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 >i,'-^* 
 
 CANADA 
 
 NATIONAL LIBRARY 
 BIBLIOTHtoUE NATIONALE 
 
7)*f- 
 
 I^ 
 
 uatacombs of t\ome 
 
 AND THEIR 
 
 TESTIMONY RELATIVE TO PRIMITIVE 
 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. W. H. WITHKUW, M.A. 
 
 rKKJEQITR ADVKRSUS VNIVER8AH IliKKRflRS JAM IllJfO PR/CJUDirATUM HIT; ID MAS 
 TEKUM, QfOUOUNQirK PRIMUM', ID IC8SB ADl'LTKRUM. QCODCirNQCR P08TRRIUS. 
 
 — Tbbtullxan, adv. Praweoti. 
 
 ♦>» 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 NELSON & PHILLIPS. 
 
 CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK 4 WALDKN. 
 
 1874. 
 
 [Ai.L RtoHTt) Rbskrvro.I 
 
 7^1^ 
 

 202370 
 
 Entered aooording to Aofc of Con^rress, in the year 1874, by 
 
 NELSON ds PHILLIPS, 
 ill the Offic« of the Librmrian of Congress at Washington. 
 
TO TH« 
 
 REV. JOHN M^CAUL, LL.D., 
 
 PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY COLLKHR, 
 
 TORONTO, CANADA, 
 
 ONE OF Tilt: MOST EMINENT OF LIVINU KPIGRAIMIISTS : 
 
 IN ADMIRATION OF 
 
 HIS DISTINGUISHED SCHOI.ARSHir, 
 
 AND 
 
 AS A TRIBUTE OF PERSONAL ESTEEM, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BV THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 -♦••»- 
 
 The present work, it is hoped, will supply a want long 
 ftlt in the literature of the Catacombs. That litera- 
 ture, it is true, is very voluminous ; but it is for the 
 most part locked up in rare and costly folios in foreign 
 languages, and inaccessible to the general reader. 
 Recent discoveries have refuted some of the theories 
 and corrected many of the statements of previous 
 books in English on this subject ; and the present vol- 
 ume is the only one in which the latest results of 
 exploration are fully given, and interpreted from a 
 Protestant point of view. 
 
 The writer has endeavored to illustrate the subject 
 by frequent pagan sepulchral inscriptions, and by 
 citations from the writings of the Fathers, which 
 often throw much light on the condition of early 
 Christian society. The value of the work is greatly 
 enhanced, it is thought, by the addition of many 
 hundreds of early Christian inscriptions carefully 
 translated, a very large proportion of which have 
 never before appeared in English. Those only who 
 have given some attention to epigraphical studies can 
 conceive the difficulty of this partof the work. The de- 
 facements of time, and frequently the original imper- 
 fection of the inscriptions and the ignorance of their 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 writers, demand the utmost carefulness to avoid errors 
 of interpretation. The writer has been fortunate in 
 being assisted by the veteran scholarship of the 
 Rev. Dr. McCaul, well known in both Europe and 
 America as one of the highest living authorities in 
 epigraphical science, under whose critical revision 
 most of the translations have passed. Through the 
 enterprise of the publishers this work is more copi- 
 ously illustrated, from original and other sources, than 
 any other work on the subject in the language ; thus 
 giving more correct and vivid impressions of the un- 
 familiar scenes and objects delineated than is possi- 
 ble by any mere verbal description. References are 
 given, in the foot-notes, to the principal authorities 
 quoted, but specific acknowledgment should here be 
 made of the author's indebtedness to the Cavaliere 
 De Rossi's Roma Sotterranea and Inscriptiones Chris- 
 tiatuB, by far the most important works on this fas- 
 cinating but difficult subject. 
 
 Believing that the testimony of the Catacombs 
 exhibits, more strikingly than any other evidence, the 
 immense contrast between primitive Christianity and 
 modern Romanism, the author thinks no apology 
 necessary for the somewhat polemical character of 
 portions of this book which illustrate that fact. He 
 trusts that it will be found a contribution of some 
 value to the historical defense of the truth against 
 the corruptions and innovations of Popish error. 
 Nkw York, 1874. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE STRUCTURE AND HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 CHArTIB Pa«b 
 
 I. The Structure op the Catacombs > 1 1 
 
 n. The Origin and Early History op thb Catacombs. 49 
 
 III. Thf Disuse and Abandonment op the Catacombs. 120 
 
 IV. The Rediscovery and Exploration op the Cata- 
 
 combs 150 
 
 V. The PuMaPAi. Catacombs. 164 
 
 Sooh <Seton)r. 
 
 THE ART AND SYMBOLISM OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 I. Early Christian Art aoj 
 
 II. The Symbolism op the Catacombs 335 
 
 III. The Biblical Paintings op the Catacombs 283 
 
 IV. Objects pound in the Catacombs 363 
 
 S00h Cl^irb. 
 
 THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 I. General Character op the Inscriptions 395 
 
 II. The Doctrinal Teachings op the Inscriptions... 415 
 
 III. Early Christian Life and Character as read in 
 
 THE Catacombs 453 
 
 IV. Ministry, Rites, and Institutions of the Primitive 
 
 Church as Indicated in the Catacomhs 506 
 
UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 I. Entrance to Catacomb of 
 St. Priscilla 
 
 a. Entrance to Catacomb of 
 St. Praetextatus 
 
 3. Part of Callixtan Cata- 
 
 comb 
 
 4. Gallery with Tombs 
 
 5. Interior of Corridor 
 
 6. Loculi — Open and Closed 
 
 7. Tomb of Valeria 
 
 8. Arcosolium with Perfo- 
 
 rated Slab 
 
 9. Plan of Double Chamber. 
 XO. Section of Gallerr and 
 
 Cubicula 
 
 XI. Suite of Chambers 
 
 xa. Vaulted Chamber with 
 
 Columns 
 
 X3. Cubiculum with Arcoso- 
 
 lia 
 
 X4. Section of Catacomb of 
 
 Callixtus 
 
 15. Cubicula with Lnminare. 
 
 16. Gallery in St. Hermes . 
 
 17. Part of Wall of Gallery 
 
 in St. Hermes 
 
 18. Slab in Jewish Catacomb. 
 
 19. Epitaph of Martyrus.. . . 
 
 20. Reputed Martyr Symbol. 
 ax. Epitaph of Lannus, a 
 
 Martyr 
 
 aa. Secret Stairway in Cata- 
 comb of Callixtus. . . . 
 
 a3. Diogenes the Fossor. . . . 
 
 34. Fossor at Work 
 
 la a6. 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 18 
 20 
 
 23 
 24 
 
 27. 
 a8. 
 
 29- 
 30. 
 
 25 , 31. 
 
 26 
 
 27 
 a8 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 
 32 
 35 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 66 
 77 
 
 98 
 
 lOI 
 
 133 
 134 
 
 32. 
 3.1- 
 34- 
 
 35- 
 
 36. 
 
 37. 
 38. 
 
 39. 
 40. 
 
 41- 
 
 42. 
 43- 
 
 45. 
 46. 
 
 47. 
 
 48. 
 
 49- 
 
 Tombs on Appian Way. 165 
 Plan of Area in Callixtan 
 
 Catacomb 171 
 
 Plan of Crypt of St. Peter 
 
 and St. Paul 187 
 
 Crypt of St. Peter and St. 
 
 Paul 188 
 
 Section of Catacomb of 
 
 Helena 191 
 
 Entrance to Catacomb of 
 
 St. Agnes 195 
 
 Mithraic Painting 216 
 
 Leaf Point 227 
 
 Phonetic Symbol — Leo.. 229 
 Phonetic Symbol — Por- 
 
 cella 330 
 
 Phonetic Symbol — Na- 
 
 bira 230 
 
 Wool-comber's Imple- 
 ments 231 
 
 Carpenter's Implements. 231 
 Vine Dresser's Tomb . . . 232 
 
 Symbolical Anchor 234 
 
 S}'mbolical Ship 235 
 
 Symbolical Palm and 
 
 Crown 236 
 
 Symbolical Doves 237 
 
 Symbolical Dove 238 
 
 Doves and Vase 238 
 
 Locus Primi 238 
 
 Symbolical Peacock.... 240 
 The Good Shepherd. . . . a45 
 Good Shepherd with 
 
 Syrinx 346 
 
 Symbolical Lamb 249 
 
List of lUustratioHS. 
 
 rta. P««e 
 
 50. Symlxilical Fish 255 
 
 51. Symbolical Fish 356 
 
 52. Fish and Anchor 256 
 
 53. Fish and Dove 256 
 
 54. Eucharistic Symbol 256 
 
 55. Constantinian Monogram 265 
 
 56. Early Christian Seal. . . . 266 
 
 57. Various Forms of Mono- 
 
 gram 267 
 
 58. Epitaph of Tasaris 267 
 
 59. Opi>tliographse 26S 
 
 60. Early Christian Seal. . . . 270 
 
 61. Monogram and Cross. . . 270 
 "62. The Temptation and Fall 284 
 
 63. Adam and Eve Receiving 
 
 their Sentence 285 
 
 64. Noah in the Ark 286 
 
 65. Noah in the Ark. ... . 287 
 
 66. Noah in the Ark, from 
 
 Sarcophagus 28 7 
 
 67. Apamean Medal 288 
 
 68. Sacrifice of Isaac 289 
 
 69. Sacrifice of Isaac 289 
 
 70. Moses on Moreb 290 
 
 71. Moses Receiving the Law 290 
 
 72. Moses and the Baskets of 
 
 Manna 291 
 
 73. Moses Striking the Rock 291 
 
 74. Moses Striking the Rock 291 
 
 75. The Sufferings of Job. . . 293 
 
 76. Ascension of Elijah 295 
 
 77. The Three Hebrew Chil- 
 
 dren 
 
 78. The Three Hebrew Chil- 
 
 dren 
 
 79. The Three Hebrew Chil- 
 
 dren 
 
 80. Daniel in the Lions' Den 
 
 81. The Story of Jonah 300 
 
 82. Jonah, Moses, and Oranti 301 
 
 83. Jonah and the Great Fish. 302 
 
 84. Noah and Jonah 302 
 
 296 
 297 
 
 298 
 299 
 
 85. Jonah's (iourd 304 
 
 86. Adoration of Magi 305 
 
 87. Adoration of Magi. . . . 3tjO 
 
 88. Orante y^) 
 
 89. Supposed Madonna ... 311 
 
 90. Earliest Madonna 312 
 
 91. Christ with the Doctors. 324 
 
 92. Christ and the Woman 
 
 of Samaria 3^5 
 
 93. Paralytic Carrying Bed. 325 
 
 94. Woman with Issue of 
 
 Blood 326 
 
 95. Miracle of I^oaves and 
 
 Fishes 327 
 
 96. Opening the Eyes of the 
 
 Blind 327 
 
 97. Christ Blessing a Little 
 
 Child 328 
 
 98. Lazarus (rude) 330 
 
 99. Lazarus (in fresco) 330 
 
 100. Lazarus (in relief) 331 
 
 loi. Christ's Entry into Jeru- 
 salem 331 
 
 102. Peter's Denial of Christ . 332 
 
 103. Pilate Washing his 
 
 Hands. 333 
 
 104. Sculptured Sarcophagus 334 
 
 105. Painted Chamber 339 
 
 106. Oldest Extant Head of 
 
 Christ (mosaic) 347 
 
 107. God Symbolized by a 
 
 Hand 356 
 
 108. God as Pope 359 
 
 109. Domestic Group in Gilt 
 
 Glass 366 
 
 no. Reputed Martyr Relic. 371 
 
 111. Reputed Martyr Sym- 
 
 bol 374 
 
 112. Symbolical Lamp 377 
 
 113. Symlxilical Lamp 378 
 
 114. Vases from the Cata- 
 
 combs 381 
 
10 
 
 List of Illustrations. 
 
 FHr. Page 
 115. Amphora from the Cat- 
 acombs 382 
 
 X16. Earthen and Metal Ves- 
 sels 383 
 
 117. Early Christian Ring.. 385 
 \iZ. Early Christian Seal... 385 
 
 119. Impressions of Seals. . . 386 
 
 120. Children's Toys 387 
 
 X2I. Statue of Good Shep- 
 herd 390 
 
 122. Epitaph of Gemella. . . 401 
 
 123. Epitaph of Ligurius 
 
 Successus 402 
 
 Pl«. Pace 
 
 124. Epitaph of Domitins. . 402 
 
 125. Epitaph Inverted 404 
 
 126. Epitaph Reversed 404 
 
 127. Epitaph of Cassia 405 
 
 128. Triple Epitaph 405 
 
 129. Belicia 500 
 
 130. Chamber with Catechu- 
 
 mens' Seats. 531 
 
 131. Baptismal Font 537 
 
 132. Baptism of Our Lord. . 538 
 
 133. Baptismal Scene 539 
 
 134. Fresco of Early Chris- 
 
 tian Agape 546 
 
THE 
 
 CATACOMBS OF ROME. 
 
 ■^•««»- 
 
 ' BOOK FIRST. 
 
 STRUCTURE AND HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STRUCTURE OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 " Among the cultivated grounds not far from the city 
 of Rome," says the Christicip poet Prudentius, " lies a 
 deep crypt, with dark recesses. A descending path, 
 with winding steps, leads through the dim turnings, 
 and the daylight, entering by the mouth of the cavern, 
 somewhat illumines the first part of the way. But the 
 darkness grows deeper as we advance, till we meet with 
 openings, cut in the roof of the passages, admitting light 
 from above. On all sides spreads the densely-woven 
 labyrinth of paths, branching into caverned chapels and 
 sepulchral halls ; and throughout the subterranean maze, 
 through frequent openings, penetrates the light." * 
 
 • Haud procul extremo culta ad pomoeria vzDo, 
 
 Mersa latebrosts crypta patet foveis. . . . — Peristephanofif iv. 
 
 The origin of the word Catacombs is exceedingly obscure. Father 
 Marchi derives it from Kara, down, and rvfiPo^, a tomb ; or from Kara 
 and Koifidu, to sleep. Mommsen thinks it comes from Kara and 
 eumio, part of deaimbo^ to lie down. According to Schneider {Lex. 
 
13 
 
 The Catixcombs of Rome. 
 
 Pig, 1.— Entranca to the Cataromb of St. Priscilla. 
 
 This description of the Catacombs in the fourth cen- 
 tury is equally applicable to their general appearance in 
 the nineteenth. Their main features are unchanged, 
 although time and decay have greatly impaired their 
 structure and defaced their beauty. These Christian 
 cemeteries are situated chiefly near the great roads 
 leading from the city, and, for the most part, within a 
 circle of three miles from the walls. From this circum- 
 stance they have been compared to the " encampment 
 of a Christian host besieging Pagan Rome, and driving 
 inward its mines and trenches with an assurance of 
 
 Greek.) it is derived from Kara and KVfiQrj, a boat or canoe, from the 
 resemblance of a sarcophagus to that object. The more probable 
 derivation seems to the present writer to be from Kara and kv/xjSo^, a 
 hollow, as if descriptive of a subterranean excavation. The name 
 was first given in the sixth century to a limiced area beneath the 
 Church of St. Sebastian : ^* Locus qui dicitnr catacumbasy — S. Greg., 
 Opp.f tom. ii, ep. 30. It was afterward generically applied to all sub- 
 terranean places of sepulture. The earliest writers who mention 
 those of Rome call them crypttr, or crypts, or c^tnteteria — whence our 
 word cemetery, literally, sleeping places, from kui/xuu, to slumber. 
 Similar excavations have been found in Syria, Asia Minor, Cyprus, 
 Crete, the iEgean Isles, Greece, Sicily, Naples, Malta, and France. 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 13 
 
 |s r^, »» 
 
 final victory." The openings of the Catacombs are 
 scattered over the Campagna, whose mournful desolation 
 surrounds the city ; often among the mouldering mau- 
 solea that rise, like stranded wrecks, above the rolling 
 sea of verdure of the tomb-abounding plain.* On 
 every side are tombs — tombs above and tombs be- 
 low — the graves of contending races, the sepulchres 
 of vanished generations : ^^Piena di sepoltura e la Cam- 
 pagnar\ 
 
 How marvelous" that beneath the remains of a proud 
 pagan civilization exist the early monuments of that 
 power before which the myths of paganism faded away as 
 the spectres of darkness before the rising sun, and by 
 which the religion and institutions of Rome were entirely 
 changed. t Beneath the ruined palaces and temples, the 
 crumbling tombs and dismantled villas, of the august 
 mistress of the world, we find the most interesting relics 
 of early Christianity on the face of the earth. In trav- 
 ersing these tangled labyrinths we are brought face 
 to face with the primitive ages; we are present at 
 the worship of the infant Church ; we observe its rites ; 
 we study its institutions ; we witness the deep emotions 
 of the first believers as they commit their dead, often 
 
 * These great roads for miles are lined with the sepulchral monu- 
 ments of Rome's mighty dead, majestic even in decay. But only the 
 wealthy could be entombed in those stately mausolea, or be wrapped 
 in those "marble cerements." For the mass of the population co- 
 lumbaria were provided, in whose narrow niches, like the compart- 
 ments of a dove-cote — whence the name — the terra cotta urns con- 
 taining their ashes were placed, sometimes to the number of six thou- 
 sand in a single coltimbarium. They also contain sometimes the 
 urns of the great. 
 
 t Ariosto, Orlando Furioso. 
 
 X Aringhi, in the elegant Latin ode prefixed to his great work, ex- 
 claims, ♦• Sub Roma Romam qwtrito^^ — Beneath Rome I seek the 
 true Rome. 
 
14 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 their martyred dead, to their last long resting-place ; we 
 decipher the touching record of their sorrow, of the 
 holy hopes by which they were sustained, of " their faith 
 triumphant o'er their fears," and of their assurance of 
 the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting. 
 We read in the testimony of the Catacombs the 
 confession of faith of the early Christians, sometimes 
 accompanied by the records of their persecution, the 
 S3rmbols of their martyrdom, and even the very instru- 
 ments of their torture. For in these halls of silence 
 and gloom slumbers the dust of many of the martyrs 
 and confessors, who sealed their testimony with their 
 blood dimng the sanguinary ages of persecution ; of 
 many of the early bishops and pastors of the Church, 
 who shepherded the flock of Christ amid the dangers of 
 those troublous times ; of many who heard the words 
 of life from teachers who lived in or near the apostolic 
 age, perhaps from the lips of the apostles themselves. 
 Indeed, if we would accept ancient tradition, we would 
 even believe that the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul 
 were laid to rest in those hallowed crypts — a true terra 
 sancta, inferior in sacred interest only to that roclfr-hewn 
 sepulchre consecrated evermore by the body of Our 
 Lord. These reflections will lend to the study of the 
 Catacombs an interest of the highest and intensest 
 character. 
 
 It is impossible to discover with exactness the extent 
 of this vast necropolis on account of the number and 
 intricacy of its tangled passages. That extent has 
 been greatly exaggerated, however, by the monkish 
 ciceroni^ who guide visitors through these subterranean 
 labyrinths.* There are some forty-two of these ceme- 
 
 * Even so accurate and philosophical a writer as the 1p** Professor 
 Stir.man reports on their authority that the Catacombs extend twenty 
 
Their Structure, 
 
 15 
 
 teries in all now known, many of which are only par- 
 tially accessible. Signor Michele De Rossi, from an 
 accurate survey of the Catacomb of Callixtus, computes 
 the entire length of all the passages to be eight hundred 
 and seventy-six thousand metres^ or five hundred and 
 eighty-seven geographical miles, equal to the entire 
 length of Italy, from Etna's fires to the Alpine snows. 
 
 The entrance to the abandoned Catacomb is some- 
 times a low-browed aperture like a fox's burrow, almost 
 concealed by long and tangled grass, and overshadowed 
 by the melancholy cypress or gray-leaved ilex. Some- 
 times an ancient arch can be discerned, as at the Cata- 
 comb of St. Priscilla,* or the remains of the chamber for 
 the celebration of the festivals of the martyrs, as at the 
 entrance of the Cemetery of St. Domitilla. In a few in- 
 stances it is through the crypts of an ancient basilica, a*? 
 at St. Sebastian, and sometimes a little shrine or oratory 
 covers the descent, as at St. Agnes, t St. Helena, X and 
 St. Cyriaca. In all cases there is a stairway, often 
 long and steep, crumbling with time and worn with the 
 feet of pious generations. The following illustration 
 shows the entrance to the Catacomb of St. Praetextatus 
 on the Appian Way, trodden in the primitive ages by the 
 early martyrs and confessors, or perhaps by the armed sol- 
 diery of the oppressors, hunting to earth the persecuted 
 flock of Christ. Here, too, in mediaeval times, the 
 
 miles, to the port of Ostia, in one direction, and to Albano, twelve 
 miles, in another. Visit to Europe, vol. i, p. 329. This is impossible, 
 as will be shown, on account of the undulation of the ground, and the 
 limited area of the volcanic tu/a in which alone they can be excavated. 
 The number of distinct Catacombs has also been magnified to sixty ; 
 and Father Marchi estimated the aggregate length of passages to be 
 nine hundred miles. 
 
 * Fig. I. f Fig. 30. X F»B- 29. 
 
I« 
 
 Tlu Catarambs of Koine. 
 
 L' I 
 
 martial clang 
 of the armed 
 knight may have 
 awaked unwont- 
 ed echoes among 
 the hollow arch- 
 es, or the glid- 
 ing footstep of 
 the sandaled 
 monk scarce dis- 
 turbed the si- 
 lence as he 
 passed. In later 
 times pilgrims 
 from every land 
 have visited, 
 with pious rever- 
 ence or idle curi- 
 osity, this early 
 shrine of the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 The Cata- 
 combs are exca- 
 abounds in the 
 
 Fiff. 2.— BntriMioe to St. Pneteztatus. 
 
 vated in the volcanic rock which 
 neighborhood of Rome. It is a granulated, grayish 
 breccia^ or tufa^ as it is called, of a coarse, loose text- 
 ure, easily cut with a knife, and bearing still the 
 marks of the mattocks with which it was dug. In 
 the firmer volcanic rock of Naples the excavations 
 are larger and loftier than those of Rome; but the 
 latter, although they have less of apparent majesty, 
 have more of funereal mystery. The Catacombs con- 
 sist essentially of two parts — corridors and chambers, or 
 cubiciila. The corridors are long, narrow and intricate pas- 
 
TUcir Structure. 
 
 17 
 
 sages, forming a complete underground net-work. 
 They are for the most part straight, and intersect each 
 other at approximate right angles. The accompanying 
 
 Pig. 3.— Part of Cataxx>mb of Callixtus. 
 
 map of part of the Catacomb of Callixtus will indicate 
 the general plan of these subterranean galleries. 
 
 The main corridors vary from three to five feet in 
 width, but the lateral passages are much narrower, often 
 
IS 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 affording room for but one person to pass. They will 
 average about eignt feet in height, though in some places 
 as low as five or six, and in others, under peculiar cir- 
 cumstances, reaching to twelve or fifteen feet. The 
 ceiling is generally vaulted, though sometimes flat ; and 
 the floor, though for the most part level, has occasionally 
 a slight incline, or even a few steps, caused by the junc- 
 
 Pigr, 4.— Gallery with Tombs, 
 tion of areas of different levels, as hereafter explained. 
 The walls are generally of the naked ////a. though some- 
 times plastered; and wheie they have given way are 
 occasionally strengthened with masonry. At the cor- 
 ners of these passages there are frequently niches, in 
 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 »9 
 
 which lamps were placed, without which, indeed, the 
 ('.itacombs must have been an impenetrable labyrinth. 
 Cardinal Wiseman recounts a touching legend of a 
 young girl who was employed as a guide to the places 
 of worship in the Catacombs because, on account 
 of her blindness, their sombre avenues were a» famil- 
 iar to her accustomed feet as the streets of Rome to 
 others. 
 
 Both sides of the corridors are thickly lined with 
 loculi or graves, which have somewhat the appearance 
 of berths in a ship, or of the shelves in a grocer's shop ; 
 but the contents are the bones and ashes of the dead, 
 and for labels we have their epitaphs. Figure 4 will illus- 
 trate the general character of these galleries and loculi. 
 
 The following engraving, after a sketch by Maitland, 
 shows a gallery wider and more rudely excavated. On 
 the right hand is seen a passage blocked up with stones, 
 as was frequently done, to prevent accident. The day- 
 light is seen pouring in at the further end of the gallery, 
 as described by Prudentius,* and rendering visible the 
 rifled graves. 
 
 It is evident that the principle followed in the forma- 
 tion of these galleries and loculi was the securing of the 
 greatest amount of space for graves with the least ex- 
 cavation. Hence the passages are made as narrow as 
 possible. The graves are also as close together as the fri- 
 able nature of the tufa will permit, and are made to suit 
 the shape of the body, narrow at the feet, broader at 
 the shoulders, and often with a semi-circular excavation 
 for the head, so as to avoid any superfluous removal of 
 lufa. Sometimes the loculi were made large enough to 
 hold two, three, or even four bodies, which were often 
 
 * Primas namque fores summo tenus infrat hiatu 
 
 lUustratque dies !imina vestibuU. — Peristephanon^ ii. 
 
20 
 
 Tlic Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 
 Piir. 5.— Interior of Corridor. 
 
 placed with the head of one toward the feet of the 
 other, in order to economize space.. These were called 
 bisomi^ trisomi^ and qiiadrisomi^ respectively. I'he 
 graves were apparently made as required, probably with 
 the corpse lying beside them, as some unexcavated spaces 
 have been observed traced in outline with chalk or paint 
 upon the walls. Almost every inch of available space 
 is occupied, and sometimes, though rarely, graves are 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 at 
 
 dug in the floor. The toculi are of all sizes, from that 
 of the infant of an hour to that of an adult man. But 
 here, as in every place of burial, the vast preponderance 
 of children's graves is striking. How many blighted 
 buds there are for every full-blown flower or ripened fruit ! 
 Sometimes the locuii were excavated with mathemat- 
 ical precision. An example occurs in the Cemetery of 
 St. Cyriaca, where at one end of a gallery is a tier of 
 eight small graves for infants, then eight, somewhat 
 larger, for children from about seven to twelve, then seven 
 more, apparently for adult females, and lastly, a tier of 
 six for full-grown men, occupying the entire height of 
 the wall. Generally, however, a less regular arrange- 
 ment was observed, and the graves of the young and old 
 were intermixed, without any definite order. 
 . It is difficult, if not impossible, to compute the num- 
 ber of graves in these vas< cemeteries. Some seventy 
 thousand have been counte 1, but they are a mere frac- 
 tion of the whole, as only a small part of this great ne- 
 cropolis has been explored. From lengthened observa- 
 tion Father Marchi estimates the average number of 
 graves to be ten, five on each side, for every seven feet 
 of gallery. Upon this basis he computed the entire 
 number in the Catacombs to be seven millions ! The 
 more accurate estimate of their extent made by Sig. 
 Michele De Rossi would allow room for nearly four mill- 
 ions of graves, or, more exactly, about three million 
 eight hundred and thirty-one thousand.* This seems 
 
 * In the single crypt of St. Lucina, one hundred feet by one hun- 
 dred and eighty, De Rossi counted over seven hundred locuii, and esti- 
 mated that nearly twice as many were destroyed, giving a total of 
 two thousand graves in this area. The same space, with our mode 
 of interment, would not accommodate over half the number, even 
 though placed as close together as possible, without any room for 
 passages. 
 
