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Superstitions: Roman

The Jasper was a charmer of scorpions and spiders, and was used as a talisman by the Roman athlete. The Granatus (an imperfect kind of ruby) Burton tells us in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," "if hung about the neck, or taken in drink, much resisteth sorrow and recreates the heart." The same qualities were ascribed to the hyacinth and topaz.

The crystal has been the most popular of all oracles. The favourite stone was a Beryl. The custom was to consecrate or "charge" them, as the modern term is, for which purpose set forms were used. Scot, in his "Discovery of Witchcraft," gives that for St. Helen, whose name was to be written on the crystal with olive oil, under a cross marked in the same manner, while the operator was turned eastward. A child, born in wedlock, and perfectly innocent, was then to take the crystal in his hands, and the operator, kneeling behind him, was to repeat a prayer to St. Helen, that whatsoever he wished might become evident in that stone. In fine, the saint herself would appear in the crystal in an angelic form, and answer any question put to her. This charm was directed to be tried just at sunrising, and in fine clear weather. "A Berill" (says Aubrey, in his "Miscellanies") "is a kind of crystal that has a weak tincture of red. In this magicians see visions. There are certain formulas of prayer to be used before they make the inspection, which they term a 'call.' James Harrington (author of 'Oceana') told me that the Earl of Denbigh, then ambassador at Venice, did tell him that one did show him three several times in a glass things past and to come. When Sir Marmaduke Langdale was in Italy, he went to one of these magi, who did show him a glass, where he saw himself kneeling before a crucifix. He was then a Protestant; afterwards he became a Roman Catholic."

The celebrated crystal of that prince of magical quackery, Dr. Dee, is still preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The infatuation of seeing things in a beryl was very popular in the reign of James I., and is alluded to by Shakspeare.

Among the MSS. belonging to John Guthrie, Esq., of Guthry, Scotland, is a tiny duodecimo volume, in a parchment cover, and in writing of the seventeenth century, filled with prayers and conjurations for revealing of secrets and exorcising evil spirits. There are many diagrams and drawings of figures to be used in these processes, some of them with reference to lunar and stellar observations. Among much curious matter we find, "An Experiment to be seene in a Christall Stone.--Take a Christall stone or glasse, most clear, without a craise, and wrape about it a pece of harte's lether, saying, 'In the name of the Holy Trinity, and of the hey (sic) Deity. Amen.' Then holde the cristalle in the beam when the O is most bright, at the hottest of the day, and say these con(jurations) subscribed, and by and by you shall sie the spirite peradventer, appeiring himselfe; then say to him--'I con(jure) thee, spirit, by the vertue of all things aforesayd, that thou deperte out of this christall, and bring with thee thy fellowes in any honest and decente forme apparelled, some in blew and some in yealowe.' "For som tyme he commeth alone, hiding his head, sometime in a cloke, some tyme in a gowne; then commande him or them, if you worke for thefte, to goe out of the cristall, and that they come againe, bringing or representing the forme or shape of the thefe or theves and things stolne, or which shall be stolne--et fiat--and he will bringe with him the theves, and will shewe them with his finger, and their names, if thou wilt; also thou maiest aske and be certified of Treasure hid under the ground, how thou maiest have it, when it was laid there; and so you may be certified of parents, frindes, or enemyes being far or neare distant, or what other thing you will require." The Ruby, bruised in water, relieved infirmities of the eyes, and helped disordered livers: if the four corners of a house, garden, or vineyard, were touched with it, they would be preserved from lightning, tempests, and worms: it also dispersed infectious air: when worn, it was impossible to conceal it, as its lustre would show itself beneath the thickest clothes. Powdered Agate, mixed with water, counteracted the poison of serpents. This stone was in great request among the Romans for its medicinal and talismanic properties. Pliny quotes the magii as teaching in Persia that storms could be averted by burning agates. The tree-agate of the ancients, or the light green, mottled with yellow, jasper of our time, was supposed to insure fertile crops if tied around the ploughman's arm or the horns of the oxen that ploughed the field. Galen says that the green jasper benefits the chest, if tied upon it. The virtues of the agate descended to the days of Queen Elizabeth, who received from no less an eminent personage than Archbishop Parker, the present of one, with an inscription on parchment detailing its miraculous properties. In the reign of James VI. of Scotland (I622) we find enumerated among the valuables left by George, Earl Marischal, "ane jaspe stane for steming of bluid." The belief in the medicinable virtues of stones was not uncommon at this period.

The Amethyst was in great requisition among the Greek and Roman topers, from a belief that it had the power of preventing intoxication, made them vigilant and expert in business, expelled poison, gave victory to soldiers, and secured an easy capture of wild beasts and birds. The Peruvians believed that if the names of the sun and moon were engraved upon it, and it was hung round the neck with the hair of a baboon or the feathers of a swallow, it was a charm against witchcraft. The Sapphire had the useful virtues ascribed to it of healing boils, restoring impaired sight, extinguishing fires, and mending the manners of its wearer. The Emerald was also a strengthener of the eyes, and the ancients were never tired of looking at their rings when garnished with this jewel. A similar property was said to be possessed by the Turquoise, which was also a cheerer of the soul, and diverted the consequences of any fall that might happen to the wearer. Mediaeval writers ascribe other wonderful virtues to the turquoise, a list of which is given by De Boot: it grew paler as its owner sickened, lost its colour entirely at his death, but recovered it when placed upon the finger of a new and healthy possessor; suspended by a string within a glass, it told the hour by the exact number of strokes against the sides. "Whoever," says Van Helmont, "wears a turquoise, so that it or its gold setting touches the skin, 'vel non, perinde est,' may fall from any height; and the stone attracts to itself the whole force of the blow, so that it cracks, and the person is safe."

The Marquis of Villena had a fool, who, on being asked by a knight what were the properties of a turquoise, replied, "Why, if you have a turquoise about you, and should fall from the top of a tower and be dashed to pieces, the stone would not break!"

The author of the Orphic poem on stones mentions one in the possession of Helenus, which not only uttered oracular responses, but was perceived to breathe (ver. 339 et seq.). Photius (coll. 242, p. I062, from the Life of Isidorus by Damascius) mentions another in the possession of a certain Eusebius.

Precious stones gave a miraculous power of adopting a small or a large stature at will. Such is ascribed to King Laurin in the "Little Garden of Roses":-- The Romans regarded the Diamond with superstitious reverence: fastened on the left arm so as to touch the skin, all nocturnal fears were said to be prevented. Pliny tells us that it baffles poison, keeps off insanity, and dispels vain fears. It could only be broken by steeping it in goat's milk. "The diamond," observes Ben Mansur, alluding to its electric properties, "has an affinity for gold, small particles of which fly towards it. It is also wonderfully sought after by ants, which crowd over it, as though they would swallow it up." The diamond was considered to possess the power of counteracting poison, and this belief, current through ages, continued to a comparatively late period.