We have Trajan as emperor, judge, and warrior. We see him engaged in conflict, we admire him victorious, we rejoice in his happy return to Rome on several occasions; in his triumphant reception both by the people and the army, and in the arches erected as souvenirs of his prowess; in his dignified reception of the son of the King of the Armenians, and in his condescension in restoring their kingdom; in several of his expeditions against the Dacians, and in his happy escape from the plot of Decebalus. We have instances of his public charities delicately depicted in cameo; his religious sacrifices; his exploits as a hunter of many wild animals, the boar and the lion included, are exemplified. We have several beautiful groups with emperors delivering allocutions before the cohorts of their armies, senators, and other dignitaries; the triumphant entry of Titus Vespasianus into Jerusalem, whereon twenty-two figures are visible, and the exit from Jerusalem of his victorious army, on which nineteen figures are seen; also the groups of Jewish prisoners. SOMMERVILLE COLLECTION. [Illustration: 1339] [Illustration: 1350] [Illustration: 1351] [Illustration: 1349] HISTORICAL CAMEOS. All these pages in my stone book are certainly interesting additions to ancient history. ANIMALS AND BIRDS. We have seen how large a proportion of the subjects on ancient gems were mythological, how extended was the class of religious and of Christian subjects; we have noted the loved portraits of sovereigns, statesmen, philosophers, physicians, and poets. There remains a series worthy of notice--those intaglios and cameos worn as amulets on which were engraved innumerable animals, birds, fishes, and even insects. As the families of the nobility chose the insignia which entered into the quarterings of their escutcheons, so the ancients according to their superstitions or their tastes chose some patron animal or bird for an emblem and caused it to be engraved on their talismans; and these symbols were cherished with what might almost be termed religious fervency. They were used as amulets, supposed to protect the wearers against accident and to repel danger. There was almost a pharmacopœia of gems, with solace for every trouble of mind and a remedy for every disease. A dolphin, the mariner’s friend, on sard or carnelian, was an emblem worn by fishermen, and was believed to protect them from the attacks of sharks or other voracious fishes. They also carried with equal reliance the same design in antique paste. The eagle of Jupiter is symbolic of his power, although it was subservient to him. This no doubt accounts for its appropriation in heraldry by sovereigns. The raven, the friend of Apollo; the parrot, a loquacious inebriate, is often an attendant on Bacchus. The aringa, a fish of the Adriatic Sea, represented on a talisman in my collection, was worn by women on account of its being the symbol of fruitfulness; it deposits many thousand eggs each year.