22 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 almost incredible; Init we know that for at least three 
 hundred years, or for ten generations, the entire C'hris- 
 tian population of Rome was buried here. And that 
 population, as we shall see, was, even at an early perio<l, 
 of considerable size. In the time of persecution, too, 
 the Christians were hurried to the tomb in crowds. In 
 this silent city of the dead we are surrounded by a 
 "mighty cloud of witnesses," "a multitude which no 
 man can number," whose names, unrecorded on earth, 
 are written in the B<x)k of Life. For every one who 
 walks the streets of Rome to-day are hundreds of its 
 former inhabitants calmly sleeping in this vast encamp- 
 ment of death around its walls — "each in his narrow 
 cell forever laid."* Till the archangel awake them 
 they slumber. " It is scarcely known," says Prudentius, 
 " how full Rome is of buried saints — how richly her soil, 
 abounds in holy sepulchres." 
 
 These graves were once all hermetically sealed by 
 slabs of marble, or tiles of terra cotta. The former were 
 generally of one piece, which fitted into a groove or 
 mortice cut in the rock at the grave's mouth, and were 
 securely cemented to their places, as, indeed, was abso- 
 lutely necessary, from the open character of the galleries 
 in which the graves were placed. Sometimes fragments 
 of heathen tombstones or altars were used for this 
 purpose. The tiles were generally smaller, two or 
 three being retjuired for an adult grave. They were 
 arranged in panels, and were cemented with plaster, on 
 which a name or symbol was often rudely scratched with 
 a trowel while soft, as in the following illustration. Most 
 
 * Compare Bryant's Thanatopsis : 
 
 " All that treacl 
 The glol)e are but a handful to the tribes 
 That slumber in its bosom.'* 
 
Tli€ir Structure. 
 
 23 
 
 of these slabs and tiles have disappeared, and many of 
 the graves have long been rifled of their contents. In 
 others may still be seen the mouldering skeleton of what 
 was onre man in his strength, woman in her beauty, or 
 a child in its innocence and glee. The annexed engrav- 
 ing exhibits two graves, one of which is partially open, 
 ex|)osing the skeleton which has reposed on its rocky 
 bed for probably over fifteen centuries. 
 
 lJJ:ji^I!I1I!|i2^ ..^^^t:33SAi!!!l^^ 
 
 
 
 Fifir. 6.— Loculi— Open and Closed. 
 
 If these bones be touched they will generally crumble 
 into a white, flaky powder, D'Agincourt copied a tomb 
 (Fig. 7) in which this " dry dust of death '* still retained 
 the outline of a human skeleton. Verily, ^^Pulvis et 
 umbra sumus." Sometimes, however, possibly from some 
 constitutional peculiarity, the bones remain quite firm 
 notwithstanding the lapse of so many centuries. Dc 
 

 24 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Fiff. 7.— Valeria Sleeps in Peace. 
 
 Rossi states that he has assisted at the removal of a body 
 from the Catacombs to a church two miles distant with- 
 out the displacement of a single bone.* The age of the 
 deceased and the nature of the ground also affect the 
 condition in which the remains are found. Of the bodies 
 of children nothing but dust remains. Where the paz- 
 zoiana is damp, the bones are often well preserved ; and 
 where water has infiltrated, a partial petrifaction some- 
 times occurs.f Campana describes the opening of a 
 hermetically sealed sarcophagus, which revealed the 
 undisturbed body clad in funeral robes, and wearing the 
 ornaments of life ; but while he gazed it suddenly dis- 
 solved to dust before his eyes. Sometimes the sarcoph- 
 agus was placed behind a perforated slab of marble, as 
 shown in the following example, given by Maitland. 
 The lower part of the slab is broken. 
 
 The other essential constituent of the Catacombs, 
 besides the galleries already describedj consists of the 
 cubiculaX These are chambers excavated in the tufa 
 
 * Rotn. Soti., ii, 127. 
 
 t D'Agincourt, Histoire de tart par tes Monumeus^ i, 2a 
 \ Literally, little sleeping chambers, from citb(\ I lie dowii. The 
 sai.ie name was also given to the cells for meditation and prayer at- 
 tached to the Church of Nola. Paulin., ep. 12, ad Sever, 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 2!', 
 
 FiflT. 8.— ArooBoUum with Perforated Slab. 
 
 on either side of the galleries, with which they commu- 
 nicate by doors, as seen in Fig. 4. These often bear the 
 character of family vaults, and are lined with graves, 
 like the corridors without. They are generally square 
 or rectangular, but sometimes octagonal or circular. 
 They were probably used as mortuary chapels, for the 
 celebration of funeral service, and for the administra- 
 tion of the eucharist near the tombs of the martyrs on 
 the anniversaries of their death. They were too small 
 to be used for regular worship, except perhaps in time 
 of persecution. They are often not more than eight or 
 ten feet square. Even the so-called " Papal Crypt," a 
 chamber of peculiar sanctity, is only eleven by fourteen 
 
26 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 feet ; and that 
 of St. Cecilia 
 a d j o i n i n g it, 
 one of a large 
 size, is less than 
 twenty feet 
 square. Even 
 the largest 
 would not ac- 
 commodate 
 more than a 
 few dozen per- 
 s o n s. 'i'hese 
 chambers are 
 generally fac- 
 ing one anoth- 
 er on opposite 
 sides of a gal- 
 lery, as in the 
 annexed plan 
 of two cubicula 
 in the Cata- 
 comb of Cal- 
 lixtus. 
 
 It is thought 
 that in the cel- 
 ebration of 
 worsh ip one 
 of these chambers was designed for men and the other 
 for women. Sometimes separate passages to the chapels 
 and distinct entrances to the Catacombs seem intended 
 to facilitate this separation of the sexes. Sometimes 
 three, or even as many as five, cubicula^ as in one example 
 in the Catacomb of St. Agnes, were placed on the same 
 
 Figr. 9.— Plan of Double Chamber. 
 
 r <i 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 27 
 
 axial line, and formed one conlinii- 
 oiis suite of chambers. The accom- 
 panying section of what is known 
 as " The Chapel of Two Halls," in 
 the Catacomb of St. Praetextatus, il- 
 lustrates this : A is the main gallery. 
 
 I) a large cubiculum known as " The 
 Women's Hall," to the right, and 
 to the left B, a hexagonal vaulted 
 room with a smaller chamber, c^ 
 opening from it. The length of the 
 entire range from G to f, according 
 to the accurate measurement of 
 M. Perret, is twenty-three and a 
 half mfttreSy or nearly seventy-seven 
 feet. The larger engraving (Fig. 
 
 II) gives a pierspective view look- 
 ing toward the left of the hexagonal 
 chamber,(D. Fig. 10,) and the smaller 
 one, c, opening from it By means 
 of these connected chambers the 
 Christians were enabled in times of 
 persecution to assemble for wor- 
 ship in these " dens and caves of 
 the earth," surrounded by the slum- 
 bering bodies of the holy dead. 
 
 The cubicula had vaulted roofs, and were sen: times 
 plastered or cased with marble and paved with tiles, or, 
 though rarely, with mosaic. These, however, were gen- 
 erally additions of later date than the original construc- 
 tion, as were also the semi-detached columns in the 
 angles, with stucco capitals and bases, as indicated in 
 Fig. 9, and shown more clearly in the follov/ing engrav- 
 ing, which is a perspective view of the lower chamber 
 
28 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
Their StnictHn\ 
 
 29 
 
 1 1 
 
 111 
 
 
 IJ 
 
 1 \m 
 
 
 Ml 
 
 im 
 
 
 
 
 
 iy< 1 
 
 
 d 
 
 n' 
 
 m 
 
 bo 
 
 W^^^l 
 
 
 
 P^^H 
 
 ••^ 
 
 
 u 
 
 lift ^^^H 
 
 n 
 
 Xi 
 
 
 
 Iflit^^^^^^^l 
 
 d 
 
 IM^^^^^^H 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 h^ 
 
 
 Vi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 ■g 
 
 
 
 
 
 0. 
 
 
 
 
 ^^^H ^ 
 
 ^HhI 
 
 
 !■ 
 
 P4 
 
 i 
 
 Fiff. 12— Vaulted Chamber with Columns. 
 
 in Fig. 9. The walls and ceiling were often covered 
 with fresco paintings, frequently of elegant design, to be 
 hereafter described.* Sometimes, as in some examples 
 in the Catacoml of St. Agnes, fu/a or marble seats are 
 ranged around the chamber, and chairs are hewa out 
 of the solid rock.f These chambers were used probably 
 for the instruction of catechumens. Occasionally the 
 cubiculum terminates in a semicircular recess, as in the 
 upper chamber in Fig. 9. These probably gave rioe to 
 the apse in early Christian architecture, of which a good 
 example is found in the Church of St. Clement, one of 
 the most ancient Christian edifices in Rome. Niches 
 and shelves for lamps, an absolute necessity in the per- 
 petual darkness that there reigns, frequently occur, such 
 as may be seen in Italian houses to-day. Without the 
 least authority, some Roman Catholic writers have de- 
 
 » Book II. 
 
 \ See Fig. 130 and context, where the entire subject is discussed 
 
i 
 
 30 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 scribed these as closets for priestly vestments and 
 shelves for pictures. 
 
 A peculiar form of grave common in these chambers, 
 as well as in the galleries, is that known as the arcosolium^ 
 or arched tomb. It consists of a recess in the wall, 
 having a grave, often double or triple, excavated in the 
 tufa^ or built with masonry, like a solid sarcophagus, and 
 closed with a marble slab. These are seen in the plan, 
 Fig. 9, in the section. Fig. 10, at G and e in Fig. 
 15, and in perspective in Figs. 11 and 12. Some- 
 times the recess is rectangular instead of arched, and 
 is then called by De Rossi sepokro a fnensa, or table tomb. 
 vSometimes the arch was segmental, especially when 
 constructed of masonry.* An example of both sorts is 
 
 Pig. 13.— Cubiculum with Arcos3lia. 
 
 seen in the accompanying engraving of a cubiculum in the 
 Catacomb of St. Praetextatus. The narrow door into the 
 corridor is also seen, and the stucco capitals and bases 
 of the columns. In course of time these arcosolia were 
 
 * See in the Cemetery of St. Helena, Fig. 29. 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 l^ 
 
 ments and 
 
 used as altars for the celebration of the eucharist, and 
 eventually grave abuses arose from the superstitious 
 veneration paid to the relics of the martyr or confessor 
 interred therein. Frequently, also, the back of this 
 arched recess was pierced with graves of a later date, 
 often directly through a painting,* in order to obtain a 
 resting place near the bodies of the saints. 
 
 Hitherto only one level of the Catacombs has been 
 described, but frequently "beneath this depth there 
 is a lower deep," or even three or four tiers of galler- 
 ies, excavated as the upper ones became filled with 
 graves. Thus there are sometimes as many as five 
 stories, or piani^ as they are called, one beneath the 
 other. These are carefully maintained horizontal, to 
 avoid breaking through the floor of the one above or 
 the roof of the one below, the danger of which would 
 be very great if the strict level were departed from. 
 For the same reason the different piani were generally 
 separated by a thick stratum of solid tufa. The rela- 
 tive position of these levels is shown by the following 
 engraving, reduced from De Rossi. It represents a sec- 
 tion of the Crypt of St. Lucina, a part of the Ceme- 
 tery of Callixtus. The dark colored stratum, marked l 
 in the margin, is entirely made up of the debris of ancient 
 monuments, buildings, and other materials accumulated 
 in the course of ages in this place to the depth of eight 
 '"eet. It has completely buried the ancient roads, except 
 where excavated, as shown in the engraving. The next 
 stratum, ii, is of solid grayish tufa. In this the first level 
 or piano^ <(>, is excavated. It is not more than twenty 
 feet below the surface, and in many places only half 
 that depth. Consequently its area is comparatively lim- 
 ited, because if extended it would have run out into the 
 * As in Fig. 12, and more strikingly in Fig 76. 
 
33 
 
 Tlie Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 
 Fiff. 14.— Section of the Catacomb of Calllxtus. 
 
 open air, from the sloping of the ground in which it is 
 dug. The next stratum, in, is softer and more easily 
 worked, and therefore is that in which are found the 
 most important and extensive piani of galleries. The 
 cross sections P and X, and the longitudinal section u, 
 will show how the los . surface of the more solid stra- 
 tum above was made the ceiling of these galleries, in 
 order to lessen the danger of its falling. At b will be 
 observed the employment of masonry to strengthen the 
 
Their Structure, 
 
 33 
 
 crumbling walls of the friable tufa. The descent of a 
 few steps, some of which have been worn away, will also 
 be noticed at u. At iv a more rocky stratum is found, 
 called tufa iithoide, below which the ancient fossors* 
 had to go to find suitable material for the excavation of 
 the third piano. This was found in stratum v, in which 
 are two piani at different levels. The lower one is not 
 vertically beneath that here represented above it, but at 
 some little distance. It is here shown, to exhibit at one 
 view a section of all the stories of this Catacomb. The 
 upper piano, //, consists of low and narrow galleric^s, but 
 the lower one, marked r r r, seventy-one feet beneath 
 the surface of the ground, is of great extent. Several 
 of the locuii, it will be perceived, are built of masonry, 
 in consequence of the crumbling nature of the soil. 
 The three large arcosolia will also be observed. The 
 floor of this //rf//^ rests on a somewhat firmer stratum, 
 in which is still another level of galleries, Q Q Q, ten feet 
 lower down. This lower level is generally subject to 
 inundation by water, in consequence of the periodical 
 rising of the adjacent Almone, the level of which is 
 shown at a depth of one hundred and four feet, and 
 that of the Tiber at one hundred and thirty-one feet, 
 below the surface. 
 
 To secure immunity from dampness, which would ac- 
 celerate decomposition and corrupt the atmosphere, ihe 
 Catacombs were generally excavated in high ground in 
 the undulating hills around the city, never crossing 
 the intervening depressions or valleys. There is, there- 
 fore, no connection between the different cemeteries ex- 
 cept where they happen to be contiguous, nor, as has 
 been asserted, with the churches of Rome. Where a 
 
 * An organized body of diggers, by whom the Catacombs were ex- 
 cavated. See Book III, chap. iv. 
 
34 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 !| 
 
 Catacomb has been excavated in low ground, as in the 
 exceptional case of that of Castulo on the Via Labicana, 
 the water has rendered it completely inaccessible. 
 
 Access to these different piani is gained by stairways, 
 which are sometimes covered with tile or marble, or 
 built with masonry, or by shafts. The awful silence and 
 almost palpable darkness of these deepest dungeons is 
 absolutely appalling. They are fitly described by the 
 epithet applied by Dante to the realms of eternal gloom : 
 loco cT ogni luce muto — a spot mute of all light. Here 
 death reigns supreme. Not even so much as a lizard 
 or a bat has penetrated these obscure recesses. Nought 
 but skulls and skeletons, dust and ashes, are on every side. 
 The air is impure and deadly, and difficult to breathe. 
 " The cursed dew of the dungeon's damp " distills from 
 the walls, and a sense of oppression, like the patriarch's 
 " horror of great darkness," broods over the scene. 
 
 The Catacombs were ventilated and partially lighted 
 by numerous openings variously called spiragli^ or breath- 
 ing-holes, and luminariy or light-holes. They were also 
 probably used for the removal of the excavated material 
 from those parts remote from the entrance. They were 
 even more necessary for the admission of air than of 
 light. Were it not for these the number of burning 
 lamps, the multitude of dead bodies, no matter how 
 carefully the loculi were cemented, and the opening of 
 bisomi^ or double graves, for interments, would create an 
 insupportable atmosphere. They were generally in the 
 line of junction between two cubicula^ a branch of the 
 lumtnare entering each chamber, as shown in the accom- 
 panying section of a portion of the Catacomb of Sts, 
 Marcellinus and Peter. Sometimes, indeed, four, or 
 even more, cubicula were ventilated and partially lighted 
 by the same shaft. De Rossi mentions one Inminare in 
 
 ■ ;- 
 
Thir Structure. 
 
 35 
 
 Fiff. 16.— Section of Cubicxila with Lumlnare. 
 
 the recently discovered Cemetery of St. Balbina, which 
 is not square but hexagonal, or nearly so, and which di- 
 vides into eight branches, illumining as many separate 
 chambers or galleries. Sometimes a funnel-shaped 
 luminare reaches to the lowest piatio ; but from the 
 faint rays that feebly struggle to those gloomy depths 
 there comes " no 'ight, but rather darkness visible." In 
 the upper levels, however, some cubicula are well lighted 
 by large openings. The brilliant Italian sunshine to-day 
 lights up the pictured figures on the wall as it must have 
 illumined with its strong Rembrandt light the fair brow 
 of the Chrisiian maiden, the silvery hair of the vener- 
 able pastor, or the calm face of the holy dead waiting 
 for interment in those early centuries so long ago. 
 These luminari are often two feet square at the top, and 
 wider as they descend ; sometimes they are cylindrical in 
 shape, as in the Catacomb of St. Helena.* The external 
 
 * See Fip. 2q. 
 
36 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i' 
 
 It 
 
 openings, often concealed by grass and weeds, arc very 
 nunr.erous throughout the Campagna near the city, and 
 are often dangerous to the unwary rider. In almost 
 every vineyard between the Pincian and S.darian roads 
 they may be found, and through them an entrance into 
 the Caiacombs may frequently be effected. After the 
 persecution had ceased, and there was no longer need 
 for concealment, their number was increased, and they 
 were made of a larger size, and frequently lined with 
 masonry, or plastered and frescoed. In the Catacombs 
 of St. Agnes and of Callixtus are several in a very good 
 state of preservation. 
 
 We have already seen the contemporary account 
 of the Catacombs by Prudentius, in the fourth century. 
 Jerome also describes their appearance at the same pe- 
 riod in words which are almost equally applicable to-day. 
 " When I was a boy, being educated at Rome," he says, 
 " I used every Sunday, in company with others of my own 
 age and tastes, to visit the sepulchres of the apostles 
 and martyrs, and to go info the crypts dug in the heart 
 of the earth. The walls on either side are lined with 
 bodies of the dead, and so intense is the darkness as to 
 seemingly fulfill the words of the prophet, * They go 
 down alive to Hades.* Here and there is light let in to 
 mitigate the gloom. As we advance the words of the 
 poet are brought to mind: * Horror on all sides; the 
 very silence fills the soul with dread.' "* 
 
 It must not be supposed that the features above de- 
 
 * ** Dum essem Romae pncr, et liberalibus studiis erudirer, solebam 
 cum ciElcris ejusdcm setatis et propositi, diebus Dominicis sepulchra 
 apostolorum et martyrum circuire, crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae 
 in terrarum profunda defossae, ex utraque parte ingredientium per 
 parietes corpora sepultorum, ... * Horror ubique animos, simul 
 ipsa silentia terrent.' "' — Ilieron. in Ezech., Cap. xl. 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 37 
 
 scribed are always perfectly exhibited. They arc often 
 obscured and obliterated by the lapse of time, and by 
 earth(}uakes, inundations, and other destructive agen- 
 cies of nature. The stairways are often broken and in- 
 terrupted, and the corridors blocked up by the falling in 
 of the roof, where it has been carried taj near the sur- 
 face, or by the crumbling of the walls, and sometimes 
 apparently by design during the age of persecution. 
 The rains of a thousand winters have washed tons of 
 earth down the luminari^ destroyed the symmetry of the 
 openings, and completely filled the galleries with debris. 
 The natural dampness of the situation, and the smoke 
 of the lamps of the early worshipers, or the torches of 
 more recent visitors, and sometimes incrustations of 
 nitre, have impaired or destroyed the beauty of many 
 of the paintings. The hand of the spoiler has in many 
 cases completed the work of devastation. The rifled 
 graves and broken tablets show where piety or supersti- 
 tion has removed the relics of the dead, or where idle 
 curiosity has wantonly mutilated their monuments. 
 
 The present extent of the Catacombs is the result, 
 not of primary intention, but of the contact of sepa- 
 rate areas of comparatively limited original size, and 
 the inosculation, as it were, of their distinct galleries, 
 rhis is apparent from the fact that this contact and 
 junction sometimes take place between areas of differ- 
 ent levels, causing a break in their horizontal continuity, 
 like the " faults " or dislocations common in geological 
 strata. Sometimes, too, this junction between two ad- 
 jacent areas takes place through a tier of graves, and 
 evidently formed no part of the original design. These 
 separate areas were originally, as we shall see in the 
 following chapter, private burial places in the vine- 
 yards of wealthy Christian converts, and were early 
 
38 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 made available for the interment of the poorer members 
 of the infant Church. In accordance with a common 
 Roman usage the ground thus set apart for the purpose 
 of sepulture was placed under the protection of the law, 
 and was accurately defined, to secure it from trespass 
 or violation. While the protection of the law was en- 
 joyed, the excavations were strictly confined within the 
 limits of these areas, and lower piani were dug rather 
 than transgress the boundary. But when that protection 
 was withdrawn the galleries were horizontally extended, 
 often for the purpose of facilitating escape, and connec- 
 tions were made with adjacent areas, till the whole be- 
 came an intricate labyrinth of passages and chambers. 
 These areas are still further distinguished by certain 
 peculiarities in the inscriptions, cubicula, and paintings, 
 and were great 'y modified by subsequent constructions. 
 
 It has till recently been thought that the Catacombs 
 were originally excavations made by the Romans for 
 the extraction of sand and other building material, and 
 afterward adopted by the Christians as places of refuge, 
 and eventually of sepulture and worship. This opinion 
 was founded on a few misunderstood classical allusions 
 and statements in ancient ecclesiastial writers, and on 
 a misinterpretation of certain accidental features of the 
 Catacombs themselves. It was held, nevertheless, by 
 such eminent authorities as Baronius, Severano, Aringhi, 
 Bottari, D'Agincourt, and Raoul-Rochette. Padre 
 Marchi first rejected this theory of construction, and 
 the brothers De Rossi have completely refuted it. An 
 examination of the material in which these sand pits 
 and stone quarries and the Catacombs were respect- 
 ively excavated, as well as of their structural differ- 
 ences, will show their entirely distinct character. 
 
 The surface of the Campagna, especially of that part 
 
Tfieir Structure, 
 
 39 
 
 occupied by the Catacombs, is almost exclusively of vol- 
 canic origin. I'he most ancient and lowest stratum of 
 this igneous formation is a compact conglomerate known 
 as tufa lithoide. It was extensively quarried for build- 
 ing, and the massive blocks of the Cloaca Maxima and 
 the ancient wall of Romulus attest the durability of its 
 character. Upon this rest stratified beds of volcanic 
 ashes, pumice, and scoria, often consolidated with water, 
 but of a substance much less firm than that of the tufa 
 litJuiide^ and called tufa gratwlare. In insulated beds, 
 rarely of considerable extent, in this latter formation, 
 occurs another material, known as pozzolana. It con- 
 sists of volcanic ashes deposited on dry land, and still 
 existing in an unconsolidated condition. This is the ma- 
 terial of the celebrated Roman cement, which holds 
 together to this day the massy structures of ancient 
 Rome. It was conveyed for building purposes as far 
 as Constantinople, and the pier on the Tiber from which 
 it was shipped is still called the Porto di Pozzolana. 
 It is in these latter deposits exclusively that the arenaria^ 
 or sand pits, are found. The tufa graiwlare is too firm, 
 and contains too large a proportion of earth, to use as 
 sand, and is yet too friable for building purposes. Yet 
 it is in this material, entirely worthless for any eco- 
 nomic use, that the Catacombs are almost exclusively ex- 
 cavated ; while the tufa lithoide and the pozzolana are 
 both carefully avoided where possible, the one as too 
 hard and the other as too soft for purposes of Christian 
 sepulture. Sometimes, indeed, as at the cemeteries of 
 St. Pontianus and St, Valentinus, for special reasons, 
 Catacombs were excavated in less suitable material; 
 but still the substance removed — a shelly marl — was 
 economically useless, and the galleries had to be sup- 
 ported by solid masonry. The tufa granolare^ on the 
 
40 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 contrary, was admirably adapted for the construction of 
 these subterranean cemeteries. It could be easily dug 
 with a mattock, yet was firm enough to be hollowed into 
 loculi and chambers ; and its porous character made the 
 chambers dry and wholesome for purposes of assem- 
 bly, which was of the utmost importance in view of the 
 vast number of bodies interred in these recesses.^ 
 
 The differences of structure between the quarries or 
 arenaria and the Catacombs are no less striking. To 
 this day, the vast grottoes from which the material for 
 the building of the Coliseum was hewn, most probably 
 by the Jewish prisoners of Titus, may still be seen on 
 the Coelian hill. It is said that in those gloomy vaults 
 were kept the fierce Num^dian lions and leopards 
 whose conflicts with the Christian martyrs furnished the 
 savage pastime of the Roman amphitheatre. But noth- 
 ing can less resemble the narrow and winding passages 
 of the Catacombs than those tremendous caverns. 
 
 Nor is there any greater resemblance in the excava- 
 tions of the arenaria. These are large and lofty vaults, 
 from sixteen to twenty feet wide, the arch of which 
 often springs directly from the floor, so as to give the 
 largest amount of sand with the least labour of excava- 
 tion. The object was to remove as much material as 
 possible ; hence there was often only enough left to sup- 
 port the roof. The spacious passages of the arenaria 
 run in curved lines, avoiding sharp angles, fo as to allow 
 the free passage of the carts which carried away the 
 excavated sand. In the Catacombs, on the contrary, 
 as little material as possible was removed ; hence the 
 galleries are generally not more than three, or some- 
 times only two, feet wide, and run for the most part in 
 straight lines, often crossing each other at qnite acute 
 angles, so that only very i.urrow carts can be used ii. 
 
Their Stmcture. 
 
 4T 
 
 cleaning out the accumulated debris of centuries — a very 
 tedious process, which greatly increases the cost of 
 exploration. The walls, moreover, are always vertical, 
 and the roof sometimes quite flat, or only slightly arched. 
 The wide difference in the principle of construction is 
 obvious. The great object in the Catacombs has been 
 to obtain the maximum of wall-surface, for the inter- 
 ment of the dead in the loculi with which the galleries 
 are lined throughout, with the minimum of excavation. 
 The structural difference will at once be seen by com- 
 paring the irregular windings of the small arenarium 
 represented in the upper part of Figs. 3 and 26 with 
 the straight and symmetrical galleries of the adjacent 
 Catacomb. Connected with the Catacomb of St. Agnes 
 is an extensive arenarium^ whose spacious, grotto-like 
 appearance is very different from that of the narrow se- 
 pulchral galleries beneath. In the floor of this arenarium 
 is a square shaft leading to the Catacomb, in which 
 Dr. Northcote conjectures there was formerly a wind- 
 lass for removing the excavated material. There are 
 also footholes, for climbing the sides of the shaft, cut in 
 the solid tufa^ perhaps as a means of escape in the time 
 of peisecution. This arenarium^ which >vas probably 
 worked out and abandoned long before its connection 
 with the Catacomb, may have been employed as a 
 masked entrance to its crypts, when the mnre public 
 one could not be safely used. Its spacious vaults may 
 also have been a receptacle for the broken tufa removed 
 from the galleries beneath. 
 
