#klibansky

The bat motif is quite independent of pictures. In fact, its invention is due purely to a textual tradition; and even in Ramler's Shorter Mythology it is still cited as the animal symbolic of melancholics. It is mentioned, too, in the Horapollo as a sign of "homo aegrotans et incontinens". Further, it served the Renaissance humanists (for better or worse) as an example of night vigil or nightly work. According to Agrippa of Nettesheim its outstanding characteristic is "vigilantia"; according to Ficino it is a warning example of the ruinous and destructive effect of night study; and (most remarkable of all, perhaps) in ancient times its membranes were actually used for writing, particularly in setting down spells against sleeplessness.