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Ch. 3: Signet Rings

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126
RINGS
Two Greek epigrams in the Anthology, on engraved amethysts in signet rings, express the prevailing super­stition regarding the sobering effect of this precious stone ; these have been very well Englished by Rev. C. W. King.24 One, by Antipater, concerns a signet of Cleopatra and runs in King's version as follows:
A Moenad wild, on amethyst I stand, The engraving truly of a skilful hand ; A subject foreign to the sober stone, But Cleopatra claims it for her own; And hallow'd by her touch, the nymph so free Must quit her drunken mood, and sober be.
That this was really a ring-stone is proved by the Greek words " on the queen's hand," which King has not literally translated. The image was that of Methe, goddess of intoxication. The other epigram is shorter but to the same point :
On wineless gem, I, toper Bacchus, reign ; Learn, stone, to drink, or teach me to abstain.
That admiration of a work of art on the part of an unscrupulous official is sometimes fraught with danger for the rightful ownership of the object, was illustrated in the case of a seal ring belonging to a Roman citizen of Agrigentum in Sicily. The arch-pilferer Verres, Roman governor of the island from 73 to 71 b.c., being on one occasion struck by the beauty of a seal impression on a letter just handed to his interpreter Vitellius, asked whence the letter came and who was the sender. The information was of course quickly given, and there-
24 " The Natural History, Ancient and Modern, of Precious Stones and Gems," London, 1865, pp. 60, 61 ; Anthology ix, 752; ix, 748.
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