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De xii gemmis (fragmenta ap. Anastasium Sinaitam, Quaestiones et responsiones)

Of Saint Epiphanius concerning the 12 stones embedded in the breastplate of the priest.

12 stones.

Sardius, called the Babylonian, is fiery and blood-red, and it is found in Babylon in the land toward the Assyrians. It is transparent, of a healing power, which doctors use by anointing with it for swellings and wounds made by iron. Topaz is red, more so than the carbuncle stone, and it is found in the city of Topazos in India. When ground on a medical whetstone, it does not produce a juice red according to its color, but a milky one. And it fills many craters, as many as the one grinding it wishes, and it is diminished neither in weight nor in circumference. And the juice ground from it is useful for afflictions of the eyes, and when drunk for hydrophobia, and for those driven mad by the sea-grape. Smaragdus is green, and the barbarians, digging in the Indian mountains, cut it. And its power is for reflecting faces. Anthrax is bright crimson in appearance, and it is found in Carthage of Libya, which is called Africa. They say it is found not in the day, but at night; for from afar it sparkles like a torch or a coal, and for a time it stops.

And those who seek it, recognizing that this is it, go toward its light, and find it. And when it is carried, with whatever garments it might be covered, its light shines outside the wrapping. Sapphire is purple, and it is found in Ethiopia and India. When ground, it heals tumors and blisters, being applied with milk to the ulcerated places. And the law given to Moses on the mountain is said to have appeared on a sapphire stone. Iaspis is emerald-green, and it is found near the mouth of the river Mermodon, and near Amathus in Cyprus. And it is useful for epileptic seizures. Hyacinth is somewhat fiery, and it is found in the inner Barbaria of Scythia. The ancients were accustomed to call Scythia the entire northern region, where the Goths and Danes are. There, then, within the desert of great Scythia is a very deep ravine, and impassable for humans, surrounded on this side and that by mountains of rock, so that someone peering down from the tops of the mountains, as if from walls, is not able to see the floor of the ravine, but it is darkened by the depth like some chasm; in which those sent from the neighboring kings are condemned and forced. And having sacrificed lambs and skinned them, they throw them from above, from the rocks into the chasm of the ravine, and the stones stick to that meat. Eagles, therefore, dwelling in the rocks above, descend toward the smell of the meat, and carry up the lambs having the stones. And while they are eating the meat, the stones remain on the summit of the mountains. And the condemned men, having observed where the meat was carried up by the eagles, go forth, and thus they bring the stones. And they have such a power: for when thrown on burning coals, they themselves are not harmed, but they extinguish the coals.

Not only this, but also if someone takes the stone, and wraps it in linen, and places it on coals, while holding it, he himself is burned by the pyre, but the linen remains unharmed, And it is said to be useful for women in labor for the sake of an easy birth. Agate is bluish, and this too is found around those lands of Scythia. And when rubbed on the forehead, it turns away the pain of a bite

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De xii gemmis (fragmenta ap. Anastasium Sinaitam, Quaestiones et responsiones)

Τοῦ ἁγίουἘπιφανίου περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ λογίῳ τοῦ ἱερέως ἐμπεπηγμένων

ιβʹ λίθων.

Σάρδιον, τὸ Βαβυλώνιον καλούμενον, πυρωπὸς μέν ἐστι καὶ αἱματώδης, γίνεται δὲ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι τῇ πρὸςἈσσυρίους γῇ. ∆ιαυγὴς δέ ἐστι, δυνάμεως θεραπευτικῆς, ᾧ κέχρηνται οἱ ἰατροὶ πρὸς οἰδήματα καὶ πληγὰς ἀπὸ σιδήρου γενομένας ἀποχριόμενοι. Τοπάζιον ἐρυθρὸς μέν ἐστιν ὑπὲρ τὸν ἄνθρακα λίθον, γίνεται δὲ ἐν Τοπάζῃ πόλει τῆςἸνδικῆς. Τριβόμενος δὲ ἐν ἰατρικῇ ἀκόνῃ, οὐκ ἐρυθρὸν ἀποδίδωσι κατὰ τὸ χρῶμα χυμὸν, ἀλλὰ γαλακτώδη. Ἐμπίπλησι δὲ κρατῆρας καὶ πολλοὺς, ὅσους ἂν ἐθέλῃ ὁ ὑποτρίβων, καὶ οὔτε τῷ στάθμῳ, οὔτε τῇ περιφερείᾳ ἐλαττοῦται. Χρησιμεύει δὲ ὁ τριβόμενος ἐξ αὐτοῦ χυμὸς εἰς πάθη ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ πρὸς τὰς ὑδρομανίας πινόμενος, καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ σταφυλῆς θαλασσίας μαινομένοις. Σμάραγδος χλωρὸς μέν ἐστιν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῖς Ἰνδικοῖς ὀρύγοντες οἱ βάρβαροι, κόπτουσιν αὐτόν.Ἡ δὲ δύναμις αὐτοῦ, εἰς τὸ ἐσοπτρίζεσθαι τὰ πρόσωπα. Ἄνθραξ ὀξυφοινισσὸς μέν ἐστι τῷ εἴδει, γίνεται δὲ ἐν Καρχηδόνι τῆς Λιβύας, ἥτιςἈφρικὴ λέγεται. Φασὶ δὲ αὐτὸν οὐκ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, ἀλλ' ἐν νυκτὶ εὑρίσκεσθαι· πόῤῥωθεν γὰρ δίκης λαμπάδος ἢ ἄνθρακος σπινθηρακίζων, ἐπὶ ὥραν καταπαύεται.

