“If we may believe Saint Theobald, the Devil is also symbolized by the spider, for it dreads the sun as much as the Evil One dreads the Church, and is more apt to weave its net by night than by day, thus imitating Satan, who attacks man when he knows him to be sleeping and powerless to defend himself.

“The Prince of Darkness is also to be seen as the lion and the eagle interpreted in an evil sense.

“This,” reflected Durtal, “is the same fact as we find in the expressive symbolism of colours and flowers; constantly a double meaning.  The two antagonistic interpretations are almost invariably met with in the lore of hieroglyphics, excepting only in that of gems.

“Thus it is that the lion, defined by Saint Hildegarde as the image of zeal for God, the lion, figuring the Son Himself, becomes to Hugh of Saint Victor the emblem of cruelty.  Basing their argument on a text in the Psalms, certain writers identify it with Lucifer.  He is in fact the lion who seeks whom he may devour, the lion who rushes on his victim.  David speaks of him with the dragon to be trodden under foot, and Saint Peter in his first Epistle describes him as roaring in quest of a Christian to devour.

“It is the same with the eagle, which Hugh of Saint Victor calls the standard of Pride.  Chosen by Bruno of Asti, Saint Isidor and Saint Anselm to represent the Saviour, the Fisher of Men, because he pounces from the highest sky on fish swimming on the surface of the water and carries them up, the eagle, classed in Leviticus and Deuteronomy with the unclean beasts, is transformed, as being a bird of prey, into a personification of the Devil snatching away souls to gnaw and tear them.

“Thus every ferocious beast or bird and every reptile is a manifestation of the Evil One,” Durtal concluded.

To pass to the Tetramorph.  The evangelistic animals are well known:—­

Saint Matthew, who expatiates on the subject of the Incarnation and sets forth the human genealogy of the Messiah, is symbolized by a man.

Saint Mark, who more especially devotes his book to the miracles of the Son, saying less about His doctrine than about His acts and His resurrection, has the Lion for his attribute.

Saint Luke, who writes more especially of the virtues of Jesus, of His patience, meekness, and mercy, and who dwells at length on His sacrifice, is distinguished by the Ox or Calf.

Saint John, who preaches above all else the Divinity of the Word, is represented by the Eagle.

And the meaning assigned to the ox, the lion, and the eagle, is in perfect accordance with the character and personal aim of each Gospel.

The lion, emblematical of Omnipotence, is also the apt allegory of the Resurrection.  All the primitive naturalists, Saint Epiphanius, Saint Anselm, Saint Yves of Chartres, Saint Bruno of Asti, Saint Isidor, Adamantius, all accept the legend that the lion-cub after its birth remains lifeless for three days; then on the fourth day it awakes as it hears its father’s roar and springs full of life out of the den.  Thus Christ, rising at the end of three days, escapes from the tomb at the call of His Father.