Melito of Sardis speaks of Our Lord under the figure of a fish broiled on the fire of tribulation.[420] A mystical interpretation was also given to the loaves and fishes multiplied by Christ for the feeding of the multitude, as indicating the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit and the dispensations of the law and the gospel.[421] A remarkable Greek inscription, found about thirty years ago in an ancient Christian cemetery at Autun, in France, throws much light on the profound religious significance of the symbol of the fish.[422] Its date, as indicated by the character of the epigraphy, in the opinion of the most eminent critics, is about the year 400.[423] The language is of Homeric purity and vigour, which is accounted for by the fact that Autun was, during the fourth and fifth centuries, a sort of “French Eton,” where Greek, the tongue “of Homer and the gods,” was sedulously cultivated. The following is the text as restored and translated by Marriott. It will be perceived that the word ΙΧΘΥΣ 258 occurs acrostically in the initial letters of the first five lines, and is found four times in the body of the inscription. It is conjectured that the figure of a fish was also engraved, though now unhappily obliterated, at both the lower corners, where spaces for it seem to have been left. ΙΧΘΥΟϹ οὐρανίου ἅγιον γένος, ἤτορι σεμνῷ Χρῆσε, λαβὼν ζωὴν ἄμβροτον ἐν βροτέοις Θεσπεσίων ὑδάτων· τὴν σὴν, φίλε, θάλπεο ψυχὴν Ὕδασιν ἀενάοις πλουτοδότου Σοφίης, Σωτῆρος δ’ἁγίων μελιηδέα λάμβανε βρῶσιν. Ἔσθιε πεινάων ΙΧΘΥΝ ἔχων παλάμαις. ΙΧΘΥΙ χεῖρας ἄραρα· λιλαίεο δέσποτα Σῶτερ Εὐθύ μοι ἡγητήρ, σε λιτάζομε, φῶς τὸ θανόντων. Ἀσχανδῖε πάτερ, τῷ ’μῷ κεχαρισμένε θυμῷ, Σὺν μητρὶ γλυκερῇ καὶ πὰσιν τοῖσιν ἐμοῖσιν ΙΧΘΥΝ ἰδὼν υἵου μνήσεο Πεκτορίου. “Offspring of the heavenly Ichthus, [Christ,] see that a heart of holy reverence be thine, now that from divine waters thou hast received, while yet among mortals, a spring of life that is to immortality. Quicken thy soul, beloved one, to ever fuller life, with the unfailing waters of wealth-giving wisdom, and receive the honey-sweet food of the Saviour of the saints. Eat with longing hunger, holding Ichthus [the Divine Food] in thy hands. On Ichthus [Christ] my hands are clasped; in thy love draw nigh unto me and be my guide, my Lord, and Saviour; I entreat thee, thou Light of them for whom the hour of death is past. My father, Aschandeius, dear unto my heart, and thou, sweet mother, and all I love on earth, oft as you look on Ichthus [the holy sign of Christ] so often think of me, Pectorius, your son.”[424]