[489] Yates’ “Textrinum Antiquorum,” pp. 203, 376, § 103. He quotes from Claudian the description of a trabea, said to have been woven by the goddess Roma herself, for the consul Stilicho. I give this as showing how forms and patterns become sacred by their being attributed to the inspiration of the gods. The name of Stilicho marks his tomb in Sant’ Ambrogio’s Church at Milan, on which is a curious moulding, carved with alternate roses and mystic crosses.
[490] Clapton Rolfe, “Ancient Use of Liturgical Colours.”
[491] See the Book of Kells, Library, Dublin; also St. Cuthbert’s Durham Book, British Museum, and the Celtic MSS. in the Lambeth Palace Library.
[492] Celtic and Scandinavian designs are characterized by meandering, interlaced, and knotted lines, which are described and discussed in the chapter on [patterns]. The forms of the Celtic stone crosses are very beautiful. See “L’Atlas de l’Archéologie du Nord, par la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord” (Copenhagen, 1857), where the metal remains are shown by careful engravings; also George Stephen’s “Old Northern Runic Monuments.”
[493] See Bock’s “Liturgische Gewänder,” i. p. 126, quoting Anastasius Bibliothecarius, pp. 153, 156, 189.
[494] Ibid. p. 189.
[495] The information here collected proves that these sovereign gifts to the great basilicas were by no means of costly materials, especially as compared with the preceding splendours of Rome, or the still more astounding luxury of Alexandria through the Greek conquests of the Eastern nations. To these rules of economical decoration, however, we find occasionally exceptions. We gather also from later lists that the embroideries of the Papal See were culled, in the thirteenth century, from France, Spain, Germany, and England.
[496] See also Bock’s “Liturgische Gewänder,” vol. i. pp. 9, 18, 56, 86, plate 2. At a later period the lion motive is supposed to have represented a Christian in the arena, and it certainly in time was symbolical of man struggling with the dominion of sin. However, Bock considers the design to have been originally classical Greek, and it survived to the seventh and eighth centuries, and was reproduced as late as the sixteenth.
[497] The Code of Manu in India, which 2500 years ago regulated all the crafts and ruled their decorations, is still in full force, and Chinese art was crystallized in the reigns of the first emperors of the Hia dynasty, 2197 B.C.
[498] We cannot but respect the memory of Attila, who checked the spoliation of Rome by his troops.