CROSS. This word is derived from the Latin crux. Respecting the origin of its Greek repre sentative there is some diversity of opinion. Ac cording to Eustathius and Hesychius, the Greek crraup6s is so called 7rapa, TO els b/pa vrdQtv, I) rap& rd cis from its standing erect, or from its standing with its arms horizontal. Latin etymologists also derive the word from Yo-rmaL, to place. In its general acceptation the cross is an instrument of punishment, and metaphorically, punishment itself, as well as the pain which it in flicts, and generally any severe suffering or heavy trial. Instead of crraup6s the Greek word is sometimes found as equivalent to the Latin crux. Both are in frequent use on the ,part of the writers who transferred the events of Roman history into the Greek tongue.
In its simplest form, consisting of two pieces of wood, one standing erect, the other crossing it at right angles, the cross was known at an early age in the history of the world. Its use as an instru ment of punishment was probably suggested by the shape so often taken by branches of trees, which seem to have been the first crosses that were em ployed. It was certainly customary to hang crimi nals on trees—arbor infelix; Cicero (Pm Rabin 3) appears to consider hanging on a tree and cruci fixion as of the same import, and Seneca (Ep. loi) names the cross infelix lignum, which may with no undue liberty be rendered `the accursed tree.' Trees are known to have been used as crosses (Tertull. Ap. cap. 16), and to every kind of hang ing which bore a resemblance to crucifixion, such as that of Prometheus, Andromeda, etc., the name was commonly applied. Among the Scythians, Persians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, and the ancient Germans, traces are found of the cross as an instrument of punishment. The sign of the cross is found as a holy symbol among several an cient nations, who may accordingly be named, in the language of Tertullian, crucis religiosos, de votees of the cross. Among the Indians and Egyptians the cross often appears in their cere monies, sometimes in the shape of the letter T, at others in this shape +. At Susa, Ker Porter saw a stone cut with hieroglyphics and cuneiform in scriptions, on which in one corner was a figure of a cross, thus The cross, he says, is generally understood to be symbolical of the divinity or eternal life, and certainly a cross was to be seen in the temple of Serapis as the Egyptian emblem of the future life, as may be learned in Sozomen and Rufinus. Porter also states that the Egyptian
priests urged its being found on the walls of their temple of Serapis, as an argument with the vic torious army of Theodosius to save it from de struction. From the numerous writings on this subject by La Croze, Jablonski, Zoega, Visconti, Pococke, Pluche, Petit Radel, and others, the symbol of the cross appears to have been most various in its significations. Sometimes it is the Phallus, sometimes the planet Venus, or the Nilo meter, or an emblem of the four elements, or the seasons (Creuzer's Symbouk, pp. 168-9). It is not therefore surprising that ancient and even modern Christian writers should on this subject have indulged in some degree of refinement and mysticism. Justin Martyr (Apol. i, sec. 72) says, ' The sign of the cross is impressed upon the whole of nature. There is hardly a handicraftsman but uses the figure of it among the implements of his industry. It forms a part of man himself; as may be seen when he raises his hands in prayer.' In like manner Mimi tius Felix (c. 29) : ' Even nature itself seems to have formed this figure for us. We have a natural cross on every ship whose sails are spread, in every yoke that man forms, in every outspreading of his arms in prayer. Thus is the cross found both in the arrangements of nature and among the heathen.' According to Lipsius (De Cruce, i. 5-9) and Gretser (De Cruce Christi, vol. i. c. i) there were in general two kinds of crosses :—I. Crux simplex; 2. Crux composita or compacta. The first con sisted of a stake on which the criminal was fastened or by which he was impaled. For the first kind of punishment a tree or a specially prepared stake was used, on which the criminal was bound, and either left to perish, or immediately put to death. For impaling (infixio) a long and sharpened piece of wood (pale) was employed, on which the crimi nal was put as on a spit. Seneca describes this kind of execution (Consolat. ad Marc. c. 20): 'I behold these crosses, not of one kind, but made differ ently by different people. Some suspended the criminal with his head turned towards the earth : others drove a stake through his body.' This cruel mode of execution was formerly very customary in Russia, China, Turkey, and other countries, and is not yet universally abolished by law.