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Article ON SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLISM. ← Page 17 of 19 →
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On Symbols And Symbolism.
their customs and institutions in Eastern usages : the harmless girdle seems one of the most likely emblems to have its origin in the regions of the sun : one of our modern poets , speaking in the language of the Moslem , sings of his hero , Avith" The guebre belt that round him hung ;" and from Gibbon : " At the age of puberty the faithful Persian
was invested with a mysterious girdle ; fifteen genuflections Avere required after he put on the sacred girdle . " From the Roman practice of carrying their money in a belt buckled round their Avaist , as is the general practice of the Polish Jews Avho frequent the fairs of Germany , and most of the travellers in that country ( Avhich they call a Geld Katze ) ,
a proverb arose , that he Avho had lost his belt Avas fit for any desperate enterprise : as Horace uses , in the humorous tale of the soldier Avho , after suffering the loss of all his savings , and again by a lucky coup having recovered his losses , is Avanted by his commanding officer to undertake a fresh peril : —
" ' I , bone , quo virtus tua te vocat ; i pede fatisto , Grandia laturus meritorum pramiia ! Quid stas ?' Post hfee ille catus , quantumvis rusticus : ' Ibit , Ibit eo , quo vis , qui zonam perdidit' inquit . " And Horace proposes to imitate himself the mother-Avit of the warrior , for having attained a moderate competency , he determined to tempt fortune no further ; nor would he even put the
fame he had already acquired in future jeopardy by writing anything more . This use of the zone is confirmed b y Aulus Gellius , who tells us ( lib . iv . c . 15 ) of Gracchus , that he said : " Quum Roma , profectus sum , zonas , quas plenas argenti extuli , eas ex provincia inanes retuli . " This Avas the most sordid use of the beltbut it Avas alsoin
, , conjimction Avith female purity , regarded as an object of great virtue and miraculous poAver . Sextus Aurelius Victor , de Vir . Illust ., gives us a remarkable instance of Roman superstition regarding it , in his relation of Livia Claudia , Virgo Vestalis : —
" Annibale Italiam devastante ex responso librorum Sibyllinorum , Mater Deum e Pessinunte arcessita , cum adA'erso Tibori vehitur , repente in alto steterit et cum moveri millis viribus posset ex libris cognitum : caslissima ; deimtm femince manu moveri posse . Turn Claudia virgo vestalis falso ineestus suspects :: deam oravit ut , si pudicam sciret , sequeretur ; et zona imposita navem movit . Simulachrum Matris Deum dum templum axlificaretur Nasicee , qui vir optimus judicabatur , quasi hospiti datum . "
The dark ages of the Catholic Church , Avhich seldom alloAved a heathen practice or a miracle to escape without settingup an emulative rival , could not , in their regard to chastity , alloAV the above to pass them without imitation . In the VOL . ii . o
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Symbols And Symbolism.
their customs and institutions in Eastern usages : the harmless girdle seems one of the most likely emblems to have its origin in the regions of the sun : one of our modern poets , speaking in the language of the Moslem , sings of his hero , Avith" The guebre belt that round him hung ;" and from Gibbon : " At the age of puberty the faithful Persian
was invested with a mysterious girdle ; fifteen genuflections Avere required after he put on the sacred girdle . " From the Roman practice of carrying their money in a belt buckled round their Avaist , as is the general practice of the Polish Jews Avho frequent the fairs of Germany , and most of the travellers in that country ( Avhich they call a Geld Katze ) ,
a proverb arose , that he Avho had lost his belt Avas fit for any desperate enterprise : as Horace uses , in the humorous tale of the soldier Avho , after suffering the loss of all his savings , and again by a lucky coup having recovered his losses , is Avanted by his commanding officer to undertake a fresh peril : —
" ' I , bone , quo virtus tua te vocat ; i pede fatisto , Grandia laturus meritorum pramiia ! Quid stas ?' Post hfee ille catus , quantumvis rusticus : ' Ibit , Ibit eo , quo vis , qui zonam perdidit' inquit . " And Horace proposes to imitate himself the mother-Avit of the warrior , for having attained a moderate competency , he determined to tempt fortune no further ; nor would he even put the
fame he had already acquired in future jeopardy by writing anything more . This use of the zone is confirmed b y Aulus Gellius , who tells us ( lib . iv . c . 15 ) of Gracchus , that he said : " Quum Roma , profectus sum , zonas , quas plenas argenti extuli , eas ex provincia inanes retuli . " This Avas the most sordid use of the beltbut it Avas alsoin
, , conjimction Avith female purity , regarded as an object of great virtue and miraculous poAver . Sextus Aurelius Victor , de Vir . Illust ., gives us a remarkable instance of Roman superstition regarding it , in his relation of Livia Claudia , Virgo Vestalis : —
" Annibale Italiam devastante ex responso librorum Sibyllinorum , Mater Deum e Pessinunte arcessita , cum adA'erso Tibori vehitur , repente in alto steterit et cum moveri millis viribus posset ex libris cognitum : caslissima ; deimtm femince manu moveri posse . Turn Claudia virgo vestalis falso ineestus suspects :: deam oravit ut , si pudicam sciret , sequeretur ; et zona imposita navem movit . Simulachrum Matris Deum dum templum axlificaretur Nasicee , qui vir optimus judicabatur , quasi hospiti datum . "
The dark ages of the Catholic Church , Avhich seldom alloAved a heathen practice or a miracle to escape without settingup an emulative rival , could not , in their regard to chastity , alloAV the above to pass them without imitation . In the VOL . ii . o