer chaste and
guards him from lust.
A jewel to be prized is that stone on which is graven or figured a
man with wings having beneath his feet a serpent whose head he holds
in his hand. A stone of this kind gives the wearer, by God’s help,
abundant wealth of knowledge, as well as good health and favor.
Shouldst thou find a stone on which is the figure of a man holding in
his right hand a palm branch, this stone, with God’s help, renders the
wearer victorious in disputes and in battles, and brings him the favor
of the great.
Finding the stone called jasper, bearing graven or figured a huntsman,
a dog, or a stag, the wearer, with God’s help, will have the power to
heal one possessed of a devil, or who is insane.
A good stone is that one on which thou shalt find graven or figured
a serpent with a raven on its tail. Whoever wears this stone will
enjoy high station and be much honored; it also protects from the
ill-effects of the heat.[192]
The original meaning of the swastika emblem has been variously
explained as a symbol of fire, of the four cardinal points, of water,
of the lightning, etc. Still another explanation is given by Hoernes,
who inclines to the belief that it is simply a conventionalized
representation of the human form, the lower shaft being the two legs
joined together, the two horizontal shafts the outstretched arms, and
the upper shaft the trunk of the body; the four projections would stand
for the feet, the two hands and the head.[193]
The Egyptian crux ansata, the hieroglyphic symbol for “life,” and
the Phœnician Tau symbol, the “mark” that was to be stamped upon the
foreheads of the faithful in Jerusalem (Ezek. ix, 4), and which in
Early Christian art was frequently substituted for the usual cross,
are both explained by Hoernes in a similar way, and he notes the fact
that the swastika symbol does not appear in Egyptian or Phœnician art,
drawing the inference that all three symbols originated in the same
form or figure.[194] To all these symbols were attributed talismanic
virtues and they were frequently engraved on precious stones.
[Illustration: MONOGRAM OF THE NAME OF CHRIST ENGRAVED ON AN ONYX GEM.
From the “Cabinet de Pierres Antiques Gravées,” of Gorlaeus, Paris,
1778, Pl. XCV.]
The so-called “Monogrammatic Cross” was very freely used in work of the
fifth century. This is simply a modification of the monogram formed of
the first two letters of the name Christ as written in Greek, a device
which first appeared after the time of Constantine the Great (d. 337
A.D.). This monogram usually assumed the following form: ☧, and the
“Monogrammatic Cross” was made by changing the position of the Greek X
(chi), and making one of its arms serve as the straight stroke of the P
(r), thus giving the following form: ⳨.
A curious amulet to avert the spell of the Evil Eye is an engraved sard
showing an eye in the centre, around which are grouped the attributes
of the divinities presiding over the days of the week. Sunday, the dies
Solis, is represented by a lion; Monday, the dies Lunæ, by a stag;
Tuesday, the dies Martis, by a scorpion; Wednesday, the dies Mercurii,
by a dog; Thursday, the dies Jovis, by a thunderbolt; Friday, the dies
Veneris, by a snake; and Saturday, the dies Saturni, by an owl.[195] In
this way the wearer was protected at all times from the evil influence.
Because of its peculiar markings, some of which suggest the form of an
eye, malachite was worn in some parts of Italy (_e.g._, in Bettona) as
an amulet to protect the wearer from the spell of the Evil Eye. Such
stones were called “peacock-stones,” from their resemblance in color
and marking to the peacock’s tail. The form of these malachite amulets
is usually triangular, and they were mounted in silver. It is curious
to note, as a proof of the persistence of superstitions, that in an
Etruscan tomb at Chiusi there was found a triangular, perforated piece
of glass, each angle terminating in an eye formed of glass of various
colors.[196]
On many of the amulets fabricated in Italy for protection against the
dreaded jettatura, or spell of the Evil Eye, the cock is figured.
His image was supposed in ancient times to assure the protection of
the sun-god, and his crowing was regarded as an inarticulate hymn of
praise to this deity. He was also a type of dauntless courage. All
this contributed to make him a defender of the weak, especially of
women and children, against the wiles of the spirits of darkness.[197]
Rostand, in his “Chantecler,” has enlarged this conception, and endows
the cock with the proud conviction that it is to his matutinal chant
alone that the world owes the daily recurrent phenomenon of the sunrise.
[Illustration: TWO GOLD RINGS SET WITH ENGRAVED ONYX GEMS.
On the right, a Victory; on the left, game-cocks. From the
Dactyliotheca, of Gorlaeus, Delft, 1601, Figs. 171, 172.]
