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ViCTORiNus. A. D. 290. 175
(see Rev. iv. C, 7.] are tlie four g-ospels : " The first," says
he, " was like a lion, the second was like a calf, the thirri
like a man, and the fourth like a Hying eagle." These living-
creatures have diflerent faces, which have a meaning : for
the living- creature like a lion denotes Mark, in whom the
voice of a lion roaring in the wilderness is heard " : A voice
crying' in the w ilderness, Prepare the May of the Lord."
Matthew, who has the resemblance of a man, shows the family
of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh ; and, while he computes
his genealogy from Abraham to David and Joseph,
he speaks of him as a man ; therefore his preaching is represented
by the face of a man. Luke, who relates the priesthood
of Zacharias offering sacrifice for the people, and the
angel that appeared to him, because of the priesthood and
the mention of the sacrifice, has the resemblance of a calf.
The evangelist John, like an eagle with stretched-out wings
mounting- on high, speaks of (he Word of God. The evangelist
Mark commences thus : " The beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet ; the
voice of one crying in the wilderness :" this is the face of a
lion. Matthew says : " The book of the generation of Jesus
Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:" this is the
face of a man. But Luke says : " There was a priest, named
Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the
(laughters of Aaron :" this is the form of a calf. John begins
thus : " In the beginning was the Word, the same was in
the beginning" Avith God :" this is the similitude of a flying-
eagle.'
Thus in this passage we have the four evangelists, and
the beginnings of their several gospels, or at least what is near
the beginning of each of them. This passage, therefore, if
it be really Victorinus's, as I see no reason to doubt, is very
valuable.
3. He speaks of the time and of the occasion of St. John's
autem figura Matthaeus enititiir enuntiare nobis genus Mariae, unde caraem
accepit Christus. Ergo dum enumerat ab Abraham usque ad David, et usque
ad Joseph, tamquam de homine locutus est. Ideo praedicatio ejus hominis
effigiem ostendit. Lucas sacerdotium Zachariae offerentis hostiara pro populo,
et apparentem sibi angeUim dum enarrat, propter sacerdotium, et hostiae con-
scriptionem, vitiiH imaginationem tenet. Joannes evangelista, aquilae similis,
assumtis pennis ad altiora festinans, de verbo Dei disputat. Marcus evange-
lista sic incipit: Initium evangelii Jesu ChrLsti, sicut scriptum estinlsaia pro-
pheta, Vox clamantis in deserto. Haec est leonis effigies. Matthaeus : Liber
generationis Jesu Christi, filii David, fihi Abraham. Haec est facies hominis.
Lucas autem dicit : Fuit saeerdos nomine Zacharias, de vice Abia, et mulier
e^ de filiabus Aaron. Haec est imago vituli. Joannes sic incipit : in principio
erat Verbum, hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Haec est similitudo aquilae
volantis. Victorin. Coinm. in Apoc. ap. Bib. P. P. T. iii.p. 416, F. G. H,