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Nov 23, 2009
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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—S

Soul

The Moslems fancy that it is necessary, when a man is bow-strung, to relax the rope a little before death occurs to let the soul escape. The Greeks and Romans seemed to think that the soul made its escape with life out of the death-wound.

Soul.
The Moslems say that the souls of the faithful assume the forms of snow-white birds, and nestle under the throne of Allah until the resurrection.

Soul.
Heraclitus held the soul to be a spark of the stellar essence: “scintilia stellaris essentiae.” (Macrobius: Somnium Scipioris, lib. i. cap. 14.)

Vital spark of heavenly flame,
Quit, oh! quit this mortal frame.

Pope: The Dying Christian to his Soul.

Soul, in Egyptian hieroglyphics, is represented by several emblems, as a basket of fire, a heron, a hawk with a human face, and a ram.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Soul Cakes
Sothic Year
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