Ancient Symbolism Illustrated.

mundane egg . The egg was the ancient symbol of organic matter in its inert state , or , as Plutarch calls it , the material of generation containing the seeds and germs of life without being actually possessed of either . As organic substance was thus represented by the symbol of the egg , so the principle of life by which ifc was called into action was represented by the serpent . We find it coiled round the egg to

express the incubation of the vital spirit , and as a general sign of consecration . Not only the deified heroes of the Greeks , such as Cecrops and Ericthonus , but the virgin mother of the Scythians , and consecrated founder of the Japanese , were represented terminating in serpents . Both the Scythians and Parthians ( snys

Knight , in his History of Symbolical Languages ) , carried the image of a serpent or dragon upon the point of a spear for a military standard , as the Tartar princes of China still continue to do . Macha-Alia , the god of life and death amon " the Tartars , has serpents entwined round his limbs and body to express the first attribute , life ; human skulls and scalps on his head and at his girdle to express tlie second , death . The serpent , which is always represented with

. / Eseulapius and Salus—the god and goddess of health—is received as a symbol of healing , in allusion fco the brazen serpent of Moses . This serpent , as already stated , ivas of the tribe Saraph , and was miraculousl y permitted to be an instant cure to those who looked upon it with faith , for the bite of the arrow snake , or Acontius , known afc this day to the Turks bthe ¦

y name Ocilan , they are often seen in the Archipelago , and chiefly in the island of My tilenc . It was ( according to the learned Calinet ) this kind of serpent which attacked Israel in the wilderness . Nor can we wonder at the . divine honours paid to tlie brazen serpent erected by Moses as a type of the then unknown Saviourwhich freed

, them from this dreadful token of the wrath of the Most High , and which having been by Moses under divine authority thus instituted a Sotor or type of Onr Saviour fourteen hundred and fifty years before his coming upon earth continued to receive homage seven hundred and thirty years afc which time we are informed ( 2 Kings xviii . 4 ) " Hezekial )

son of Ahaz , King of Judah , brake in pieces ( he brazen serpent that Moses had made , for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it , and ho called if , Nehoustan " which in Hebrew means a brazen bauble . . . .... .. ' .. This drawing , copied from Calmet , is a

customary"i-epve-SA 1 . LS , JvSCULAPlL'S , ASI ) TKI . ESPUOIICS .

sentation of a thanksgiving to Salus and / Esculapius after recovery from severe illness . We see here iEscuhipius with his rod , around wliich a serpent tivines as usual , also a serpent receiving food out of & patera or goblet , as an acknowledgment of services received . The smaller figure is the god Tok'M ] thorns , who is always well clad , and who follows

or accompanies jEscnlupius or Hygeia ( the Physician and Health ) , as careful clothing shonld alivays accompany a state of convalescence . The act of feeding the serpent , it will be observed , is an expression of gratitude . Socrates worshipped his good genius . It is well knoivn thafc this bright ornament of philosophy spoke of an Agathos

elaimon as his constant companion , which gave him advice , kept him from evil , and did him many important services . In an ancient gem or species of coin mentioned in Calmet ' s fragments , the philosopher is represented making offerings to the manes of the dead . Socrates holds in Ills hand the caducous of Mercury , the god of the dead ; but what is more to the purpose , a serpent is represented as his good genius in a column , before wliich he stands .

ri ! OM AN AXC 1 P . 5 T OEM . This drawing of the two heads of Janus separated by a kind of column or altar , around which a serpent twines , and

raises itself above the whole , is allusive to tlie patriarch Noah , who looked backwards on a world destroyed , and for