Another saint who was invoked for help in plague and pestilence was St. Sebastian (January 20), born in Narbonne in Gaul. In this case the story of the saint’s martyrdom gave rise to the belief in his curative powers, for the legend tells us that he was transfixed with arrows, and these missiles were regarded as symbols of the plague. We have an illustration of this old belief in the first book of Homer’s Iliad, where the pestilence that visited the army of the Greeks is represented as due to the shafts sped from Apollo’s silver bow. Although no curative powers are attributed to them, no one of English speech should forget SS. Crispin and Crispian, on whose day the battle of Agincourt was fought, in 1415. The old feud between France and England has been long forgotten, the rivalry between these nations has given place to a close friendship, and there is no trace of animosity in the glow that warms an Englishman’s heart when he reads the ringing words put by Shakespeare into the mouth of Henry V: And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered. It is related by Metaphrastus that when St. George was condemned to death by burning, his executioners (fearing that the flames of the pyre might be extinguished because of his virtue) covered his body with a garment of amiantos (asbestos); for it was believed that when this material began to burn the flame could not be extinguished. But all precautions were vain, for as soon as the saint was placed in the flames the fire went out, contrary to the laws of nature, and not a hair of his head was injured. This tale illustrates a curious but not unnatural misunderstanding of the name asbestos, which really signifies inextinguishable, but was intended to mean that the substance would not burn, and hence that no flame could be extinguished in it.[497] In an unpublished manuscript written by Aubrey are quoted the following curious lines on the legend of St. George and the Dragon:[498] To save a mayd, St. George the Dragon slew, A pretty tale if all is told be true; Most say there are no Dragons, and ’tis sayd, There was no George; pray God there was a mayd. The St. George thalers, coined by the counts of Mansfeld (Thüringen), enjoyed in bygone times a reputation as amulets for soldiers. This belief is said to have originated from the actual preservation of a soldier’s life by one of these coins, which he had sewed up in the lining of his coat just over his heart for safe-keeping. A bullet which struck him here and would otherwise have killed him, was diverted by coming in contact with the thaler. Hungarian St. George thalers were regarded as amulets for sailors as well as soldiers. These coins derived their name from bearing the design of St. George and the Dragon.