Archaic Sculpturings. 155 



ters in the i^lobe, thoug"h at certain stag^es he beliexed it Hat 

 and not round. This conception is disclosed in pictures on 

 other stones, such as that of the four men already mentioned 

 g-rouped swastika-wise on one of the Meigle monument. 

 Man, after he had evolved from the lower animal stae;"es, 

 attained that platform which is commonly called human, 

 when he found that his thoughts floated about him, and that 

 apparently the thoughts of others in the same class inter- 

 mingled with his own. Now this picture shows a man who, 

 because of his ill-developed condition and his bestial nature, 

 is unable to grasp the true meaning of human life and the 

 essentially co-operative nature of life in its highest develop- 

 ments, forgetful of the axiom that man cannot stand alone, 

 but must be supported and gi\e support. 



We see him, then, on the Closeburn monument, asinine 

 and frog-like, stranded on the shores of ignorance and 

 stupidity. 



The lower panel on the same face of the stone seems to 

 supplement the picture just described. It has, however, 

 somewhat the same meaning and seems to fit into the idea — 

 that of wisdom opposing stupidity, as the serpent is seen 

 contending with an ungainly quadruped. 



This motif is very frequently rendered on Scottish 

 stones. It is sometimes portrayed by a fat tail-less quadruped 

 with longish jaws, which gazes abstractly at a serpent-like 

 creature. The quadruped stands for stupidit}' and apathy, 

 not understanding, or forgetful of, wisdom, which is repre- 

 sented by the serpent. Such a scene is to be observed on 

 the Shandwick and on other cross-slabs. An examination of 

 many dozens of early Christian sculptured stones shows the 

 same idea with gradations of meaning. The quadruped as 

 at Closeburn is further symbolic, from its attitude of retarda- 

 tion, expressixe of the difficulties of progression. 



The Trinity Symbol. 



The symbol of the trinity has far more variants in 

 Scotland than any other symbol. It occurs on one of the 

 carved stone balls, and on ancient massive siher chains and 

 on many Pagan and early Christian metallic objects, such as 