In Palestine the Evil Eye is supposed to be the baleful gift of men who
have light-blue eyes, more especially if they are beardless. Possibly
this is the power in which some of our blond and beardless “mashers”
repose their trust. As an antidote to the awful influence of these
blue-eyed monsters, the Syrian women decorated themselves with blue
beads, on the principle _similia similibus curantur_. A maiden with
beautiful hair will tie a blue ribbon about it, or wear a blue bead in
it, so as to ward off any evil spell cast by the blue eye that might
rob her of her fair dower.[198]
It is a well-known fact that many amulets were made in forms suggesting
objects offensive to our sense of propriety. These were thought to
protect the wearers by denoting the contempt they felt for the evil
spirits leagued against them. Some such fancy may have induced the
peculiar designs of certain of the jewels alleged to have been pawned
in Paris by the ex-Sultan Abdul Hamid for the sum of 1,200,000 francs
($240,000). According to rumor, these pledges must be sold, as the
sultan has failed to redeem them, but the designs are so _risqué_ that
they cannot be offered at public sale; therefore the stones and pearls
are to be removed and the gold settings are to be melted and sold as
metal.
It is not exclusively characteristic of our commercial and industrial
age that the price paid for a work of art should influence the popular
estimation of the merits of the work, as appears in an anecdote
related by Pliny. An emerald (smaragd), upon which was engraved a
figure of Amymone (one of the Danaidæ), having been offered for sale
in the Isle of Cyprus, at the price of six golden denarii, Ismenias, a
flute-player, gave orders to purchase it. The dealer, however, reduced
the price and returned two denarii; upon which Ismenias remarked, “By
Hercules! he has done me but a bad turn in this, for the merit of the
stone has been greatly impaired by this reduction in price.”[199]
A variant of the design directed by Damigeron to be placed on the
emerald is recommended in a thirteenth century manuscript, where
we read that to fit this stone for use as a talisman, it should be
engraved with the form of a scarab, beneath which there should appear
a crested paroquet.[200] According to the same manuscript, a jasper
should bear the figure of Mars fully armed, or else that of a virgin
wearing a flowing robe and bearing a laurel branch. It should then be
“consecrated with perpetual consecration.” The mythical author Cethel
asserts that the owner of a jasper engraved with the sacred symbol of
the cross would be preserved from drowning.[201]
A curious quid pro quo appears in a fifteenth century treatise on
gems written in French. Here, in a list of engraved gems suitable for
use as amulets, we read, “If you find a dromedary engraved on a stone
with hair flowing over its shoulders, this stone will bring peace
and concord between man and wife.” The original Latin text read, “If
you find Andromeda on a stone with hair flowing over her shoulders,”
etc.[202] The translator’s art which could turn Andromeda into a
dromedary almost equalled that of the enchantress Circe.
A few even of the early writers were disposed to be sceptical as to
the virtues ascribed to these engraved gems, and did not hesitate to
assert that the Greek and Roman engravers executed their designs for
ornamental purposes rather than to fit the gems for use as talismans.
This was undoubtedly true in a large number of cases but nevertheless,
as we have seen, many engraved talismans were really cut in the early
centuries. As the art of gem engraving was not practised in the Middle
Ages, some medieval writers suppose that the engraved talismanic gems
current in their time were not works of art, but of nature, and Konrad
von Megenberg accepting this view, gave it as his opinion that “God
granted these stones their beauty and virtue for the help and comfort
of the human race,” adding that when he hoped to receive help from them
he in no wise denied the grace of God.[203]
Damigeron writes of the sard that, if worn by a woman, it is a good
and fortunate stone. It should be engraved with a design showing a
grape-vine and ivy intertwined.[204]
A celebrated topaz was that noted by George Agricola as being in the
possession of a Neapolitan, Hadrianus Gulielmus.[205] It bore, in
ancient Roman characters, the terse and pregnant inscription:
Natura deficit,
Fortuna mutatur.
Deus omnia cernit.
This was very freely rendered by Thomas Nicols as follows:[206]
Nature by frailty doth dayly waste away.
Fortune is turn’d and changed every day.
In all, there is an eye know’s no decay.
Jah sees for aye.
