recital indicates that such fables were credited in the second century of our era.18
Another
superstitious use of signet rings was to throw a number of them into a
heap and pull out one at random, the design engraved on the signet
being interpreted as a favorable or unfavorable omen, which foretold
the outcome of any contemplated action. An instance of this appears in
Plutarch's life of Timoleon (d. 337 b.c.), the
Greek general who freed Syracuse from the tyrant Dionysius. In one of
his campaigns the enemy had taken up a strong position behind a river,
which the troops of Timoleon were forced to ford. A noble rivalry
sprang up among the officers as to who should be the first to enter the
river, and Timoleon, fearing that confusion would result from the
dispute, decided to settle the question by lot. Therefore he took from
each of the officers his signet ring, cast them into his own cloak,
shook them together, and drew out one, which fortunately bore
the figure of a trophy. This was hailed as a good omen, the quarrel was
forgotten, and the stream was forded so impetuously, and the attack was
so vigorous that the enemy was overwhelmed.19
After his Persian conquests, in 331 b.c., Alexander
the Great sealed the letters he sent to Europe with his old seal, while
for those sent to functionaries in his new Asiatic domains he used the
seal of Darius III, Codo-mannus (reigned 336-330 b.c.), whose
daughter Statira he afterwards wedded. Quintus Curtius regards this as
emblematic of the idea that a single mind was not wide
18 Luciani, " Opera," vol. iii, Lipsiae, 1881, pp. 119, 120. Philopseudes, 37.
19 Plutarchi, " Vitae," vol. ii, Lipsia, 1879, p. 32. Timoleon, 31.
