In the second period—_i.e._, from the middle of the second to the middle of the third century—the Good Shepherd occurs less frequently, and is represented less simply; he carries a goat, or he plays his pipe; he stands amid trees in a garden, or in the midst of his flock, and the several members of his flock stand in different attitudes towards him, marking a difference of internal disposition. Other figures also undergo similar changes; different emblems or different typical histories are blended together, and the result is more artistic; a more brilliant translation, so to speak, is thus given of the same thoughts and ideas with which we have been familiar in a more elementary form from the beginning. This change, or rather this growth, was in truth only the natural result of time and of the pious meditation of successive generations of Christians exercised upon the history of their faith and upon the outward representations of its mysteries, in which their forefathers had always delighted. The bud had expanded, and the full-blown flower displayed new beauties—beauties which had been there indeed before, but unseen. Thus we meet again with the apostolic fisherman, but the river in which he fishes is now a mystical river, formed by the waters which have flowed from the rock struck by Moses. More Bible histories are made use of; or, if not now introduced for the first time, are used more frequently—the history of Daniel and of Jonas, the sacrifice of Abraham, the resurrection of Lazarus, the healing of the paralytic at Bethsaida, and others. And as all these histories have been illustrated in the writings of cotemporary Fathers, the monuments which represent them are of the highest value as an historical expression of what Christians in those days believed and taught. Both the writings and the paintings are evidently the faithful echo of the same doctrinal teaching and tradition. [Illustration: _Glass from the Catacombs, now in Vatican Library._]