ts 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.

The belief still prevailed that the lion sleeps with its eyes open;
hence it became the emblem of vigilance, and Saint Hilary and Saint
Augustine read in this manner of taking repose an allusion to the Divine
nature, which was not extinguished even in the sepulchre, though the
human nature of the Redeemer was in truth dead.

Finally, as it was considered certain that this animal effaced the
traces of its steps in the sand of the desert with its tail, Raban Maur,
Saint Epiphanius, and Saint Isidor regarded it as signifying the Saviour
veiling His Godhead under the forms of the flesh.

"Not an ordinary beast--the lion!" exclaimed Durtal. "Well," he went on,
consulting his notes, "the ox is less pretentious! It is the paragon of
strength with humility; according to Saint Paul it is emblematical of
the priesthood; of the preacher, according to Raban Maur; of the Bishop,
according to Peter Cantor, because, says this writer, the prelate wears
a mitre of which the two horns resemble those of an ox, and he uses
these horns, which are the wisdom of the Two Testaments, to rip up
heretics. Still, in spite of these more or less ingenious
interpretations, the ox is in fact the beast of immolation and
sacrifice.

"Turning to the eagle, it is, as we have seen, the Messiah pouncing on
souls to catch them; but other meanings are ascribed to it by Saint
Isidor and by Vincent of Beauvais. If we believe them, the eagle that
desires to test the prowess of his eaglets takes them in his talons and
carries them out into the sun, compelling them to look with their eyes
as they begin to open, on the blazing orb. The eagle which is dazzled by
the fire is dropped and cast away by the parent bird. Thus doth God
reject the soul which cannot gaze on him with the contemplative eye of
love!

"The eagle, again, is typical of the Resurrection; Saint Epiphanius and
Saint Isidor explain it thus: The eagle in old age flies up so near to
the sun that its feathers catch fire; revived by the flames, it drops
into the nearest spring, bathes in it three times and comes out
regenerate: is not this indeed the paraphrase of the Psalmist's verse,
"Thy youth shall be renewed as the eagle's"? Saint Madalene of Pazzi,
however, regards it differently, and takes it to typify faith leaning on
charity.

"I shall h