tfaucon.[89-*] It is a thumb-ring of unusual magnitude, and of
costly material; it has upon it a bust in high relief of the Empress
Plotina, the consort of Trajan; she wears the imperial diadem, which is
here composed of precious stones cut into facets. This bust would of
course come outside the hand, the narrower part of the wreathed ring
passing between the thumb and first finger. The gorgeous inconvenience
of the whole thing is at once apparent. It probably decorated the hand
of some member of the imperial family.

[Illustration: Fig. 96.]

[Illustration: Fig. 97.]

The enormous sums expended by the wealthy on rings may be best
understood by an allusion to the recorded value of two belonging to
empresses of Rome. Thus, the ring of Faustina, we are told, cost
L40,000, and that of Domitia L60,000, reckoning the Roman sestertia at
its modern value.

Sometimes the decoration of a ring was not confined to a single gem,
though such rings were comparatively rare. Valerian speaks of the
_annulus bigemmis_, and Gorleus furnishes us with the specimen engraved
in Fig. 96; the larger gem has cut upon it a figure of Mars, holding
spear and helmet, but wearing only the chlamys; the smaller gem is
incised with a dove and myrtle branch. Beside it are placed two examples
of the emblematic devices and inscriptions adopted for classic rings,
when used as memorial gifts. The first is inscribed, "You have a love
pledge;" the second, "Proteros (to) Ugiae," between conjoined hands--a
type of concord still familiar to us.

Though the ancients seem scarcely to have thought of decorating the
circlet of the ring, they occasionally varied its form, producing
novelty at the expense of convenience. Fig. 98 is a whimsical example;
it may, however, have been principally used as a signet. The same may be
said of Fig. 99, which has a very broad face, set with an incised stone
bearing a figure of Hygeia.

[Illustration: Fig. 98.]

[Illustration: Fig. 99.]

The ancients tell us of charmed rings; such was the ring of Gyges, which
was reported to have rendered him invisible when he turned the stone
inwardly, and closed it in his palm. Execetus, tyrant of the Phocians,
carried two rings, which he was accustomed to strike together, to divine
by the sound emitted what he had to do, or what was to happen to him.

The most curious adaptation of the finger-ring to a double use was made
by the Romans. It was a combination of a ring and a key, as repr