 Many of these arenaria may be observed excavated 
 in the hill-sides near Rome ; but except when incident- 
 ally forming part of a Catacomb, they have never been 
 found to contain a single grave. Indeed, in conse- 
 quence of the utter unfitness of the pozzolana for the 
 
4^ 
 
 Tlic Catacombs of Rome' 
 
 purposes of Christian sepulture, the intrusion of a de- 
 posit of that material into the area of a Catacomb pre- 
 vented the extension or necessitated the diversion of 
 its galleries. Moreover, where the attempt has been 
 made to convert an arenarium into a Christian cemetery, 
 the change^ which have been made show conclusively 
 its original unfitness for the latter purpose. The accom- 
 panying section of a gallery in 
 the Catacomb of St. Hermes 
 will exhibit the structural ad- 
 ditions necessary to adopt an 
 arenarium for Christian sep- 
 ulture. The sides of the 
 semi-eliptical vault had to 
 be built up with brick-work, 
 leaving only a narrow passage 
 
 PiC-ia-GaUeryuiStHerme.. j^ ^^^ middle. The loculi 
 
 were spaces left in the masonry, in which the mouldering 
 skeletons may still be seen. The openings were 
 closed with slabs in the usual manner, as shovn in 
 
 Fig. 17.— Part of Wall of Gallery in St. Hermes. 
 
 the elevation, (Fig. 17,) except at the top, where they 
 cover the grave obliquely, like the roof of a house. 
 The vault is often arched with brick-work, and at the 
 
Their Strticture. 
 
 43 
 
 intersection of the galleries has sometimes to be sup- 
 ported by a solid pier of masonry. In part of an an- 
 cient arenarium converted into a cemetery in the Cata- 
 comb of St. Priscilla similar constructions may be seen. 
 The long walls and numerous pil'irs of brick-work 
 concealing and sustaining the tufa, and the irregular 
 windings of the passages, show at once the vast differ- 
 ence between the annariv and the Catacomb, and 
 the immense labour and expense required to convert 
 the former into the latte / 
 
 It hai been urged in objection to this theory, that the 
 difficulty oi secretly disposing of at least a hundred 
 millions of cubic feet of refuse material taken from the 
 Catacombs must have been exceedingly great, unless it 
 could be removed under cover of employment for some 
 economic purpose. It will be shown, however, that 
 secrecy was not alway necessary, as has been assumed, 
 but that, on the contrary, the Christian right of sepulture 
 was for a long time legally recognized by the Pagan 
 Emperors; and that the Catacombs continued to be 
 publicly used for a considerable time after the establish- 
 ment of Christianity on the throne of the Caesars. Dur- 
 ing the exacerbations of persecution there is evidence 
 that the excavated material was deposited in the gal- 
 eries already filled with graves, or, as we have seen, in 
 the spacious vaults of adjacent arenaria. If the Cata- 
 combs were merely excavations for sand or stone, as has 
 been asserted, we ought to find many of their narrow 
 galleries destitute of tombs, and many of the arenaria 
 containing them ; whereas every yard of the former is 
 occupied with graves, and not a single grave is found in 
 the latter, nor do they contain a single example of a 
 mural painting or inscription. The conclusion is irresist- 
 ible that the Catacombs proper were created exclusively 
 
44 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 for the purpose of Christian burial, and in no case were 
 of Pagan construction. 
 
 The erroneous theory here combated has arisen, as 
 we have said, chiefly from certain classical allusions to 
 the arenaria, and from passages in the ancient ecclesi- 
 astical records describing the burial places of the mar- 
 tyrs, as in cryptis arenariisy in arenario^ or ad arenas. Some 
 of these localities, however, have been identified beyond 
 question, and found to consist merely of a sandy kind 
 of rock, and not at all of the true pozzolana. In others 
 a vein oi pozzolana does actually occur in the Catacombs, 
 or they are connected with ancient arenaria, as at St. 
 Agnes and at Calixtus. In the other instances the 
 localities are either yet unrecognized, or the expression 
 merely implies that the cemetery was near the sand pits 
 — Juxta arenariunij or in loco qui dicitur ad Arenas. 
 
 The mere technical description of the Catacombs, 
 
 however, gives no idea of the thrilling interest felt in 
 
 traversing their long-drawn corridors and vaulted halls. 
 
 As the pilgrim to this shrine of the primitive faith visits 
 
 these chambers of silence and gloom, accompanied by 
 
 a serge-clad, sandaled monk,* he seems like the Tuscan 
 
 poet wandering through the realms of darkness with 
 
 his shadowy guide. 
 
 " Ora sen' va per un segreto calle 
 Tra r muro della terra." f 
 
 His footsteps echo strangely down the distant passages 
 and hollow vaults, dying gradually away in the solemn 
 stillness of this valley of the shadow of death. The 
 
 * Unfortunately for Protestant visitors most of the Catacombs are 
 open for inspection only on Sunday, when the work of exploration 
 ib suspended. 
 
 f " And now through narrow, gloomy paths we go, 
 'Tween walls of earth and tombs." — Inferno. 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 <5 
 
 bs are 
 ration 
 
 graves yawn weirdly as he passes, torch in hand. The 
 flame struggles feebly with the thickening darkness, 
 vaguely revealing the unfleshed skeletons on either side, 
 till its redness fades to sickly white, like X\i2X fioco lume^'^ 
 that pale light, by which Dante saw the crowding ghosts 
 upon the shores of Acheron. Deep mysterious shadows 
 crouch around, and the dim perspective, lined with the 
 sepuchral niches of the silent community of the dead, 
 stretch on in an apparently unending vista. The very 
 air seems oppressive and stifling, and laden with the dry 
 dust of death. The vast extent and population of this 
 great necropolis overwhelm the imagination, and bring 
 to mind Petrarch's melancholy line — 
 
 " Plena di morti tutta la campagna." \ 
 
 Almost appalling in its awe and solemnity is the sud- 
 den transition from the busy city of the living to the 
 silent city of the dead ; from the golden glory of the 
 Italian sunlight to the funereal gloom of these sombre 
 vaults. The sacred influence of the place subdues the 
 soul to tender emotions. The fading pictures on the 
 walls and the pious epitaphs of the departed breathe 
 on every side an atmosphere of faith and hope, and 
 awaken a sense of spiritual kinship that overleaps the 
 intervening centuries. We speak with bated breath 
 and in whispered tones, and thought is busy with the 
 past. It is impossible not to feel strangely moved while 
 gazing on the crumbling relics of mortality committed 
 ages ago, with pious care and many tears, to their last, 
 long rest. 
 
 ** It seems as if we had the sleepers known." J 
 
 ♦"Com' io discerno per lo fioco lume." — Inferno. 
 t " Full of the dead this far extending field." 
 X Childe Harold, iv, 104. 
 
j 
 
 46 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 We see the mother, the while her heart is wrung with 
 anguish, laying on its stony bed — rude couch for such a 
 tender thing — the little form that she had cherished in 
 her warm embrace. We behold the persecuted flock 
 following, it may be, the mangled remains of the faith- 
 ful pastor and valiant martyr for the truth, which at the 
 risk of their lives they have stealthily gathered at dead 
 of night. With holy hymns,* broken by their sobs, they 
 commit his mutilated body to the grave, where after 
 life's long toil he sleepeth well. We hear the Christian 
 chant, the funeral plaint, the pleading tones of prayer, 
 and the words of holy consolation and of lofty hope 
 with which the dead in Christ are laid to rest. A mo- 
 ment, and — the spell is broken, the past has vanished, 
 and stern reality becomes again a presence. Ruin and 
 desolation and decay are all around. 
 
 The exploration of these worse than Daedalian laby- 
 rinths is not unattended with danger. That intrepid 
 investigator, Bosio, was several times well nigh lost in their 
 mysterious depths. That disaster really happened to 
 M. Roberts, a young French artist, whose adventure has 
 been wrought into an exciting scene in Hans Andersen's 
 tale, "The Improvisatore," and forms an episode in 
 the Abbe de Lille's poem, ^^L' Imagination.'' Inspired 
 by the enthusiasm of his profession, he attempted to ex- 
 plore one of the Catacombs, with nothing but a torch 
 and a thread for a guide. As he wandered on through 
 gallery and chamber, he became so absorbed in his study 
 that, unawares, the thread slipped from his hand. On 
 discovering his loss he tried, but in vain, to recover the 
 clew. Presently his torch went out, and he was left in 
 utter darkness, imprisoned in a living grave, surrounded 
 by the relics of mortality. The silence was oppressive. 
 ♦ Hymnos et psalmos decantans. — Hieron., Vit. Pauli. 
 
Their Structure. 
 
 47 
 
 Issive. 
 
 He shouted, but the hollow echoes mocked his voice. 
 Weary with fruitless efforts to escape his dread impris- 
 onment he threw himself in despair upon the earth, 
 when, lo, something familiar touched his hand. Could 
 he believe it } it was indeed the long lost clew by which 
 alone he could obtain deliverance from this awful 
 labyrinth. Carefully following the precious thread he 
 reached at last the open air, 
 
 And never Tiber, rippling through the meads, 
 
 Made music half so sweet among its reeds; 
 
 And never had the earth such rich perfunr e, 
 
 As when from him it chased the odor of the tomb.* 
 
 Still more terrible in its wildness is an incident nar- 
 rated by MacFarlane.f In the year 1798, after the re- 
 turn to Rome of the Republican army under Berthier, 
 a party of French officers, atheistic disciples of Voltaire 
 and Rousseau, and hardened by the orgies of the Revo- 
 lution, visited the Catacombs. They caroused in the 
 sepulchial crypts, and sang their bacchanalian songs 
 among the Christian dead. They rifled the graves and 
 committed sacrilege at the tombs of the saints. One 
 of the number, a reckless young cavalry officer, " who 
 feared not God nor devil, for he believed in neither," re- 
 solved to explore the remoter galleries. He was speedily 
 lost, and was abandoned by his companions. His excited 
 imagination heightened the natural horrors of th3 scene. 
 The grim and ghastly skeletons seemed an army of 
 accusing spectres. Down the long corridors the wind 
 mysteriously whispered, rising in inarticulate moanings 
 and woeful sighs, as of souls in pain. The tones of the 
 neighbouring convent bell, echoing through the stony 
 
 * From ^^ V Imagination" by Abbe de Lille, MacFarlane's trans- 
 lation, 
 f Catacombs of Rome. London, 1852. P. 94, et seq. 
 
' 
 
 48 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 vaults, sounded loud and awful as the knell of doom. 
 Groping blindly in the dark, he touched nothing but 
 rocky walls or mouldering bones, that sent a thrill of 
 hirror through his frame. Though but a thin roof sepa- 
 rated him from the bright sunshine and free air, he 
 seemed condemned to living burial. His philosophical 
 skepticism failed him in this hour of peril. He could 
 no longer scoff at death as '''' un sommeil eternel^ The 
 palimpsest of memory recalled with intensest vividness 
 the Christian teachings of his childhood. His soul be- 
 came filled and penetrated with a solemn awe. His 
 physical powers gave way beneath the intensity of his 
 emotion. He was rescued the next day, but was long 
 ill. He rose from his bed an altered man. His life was 
 thenceforth serious and devout. When killed in battle 
 in Calabria seven years after, a copy of the Gospels was 
 found next to his heart. 
 
 Even as late as 1837 a party of students with their 
 professor, numbering in all some sixteen, or, as some say, 
 nearly thirty, entered the Catacombs on a holiday excur- 
 sion, to investigate their antiquities, but became entangled 
 amid their intricacies. Diligent search was made, but 
 no trace of them was ever found. In some silent crypt 
 or darksome corridor they were slowly overtaken by the 
 same torturing fate as that of Ugolino and his sons in 
 the Hunger Tower of Pisa.* The passage by which 
 they entered has been walled up, but the mystery of 
 their fate will never be dispelled till the secrets of the 
 grave shall be revealed. 
 
 ♦ Inferno, Canto xxxiii, vv. 21-75. 
 

 Tfieir Origin and Early History, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 It is highly probable that the first Roman Catacombs 
 were excavated by the Jews.* Many Hebrew cap- 
 tives graced the triumph of Pompey after his Syrian 
 conquests, B. C. 62. The Jewish population increased 
 by further voluntary accessions. They soon swarmed 
 in that Trans-Tiberine region which formed the ancient 
 Ghetto of Rome. They made many proselytes from 
 paganism to the worship of the true God, and thus, to 
 use the language of Seneca, " The conquered gave laws to 
 
 their conquerors." t 
 
 All the national customs and prejudices of the Jews 
 were opposed to the Roman practice of burning the dead, 
 which Tacitus asserts they never observed; J and they 
 clung with tenacity to their hereditary mode of sepul- 
 ture. Wherever they have dwelt they have left traces 
 
 ♦ A deal of fancifui theory has been indulged in as to the origin 
 of the Catacombs. They have been attributed to a ;pre-historic race 
 of Troglodytes, who loathed the light of day, and burrowed like 
 moles in the earth. Mac Farlane has an eloquent apostrophe to the 
 old Etrurians, bj whom' he imagined they were excavated twelve 
 hundred years before the Christian era. We have seen also how they 
 were erroneously attributed to the pagan Romans. 
 
 t Victoribus victi leges dedcrunt. On the I'Hber, the Tigris, and 
 the Nile, this saying was strikingly verified. Yet Judaism is an 
 essentially conservative, not an aggressive, religion. It was «n- 
 adapted for such wide-spread conquests as those of Chk-lstianity, or 
 even of Mohammedism. The ancient mould of thought, having 
 served its purpose, was broken. Judaism may be said to have died 
 in giving birth to Christianity. 
 
 X ffist.^ V, 5. 
 
50 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 of subterranean burial. The hills of Judca are honey- 
 combed with sepulchral caves and galleries. Similar 
 excavations have been found in the Jewish settlements 
 of Asia Minor, the ^gean Isles, Sicily, and Southern 
 Italy.* So also in Rome they sought to be separated 
 in death, as in life, from the Gentiles among whom they 
 dwelt. They had their Catacombs apart, in which not 
 a single Christian or pagan inscription has been found. 
 Bosio describes one such Catacomb, which he discov- 
 ered on Monte Verde, which was much more ancient 
 than the Christian Catacomb of St. Pontianus in the 
 same vicinity. It ' i« of very rude construction, and 
 contained not a single Christian monument, but numer- 
 ous slabs bearing the seven-branched Jewish candle- 
 stick, and one inscription on which the word CTNAFQF 
 — Synagogue — was legible. f It was situated near that 
 Trans-Tiberine quarter of the city inhabited at the pe- 
 riod of the Christian era by the numerous Jewish popula- 
 tion of Rome. It cannot now, however, be identified, 
 having been obliterated or concealed by the changes 
 of the last t;vo centuries. Maitland gives the following 
 Jewish inscription from a MS. collection in Rome. The 
 figure to the left may be a horn for replenishing the lamp 
 with oil. The letters at the right are probably intended 
 for the Hebrew word DW, Shalom^ or Peace, so com- 
 mon in its classical equivalent upon Christian tombs. 
 The palm branch is a Pagan as well as Jewish and Chris- 
 tian symbol of victory. The central figure is a rude repre- 
 
 * In 1853 a Jewish Catacomb was discovered at Venosa, in South- 
 em Italy, containing one gallery seven feet high and four hundred 
 feet long. In 1854 another was discovered at Oria, with many 
 Hebrew symbols and inscriptions. There were many Jews in Apulia 
 and Calabria. 
 
 * In eo quippe haud uUa, ut in reliquis Christian* religionis 
 indicia et signa apparebant.-- Bosio, Rom. Sott.^ 142. 
 
Their Origin and Early History, 
 
 ft 
 
 ENeAAE KBI 
 tai ^AYCTINA 
 
 "Here lies Faustina, In Peace" 
 Fiff. 18. — Slab firom Jewlah Catacomb. 
 
 sentation of the seven-branched candlestick which ap- 
 I)ears also in bass-relief on the Arch of Titus at Rome. 
 
 In the year 1859 another Jewish Catacomb was dis- 
 covered in fhe Vigna Randanini, on the Appian Way, 
 about two miles from Rome. It has been minutely de- 
 scribed by Padre Garrucci.* In this the graves and 
 sarcophagi are sunk in the floor as well as in the walls. 
 They are closed with terra cotta or marble slabs, and are 
 otherwise similar to those of the Christian Catacombs. 
 It contains several vaulted chambers, one of which has 
 some very remarkable paintings of the seven-branched 
 candlestick on the roof and walls. The same figure is 
 frequently scratched on the mortar with which the 
 graves are closed. The dove and olive branch and the 
 palm are also frequently repeated. Although nearly 
 two hundred inscriptions have been discovered, not one 
 of either pagan or Christian character has been met 
 with. 
 
 The names are sometimes strikingly Jewish in form, 
 and where the epitaphs refer to the station of the de- 
 
 * Cimitero degli Antichi Ebrei Scoperto recenteimnte in Vigna 
 Randaniuiy illustrato da Raffacle Garrucci. 8vo. Roma, 1S62. 
 
52 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 ' 
 
 ceased it is always to officers of the synagogue, as 
 APKONTEC, rulers, TPAMMATEIC, scribes. The fol- 
 ing examples are from the Kircherian Museum : 
 
 i2AE KEIT^', CAAS2[MH] eYFATHP TAAIA OATPOC CTNA- 
 nzrHC AIBPEQN EBliZCEN MA EN EIPHNH KOIMHCIC ATTHC. 
 Here lies Salome, ti^^jghte* of Gadia, Father of the Synagogue 
 of the Hebrews. She lived forty-one years. Her sleep is in 
 peace. EN0AAE KEITE KTNriANOC rRPOYCIAPKHC CTNA- 
 TiZrHC THC ATrTCTHCIi2N. Hc.e lies Quintianus, Gerousiarch 
 (that is, Chief Klder) of the Synagogue of the Augustenses. 
 ENeAAE KEITAI NEIKOAHMOC O APXI.2N CIBOYPHC i«N KAI 
 nACI*EIA]tTOC AITQNAHMEPMB OAPI ABAABI NEiH'EPE 
 OYAEIC AOaNATOC. Hcc lies Nicodeunis, ruler of the Sever- 
 enses, and beloved of all ; (aged) thirty years, forty-two days. Be 
 of good cheer, O inoffensive } oung man ! no one is exempt from 
 death. 
 
 . This inscription will recall another " ruler of the 
 Synagogue " of the same name. Many of the sleep- 
 ers in thii Jewish Cemetery were evidently, from their 
 names,* Greek or Latin proselytes. Sometimes, indeed, 
 this is expre' ;ly asserted, as in the following : 
 
 Mannacivs sorori Crysidi dvlcissime proselyte.- 
 cius to his sweetest sister Chrysis, a proselyte. 
 
 -Manna- 
 
 It may be assumed that this Catacomb was exclu- 
 sively Jewish, and we know, from the testimony of 
 Juvenal f and others, that numbers of the Jews inhabited 
 the adjacent part of Rome, about the Porta Capena 
 and the valley of Egeria. It is not, however, certain 
 whether it is the original type, or a later imitation, of the 
 Christian cemetery. But the Jewish population must 
 have had extra-mural places of sepulture before the 
 Christian era ; and it is probable that the early Jewish 
 
 ♦ See Fig. i8. 
 
 t Nunc sacri fontis nimus, et delubra locantur 
 Judaeis. — Sat. iii, 13. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 53 
 
 
 converts to "Christianity may have merely continued a 
 mode of burial already in vogue, substituting the em- 
 blems of their newly adopted faith for those which 
 they had forsaken ; or, rather — for we find that 
 they frequently retained certain Jewish symbols, as the 
 dove, olive branch, and palm — supplementing them 
 with the emblems of Christianity. De Rossi has ex- 
 pressed the opinion that the earliest mode of Christian 
 burial was in sarcophagi, as in the Jewish cemetery 
 above described. 
 
 The date of the plmting of Christianity in Rome is 
 uncertain. Probably some of the " strangers of Rome '* 
 who witnessed the miracle of the Pentecost, or, perhaps, 
 the Gentile converts of the " Italian band " of Cornelius, 
 brought the new evangel to their native city.* But cer- 
 tain it is that as early as A. D. 58 the faith of the 
 
 * It is incredible that the Apostle Peter had any share in planting 
 the Roman Church. If he had, Paul would not, as he does, utterly 
 ignore his labours. " Only Luke is with me," writes St. Paul, just 
 before his death ; yet he and Peter are feigned to have suffered on 
 the same day. The story of St. Peter's twenty-five years' episcopate 
 at Rome is too absurd to require disproof. The very minuteness of 
 detail in the legends of St. Peter is tfteir own refutation. In vain 
 are we shown the chair in which tradition asserts that he sat, the 
 font at which he baptized, the cell in which he was confined, the 
 fountain which sprang up in its floor, the pillar to which he was 
 bound, the chains which he wore, the impression made by his 
 head in the wall and by his knees in the stony pavement, the scene of 
 his crucifixion, the very hole in which the foot of the cross was place<l, 
 and the tomb in which his body is said to lie ; they all fail to carry 
 conviction to any mind in which superstition has not destroyed the 
 critical faculty. The mighty fane which rises sublimely in the heart 
 of Rome in honour of the Galilean fisherman, like the religious sys- 
 tem of which it is the visible exponent, is founded on a shadowy tra- 
 dition, opposed alike to the testimony of Scripture, the evidence of 
 history, and the deductions of reason. The question whether Peter 
 ever was in Rome has recently been publicly discussed under the very 
 shadow of the Vatican. Verily, Teniporti mutantur. 
 
54 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 Roman Church was " spoken of throughout the whole 
 world." " Christianity," says Tertullian, " grew up un- 
 der the shadow of the Jewish religion, to which it was 
 regarded as akin, and about the lawfulness of which 
 ihere was no question; "* and it doubtless adopted the 
 burial usages of Judaism. 
 
 But even without the example of the Jews the Ro- 
 man Christians would naturally revolt from the pagan 
 custom of burning the dead, with its accompanying 
 idolatrous usages,! and would prefer burial, after the 
 manner of their Lord. They showed a tender care 
 for the remains of the dead, under a vivid impression of 
 the communion of saints and the resurrection of the 
 body. They seemed to regard the sepulchre as " God's 
 cabinet or shrine, where he pleases to lay up the pre- 
 cious relics of his dear saints until the jubilee of glory." J 
 Even the Jews designated the grave as Beth~ha-hatm, 
 the "house of the living," rather than the house of the 
 dead. It is probable, therefore, that the origin of the 
 Christian Catacombs dates from the death of the first 
 Roman believer in Christ. 
 
 Many of the Catacombs were probably begun as 
 
 ♦ Nos quoque ut Judaicae religionis propinquos, sub umbraculum 
 insigfnissimae religionis certfi licitse. — Ad Nat., i, ii. 
 
 + Execrantur rogos, et damnant ignium sepuUuras. — Minuc. Felix., 
 Ociav., ii, 451. Tertullian declared it to be a symbol of the fires of 
 hell. Possibly, also, the expense and publicity inseparable from the 
 practice of cremation made it a matter of necessity for the early Chris- 
 tians to adopt the less costly and more private mode of subterranean in- 
 terment. Merivale, indeed, asserts that the early Roman Christians 
 burned their dead, (vi, 444,) and adduces in support of this strange 
 theory only the pagan dedication D. M., found on some Christian 
 tombs. As will be shown, (Book III, i,) these letters were part of a 
 common epigraphic formula, and give no warrant for this startling 
 statement. 
 
 } Bishop Hall. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 55 
 
 private sepulchres for single families; indeed, some such 
 tombs have been discovered in the vicinity of Rome, 
 which never extended beyond a single chamber. They 
 were excavated in the gardens or vineyards of the 
 wealthy converts to Christianity, in imitation of that 
 rock-hewn sepulchre consecrated by the body of Christ. 
 The following inscription, which may still be seen 
 in the most ancient part of the Catacombs of Sts. 
 Nereus and Achilles, seem to refer to such a family tomb. 
 
 Another inscription, found in 
 the Catacomb of St. Nicome- 
 des, restricts the use of the 
 sepulchre to the original owner, 
 and those of his dependents who 
 belong to his religion — at 
 [ad] religionem pertinentes 
 
 MEAM. 
 
 The names of many of the 
 
 M. Antonius Res[ti]tutus burial crypts commemorate 
 made [this] hypogeum for these original owners. Among 
 himself and his [relatives] q^\^^^^ those of Lucina, Pris- 
 
 who believe in the Lord.* .,, , ^-k •^•n -j 
 
 ciUa, and Domitilla are consid- 
 ered to belong to the First Century, and the two former 
 to the times of the Apostles. Some of these may have 
 been originally designed, or afterwards opened, for the 
 reception of the poor belonging to the Church ; and 
 thus the Catacombs would be indefinitely extended till 
 they attained their present dimensions. Tertullian ex- 
 
 * It would appear from this inscription that some of the family of 
 Restitutus were still pagans, and were buried apart from the rest. 
 The early Christians regarded it as unlawful to commingle the heathen 
 and believers in common burial. St. Cyprian makes it a capital 
 charge against the heretical Bishop of Asturia, that he "buried his 
 children in profane sepulchres and in the midst of stran ,rs." See 
 also Ruth i, 17. Compare Cic, de Leg.^ ii, 22, and de Off.^ lib. ii. 
 
 M 
 
 ANTONl 
 
 VS 
 
 • RESTVTV 
 
 S • 
 
 FECIT • VPO 
 
 GEV 
 
 • SIBI • ET 
 
 SVIS 
 
 • FIDENTI 
 
 BVS- 
 
 IN -DOMINO. 
 
