The old writers are never tired of insisting upon the idea that, while the image graven upon a stone was in itself dead and inactive, the influence of the stars during whose ascendancy the work had been executed communicated to the inert material talismanic qualities and virtues which it before lacked. In these instances the images could be regarded as outward and visible signs of the planetary or zodiacal influence. Even in the case of the bezoar stone, a generally recognized antidote for all sorts of poisons, it was held that the scorpion’s bite could be most effectually healed by a bezoar upon which this creature’s figure had been cut during the time when the constellation Scorpio was in the ascendancy.[442] In the production of engraved stones to serve as amulets, the influence of the respective planet was made to enter the stone by casting upon the latter, during the process of engraving, reflections from a mirror which had been exposed to the planet’s rays. In addition to this, the work was executed while the planet was in the ascendant, and the design was emblematic of it. With these combined influences the gem was believed to be thoroughly impregnated with the planetary virtue.[443] An old writer finds in the hardness of precious stones a reason for their retaining longer the celestial virtues they receive. After they have been extracted these virtues persist in them and they keep “the traces and gifts of mundane life which they possessed while clinging to the earth.”[444] These “gifts of mundane life” signify the stored-up energy derived from the stars and planets, which penetrates the matter of the stone, and each stone is peculiarly sensitive to the emanations from a certain planet, star, or group of stars. A fine carnelian gem engraved with a design consisting of a star surrounded by the images of a ram, a bull, and a lion, is described by M. Mairan.[445] He sees in the star the emblem of the splendid comet which appeared shortly after the assassination of Cæsar, and which, according to Suetonius, was believed to be the soul of Cæsar newly received into the sky; the ram, bull, and lion are the symbols of the zodiacal signs Aries, Taurus, and Leo, the first-named sign referring perhaps to the death of Cæsar on the Ides, or fifteenth of March; while the other two signs may allude to the position of the comet at different dates. In the Cabinet du Roi, in Paris, there was an engraved carnelian, the design showing Jupiter enthroned, with thunderbolt and sceptre, and Mars and Mercury standing on either side of the central figure. Separated from the gods of the upper air by a bow, probably representing the arch of the sky, appears the bust of Neptune, emerging from the sea. The border of the design is formed by the twelve signs of the zodiac, Virgo being of an unusual type,—the virgin and a unicorn,—said to have been used only during the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.).[446]