THE POMEGRANATE 263 



hidden region, which Dante visited. . . . Botti- 

 celli putting it into the childish hands of Him, 

 who, if men went down into hell, is there also.* 



So, as the symbol of the life on the other side 

 of death, the pomegranate is exceedingly well 

 placed when given to the writer of the Divina 

 Commedia, and it is even more appropriate in 

 the hand of the incarnate Godhead — He who 

 holds our future destinies in the hollow of His 

 palm. 



But it is difficult to ascertain if this was 

 really the thought in the minds of the Florentine 

 artists. 



Mrs Jameson considers the pomegranate to 

 be the symbol of immortality, or, showing the 

 seeds, of hope in eternity. 



But it would scarcely be the symbol of im- 

 mortality in the Infant Saviour's hand, since the 

 symbol so placed is never His exclusive attribute, 

 but the indication of some relationship with 

 humanity. But showing the seeds — and the seeds 

 are usually shown — it might be the symbol of 

 a hope in eternity which He gives to man, the 

 parallel lying in the unexpected sweetness of 

 the fruit within the hard rind. 



