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ORPHEUS ON GEMS.
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The potent Nebrite heals the venomed smart.
To wives it also binds their spouses' heart.
Hence were thy priceless virtues to me shown 750 Against the deadly asp, life-saving stone !
Which from the bright-green leek deriv'st thy name ;
The Prase, an antidote well known to fame ;
A green-hued gem that to the admiring gaze
The style and colour of the leek displays. Hence was I moved thy healing might to try, Chalazias pure
! and proved its potency. In thee relief I found in fever's glow, And
sure remede against the serpent's blow.— Son of Latona ! this thy lore
revered, Still full of doubt the brave Poeantian heard : And on my
sister, that prophetic maid, A heavy doom the vengeful Phoebus laid,
760 When to her warning voice as falsehoods spurned A stone-deaf ear
the mocking Trojans turned. But I of yore a mighty oath did take Never
to man a false response to make : Wherefore, bold archer ! with
confiding breast, Receive for truth these words to thee addressed."—
Old Priam's son with precepts such as these Consoled the friend of
fearless Hercules ; And we, whilst yet our bourn far distant showed,
Thus with sweet converse smoothed the rugged road.
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NOTE ON THE OPHITES, OR ΟBITES.
The Salagrama, or
sacred stone of Vishnu, so much used by the Brahmin-ill all
propitiatory rites, especially at the moment of death, is described by
Sonnerat as a kind of Ammonite, very heavy, oval, or round, black : the
very wrinkled, ponderous, round, black orites of Orpheus. Sometimes its
colour is violet, which, representing a vindictive avatar of the god,
is looked upon with horror. It resembles touchstone, and is concave on
the reverse, with spiral lines terminating towards the centre. It is
hollow, with only a single small aperture. The possessor of one keeps
it wrapped up in a linen cloth, often perfumes and bathes it, and the
water thus used is highly valued for its sin-repelling properties. But
Colebrook describes the stone as round and black, perforated with
spiral holes as if by worms, done by Vishnu's own ringer, of which the
form and number typify the god under different characters. The
substance is silicious. They are found in the Gandaci river in Nepal.
The agreement in colour, weight, and spiral arrangement of the "
deep-furrowed lines," proves the orites and this stone to have been
identical. Observe it is given to Helenas
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