of
Israel daily marched round the walls of Jericho for 7 days; and Elisha
bade Naaman wash in Jordan 7 times; and under the Levitical law every
7th day, and 7th month, and 7th year, was sabbatical, and a succession
of 7 sabbatical years was followed by the year of Jubilee, which
brought the sabbatical cycle to completion. Hence, as Josephus
distinctly states, the candlestick of the tabernacle of Moses was
7-branched; and in the Book of Revelation the churches of Asia, &c,
are 7; and there are 7 Christian virtues, and 7 deadly sins; and 7
sorrows of Mary; and 7 journeys of Christ; and 7 divisions of the
Christian day; and 7 champions of Christendom. Likewise 7 wise men of
Greece; and 7 sleepers; and 7 wonders of the world; and 7 metals; and 7
precious stones; and 7 notes of music; and 7 nails in a horse shoe; and
7 cuts and guards in fencing. The 12-fold signs through which the sun
passes in a solar year made the number 12 divine. Therefore the sons of
Jacob are 12; and there were 12 loaves of shewbread, which Josephus
explicitly states "denoted the year, as distinguished into so many
months;" and 12 brazen lions, as supporters of the "molten sea" of
Solomon's temple; and 12 lions on ths steps of Solomon's throne; and in
the Book of Revelations the New Jerusalem has 12 foundations and 12
gates; and the "Tree of Life" 12 manner of fruits; and the woman
clothed with the sun and moon is crowned with 13 stars, It is to be
noted also that there were 12 tables of the Roman law; and that 12
fasces were carried before the decemviri who administered them; and
that on the 1st of March each year the 12 Salii, or "dancing" priests
of Mars, arrayed in embroidered tunics, perambulated the streets of
Rome, bearing the 12 ancilia or shields dedicated the temple of
Quirinus by Numa, as the palladium of the eternal city. It has never
before been suspected, but they were certainly a zodiacal palladium;
and I find that the embroidery on the cloaks of the Salii, as seen on
an ancient gem, commonly figured in dictionaries of Roman antiquities {vide Rich],
represents the sea-horse of Aquarius, and another symbolical figure
which is not specifically zodical is certainly con-stellationary. The
"fratres Arvales" were also 12. The palladium of British liberty is a
jury of 12 good men and true; and of old every English archer went into
battle with 12 arrows in his belt, whence the saying:—"Every English
archer carries [the lives of] 12 Scotchmen under his girdle." The right
number of spokes in a cart-wheel is 12; and the hosiers' sign of a ram
or lamb hanging from either a 12-spoked wheel, or a wheel with
revolving legs for its spokes, is nothing but a similitude of the
circle of the zodiac, with the sign of the ram represented in enlarged
proportion, and naturalistically. Great reverence and awe also attaches
to the occult power of the multiple of 7 by 12, that is to the number
84, which is still largely affected by the Hindus and Jainas, and in
certain relations even by the Mahomedans of India. From the ear iest
traditions of the Hindus, the chaurasi, or group of 84
villages, as a reduplication of the 84 constellations of the heavens,
and analogous to our hundred or '• cantred," has existed as one of the
larger divisions of the land in Rajputana, the l'anjab, and parts of
the Xorth-West Provinces. The 84 constellations are also represented by
the chaurasi necklace of 84 beads, and by chaurasi palaces
of 84 windows or columns, and in various other forms. The number 360 is
also especially sacred among the Hindus, and Jainas, and Buddhists,
because it is a multiple of.the number of the 12 months of the year by
the number (30) of the days of a solar month. Is it reasonable, then,
to doubt that the number of the stones of Aaron's breastplate was
suggested by the 12-fold signs of the zodiac; and that it was in fact
the zodiacal palladium of Israel. But why he (the Chairman) had gone
into the matter at such great length was because he most strongly
desired to recover the long lost threads of traditional symbolism in
the ornamental arts of the Caucasian races. He did not forget what the
followers of Geothe were always saying about art being its own
self-sufficient end, and independent of all moral aim. But in reviewing
the subject historically, he found that the highest principle