to the mysteries of the Christian faith as a matter which only Christians have a right fully to understand. From the prominence given to the point last referred to it may be explained how amid the revolution that took place under Constantine the age of Symbolism and Allegory in the history of Christian art also passed away, and henceforth painters applied themselves pre-eminently to realistic historical representations. § 38.4. The pictorial and artistic representations of the pre-Constantine age may be divided into the six following groups:-- a. =Significant Symbols.=--To these belong especially _the cross_,[105] though, for fear of the reproaches of Jews and heathens (§ 23, 2), not yet in its own proper form but only in a form that indicated what was meant, namely in the form of the Greek Τ, very frequently in later times in the monogram of the name of Christ, _i.e._ in a variously constructed combination of its first two letters Χ and Ρ, while the Χ, as _crux dissimulatæ_, has very often on either side the letters α and ω. b. =Allegorical Figures.=--In the 4th century a particularly favourite figure was that of the _Fish_, the name of which, ἰχθύς, formed a highly significant monogrammatic representation of the sentence, Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Υἱὸς Σωτήρ, and which pointed strikingly to the new birth from the water of baptism. Then there is the _lamb_ or _sheep_, as symbol of the soul, which still in this life seeks after spiritual pastures; and the _dove_ as symbol of the pious believing soul passing into eternal rest, often with an _olive branch_ in its mouth (Gen. viii. 11), as symbol of the eternal peace won. Also we have the _hart_ (Ps. xlii. 1), the _eagle_ (Ps. ciii. 5), the _chicken_, symbol of Christian growth, the _peacock_, symbol of the resurrection on account of the annual renewal of its beautiful plumage, the _dolphin_, symbol of hastiness or eagerness in the appropriation of salvation, _the horse_, symbol of the race unto the goal of eternal life, _the hare_, as symbol of the Christian working out his salvation with fear and trembling, _the ship_, with reference to Noah’s ark as a figure of the church, _the anchor_ (Heb. vi. 19), _the lyre_ (Eph. v. 19), _the palm branch_ (Rev. vii. 9), _the garland_ (or crown of life, Rev. ii. 9), _the lily_ (Matt. vi. 28), _the balances_, symbol of divine righteousness, _fishes and bread_, symbol of spiritual nourishment with reference to Christ’s miracle of feeding in the wilderness, etc.