THE PALM 137 



torious, and advocates their use as a religious 

 symbol. 



Palms at this period seem to have been used 

 as an emblem of the public games themselves. 

 On the consular diptyches, the double tablets 

 of ivory which a consul had carved to com- 

 memorate his entry into office, it was customary 

 to put palms beneath the figure of the consul, 

 among the bags of money and other objects that 

 were supposed to represent the benefits which 

 would accrue to the populace beneath his rule. 



It was probably this secular use of the palm 

 which excluded it from the symbolism of the 

 Church during the early centuries, for it is palm 

 trees not palm branches which are found in 

 the early mosaics, notably those of S. Apollinare 

 Nuova in Ravenna, where palm trees alternate 

 with the figures round the frieze, and palm trees, 

 according to St Ambrose, were not the symbol 

 of victory but the emblem of the righteous 

 man, ' for its roots are upon the earth but its 

 head is lifted towards the heavens.' 



But by the thirteenth century the public 

 games had dropped from Italian social life, and 

 religious art reverted once more to the palm 



