The leopard sneaks his way along many of the books in Torrey. He’s hard to spot because he shows up without any cause seemingly. Earlier I wrote a post on Ignatius, the God bearer, who died facing the “leopards of Rome”. A few weeks later in session we were discussing T. S. Eliot who again brought up the idea of leopards. I saw the small thread between the two and pointed out to my friend David. He helped me see what was really going on, so this post is dedicated to him.
Leopards show up in Ignatius’ letter to the Romans referring to the Roman guards bearing him to his martyrdom. While they get worse over time, he claims that they are making him more of a disciple of Christ, but he is only beginning to become a disciple. David points out that Ignatius’ goal is to replicate Christ in his physical suffering. He views these leopards as the instruments of God that will guide him towards his end.
For if these things were done by our Lord in appearance only, then I am in chains in appearance only. Why, moreover, have I surrendered myself to death, to fire, to sword, to beasts? But in any case, ‘near the sword’ means ‘near to God’; ‘with the beasts’ means ‘with God.’ Only let it be in the name of Jesus Christ, so that I may suffer together with him! I endure everything because he himself, who is the perfect human being, empowers me.
Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 4:2
He seeks to partake in the suffering of Christ through his own martyrdom. Christ did not suffer merely in appearance (a point he brings up in multiple letters), but he truly put on flesh and suffered. By suffering himself, Ignatius is performing the same act as Christ, being empowered by Christ himself. The leopards of Rome are his escort to this end. They are the instruments of God to purify his body through suffering and martyrdom. Here the leopards are physical agents.
Eliot pulls in leopards in a similar way. In section II of Ash Wednesday he writes:
Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree
In the cool of the day, having fed to satiety
On my legs my heart my liver and that which had been contained
In the hollow round of my skull. And God said
Shall these bones live?
Here the leopards eat the Christian speaker, destroying him, just as the leopards of Ignatius would lead to his destruction. But the goal here does not seem to be physical imitation of Christ. David notes that instead of seeking physical purification, he is seeking the healing of his mind or closeness with the Word. This can be seen in section V of Ash Wednesday where the speaker is looking for the Word in an empty and silent world. He is sure of the Word’s existence, regardless if it is ever said of heard.
In section V the speaker seems to be depressed, looking for the Word in a hopeless world. The incident of the speaker being eaten by the leopards also refers to I Kings 19 where Elijah too finds himself under a juniper tree.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. (1 Kings 19:4-8)
Elijah felt spent and desired to die. He falls asleep under the juniper tree (which some traditions read as he died) and is awakened by an angel calling him to arise and eat. After he eats he is still to wearing to go, so the angel comes to him again, calling him to eat and to go out. The speaker in Eliot lies down/dies as well, but God calls down and asks if these bones should come back to life, as Elijah does in the tradition. God pulls together the speaker’s body based upon the virtue of the woman under the the tree who sat there “in a white gown, to contemplation, in a white gown.” The speaker is revived based on the merits of a well ordered mind who contemplates God. The leopards help the speaker break free of his despair and come to a place of contemplating the Word in stillness.
Leopards again appear in Dante. In the very first canto of the Divine Comedy, Dante is lost in the woods, having strayed from the path straight and true. He finds himself in a dark wood approached by three creatures, a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. He is only saved from these creatures by the shade of Virgil who asks him why he does not ascend the hill to happiness. Dante needs to be lead back to the path of truth. Traditionally the leopard has been interpreted as representing fraudulence, one of the great sins. In this instance, the leopard does not come to purify Dante but to consume him in his sin for he has strayed from the path of truth. He only serves as an instrument of fear to steer him away from the forest and to find his way back to the path. Although this leopard is not directly connected to the rest, it is interesting to see it pop up again. Dante is always thinking on multiple levels of depth, so I am sure I am missing something here. If you have any ideas, leave me a comment and help continue this discussion.
Torrey Book Blog 