SYMBOL OF ETERNITY

Evening Star, Issue 18032, 28 July 1922, Page 8

SYMBOL OF ETERNITY

THE FINGER EIN& AN ANCIENT CEREMONIAL. From time immemorial the finger ring has been regarded) as the symbol of eternity, having no beginning and no end, and encircling in its magic clasp all the fortunes of mankind It has been the badge or insignia of power and compact, of rank and of faith, and has universally been fraught and associated with romance and love, and symbolical of happy union and mutual faithfulness. Never until now has it been the pledge of disruption and' the severing of ties, although often in its long history its services have been requisitioned in the interests of cruelty, envy, and jealousy, as well as a charm against superstition andi enchantment - In at present it has been decided that a ring shall be win by divorced people as an outward! and 1 visible sign of their disunion, and so it has fallen to the lot of twentiethrcentiwy America to use, in direct contradiction to its accepted meaning, the magic circlet of union (says a- writei in the ‘Ago’). . The Christian, practice of presenting the bride with a ring in holy wedlock originated from an Egyptian custom. Before the introduction of coinage in Egypt the gold wealth of the country wa_s circulated m the form of rings'hence it was that the Egyptian husband placed l one of these circlets’ of gold) on his wife’s linger as a token of entrusting her with all his property. The “ with all my worldly goodh I thee endow” of the modem marriage ceremony is, therefore, a survival of an old Egyptian ceremonial. USED IN GREECE. Marriage rings were also in use- in early Greece, where iron rings of betrothal were sent to the prospective brides of the Lacedaemonians, and- the same rings placed on the third finger of the left hand on the marriage day. The choice of hand and finger for the wearing of the ring was evidently duo to the fact that the right hand 1 was indicative oj power and independence, and therefore quite unsuitable for the emblem of marriage ; the left hand was consequently chosen as significant of woman’s subjection to man. At that time it was believed that a nerve leading directly to tire heart was situated on the third finger, so the amorous finger was the one chosen to wear the band of connubial bliss. Probably Pythagoras, when writing that curious maxim, “Never wear too light a, ring,” was thinking less of arrested circuUdion than of the restraining bonds_ of which the ring was an outward and visible sign. Vanity and the love of jewellery belonged to other ages than ours, and was nob confined bo the fair sex only, for a few centuries before the Christian era the Greeks of high estate vied with one another in the matter of,,wearing expensive and unique rings. Even the learned' Aristotle showed himself vain to a great degree, and drew the censure of Plate upon himself through wearing a- profusion of rings quite unbecoming to a philosopher. There was high Jeeling against the excess of tins craze mb the time, and the culprits drew upon themselves the opprobrium of their contemporaries. , IN ANCIENT BABYLON.

The tombs of the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians-were the resting places of the earliest existing specimens of rings. These are large and massive, mostly of gold, and 1 , covered with hieroglyphics. Others are in the form of_ serpents, of which fasoismilcs may be found in any modern jeweller’s window. Apparently the first use of 'the ring was In cany the signet, for these early rings were worn suspended round the neck, and 1 were used only as a seal. The Old Testament rings are mentioned, often ns badges of power and authority, and the high priests possessed rings of incredible value. The king set the seal of his high authority on the stone nf the lion's den, and cut Daniel off from any earthly aid. Hebrew legends tell of a wonderful and mystic ring,, in the possession of Solomon, by whoso aid ho gained his wisdom. from the heavens themselves. Mythology was called' into account by the Greeks to explain the old custom of wearing rings, and the story was that Zeus, after pardoning Prometheus his theft of the immortal fire from heaven, commanded him to encircle Ir.s finger with a link from the chain which had previously ‘bound him to The rock of torture, and to wear it as a reminder and evidence of his wrongdoing. The Roman senators displayed gold rings as a sign of their order, and at the period of the Republic iron rings were rewards for valor..- Soldiers wore bronze bands, and during the war of Canute it is said that three bushels of rings were taken from the slain. The agate ring of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, was recognised) as the talisman of his safety in the wars of the period, and- Julius Caesar wore a special signet ring carved with the figure of his protecting deity, whose name ho usually gave as his watchword in battle. POISON CARRIER. The poison ring was a- common thing in classical times and in the Middle Ages, j and was made the instrument of both j murder and suicide. Demosthenes, in the ] way of the great spirits of the times, i sought death -from his ring rather than disgrace. Hannibal, the great Carthaginian general, died by the same- means rather than fall into the hands of his enemies. In later days, during the Drench Revolution, a poison ring robbed Mad-nmo Guillotine of an illustrious victim. _Tho Marquis Do Condorcet was proclaimed Deputy of Paris, hut on his refusal to set his seal on the death warrant of the king ho was thrown into prison, and subsequently died by drinking the poison placed by a friend l inside his signet ring in anticipation of such an emergency. Eiendish hate, marked with hypocrisy and smiling friendliness, used ring,s as a means of assassination. These despicable instruments of murder were invented' by a Venetian, and .were so cleverly designed that tho first intimation the victim had of his fate was a slight scratch occasioned by -a handshake. In a few moments death was caused by the impregnation of the blood with a virulent and fatal poison. vSometimes it was more convenient to drop the poison from the ring into the wine of a fellow-diner, as did the notorious Cassa-r Borgia. THE COLA DI RIENZI. Tho great Cola Di Rienzi gave the ring a nobler use by symbolising his unalterable belief in his own destiny in a finger band which is now in a British museum. It is of silver, and its only decoration, besides his own and his wife's name, are two stars. Sir Walter Raleigh and tho Earl of Essex are -also historically known through tho fortunes of their respective rings. The treacherous retention of the gem by a supposed friend was responsible for the death of the earl; and the use Raleigh made of his diamond on the anteroom window pane was lb© means of furthering his fortunes in tho eyes of the young Queen Elizabeth. The novelty of seeing the couplet

Fain would I rise, But that I fear to fall, scratched in the glass so captivated her fancy that she added the lollowing lines in token of her interest:— If thy heart fail thee, Do not rise at all. The accepted symbolical meaning of the ring is that of union and mutual faithfulness, and this is exemplified at the Royal Coronation, when the Archbishop of Canterbury places a ring on the newly-crowned King's finger as a token of union between himself and the people. Queen Victoria’s ring contained a large ruby, and the goldsetting was engraved with the Cross of St. George. The rightful and best meaning of the ring is associated with all that is faithful, binding and sincere, and anything which .tends to disunion or the.baser instincts of men and women should have no place with the symbol of eternal fidelity and those solemn and momentous things pertaining to life which have their dignity in greatness and progress.

Divorce and the finger rings are poles asunder. The combining of the two _is certainly a gross misuse and a contradiction. Divorce suggests a broken circlet in placo of the complete ring perhaps tho now idea is to wear the golden band so largo and roomy as to present an easy matter for the wearer to slip out of its bonds and responsibilities, while preserving its accommodating properties intact.