14-05-2016, 09:42 PM
Quote: As we do now, also the ancients used to seal letters with rings worn on the fingers, so that communications were not seen or made public.
"Usavasi ancora dagli Antichi sigillar, come ora, le lettere con anelli, che si portano in dito, acciò che non si vedano, o palesino i negozi"
They're talking about wax seals that used to be made into the shape of a ring. You would fold your letter over, and pour wax to prevent it being opened. Then you would press your ring (or whatever seal you possessed, quite often it would be a stamp) to make an impression in the wax. The received thus knew, from the condition of the wax seal, if the letter had been tampered with.
Another version was to append a wax seal to the end of an official document to certify its veracity - legal notices and the like (letters patent, legal instructions open to all to view with the wax seal serving as an indication that the Authority had issued the instructions).
I doubt very much that this is what we are seeing in the VM.