BOOK
crooked staff of the shepherd, the sceptre of the king, and the divining rod which pointed out hidden springs or treasure to modern conjurors.^ In a form which adhered still more strictly to the first idea the emblem became the stauros or cross of Osiris, and a new source of mythology was thus laid open. To the Egyptian the cross thus became the symbol of immortality, and the god himself was crucified to the tree which denoted his fructifying power. Rising from a crescent, the modified form of the Yoni, the cross set forth the marriage of Ouranos and Gaia, of Vishnu and Sacti, of heaven and earth. But this cross was itself a new symbol of the sun, and in the so-called Assyrian representations of the moon-goddess the sun is exhibited in human form standing on the crescent. More commonly the plain stauros was joined with an oval ring, was worn as an amulet, and was reproduced by the Christians of Egypt as a sacred mark inserted in their inscriptions. In this form, or in that of a ring inclosing a cross of four spokes, this emblem is found every- where. It is peculiar neither to Egyptians nor Assyrians, neither to Greeks, Latins, Gauls, Germans, or Hindus ; and no attempt to explain its original employment by any one of these nations is admissible, unless it explains or seeks to explain them for all. We recognise the male symbol in the trident of Poseidon or Proteus, and in the fylfot or hammer of Thor, which assumes the form of a cross patte'e in the various legends which turn on the rings of Freya, Holda, Venus, or Aphrodite. In each of these stories the ring is distinctly connected with the goddess who represents the female power in nature, or tells its own tale of sensuous passion. In one of the latest of these stories a newly married youth at Rome places his wedding ring on a statue of Venus, and finds to his dismay not only that he cannot dislodge it from her stony finger, but that the goddess herself claims to stand to him in the relation of Aphrodite to Adonis.^ As we might expect, this myth was transferred to the Virgin Mary, and the knight whose ring she refuses to surrender
' In a picture of St. Zeno of Verona Mr. Gould cites from Crcsarius Heister- the two emblems are combined, the fish bachensis a tale, in which a necromancer (vesica piscis) being seen pendant from warns some youths placed within a the pastoral or shepherd's staff. — Jame- magic ring to be on their guard against
son, Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 417. the allurements of the beings whom he The bauble used by fools and clowns is was about to raise by his incantations. a phallos, sometimes actually so re- These beings are beautiful damsels, one presented, the cock's head and the ass's of whom, singling out a youth, holds head being relics of the Priapeia. — Fos- out to him a ring of gold, which the broke, British Monachism, p. 44 ; youth touches, thus placing himself in Buckle, Commouplaee Book, art. 1857. her power. — Curious Myths, i. 225.
- This story is given by Fordun, See also Scott, Border AJiiislrelsy,
Matthew of Westminster, Roger of introduction to ballad of Tamlane. Wendover, and Vincent of Beauvais.