Ἐπιγνόντες δὲ οἱ τοῦτον ζητοῦντες, ὅτι οὗτός ἐστιν, ἀπέρχονται πρὸς τὴν αὐγὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ εὑρίσκουσιν αὐτόν. Βασταζόμενος δὲ ὁποίοις ἂν ἱματίοις καταλυφθῇ, ἡ αὐγὴ αὐτοῦ ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς φαίνει. Σάπφειρος πορφυρίζων μέν ἐστι, γίνεται δὲ ἐν Αἰθιοπίᾳ καὶἸνδίᾳ. Τριβόμενος δὲ, φύματα καὶ ψύδρας ἰᾶται σὺν γάλακτι ἐπιχριόμενος τοῖς εἱλκωμένοις τόποις. Καὶ ἡ ἐν τῷ ὄρει δὲ τῷ Μωϋσῇ δοθεῖσα νομοθεσία, ἐπὶ λίθῳ σαπφείρῳ λέγεται πεφηνέναι. Ἰάσπις σμαραγδίζων μέν ἐστιν, εὑρίσκεται δὲ παρὰ τὸ στόμα Μερμόδοντος τοῦ ποταμοῦ, καὶ παρὰἈμαθουντίῳ Κύπρου. Χρησιμεύει δὲ εἰς τὰς ἐπιλήψεις. Ὑάκινθος ὑποπυρίζων μέν ἐστιν, εὑρίσκεται δὲ ἐν τῇ ἐσωτέρᾳ Βαρβαρίᾳ τῆς Σκυθίας. Σκυθίαν δὲ εἰώθασι καλεῖν οἱ παλαιοὶ τὸ κλίμα ἅπαν τὸ βόρειον, ἔνθα εἰσὶν οἱ Γότθοι καὶ ∆άνεις.Ἐκεῖ τοίνυν ἔνδον ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς μεγάλης Σκυθίας ἐστὶ φάραγξ λίαν βαθυτάτη, καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἄβατος, ὄρεσι πετρῶν ἐντεῦθεν καὶ ἐντεῦθεν περιστοιχισμένη, ὥστε ἄνωθεν ἀπ' ἄκρων τῶν ὀρέων παρακύψαντά τινα, ὡς ἀπὸ τειχῶν, μὴ δύνασθαι κατοπτεύειν τὸ ἔδαφος τῆς φάραγγος, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ βάθους ἐσκοτίσθαι ὥσπερ τι χάος· ἐν ᾗ οἱ ἀπεσταλμένοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖσε πλη89.589 σιαζόντων βασιλέων, κατάδικοί εἰσι καὶ βιαζόμενοι. Θύσαντες δὲ ἀρνοὺς καὶ ἐκδείραντες ῥίπτουσιν ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ τῶν πετρῶν εἰς τὸ χάος τῆς φάραγγος, καὶ κολλῶσιν οἱ λίθοι ἐν τοῖς κρέασιν ἐκείνοις. Ἀετοὶ οὖν ἐν ταῖς πέτραις ἄνωθεν κατοικοῦντες, πρὸς τὴν ὀσμὴν τῶν κρεῶν κατέρχονται, καὶ ἀναφέρουσι τοὺς ἀρνοὺς ἔχοντας τοὺς λίθους.Ἐν δὲ τῷ ἐσθίειν τὰ κρέα οἱ λίθοι μένουσιν ἐν τῇ ἀκρωρείᾳ τῶν ὀρέων. Οἱ δὲ κατάδικοι σκοπήσαντες, ποῦ ἀνήχθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀετῶν τὰ κρέα, ἀπέρχονται, καὶ οὕτω φέρουσι τοὺς λίθους. Ἔχουσι δὲ ἐνέργειαν τοιάνδε· βαλλόμενοι γὰρ ἐπ' ἀνθράκων πυρὸς, αὐτοὶ μὲν οὐ βλάπτονται, τοὺς δὲ ἄνθρακας κατασβεννύουσιν.

Οὐ μόνον δὲ τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ λαμβάνων τις τὸν λίθον, καὶ περιειλίσας ἐν ὀθόνῃ, τινὶ ἐπιθεὶς ἐπ' ἄνθρακας, κρατῶν αὐτὸν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς πυρᾶς φλογίζεται, ἡ δὲ ὀθόνη ἀβλαβὴς μένει, Λέγεται δὲ καὶ ταῖς τικτούσαις γυναιξὶν εὐτοκίας χάριν χρησιμεύειν. Ἀχάτης ὑποκυανίζων μέν ἐστιν, εὑρίσκεται δὲ καὶ οὗτος περὶ τὰς Σκυθίας χώρας ἐκείνας. Τριβόμενος δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ μετώπῳ, δήγματος ἀποτρέπει πόνον