But the two former signs are of little weight, and with regard to the last, it is observed by the critics, 1.

That the figure, as it is called, of a palm, is perhaps a cypress, and perhaps only a stop, the flourish of a comma used in the monumental inscriptions.2.That the palm was the symbol of victory among the Pagans.3.That among the Christians it served as the emblem, not only of martyrdom, but in general of a joyful resurrection.
See the epistle of P.Mabillon, on the worship of unknown saints, and Muratori sopra le Antichita Italiane, Dissertat.

lviii.] [Footnote 74: As a specimen of these legends, we may be satisfied with 10,000 Christian soldiers crucified in one day, either by Trajan or Hadrian on Mount Ararat.

See Baronius ad Martyrologium Romanum; Tille mont, Mem.Ecclesiast.tom.ii.part ii.p.

438; and Geddes's Miscellanies, vol.ii.p.