.—Of his Picture surmounted by a Cross and having beneath it a Dragon.
besides this, he caused to be painted on a lofty tablet, and set
up in the front of the portico of his palace, so as to be visible to
all, a representation of the salutary sign placed above his head, and
below it that hateful and savage adversary of mankind, who by means of
the tyranny of the ungodly had wasted the Church of God, falling
headlong, under the form of a dragon, to the abyss of destruction. For
the sacred oracles in the books of God’s prophets have described
him as a dragon and a crooked serpent; and for this reason the emperor thus
publicly displayed a painted resemblance of
the dragon beneath his own and his children’s feet, stricken
through with a dart, and cast headlong into the depths of the
sea.
In this manner he intended to
represent the secret adversary of the human race, and to indicate that
he was consigned to the gulf of perdition by virtue of the salutary
trophy placed above his head. This allegory, then, was thus conveyed by
means of the colors of a picture: and I am filled with wonder at the
intellectual greatness of the emperor, who as if by divine inspiration
thus expressed what the prophets had foretold concerning this monster, saying that “God would bring his great and strong and terrible sword against the dragon, the flying serpent; and would destroy the dragon that was in the sea.” This it was of which the emperor gave a true and faithful representation in the picture above described.