EMBLEMS AND SYMBOLS 17 



sent, like the trees, those good works which 

 have the virtues for roots.' Growing things, 

 he considered, could very beautifully supple- 

 ment the ritual of the Church, and he recom- 

 mends that * on Palm Sunday the people should 

 deck themselves with flowers, olive branches 

 and palms, the flowers to signify the virtues of 

 the Holy One, the olive branches His office as 

 peace-bringer and the palms His victory over 

 Satan.' 



There were those symbolists who, like 

 Durandus of Mende and the Cardinal Petrus 

 of Capua, valued the symbol entirely as a means 

 of interpreting the doctrines of the Church. 

 Their definition was that of Hugues de Saint- 

 Victor : ' The symbol is the allegorical repre- 

 sentation of a Christian principle under a mate- 

 rial form ' ; and they simply searched for those 

 objects which best suited their purpose. Then 

 there were those symbohsts who, Hke Saint 

 Hildegarde, Abbess of Rupertsburg, mixed their 

 symbohsm strangely with herbalism and magic. 

 A plant of healing virtues was a good plant, 

 attributed to the Virgin or a saint, and typify- 

 ing their virtues, and a harmful plant was evil, 



B 



