There is a similar pulpit at Toscanella, in the church of S. Maria Maggiore, a three-naved Lombard church with the choir facing east. The pulpit, which is of the square form used before A.D. 1000, is supported on four columns, and has sculptured parapets and arches, on which are various interlaced designs of marvellous intricacy.[70] FOOTNOTES: [57] Sancti Ambrosii, _Comment. in S. Luc._ Lib. V. cap. vi. [58] _Dell' Architettura in Italia_, cap. viii. p. 245. [59] Would this at all explain the Runic knot in Ireland, and in Scandinavia, where there was very early intercourse with the Phœnicians? [60] Amantius, the fourth Bishop of Como, was translated from the See of Thessalonica to that of Como. [61] _Antichità Romantiche d'Italia_, Vol. I. capo iv. p. 138. [62] "Sophiæ patres, per quædam occulta et audacia enigmata, manifestant divinam, et misticam et inviam immundis veritatum."--Sancti Dionisii, _de Theologia Simbolica_, Epistola I. ad Titum Pontificem. [63] A very pretty later instance of this myth is in the fresco of the Spanish chapel in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, where the Dominican monks are figured as the "dogs of the Lord" (_domini canes_--mediæval pun), fighting and overwhelming the heretical _paterini_ whom the monks literally fought with in the streets of Florence. The dog is always used as emblem of fidelity--the hare treated alone is generally used as an emblem of unchastity; when in the chase, as unfaithfulness. [64] I am informed, by a literary Hindoo lady, that Zohak, so graphically described by Southey as the emblem of remorse, is from an ancient Persian legend, and not of Indian origin. [65] The stone is evidently a remnant of the ancient architrave of the façade, where it has been replaced by two modern slabs, and the arch above filled in with masonry. [66] Anglicized from Bigeri Thorlacii et Sebastiani Ciampi. "_De septentrionalium gentium antiquitatibus, et literis runicis._"--Epistolæ Mediolani._ [67] _Architettura d'Italia_, Fig. 119, p. 201. [68] Cattaneo, _L' Architettura in Italia_, p. 79. [69] Ermelind was from England, which suggests a very early intercourse between the Lombards and Britain. [70] Cattaneo, _L' Architettura in Italia_, p. 167. CHAPTER V COMACINES UNDER CHARLEMAGNE MASTERS OF THE CARLOVINGIAN ERA