the sick.

"Here are others specified by Hugh of Saint Victor. To him the vulture
means idleness; the kite, rapacity; the raven, detraction; the white
owl, hypochondria; the common owl, ignorance; the magpie, chattering
talk; and the hoopoe, sluttishness and evil report.

"This is all a sorry medley!" said Durtal, "and I fear it will be the
same with the mammalia and other beasts!"

He compared a few passages. The ox, the lamb, the sheep, we have seen.
The sheep is the type of timidity and meekness, and Saint Pacomius
embodies in him the monk who lives punctual and obedient, and loving his
brethren. Saint Melito on his part ascribes hypocrisy to the ostrich,
temporal power to the rhinoceros, human frailty to the spider; we may
also mention among the crustacea, the crab as symbolizing heresy and the
synagogue, because it walks backwards and away from the path of
righteousness. Among fish, the whale is the emblem of the tomb, just as
Jonas, who came out of it after three days, is typical of Jesus risen
from the dead. Among rodents the beaver is the image of Christian
prudence, because, says the legend, when he is pursued by hunters he
tears with his teeth the pouch containing castoreum and flings it at the
foe. For this reason it is likewise the animal representative of the
text in the Gospel which declares that a man must cut off the offending
member which is an occasion of sin.

Let us pause before the den of wild beasts.

According to Hugh of Saint Victor the wolf is avarice; the fox is
cunning; Adamantius says that the wild boar represents blind rage; the
leopard wrath, ambush and daring; the tiger, and the hyena, which can
change its sex at will and imitate the voice of man, signifies
hypocrisy; while Saint Hildegarde shows that the panther, by reason of
the beauty of its spots, is typical of vain-glory.

We need not dwell on the bull, the bison and the buffalo; the symbolists
regard them as emblems of brute force and pride; while the goat and
boar-pig are vessels of lust and filth.

They divide this honour with the toad, an unclean reptile; the
habitation of the Devil, who assumes its form to show himself to the
female saints--for instance to Saint Theresa. As to the hapless frog it
is equally defamed because of its likeness to the toad.

The stag is in better odour. Saint Jerome and Cassiodorus say it
exemplifies the Christian who overcomes sin by the sacrament of penance,
or by martyrdom. Representing Go