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wounds and eye ailments (Saffirus).51 They also help users control less
desirable bodily behaviours, reducing excessive perspiration (Saffirus)52
and soothing carnal lust (Smaralldus).53 Stones can also act prophylactically,
for example, protecting the user from poison (Smaralldus, Adamantis)54 or
from the inebriating effects of alcohol (Amatistus).55
Physiological aids (enhancive)
Stones not only treat and safeguard against specific ailments; they also
enhance and modify bodily capabilities. Thus, Berillus strengthens who-
ever possesses it56 and is effective at improving carnal love among married
couples.57 And Berillus is not the only stone with apparent aphrodisiac
qualities; Illiasborius58 makes a man “mikilmagnadan i allri kvensemi”
(powerful in all lust for women)59 thus sparking sexual appetite and per-
haps prowess in the user. Smaralldus provides a yet more impressive en-
hancement (and one after the hearts of Silicon Valley elites today)60 – the
possibility of extending one’s lifespan.61 This property does not appear in
Marbode’s original; it may be a misinterpretation of Marbode’s assertion
that the gem allows you to see into the future (a property which is other-
wise absent in AM 194 8vo’s account of Smaralldus), or it could reflect an
alternative tradition surrounding the gemstone.
Emotional aids (curative, prophylactic and enhancive)
Stones also provide emotional support for humans, removing fear (Iacinc-
tus),62 making people more agreeable (Saledonius)63 or more gentle to-
51 AÍ, 78: “gredir hann sár ok augu.”
52 Ibid.: “ofur-hita ok ofur-sveita.”
53 Ibid.: “stodvar lostasemi.”
54 Ibid.: “er hann godr vid eitri;”AÍ, 82: “fiRir hann leidiligu eitri.”
55 AÍ, 81: “hann er gangstadligr dreyckiu-monnum.”
56 AÍ, 79–80: “eflir hafandi.”
57 AÍ, 79: “godr hionum til astar.”
58 AM 194 8vo has “Illiasborius” (AÍ, 83); Marbode has “Alectorius” (De Lapidibus, 39).
59 AÍ, 83.
60 See, e.g., Adam Gabbatt, “Is Silicon Valley’s Quest for Immortality a Fate Worse than
Death?,” The Guardian (23 February 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/techno-
logy/2019/feb/22/silicon-valley-immortality-blood-infusion-gene-therapy .
61 AÍ, 78: “eykr þat efi manz.”
62 AÍ, 80.
63 AÍ, 83: “hann gerir mann […] þokadan vel.”
LAPIDARIES AND L Y F S T E I N A R