This Gyges, after a great flood, passed
into a very deep cavity in the earth, where having found in the belly of
a brazen horse, with a large aperture in it, a human body of enormous
size, he pulled from off one of the fingers a ring of surprising virtue;
for the stone on the collet rendered him who wore it invisible, when the
collet was turned towards the palm of the hand, so that the party could
see, without being seen, all manner of persons and things. Gyges, having
made trial of its efficacy, bethought himself that it would be a means
for ascending the throne of Lydia, and for gaining the Queen by it. He
succeeded in his designs, having killed Candaules, her husband. The dead
body this ring belonged to was that of an ancient Brahman, who, in his
time, was chief of that sect.
The rings of the ancients often served for seals. Alexander the Great,
after the death and defeat of Darius, used his ring for sealing the
letters he sent into Asia, and his own for those he sent to Europe. It
is customary in Rome for the bridegroom to send the bride, before
marriage, a ring of iron, without either stone or collet, to denote how
lasting their union ought to be, and the frugality they were to observe
together; but luxury herein soon gained ground, and there was a
necessity for moderating it.
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