The so-called “Monogrammatic Cross” was very freely used in work of the fifth century. This is simply a modification of the monogram formed of the first two letters of the name Christ as written in Greek, a device which first appeared after the time of Constantine the Great (d. 337 A.D.). This monogram usually assumed the following form: ☧, and the “Monogrammatic Cross” was made by changing the position of the Greek X (chi), and making one of its arms serve as the straight stroke of the P (r), thus giving the following form: ⳨. A curious amulet to avert the spell of the Evil Eye is an engraved sard showing an eye in the centre, around which are grouped the attributes of the divinities presiding over the days of the week. Sunday, the dies Solis, is represented by a lion; Monday, the dies Lunæ, by a stag; Tuesday, the dies Martis, by a scorpion; Wednesday, the dies Mercurii, by a dog; Thursday, the dies Jovis, by a thunderbolt; Friday, the dies Veneris, by a snake; and Saturday, the dies Saturni, by an owl.[195] In this way the wearer was protected at all times from the evil influence. Because of its peculiar markings, some of which suggest the form of an eye, malachite was worn in some parts of Italy (_e.g._, in Bettona) as an amulet to protect the wearer from the spell of the Evil Eye. Such stones were called “peacock-stones,” from their resemblance in color and marking to the peacock’s tail. The form of these malachite amulets is usually triangular, and they were mounted in silver. It is curious to note, as a proof of the persistence of superstitions, that in an Etruscan tomb at Chiusi there was found a triangular, perforated piece of glass, each angle terminating in an eye formed of glass of various colors.[196] On many of the amulets fabricated in Italy for protection against the dreaded jettatura, or spell of the Evil Eye, the cock is figured. His image was supposed in ancient times to assure the protection of the sun-god, and his crowing was regarded as an inarticulate hymn of praise to this deity. He was also a type of dauntless courage. All this contributed to make him a defender of the weak, especially of women and children, against the wiles of the spirits of darkness.[197] Rostand, in his “Chantecler,” has enlarged this conception, and endows the cock with the proud conviction that it is to his matutinal chant alone that the world owes the daily recurrent phenomenon of the sunrise. [Illustration: TWO GOLD RINGS SET WITH ENGRAVED ONYX GEMS. On the right, a Victory; on the left, game-cocks. From the Dactyliotheca, of Gorlaeus, Delft, 1601, Figs. 171, 172.]