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Pythagoras forbade the use of the figures of gods upon rings, lest, from seeing their images too frequently, it should breed a contempt for them.[23]

It has been attempted to connect with a ring the consecration of a circle, as emblematical of the Deity. Over the door of a Norman church at Beckford, in Gloucestershire, England, is a rude bas-relief, representing the holy cross between the four beasts, used as symbols of the Evangelists. The “human form divine” appears to have been beyond the sculptor’s power; he has made a ring. The others are an eagle, lion, and bull.[24]

§ 9. The Romans distinguished their rings by names taken from their use, as we do.[25] The excessive luxury shown in the number worn, and the value of gems and costly engraved stones in them, and the custom of wearing lighter rings in summer and heavier in winter, are among the most absurd instances of Roman effeminacy, (as we shall hereafter more particularly show.)[26] The case in which they kept their rings was called Dactylotheca. No ornament was more generally worn among the Romans than rings. This custom appears to have been borrowed from the Sabines.[27] They laid them aside at night, as well as when they bathed or were in mourning, as did suppliants. However, in times of sorrow, they rather changed than entirely put them aside; they then used iron ones, taking off the gold rings.[28] It was a proof of the greatest poverty, when any one was obliged to pledge his ring to live. Rings were given by those who agreed to club for an entertainment. They were usually pulled off from the fingers of dying persons; but they seem to have been sometimes put on again before the dead body was buried.