in
Lzherature and Art.
81
ii
Augufiinians) there are none but bealts_li0ns by their pride, foxes by
their craftinefs, bears by their voracity, Itinking goats by their incontinence,
aifes by their iluggifhnefs, hedgehogs by their afperity, hares by their
timidity, becaufe they were cowardly where there was no fear, and oxen
by their laborious cultivation of their land." it
A fcene clofely refernbling that here defcribed by Odo, differing only
in the diltribution of the charaeters, was tranflated from fome fuch
Written {tory into the piotorial language of the ancient fculpturecl ornamen-
tation of Straiburg Cathedral, where it formed, apparently, two {ides of
.the capital or entablature of a column near the chancel. The deceafed in
this piiture appears to be a fox, which was probably the animal intended
to be reprefented in the original, although, in the copy of it preferved, it
looks more like a fquirrel. The bier is carried by the goat and the boar,
while a little dog underneath is taking liberties with the tail of the latter.
Immediately before the -bier, the hare carries the lighted taper, preceded
by the wolf, who carries the crofs, and the bear, who holds in one hand
the holy-Water veifel and in the other the afperfoir. This forms the
Hril; divifion of the fubjeet, and is reprefented in our cut No. 49. In the
next
l
The Latin text of this and some others of the fables of Odo de Ciringtun
will be found in my " Selection of Latin Stories," pp. 50-52, 55-58, and 80.
l