BOOK XXXIII. VI. 20-23 



woiild not have been possible for the three <* pecks 



of rings as recorded to have been sent by Hannibal 



to Carthage. Also it was from a ring put up for 



sale by auction that the quarrel between Caepio and 



Drusus began which was the primary cause of the war 



with the allies ^ and the disasters that sprang from it. 



Not even at that period did all members of the 



senate possess gold rings, seeing that in the memory 



of our grandfathers many men who had even held 



the office of praetor wore an iron ring to the end of 



their Hves — for instance, as recorded by Fenestella, 



Calpurnius and ManiUus, the latter ha^-ing been 



Ueutenant-general under Gaius Marius in the war 112-106 b.c. 



with Jugurtha, and, according to many authorities, 



the Lucius Fufidius to whom Scaurus dedicated his 



Autobiography — while another piece of evidence 



is that in the family of the Quintii it was not even 



customary for the women to have a gold ring, and 



that the greater part of the races of mankind, and 



even of the people who live under our empire and at 



the present day, possess no rings at all. The East 



and Egypt do not '^ seal documents even now, but 



are content with a \^Titten signature. 



This fashion hke everj^thing else luxury has diversi- Methods of 

 fied in numerous ways, by adding to rings gems of^^^y 

 exquisite brilliance, and by loading the fingers with 

 a wealthy revenue (as we shall mention in our book xxxvri. 

 on gems) and then by engraving on them a variety ' **^' 

 of devices, so that in one case the craftsmanship and 

 in another the material constitutes the value. Then 

 again with other gems luxury has deemed it sacrilege 

 for them to undergo violation, and has caused them 

 to be worn whole, to prevent anybody's imagin- 

 ing that people's finger-rings were intended for 



19 