S6 
 
 TJie Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 pressly declares that the provision made for the poor 
 included that for their burial — egenis humandis* 
 
 There is reason to believe that, even from the very 
 first, the Christian Church at Rome contained not a few 
 w>*:, were of noble blood and of high rank. In one of 
 the apostolic epistles Paul conveys the salutation of 
 Pudens, a Roman Senator, of Linuv reputed the first 
 Roman bishop, and of Claudia, daughter of a British 
 king ; f and we know that even in the Golden House of 
 Nero, the scene of that colossal orgy whose record pol- 
 lutes the pages of Suetonius and Tacitus, were disciples 
 of the crucified Nazarene. In remarkable confirmation 
 of this fact is the discovery in the recent explorations 
 of the ruins of the Imperial Palace of several Christian 
 memorials, including one of those lamps adorned with 
 evangelical symbols, so common in the Catacombs. 
 Much of the evidence on this subject has been lost by 
 the zealous destruction of ecclesiastical records during 
 the terrible Diocletian persecution; but from inscrip- 
 tions in the Catacombs, and from the incidental allu- 
 
 ♦ ApoL xxxix. The following inscription, recently discovered in the 
 ruins of Caesarea, a Roman town in Africa, attests the provision 
 made by wealthy Christians for the burial of their poorer neighbours : 
 
 AREAM AT [ad] SEPVLCHRA CVLTOR VERBI CONTVLIT 
 ET CELLAM STRVXIT SVIS CVNCTIS SVMPTIBVS 
 ECCLESIiC SANCT^ HANC RELIQVIT MEMORIAM, 
 SALVETEKRATRES PVRO CORDE ET SIMPLICI 
 EV15L.PIVS VOS SATOS SANCTO SPIRITV. 
 ECCLESIA FRATRVM HVNC RESTITVIT TITVLVM. . . . 
 
 A worshipper of the Word has given this area for sepulchres, and 
 has built a vault at his own cost ; he left this memorial to the Holy 
 Church. Hail, brethren ! with a pure and simple heart, Euelpius 
 [salutes] yon, bom of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The congregation of the brethren replaced this inscription. . . . 
 • f 2 Tim. iv, 21. Suet., FiV., Ner.^ c. 28, 29; Tac, Ann.y xv, 37. 
 See also Dio., Ixiii, 13. 
 
 IH 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 S7 
 
 sions of early writers, we learn that persons of the high- 
 est position, and even members of the Imperial family, 
 were associated with the Christians in life and in death. 
 Some of the noblest names of Rome occur in funeral 
 epitaphs in some of the most ancient galleries of the 
 Catacombs. There is evidence that even during the 
 first century some who stood near .the throne became 
 converts to Christianity, and even died as martyrs for 
 the faith * 
 
 But doubtless the preservation and advancement of 
 true religion was better secured amid the dark recesses 
 of the Catacombs, during the fiery persecution's that 
 befel the Church, than it would have been in the sun- 
 shine of imperial favour, in an age and court unparalleled 
 for their corruptions. The sad decline of Christianity 
 after the accession of Const? n tine makes it a matter of 
 congratulation that in the earlier ages it was kept pure 
 by the wholesome breezes of adversity. 
 
 The new religion, notwithstanding all the efforts that 
 were made for its suppression, rapidly spread, even in 
 the high places of the earth. " We are but of yester- 
 day," writes Tertullian at the close of the second cen- 
 tury, " yet we fill every city, town, and island of the 
 empire. We abound in the very vcamps and castles, 
 in the council chamber and the palace, in the senate 
 
 * E. g. Flavia Domitilla, the niece of Domitian, and her husband, 
 Clemens. Their children had been adopted by the Emperor, and 
 designated as his successors. So near came Christianity to grasping 
 the sceptre of the Caesars in the first century. Dio Cass., Hist., Ixvii, 
 13. Suet, in Domit., xv. The niece of Domitilla, also of the same 
 name, suffered exile for the faith, A. D. 97. She gave the land for 
 the Catacomb which still bears her name. 
 
 Marcia, Mammaea, the mother of Alex. Severus, the Emperor Philip, 
 and Prisca and Valeria, the wife and daughter of the arch -persecutor 
 Diocletian, either embraced or greatly favoured Christianity. 
 

 58 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i 
 
 
 and the forum ; only your temples and theatres • are 
 left."* 
 
 It is evident from an examination of the earliest Cat- 
 acombs that they were not the offspring of fear on the 
 part of the Christians. There was no attempt at se- 
 crecy in their construction. They were, like the pagan 
 tombs, situated on the high roads entering the city. 
 Their entrances were frequently protected and adorned 
 by elegant structures ot masonry, such as that which is 
 still visible at the Catacomb of St. Domitilla on the Via 
 Ardeatina ; \ and their internal decorations and frescoes, 
 which in the most ancient examples are of classic taste 
 and beauty, were manifestly not executed by stealth and 
 in haste, but in security and at leisure. 
 
 There was, in classic times, a sacred character at- 
 tached to all places set apart for the purposes of sepul- 
 ture. They enjoyed the especial protection of the law, 
 and were invested with a sort of religious sanctity. J 
 This protection was asserted in many successive edicts, 
 and the heaviest penalties were inflicted on the viola- 
 tors of tombs, as guilty of sacrilege. § Reverence for the 
 sepulchres of the dead was regarded by the ancient 
 mind as a religious virtue ; and the neglect of the ances- 
 tral tomb even involved disability for municipal office. | 
 
 * Apol^ c. 37. 
 
 X Religiosum locum unusquisque sua voluntate facit, dum mortuum 
 infert in locum suum. Marciau. Digest.^ i, 8, 6, § 4. 
 
 § Cod. yustin., lib. ix, tit. 19, d€ Sepulchre Violato^ leg. I, 5 ; Cod, 
 Theod.y lib. ix, tit. 17. Proximum sacrilegio majores semper 
 habuerunt. So the poet exclaims : 
 
 Res ea sacra, miser ; noli mea tangere fata: 
 Sacrilegae bustis abstinuere manus. — 
 
 •'Touch not my monument, thou wretch ; it is a sacred thing : even 
 sacrilegious hands refrain from the violation of graves." 
 
 Xen., Mem.f ii, 2, § 13. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 59 
 
 are 
 
 I even 
 
 Being situated along the public highway, these pagan 
 tombs were liable to various pollutions, to which nu- 
 merous inscriptions refer. Hence the frequent cave 
 VIATOR — " Traveller, beware ! " — so common in classic 
 epitaphs. The scriptor parce hoc opvs — "Writer, 
 spare this work " — sometimes met with, is, as Kenrick well 
 remarks,* not the address of an author to a critic, but of 
 a relative of the deceased, entreating the wall-scribbler 
 not to disfigure a tomb. Electioneering notices were 
 sometimes written upon these wayside monuments — 
 a practice which is deprecated in the following • 
 
 CANDIDATVS FIAT HONORATVS ET TV FELIX SCRIPTOR 
 
 SI Hic NON scRiPSERis — " May your candidate be hon- 
 oured and yourself happy, O writer, if you write not 
 on this tomb ! " inscriptor, rogo te vt transeas 
 MONVMENTVM — " Inscrlbcr, I pray you pass by this 
 monument." 
 
 As these sepulchral areas, often of considerable ex- 
 tent, were taken from the fields in the vicinity of a 
 great city, where the land was very valuable for the 
 purpose of tillage, they were in continual danger of in- 
 vasion from the cupidity of the heirs or of adjacent 
 iand-owners, but for this legal protection. On many of 
 the cippi^ or funereal monuments, which line the public 
 roads in the vicinity of Rome, the extent of these areas 
 is set forth. Some of them are quite small, as is indi- 
 cated in the following inscription : terrenvm sacra- 
 tvm longvm p[edes] • x« lat • p[edes] • X . fodere noli • 
 NE sacrilegivm committas f — " A consecrated plot of 
 earth, ten feet long and ten feet broad. Do not dig 
 here, lest you commit sacrilege." 
 
 More generally the size of the area is expressed, as 
 
 * Roman Sepulchral Inscriptions, p. 9, London, 1858. 
 
6o 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 in the following: in fronte p[edes] • ix in agro 
 p[edes] • X ; that is, " Frontage on the road, nine feet ; 
 depth in the field, ten feet." This area, small as it is, 
 was designed for several families. The limited space 
 occupied by the cinerary urns rendered this quite pos- 
 sible. Frequently, however, the size was much larger. 
 An area one hundred and twenty -five feet square would 
 be of very moderate extent. Horace mentions one one 
 thousand feet by three hundred,* and sometimes they 
 greatly exceed this, as one on the Via Labicana, five hun- 
 dred by eighteen hundred feet, or over twenty English 
 acres. There were also frequently exhedrcBy or seats by 
 the wayside, for passers-by, who were sometimes ex- 
 horted to pause and read the inscription, or to pour a 
 libation for the dead, as in the following: siste via- 
 tor TV QVI via FLAMINIA TRANSIS, RESTA AC RELEGE — 
 
 "Stop, traveller, who passest by on the Flaminian 
 Way; pause and read, and read again!" misce 
 BiBE DA MiHi — ^" Mix, drink, and give to me." vi- 
 ATORES SALVETE ET VALETE — "Travellers, hail and 
 farewell." 
 
 These burial plots were incapable of alienation 
 or transfer from the families for whom they were orig- 
 inally set apart; who are sometimes enumerated in 
 the inscription, or more generally expressed by the 
 formulae, sibi svisqve fecit, sibi et posteris svis, or 
 with the addition, libertis libertabvsqve posteris- 
 QVE, that is, " He made this for himself and his family," 
 or " for himself and his descendants ; " aho " for his freed- 
 men and freedwomen and their descendants." Sometimes 
 this limitation is plainly asserted to le, vt ne vnqvam 
 
 * Mille pedes in fronte, trecentos cippus in agrnm 
 Hie dabat ; heredes monumentum ne sequeretur. 
 
 Hor., I Sat., viii, 12. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 Ci 
 
 DE NOMINE FAMILIAE NOSTRAE HOC MONVMENTVM EXEAT 
 
 — "That this monument may not go out of the name 
 of our family." The cupidity of the inheritor of the es- 
 tate is especially guarded against by the ever-recurring 
 formula, h . m • H • N • s*, that is, Hoc monumentum hare- 
 dem non sequitur — " This monument descends not to the 
 heir." Sometimes within a stately mausoleum reposed 
 in solitary magnificence the dust of a single individ- 
 ual, who in sullen exclusiveness declares in his 
 epitaph that he has no associate even in the grave, 
 or that he made his tomb for himself alone — in 
 
 HOC MONVMENTO SOCIVM HABEO NVLLVM, Or, HOC SOLO 
 SIBI FECIT. 
 
 The violation of the monument is earnestly depre- 
 cated in numerous inscriptions in some such terms as 
 these : rogo per decs svperos inferosqve ne velitis 
 ossA MEA viOLARE — "I bcscech you, by the supernal 
 and infernal gods, that you do not violate my bones." 
 Sometimes this petition is accompanied by an impreca- 
 tion of divine vengeance if it should be neglected, as, 
 Qvi viOLAVERiT DECS SENTiAT iRATos — "May he feel 
 the wrath of the gods* who shall have violated [this 
 tomb.] " Another invokes the fearful curse, qvisqvis 
 
 HOC SVSIVLERIT AVT LAESERIT VLTIMVS SVORVM MO- 
 
 RiATVRf — "Whoever shall take away or injure this 
 [tomb] let him die the last of his race." 
 
 From a distrust of posterity many erected their mon- 
 uments during their life-time, and wrote their own 
 epitaphs, leaving only a space for the age. This is some- 
 times expressed by the words, sibi vivvs fecit, or, se 
 VIVO, se vivis, or even by such solecisms as me vivvs, or 
 se vivvs. The following records the strange fact of the 
 erection of a funereal monument by one living person to 
 * Literally, " the angry gods." f Reinesius. 
 
62 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 LOCO FILIAE 
 
 "To Semira- 
 
 another : semiramiae lic iae qvam 
 
 DILIGO OB MERITA EIVS VIVVS VIVAE FECI- 
 
 mia Licinia, whom I love in place of my daughter : on 
 account of her merits, alive, I made this to her alive." 
 
 These classic usages have been thus detailed because 
 traces of their influence may. be observed in many prac- 
 tices adopted by the primitive Christians, and because 
 they furnish an explanation of those remarkable immu- 
 nities and privileges which the Catacombs so long en- 
 joyed. These latter were constructed in separate and 
 limited areas, in like manner as the pagan sepulchres. 
 De Rossi has given a map of the Catacomb of Callixtus, in 
 which these areas are accurately defined. They vary 
 in size and shape, that of the crypt of St. Lucina being 
 one hundred feet in fronte and one hundred and eighty 
 in agroj that of St. Cecilia two hundred and fifty 
 feet in fronte and one hundred in agro, and others still 
 larger. By the very tenor of the law these areas en- 
 joyed the same protection as those of the pagan sepul- 
 chres, of which protection it required a special edict 
 to deprive them. Even when Christianity fell under 
 the ban of persecution that freedom of sepulture was 
 not at first interfered with. Having wreaked his cruel 
 rage upon the living body, the pagan magistrate at least 
 did not deny right of burial to the martyr's mutilated 
 remains. A beneficent Roman law declared that the 
 bodies even of those who died by the hand of the public 
 executioner might be given up to any who asked for 
 them.* So that even the sentence of outlawry against 
 the Christians did not affect the bodies of the dead. 
 Indeed, we know from ecclesiastical history that fre- 
 quently the faithful received the remains of the martyrs 
 
 * Corpora ar -madversorum quibuslibet petentibus ad sepulturain 
 danda sunt. Digest. ^ xlviii, 24, 2. 
 
Their Origin and Early History, 
 
 63 
 
 on 
 
 and gave them Christian burial. It was not till the 
 third century, when the pagan opposition to Christianity 
 became intense and bitter, that the persecutors waged 
 war upon the dead. Although both Diocletian and Max- 
 imian confirmed the decree just cited, it often happened 
 that, in order that the Christians might not have even 
 the melancholy consolation of gathering up the martyrs* 
 bones, and honouring the remains of their fallen heroes, 
 those sacred relics were denied the rites of sepil' re 
 which were freely accorded to the body of the vilest 
 malefactor. 
 
 These areas. Christian as well as pagan, were under 
 the guardianship of the Roman Pontifices^ who, although 
 pagans, were actually confirmed in their authority by the 
 Christian Emperor Constans. In consequence of this 
 protection the Christians were enabled to conduct their 
 worship and celebrate their agapa in the oratories or 
 other buildings erected over the Catacombs, the ruins 
 of which are still to be seen at the Catacombs of St. 
 Domitilla and Sts. Nereus and Achilles, and which to the 
 popular apprehension would seem to correspond to the 
 pagan structures for the celebration of funeral banquets. 
 Even when oppressed and persecuted above ground, 
 they found a sanctuary beneath its surface, and were 
 permitted by the ignorance or indifference of their foes 
 to worship God among the holy dead. So long as their 
 sepulchral areas were uninvaded the Christians scrupu- 
 lously abstained from extending their excavations be- 
 yond their respective limits, digging lower //V7«/ instead, 
 when insatiate death demanded room for still more graves. 
 But when the ruthlass persecutor pursued them even be- 
 neath the earth, they felt at liberty to transcend those 
 limits and burrow in any direction for safety or escape. 
 
 The Christian inscriptions often strongly deprecate 
 
C4 
 
 The Catacombs of Rotnc. 
 
 1 1 
 
 I'.jc violation of the graves to which they are at- 
 tached, in like manner as we have seen in pagan epi- 
 taphs, and against this crime the Fathers intensely 
 inveigh. Sometimes the petition assumes a most sol- 
 emn character, as this : [adivro] vos per c[h]ristvm, 
 
 NE MIHI AB ALIQVO VIOLENTIAM [j/V] FIAT ET NE 
 
 SEPVLCRVM MEVM viOLETVR — "[I conjure] you by 
 Christ that no violence be offered me by any one, and 
 that tny sepulchre may not be violated." Still more 
 awful in its adjuration is the following : conivro vos 
 
 PER TREMENDVM DIEM IVDICII VT HANC SEPVLTVRAM 
 
 NVLLI VIOLENT* — "I conjure you by the dreadful day 
 of judgment that no one violate this sepulchre." 
 
 Sometimes a most terrible imprecation is expressed, 
 as in the following : 
 
 MALE • PEREAT • IN8EPVLTVS 
 
 lACEAT • NON • RESVRGAT 
 
 CVM • IVDA • PARTEM • HABEAT 
 
 SI • QVIS • SEPVLCHRVM • HVNC • VIOLAVERIT — 
 
 If any one shall violate this sepulchre, 
 
 Let him perish miserably and remain unhuried; 
 
 Let him lie down and not rise again, 
 
 Let him have his portion with Judas.t 
 
 . . . .[emi] gravit ad xpm 
 
 . . . .sepvlcrvm viol are 
 
 . . . .sit alienvs a regno del 
 
 ........ Has departed to Christ. [If any one dare] to violate this 
 
 sepulchre, let him. . . .and be far from the kingdom of God4 
 
 * Both of these are given by Dr. McCaul in his Christian Epi' 
 tap/is of tfu First Six Centuries^ an admirable little volume, my 
 indebtedness to which will be elsewhere acknowledged. He also 
 quotes the following from Henzen's luscr, Lat. Select. Col., No. 6371 : 
 
 PETO A BOBIS [VOBIS] FRATRES BONI PER VNVM OEVM NEQVIS VI TI- 
 
 TVLO MOLESTET POST MORTEM — " I beseech you, good brothers, by the 
 one God, that no one by force injure this inscription after my death." 
 
 f Aringhi, lib. iv, c. xxvii. 
 
 X Sometimes an anathema was invoked upon the disturber of the 
 
 I 
 
Their Origin and Early History, 
 
 65 
 
 It is probable that this dread of the violation of the 
 grave arose, in part at least, from the fear that the disper- 
 sion of the remains might impede the resurrection of the 
 body ; and also from that natural aversion to the disturb- 
 ance of the slumbering dust, so passionately expressed 
 on the tombstone of England's greatest dramatist.* 
 
 We sometimes find also the announcement upon Chris- 
 tian as well as upon pagan tombs, that they have been 
 prepared while the tenants were yet alive, as in the fol- 
 lowing: Locvs BASiLiONis SE BiBo FECIT — "The place 
 of Basilio, he made it when alive;" sabini bisomvm se 
 
 BIBVM FECIT SIBI IN CEMETERIVM BALBINAE IN CRVPTA 
 
 NOB A \_sic\ — "The bisomus of Sabinus, he made it for 
 himself during his life-time, in the cemetery of Balbina, 
 in the new crypt." As Sabinus could only occupy one 
 half of this, the other half was probably intended for his 
 wife. Observe in the following the beautiful euphemism 
 for the grave. It is calmly chosen as the last long home, 
 
 grave, as in the following interesting example, found in the island of 
 Salamis, knd quoted by Dr. McCaul from Kirchoff, Corpus. Inscript. 
 GrtcCf No. 9303 r OZxof aluvio^ ^K^uBuvo^ uvayvuarov Kai Ev^^fiia( 
 h> dvac d^Kai^ hUif. fKuar^ iinuv El di riq tuv iSiuv t/ iTei)6f rtp 
 Tcikioja^ oufia Karadeadat ivravOa irapi^ tuv dvu ^/lijv, Xoyov d^i; r^ 
 deift Kai uvdOe/ia ijTu fiapavzfidv — "The everlasting dwelling of 
 Agatho, a reader, and P^uphemia, in two graves, one for each of us 
 separately. If any one of our relatives, or any one else, shall pre- 
 sume to bury a body here beside us two, may he give an account of 
 it to God, and may he be anathema maranatha." 
 
 * It is remarkable that Shakespeare's epitaph should present almost 
 as uncouth a specimen of epigraphy as any of the barbarous inscrip- 
 tions of the Catacombs. See the following copy : 
 
 Good Friend for lesus SAKE forbeare 
 To diGG T-E Dust EncloAsed HERe 
 Blest be T-E Man '*' spares T-es Stones 
 
 And curst be He '^^ moves my Bcmws. 
 V - 
 
 5 
 

 
 IT W. 
 
 60 
 
 TAe Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 AvRTU R 1/ S 
 UIXLTAA/UD/V 
 
 XqiEUXlTD 
 
 0/yWV\UIUSINPACF 
 
 Fler. 19.— Epitaph ft>om Lapidarian 
 Gallery.* 
 
 as the " house ap- 
 pointed for all liv- 
 ing." (Fig. 19.*) 
 
 But there was 
 another and still 
 more remarkable 
 resemblance be- 
 tween the funeral 
 usages of the pa- 
 gans and Chris- 
 tians than any 
 yet mentioned, 
 and one which 
 greatly contributed to the freedom of action and secur- 
 ity of the latter. There is aL mdant monumental 
 and other evidence of the existence in Rome, in the 
 time of the later Republic and of the Empire, of certain 
 funeral confraternities — collegia^ as they were called — 
 much like the modern burial clubs. A remarkable 
 inscription of the time of Hadrian, A. D. 103, found at 
 Lavigna, nineteen miles from Rome, on the Appian 
 Way, gives an insight into their constitution and objects. 
 With much legal tautology it sets forth the privilege of 
 this collegium of the worshippers of Di tna and the new 
 divinity Antinous appointed by a dociee of the Roman 
 Senate and people, to assemble, convene, and have an 
 association for the burial of the dead.f The members 
 
 • Maitland reads thus : in christo. martyrivs vixit annos 
 
 XCI PLVS MINVS ELEXIT DOMVM VIVVS. IN PACE. — "In Christ. 
 Martyrius lived ninety-one years, more or less. He chose a horne 
 during his life-time. In peace." 
 
 t Collegium salutare Dianae et Antinoi, constitutum nx Senatus 
 Populique Romani decreto, quibus coire, convenire, collegiumqne 
 habere 'iceat. Qui stipem menstruam conferre volent in funera, in 
 
 F 
 
Tfteir Origin and Early History, 
 
 67 
 
 of this confraternity were to pay for that purpose a 
 hundred sesterces at entrance, besides an amphora of 
 good wine, and five ases a month thereafter,* all of 
 which was forfeited by the non-payment of the monthly 
 dues. Three hundred sesterces were expended on the 
 funeral, fifty of which were to be distributed at the 
 cremation of the body. If a member died at a distance 
 from Rome three of the confraternity were sent to fetch 
 the body. Even if they failed to obtain it the funeral 
 rites were duly paid to an effigy of the deceased. There 
 was also provision made for the members dining together 
 on anniversary and other occasions according to rules 
 duly prescribed by the collegium. 
 
 The names of very many of these collegia have been 
 preserved, each of which consisted of the members of 
 a similar profession or handicraft. Thus we have the 
 Collegium Medicorum, the association of the physicians ; 
 Aurificum^ of the gold-workers ; Tignariorum^ of the car- 
 penters ; Dendropfwrorum^ of the wood-fellers ; Pellion- 
 ariorum, of the furriers ; Nautarum^ of the sailors ; Pab- 
 ulariorum, of the forage merchants ; Aurigariorum^ of 
 the charioteers ; and Utriculariorum^ of the bargemen. f 
 
 They were frequently also connected by the bond of 
 nationality or of common religious observance, as Col- 
 legium Germanorum^ the association of t'le Germans; 
 Pastophororum^ of the priests of Isis ; Serapidis et Isidis^ 
 of Serapis and Isis ; ^sculapii et Hygeice^ of ^Esculapius 
 and Hygeia. % Sometimes they were Cultores Venerisy 
 JoviSy Herculis^ worshippers of Venus, Jupiter, Hercules, 
 or, as we have seen, of Diana and Antinous. 
 
 id collegium coeant, neque sub specie ejus collegii nisi semel in mense 
 coeaut, conferendi causa unde defuncti sepeliantur. 
 
 * The sesterce, or sestertius, was about 2d • 5 farthings, the as about 
 3d • 4 farthiu^j. The amphora held about six gallons. 
 
 t Miiratori, torn, ii, classis vii, Collegia Varia. X ^^*d. 
 
68 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 These associations were often favoured with especial 
 privileges, immunities, and rights, like those of incorpo- 
 ration, such as the holding of territorial property. De 
 Rossi has shown, by ample citations, that the emperors, 
 who were always opposed to associations among the 
 citizens, made a special exemption in favour of these 
 funeral clubs.* 
 
 By conformity to the constitution of these corpora- 
 tions the Christian church had peculiar facilities for the 
 burial of its dead, and even for the celebration of relig- 
 ious worship. Indeed, it has been suggested, and is highly 
 probable, that it was under the cover of these funeral asso- 
 ciations that toleration was conceded, first to the sepul- 
 chres, then to the churches. Tertullian describes the 
 practice of the Christian community in the second cen- 
 tury as follows : " Every one offers a small contribution 
 on a certain day of the month, or when he chooses, and 
 as he is able, for no one is compelkd ; it is a voluntary 
 offering. This is our common fund for piety ; for it is 
 not expended in feasting and drinking and in wanton 
 excesses, but in feeding and burying the poor ^ in support- 
 ing orphans, aged persons, and such as are shipwrecked, 
 or such as languish in mines, in exile, or in prison."! 
 Thus the Ecdesia Fratruniy the " Congregation of the 
 Brethren," who restored the funeral monument described 
 on page fifty-six,J suggests the pagan college of the Fra- 
 
 \ 
 
 * Trajan regarded with suspicion even fire brigades and charitable 
 societies, (Pliny. X Epis. 43 et 94,) and forbade the assemblies of the 
 Christians, but permitted the monthly contribution of the clubs — Per- 
 mittitur tenuioribus stipem menstruam conferre. Digest.^ xlvii, 22, I. 
 
 \ Modicam unusquisque stipem menstrua die^ vel quum velit, et si 
 modo velit, et si modo possit, apponit : nam nemo compellitur, sed 
 sponte confert . . . Nam inde non epulis . . . sed egenis alendis 
 htimandisqne . . . etc. Tert., Apol.y c. 39. 
 
 X See first footnote. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 69 
 
 tres Arvales; and the Cultor Verbis or worshipper of the 
 Divine Word, in the same inscription, would seem to the 
 heathen magistrate analogous to the Cultores Jovis or 
 Cultores Diana of the ragan collegia^ Indeed, it is diffi- 
 cult to decide from the names of some of these associa- 
 tions whether they were Chri^t^iin or pagan. Thus we 
 read of the Collegium convictoi'um qui una epulo vesci solent 
 — "The fraternity of table-ccnpanions who are accus- 
 tomed to feast together." De Rossi suggests that there 
 may be here a covert reference tr> a Christian community, 
 and probably to the celebration of the Agape or of the 
 Eucharist.* Another is the Collegium quod est in domo 
 Sergice Paulina — " The association which is in the house 
 of Sergia Paulina." This possibly may have been a 
 Christian community, like " the church which was in 
 the house " of Priscilla and Aquila.f 
 
 That the primitive Christians availed themselves of 
 the privilege;* granted to the funeral associations, is con- 
 firmed by a discovery made by De Rossi in the Ceme- 
 tery of St. Domitilla in the year 1865, and already re- 
 ferred to. At the entrance was found a chamber, with 
 stone seats like the schola^ or place of meeting of the 
 pagan tombs where the religious confraternity celebrated 
 the funeral banquet of the deceased. Here the 
 Christians celebrated instead the Agape^ or Feast of 
 Charity, and the Natalitia^ or anniversary of th« martyrs 
 who were buried there, just as the pagan associations 
 commemorated the anniversaries of their deceased 
 patrons.* 
 
 The ancient privileges of these collegia were confirmed 
 by an edict of Septimius Severus about the year A. D. 
 200. It is a curious coincidence that precisely at this 
 time Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome, appointed Callixtus 
 
 * BuiUttinOy 1864, 62. f Rom. xvi, 5, 3. 
 