There is in the Imperial Academy at Moscow a turquoise two inches in
diameter, inscribed with a text from the Koran in letters of gold. This
turquoise was formerly worn by the Shah of Persia as an amulet, and it
was valued at 5000 rubles by the jeweller from whose hands it came.[207]
It is well known that Napoleon III was inclined to be superstitious,
and there is not, therefore, anything inherently improbable in the
report that he left the seal he wore on his watch-chain to his son,
the unfortunate Prince Imperial, as a talisman. This seal is said to
have borne an inscription in Arabic characters, signifying “The slave
Abraham relying on the Merciful One (God).”[208] The talisman lost its
virtue on that unlucky day when, in far-off Zululand, the heir to so
many hopes was cut off in the first flush of early manhood (see page
64).
V
On Ominous and Luminous Stones
THE OPAL
_Mother._ Come, let me place a charm upon thy brow,
And may good spirits grant, that never care
Approach, to trace a single furrow there!
_Daughter._ Thy love, my mother, better far than charm,
Shall shield thy child—and yet this wondrous gem[209]
Looks as though some strange influence it had won
From the bright skies—for every rainbow hue
Shoots quivering through its depths in changeful gleams,
Like the mild lightnings of a summer eve.
_Mother._ Even so doth love pervade a mother’s heart;
Thus, ever active, looks through her fond eyes.[210]
There can be little doubt that much of the modern superstition
regarding the supposed unlucky quality of the opal owes its origin
to a careless reading of Sir Walter Scott’s novel, “Anne of
Geierstein.”[211] The wonderful tale therein related of the Lady
Hermione, a sort of enchanted princess, who came no one knew whence
and always wore a dazzling opal in her hair, contains nothing to
indicate that Scott really meant to represent the opal as unlucky. Lady
Hermione’s gem was an enchanted stone just as its owner was a product
of enchantment, and its peculiarities depended entirely upon its
mysterious character, which might equally well have been attributed to
a diamond, a ruby, or a sapphire. The life of the stone was bound up
with the life of Hermione; it sparkled when she was gay, it shot out
red gleams when she was angry; and when a few drops of holy water were
sprinkled over it, they quenched its radiance. Hermione fell into a
swoon, was carried to her chamber, and the next day nothing but a small
heap of ashes remained on the bed whereon she had been laid. The spell
was broken and the enchantment dissolved. All that can have determined
the selection of the opal rather than any other precious stone is the
fact of its wonderful play of color and its sensitiveness to moisture.
Hence we are perfectly justified in returning to the older belief of
the manifold virtues of the opal, only remembering that this gem is
a little more fragile than many others and should be more carefully
handled and guarded.
The opal, October’s gem, recalls in its wonderful and varied play of
color the glories of a bright October day in the country, when earth
and sky vie with each other in brilliancy and the eye is fairly dazzled
with the bewildering variety of color.
It rarely happens that Pliny gives any information as to particular
jewels, almost all his notices of precious stones being confined to
descriptions of their form and color, and data regarding what was
popularly believed as to their talismanic or therapeutic power. In the
case of the _opalus_, however, he writes as follows: “There exists
to-day a gem of this kind, on account of which the senator Nonius was
proscribed by Antony. Seeking safety in flight, he took with him of
all his possessions this ring alone, which it is certain, was valued
at 2,000,000 sesterces ($80,000).”[212] The stone was “as large as a
hazel-nut.”
This “opal of Nonius” would be the great historic opal if we had any
assurance that it was really the stone to which we now give this name.
As, however, the principal European source of supply in Hungary does
not appear to have been available in classic times to the Romans, and
as opals are not found in the places whence, according to Pliny, the
_opalus_ was derived, we are almost forced to the conclusion that he
had some other stone in mind when he gave his eloquent description of
the _opalus_. And yet, in spite of all this, Pliny’s words so well
describe the beauties of a fine opal that it is difficult to determine
what other stone he could have meant. For it can well be said of opals
that “There is in them a softer fire than in the carbuncle, there
is the brilliant purple of the amethyst; there is the sea-green of
the emerald—all shining together in incredible union. Some by their
refulgent splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame
of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil.”[213] Possibly some
brilliant varieties of iridescent quartz—“iris” quartz, possessing an
internal fracture, displays with great brilliancy all the colors of the
rainbow, sparkling with wonderful clearness in its field of transparent
mineral—might excite the admiration of one who had never seen an opal.
Referring again to these quartz crystals, they are often cut so as to
form a dome of quartz and are even used as distinct jewels. The fact
that Pliny could praise the Indian imitations of the _opalus_ in glass,
and could state that this stone was more successfully imitated than any
other, is an almost decisive argument against identifying the _opalus_
with an opal, for it is well known that no stone is more difficult to
imitate.
