PRECIOUS STONES. 5-3
" for
their native beauties, but, like the great Julius, for the higher value
of the genius therein enshrined." This is made evident by the lines
attributed to Maecenas on the departure of Horace, for the loss of
whose devoted companionship not even the sight of his darling Jewels
could console him :—
"'
Lugens, 0 mea vita ! te Smaragdos, Beryllos mihi, Flacee, neo nitentes,
Nee percandida Margarita quaero ; Nee quos Thyrica lima perpolivit,
Anellos, nee Iaspios lapillos."
"
Whilst I thine absence, 0 my life, deplore, Emeralds, and lustrous
Beryls charm no more ; No more, my Flaccus, can the brilliant white Of
Orient Pearls my soul, as erst, delight; Nor can my favourite Rings my
grief beguile, Nor Jaspers, polished by the Thyrian file."
Medical
practice among the ancient Jews consisted chiefly in Amulets used
externally. And even still, modern Jews are remarkably given to
entertain such beliefs, and practices. Some wear an Amulet which
consists of a small piece of parchment with a few cabalistic words
written upon it by one of their Rabbis. Others have a bulb of Garlic
hanging about them, tied up in a small shred of linen ; whilst, again,
others carry a small piece of their Passover cake in this, or that
pocket. In the Roman Catholic religion the Scapular, the Rosary, and
treasured relics worn about the person, come under the designation of
Amulets ; from the use of which talismans important bodily benefits are
expected. Scapulars are generally required to be suspended from the
neck. Similarly, relics of Saints are employed for the cure of
diseases. Lightfoot, when writing about Hebrew women, says that in
former times, " There was no people in the whole world that
