Monuments of the early church . Fig. 67. — Susanna and the eldt-rs judged by Daniel, frescothe catacomb of Callistus. Second century. PAINTING—The Magi 211 This brings before us a curious, but characteristic trait ofearly Christian symbolism; for these two subjects were notonly compared, but in a certain sense confused, in art. Thisappears in many instances upon the sarcophagi, and always insubstantially the form which is illustrated in Fig. 89. In thiscase the Three Children are represented in the act of refusingto worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. On the other sidethe Magi, similarly clad
Monuments of the early church . Fig. 67. — Susanna and the eldt-rs judged by Daniel, frescothe catacomb of Callistus. Second century. PAINTING—The Magi 211 This brings before us a curious, but characteristic trait ofearly Christian symbolism; for these two subjects were notonly compared, but in a certain sense confused, in art. Thisappears in many instances upon the sarcophagi, and always insubstantially the form which is illustrated in Fig. 89. In thiscase the Three Children are represented in the act of refusingto worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar. On the other sidethe Magi, similarly clad, offer their gifts to the infant will be noticed that the Three Children turning away fromthe image are pointing to a star, and are thus brought into still. Fig. 68. — Visit of the Magi, fresco in the eatacomb of Petrus and Mairillinus. Third century. closer relation with the Magi. One point of connection wasdoubtless the refusal of the Magi to listen to Herods com-mand. But besides this there was a deeper thought, for Neb-uchadnezzar was regarded as the type of the persecutingemperors, and it will be seen how admirably balanced thesetwo subjects are when it is remembered that it was the refusalto worship the emperor instead of Christ which was the Chris-tians chief offence against the State, and the cause of themajority of martyrdoms. The star to which the Three Chil-dren point represents the true worship as opposed to idolatry,for it is the symbol of Christ. The star was conventionallyrepresented by three lines intersecting at equal angles, and inthis figure the Christians saw at once a symbol of the cross 212 PIC TOE IAL ART and the iuitial letters of the name It^o-o?? Xpto-rds. This form ofmonogram appears long before Constantine, a
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