TALISMANIC USE OF PRECIOUS STONES 59
luckless
mortal was a beautiful and pure maiden named Amethyst, who was on her
way to worship at the shrine of Diana. As the ferocious beasts sprang
toward her, she sought the protection of the goddess, and was saved
from a worse fate by being turned into a pure white stone. Recogniziûg
the miracle and repenting of his cruelty, Bacchus poured the juice of
the grape as a libation over the petrified body of the maiden, thus
giving to the stone the beautiful violet hue that so charms the
beholder's eye.17
From
the various descriptions of this stone given by ancient writers, it
appears that one of the varieties was ' probably the purple almandine
or Indian garnet, and it is not improbable that we have here the reason
for the name amethyst and for the supposed virtue of the stone in
preserving from drunkenness. For if water were poured into a vessel
made of a reddish stone, the liquid would appear like wine, and could
nevertheless be drunk with impunity.
Arnoldus
Saxo, writing about 1220, after reciting the virtues of the beryl as
given by Marbodus, after Evax and Isidorus, reports in addition that
the stone gave help against foes in battle or in litigation; the wearer
was rendered unconquerable and at the same time amiable, while his
intellect was quickened and he was cured of laziness.18/ In the old German translation of Thomas de Cantimpré's "De Proprietatibus Rerum," we read that
17 Belleau,
" Œuvres poétiques," ed. Marty-Laveaux, Paris, 1878, vol. ii, pp. 172
sqq. The poem in which this tale occurs is the " Amours et nouveaux
eschanges des pierres précieuses," -written in 1576 and dedicated to
Henri III.
18 Rose, " Aristotles de lapidibus und Arnoldus Saxo," in Zeitsehr. für D. Alt., New Series, vol. vi, p. 431.
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