548 LAPIDARIUM SEPTENTRIONALE. 



" The carvings on this stone are probably Mithraic emblems. It were a vain 

 task to attempt to unveil the enigma concealed under each. Probably the 

 original upholders of these ancient mysteries could nob themselves give an iatel- 

 ligent account of them. 



" The Rev. John Hodgson has attempted to throw some light upon this obscure 

 combination of figures ; and as the reader may wish to have his observations at 

 hand, the following passage is introduced from the Gentleman's Magazine, as. 

 referred to above : — " Here we have the umbilicated moon in her state of oppo- 

 sition to the sun, and the sign of froitfulness. She was also, in the doctrines of 

 Sabaism, the northern gate by which Mercury conducted souls to birth, as men- 

 tioned by Homer in his description of the Cave of the Nymphs, and upon which 

 there remains a commentary by Porphyry. 



" The cross in Gentile rites was the symbol of reproduction and resurrection. 

 ' It was,' as Shaw remarks, ' the same with the ineffable image of eternity that is 

 taken notice of by Suidas.' 



"The crescent in Gentile rites was the lunar ship or ark that bore, in Mr. 

 Faber's language, the Great Father and the Great Mother over the waters of the 

 deluge ; and it was also the emblem of the boat or ship which took aspirants 

 over the lakes or arms of the sea to the Sacred Islands, to which they resorted 

 for initiation into the mysteries, and over the river of death to the mansions of 

 Elysium. 



" The cockatrice was the snake-god. It was also the basilisk or cock adder. 

 ' Habet caudam ut coluber, vero corpus ut gallus.' The Egyptians considered the 

 basilisk as the emblem of eternal ages. What relation had this with the Nehustan. 

 or Brazen Serpent, to which the Israelites paid divine honours in the time of 

 Hezekiah ? 



" What is the circle with the seasons at the equinoxes and solstices marked 

 upon it ? — the signs of the four great Pagan festivals celebrated at the commence- 

 ment of each of these seasons ? 



" I am not hierophant enough to unriddle and explain the hidden tale of this 

 combination of hieroglyphics. 



" This bas-relief seems to refer, in some dark manner, to matters connected 

 with the ancient heathen mysteries." 



In the Canadian Journal, Yol. XIY., pp. 1-8, the two principal 

 objects are explained so as to leave no doubt of their meaning, and 

 of the others a probable solution is given. 



" On comparing the two representations of the carvings on the stone, it appears 

 that the twisted, snake-like form of the tail of the bird, as given in the sketck 

 supplied by Mr. Hodgson, is not observable in Dr. Bruce's wood-cut ; nor can 

 there be, in my judgment, any reasonable doubt that the bird was intended to 

 represent a cock. As to the circular object in the right-hand angle, with inter- 

 secting lines, it seems to me to be nothing more than the representation of an 

 ordinary loaf of ancient Italian bread, which, we know, was thus divided into 

 four parts — quadrae. Thus we have in Virgil, ^a. vii, 114, 115 — ■ 

 Et violate manu inalisque audacibus orbem 

 Fatcdis crusti, patulis nee parcere quadria. 



