278 THE CURIOUS LORE OP PRECIOUS STONES
This
writer, who must have seen the high-priest wearing his elaborate
vestments, says that the breastplate was adorned "with twelve stones of
exceptional size and beauty, a decoration not easily to be acquired, on
account of its enormous value.2 However these gems were not merely rare and costly; they also possessed wonderful and miraculous powers. Writing about 400 a.D., St. Epi-phanius, Bishop of Constantia, tells of a marvellous adamas which
was worn on the breast of the high-priest, who showed himself to the
people, arrayed in all his gorgeous vestments, at the feasts of
Pascha, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. This adamas was termed the δήλωσα or
"Declaration," because, by its appearance, it announced to the people
the fate that God had in store for them. If the people were sinful and
disobedient, the stone assumed a dusky hue, which portended death by
disease, or else it became the color of blood, signifying that the
people would be slain by the sword. If, however, the stone shone like
the driven snow, then the people recognized that they had not sinned,
and hastened to celebrate the festival.3
There
seems to be little doubt that this account is nothing more than an
elaboration and modification of the passage in Josephus. Evidently the λύγων (oracle) of Josephus has become the δήλωσις (declaration).
When
Moses wished to engrave on the stones of the breastplate the names of
the twelve tribes of Israel, he is said to have had recourse to the
miraculous shamir. The names were first traced in ink on the stones, and the shamir was then passed over them, the result being that
a"Ant. Jud.," lib. iii, cap. vii, 5, Plavii Josephi Opera, Basilea?, 1544, p. 75.
*
Saneti Patri Epiphanii, "De XII Gemmis," Tiguri, 1566, ff. 12-14.
Edited by Conrad Gesner from a unique MS. in his possession.
