ANIMAL SYMBOLISM IN ARCHITECTURE. 191 



spirit to the sun of righteousness, . . . and then dip himself thrice 

 in the well-spring of salvation." 



Again, one version of the Pliysiologus tells us that the upper 

 beak of old eagles grows so long that it would prevent them from 

 eating and cause them to die of hunger did they not break off the 

 superfluous part of the beak against a stone ; and on this alleged 

 fact is based the statement that " the rock of salvation is the only- 

 cure for the growth of carnal-mindedness, and the sole means of 

 preventing spiritual starvation." 



Of marine animals the early Christian philosophers knew 

 little, but naturally they had heard of the whale, and found im- 

 portant meanings in him. One of the lessons taught by the whale 

 is given as follows : " When he is hungry, he opens his wide 

 mouth seaward and a pleasant odor issues from his maw, so that 

 other fishes are deceived and swim eagerly toward the place 

 whence this sweet odor comes. In heedless shoals they enter into' 

 his extended jaws ; then suddenly the grim gums close and crush 

 their prey. Thus the devil allures men to their destruction and 

 closes upon them the barred gates of hell." 



The mediseval imagination played curiously about the pelican. 

 A type of the atonement was found in the supposed fact that the 

 pelican tears open its breast and feeds its young with its own 

 blood. New value was given to the pelican by that great thinker, 

 St. Augustine. Writing upon the passage in the one hundred 

 ^nd second Psalm " I am become like a pelican in the wilder- 

 ness " he says : " The males of these birds are wont to kill their 

 young by blows of their beaks and then to bewail their death for 

 the space of three days. At length, however, the female inflicts 

 a severe wound on herself, and, letting her blood flow over the 

 dead ones, brings them to life again." 



Naturally, this statement, coming from a man so widely ven- 

 erated, proved a great source of inspiration to the pious writers 

 and sculptors of the middle ages. 



The otter and the crocodile also attracted the attention of these 

 pious writers, and they developed in good faith the following 

 statement : " When the crocodile sleeps, it keeps its mouth open ; 

 but the otter wallows in the mire until it becomes thickly coated 

 with mud, which dries and hardens and forms a sort of armor, 

 thus enabling it to run securely into the jaws and down the throat 

 of the sleeping crocodile, and to kill it by devouring its bowels. 

 So our Saviour, after having put on flesh, descended into hell and 

 carried away the souls dwelling therein ; and, as the otter comes 

 away unharmed irom the belly of the crocodile, so our Lord rose 

 from the grave on the third day, alive and uninjured." * 



* See work cited, pp. 131, 132. 



