274 FISH IN MYTHS, SYMBOLS, DIET, MEDICINE 



has been for centuries the emblem of the Samurai, because of 

 its accredited power to withstand opposition and to swim 

 against the current of the stream. 



On the advent of Christianity, numerous become the 

 allusions in Patristic and other literature. From the repetition 

 by Father after Father of AqiicB vivce piscis Chrisius, of piscatio 

 duplex, Ecclesia prcBsens et futura, and of similar sentences, the 

 application approaches perilously near the commonplace. 



Nor was its scope moraUy limited. St. Augustine, St. 

 Cyprian, and others allegorise fish and fishing in both good and 

 bad senses. 



Thus, piscis pia fides qncB vivit inter fluctus nee frangitur ; 

 piscis fides invisibilium ; rete Christus ; sagcB7ia Ecclesia ; 

 Christus est piscis assus discipiilis, serpens Judceis, can be 

 matched by pisces immundi, peccatores ; piscis maris, dcBmones ; 

 piscator Diabolus ; rete, deceptio Diaboli ; and sagcena, cor 

 midieris, which last, from a technical point of view, hardly 

 stamps Bishop Humbertus as a proficient in our craft. 



From the identification — Christus est piscis ^ — is no long 

 step to the symbolic use of the very letters which spell the 

 Greek word for fish : thus from IX9YS=I-ch-th-u-s, is estab- 

 lished 'Ijjo-oCc XpiGTOQ deov vlog trwrj/p, or " Jesus Christ, of God 

 Son, Saviour." 



This symbolic adoption in connection with their God was 

 far from original. A fish, at first the symbol of Vishnu, was 

 adopted by the Buddhists, and from them by the Christians 

 of Turkestan. 2 This adoption and adaptation of a Pagan 

 symbol was but one of the m.any instances where Christian 

 pohcy or Christian practice took over and continued heathen 

 customs, institutions, and vestments. ^ 



^ Pitra, op. cit., has several plates bearing on this. Of the coloured, 

 pi. I shows an eucharistic table with a fish and bread upon it, and at each 

 side seven baskets full of the latter, while in pi. 3 a fish swims bearing on his 

 head a basket with sacred loaves, both illustrative of the miracle. See also 



pp- s'js-Cj- 



* Keller, op. cit., p. 352. The latest and best monograph on the fish- 

 symbol in Christianity is that of F. J. Dolger, Das Fisch-symbol infruhchristlicher 

 Zeit (Freiburg, 1910), whose conclusions are summarised in the Archiv fur 

 Religionswissenschafl (1912), XV. 297 f. 



^ Cf. the many fascinating works of Dr. J. Rendel Harris, e.g. The Cult 

 of the Heavenly Twins and Boanerges. Also Lowrie, Art and Archeeology ; 

 and Miss M. Hamilton, Greek Saints and their Festivals. 



