The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

Ii8 THE EVIL EYE chap.
sentation, more or less allegorical, of some person
or attribute personified ; and
in the end, by the
same process of repetition, the emblem became con-
ventionalised like the symbol, so that certain repre-
sentations always conveyed to the beholder the idea
of a certain fact or event, or of some being, or
with this difference, that the emblem
personification ;
expressed more fully and distinctly, while the symbol
only hinted at the idea conveyed.^^* To make what
we mean more clear, the crucifix is an emblem, a
dramatic representation of a great event, carrying
with it all its history and consequences, while the
simple cross is a symbol no less expressive, but yet
conveying by a mere hint all the history, all the
doctrine, all the significance, of the more elaborate
representation.
Justice, again, as an emblem is represented as a
blindfolded female figure, holding the sword of
punishment in one hand, with the balance of judgment
in the other. As a symbol of justice, either the
sword, or the balance alone, conveys the idea, though
in a more abstract form. Victory, too, has for her
emblem a winged female figure holding a wreath or
a palm branch, while the syjubol of victory is the
wreath or the palm alone.
It will be readily understood how a symbol may
be easily developed from an actual pictorial emblem,
into a mere description, either spoken or by gesture
acted, so as to convey the same idea. Thus when
the hand is raised in the act of benediction, the three
184 '^Emhlema licet cum isto Knigmatum genere in ratione symboli conveniat,
differt tamen, quod rem sublatis tenigmatum velis purius liquidiusque proponat.
Est enim proprie symbolum aliquod ingeniosum, suave, et moratum,
ex pictura et lemmate constans, quo aliqua gravior sententia indicari solet."
De symbolica ALg}'pt07-Hvi sapientia. Nicolaus Caussinus. Colonic, 1623,
p. 17.
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