[Footnote 277: Apocalypse v, 2.]
[Footnote 278: S. John viii, 12.]
[Footnote 279: S. John xiv, 6.]
13. John Baptist is painted as a hermit.
14. Martyrs with the instruments of their torture: as S. Laurence with the gridiron: S. Stephen with stones: and sometimes with palms, which signify victory, according to that saying, 'The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree: [Footnote 280] as a palm-tree [Footnote 281] flourishes, so his memory is preserved. Hence is it that palmers, they who come from Jerusalem, bear palms in their hands in token that they have been the soldiers of that King Who was gloriously received in the earthly Jerusalem with palms: and Who afterwards, having in the same city subdued the devil in battle, entered the palace of heaven in triumph with His angels, where the just shall flourish like a palm-tree, and shall shine like stars.
[Footnote 280: Psalm xcii, 12.]
[Footnote 281: This explanation differs from that usually received: namely, that the righteous flourishes best in adversity: as the palm-tree grows fasteth when loaded with weights.]
15. Confessors are painted with their insignia, as bishops with their mitres, abbots with their hoods: and some with lilies, [Footnote 282] which denote chastity. Doctors with books in their hands: virgins, according to the Gospel, [Footnote 283] with lamps.
[Footnote 282: So in the beautiful hymn at Lauds in the commemoration of a virgin martyr, of the Parisian Breviary:
Liliis Sponsus recubat, rosisque;
Tu, tuo semper bene fida Sponso
Et rosas Martyr, simul et dedisti
Lilia Virgo.]
[Footnote 283: S. Matthew xxv, 1.]
16. Paul with a book and a sword: with a book, as a doctor, or with reference to his conversion: with a sword as [Footnote 284] a soldier. Whence the verse: