[410] Nos, pisciculi secundum ΙΧΘΥΝ nostrum Jesum Christum, in aqua nascimur, nec aliter quam in aqua permanendo salvi sumus.--_De Baptismo_, cap. i. [411] Hic (sc. Christus) est piscis qui in baptismate per invocationem fontalibus undis inseritur ut quæ aqua fuerat a pisce etiam piscina vocitetur.--_Epis. Milevitanus._ The _piscina_ is now the basin in which the sacred vessels are washed. [412] See chaps. vi and xi. [413] Est Christus piscis ille qui ad Tobiam ascendit de flumine vivus, cujus jecore per passionem assato fugatus est diabolus. [414] Dei Filius, Salvator, piscis in sua passione decoctus, cujus ex interioribus remediis quotidie illuminamur et pascimur.--_De Promis. et Prædic. Dei_, ii, 39. [415] ΙΧΘΥΣ, in quo nomine mystice intelligitur Christus, eo quod in hujus mortalitatis abysso, velut in aquarum profunditate vivus.--_De Civ. Dei._ [416] Χριστὸς ὁ τροπικῶς λεγόμενος Ἰχθύς.--_Opp._ ed. Bened., tom. iii, p. 584. [417] _Rom. Sott._, p. 210. Probably the aureole of Mediæval art derived its name of _vesica piscis_ from this symbol. [418] See Fig. 113. [419] See Fig. 118. [420] Piscis ... Christus tribulationis igne assatus. Compare the phrase of Augustine--Piscis assus Christus passus. [421] Plerique septiformis Spiritus gratiam in panibus definitam, in piscibus quoque duplicis testamenti figuram intelligendam putant.--Ambrose, _in Luc._ ix. [422] This has been minutely examined by Cardinal Pitra--its discoverer--Kirchoff, Garrucci, Le Blant, and other eminent scholars. The monograph of Marriott, its latest editor, is a masterpiece of epigraphical criticism. [423] Cardinal Pitra places it about A. D. 250, but the elongated form of the letters, of which there is no early example, forbids the supposition. [424] The epitaph of Abercius, a Phrygian bishop of the second century, also contains an allusion to the heavenly Ichthus, and probably to the eucharist, in the lines which we quote: ... Πίστις δὲ προσῆγε Καὶ παρέθηκε τροφὴν, Ἰχθὺν θείας ἀπὸ πηγῆς, Παμμεγέθη, καθαρὸν, ὃν ἐδράξατο παρθένος ἁγνή· Καὶ τοῦτον ἐπέδωκε φίλοις ἔσθειν διὰ παντὸς, Οἶνον χρηστὸν ἔχουσα, κέρασμα διδοῦσα μετ’ἄρτου. “Faith brought to us and set before us food, a fish from a divine fount, great and clean, which the holy maiden took in her hand and gave it to her friends, that they should always eat thereof, holding goodly wine, giving with bread a mingled drink.” The “holy maiden” is evidently, from the context, as Marriott remarks, Faith personified, although Padre Garrucci and Dr. Northcote regard her as no other than the Virgin Mary. [425] We have seen how Tertullian designates believers as little fishes--_pisciculi_.