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SAPPHIRE. 231
The
ancients attributed magical power to the sapphire, and said that it
kept away sickness and evil thoughts, whence the ancient distich :
" Corporis ardorem réfrigérât anteriorem Sapphirus et Cipriœ languida vota facit."
It
was said to be so inimical to poisons, that when placed in a glass
vessel with an asp or any other venomous animal, immediately the animal
perished.
King
says he read in ' San Girolamo ' that the sapphire procures the favour
of princes, pacifies enemies, delivers from enchantments, and gains
long-desired liberty for the slave.
Galen and Dioscorides speak of the medical properties of the sapphire, and consider it an active remedy against fevers.
The sapphire was sacred to Apollo, and worn on the back when consulting his oracles.
Boezio asserts that this gem preserved chastity, for which reason it was much used by the priests.
At present the sapphire is the gem set in the state ring which the cardinals receive in taking the purple.
Many
beautiful Oriental sapphires furnish the caskets of the sovereigns of
every country, for the blue corunÂdum is less rare than the ruby.
In
Europe, one of the most celebrated is now in the Paris Museum ; it was
found in Bengal by a poor woodÂcutter ; it belonged to the bankers
Euspoli, of Rome, from whom it passed to Germany, where a Frenchman,
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