ROMAN PAVEMENTS. 253 



udders, and which sometimes, but not always, suckles a boy. 

 Much later, two boys appear, Romulus and Remus. 



On this subject Pliny acutely observes that cases of infants 

 suckled by beasts should be attributed rather to the greatness of 

 the fate that must be fulfilled, than to the nature of the animals 

 themselves. * 



It was the multiple breast, the Tro\v^a.ar6s, that proclaimed 

 Diana of Ephesus to be the nutrient Mother of many nations, 

 whilst the udders of Etruscan animals, of the Wolf of the 

 Lupercal, were big with the destinies of a mighty People. 



Christian Serpents. Two serpents issue from each of two of 

 the four vases in the Durngate Street mosaic. This has led a 

 friend of ours to a belief that the pavement must receive a 

 Christian interpretation. He sees in it an allusion to St. John 

 (December 2)th), Apostle, Prophet, and Evangelist. In some 

 late representations of the Saint he is made to bear in his hand 

 a cantharus or sacramental cup, from which a serpent appears to 

 be escaping. A legend relates that an attempt was made to 

 poison St. John in the chalice. But he drank of the wine and 

 administered it to the communicants with injury to no one, for 

 the venom had gone out from the cup in the guise of a serpent. 

 In art the Italian School, as by Raphael (d. 1520), depict for 

 us the egress of an ordinary snake, whereas the Flemish School, 

 as by Hans Memling (d. 1494), often miscalled Hemling, show 

 us a winged dragon. [Captain Acland has a good example of 

 each.] The frequent occurrence, in Christian legend, of 

 serpents in association with saints is assuredly an indication of 

 Pagan influence. During the flight into Egypt, when the Holy 

 Child lay in the wilderness, dragons came and worshipped at 

 His feet ; and the Blessed Virgin often places one foot on a 

 serpent's head. Against the bites of such reptiles the relics of 

 Phocas, martyred in Syria, are highly efficacious. St. Hilarion 



* Nam quae de infantibus ferarum lacte nutricis, cum essent expositi, 

 produntur sicut de conditoribus nostris a lupa, magnitudini fatorum accepta ferri 

 aequius, qnam ferarum naturae, arbitror. Plin. VIII., 17. 