TO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 w * 
 
 
 ''. 
 
 to be " guardian of the cemetery," as well as head of 
 the clergy.* In order to secure to the funeral associa- 
 tion the protection of the law it was necessary that one 
 of its members should be appointed agent or " syndic,** 
 by whom its business should be transacted, and in whose 
 name its property should be held.f Thus Callixtus be- 
 came the syndic of the public cemetery of the church, 
 which still bears his name. De Rossi conjectures that 
 this was the first cemetery set apart for the use of 
 the whole Christian community. Hence it was taken 
 under the care of the ecclesiastical authorities, and 
 became, as we shall see hereafter, the burying-place 
 of the Roman bishops, and the especial property of the 
 church. X 
 
 We will now trace briefly the history of those perse- 
 <-utions which glutted the Catacombs with victims, and 
 at times drove the church for sanctuary to their deep- 
 est recesses. We have seen that Christianity grew up 
 under the protection accorded to Judaism as one of 
 the tolerated religions of Rome. But this toleration 
 did not long continue. In Rome as well as elsewhere 
 the new creed was doomed to a baptism of blood. The 
 causes of this persecution are not far to seek. The Chris- 
 tian doctrine spread rapidly, and early excited the jeal- 
 ousy of the Roman authorities by its numerous converts 
 from the national faith, many of whom were of exalted 
 rank. These carefully refrained from the idolatrous 
 adulation by which the servile mob were wont to express 
 
 * Philosophoumena^ ix, 1 1. 
 
 f Actorem sive syndicum, per quem, quod communiter agi fierique 
 oporteat, agatur, fiat. — Digest.^ iii, 4, I, § I. 
 
 t E veramente chc almeno fino dal secolo terzo i fideli abbiano pos- 
 siduto cemeteii a nome commune, e che il loro possesso sia stato 
 riconosciuto dagl' imperatori, h cosa impossibile a negare. — De Rossi^ 
 Rom. Sott.f torn, i, p. 103. 
 
 ! 
 
 t 
 
 f 
 
Their Origin and Early Structure, 
 
 71 
 
 their loyalty to the imperial monster who aspired to be a 
 god. Hence they were accused of disaffection, of trea- 
 son.* They were the enemies of Caesar, and of the 
 Roman people. f They were supposed to exert a malign 
 influence on the course of nature. If it did not rain 
 the Christians were to blame. J "If the Tiber over- 
 flows its banks," says TertuUian, " or the Nile does not ; 
 if there be drought or earthquakes, famine or pestilence, 
 the cry is raised, ' The Christians to the lions / * " § If the 
 pecking of tL- sacred chickens or the entrails of the sac- 
 rificial victims gave unfavourable omens, it was attributed 
 to the counter spell of " the atheists." At Rome, as well 
 asatEphesus and Philippi, the selfish fears of the shrink 
 and image makers, whose " craft was in danger," and the 
 hostility of the priests and dependents on the idol- 
 \ Drship, inspired or intensified the opposition to Chris- 
 tianity, as did also the jealousy of the Jews, who 
 regarded with especial hostility the believers in the 
 lowly Nazarene, whom their fathers with wicked hands 
 had crucified and slain. | 
 
 The terrible conflagration which destroyed the greater 
 part of the city during the reign of Nero was made the 
 excuse for the first outburst of persecution against the 
 Christian community. By public rumour this deed was 
 
 * The dreaded crimen majestatis. 
 
 \ Hostes Csesarum, hostes populi Romani. 
 
 X Non pluit Deus, due ad Christianos. — Aug., Civ. Dei, ii, 3, 
 
 § Si Tiberis ascendit in mcenia, si Nilus non ascendit in arva, si 
 coelum stetit, si terra movit, si fames, si lues, statim, '* Christianos ad 
 leones." — Apol.^x. "But I pray you," he adds, "were misfortunes 
 unknown before Tiberius ? The true God was not worshipped when 
 Hannibal conquered at Cannae, or the Gauls filled the city." 
 
 II Eusebius describes their activity in bringing wood and straw 
 from the shops and baths for the burning of Polycarp. Eccl. 
 Hist.t iv. 15, 
 
It I 
 
 7a 
 
 The Catacombs of Rame, 
 
 attributed to Nero himself. " To put an end to this re- 
 port," says Tacitus, " he laid the guilt, and inflicted the 
 most cruel punishment, upon these men, who, already 
 branded with infamy, were called by the vulgar. Chris- 
 tians. . . . Their sufferings at their executions," he 
 adds, " were aggravated by insult and mockery ; for 
 some were sewn up in the skins of wild beasts, and wor- 
 ried to death by dogs ; some were crucified, and some, 
 wrapped in garments of pitch, were burned as torches to 
 illumine the night."* 
 
 During this persecution St. Paul fell a victim, A. D. 
 64. He was beheaded " without the gate," on the Ostian 
 "Way, and weeping friends took up his bleeding corpse 
 and laid it, according to tradition, in one of the most 
 ancient crypts of an adjoining Catacomb, where Euse- 
 bius asserts that his tomb could be seen in his day.f 
 
 From this time Christianity was exposed to outbursts 
 of heathen rage, and express decrees were published 
 against it. J No longer sharing the protection of Juda- 
 ism, it fell under the ban of the empire. At times the 
 rage of persecution slumbered, and again it burst forth 
 with inextinguishable fury. But, like the typical bush 
 that " flourished unconsumed in fire," the Christian faith 
 but grew and spread the more. Yet the sword ever im- 
 
 * Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdedit reos ft qutesitissimis 
 poenis affecit, quos per flagitia invisos vulgus Chiistianos appellabat. 
 . . . Et pereuntibus addita ludibria, ut ferarum terg^s contectilaniatu 
 canum interierint, aut crucibus aflixi, aut flammandi iitque, ubi de- 
 feciaset dies, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur. — Anp., xv, 44. 
 
 f A telegraphic despatch from Rome of date January 16, 1873;, 
 announces that the Pope claims to have discovered the bodies of th^ 
 apostles Philip and James. Highly improbable, and of no practic^ 
 importance if true. Not the bones of the saints buried centuifies 
 ago, but the spirit which t^nimated them j^nd the principles fpr wh^c^ 
 they died, are the true sources of the church's po\ve|'. 
 
 X Sulpic. Sever., /fist , ii, ^\. 
 
 W 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 n 
 
 pended over the church. Sometimes its stroke was for 
 a time deferred, when the little flock took courage and 
 rejoiced ; but often it fell with crushing weight, smiting 
 the shepherds and scattering the sheep. One of these 
 periods of rest extended from the time of the Neronian 
 persecution till near the end of the century, when Do- 
 mitian, "a second Nero,"* stretched forth his hand 
 again to vex the saints. During the short reign of the 
 " justice-loving Nerva " the Christians again enjoyed 
 repose, so that Lactantius even asserts that they were 
 restored to all their former privileges. 
 
 To the first century De Rossi refers the construction 
 of at least three or four of the Catacombs. These are, 
 (i) the Cemetery of Priscilla, excavated, according to 
 an ancient tradition, in the property of the Roman 
 Senator Pudens, mentioned by St. Paul, and in which, it 
 is said, were interred his daughters Pudentiana and 
 Praxides; (2) the Catacomb of Domitilla, the grand- 
 niece of the Emperor Domitian, in which she herself 
 was buried, together with her chamberlains Nereus and 
 Achilles, who were beheaded for their steadfastness in 
 the Christian faith ; (3) the Crypt of Lucina, afterwards 
 part of the Catacomb of Callixtus, in which some of the 
 most ancient inscriptions have been found. De Rossi 
 conjectures that this lady is the same as the Pomponia 
 Graecina before mentioned, the wife of Plautius, the con- 
 queror of Britain. (4) De Rossi is also of the opinion 
 that he has discovered another, and the oldest ot all the 
 Catacombs, dating from the very times of the apostles 
 themselves, in that known as the Fons Petri, or the 
 Cemetery of the Font of Peter, in which tradition as- 
 serts that he himself baptized. The classical style of the 
 arthiti^cture, frescoes, and graceful stucco wreaths and 
 
 ♦ Euseb., Hist. Eccles., iii, 17. A. D. 93-96. 
 
74 
 
 The Catacombs of Rotne, 
 
 garlands, and the .character of the inscriptions, all point 
 to a very ancient period, before art had degenerated, and 
 before long-continued persecution had banished Chris- 
 tianity into seclusion and poverty. 
 
 The law of Trajan against secret assemblies, synchro- 
 nous with the opening of the second century, gave a 
 new occas'on of persecuting the Church. With such 
 sever' ' was this done that, according to Pliny, the 
 desert tea oles became again frequented, and their 
 neglected rite^ ' ,vived.* 
 
 The Emperor Hadrian is described by his contempo- 
 raries as diligently practising the Roman rites, and 
 despising all foreign religions.f Although he restrained 
 the tumultuous attacks of the populace upon the Chris- 
 tians, he nevertheless favoured their legal prosecution.| 
 
 The following epitaph given by Maitland com- 
 memorates a martyrdom of this reign. The last sen- 
 tence seems to imply that it was erected in a time of 
 actual persecution ; but no dated example of the mono- 
 gram which accompanies it appears before the time of 
 Constantine. The inscription was probably written long 
 
 * Prope jam desolata templa coepisse celebrari ; et sacra solennia 
 diu intermissa repeti. — Epis. ad Traj. Among the most distin- 
 guished sufferers during this persecution was Clement, third bishop 
 of Rome, exiled to Pontus, and, it is said, cast into the seat 
 A. D. 103 ; also the venerable Ignatius, bishop of the church 
 at Antioch, linked by tradition with the Saviour himself, as one 
 of the children whom he took in his arms and blessed. Con- 
 demned by Trajan to exposure to wild beasts in the amphitheatre at 
 Rome, a passion for martyrdom possessed his soul. " Suffer me to be 
 the food of the wild beasts," he exclaimed, " by whom I shall attain 
 unto God. For I am the wheat of God ; and I shall be ground by 
 the teeth of wild beasts that I may become the pure bread of Christ." 
 '—Epis. ad Romanos, §§ 4, 5. 
 
 t Sacra Romana diligentissime curavit, peregrina contempsit. — Spar« 
 tian, in Hadrian. A. D. 1 17-138. 
 
 X Euseb., Hist. Erc/es , iv, 9. Jus. Mar., Apnf., i, 68, 69. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 75 
 
 after the death of Marius, or the monogram may have 
 been added by a later hand : 
 
 TEMPORE ADRIANI IMFERATORIS MARIVS 
 ADOLESCENS DVX MILITVM QVI SATIS VIXIT 
 DVM VITAM PRO CHO CVM SANGVINE CON 
 SVNSIT IN PACE TANDEM QVIEVIT BENE 
 MERENTES CVM LACRIMIS £T METV POSVE 
 RVNT I. D. VI. 
 
 X 
 
 <} 
 
 In Christ. In the time of the E- ^^eror Hadrian, Marius, a young 
 military officer, who had lived long no- h, when, with his blood, he 
 gave up his life for Christ. At leng.i* he rested in peace. The 
 well-dsserving set up this with tears and in fear, on the 6th, Ides 
 of December. 
 
 In this reign also suffer ^ Alexander, bishop of Rome, 
 whose tomb has been found on the Nomentan Way, 
 together with Eventius and Theodulus, a presbyter and 
 deacon. 
 
 Under the humane and equitable Antoninus Pius,* 
 Christianity seems to have enjoyed a partial toleration, 
 although the edict of Trajan was still unrevoked. Yet 
 several outbreaks of popular fury against the Chris- 
 tians took place, and in the very first year of his reign 
 Telesphorus, the bishop of the church at Rome, suf- 
 fered martyrdom, t 
 
 One of the strangest phenomena in history is the per- 
 secution of the primitive church by the philosophical 
 emperor Marcus Aurelius, J whose " Meditations " seem 
 almost like the writings of an apostle in their praise of 
 virtue, yearning for abstract perfection, and contempt of 
 pomp and pleasure. Nevertheless, he was one of the 
 most systematic and heartless of all the oppressors of 
 the Christian faith — a faith so much loftier than even 
 
 * A. D, 138-161. f Irenxnis, ill, 3, § 
 
 {A. D. i6i-i8o. 
 
V ! 
 
 tl! 
 
 
 76 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 his high philosophy, and yet having so much akin. With 
 the cool acerbity of a stoic, he resolved to exterminate 
 the obnoxious doctrines. An active inquisition for the 
 Christians was set on foot, and the odious system of 
 domestic espionage, which even Trajan had forbidden, 
 was encouraged. Shameless informers, greedy for gain, 
 fed their rapacity on the confiscated spoils of the be- 
 lievers, whom they plundered, says Melito, by day and by 
 night. Though gentle to other classes of offenders, and 
 even to rebels, Aurelius exceeded in barbarity the most 
 ruthless of his predecessors in the refinements of tor- 
 ture, by rack and scourge, by fire and stake, employed 
 to enforce the recantation of the Christians ; and every 
 year of his long reign was polluted with innocent 
 blood. 
 
 From Gaul to Asia Minor raged the storm of perse- 
 cution. The earthquakes, floods, and famine, the wars 
 and pestilence, that wasted the empire, were visited upon 
 the hapless Christians, who were immolated in heca- 
 tombs as the causes of these dire calamities. From the 
 crowded amphitheatre of Smyrna ascended, as in a chariot 
 of fire, the soul of the apostolic bishop Polycarp. The 
 arrowy Rhone ran red with martyrs* blood. The names 
 of the venerable Pothinus, of the youthful Blandina and 
 Ponticus, and of the valiant Symphorianus, will be 
 memories of thrilling power and pathos to the end of 
 time. At Rome the persecution selected some of its 
 noblest victims. Justin, the Christian philosopher, find- 
 ing in the Gospels a loftier lore than in the teachings 
 of Zeno or Aristotle, of Pythagoras or Plato, became 
 the foremost of the goodly phalanx of apologists and 
 defenders of the faith, and sealed his testimony with his 
 blood. With six of his companions he was brought be- 
 fore the prefect for refusing obedience to the imperial 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 77 
 
 decide. "We are Christians," they said, "and sacrifice 
 not to idols." They were forthwith scourged and be- 
 headed, and devout men bore them to their burial, 
 doubtless in these very Catacombs, where their undis- 
 covered remains may yet lie. In this reign also suffered 
 the seven sons of St. Felicitas — the tomb of one of whom 
 De Kossi believes he has found — and St. Cecilia and 
 her companions, to be hereafter mentioned.* 
 
 ♦ The following inscription, referring to the Antonine period, is 
 given by Maitland, (page 40,) as from the Catacomb of Callixtus. 
 Although it seems to imply the actual prevalence of persecution, it 
 is evidently, even if genuine, of later date than the time alleged. 
 The presence of the sacred monogram, as well as the somewhat florid 
 and pleonastic style, indicate an origin not anterior to the age of 
 Constantine, when it became the fashion with outward pharisaism 
 to adorn the sepulchres of the martyrs, although the truths for 
 which they died were often treated with neglect : 
 
 ALEXANDER MORTVVS NON EST SED VIVIT SVPER 
 
 ASTRA ET CORPVS IN HOC TVMVLO QVIESCIT. 
 
 VITAM EXPLEVIT SVB ANTONINO IMP QVI VBI MVL 
 
 TVM BENEFITII ANTEVENIRE PRAEVIDERET PRO GRA 
 
 ^ l^ TIA ODIVM REDDIDIT. GENVA ENIM FLEC 
 
 N^ TENS VERO DEO SACRIFICATVRVS AD SVP 
 
 ^/'l \ PLICIA DVCITVR. O TEMPORA INFAVSTA 
 
 QVIBVS INTER SACRA ET VOTA NE IN CAV 
 
 BRNIS QVIDEM SALVARI POSSIMVS. QVID MISERIVS 
 
 VITA SED QVID MISERIVS IN MORTE CVM AB AMICIS ET 
 
 PARENTIBVS SEPELIRI NEQVEANT TANDEM IN COELO 
 
 CORVSCANT. PARVM VIXIT QVI VIXIT IN. X. TEM. 
 
 " In Christ. Alexander is not dead, but lives above the 
 stars, and his body rests in this tomb. He ended his V rt ^^^' 
 life under the Emperor Antonine, who, foreseeing that tyr Symbol 
 great benefit would result from his services, returned 
 evil for good. For while on his knees and about to sacrifice to the 
 true God, he was led away to execution. O sad times ! in which, 
 among sacred rites and prayers, even in caverns we aio not safe. 
 What can be more wretched than such a life? and what than such 
 a death? when they cannot be buried by their friends and relations— 
 
78 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The legend of the Thundering Legion, supported as 
 it is by the medals and the column of Antoninus, com- 
 memorates, indeed, the deliverance of the Roman army 
 by a timely shower; but the Emperor ascribed that 
 deliverance not to the prayers of the Christians, but to 
 his own appeal to the heathen gods,* and there is 
 no evidence that he ever relaxed the severity of the 
 persecution. 
 
 The ferocity of the brutal Commodus f was tempered 
 by the influence of his concubine, Marcia, and Chris- 
 tianity spread among the highest ranks ; but persecution 
 
 at length they sparkle in heaven. He has scarcely lived who has 
 lived in Christian times." 
 
 Maitland renders the concluding letters, in. X. TEM, by " In Chris- 
 tianis tempjoribus." The furnace seems to indicate that the martyr 
 suffered death by fire, or. possibly, by immersion in boiling oil — a 
 mode of punishment which St. John b said to have undergone, but 
 without receiving any harm. 
 
 Another still more apocryphal inscription is given by Maitland, 
 (page 65.) It is probably of the fifth century. The Pudentiana re- 
 ferred to is said to have spent her patrimony in relieving the poor 
 and burying the martyrs. 
 
 HOC ES r COEMETERIVM PRISCILLAE 
 
 IN QVO EXISTVNT CORPORA TRIVM MILX.IVM MARTYRVM 
 
 MARi'^RIO PER ANTONINUM IMPERATOREM 
 
 AFFECTORVM QVOS S. PVDESTIANA 
 
 FECIT IN HOC SVO VENERABILI TEMPLO SRPELIRI. 
 
 " This is the Cemetery of Priscilla, in which are the bodies of three 
 thousand martyrs, who suffered under the Emperor Antonine, whom 
 St. Pudentiana caused to be buried in this her own place of worship" 
 — Aicher, Hortus Inscriptionum. More authentic relics of this reign 
 are the large tiles with which part of the Catacomb of Callixtus is 
 paved. They all bear the words, opvs doliare »x praediis domi- 
 Ni N ET FIGL NOVis, which, according to Marini, is the stamp of 
 the imperial manufactory of Marcus Aurelius. 
 
 * " Hanc dextram ad te Jupiter, tendo, quae nullius unquam san- 
 guinam fuJit," is the form of prayer given by Claudian. Euseb., v, 5. 
 
 t A. D. 180-193. 
 
Their Origin and Early History, 
 
 79 
 
 did not entirely cease. Apollonius, a senator of the 
 empire, was put to death at Rome, and we read of numer- 
 ous martyrdoms elsewhere. A Christian inscription 
 commemorates an officer of Commodus, and Procurator 
 of the Imperial household, who was ** received to God " 
 
 — RECEPTVS AD DEVM — A. D. 21 7.* 
 
 On the death of this emperor the persecution raged 
 with such violence that, according to Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus, many martyrs were burned, crucified, and be- 
 headed every day.f Non licet esse vos — " It is not lawful 
 for you to exist " — was the stem edict of extermination 
 pronounced against the saints. 
 
 Christianity had little favour to expect from a military 
 despot like Septimius Severus, whose dying counsel 
 to his successor expressed the principle of his govern- 
 ment — " Be generous to the soldiers and trample on all 
 besides." 
 
 The revived accusations against the new faith called 
 forth the bold defence, or rather 'lefiance, of Tertullian, 
 one of the noblest monuments of the primitive ages. In 
 this reign the sanctity of the Christian cemeteries was 
 first violated, and that not at Rome but in Africa, where 
 the persecution was most virulent. " The mob assails us 
 with stones and flames with the frenzy of bacchanals," 
 says Tertullian ; " They do not even spare the Christian 
 dead, but tear them from the rest of the tomb, from 
 the asylum of death, cut them in pieces, and rend them 
 asunder."! 
 
 * See chap, ii, book iiL f Strom., lib. m, A. D. 193. 
 
 X ApoL, 37. Sicut sub Hilariano prxside, cum d reis sepultura* 
 rum nostrarum adclamassent, area non sint. — . Scap.^ c. iii. 
 A. D, 203. 
 
 No more pathetic episode is contained in the whole range of the 
 Martyrology than that of the youthful mother, Perpetua, who sul- 
 
8o 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 M 
 
 After the cessation of this persecution the Church 
 enjoyed a period of unwonted rest. Although under 
 the ignoble Heliogabalus the sensual Asiatic worship 
 of Baal was introduced to Rome, and human sacrifice 
 was even offered to this Eastern Moloch,* yet the relig- 
 ion of peace and purity shared the toleration accorded 
 to the most obscene and cruel rites. The just and ami- 
 able Alexander Severus inaugurated a new era for 
 Christianity,! to whic i he was favourably disposed, prob- 
 abl/ through the influence of his mother, Mammaea, 
 who had enjoyed at Antioch the instruction of Origen.J 
 He used frequently to quote with approval the Golden 
 Rule of Our Lord, and caused it to be inscribed on his 
 palace walls, and also ceded to the Christians a piece 
 of public ground for the cection of a church. § But 
 Alexander was only a religious eclectic, honouring what 
 he thought best in the current systems of belief. Of 
 this reign is the epitaph of Urban, bishop of Rome, 
 
 fered at Carthage uivle- Severus. Few can read unmoved the acts 
 of her martyrdom, which bear the stamp of authenticity in their per- 
 fectly natural and \inexaggerated tone, and the alisence of miracle. 
 Young — she was cnly twenty-two — beautiful, of noble family, and 
 dearly loved, her luiathen father entreated her to pity his gi-ay hairs, 
 her mother's tears, ner helpless babe. But her faith proved triumphant 
 over even the yearnings of natural affection ; and, wan and faint from 
 recent childbirth pangs, she was led, with Felicitas, her companion, 
 into the crowded amphitheatre, and exposed to the cruel horns'of in- 
 furiate beasts. Amid the agonies of death, more conscious of her 
 wounded modesty than of her pai i, with a gesture of dignity she drew 
 her disheveled robe about her person. She seemed rapt in ecstasy till 
 by a merciful stroke of the gladiator she was released from her suffer- 
 ing, and exchanged the dust and blood of the arena, and the shouts 
 of the ribald mob, for the songs of the redeemed, and the beatific 
 vision of the Lord she loved. 
 
 * Coedit et humanas hostias. — Lamprid., Heliogabaltts. \ A. D. 222. 
 
 X Euseb., Hist. Eccles,, vi, 21. 
 
 § The site, according to tradition, of St. Maria in Trastevere. 
 
Tlieir Origin and Early History. 
 
 81 
 
 which has been found in the so-called " Papal Crypt," 
 bearing his name and the initial letter of his title — 
 OTRBANOC E. . . . 
 
 The accession of the Thracian savage, Maximin, A. D. 
 235, was the signal for a fresh outburst of persecution. 
 To have been favoured by Severus was sufficient to incur 
 th.: hate of his murderer. His rage was especially di- 
 rected against the chief pastors of the flock of Christ. 
 Pontianus, the Roman bishop, was exiled to Sardinia, 
 and there slain. Antherus, his successor in this danger- 
 ous dignity, for his zeal in preserving the records of the 
 martyrs himself suffered martyrdom a few weeks after 
 his accession, and was laid in that narrow chamber des- 
 tined to receive so many of Rome's early bishops, where 
 a slab bearing his name and title— ANTEPflC • Eni— 
 has been found. In this reign also suffered the cele- 
 brated Hippolytus, bishop of Pontus, and author of the 
 *' Philosophoumena." 
 
 Under Gordian and Philip a respite was again gr inted 
 t.o the persecuted church. The latter, indeed, is claimed 
 by Eusebius as a Christian ; but his character and con- 
 duct are inconsistent with such a supposition. 
 
 A violent reaction took place on the accession of 
 Decius, whose name became an object of execration to 
 mankind.* He resolved to entirely crush and extirpate 
 Christianity, whose bishops and churches began to rival 
 the pontiffs and temples of the gods of Rpme. At his 
 instigation a persecution of unprecedented virulence 
 raged like an epidemic throughout the empire. The 
 imperial edicts enforced conformity to the pagan ritaal 
 under penalty of the most horrible tortures. This un- 
 
 * A. D. 250-253. Execrabile animal Decius, qui vexaret ecclesiam. 
 — Lactan., de Mart. Persec, c. 3, 4. He would rather tolerate, he 
 said, a rival for his throne, than a bishop in Rome. Cypr., Ep. 53. 
 
 6 
 
 # 
 
82 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 'm 
 
 wonted severity produced the first great apostasy of the 
 primitive church ; and many of the less stable converts 
 procured exemption from martyrdom by sacrificing to 
 the gods, burning incense on their altars, or purchasing 
 certificates of indulgence from the heathen magistrate.* 
 " Pale and trembling, and more like sacrificial victims 
 than those about to sacrifice," says an eye-witness, " some 
 approached the heathen shrines; but others, firm and 
 blessed pillars of the Lord, witnessed a good confession 
 unto death."! The bishops of the church, who, as the 
 leaders of Christ's sacramental host, bore gallantly the 
 battle's brunt, were naturally the earliest victims of the 
 tyrant's rage. Accordingly, at the very outbreak of the 
 Decian slaughter, the venerable Fabian, head of the 
 Roman church, perished b/ decapitation ; and the 
 Catacombs were glutted with a host of unknown mar- 
 tyrs. In the very chamber in the Cemetery of Caliixtus 
 to which his mutilated corpse was borne, may still be 
 seen the Bishop's epitaph — <1>ABTAN0C ' EQl — with the 
 monogram of his martyrdom, the conjoined letters MTP, 
 added probably by a later hand. The church seemed 
 
 * Called respectively Sacrificati^ T/iuri/icati, and Libellatici, of 
 whom the first were esteemed the most guilty. The indignant rhetoric 
 of Cyprian expresses his holy horror at this vile apostasy : " They 
 made haste to give their souls the mortal wound. . . , That altar 
 where he was about to die — was it not his fun','ral pile ? Should he 
 not have fled, as from his coffin or his grave, from that devil's altar, 
 when he saw it smoke and fume with stinking smell? . . . Thou 
 thyself wast the sacrificial victim. Thou didst sacrifice thy salvation, 
 and burn thy faith and hope in these abominable fires" — Nonne ara 
 ilia, quo moriturus accessit, rogus illi fuit ? Nonne diaboli altare quod 
 foetore taetro fumare et redolere conspexerat, velut funus et bustum 
 vit£e suae horrere ac fugere debebat ? . . . Ipseadaram hostia, victima 
 ipse venisti. Immol.isti illic salutem tuam, spem tuam, ndem tuam, 
 funestisiilis igniljus concremasti. — De Lapsis., p. 124. 
 
