[361] See [Figs. 122] to [128], and context.
[362] Sac. Art, p. 43.
[364] Such symbols were not peculiar to Christian tombs. There were many pagan examples of a similar character. Thus a cultrarius, or cutler, has knives; a pullarius, or poulterer, a cage or coop of chickens; a tabellarius, and postman, a writing case; and a marmorarius, or mason, a mallet and chisel, on his tomb. Sometimes a shop, with customers bargaining, is shown. A bag or purse signifies an agent; money, a banker; and the like. The ascia or axe, so common on Roman tombs, probably represents a sacrificial instrument. Analogous to these are the sphere and cylinder engraven on the tomb of Archimedes, and the square and compasses on modern masonic monuments. In the Armenian cemeteries a hammer, trowel, last, scales, and shears, indicate the grave of a carpenter, mason, shoemaker, grocer, or tailor. In the Cemetery de l’Est, at Paris, animals acting mark the tomb of the French fabulist, La Fontaine; masks, that of Molière; a palette or brushes, that of a painter. See also the naval and military trophies on the tombs of many distinguished sailors and soldiers.
[365] [Fig. 112]. This symbol is designated by modern Italians La Navicella di San Pietro—the Bark of St. Peter. From the fancied resemblance of the body of the church to a ship, or from the above allusion, the word nave, applied to that part, has been derived as if from navis, a ship. May it not possibly be from ναός, a temple?
[366] “Arbor quædam in navi,” says St. Ambrose, “est crux in ecclesia.”
[367] Compare the following beautiful passage from Tertullian, in which the metaphor is elaborately carried out: “Amid the reefs and inlets, amid the shallows and straits of idolatry, Faith, her sails filled with the Spirit of God, navigates; safe, if cautious, secure, if intently watchful. But to such as are washed overboard is a deep, whence is no outswimming; to such as run aground is inextricable shipwreck; to such as are engulfed is a whirlpool, where there is no breathing in idolatry. All its waves suffocate; every eddy drags down to Hades.”—De Idol., c. 24.
[368] Compare 2 Esdras ii, 44, 45. See ante, [Fig. 18]. The palm appears on the coins of Simon Barchocab.
[369] See also [Figs. 15], [77], and [82]. The figures are often very conventional, and look more like geese or ducks than doves.
[370] See Psa. lxviii, 13. In Mediæval art the soul is represented issuing from the mouth of the dying or flying through the air in the form of a dove. One example bears the inscription—animæ interfectorum—the souls of the slain.