[456] According to this legend Adam when sick sent Seth to the gate of Eden to ask for the healing balm of the tree of life, but the guarding angel replied that ages must pass before that boon could be conferred on man. Seth received, however, three seeds, which he planted by his father’s grave, situated on the site of Golgotha. From these sprang the rod of Aaron, and the tree which gave its mysterious virtue to the Pool of Bethesda, and rising to the surface at the hour of the passion, became the instrument of the crucifixion of Our Lord. After that momentous event it was thrown into the town ditch with the crosses of the two thieves, and covered with rubbish; but at the intercession of Helena the earth opened, divine odours breathed forth, the three crosses were discovered, and that of Our Lord was revealed by its curing an inveterate disease and raising a dead man to life. See also _Legenda Aurea, De Inventione et Exaltatione Sanctæ Crucis_. The material of the cross is described in the following distich: Pes crucis est cedrus, corpus tenet alta cupressus, Palma manus retinet titulo lætabor oliva-- “The foot is cedar, a lofty cypress bears the body, the arms are palm, the title olive bears.” [457] Milman, _Hist. Christianity_, bk. iv, c. 4. [458] _Hist. Christianity_, bk. iv, c. 4. One or two apparent exceptions, as in the semi-subterranean chapel annexed to the church of St. Sebastian, by their internal evidence--the drooping head, severe expression, and degraded art--indicate their late origin, Perret thinks of the twelfth or thirteenth century. Bottari figures one (Tav. 190) which may possibly belong to the seventh or eighth century. [459] Cant. iii, 11. [460] Northcote’s “_Catacombs_,” p. 130. [461] Weiter aber geht diese Reihe nicht; Tod und Auferstehung Christi sind in diesem Bereich gar nicht zur Darstellung gekommen.--_Ueber den Christlichen Bilderkreis_, p. 7. Berlin, 1852. Bishop Münter, indeed, asserts that, although it is impossible precisely to determine the first appearance of the crucifix, before the end of the seventh century the church knew nothing of them--Es ist unmöglich das alter der crucifixe genau zu bestimmen. Vor dem Ende des siebenten Jahrhunderts kannte die Kirche sie nicht.--_Sinnbilder_, etc., p. 77. [462] Sub cruce sanguineâ niveo stat Christus in agno.--_Epis._ xxxii. [463] Agnus ut innocua injusto datur hostia letho.--Paulin., _Epis._ xxxii. [464] Christi Dei nostri humana forma characterem etiam in imaginibus deinceps pro veteri agno erigi ac depingi jubemus.--_Concilium Quinisextum_, Canon 82.