It is related by Plutarch that when Pericles was dying of the plague, he showed to one of his friends, who was visiting him, an amulet suspended from his neck. This had been given to Pericles by the women of his household, and Plutarch cites the instance as a proof that even the strongest minds will at certain times yield to the influence of superstition.[466] There were sceptics in ancient times who put no faith in the popular superstitions as to the curative powers of precious stones. Eusebius (ca. 264-ca. 349), in his oration on the Emperor Constantine the Great (272-337), says:[467] He held that the varieties of stones so greatly admired were useless and ineffective things. They possessed no other qualities than their natural ones, and hence no efficacy to hold evils aloof; for what power can such things have either to cure disease or to avert death? Nevertheless, although he well knew this, he was in no wise opposed to their use simply as ornaments by his subjects. The Middle High German didactic poem on precious stones, composed by Volmar, or Volamar, about 1250, appears to have been written as a rejoinder to a satirical poem, the work of a writer called the “Stricker” (rascal). What chiefly aroused Volmar’s wrath was the fact that this irreverent personage dared to assert that a piece of colored glass set in a ring looked just as well and possessed the same virtues as a genuine precious stone of the same color. Volmar does not mince matters, and roundly declares that whoever should kill the man who wrote thus would do no sinful act. While we can scarcely recommend such drastic action, we must admit that we feel a little sympathy with the medieval champion of genuine stones against imitations. A most interesting item recording one phase of a great tyrant’s character is reported by Sir Jerome Horsey, who was entrusted with messages to and from Elizabeth of England and Ivan the Terrible of Russia. He gives, in his “Travels,” a graphic recital of an interview with Ivan just before the latter’s death in 1584. We retain the archaic spelling as it is reproduced in the Hakluyt publication from the original manuscript. Writing of Ivan, Horsey says:[468] Carried every daye in his chair into his treasure. One daye the prince beckoned me to follow. I strode emonge the rest venturously, and heard him call for som precious stones and jewells. Told the prince and nobles present before and aboute him the virtue of such and such, which I observed, and do pray I may a littell degress to declare for my own memorie sake. [Illustration: Facsimile page of Italian vellum manuscript treatise of the virtues of gems. Italian MS. of the Fourteenth Century in author’s library. Treating of Topaz, Turquoise, Jacinth, Garnet, Chalcedony, Rock-crystal, Coral.]