Ancient and Modern Finger-rings. 59 



rings, winter rings, etc., many of them being doubtless of 

 highly ingenious device and finished workmanship. We may 

 imagine the devices to have consisted of such features, as grace- 

 fully wrought representations of the divinities who were sup- 

 posed to preside over different seasons — Ceres or Bacchus, for 

 instance, for the Autumn, with jewel-work of wheat and grapes 

 and other fruits ; or perhaps, for the same season, the zodiacal 

 sign of the " Scales," to symbolize the equality of the days and 

 nights at the equinox, the figure richly wrought in gold, with 

 the sign of the Fishes, one having, as seen in existing sculptures, 

 rare gems to represent the dishes of the Scales. Or in Spring, 

 the head of a swallow, in allusion to the sun's entrance into that 

 constellation at the period when the swallow first made his 

 annual appearance in Greece, as one of the harbingers of the 

 coming Spring. 



There were no legal restrictions in Greece against wearing 

 gold rings, though the Spartans always affected simple iron 

 ones ', and the women, it would appear, scarcely pretended to 

 this form of luxury at all, only wearing simple annulets of ivory 

 or amber. This abstinence on the part of the ladies, may have 

 arisen from the fact that the ring, as originating in the seal or 

 signet, was a mark of power or sovereignty, and as such, incon- 

 sistent with the general social position of women in Greece. 



It is as a sign of authority that a ring is made the means of 

 transferring power, in romantic legends both ancient and modern. 

 " Show this ring to the captain of the guard," etc., is a phrase 

 often found in ancient and mediasval legends, for with the 

 signet the power of the owner might be delegated to any 

 person on whom he chose for a time to bestow it. 



In Home the custom of wearing rings was said to have been 

 introduced through the Samnites, who are described by Livy as 

 wearing gold rings enriched with gems (gemmati annuli). 

 Some however state that the Romans adopted the custom in 

 imitation of the Etrurians, in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. 

 The earliest Eoman rings were, however, always of iron, and 

 bearing a stamp or device intended to be used as a seal. To 

 the end of the republic the ancient iron ring was still worn by 

 those who affected to contemn modern luxury and innovation ; 

 and among these was Marius, who, as Pliny tells us, wore an 

 iron ring in his triumph after the subjugation of Jugurtha. 

 Eventually, however, not only all patricians wore gold signet 

 rings, but the equites also; and other classes soon imitated 

 their superiors. Eventually, however, legal restrictions were 

 promulgated concerning the right to wear a gold signet. 

 These regulations were afterwards known as the jus annuli 

 aurei. 



The emperors assumed the power of granting the right of 



