raved (Fig. 91) from the
original in the Londesborough collection.

[Illustration: Fig. 91.]

[Illustration: Fig. 92.]

We place beside it a ring with a very different device, but one that
cannot fail to be looked on with singular interest. It is marked with
the _Labarum_, the oldest sacred monogram of Christianity, which
Constantine believed he saw in a vision, and placed upon his victorious
standard and his coins, with the motto--"In hoc signo vinces!" This ring
came from the Roman sepulchre of an early Christian, and the hand for
which it was originally fashioned may have aided in the conquering war
of the first Christian emperor; or may have been convulsed in an
agonising death, "thrown to the beasts" of the circus, but reposing
after death with the first martyrs to the faith.

[Illustration: Fig. 93.]

Clement of Alexandria suggests to the Christians of his era, that they
should have engraved devices of symbolic meaning allusive to their
faith, in place of the heathen deities and other subjects cut by Roman
lapidaries; such as a dove, which symbolises life eternal and the Holy
Spirit; a palm-branch, peace; an anchor, hope; a ship in full sail, the
church; and others of similar import.

Gorius has preserved a representation of a gold ring (Fig. 93) which he
believes to have been presented by a Roman lady to the victorious
charioteer in the horse-races; it is of peculiar form, but one that was
a favourite with Roman wearers. The bust of the donor appears on the
summit of the ring, and on each side are the heads of reined horses, as
shown in our cut. Her name is engraved on the lower part of the hoop,
and on each side AMOROSPIS. The latter properly being HOSPES, having the
aspirate omitted and an I for an E, induces Gorius to consider it a late
work of the Roman era.

[Illustration: Fig. 94.]

We have already spoken of the ring-hand and the ring-finger, but have
not noted the origin of the custom of placing the wedding ring on that
finger. It resulted from an inaccurate belief that a nerve went from
thence to the heart. That the ancients were indiscriminate in the use of
their fingers as recipients for rings we have already shown; Mr.
Waterton has placed in his curious _Dactyliotheca_ the forefinger from a
bronze statue of late Roman workmanship, wearing a large ring upon the
second joint. In Germany it is still customary to wear the ring in this
fashion, a custom they evidently borrowed from their Roman sub