About the middle of the eighteenth century, a peasant found a brilliant
precious stone in some old ruins at Alexandria, Egypt. This stone was
set in a ring. It was as large as a hazel-nut and is said to have been
an opal cut _en cabochon_. According to the report, it was eventually
taken to Constantinople, where it was estimated to be worth “several
thousand ducats.”[214] The description given of this gem, its apparent
antiquity, and the high value set upon it have contributed to induce
many to conjecture that it was the celebrated “opal of Nonius.” Of
course this was nothing but a romantic fancy. It is also quite certain
that an opal would scarcely hold its play of color or compactness for
twenty centuries, for most opals lose their water—slowly perhaps, but
surely—within a lesser space of time. Even the finest Hungarian opals
show some loss of life and color within a century or even less, and
some transparent Mexican opals lose their color and are filled with
flaws within a few years’ time.
The Edda tells of a sacred stone called the yarkastein, which the
clever smith Volöndr (the Scandinavian Vulcan) formed from the eyes
of children. Grimm conjectures that this name designates a round,
milk-white opal. Certainly the opal was often called _ophthalmios_, or
eyestone, in the Middle Ages, and it was a common idea that the image
of a boy or girl could be seen in the pupil of the eye.
[Illustration: THE “ORPHANUS JEWEL” IN THE GERMAN IMPERIAL CROWN.
From the “Hortus Sanitatis” of Johannis de Cuba [Strassburg, Jean
Pryss, ca. 1483]; De lapidibus, cap. xcii. Author’s library.]
Albertus Magnus describes under the name _orphanus_ a stone which
was set in the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire. This gem is
believed to have been a splendid opal, and Albertus describes it as
follows:
The orphanus is a stone which is in the crown of the Roman Emperor,
and none like it has ever been seen; for this very reason it is called
orphanus. It is of a subtle vinous tinge, and its hue is as though
pure white snow flashed and sparkled with the color of bright, ruddy
wine, and was overcome by this radiance. It is a translucent stone,
and there is a tradition that formerly it shone in the night-time; but
now, in our age, it does not sparkle in the dark. It is said to guard
the regal honor.[215]
Evidently this imperial gem was regarded as _sui generis_, for Albertus
has just described the _ophthalmus lapis_, a name frequently bestowed
upon the opal in medieval times, reciting the virtues usually ascribed
to the opal for the cure of diseases of the eye, and the magic power of
the stone to render its wearer invisible, wherefore it was denominated
_patronus furum_, or “patron of thieves.”
In the Middle Ages the opal mines of Cernowitz, in Hungary, were
very actively exploited, and at the opening of the fifteenth century
more than three hundred men are said to have been employed here in
the search for opals. At that time, and for many centuries after, no
breath of suspicion ever tarnished the fame of the opal as not only a
thing of rare beauty, but also a talisman of the first rank. We are
told that blond maidens valued nothing more highly than necklaces of
opals, for while they wore these ornaments their hair was sure to guard
its beautiful color. The latter superstitions probably arose from the
frangibility of the stone and its occasional loss of fire.
From the earliest times the baleful influence of the Evil Eye has
struck terror into the souls of the ignorant and superstitious. It
is believed by some that the name “opal”—written “ophal” in the
time of Queen Elizabeth—was derived from _ophthalmos_, the eye, or
_ophthalmius_, pertaining to the eye, and that hence the foolish
superstition regarding the ill luck of the opal had some connection
with the belief in the Evil Eye. However, this is altogether incorrect,
since the stone called _ophthalmius_ by early writers, and which seems
to have been the opalus of the ancients and our opal, was believed to
have a wonderfully beneficial effect upon the sight, and if it was
thought to render the wearer invisible, this was only an added virtue
of the stone.
[Illustration:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Eye agates, Aleppo stones, Arabia.
6 and 7. Antique eye agates, with double zone.
8 and 9. Aleppo stones set in rings.
10 and 11. Double eye agates, Aleppo stones, Arabia.
12. Natural pebble, showing eye from Isle Royal, Lake Superior.
13 and 14. Natural agates with eye-like effect, East Indian. Had been
used as votive charms.
15. Eye agate, Brazil.
16. Agate called Oriental agate, eye effect, from Brazil.
17. Ancient eye of idol, agate variety sardonyx. Had been pierced
lengthwise and worn as a charm on the arm. East Indian.
]