NOTES OF AN ANTIQUARY ON THE SYMBOLICAL REPRESENTATION OF FISH.

ANTIQUARIES make the fish the symbol of Jesus Christ. A fish is sculptured on a number of Christian monuments, and more particularly on the ancient sarcophagi. It is either single, or attended by other attributes, and is placed beneath funeral inscriptions. It is seen likewise upon medals bearing the effigy of our Saviour, and upon engraved stones and intaglios. The fish is also to be remarked upon the amulets worn suspended from the necks of children, and upon ancient glasses and sepulchral lamps. Montfauçon mentions a mosaic in the cathedral of Ravenna, in which the fish is introduced as symbolic of Christians. M. le Marquis Fortia d'Urban is in possession of a white chalcedon, on the base of the cone of which there is a figure of our Saviour, with the name XPICTOY, and the image of a fish. This belongs to the period of Alexander Severus.* There are likewise eight Christian monuments mentioned by M. de Belloc, on which fish are depicted; two cornelians, two engraved stones used as seals, one gold ring, an amethyst, and a sardonyx. Besides these he has given us a sepulchral lamp, representing fishes, dolphins, and a man fishing with a line.†

* Rochette, "Types de Christianisme,” p. 21.

"La Vierge au Poisson de Raphael." Lyon, 1833.

A sketch of the Good Shepherd, taken from the monuments of the catacombs, contains seven fishes ranged in a circle. The fish and the Greek cross are also seen filling up branches of foliage, painted on the walls of a Christian "hypogée" (subterranean tomb or crypt), situated near Aphrodisias in Africa.*

Baptismal fonts are more particularly ornamented with fish. Thus at Gemona in Frioul, and Pirano in Istria, are two large baptismal urns, bearing fish.t

In a village church near Beigetad, in Denmark, around a baptistery, are three fishes, intertwined in the form of a triangle. France contains many similar examples. The fish is distinctly depicted on the baptismal font at Boulogne-sur-Mer; and so, likewise, on that of St. Jacques at Compiégne. In Saint Germaindes-Près, at the entrance where the baptismal font is placed, a male and female siren are seen, with fishes in their arms, while other fish play beneath the waters which undulate around those fantastic personages. Fishes are likewise seen in other parts of French churches besides the baptisteries. In the nave of St. Capraisd'Agen, three fishes are represented. A fish is also sculptured on a statue in the cemetery of St. Jean, department of la Nièvre.‡

In painted or sculptured monuments, representing the Lord's Supper, the fish figures among the meats. On the gates of the parish church of Nantua, the second apostle, standing on the left-hand of Christ, carries a fish, accurately defined. In manuscripts with miniatures,

"Voyage dans la Marmorique et la Cyrénaique." + Belloc.

"Bulletin des Arts," etc., 1840-41.

on painted glass and enamels of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the fish is constantly exhibited, placed upon a dish in the middle of the sacramental table.*

Before the time of Constantine, the texts name the IXOYZ, which remained unchanged during the whole period of persecution. It was considered a literary metaphor or Christian token. St. Clement of Alexandria says: "Let the dove and the fish remain as signs unto you." Tertullian adds: "We are like fishes in Christ, our great Fish; for we are born in water, and can only be saved by continuing therein." There was a mysterious import connected with this sign. About the middle of the fourth century, Optatus, Bishop of Milesia, in Africa, declared that "the single name of fish, according to the Greek denomination, contained in the letters composing it, a host of sacred names; IXOYΣ gives in the Latin, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour."+ In fact, by taking each letter of IXOYZ, for the initial of a Greek word, we make “Ιησούς Χριστός Θεοῦ Υιος Σωτηρ.” From this time forward, oriental subtilty, always prepared for a jeu-de-mots of that description, repeated almost to satiety, religious similitudes from waves and navigation, from the seas and their inhabitants. Funeral inscriptions were preceded and accompanied by the ΙΧΘΥΣ. Our Saviour was not only compared to the fish, which gives itself to be eaten, but also to the fisherman by whom the fish is taken, even as Christ takes souls in the net of love.

Thus Julius Africanus calls Jesus Christ the great fish taken by the fish-hook of God, and whose flesh

* Latin MSS. Biblioth. Royale. + Opera.

nourishes the whole universe. St. Prosper of Aquitaine says: "The Saviour, the Son of God, is a fish prepared in his passion, and by the entrails we are constantly and daily nourished and enlightened." St. Augustine exclaims, "IXOYΣ is the mystical name of Christ, because he descended alive into the depths of this mortal life, as into the abyss of waters." Again he says: "Christ is the fish which young Tobias took living from the stream, whose heart (liver), consumed by passion, put the demon to flight, and restored sight to the blind." The name of "piscina" given to the baptismal font, of which the water, the atmosphere of fishes, purifies us from all sin, and becomes the means of salvation, is derived from the fish, symbolizing Him by whom we are nourished, healed, and redeemed.*

On the other hand, Jesus was called "fisher of men," as he had himself given a similar appellation to St. Peter. St. Gregory of Nazianzen says that Jesus, the fisherman, descended into the stormy abyss of this world in order to draw men from it like fishes, and carry them up into heaven. M. Robert informs us that on one of the sarcophagi in the Vatican, described by Bottari, Jesus is represented standing on the shore, a line in his hand, and a crowd of little aquatic beings nibbling at the bait. An engraving taken from a cornelian, and published by the Abbe Vallarsi, at Verona, represents a young fisherman, holding a little fish on his hook; against the fish is the word ΙΧΘΥΣ. But the most complete existing monument of this description, is furnished by a miniature in the manuscript of Herrade. "Optatus Epis., Milevitanus."

God the Father is there represented holding in his hand a line, which he casts into the abyss of ocean. The line itself is formed of the busts of patriarchs, prophets, and kings, enchained the one with the other, from Adam, who is nearest God, down to David, who is next to the hook; the bait, in fact, is no other than Jesus the Saviour, attached to the cross.*

Jesus descends into the abyss, seeking Leviathan, who bites the cross, by which he is to perish, while Christians cling to it as the means of their salvation. The imagination of artists and poets, sculptors and Fathers of the Church, painters and preachers, have never ceased to draw from this theme thousands of comparisons, metaphors, and allegories. To the Fathers already mentioned we may add St. Jerome, Origen, Bede, St. Ambrose, St. Eucharius, and others besides, all of whom have made many direct allusions to fish and fishers.

Fish are represented in Greek mosaics, and in frescoes, swimming in the open sea, and which are to come at the Last Judgment, to restore the human limbs they have devoured. One brings an arm, another a leg; this dolphin a man's head, that whale a woman's bust.† Fishes are likewise depicted gliding in the waters of Jordan at the moment of our Saviour's baptism. They are represented in the Red Sea, when the Hebrews passed through it.

* "Université Catholique," vol 6.

† This singular and highly animated subject is represented in paintings where the Last Judgment is somewhat minutely detailed. It is particularly complete at Salamis, and the monastery of Vatopèdi on Mount Athos.-Manuscript of Herrade.