the
passage in Revelations (x, 3-4) : "The seven thunders uttered their
voices," signifies that the sound of the seven vowels "echoed through
the vault of heaven, and composed that mystic utterance which the
sainted seer was forbidden to reveal unto mortals."
Certain
talismans were supposed to afford protection not only to individuals
but even to entire cities. Of this class were two talismans described
by Gregory of Tours. He relates that Paris had enjoyed from ancient
times a surprising immunity from serpents and rats, as well as from
fires. However, in clearing out the channel beneath a bridge across the
Seine, the workmen found, embedded in the mud, two brazen images, one
of a serpent and the other of a rat ; after these had been removed from
their resting place, serpents and rats appeared, and conflagrations
became common.21
Of
the many memorials of the Age of Charlemagne preserved in the
Cathedral Treasury at Aachen, that popularly known as the Talisman of
Charlemagne always exerted a peculiar fascination over the minds of
those visiting the shrine, both because of its sacred character and on
account of the mystic power ascribed to it.
The "Talisman" is composed of two large sapphires, cut en cabochon, one
being of oval form and the other square, these constituting
respectively the front and back of the relic ; enclosed between them is
a cross made from wood of the Holy Cross said to have been found in
Palestine by St. Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. This is only
visible when looking through the oval sapphire set in front of the
medallion. The two sapphires are joined and framed by a band studded
with precious stones, and various other gems are set above and below
them. The oval sapphire is of
"
Gregorii Epìscopi Turonensis, " Eistoria Francorum," ed. Arndt, and
Krusch, Pars I, Hannover«, 1884, p. 349, lib. via, cap. 33.
