Quatuor haec Dominum signant animalia Christum:
Est homo nascendo, Vitulusque sacer moriendo,
Et Leo surgendo, cœlos Aquilaque petendo.
[588] Psa. xcvii, 3.
[589] In the austere drama of Dante Christ receives the title of Sovereign Jove:
O summo Giove,
Che fosti ’n terra per noi crocifisso.—Purgat., canto vi.
In Mediæval art Christ is frequently modeled after the pagan Jupiter Tonans.
[590] In some quaint French verses accompanying one of these pictures Our Lord, in giving an account of his journey, in characteristic accord with the erroneous theology of the times, is made to intimate that he would fain have avoided the unwelcome task:
“Père,” dist Jhésus, “retourné
Suis á toy, et ai consummé
Ce que faire me commandas
Quant jus ou monde m’envoyas,
Dont bien je m’en feusse passé.”
—Romant des Trois Pélerinages, A. D. 1358.