Note 181 — Chapter IV · THE SONG OF THE MOTH

Compare Leblant: “Sarcophages de la Gaule,” 1880. In the “Homilies” of Clement of Rome (“Hom.,” II, 23, cit. by Cumont) it is said: Τῷ κυρίῳ γεγονάσιν δώδεκα ἀπόστολοι τῶν τοῦ ἡλίου δώδεκα μηνῶν φέροντες τὸν ἀριθμόν (The twelve apostles of the Lord, having the number of the twelve months of the sun). As is apparent, this idea is concerned with the course of the sun through the Zodiac. Without wishing to enter upon an interpretation of the Zodiac, I mention that, according to the ancient view (probably Chaldean), the course of the sun was represented by a snake which carried the signs of the Zodiac on its back (similarly to the Leontocephalic God of the Mithra mysteries). This view is proven by a passage from a Vatican Codex edited by Cumont in another connection (190, saec. XIII, p. 229, p. 85): “τότε ὁ πάνσοφος δημιουργὸς ἄκρῳ νεύματι ἐκίνησε τὸν μέγαν δράκοντα σὺν τῷ κεκοσμημένῳ στεφάνῳ, λέγω δὴ τὰ ἰβ’ ζῴδια, βαστάζοντα ἐπὶ τοῦ νώτου αὐτοῦ” (The all-wise maker of the world set in motion the great dragon with the adorned crown, with a command at the end. I speak now of the twelve images borne on the back of this).

This inner connection of the ζῴδια (small images) with the zodiacal snake is worthy of notice and gives food for thought. The Manichæan system attributes to Christ the symbol of the snake, and indeed of the snake on the tree of Paradise. For this the quotation from John gives far-reaching justification (John iii:14): “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up.” An old theologian, Hauff (“Biblische Real- und Verbalkonkordanz,” 1834), makes this careful observation concerning this quotation: “Christ considered the Old Testament story an unintentional symbol of the idea of the atonement.” The almost bodily connection of the followers with Christ is well known. (Romans xii:4): “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” If confirmation is needed that the zodiacal signs are symbols of the libido, then the sentence in John i:29, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” assumes a significant meaning.