 \ Dionysius of Alexandria, in Euseb ^ vi, 41. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 83 
 
 paralyzed with lear, and for sixteen months no suc- 
 cessor was elected. But, undismayed by the tragic fate 
 of Fabian, Cornelius, allied with some of the noblest 
 families of Rome, became the leader of the forlorn hope 
 of Christianity against all the power of the empire. 
 After a year's episcopate he was first banished and then 
 beheaded under Gallus, a worthy successor in persecu- 
 tion of Decius. Through the archaeological researches 
 of De Rossi have been recovered; first his epitaph — 
 CORNELIVS • MARTYR • EP — and then his tomb, 
 with a Damasine inscription, in one of the most interest- 
 ing crypts of the Catacombs. Lucius, his successor, in 
 six months shared his fate, and was buried in the cham- 
 ber consecrated by the dust of so many martyr-bishops, 
 where his brief epitaph — AOVKIC — is still legible. 
 
 Valerian,* who revived in his own person the ancient 
 office of Censor, was at first so favourable toward the 
 Christians that his house, says Dionysius of Alexandria, 
 was filled with pious persons, and was, indeed, a congre- 
 gation f of the Lord. This favour was doubtless the 
 result of the Censor's approval of Christian influence 
 on public morals. t In the latter part of his reign, how- 
 ever, the Emperor passed under the dominion of the 
 most abject superstition. Through the influence of 
 Macrianus, a pagan bigot learned in the dark lore of 
 Egypt, he became addicted to magic arts, and is said to 
 have sought the auguries of the empire in the entrails 
 of human victims. § The most relentless decrees were 
 launched against the Christian church. The bishops, 
 priests, and deacons were forthwith to be put to the 
 sword ; all others were to share the same fate, or to be 
 
 * A. D 254-259. t 'E/cKAjyffm, Euseb., vii, 10. 
 
 X Milman, Hist, of Christianity, Am. ed., Book II., chap vii. 
 § Euseb., Hist. Ecclcs , vii, la 
 

 h^ 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 punished by exile and fetters.* The holding of assem- 
 blies, or even entering the Christian cemeteries, was 
 strictly prohibited A. D. 257,! By this unwonted inva- 
 sion of the immemorial sanctity of the sepulchre the 
 Christians were forbidden even these last refug js from 
 persecution. 
 
 Among the most illustrious victims of Valerian whose 
 bodies lie in the lowly Catacombs, but whose names live 
 for evermore, were Stephen I. and Sixtus II., bishops 
 of the persecuted church, and a number of distinguished 
 ecclesiastics, as well as many laymen of noble rank. J 
 
 Stephen, as the head of the Christian community, was 
 especially obnoxious to heathen rage. According to the 
 Acts of his martyrdom he sought concealment in these 
 sepulchral crypts, § where he was secretly visited by the 
 faithful, and where he administered the sacraments. 
 He was traced by the Roman soldiers to his subter- 
 ranean chapel, but, awed by the mysterious rites, they 
 allowed him to conclude the service in which he was 
 engiged. He was tbr beheaded, with several of his 
 adhv^rents, f and buried In the Catacomb. 
 
 * Ut episcopi et presbyteri et diacones incontinenter animadvertan- 
 tur, . . . capite quoque raulctentur. — Cypr., ep. 72, ad Successum. 
 
 f Ovdofiuf i^iarai vfiiv y avvudov^ TTouWai f) eig to, KaTiovfieva 
 KoiveTvpia riauuai — Dionys., in Euseb., vii, II, Jussum est, ut nulla 
 conciliabula faciant, neque ccemeteria ingrediantur. — Pontius, Passio 
 Cypriani. 
 
 \ In Africa, Cyprian, the intrepid bishop of Carthage, after a 
 stormy episcopate, obtainetl the crown of martyrdom. On receiving 
 the sentence condemning him to death, he exclaimed, "God be 
 thanked ! '' and went as joyous to his fate as to a marriage feast, 
 — Pontius, Pa'sio Cypr. 
 
 § " Vitaro -*jlitariam agebat in cryptis." Of St. Urban it is similar- 
 ly •;aid, ** Solebat in sacrorum martyrum monumenta." — Acts of CeciUa. 
 
 I Baronius ; Ann., 'om. iii, p. 76. Among his companions in 
 dc;.ch was Hippolytus, a Roman convert, of whom a beautiful legend 
 
1*^' 
 
 Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 ^'. 
 
 his 
 
 be 
 ;ast. 
 
 ilar- 
 
 ilia. 
 
 in 
 
 rend 
 
 Sixtus, the successor of Stephen, within a } . -r id- 
 ceived the martyr's crown. Like another Daniel -tt'ng 
 at defiance the emperor's decree, he was leading the 
 devotions of the persecuted flock in the Catacomb of 
 Prsetextatub, probably because it was less known than the 
 public cemetery of Callixtus, when he was apprehended 
 by the fierce soldiery, who had tracked his footsteps 
 thither. He was hurried away to summary judgment, 
 brought back to the place of his offence, and there be- 
 headed, sprinkling with YM blood the walls of the chamber. 
 With him were also executed four of his deacons,* the 
 monuments of two of whom, Agapetus and Felicissimus, 
 De Rossi discovered in the very Catacomb in which 
 they suffered. Sixtus himself was buried in the " Bishops* 
 Tomb " in the Callixtan Cemetery, where the following 
 inscription, fragments of which have been found .:i the 
 dibris, was afterward set up by Damasus : 
 
 TEMPORE QVO GLADIVS SECVIT PIA VISCER/- ..»ATkI.S 
 HIC POSITVS RECTOR COELESTIA XVSSA DOr . VM 
 ADVENIVNT SVKITO RAPIVNT QVI FORTE S; '.WTEM 
 MILITIBVS MISSIS POPVLI TVNC COI-LA DEDt.RF, 
 MOX SIBI COGNOVIT SENIOR QVIS TOLLERE VKLLFT 
 PALMAM SEQVE SVVMQVE CAPVP PKIOR OiSTVLll rfiE 
 IMPATIENS FERITAS POSSE I NE LAEOERE QV.uMQVAM 
 OSTENDIT CHRISTVS REDUIT QVI PKAEMIA VITAE 
 PASTORIS MERITVM NVMERVM GREGIS IPSE TVETVR 
 
 is recorded. His pagan relatives, entrusted with the secret of his re- 
 treat, supplied his wants by means of their children, a boy and girl 
 of ten and thirteen years. He one day detained the children in the 
 hope that their parents would seek them, and th\'.s have the oppor- 
 tunity of religious instruction from the good bishop. Iiis phm 
 succeeded, and eventually they with their children were baptized and 
 suffered ".nartyrdoin together ! Baron., Ann., iii, 69. Even though 
 unauthentic, this story is r, type, doubtless, of many incidents wlii :h 
 occurred in the strange social relations of the church in the Catacombs. 
 * Xistum in cimiterio animadversum sciatis . . . et cum eo diac- 
 onos quatuor. — Cypr., Epis , Ixxx, ad Successful. 
 
 
86 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 At the time when the sword pierced the tender heart of the 
 Mother [church,] I, the ruler buried here, was teaching the laws 
 of heaven. Suddenly came [the enemy,] who seized me sitting as I 
 was. Then the p)eople presented their necks to the soldiers sent 
 against me. Soon the old man saw who sought to bear away the 
 palm, and was the first to offer himself and his own head, that impa- 
 tient rage might injure no one else. Christ who bestows the rewards 
 of life, manifests the merit of the pastor : he himself defends the 
 flock.* 
 
 Thus seven bishops of the church at Rome fell in 
 succession by the hand of the headsman, five of them in 
 the space of eight years — heroic athletes of Christ who, 
 at the very seat of paganism, as in a mighty theatre of 
 God, bore the brunt of persecution, and, conquering 
 even in death, received the martyr's crown and palm. 
 
 The accession of Gallienusf restored peace to the 
 church. His decree granting complete religious tolera- 
 tion, the restoration oi confiscated ecclesiastical prop- 
 erty, and permission to " recover what they called their 
 cemeteries," J Avon the gratitude of his Christian subjects. 
 His character, however, by no means justified the epithet 
 of ** hi'ly and pious emperor" bestowed by Dionysius of 
 Alexandria. § This was the first formal recognition of 
 Christianity as a religio licita^ or legalized faith, and for 
 forty years the church enjoyed comparative repose ; at 
 
 * Aiiother martyr whose Acts, although disfigured with some gro- 
 tesqae and exaggerated circumstances, contain elements of great 
 beauty, wa-^> Lawrence, a deacon of the bishop Sixtus. Esteeming it 
 no s.tciiie:,;e, but rather the highest consecration of the property of 
 the church, he distributed it in alms among the suffering Christians. 
 Beine commanded to surrender to the emperor the confiscated 
 ecclcslasticrl treasuie, he presented to the commissioner a number 
 of aged anc impotent poor, saying, ** These are the treasures of the 
 church." After incredible tortures, which form the subject of many 
 a picture of Roman Citholic art, he is said to have been roasted to 
 deiith over a slow fire. Ambros., Officiti.y i, 41. 
 
 f A. D. 2j9. % Euseb., Hist. Ecclcs., viii. 13. § lb., viii, 2> 
 
 »l 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 87 
 
 least such repose as was possible while twenty rival 
 emperors — fantastic things " that likeness of a kingly 
 crown had on " — struggled for the supremacy, and har- 
 ried the land with their mutual devastations. During 
 this period, P'elix, the bishop of the Roman church, 
 who, according to the Liber Pontijicalis, was exceedingly 
 diligent in honouring the martyrs of the Catacombs, be- 
 came himself a conscript of that noble army, and was 
 beheaded, in accordance with an imperial decree, as was 
 also Agapetus, a Christian of noble rank. 
 
 The mild and amiable Tacitus * ruled over a turbulent 
 people only six months. His brother Florian retained 
 the purple only half that time. Probus, " the just," 
 whose name, says his epitaph, expressed his character,! 
 fell by the hands of his own tumultuous legionaries. 
 The sensual and abominable Carinus displayed the ex- 
 travagancies of Heliogabalus, aggravated by the cruelty 
 of Domitian. In his reign died Eutychianus, whose 
 epitaph and title— EYTYXIANOC EIIIC— have been 
 found in the " Papal Crypt " of Callixtus. | 
 
 Christianity was destined to undergo a final ordeal 
 
 * A. D. 275. 
 
 t Probus et vere probus situs est. Obiit A. D. 283. 
 
 X Gregory of Tours, writing in the sixth century, asserts that under 
 Numerian, the brother and contemporary of Carinus, Chrysanthus 
 and Daria suffered martyrdom xu Catacomb on the Via Salaria. 
 A number of the faithful being observed to visit their tombs, the 
 emperor ordered the entrance to be built up and covered with a heap 
 of sand and stones, that they might be buried alive in common mar- 
 tyrdom. When their remains were discovered by Damasus, in the 
 fourth century, he refrained from removing them, and simply made 
 an opening from an adjacent gallery, that pilgrims to the early shrines 
 of the faith might behold, without disturbing it, this "Christian 
 Pompeii," Gregory asserts that these interesting relics were still to 
 be seen in his day — the skeletons of men, women, and children lying 
 on the floor, and even the silver vessels {urcei argentei ) which they 
 used. 
 
 '*^'»l 
 
88 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 before it should ascend the throne of the Caesars. The 
 church must pass once more through the purifying 
 flames of persecution before it was fit to be entrusted 
 with the reins of empire. The long peace and temporal 
 prosperity had fostered pride and luxury, and relaxed 
 the morals of the Christian community. Schisms and 
 feuds destroyed the unity of the faith, and the 
 bishops had begun to aspire to temporal power, and to 
 assert an unwarranted authority. " Prelates inveighed 
 against prelates," says Eusebius, " and people rose against 
 people, assailing each other with words as with darts and 
 spears."* The blasts of adversity were necessary to 
 winnow the spurious and false away, and to leave the 
 tried and true behind. From the fatal slumber of re- 
 ligious apathy into which the church was falli-ig it was 
 to be rudely awakened. Its former afflictions sank into 
 insignificance compared with this great tribulation, which 
 was pre-eminently called The Persecution by the his- 
 torian of the times. f 
 
 The close of the third century witnessed the strange 
 spectacle of the government of the Roman world by a 
 group of men who had climbed to the giddy height of 
 power from the lowest stations in life. Diocletian, 
 originally a slave, or at least the son of a slave, reduced 
 the haughty aristocracy of Rome to a condition of 
 oriental servility. Maximian, a Paiinonian peasant, be- 
 trayed the savageness of his nature by his bloodthirsty 
 cruelty. Galerius, an Illyrian herdsman, but exhib- 
 ited more conspicuously upon the throne of ep^pire the 
 native barbarity of his character. Constantjus wfis of 
 nobler birth than any of his colleagues, and he alon§ 
 adorned his lofty station by dignity, justice, and clem? 
 ency. The world groaned under the oppression of jtg 
 
 * Euseb., Hist, Eccles., viii, I. 
 
 t Bid, 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 89 
 
 ity 
 
 cruel masters. So exhausting were their exactions that 
 none remained to tax, says Lactantius,* but the beggars. 
 The early years of the reign of Diocletian were char- 
 acterized for the most part by principles of religious tol- 
 eration. Indeed, his wife and daughter, the empresses 
 Prisca and Valeria, favoured, if they did not adopt, 
 the Christian faith, and some of the first officers of the 
 imperial household belonged to the now powerful sect.f 
 But even duri^" g this period the Christians were not free 
 from danger. Caius, the Roman bishop, is said to have 
 lived for eight years in the Catacombs on account of 
 the persecution, and at last underwent martyrdom in 
 the year A. D. 296. J Marcus and Marcelianus, two 
 Roman Christians of noble rank, who have given their 
 name to one of the Catacombs, suffered about this time. 
 Others, especially in the army, where the ancient faith 
 had firmest hold, and where, indeed, Eusebius says, the 
 persecution began, § endured martyrdom as the valiant 
 soldiers of Christ. The storm, of which these events 
 were the precursors, at length burst with fury on the 
 Christians in the year 303. A serieij of cruel edicts, 
 written, says Eusebius, with a dagger's point, || were 
 fulminated for the extirpation of the Christian name. 1[ 
 
 ♦ De Mori. Persec, c. xxiii. t Euseb., Hist. Eccles., viii, i. 
 
 X Caius . . . fugiens persecutionem Diocletiani in cryptis habitando, 
 martyrio coronatur. — Lib, Pontif.; cf. Euseb., Hist. Eccles.^ vii, 32. 
 
 § 'E/c Tuv tv arpartiaig tidcA^wv KaTap^oftevov tov fituyfiuv. — ///j/. 
 EccUs.^ viii, i. 
 
 II i^ita Coiist,^ ii, 54. 
 
 \ The following inscription, found in Spain, and given by Gruter, 
 seems designed as the funeral monument of dead and buried Chris- 
 tianity. But though apparently destroyed, like its divine Author, in- 
 stinct with immortality it rose triumphant over all its foes. 
 
 DIOCLETIAN • CAES • AUG • GALERIO • IN ORIENTR • ADOPT- SVPER 
 STITIONE CHRIST 'VBIQ • DELETA ET CVLTV DEOR • TROPAGATO • 
 
 *'To Diocletian, Ctesar Augustus, having adopted Galerius in the 
 
90 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 They w^re framed with malignant ingenuity, so as to 
 leave no chance of escape save in open apostasy. All 
 ecclesiastical property was confiscated. The churches 
 were razed to the ground, and the sacred scriptures burned 
 with fire.* All assemblies for worship were prohi^^itcd 
 on pain of death. The clergy of every order were zeal- 
 ously sought out, and thrust into dungeons designed 
 for the worst of felons, f The whole Christian com- 
 munity was outlawed, degraded from every secular office, 
 deprived of the rights of citizenship, and exposed to the 
 ]ninishment of the vilest slaves. With intensifying vio- 
 lence edict followed edict, like successive strokes of 
 thunder in a raging storm. A universal and relentless 
 proscription of the Christian name took place. The 
 truculent monster Calerius, of whom his Christian sub- 
 jects said, that he never supped without human blood, J 
 proposed that all who refused to sacrifice to the gods 
 should be burned alive ; and the fiendish ingenuity of 
 the persecutors was exhausted in devising fresh tortures 
 for their victims. 
 
 In Italy, and especially at Rome, the work of de- 
 struction was eagerly carried on by Maximian, an 
 implacable enemy of the Christians ; and after his death 
 by the abominable voluptuary Maxentius, in whom the 
 twin passions of cruelty and lust struggled for the mas- 
 East, the Christian superstition being evtry-where destroyed, and the 
 worship of the gods extended." 
 
 * Euseb., Hist. Eceles., viii, 2. The effects of the persecution were 
 felt even in Britain, ((iildas, de Excid. Britau., in Bingham, viii^ i.) 
 Alban was the first British martyr at a somewhat earlier date. 
 
 t " The dungeons destined for murderers," says Eusebius, " were 
 filled with bishops, presbyters, deacons, readers, and exorcists, so that 
 there was no room left for those condemned for crime." — Hist. 
 Eccles. 
 
 X Nee unquam sine cruore humano coenabat. — Lactan., de Mort. 
 Persec. 
 
Their Origin and Early History, 
 
 9' 
 
 the 
 
 tery. These monsters of ini luity revelled in a carnival 
 of blood, and glutted the Catacombs with victims, some 
 of the most illustrious of whom will shortly be men- 
 tioned. On the retirement of Diocletian, satiated with 
 slaughter and weary with the cares of state, to his re- 
 treat at Salonica, Galerius continued the per^'-cution 
 with increased zeal. It was the expiring effort of pagan- 
 ism, the death throes of its mortal agon". But the 
 Christian religion, like the trodden grass th.it ranker 
 grows, flourished still in spite of the oppressior it en- 
 dured. Like the rosemary and thyme, which the more 
 they are bruised give out the richer perfume, it breathed 
 forth the odours of sanctity which are fragrant in the 
 world to-day. Though the frail and the fickle fell off in 
 the blast of adversity, the staunch and true remained ; 
 and from the martyr's blood, more prolific than the 
 fabled dragon's teeth, a new host of Christian heroes 
 rose, contending for the martyr's starry and unwither- 
 ing crown. 
 
 But the period of deliverance was at hand. Smitten 
 by the power of that God whose titles and attributes he 
 had usurped, the wretched Galerius, amid the agonies of 
 a loathsome disease, implored the intercessions of the 
 Christians whom he had so ruthlessly proscribed. With 
 sublimest magnanimity the church exhibited the nobil- 
 ity of a Gospel revenge, and obeyed the injunction of 
 its divine Master to pray for those who persecuted and 
 despitefully used it. From the dying couch of the re- 
 morseful monarch came an abject apology for his cruel 
 deeds; and, in late atonement for his crime, a decree 
 of amplest recognition of Christianity, and restoration 
 of the right to worship God. Like the trump of jubilee, 
 the edict of deliverance pealed through the land. It 
 ])enetrated the gloomy dungeon, the darksome mine, 
 
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92 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 
 \ 
 
 the catacomb's dim labyrinth ; and from their sombre 
 depths vast processions of the " noble wrestlers of re- 
 ligion"* thronged to the long forsaken churches with 
 grateful songs of praise to God. 
 
 But this treacherous calm was soon to be again broken. 
 The superstitious tyrant Maximin endeavoured to revive 
 the dying paganism, and to renew the persecution. He 
 paid Christianity the high compliment of attempting a 
 complete organization of the heathen priesthood on the 
 model of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and restored the 
 ancient worship with unwonted pomp. He prohibited 
 the assemblies in the cemeteries, and reiterated the 
 edict of extermination against the Christians.! But the 
 loathsome death of this brutal voluptuary soon delivered 
 the church from the most implacable of its foes. From 
 the distant island of Britain — that ultimate far Thule 
 of the empire— had arrived the Caesar who should en- 
 throne the new faith on the seat of its persecutors, and 
 establish it as the religion of the state, | an event 
 more perilous to its purity and spiritual power th?n 
 the direst oppression it had ever endured. Constan- 
 tino having overcome the enemies of Christianity, 
 v/ho were also his own, became its protector, more, it is 
 easy to believe, either from conviction of its truth or 
 from policy than on account of the alleged miraculous 
 vision of the cross of Christ, the presage of a bloody 
 
 ♦ Date of Edict, April 30, A. D. 311, Euseb., Hist. Eccies.^xx, i. 
 
 t Eusebius gives the edict, taken from a brazen tablet at Tyre, in 
 which the Emperor speaks of ** the votaries of an execrable vanity, 
 like a funeral pile long disregarded and smothered, again rising in 
 mighty flames and rekindling the extinguished brands." Hist. EccUs.^ 
 ix, 9. 
 
 \ The courtly panegyrist of Constantine gratefully speaks of him 
 as a " tight and deliverer arising in the dense and impenetrable dark* 
 ness of a gloomy night." Euseb., Hist. Eccles.^ x, 8. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 93 
 
 victory.* He issued at Milan, A. D. 313, that decree 
 of full and unlimited toleration f which became thence- 
 forth the charter of the church's liberties. J 
 
 * Eusebius compares the victory of the Milvian Bridge to that of 
 Moses and the Israelites over Pharaoh and his hosts. Hist. EccUs. ix, 9. 
 
 f Daremus et Christianis et omnibus liberam potestatem sequen* 
 di religionem quam quisque voluisset — •• We give to the Christian!;, 
 and to all, the free choice to follow whatever mode of worship they 
 may wish." — Decree of Milan, preserved in Lactantius, de Mort. Persec.^ 
 and in Euseb., Hist. F.rcles.^, x, 5. 
 
 X In the violent deaths or loathsome diseases of many of their per- 
 secutors the Christians recognized the retributive judgments of the 
 Almighty, which were considered so remarkable as to occasion the 
 special treatise de Mortibus Persecutorum^ attributed to the pen of 
 Lactantius. Nero died ignominiously by his own hand. Domitian 
 was assassinated. During the reign of Aurelius war, famine, and 
 pestilence wasted the land. Decius perished miserably in a marsh, 
 and his body became ihe prey of the prowling jackal and unclean 
 buz.'.ard. Valerian, captured by the Persians, after having served as 
 a footstool to his haughty foe, is said to have been flayed alive and 
 his skin stuffed with straw. Aurelian was slain by the hand of a 
 trusted servant, and Carinas by the dagger of a husband whom he 
 had irreparably wronged. Diocletian, having languished for years 
 the prey of painful maladies, which even affected his reason, it is 
 said committed suicide. Galerius, like those rivals in bloodshed and 
 persecution, Herod and Philip II., became an object of loathing and 
 abhorrence, being "eaten of worms" while yet alive. Maximian 
 fell by the hand of the public executioner ; and Maxentius, in the 
 hour of defeat, was smothered in the ooze of the Tiber beneath the 
 walls of his capital. Severus opened his own veins and bled to death. 
 The first Maximin was murdered ; the second, a fugitive and an exile, 
 committed suicide by poison, and, according to Eusebius, was so con- 
 sumed by internal torments that "his IxKly became the tomb of his 
 soul." Licinius, the last of the persecutors, was slain by his ferocious 
 soldiery, and his name, by a decree of the Senate, forever brapded 
 with infamy. Thus with indignities and tortures, often surpassing 
 those they inflicted on their Christian subjects, perished the enemies 
 of the church of God, as if pursued by a divine retribution no less 
 inexorable than the avenging Nemesis of the pagan mythology. See 
 Lactantius, de Mort. Persec.^ passim ; Euseb., Hist. Eccles.^ viii, 17 ; ix, 
 9, 10 ; Tertul, Ad. Scap., c. 3. 
 
94 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The suflerings of the more illustrious victims of perse- 
 cution are alone recorded in history, which is silent con- 
 cerning the great army of unknown martyrs, whose names 
 are recorded only in the Book of Life. The bishops of 
 the church were ever the first to feel the tyrants' rage. 
 The episcopal chair was often but the stepping-stone to 
 the scaffold. Yet faithful shepherds were not wanting 
 to lead the flock of Christ, and to testify their devotion 
 to their trust by the sacrifice of their lives. We have 
 seen how Caius suffered even before the final outbreak 
 of persecution. Marcellinus, his successor, incurred 
 the resentment of the tyrant Maxentius, was degraded 
 to the office of groom of the public stables, where the 
 horses of the circus were kept, and soon sank beneath 
 the weight of his miseries and those of the church.* 
 Marcellus, sometimes confounded with Marcellinus, paid 
 the penalty of exile for his firmness in maintaining the 
 ecclesiastical discipline against those who apostatized 
 from the faith in those times of Aery trial. This event 
 is recorded in the Damasine inscription : 
 
 VRRJDICVS RECTOR LAPSOS QVIA CRIMINA FLERB 
 PRAEUIXIT MISERIS FVIT OMNIBVS HOSTIS AMARVS 
 HINC FVROR HINC ODIVM SEQVITVR DISCORDIA LITES 
 SEDITIO CAEDES SOLVVNTVR FOEDERA PACIS 
 CRIMEN OB ALTEKIVS CHRISTVM QVI IN PACE NEGAVIT 
 FINIBVS EXPVLSVS PATRIAE EST FERITATE TYRANNI 
 HAEC BREVITER UAMASVS VOLVIT COMPERTA REFERRE 
 MARCELLI VT POPVLVS MERITVM COGNOSCERE POSSET, f 
 
 ♦ The church of St. Marcello, in the Corso, commemorates the 
 scene of his indignities. There is reason to believe that each church 
 or titulus within the city had its own cemetery without the walls 
 over which the presbyter of the title had jurisrliction. Marcellinus, 
 as bishop, had charge of the ecclesiastical Cemetery of Callixtus, as 
 appears from a contemporary inscription. 
 
 f Gruter, Fnscrip.^ p. 1172, No. 3. 
 
Tfieir Origin and Early History, 
 
 9S 
 
 The truth-speaking ruler, because he preached that the lapsed 
 should weep for their crimes, was bitterly hated by all those unhappy 
 ones. Hence fury, hence hatred followed, discord, contentions, sedi- 
 tion, and slaughter; and the bonds of peace were ruptured. For the 
 crime of another, who in a time of peace had denied Christ, he was 
 expelled the shores of his country by the cruelty of the tyrant. These 
 things Damasus having learned, was desirous to relate briefly, th:it 
 the people might recognize the merit of Marcellus. 
 
 Neither Marcellus nor Marcellinus was buried in the 
 Catacomb of Callixtus — which, as Diocletian had con- 
 fiscated all the public cemeteries, was inaccessible to 
 the Christians — but in the private crypt of the Christian 
 matron Priscilla, on the Salarian Way. Eusebius, the 
 successor of Marcellus, was also banished on account 
 of the controversy concerning the " lapsed." New light 
 has recently been thrown on this subject by De Rossi's 
 discovery, in the tomb of the bishop, of the following 
 Damasine inscription in a fragmentary condition : 
 
 HERACLIVS VETVIT LABSOS \sic\ PECCATA DULERB 
 EVSEBIVS MISEROS DOCVIT SVA CRIMINA FLERE 
 ScINDITVR [in] partes POPVLOJ (U.ISCENTE FVRORB 
 SEDITIO CAEUES BELLVM DISCUKDIA I.ITES 
 EXTEMPLX) PARITER PVLSI FERITATE TYRANNI 
 INTEGRA CVM RECTOR SERVARET FOEUERA PACIS 
 PERTVLIT EXILIVM DOMINO SVB IVDICE LAETVS 
 LITORE TRIN ACRIOMVNDVM VITAMQ • RELIQUIT. 
 
