Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/56

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
40
DECORATIVE PAVEMENT AT RHEIMS.

represented with a cross on the nimbus encircling his head. Below, to the left, is Noah, in the act of obeying it, with so much alacrity that he not only superintends the work, but, armed with a goodly hatchet, takes a part in it himself; and to the right, the high forecastle of the ark rises up, composed of planking, which a workman is apparently in the act of hammering on.

Archaeological Journal, Volume 11, 0056.png

2. Pharaoh and the plague of flies.

The next subject represents the plague of flies, wherein Pharaoh, seated on his throne, is tormented with a cloud of these insects, and expanding his hands in the attitude of entreaty before Moses and Aaron, the latter of whom is earnestly pressing some counsel upon the monarch in return; the time of this scene being apparently that when Pharaoh relenting said, "I will let, you go, that ye may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go