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RELIGIOUS USES OF PRECIOUS STONES 257
indicating
that the figure engraved upon it was that of St. Michael, while in
reality it was a representation of the god Mercury. Still another gem
was provided with an inscription signifying that the subject was the
temptation of Mother Eve in the Garden of Eden, but the Greek gem
engraver's intent had been to carve the figures of Zeus and Athena,
standing before an olive tree, a design which appears on some Athenian
coins ; at the feet of the divinities appears a serpent. In a similar
way the grain-measure crowning the head of Jupiter-Serapis led to the
attribution of a gem so engraved to the patriarch Joseph.49
An
engraved amethyst bearing the figure of a little Cupid is said to have
been worn in a ring by St. Valentine. While tliis may be somewhat
doubtful, it is by no means impossible, for many pagan gems were worn
by pious Christians, who reconciled their consciences to the use of
these beautiful but scarcely religious ornaments by giving to the pagan
symbols a Christian meaning. Certainly, in view of the time-honored
customs connected with St. Valentine's Day, there seems something
peculiarly appropriate in the design of the ring supposed to have been
worn by .St. Valentine.
That
precious stones had sense and feeling was quite generally believed in
medieval times, and a legend told of St. Martial illustrates this idea.
The gloves worn by this saint were studded with precious stones, and
when on a certain occasion a sacrilegious act was committed in his
presence, the gems, horrified at the sight, sprang out of their
settings and fell to the ground before the eyes of the onlookers.
" Klot, " Ueber den Nützen und Gebrauch der alten geschnittenen Steine," Altenburg, 1768, p. 57. 17
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