The existence, in the writings of Minucius Felix, of this passage, is probably owing to an oversight of the destroyers of all evidences against the Christian religion that could be had. The practice of the Romans, here alluded to, of carrying _a cross with a man on it_, or, in other words, a _crucifix_, has evidently been concealed from us by the careful destruction of such of their works as alluded to it. The priests had everything their own way for centuries, and to destroy what was evidence against their claims was a very simple matter. It is very evident that this celebrated Christian Father alludes to some Gentile mystery, of which the prudence of his successors has deprived us. When we compare this with the fact that for centuries after the time assigned for the birth of Christ Jesus, he was not represented as a man on a cross, and that the Christians did not have such a thing as a _crucifix_, we are inclined to think that the effigies of a black or _dark-skinned crucified man_, which were to be seen in many places in Italy even during the last century, may have had something to do with it.[197:4] While speaking of "_a cross with a man on it_" as being carried by the Pagan Romans as a _standard_, we might mention the fact, related by Arrian the historian,[198:1] that the troops of Porus, in their war with Alexander the Great, carried on their standards _the figure of a man_.[198:2] Here is evidently the _crucifix standard_ again. "This must have been (says Mr. Higgins) a Staurobates or Salivahana, and looks very like the figure of a man carried on their standards by the Romans. This was similar to the dove carried on the standards of the Assyrians. This must have been the crucifix of Nepaul."[198:3] Tertullian, a Christian Father of the second and third centuries, writing to the Pagans, says: "The origin of _your_ gods is derived from _figures moulded on a cross_. All those rows of _images on your standards_ are the appendages of crosses; those hangings on your standards and banners are the robes of crosses."[198:4] We have it then, on the authority of a Christian Father, as late as A. D. 211, that the Christians "_neither adored crosses nor desired them_," but that the _Pagans_ "adored crosses," and not that alone, but "_a cross with a man upon it_." This we shall presently find to be the case. Jesus, in those days, nor for centuries after, was _not_ represented as a _man on a cross_. He was represented as a _lamb_, and the adoration of the crucifix, by the Christians, was a later addition to their religion. But this we shall treat of in its place.