The sapphire is noted as a regal gem by Damigeron, who asserts that kings wore it about their necks as a powerful defence from harm. The stone preserved the wearer from envy and attracted divine favor.[148] For royal use, sapphires were set in bracelets and necklaces, and the sacred character of the stone was attested by the tradition that the Law given to Moses on the Mount was engraved on tablets of sapphire.[149] While we should probably translate here “lapis-lazuli” instead of “sapphire,” all such passages were later understood as referring to the true sapphire, which is not found in pieces of the requisite size. In the twelfth century, the Bishop of Rennes lavishes encomiums upon this beautiful stone. It is quite natural that this writer should lay especial stress upon the use of the sapphire for the adornment of rings, for it was in his time that it was beginning to be regarded as the stone most appropriate for ecclesiastical rings. The sapphire was like the pure sky, and mighty Nature had endowed it with so great a power that it might be called sacred and the gem of gems. Fraud was banished from its presence and necromancers honored it more than any other stone, for it enabled them to hear and to understand the obscurest oracles.[150] [Illustration: SAPPHIRE RING WITH ENCIRCLING DIAMONDS. Presented to John Cardinal Farley on the occasion of his elevation to the cardinalate.] The traditional virtue of the sapphire as an antidote against poison is noted by Bartolomæus Anglicus, who claims to have seen a test of its power, somewhat similar to that recorded by Ahmed Teifashi of the emerald. In John of Trevisa’s version this passage reads as follows:[151] His vertue is contrary to venym, and quencheth it every deale. And yf you put an attercoppe[152] in a boxe and hold a very saphyre of Inde at the mouth of the boxe ony whyle, by vertue thereof the attercoppe is overcome & dyeth as it were sodenly, as Dyasc. sayth [pseudo Dioscorides]. And this same I have assayed oft in many and dyvers places. His vertue kepeth and savyth the syght, & clearyth eyen of fylthe wythout ony greyf. Voicing the general belief that the sapphire was endowed with power to influence spirits, Bartolomæus says that this stone was a great favorite with those who practised necromancy, and he adds: “Also wytches love well this stone, for they wene that they may werke certen wondres by vertue of this stone.”[153]