PLINY: NATURAL HISTORY

that the Roman [senate] possessed gold rings is not clear, inasmuch as rings were bestowed officially only on those who were about to go as envoys to foreign nations—I believe because these men were understood to be the most highly honored by foreigners. Nor was it the custom for any others to use them than those who had received them officially for that reason. Commonly, even those who were celebrating a triumph did not wear them; and although a Tuscan crown of gold was held over the victor from behind, the ring on the finger of the triumphant man was iron, just as it was for the slave holding the crown before him.

12 This was how Gaius Marius celebrated his triumph over Jugurtha, and it is recorded that he did not assume a gold ring until his third consulship. Those, moreover, who had received gold rings on account of an embassy only wore them in public, but wore iron rings within their homes. By this reasoning, even now, an iron ring is sent as a gift to a bride, and it is a ring without a stone. For my part, I do not see that there were any rings in the times of the Iliad original: "Iliacis temporibus". Certainly, Homer nowhere mentions them, although he indicates that tablets were sent back and forth for the sake of letters, and that stored clothes, and gold and silver vessels, were tied with knots, not with the mark of a ring. He also records that the leaders cast lots original: "sortiri" against challenges without using rings; and he [Hephaestus] says that the god of handicraft frequently made brooches and other articles of feminine adornment in the beginning, without mention of rings.

and in the Republican period.

clear, not even members of the Roman senate had gold rings, inasmuch as rings were bestowed officially on men about to go as envoys to foreign nations, and on them only, the reason no doubt being that the most highly honoured foreigners were recognized in this way. Nor was it the custom for any others to wear a gold ring than those on whom one had been officially bestowed for the reason stated; and customarily Roman generals went in triumph without one, and although a Tuscan crown of gold was held over the victor's head from behind, nevertheless he wore an iron ring on his finger when going in triumph, just the same as the slave holding the crown in front of himself.

Jan. 1, 104 B.C. 103 B.C. This was the way in which Gaius Marius celebrated his triumph over Jugurtha, and it is recorded that he did not assume a gold ring till his third tenure of the consulship. Those moreover who had been given gold rings because they were going on an embassy only wore them in public, but in their homes wore iron rings; this is the reason why even now an iron ring and what is more a ring without any stone in it is sent as a gift to a woman when betrothed.

Rings in Homer. Indeed I do not find that any rings were worn in the Trojan period; at all events Homer nowhere mentions them, although he shows that tablets used to be sent to and fro in place of letters, and that clothes and gold and silver vessels were stored away in chests and were tied up with signet-knots, not sealed with signet-rings. Also he records the chiefs as casting lots about meeting a challenge from the enemy without using signet-rings; and he also says that the god of handicraft in the original period frequently made brooches and other articles of