II. Forma of the Cross. — In its simplest shape, con- sisting of two pieces of wood, one standing eroct, the other crossing it at right angles, the cross was known at an early age in the history of the world. Its use as an instrument of punishment was probably suggested by the form so often taken by branches of trees, which seem to have been the first crosses that wero employ- ed. It was certainly customary to hang animals on trees. Cicero {Rabir, 8) appears to consider hanging on a tree and crucifixion as of the same import, and Seneca {Ep, 101) uses similar language. (See above.) Trees are known to have been used as crosses (Ter- tull. Ap. viii, 16), and to every kind of hanging which bore a resemblance to crucifixion, such as that of Pro- metheus, Andromeda, etc., the name was common- ly applied. Among the Scythians, Persians, Cartha- ginians, Groeks, Romans, and the ancient Germans, traces are found of the cross as an instrument of pun- ishment. The sign of the cross is found as a holy symbol among several ancient nations, yrho may ac- cordingly be named, in the language of TertuUian, < *■ cruds religiosos, " devotees of the cross. Among the Indians and Egyptians the cross often appears in their ceremonies, sometimes in the shape of the letter T, at
others in this shape +. At Snsa, Ker Porter sari stone cut with hieroglyphics and crodfcmn ii»t» tions, on which in one comer was the figniv of a crae. thus, \^ The cross, he says, is generallj- naiasosi to be symbolical of the divinity or eternal life, and «■ tainly a cross was to be seen in the temple of Stf t^is as the Egyptian emblem of the fotuielife, ms msju learned in Sozomen and Rufinua. Porter also s^ that the Egyptian priests urged its being fbfund cc ^ walls of their temple of Serapis as an arc^nmeat «ii the victorious army of Theodosins to save it fhn ^ struction. From the numerous writings on this s^ ject by La Croze, Jablonski, Zoega,Yi8coiiti, Poood^ Pluche, Petit Radel, and others, the symbol i£M cross appears to have been most various in its ngd^ cations. Sometimes it is the Phallus, sometiBei tU planet Venus, or the NUometer, or an embleoi c€ ifa four elements, or the seasons (Creuxer's Symb^^ x^ 168-9). It is therefore not surprising that maatgO, sai even modem Christian writers should on this sabjed have indulged in some degree of refinement and mf* ticism. Justin Martyr {ApoL 1, § 72) says, •* The «%: of the cross Is impressed upon the whole of NatsnJ There is hardly a handicraftsman but uses ti» fifcn of it among tiie implements of his industry. It lia» a part of man himself, as may be seen when be laJKsi hb hands in prayer." In like manner Minotias f^ (c 29): **Even Nature itself seems to haw tomd this figure for us. We have a natural cross on evm ship whose sails are spread, in every yoke that s^ forms, in every outspreading of his arms in pnra Thus is the cross found both in the azTangemaiti d Nature and among the heathen."
We may tabulate thus the varioos deecriptkas «f cross (Lipsius, De Cruoe, i; Godwyn's Motes <ai\ Aaron, lib. v, cap. ix, and Carpsov's AmtBtaiko thereon):
Crux.
1. SlmpleT.
t|
Compaota.
8. ComndBBa, and a
2. Decumata, Andreana, or Boj^^Ddian.
Forms of Crosses.
*t
1. The erux simplex, or mere stake "of one ragfe piece without transom," was probably the origM d the rest. Sometunes it was merely driven tlu«# the man's chest, but at other times it was driveo lon- gitudinally (Hesych. s. v. <nedXo>^), coming out st tbe mouth (Seneca, Ep. xiv), a method of ponuhiBcci called dvaaKivdvXiVOi^, or wfiaao. The qgixio cos- sisted merely of tging the criminal to the stake {fti, pahm deligare, Liv. xxvi, 13), from which he hung ^J his arms : the process is described in the little poea of Ausonius, ^'Cupido ervciftxus.'' Trees weie natH- rally convenient for this purpose, and we readof tbetf being applied to such use in the Martyrologies. Tff- tuUiwi, too, tells us {ApoL viu, 16) that thcpriests of Satum were thus punished by Tlberina (oomp. Tsdt. Germ. xii).
2. The erux decussata is called St. Andrew's crcsss although on no good grounds, since, aocarding ^ some, he was killed with the sword ; and Hippol.Ti2» says that he was crucified upright on an olitMiee. It is in the shape of the Greek letter X (Jeromf, » Jer. xxxi; Isidor. Ong. i, 8). Hence Justin Mtftrr {Dial. c. Tryph, p. 200) quotes Plato's expreision Ox«- a?«v dvrbv Iv rif wavri) with reference to the crotf- The fathers, with their usual luxuriant ims^p^ discover types of this kind of cross in Jacob's bksiB| of Joseph's sons {xip<fiv ivriSXaypivouQ ; comp. T**** de Bapiismo, viii) ; in the anointing of priests "dec^ satively" (Sir T. Browne, Garden qf Cyms); fo ^
CROSS
677
CROSS
bbis say that priests were distinctiTelj thus anoint- (^3 l*^^^* i. e. ad/ormam X GrcBCorum, Schdttgen's r. Mebr, et TcUm. iv, ad £) ; and in the erossing of \ hands over the head of the goat on the day of ex- ktion (Targnm Jonath, ad Lev. xyi, 21, etc.). 3. The crua: oommma^ or St Anthony's cross (so led f^m being embroidered on tliat taint's cope; ». Jameson's Sacred Ari^ i, xzxvX was in the sliape a T. Hence Lncian (in his Aixri ^iavrikvrwv) jo- lely derives <rrm;p6c from the letter Tav, and makes inkind accuse it bitterly for suggesting to tyrants the strument of torture (Jvd. Voccd. 12). This shape is ten alluded to as ** the mystical Tan" (Tertnllian, fr. Mare, iii, 22 ; Jerome, m £^eec&. ix, etc.). As that tter happens to stand for 800, opportunity was giyen r more elaborate trifling: thus the 800 cubits of the k are considered typical (Clemens Alexand. Strom, ; S. Panlin. £p. ii) ; and even Abraham's 818 ser^ ints (y) ; since 818 is represented by rtrf (Barnabas, p, ix ; Clemens Alex. Strom, yi ; Ambrose, Prol. in L de Fide, f see Pearson, On the Creed, art. iv). A variety of this cross (the crux ansata, " crosses ith circles on their heads") is found "in tiie ^m^_^ mlptures from Khorsabad and the Ivories "« '' rom Nlmrud. M. Lajard (flheervcdUma eur la ^^^ Troix ansie) refers it to the Assyrian symbol kn»a!kJL f divinity, the winged figure in a circle ; but Egyptian antiquaries quite reject the theory (Lay- Lrd*8 Ninevehy ii, 170, note). In the Egyptian sculp- ures, a similar object, called a crux ansata, is con- itantly borne by divinities, and is variously called * the key of the Nile" (Dr. Young in EwycL Brkan.% *the character of Venus," and more correctly (as by Lacroze) " the emblem of life." Indeed this was the 3ld explanation (Sozomen, But. Eed, vi, 16 ; so, too, Kufinus [ii, 29], who says it was one of the ^''^Upartr xal wl aaeerdotaies littera"). " The Egyptians there- by expressed the powers and motion of the sinrit of the world, and the diffusion thereof upon the celestial and elemental nature" (Sir T. Browne, Garden ofCyrtu). This, too, was the signification given to it by the Christian converts in the army of Theodosius, when they remarked it on the temple of Serapis, according to the story mentioned in Suidas. The same symbol has been also found among the Copts, and (perhaps accidentally) among the Indians and Persians.