246 THE MAGIC OF JEWELS AND CHARMS
we
must believe that the accompanying inscription was added at a later
date, for it expressly names the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel, and
the Virgin ("Mother of God")·5
Another interesting gem, from
about the same period, is a square amethyst, measuring about 3 cm. in
each direction. This bears, engraved in intaglio, a standing figure of
Christ, without a halo ; behind his head is the monogram^ and in his
left hand he holds a scroll with the words (in Greek) : "In the
beginning was the Word"; his right hand is stretched forth in
benediction, and alongside the figure are the following angels ' names
in Greek characters : Eaphaêl, Penel, Ouriêl, Ichthys, Michael,
Gabriel, Azaêl, The fourth and middle name, Ichthys (fish) is the
well-known anagram of the Greek words signifying "Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the Saviour," and the use of this as the name of an angel is
thought to have been suggested by a passage in Isaiah (ix, 6).e
A
"prime émeraude" among the Gorlaeus gems is engraved with a design
showing two souls brought before God by the two guardian angels.7
Somewhat the same belief in the guiding or conducting of souls after
death is found in Plato's "Phaedon," where it is said that the daimon which had guided a person during life led his spirit to the place in Hades where judgment was to be rendered.
The
following list from Lodge's "Wit's Miserie," printed in 1596, gives the
seven good angels and sets over against them the seven bad angels, each
of whom represents one of the seven deadly sins :
s
Dictionnaire d'Archéologie Chrétienne, ed. by Dom Fernand Cabrol and
Dom H. Leclercq, vol. i, Pt. II, Paris, 1907, cola. 2089, 2090.
'
Dictionnaire d'Archéologie Chrétienne, ed. by Dom Fernand Cabrol and
Dom H. Leclercq, vol. i, Pt. II, Paris, 1907, cola. 2088, 2089.
* Macarius (L'Heureux), " Abraxus seu Apistopistus," Antwerp, 1657, Plate XIX, No. 78 (Gorlœus, 1695, PI. CCXVIII, No. 430).
