Christie, James: Disquisitions upon the painted Greek vases, and their probable connection with the shows of the Eleusinian and other mysteries (London, 1825)

81

CHAR XL

Of Fish, and the Allegory of Angling.

Uefore I proceed to the examination of new matter, for I have
other subtleties to propose, and I shall be obliged to adopt a
particular jargon in expounding the sophisticated ideas which were
embodied and expressed on vases, I will adduce something
further on the subject of resuscitation. For this purpose I select
a vase in the collection of D'Hancarville, vol. ii. plate xxvu.
Upon this appear the Dioscuri, who, having landed the female
Bacchus in inferis, are in the act of heaving their anchor, and
rowing back to the opposite shore of the Styx. The Libera seated
on the bank, in the mystic attitude of the Harpocrates, awaits the
return of the genius who may be charged with calling her into
activity. This already appears in the upper part of the painting,
where a water-fowl is on the wing towards her, bearing in its
mouth a fish, which, in this instance, is evidently used for a symbol
of resuscitation. From this allusion of fish to the principle of
animation required by inert nature, angling became an appro-
priate device for any monumental stone. Upon one of this
class in the Townley collection, a fisherman seated on a rock

m