the bi-sexual nature of the Creator, we followers of the Cross may all
unconsciously be in a very similar position regarding our symbol. And
as the Cross as the recognised symbol of the Christ is not of older
date than the conquest of Rome by the Gauls, and more or less resulted
therefrom, it is clear that the same remark applies if we consider the
Moslems to have adopted their symbol as that of the land they conquered
from the Sassanian kings, rather than as one with the primal and
natural interpretation of which they were content.

Anyway the cross as well as the "star and crescent" is more or less a
bi-sexual symbol, as will be clear to those who understand how the
cross came to be recognised ages before our era as the natural symbol
of Life. And a good illustration of the fact in question still exists
in the Caroccio crucifix of Milan; in which relic we see, under the
usual inscription, an androgynous Christ upon a cross, with a man's
head but half the body of female form, and with, instead of a cloth or
fig-leaf, the phallic _crux ansata_, or Egyptian cross or symbol of
Life, placed sideways, and as if the oval represented the female organ
of reproduction, and the _tau_ or incomplete cross that of the other
sex.

Like the Red Cross of to-day, the Carocco bi-sexual crucifix, once so
common in Italy, was a symbol of Life and Salvation in two senses; it
not only being considered so in itself, but being also used on the
battlefield as a rallying point for wounded soldiers, signalling to
them that bandages, drugs, and surgical aid, could be obtained where it
towered aloft.

These references to the fact that in days of old many very naturally
came to the conclusion that the Creator and Giver of Life and only