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OF THE MIRACULOUS, &C.
corpses in the most honourable manner, and over them constructed an oratory. They perished in the first year of Adrian, A.D. 120, in the calends of November: or as some write, the 12th of the calends of October [1]. (21)
APPLICATION.
My beloved, the emperor is Christ; Placidus, any worldly-minded man. The stags, are the senses. The large and beautiful stag is reason, it ascends a precipice, which is justice or rectitude. The horns, are the old and new law. The wife of Placidus is the soul; the two sons are the will, and the works of man. The master of the ship is a prelate, who would detain the soul from error; and the ship is the Church. The river is the world; the lion is the devil; and the wolf, the flesh.
- ↑ However inartificial the structure of this tale, it conveys an admirable moral. It teaches, that the eye of God is vigilant for the safeguard of mankind; and that in the darkest hour with which humanity can be visited, "all things are working together for good." But the tendency of the whole of these stories is unexceptionable.