 Heraclius forbaiie the lapsed to grieve for their sins. Eussbius 
 taught those unhappy ones to weep for their crimes. The people 
 were rent in parties and with increasing fury beg.-xn sedition, slaughter, 
 fighting, discord, and strife. Straightway i>oth were l>anished by the 
 cruelty of the tyrant, although the ruler was preserving the bonds of 
 peace inviolate. He bore his exile wirh joy, looking to the Lord as 
 his Judge, and on the Trinacrian shore gave up the world and his life. 
 
 The Heraclius mentioned in the inscription is proba- 
 bly the heretical leader referred to in the epitaph of 
 Marcellus, previously given. No reference to this event 
 occurs in any of the ecclesiastical writers, and this 
 
ti 
 
 96 Tke Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 inscription, says Dr. Northcote, is the recovery of a lost 
 chapter in the history of the church.* The remains of 
 Eusebius were brought from Sicily, the place of his 
 exile, by his successor, Melchiades, and interred in the 
 Catacomb of Callixtus, but not with the other bishops, 
 the approaches to whose tomb were blocked up with 
 earth, probably to prevent its violation by the enemies 
 of the faith. Melchiades, with whom the long suc- 
 cession of Rome's martyr bishops comes to a close, was 
 the last of his order who was buried in the Catacombs, 
 and De Rossi conjectures that he has discovered in the 
 Cemetery of Callixtus his tomb, and the very sarcopha- 
 gus in which he lay.f 
 
 One of the most illustrious of the lay martyrs of the 
 Diocletian persecution was the gallant young soldier 
 Sebastian, who has given his name to one of the most 
 ancient basilicas of Rome and to the adjacent Cata- 
 comb, and Adauctus, a treasurer of the imperial palace. 
 In the Damasine epitaph of the latter occur the fine lines : 
 
 INTEMERATA FIDE CONTEMPTO PRINCIPE MVNDI 
 CONrESSVS XRM CAELESTIA REGNA PETISTI. % 
 
 With unfaltering faith, despising the lord of the world, having 
 confessed Christ, thou didst seek the celestial realms. 
 
 * Rom. Sott.^ p. 172. 
 
 + There is a pleasing tradition recorded of Sylvester, the successor 
 uf Nf elchiades, io the effect that, having fled, on account of the per- 
 secution, to the caverns of Mount Soracte, the Emperor Constantine 
 sent for him to receive religious instruction. Seeing the soldiers ap- 
 proach, as he thought to lead him to martyrdom, Sylvester exclaimed, 
 ••Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation," but was 
 in a few days installed as bishop of Rome in the imperial palace of 
 the Lateran. Soracte, once sacred to Apollo and the Muses, but now 
 to Christ and the saints, is known, in commemoration of this event, 
 as Monte San Silvestro. 
 
 X Gruter, p. 11 71, No. 8. 
 
 i a^ 
 
Their Origin and Early History, 
 
 97 
 
 Several of the Christian cemeteries receive their des- 
 ignation from the martyrs of this period, among others 
 those of Saints Agnes, Peter, and Marcellinus, of Pan- 
 cratius, Generosa, Zeno, Soteris, and Quaitro Incoronaii^ 
 notice of whom will be more appropriate in the accounts 
 of their respective sepulchres. History has also pre- 
 served the names of raany other valiant coniessors, who 
 proved faithful even unto death amid the fiery trials 
 and cruel mockings and scourgings to which they were 
 exposed. Among these may be mentioned Cosmo and 
 Damian, two holy brothers of Cilicia, who practised in 
 Rome with great skill the healing art, from pure love to 
 God and to their fellow-men, refusing to receive aught 
 for their services;* Simplicius and Faustinus, who were 
 drowned in the Tiber by the tyrant's orders, and their 
 martyred sister Beatrice, whose tombs %nd epitaphs De 
 Rossi believes he has recovered.! Most of the legends, 
 however, of what may be called the Romish mythology 
 are disfigured by absurd and superstitious additions; 
 and the martyrs themselves have become the objects of 
 idolatrous veneration far alien from the spirit of that 
 primitive Christianity for which they died.J 
 
 * Their names and piety are commeiAorated by two churches in 
 Rome. Eusebius also records with Approbation the story of the 
 Christian matron Sophronia, wife of thft Prefect of Rome, who com« 
 mitted suicide to escape the poliutlAg embraces of the tyrant Max* 
 entius. Hist, EccUs.y viii, 14. 
 
 \ BulUttinOy January, 1S69. 
 
 X The following satirical remarks of De Brosses, a Romanist writer, 
 concerning the supply of relics from the Catacomb of St. Agnes, will 
 indicate how unauthentic are these objects of veneration : " Vous 
 pourriez voir ici la capilale des Catacombes de toute la chretiente. 
 Les martyrs, les confesseurs, et les vierges, y fourmillent de tous 
 c6tes. Quand on se fait besoin de quelques reliques en pays Stranger, 
 le Papc n'a qu'i descendre ici et crier. Qui de vous autres vent alter 
 Ure saint en Pologne ? Alors s'il se trouve quelque mort de bonne 
 volonte il se leve et s'en va." 
 
 7 
 
1 
 
 98 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The following inscriptions from the Catacombs are 
 the only records of the victims of persecution whose 
 names they bear. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 E-P-i' 
 
 Rir/ar 
 
 FIff. 21.— Laxums, the martyr of Ohrist, rests here. He saf- 
 fored under Diooletiiui. For his successors also. 
 
 
 PRIMITIVS IN PACK QVI POST 
 MVLTAS ANGVSTIAS FORTISSIMVS MARTYR 
 «T VIXIT ANNOS '■?• M -XXXVI!! CONIVG • SVO 
 PERDVLCISSIMO BENEMERENTI FECIT. 
 
 Pritnit?us in peace, after many torments, a most valiant martyr. 
 He lived thirty-eight years, more or less. [His wife] raised this to 
 h*^ dearest husband, the well-deserving. 
 
 HIC GORDIANVS GALLIAS NVNCIVS 
 IVGVLATVS PRO FIDE CVM FAMILIA TOTA 
 QVIESCVNT IN PACE 
 THEOPHILA ANCILLA FECIT. 
 
 Here lies Gordianus, deputy of Gaul, who was executed for the 
 faith, with all his family : they rest in peace. Theophila, a hand> 
 maid, set up this.* 
 
 ♦ From the Catacomb of St. Agnes. The ancient Martyrology re- 
 cor(\s the conversion of a Roman nobleman of this name in the time 
 
Tluir Origin ami Early History. 
 
 99 
 
 The history of the Catacombs is inextricably inter- 
 woven with that of Christianity. Their very structure 
 reflects the character of the times in which they were 
 made. The absence of constraint or concealment, and 
 the superior construction and ornamentation of those 
 belonging to the earliest times, indicate the comparative 
 security of the church before it had awakened the 
 jealousy or fear of the Roman emperors. Their im- 
 mense extension and crowded galleries testify to the 
 rapid increase of t!ie Christian community. The altered 
 character which they gradually assumed, the obstructed 
 passages, the masked entrances, devious windings, and 
 devices fcr concealment or escape, and the rudely 
 scratched inscriptions and uncouth paintings, betray the 
 sense of fear and the kindling rage of persecution which 
 pursued the hunted Christians to these subterraneous 
 sanctuaries of the faith. Their greater magnificence 
 and more ornate structure, the costly mosaics, the marble 
 stairways, and richly carved sarcophagi of the later ages, 
 tell of the enthronement of Christianity on the seat of 
 the Csesars, and of the homage paid to the relics and 
 shrines of the saints and martyrs. And their debased 
 architecture, barbarous paintings, and progressive ruin 
 during the later years of their history indicate the grad- 
 ual eclipse of art, and their final abandonment. We 
 must therefore carefully determine at least the proximate 
 date of any particular feature if we would correctly in- 
 terpret its significance. 
 
 of Julian, together with that of his wife and fifty-three members' of 
 his household, and his subsequent martyrdom and burial in the Cata- 
 combs. It is probable that Theophila had learned in Gaul to write 
 Latin, though only in those singular Greek characters which, as 
 Julius Caesar informs us were u;>ed in that country, and that, after 
 the death of the whole family, she employed some equally unlettered 
 stone-mason to engrave »his remarkable inscription, 
 
too 
 
 Tlw Catacombs of R,.utc. 
 
 The last and most terrible persecution of the church 
 before its final triumph left abundant evidence of its 
 violence and lengthened duration in the changes which 
 contemporaneously took place in the Catacombs. God 
 prepared a place for his saints, and hid them in the clefts 
 of the rock as in the hollow of his hand. When the 
 public observance of Christianity was proscribed by law 
 the believers withdrew from the light of day, and in the 
 inmost and darkest recesses of these subterranean crypts, 
 by the graves of their martyred dead, enjoyed the con- 
 solation of religious worship, and broke tlu^ bread and 
 drank the wine in memory of their dying Lord.* 
 
 But after the decree of Valerian which forbade the 
 entering or holding any assemblies in the Christian cem- 
 eteries, even these retreats were not safe, and the last 
 sanctuaries of the faith were unscrupulously invaded. 
 Persecution relentlessly followed the Christians through 
 the labyrinthine windings of the Catacombs, and vio- 
 lated the sepulchres of the sainted dead by sacrilegious 
 tumult and bloodshed. Sometimes the heathen soldiery, 
 fearing to pursue their victims into these unknown pas- 
 sages, blocked up the entrance to prevent their escape; 
 and many were thus buried alive and perished of hunger 
 in these chambers of gloom. f 
 
 An entire change in ^he construction of the Cata- 
 combs now took place. They became obviously de- 
 signed for purposes of safety and concealment. The 
 new galleries were less wide and lofty, and the ioruii 
 more crowded on account of the greater difficulty of 
 
 * De Rossi gives several dated inscriptions of the reign of Diocle- 
 tian, (Nos. i6 to 28,) thus absolutely identifying the age of those 
 portions of the Catacombs. 
 
 f In Hawthorne's " Marble Faun " there is a fantastic legend of 
 ** The Spectre of the Cntacombs," the ghost of an apostate betrayer 
 of the Christians, which still haunts the scene uf its hateful perfidy. 
 
Their Origin and Early History, 
 
 lOI 
 
 removmg the excavated material. At this timet too, 
 many of the lower /la/ri were made for additional graves 
 and greater secrecy. The main entrances were blocked 
 up and the stairways demolished. Sometimes entire 
 galleries were filled with earth, the removal of which is 
 the chief obstacle to modern exploration, or were built up 
 with masonry to obstruct pursuit ; and means of escape 
 were provided, in case of forcible invasion of these re- 
 treats. A striking example of this occurs in the Cata- 
 comb of Callixtus. The ancient stairway was partially 
 destroyed, the entrance completely obstructed, and 
 some of the galleries walled up. Narrow passages for 
 escape were made connecting with an adjacent arenarium^ 
 
 
 Flff. aa.— Secret stalrwE^ into ArenarlunL 
 
 and a very narrow secret stairway constructed from the 
 roof of the latter to the surface of the ground, as shown 
 in the section above, which stairway could only be 
 reached by a movable ladder connecting it with the floor.* 
 
 ♦ See plan of this areiiaritim and stairway in chap, v, fig. 26. 
 
\ 
 
 103 
 
 T/is Catacombs of Romt, 
 
 It is impossible that the mass of the Christian commu- 
 nity, or even any considerable proportion of it, could ever 
 have taken refuge in these subterraneous crypts. Their 
 vast extent and the number of chambers would indeed 
 permit a great multitude to remain concealed for a time 
 in their depths ; but the difficulty of procuring a regular 
 supply of food, the confined atmosphere, and the prob- 
 able exhalation of noxious gases from the graves — espe- 
 cially on the opening of a bisomus^ or double tomb, for its 
 second inmate — seem insuperable obstacles. As it was 
 the religious leaders of the Christian community who 
 were especially obnoxious to those in power, they would 
 be the most likely to seek concealment in the Catacombs, 
 not from inferiority of courage, but, like the afterward 
 martyred Cyprian, that they might the better guide and 
 govern the persecuted church. Hence the examples 
 before given of bishops and other ecclesiastics lying hid- 
 den, some for years, in these depths, and visited by the 
 faithful for instruction or for the celebration of worship* 
 There is evidence, however, that during the exacerba- 
 tions of persecution private Christians sought safety in 
 these recesses, and, burrowing in their depths, evaded 
 the pursuit of their enemies. Tertullian speaks of ** a 
 lady, unaccustomed to privation, trembling in a vault, 
 apprehensive of the capture of her maid, upon whom 
 she depends for her daily food." The heads of Chris- 
 tian families, and those most obnoxious to the pagan 
 authorities, would be especially likely to leave the fel- 
 lowship of the living in order to live in security among 
 the dead. Father Marchi conjectures that supplies of 
 
 * In A. D. 359 Liberius, bishop of Rome, lay hid for a year in the 
 Catacomb of .St. Agnes, till the death of the Arian Constantius ; and 
 in A. D. 418 Boniface I. in the Catacomb of St. Felicitas, durin<r the 
 usurpation of the anti)K>])e Culalius. 
 
Their Origin attd Early Hisf^ry. 
 
 103 
 
 grain were laid up for the tnaintenanre of the hidden 
 fugitives, and l>c Ko&si deiicribes certain crypts in the 
 Catacomb of Callixtus which were probably employed 
 for storing corn or wine in time of persecution. Fre- 
 quent wells occur, amply sufficient for the supply of 
 water; and the multitude of lamps which have been 
 found would dispel the darkness, while their sudden 
 extinction .vould prove the best concealment from at- 
 tack by their enemies.* Hence the Christians were 
 stigmatized as a skulking, darkness-loving race, f who 
 fled the light of day to burrow like moles in the earth. 
 
 These worse than Daedalian labyrinths were admi- 
 rably adapted for eluding pursuit. Familiar with their 
 intricacies, and following a well-known clew, the Chris- 
 tian could plunge fearlessly into the darkness, where his 
 pursuer would soon be inextricably lost. Perchance 
 the sound of Christian worship, and the softened cadence 
 of the confessors' hymn, stealing through the distant 
 corridors, may have fallen with strange awe on the souls 
 of the rude soldiery stealthily approaching their prey; 
 and, perhaps, not unfrequently with a saving and siinc- 
 tifying power. But sometimes, tracked by the sleuth- 
 hounds of persecution, or betrayed by some wretched 
 apostate consumed by a Judas-greed of gold, the Chris- 
 tians were surprised at their devotions, and their refuge 
 became their sepulchre. Such was the tragic fate of 
 Stephen, slain even while ministering at the altar; such 
 the event described by Gregory of Tours, when a hect: 
 tomb of victims were immolated at once by heathen 
 hate ; such the peril which wrung from a stricken heart 
 the cry, not of anger but of grief, Ttmpora infausta^ qui- 
 
 * The similar excavations of Quesnel, in France, were long inhab- 
 ited by both human beings and cattle, 
 t Latebrosa et lucifugax natio. — Minuc. Felix. 
 
if 
 
 104 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 bus inter sacra et vota ne in cavernis quidem salvari possi- 
 must — '*0 sad tiroes in which, among sacred rites and 
 prayers, even in caverns, we are not safe ! " It requires 
 no great effort of imagination to conceive the dangers 
 and escapes which must have been frequent episodes in 
 the heroic lives of the early soldiers of the cross, ^f' 
 
 In the Catacombs inore safely than elsewhere could 
 the Christians celebrate the ordinances of religion, 
 often under cover of the rites of sepulture, which might 
 even yet be sacred in the eyes of their enemies. And 
 next to their funeral purposes this seems to have been 
 iheir chief use. For this many of their principal cham- 
 bers and chapels were excavated, supplied with seats, 
 ventilated by luminariy and adorned with biblical or 
 symbolical paintings. With what emotions must the 
 primitive believers have held their solemn worship and 
 heard the words of life, surrounded by the dead in 
 Christ! With what power would come the promise of 
 the resurrection of the body, amid the crumbling relics 
 of mortality ! How fervent their prayers for their com- 
 panions in tribulation, when they themselves stood in 
 jeopardy every hour ! Their holy ambition was to wit- 
 ness a good confession even unto eath. They burned 
 to emulate the zeal of the martyrs of the faith, the 
 plumeless heroes of a nobler chivalry than that of arms, 
 the Christian athletes who won in the bloody conflicts 
 of the arena, or amid the fiery tortures of the stake, not 
 a crown of laurel or of bay, but a crown of life, starry 
 and unwithering, that can never pass away. Their 
 humble graves are grander monuments than the trophied 
 tombs cf Rome's proud conquerors upon the Appian 
 Way. Lightly may we tread beside their ashes ; rever- 
 ently may we mention their names. Though the bodily 
 presence of those conscripts of the tomb — the forlorn 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 t05 
 
 hope of the army of Christianity — no longer walked 
 am \g men, their intrepid spirit animated the heart of 
 each melnber of that little community of persecuted 
 Christians, " of whom the world was not worthy ; who 
 wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and 
 caves of the earth, . . . being destitute, afflicted, tor- 
 mented."* 
 
 It is impossible to arrive at even an approximate esti- 
 mate of the number of victims of the early persecutions. 
 That number has sometimes, no doubt, been greatly ex- 
 aggerated. It has also, in defiance of the testimony 
 of contemporary history, been unreasonably minified.f 
 Tacitus asserts that under Nero a great multitude t 
 were convicted and punished. Pliny says the temples 
 were almost deserted § through this contagious super- 
 stition. Juvenal, Martial, and other classical authors, 
 notice the extraordinary sufferings of the Christians. 
 Cyprian, in the middle of the third century, says, " It 
 is impossible to number the martyrs of Christ." || Euse- 
 bius, an eye-witness of the last persecution, states that 
 innumerable multitudes suffered during its prevalence. 
 After describing their excruciating tortures, he -ids : 
 
 * Compare the following spirited lines of Bemis : 
 
 " La terre avail gemi sous le fer des tyrans ; 
 EUe cachait encore des martyrs expirans. 
 Qui dans les noirs detours des grottes recul^es 
 D^robaient aux bourreaux leurs t^tes mutil^es." 
 
 Poetne de la Rtligion Vengee^ chap. viii. 
 
 t See especially Dodwell's learned but unsatisfactory Essay, De 
 Paucitate Martyrum, and Gibbou's laboured extenuation of the sever- 
 ity of the persecutors. 
 
 X Ingens multitudo. — Atin., xv. 
 
 § Jam desolata templa. — Epis., 97, lib. x. 
 
 II Exuberante copia virtutis et fidei numerari non possunt martyres 
 Christi. — Lib. de Exhort. Martyr.^ c. xi. 
 
io6 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 !! 
 
 " And all these things were doing not for a few days, 
 but for a series of whole years. At one time ten or more, 
 then twenty, again thirty or even sixty, and sometimes a 
 hundred men, with their wives and children, were slain 
 in one day."* He also describes the destruction of a 
 Christian town, with all its inhabitants, by fire, f Lac- 
 tantius, also a contemporary witness, tells us that the 
 Christians were often surrounded on all sides and burnt 
 together. J 
 
 It is very remarkable that so few martyrs' epitaphs 
 have been found in the Catacombs, not more than five 
 or six altogether, and some of these are not of unques^ 
 tioned genuineness. But this may be attributed to the 
 humility and modesty of the early Christians, who shrank 
 from claiming for the sufferers for the truth the august 
 title of martyr, which they restricted to the one faithful 
 and true witness, Jesus Christ. " We," said the victims 
 of persecution at Lyons, " are only mean and humble 
 confessors." 
 
 There do occur, it is true, certain inscriptions of 
 a memorial character and of later date than the 
 time of the persecution, some of which commemorate a 
 large number of martyrs, but they are of little or no 
 historic value. Such is the inscription to three thou- 
 sand martyrs in the Catacomb of Priscilla, already 
 given,§ and the following from the Callixtan Catacomb : 
 MARCELLA ET CHRiSTi MARTVRES ccccL — " Marcella and 
 four hundred and fifty martyrs in Christ." Ancient itin- 
 eraries speak of eighty, or even eight hundred, martyrs 
 buried in one spot in the Catacombs; and Prudentius 
 
 * Euseb., Hist. Ercles., viii, 9. f /<5/</., viii, 11. 
 
 X Universum populum cum ipso pariter conventiculo concremaviu 
 Lactan., lustit. Divin.^ v, 1 1 : CJregatim amburebantur. — Ibid. 
 
 L. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 107 
 
 declares that he saw the remains of some sixty in a 
 single grave.* But surpassing all the others in exaggera- 
 tion is an inscription in the church of St. Sebastian 
 commemorating one hundred and seventy-four thou- 
 sand holy martyrs, and forty-six bishops, also martyrs, 
 said to be interred in the neighbouring Catacomb. 
 Another ancient tradition asserts that twelve thousand 
 Christians, who were employed in building the Baths of 
 Diocletian, were buried in the Catacomb of St. Zeno. \ 
 Piazza asserts that two hundred and eighty-five Chris- 
 tians were put to death in two days, under the Emperor 
 Claudius II., A. D. 268, and that more than two thou- 
 sand were executed for refusing to sacrifice to the image 
 of the sun. Indeed, some Roman archaeologists discern 
 in every palm branch or cup, which are so frequently 
 found in the Catacombs, irrefragable evidence of the 
 martyr's tomb. J 
 
 Such atrocious cruelty and lavish destruction of life 
 
 * Sexaginta illic defossas mole sub una 
 
 Reliquias memini me didicisse hominum. — PfrisUph., xi. 
 
 t The story of the martyrdom of ten thousand Christians on Mount 
 Ararat, under Trajan, and of the massacre of the Thundering Legion, 
 consisting of six thousand Christians, by Maximian, are fictions of 
 later date. In the Church of St. Gerion at Cologne are many re- 
 puted relics, chiefly heads, of these last. The legendary tendency to 
 exaggeration in numbers seems irresistible. In commemorating the 
 slaughter of the Innocents the Greek Church canonized fourteen 
 thousand martyrs. Another notion, derived from Rev. xiv, 3, swelled 
 the number to a hundred and forty-four thousand. The absurd Htory 
 of the eleven thousand martyrs of Cologne is probably founded en a 
 mistaken rendering of the inscription vrsvla • kt* xi • mm • vv, inter- 
 preted, Ursula and eleven thousand virgins instead of eleven virgin 
 martyrs. — Maitlaiid, p. 163. A Romish legend, of course exaggerated, 
 says seventy thousand Christians suffered martyrdom in the Coliseum. 
 
 X In Rock's Niertirgia, a Romanist work, is an account of a f 'ata- 
 comb at Nipi, near Rome, in which are said to be thirty-eight mar- 
 tyr tombs, the epitaph of one of whom plainly asserts his death by xle- 
 
io8 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 as these traditions, even if exaggerated, imply, seem 
 incredible; but the pages of the contemporary his- 
 toiians, Eusebius and Lactantius, give too minute 
 and circumstantial accounts of the persecutions of 
 which they were eye-witnesses to allow us to adopt 
 the complacent theory of Gibbon, that the suffer- 
 ings of the Christians were comparatively few and in- 
 significant. " We ourselves have seen," says the bishop 
 of Caesarea, " crowds of persons, some beheaded, others 
 burned alive, in a single day, bO that the murderous 
 weapons were blunted and broken to pieces, and the 
 executioners, wearied with slaughter, were obliged to 
 give over the work of blood.* . . . They constantly vied 
 with each other," he continues, "in inventing new tor- 
 tures, as if there were prizes offered to him who should 
 contrive the greatest cruelties."! Men whose only 
 crime was their religion were scourged with iron wires 
 or with plutnbatcR^ that is, chains laden with bronze balls, 
 specimens of which have been found in the martyrs* 
 graves, till the flesh hung in shreds, and even the bones 
 were broken; they were bound in chains of red-hot 
 iron, and roasted over fires so slow that they lingered 
 for hours, or even days, in their mortal agony ; their flesh 
 
 capitation: ma.rtyrio coronatvs capite trvncatvs iacet — 
 *• Crowned with martyrdom, having been beheaded . . lies here." 
 
 The beautiful terseness of the following would seem to indicate their 
 genuineness '. " Paulus was put to death in tortures, in order that he 
 might live in eternal bliss.'* 
 
 *' dementia, tortured, dead, sleeps ; will rise." 
 
 From the following, found on a cup attached to a tomb, it would 
 seem that the martyr was first compelled to drink p>oison, which 
 proving ineffectual, he was dispatched by the sword : " The deadly 
 draught dared not present to Constans the crown, which the steel 
 was permitted to offer." 
 
 ^ Euseb., Hist. Eccles.^ viii, 9. f Ibid.^ viii, 12. 
 
Tluir Origin and Early History. 
 
 109 
 
 was scraped from the very bone with ragged shells, or 
 lacerated with burning pincers, iron»hooks, and instru- 
 ments with horrid teeth or claws, examples of which 
 have been found in the Catacombs ; * molten metal and 
 plates of red-hot brass were applied to the naked body 
 till it became one indistinguishable wound; and min- 
 gled salt and vinegar or unslaked lime were rubbed 
 upon the quivering flesh, torn and bleeding from the 
 rack or scourge — tortures more inhuman than savage 
 Indian ever wreaked upon his mortal foe. Men were 
 condemned by the score and hundred to labour in the 
 mines, with the sinews of one leg severed, with one eye 
 scooped out and the socket seared with red-hot iron. 
 Chaste matrons and tender virgins were given over — 
 worse fate a thousand-fold than death — to dens of shame 
 and the gladiators' lust, and subjected to nameless in- 
 dignities, too horrible for words to utter, f And all 
 these intense sufferings were endured often with joy and 
 exultation, for the love of a divine Master, when a single 
 word, a grain of incense cast upon the heathen altar, 
 would have released the victims from their agonies. 
 
 * Called unguke^ from their resemblance to the claws of a beast of 
 prey. 
 
 t See examyiles of the above named tortures in Eusebius's Hut. 
 Eccies., V, 2; vi, 41; viii, 14; T/ie Martyrs of PalestinCy viii; and 
 Lactantius, passim. 
 
 On the 22d o April, 1823, says Cardinal Wiseman, a grave in the 
 Catacombs was opened, and, beside the white and polished bones of a 
 youth of eighteen, whose epitaph it ^^re, was found the skeleton of a 
 boy of twelve or thirteen, charred and blackened chiefly about the up- 
 per part. This was probably the remains of a youthful martyr hastily 
 interred in another's grave, to come to light after the lapse of fifteen 
 centuries. 
 
 Prudentius describes the martyr Hippolytus as torn limb from limb: 
 
 Cemere erat ruptis compagibus ordine nullo. 
 Membra per inccrtos sparsa jacere situs. 
 
no 
 
 The Cataco,nbs of Rome, 
 
 !l 
 
 No lapse of time, and no recoil from the idolatrous 
 homage paid in after ages to the martyr's relics, should 
 impair in our hearts the profound and rational reverence 
 with which we bend before his tomb. 77 
 
 We are left, however, for the most part, without au- 
 thentic record of the tragic scenes of Christian martyr- 
 dom. The primitive church, indeed, treasurtd up these 
 memories of moral heroism as her most precious legacy 
 to after times. Clement of Rome, it is said, appointed 
 notaries to search out the acts of the martyrs ; * and, as 
 we have seen, Fabian suffered death for his zeal in pre- 
 serving these records.! But these precious documents 
 for the most part perished in the Diocletian persecution, 
 although fragments were probably incorporated with the 
 later martyrologies. Tli? earlier Acts are the more au- 
 thentic, and the more simple in character. Those of 
 later date become more and more florid in style, and are 
 overladen with the incredible and impossible, till their 
 historic value is entirely destroyed, except when they 
 are corroborated by collateral testimony, or by the 
 monumental evidence of the Catacombs. Prudentius, 
 attracted to Rome by the fame of these repositories of 
 the martyrs' ashes, wrote a treatise J on their sufferings, 
 in which his fervid imagination and rhetorical style 
 found amplest indulgence. Later writers still further 
 embellished and exaggerated the original Acts, till the 
 wildest stories of ancient mythology, or mediaeval le- 
 gend, were surpassed by the monkish martyrologists. 
 
 ♦ Lib. Pontif., c. iv. Thesv notaries were called by the Greeks 
 o^vypdijtoi or raxvyptitltoi, that is, short-hand writers. Eusebius says 
 they reported the extemporaneous discourses of Origen. //is/, 
 Eccles.^ vi, 36. 
 
 t Hie fecit sex vel septem subdiaconor, qui septem notariis immi- 
 nerent ut gesta martyrum fidtiiter coUigerent. — Lib. Pontif. 
 
 \ The Peristephanon — "Concerning the [martyrs] crowns.*' 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 1 1 1 
 
 This "holy romance," as Gibbon contemptuously 
 calls it, becomes little else than a record of the most 
 astounding miracles, the most horrible tortures, and of 
 more than human endurance.* It minutelv describes 
 the conflict between the Christian and his heathen 
 persecutor : hinc martyr^ illinc carnifex — here the mar- 
 tyr, there the executioner. The one wreaks his rage 
 upon his victim, the other exhibits a stoical endurance 
 of suffering rivaling that of the American savage at the 
 funeral stake, or else an insensibility to pain that lessens 
 the merit of his acts. "It is cooked, turn and eat."t 
 says St. Lawrence, broiling on a gridiron. He feels no 
 pain from the vinegar and salt rubbed on his bleeding 
 wounds. " Salt me the more, that I may be incorruptible," 
 says Tarachus to his torturer. He continues to speak after 
 his tongue is torn out by the roots-. The lacerations of 
 the ungulae assume to the excited imagination the form 
 of the name of Christ.^ Divine odours breathe from 
 the body, which shines like gold amid the flames that 
 refuse to kindle upon it. A voice from heaven hails the 
 invincible conqueror, and his soul in the form of a 
 dove ascends to the skies. § The undying instincts 
 
 * (n the thirteenth century many of the stories were collected in 
 the Legenda Aurea by Jacques de Voragine, an archbishop of Ge- 
 noa. After the discovery of printing the press teemed with this 
 legendary literature, Flowers of the Saints, Acts of the Martyrs, etc., 
 embellished with numerous engravings, representing with horrible 
 minuteness the Dantean tortures on which the monkish mind loved 
 to expatiate. 
 
 f Assatura est : versa et mandaca. 
 % — Latus ungula virgineum 
 Pulsat utrimque, et ad ossa secat, 
 Eulalia numerante notas. 
 Scriberis ecce I inihi Domine ; 
 Qu4m juvat hos apices Xegtrt.^rPeristeph., Hymn ix. 
 
 § See martyrdom of Polycarp, Euseb., Hist. Eceles.^ iv. 15. 
 
TI2 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 of nature are fl '^rantly violated in some of the Acts. 
 A mother rebukes her child for begging a cup of water 
 while suffering under the rods of the lictors ; and while 
 it is beheaded before her eyes she, alone unmoved, sings 
 a versicle of thanksgiving.* Often the martyr endeav- 
 ours to exasperate with taunts and defiance the heathen 
 magistrate, who gnashes his teeth and rolls his eyes in 
 impotent rage.f " Be dumb, wretch ! O serpent of 
 darkest mind, a curse be upon thee ! " exclaims St. Boni- 
 face to his executioner. Vincentius menaces his judge 
 with the fiery fate of the bottomless pit. { Ttiese Acts 
 of the Martyrs were appointed to be read in the 
 churches, § till they were prohibited by the Council 
 of TruUo, A. D. 706. 
 
 The enthusiasm for martyrdom prevailed, at tiucs, 
 almost like an epidemic. It was one of the most remark > 
 able features of the ages of persecutior*. Notwithstand- 
 ing the terrific tortures to which they were exposed, the 
 fiercer the tempest of heathen rage the higher and brighter 
 burned the zeal of the Christian heroes. Age after age 
 summoned the soldiers of Christ to the conflict whose 
 
 ^ 
 
 * At sola mater hisce lamentis caret, 
 
 Soli sereno frons renidet gaudio. — Prudent., Peristeph, 
 t His persecutor saucius 
 
 Pallet, rubescit, sestuat, 
 
 Insana torqueus lumina. 
 
 Spumasqt:e Trent. jns egtan.t.—Ibid.f Hymn u. 
 \ Bitumen et mixtum pice 
 
 Imo implicabunt Tartaro. — Ibid. 
 
 / § Hence called legends, a word which ha» in consecjuence come to 
 signify the incredible or fictitious. Upon a mere veibal mistake was 
 founded the account by the mediaeval writers of a most formidable 
 weapon called the catomus, which name gave vise to the verbs catomare 
 and catftnizare^ to express its use. It was at length discovered that 
 catomus was but the \jaAm form of the Greek adverbial phrase /car 
 ufAuv, signifying, "upon the shoulders." (Maitland, p. 167.) 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 113 
 
 highest guerdon was death. They bound persecution 
 as a wreath about their brows, and exulted in the " glo- 
 rious infamy " of suffering for their Lord. The brand 
 of shame became the badge of highest honour. Besides 
 the joys of heaven they won imperishable fame on 
 earth ; and the memory of a humble slave was often 
 haloed with a glory surpassing that of a Curtius or Ho- 
 ratius. The meanest hind was ennobled by the accolade 
 of martyrdom to the loftiest peerage of the skies. His 
 consecration of suffering was elevated to a sacrament, 
 and called the baptism of fire or of blood. 
 
 Burning to obtain the prize, the impetuous candidates 
 for death often pressed with eager haste to seize the palm 
 of victory and the martyr's crown. They trod with joy 
 the fiery path to glory, and went as gladly to the stake 
 as to a marriage feast. "Their fetters," says Euse- 
 bius, "seemed like the golden ornaments of a bride.*** 
 They desired martyrdom more ardently than men after- 
 ward sought a bishopric. f They exulted amid their 
 keenest pangs that they were counted worthy to suffer 
 for their divine Master. " Let the ungulae tear us,** 
 exclaims TertuUian, % "the crosses bear our weight, the 
 flames envelope us, the sword divide our throats, the 
 wild beasts spring upon us ; the very posture of prayer 
 is a preparation for every punishment." " These things,*' 
 says St. Basil, " so far from being a terror, are rather 
 a pleasure and a recreation to us. § " The tyrants were 
 armed,'* says St. Chrysostom, " and the martyrs naked ; 
 
 . * Hist. Eccles.f v, i. 
 
 fMultique avidius turn martyria gloriosis mortibus quaerebant 
 quam nunc episcopatus pravis ambitionibus appetunt. — Sulpio. 
 Sever., tiist.t lib. ii. 
 
 X Apol., c. 30. 
 
 § Gregory Nazianzen. Orat. de Laud. Basil. See also the strik- 
 ing language of Ignatius. (Euseb., Hist. Eccles., iii, 36.) 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 The Catacombs of Home. 
 
 \ 
 
 :l' 
 
 yet they that were naked got the victory, and they that 
 carried arm« were vanquished."* Strong in the as- 
 surance ^mortality, they bade defiance to the 
 sword. 
 
 Though weak in body they seemed clothed with 
 vicarious strength, and confident that though "counted 
 as sheep for the slaughter," naught could separate them 
 from the love of Christ. Wrapped in their fiery vesture 
 and shroud of flame, they yet exulted in their glorious 
 victory. While the leaden hail fell on the mangled 
 frame, and the eyes filmed with the shadows of death, 
 the spirit was enbraved by the beatific vision of the 
 opening heaven, and above the roar of the mob fell 
 sweetly on the inner sense the assurance of eternal life. 
 " No group, indeed, of Oceanides was there to console 
 the Christian Prometheus; yet to his upturned eye 
 countless angels were visible — their anthem swept sol- 
 emnly to his ear — and the odours of an opening paradise 
 filled the air. Though the dull ear of sense heard 
 nothing, he could listen to the invisible Coryphaeus as 
 he invited him to heaven and promised him an eternal 
 crown." f The names of the "great army of martyrs," 
 though forgotten by men, are written in the Book of 
 Life. ** The Lord knoweth them that are his." 
 
 There is a record, traced on high, 
 That shall endure eternally ; 
 The angel standing by God's throne 
 Treasures there each word and groan ; 
 And not the martyr's speech alone, 
 
 • Chrys. Horn. 74, de Martyr. 
 
 f Kip, p. 88 — from Maitland, p. 146. Sometimes the ardour for 
 martyrdom rose into a passion, or indeed an epidemic. Eusebius says, 
 (flist. Eccies.f viii, 6,) that in Nicomedia " Men and women with a 
 certain divine and inexpressible alacrity rushed into the fire." 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 1 15 
 
 But every wound is thekc depicted, 
 With every circumstance of pain — 
 
 The crimson stream, the gash inflict sd— 
 And not a drop is shed in vain.* 
 
 This spirit of martyrdom was a new principle in so- 
 ciety. It had no classicAl counterpart.! Socrates and 
 Seneca suffered with fortitude, but not with faith. The 
 loftiest pagan philosophy dwindled into insignificance 
 before the sul)limity of Christian hope. This looked 
 beyond the shadows of time and the sordid cares of 
 earth to the grandeur of the Infinite and the Eternal. 
 The heroic deaths of the believers exhibited a spiritual 
 power mightier than the primal instincts of nature, 
 the love of wife or child, or even of life itself. Like a 
 solemn voice falling on the dull ear of mankind, these 
 holy examples urged the inquiry, " What shall it profit 
 a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own 
 soul ? " And thr voice awakened an echo in full many 
 a heart. The mirtyrs made more converts by their 
 deaths than in their lives. " Kill us, rack us, condemn 
 us, grind us to powder," exclaims the intrepid Christian 
 Apologist ; " our numbers increase in proportion as you 
 mow us down." J The earth was drunk with the blood 
 of the saints, but still they multiplied and grew, glori- 
 ously illustrating the perennial truth — Sanguis ntarty- 
 nm semen ecdesice.^ 
 
 * Inscripta Christo pagina immortalis est, 
 Excepit adstans angelus coram Deo. 
 Et quae locutus martyr, et quae pertulit : 
 Nee verbum solum disserentis condidit, 
 Omnis notata est sanguinis dimensio. 
 Quae vis doloris, quive segmenti modus : 
 Guttam cruoris iile nullam perdidit. — Peristeph. 
 
 \ The pagans called the martyrs fiiadui^aroi, or self-murderers. 
 
 X Tertul., Apo/.f c. 50. 
 
 § As early as the middle of the second century Justin Martyr says, 
 
Ii6 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 !• 
 
 Christianity, after long repression, became at length 
 triumphant. The church on the conversion of Con- 
 staptine emerged from the concealment of the Cata- 
 combs to the sunshine of imperial favour. The legend 
 of the Seven Sleepers of Kphesus strikingly illustrates 
 the wondrous transformation of society. These Chris- 
 tian brothers, taking shelter in a cave during the Decian 
 persecution, awoke, according to the legend, after a 
 slumber of over a century, to find Christianity every- 
 where dominant, and a Christian emperor on the throne 
 of the Caesars.* The doctrines of Christ, like the rays 
 of the sun, quickly irradiated the world. f With choirs 
 and hymns, in cities and villages, in the highways and 
 markets, the praises of the Almighty were sung. % The 
 enemies of God were as though they had not been. § 
 
 " There is not a nation, C>reek or Barbarian, or of any other name, 
 even of those that wander in tribes or live in tents, among whom 
 prayers and thanksgiving are not ofTered to the Father and Creator 
 of the universe in the name of the crucifietl Jesus." The decree of 
 Maximin states that almost all men had abandoned the worship of 
 the gods and joined the Christian sect : 1,\t6m> tvnavraq uvOpuirovf^ 
 KaTuXeiiltOeiaiK fV( ^<*'>' ^^^*' OpiJfJxeia^, u^t Idvti ruv XpitTTiauuv avftfie- 
 fiixora^ Euseb., //ist. £ccUs., \x, 9. Lucianus of Antioch says that 
 before the last persecution the greater part of the world, including 
 whole cities, had yielded allegiance to the truth — Pars paene mundi 
 jam major huic verit.iti aJstipulatur ; urb^s integrae ; etc. — Trans, 
 of Euseb. by Rufinus. 
 
 ♦ Even the sanguine imagination of TertulHan cannot conceive the 
 possibility of this event. ** Sed et Caesares credidissent super Christo," 
 he exclaims, *'si aut Csesares non essent seculo necessario, aut si et 
 Christiani potuissent esse Csesares." — Aj>oi-\ c> 21. 
 
 f Ola ng ^Xiov ^oXf/. — Euseb., ///>/. Euks.^ ii, 3. 
 
 X Ibid., ix, I ; X, 9. 
 
 § Ibid.^ X, 4. Literally, " They are no more because th^y never 
 were." In his eloquent oration on the renovation of the cathedral 
 of Tyre Eusebius applies, with remarkable elegance and propriety, 
 the promises of Scripture concerning the restoration of the exiled 
 Jews from Babylon and the final establishment of the church qf 
 
 u 
 
Thi'ir Origin and Early llistoiy. 
 
 «'7 
 
 The Lord brought up the vine of Christianity from a 
 far land, and cast out the heathen, and planted and 
 watered it, till it twined round the sceptre of the Cxsars, 
 wreathed the columns of the Capitol, and filled the 
 whole land. The heathen fanes were deserted, the 
 gods discrowned, and the pagan flanien no longer offered 
 sacrifice to the Capitoline Jove. Rome, which had 
 dragged so many conquered divinities in triumph at its 
 chariot wheels, at length yielded to a mightier than all 
 the gods of Olympus. The old faiths faded from the 
 firmament of human thought as the stars of midnight 
 at the dawn of day. The banished deities forsook their 
 ancient seats. They walked no longer in the vale of 
 Tempe or in the grove of Daphne.* The naiads bathed 
 not in Scamander's stream nor Simois, nor the nereids 
 in the waters of the bright ^^gean Sea. The nymphs 
 and dryads ceased to haunt the sylvan solitudes. The 
 oreads walked no more in light on Ida's lofty top. , 
 
 O ye vain false gods of Hellas 1 
 Ye are vanished evermore ! 
 
 Long before the recognition of Christianity as the 
 religion of the empire its influence had been felt per- 
 meating the entire community. Amid the disintegra- 
 tion of society it was the sole conservative element — 
 the salt which preserved it from corruption. In the 
 midst of anarchy and confusion a community was being 
 organized on a principle previously unknown in the 
 
 God (Psa. Ixxx ; xcviii ; Isa. Hi ; liv) to the condition of Christianity 
 in his day. The above citations ore given almost in his very words. 
 
 * A few years after the death of Constantine the Emperor Julian 
 found at this celebratetl shrine of Apollo, on the festival of the god, 
 instead of the hecatombs of oxen and the crowds of worshippers 
 which he expected, only a single goose, and a pale and solitary priest 
 ;n the decayed and deserted temple. — Gibbon, ii, 448, Am. ed. 
 
ii8 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 '\ 
 
 heathen world, ruling not by terror but by love ; by 
 raoral power, not by physical force ; inspired by lofty 
 faith amid a world of unbelief, and cultivating moral 
 purity amid the reeking abominations of a sensual 
 age. 
 
 Yet this mighty energy thus at work eluded the no- 
 tice, or excited only the disdain, of some of the keen- 
 est observers and greatest thinkers the world has seen. 
 Classical literature contains only a few short notices of 
 that religion which was transforming the age. A galaxy 
 of philosophers and historians, gazing mournfully at the 
 seething mass of moral putrefaction around them, and 
 profoundly conscious of its apparently cureless evil, 
 treated as contemptible the most powerful moral agent 
 in the world — that regenerative principle which was to 
 reorganize society on a higher type than ever was known 
 before.* The kingdom of heaven cometh not with 
 observation, and paganism seemed entirely unconscious 
 of its impending doom. 
 
 But this wonderful influence, which accomplished so 
 much, seemed at length strangely to lose its power, and 
 did not fulfil the regenerative work which it began. It 
 failed to check the degeneracy of the age or to avert 
 the dissolution of the empire. The many crimes of 
 that colossal orgy cried to heaven for vengeance. The 
 taint was too inveterate to be eradicated ; the evil was 
 immedicable ; Rome was already effete and moribund. 
 It was weighed in the balance and found wanting. 
 Therefore the inexorable penalty, which evermore fol- 
 lows wrong, as a shadow its substance, was suffered to 
 descend. An awful Nemesis, like an avenging Fate, 
 
 ♦ S«c a thoughtful essay on this topic in Froude's Short Studies on 
 Great Subjects^ First Series. 
 
Their Origin and Early History. 
 
 119 
 
 overtook the great and wicked city in its pride and 
 guilt ; and the mystical Babylon of the West, reeking with 
 sensuality, idolatry, and blood, soon beheld the Goths 
 at her gates, and the Huns within her walls.* 
 
 * The church itself experienced many corruptions before the date 
 of Constantine. Among the recent converts from paganism a crop 
 of heresies sprang up. '* When the sacred choir of the Apostles," 
 says Hegesippus, (rt/«^ Euseb., iii, 32,) "had passed away, then the 
 combinations of impious error arose by the fraud and delusion of 
 false teachers." The schisms of Marcian and Novatian, Valentine 
 and Montanus, early rent the Christian community. The exclusive 
 ecclesiasticism of Cyprian, the episcopal assumptions of Victor, aud the 
 secular ambition and rapacity of Paul of Samosata, were portents 
 of the spirit which afterward bore such bitter fruit. That pride and 
 luxury had begun to invade the simplicity of primitive times, which, 
 when the church basked in the sunshine of imperial favour, so com* 
 pletely withered its spiritual power. 
 
120 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DISUSE AND ABANDONMENT OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 From the period of the Edict of Milan, A. D. 313, a new 
 era opens in the history of the Catacombs. Christianity, 
 emerging from those gloomy recesses where she had so 
 long hidden in darkness, walked boldly in the light of 
 day. She laid aside her lowly garb, put on the trap- 
 pings of imperial state, and at length, unhappily, ex- 
 changed her primitive simplicity for worldly power and 
 splendour. But therein was her danger. The shadow 
 of that power shed a upas influence over the church. 
 The unhallowed union between the bride of heaven 
 and. a sinful world gave birth to corruption and religious 
 error. Pampered when subservient to the policy of the 
 Caesars, she soon became its willing instrument, and 
 stained her snowy robes by complicity with imperial 
 vice. Christianity became at length "a truth grown 
 false," and men, to use the fine figure of D'Aubign6, for- 
 saking the precious perfume of faith, bowed down before 
 the empty vessel that had contained it. 
 
 The influence of Constantine seems to have been 
 fraught with more of evil than of good to the new relig- 
 ion that he espoused. He appears to have ' iopted the 
 Christian name from expediency rather than from con- 
 viction, and, stained with the kindred blood of wife 
 and son and nephew, ill deserves the title of Saint, be- 
 stowed in fulsome adulation by a venal church. Even 
 the priests of the false gods, aghast with horror at nis 
 crimes, exclaimed, " There is no expiation for deeds 
 
 "Sp^- 
 
 mmm. 
 
Their Disuse and Abandjiwunt. 
 
 121 
 
 like these." He used both pagans and Christians, both 
 orthodox and heretics, as instruments for his political 
 purposes. His object seems to have been rather to raise 
 and strengthen a hierarchy of ecclesiastical supporters 
 than to assist the cause of truth; and he imposed on 
 the organization of the Greek and Latin churches that 
 monarchical and secular character which they have 
 ever since retained.* 
 
 The transfer of the seat of empire from the Tiber to 
 the Bosphorus left Christianity to develop itself at Rome 
 less trammelled by imperial influence ; and, perhaps, in a 
 less corrupt form than in the East. After the edict of 
 toleration, the places of worship which had been closed 
 or destroyed during the persecution were opened, or 
 rebuilt with a magnificence rivalling that of the ancient 
 temples. But the Catacombs still continued invested 
 with a deep and pathetic interest, as the cradle of the 
 faith, the refuge of the church during the storm of 
 
 * Zosimtts. His profession of Christianity provoked the scorn of 
 the apostate Julian. — Ibid. 
 
 Scott compares him to a prodigal who strips an aged parent of the 
 ornaments of her youth in order to decorate a flaunting paramour. But 
 New Rome shared the decline of the mother city, as a graft taken 
 from an old tree partakes of the decay of the parent stem. As the 
 ancient liberties died out, the gorgeous but degrading despotisms of the 
 East usurped their place. The emperors assumed the style and titles 
 of gods. The most unmanly adulation was at length lavished on the 
 slave or herdsman elevated by capricious fortune to the throne of the 
 world. At the time of the princess Anna «". mnena this degradation 
 seems to have reached its nadir. "Youi x^tomity" was the blas- 
 phemous epithet of the ephemeral puppet flaunting for a moment in 
 the livery of infamy. " If I may speak and live," whispered with 
 bated breath the titled slave — Prospathaire, or Acolyte — who stood 
 nearest the throne, shading his eyes with his hands, as if overpowered 
 by the efiiilgence of the imperial countenance. The rude Latin 
 Crusaders made short work of these lofty titles and this solemn 
 etiquette. 
 
122 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 calamity, and the sepulchre of the saints and martyrs. 
 Hence numerous basilicas or oratories were erected 
 over or near the entrances of the ancient cemeteries in 
 honour of the holy dead. 
 
 On the full recognition of Christianity the necessity 
 for subterranean sepulture ceased ; hence it fell gradu- 
 ally into disuse, and was superseded by burial in or near 
 the now numerous basilicas. Even the Roman bishops 
 were no longer interred in the so-called Papal Crypt, 
 but in churches above ground ; and this example was 
 soon generally followed. " The inscriptions with con- 
 sular dates," says Dr. Northcote, " probably furnish us 
 with a sufficiently accurate guide to the relative pro- 
 portions of the two modes of burial. From A. D. 338 
 to A.D. 360 two out of three burials appear to have 
 taken place in the subterranean portion of the ceme- 
 teries, while from A. D. 364 to A. D. 369 the proportions 
 are equal. During the next two years hardly any notices 
 of burials above ground appear, but after that subter- 
 ranean crypts fell rapidly into disuse. "* 
 
 It is a remarkable circumstance, here indicated, that 
 in the years A. D. 370 and 371 a sudden and general re- 
 turn to subterranean sepulture took place. This change 
 has been very satisfactorily explained by the contem- 
 porary history of the Catacombs. Great injury had 
 already been inflicted on these ancient sepulchres by 
 the practice which had become prevalent of erecting 
 basilicas, more or less sumptuous, over the tombs of the 
 illustrious martyrs of the age of persecution. \ As the 
 ecclesiastical authorities shrank from disturbing their 
 
 * Roma Sotterranea, pp. 95, 96. During the lifetime of Constan- 
 line subterraneous sepultures seem to have been generally prevalent. 
 
 f These were called martyria or memoriie. See Euseb., Vit. 
 Const., iii, 48. 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment, 
 
 123 
 
 remains it became the custom to excavate the gronnd 
 down to the level of their graves. As these were often 
 in the lower levels of the Catacombs, hundreds of graves 
 were sometimes destroyed in these excavations and 
 constructions.* Damasus, bishop of Rome from A. D. 
 358 to A. D. 384, who was indefatigable in his efforts to 
 protect and, where possible, to restore the Catacombs, 
 endeavoured to prevent this wholesale destruction of 
 these sacred crypts. He explored many of the galleries, 
 which, to preserve inviolate the martyrs' graves, had 
 been blocked up with earth and stones during the period 
 of persecution. He cleared out f and enlarged the pas- 
 sages leading to the more distinguishec' mbs, and con- 
 structed ample flights of stairs for the accommodation 
 of the numerous pilgrims to these sacred shrines. He 
 lined many of the chambers with marble slabs, con- 
 structed shafts for the admission of light and air, and 
 supported the crumbling walls and galleries, where 
 necessary, with piers and arches of solid masonry. He 
 also composed numerous metrical inscriptions in honour 
 of the martyrs, which were engraved on marble in a 
 singularly elegant character. There are few of the 
 Catacombs in which traces of his restorations or adorn- 
 ments are not to be found. 
 
 The piety or superstition of the wealthy converts 
 to Christianity led them to enlarge tiie subterranean 
 chapels and martyr-tombs, and to decorate them with 
 
 * The effects of this practice are apparent at S. Agnese fuori le 
 Mura, erected over the tomb of the virgin martyr, and at San Lorenzo, 
 where the galleries of the Catacomb of Cyriaca have been exposed 
 and in part destroyed. 
 
 f In extending the Catacombs for the purpose of burial it was 
 sometimes found easier to cut new galleries at a higher level, using 
 the bed of earth in the old as the floor of the new. Sometimes the 
 new galleries cut right through the locttli of the old. 
 
124 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 costly marbles, frescoes, mosaics, stucco ornaments, and 
 vaulted roofs. The contemporary tombs and monu- 
 ments were also on a scale of magnificence before 
 unknown; and the inscriptions assumed a florid and 
 inflated character far different from the simplicity of 
 the primitive ages. The architecture and paintings also 
 indicate, with the increase of wealth and luxury, the 
 decline and fatal eclipse of art. 
 
 To the period of Damasus belongs the description, 
 by Prudentius, of the shrine of Hippolytus, part of 
 which has been already quoted.* " That little chapel," 
 he continues, " which contains the cast-off garments 
 of his soul, is bright with solid silver. Wealthy hands 
 have put up glistening tablets, smooth and bright as a 
 concave mirror; and, not content with overlaying the 
 entrance with Parian marble, they have lavished large 
 sums of money on the ornamentation of the work." It 
 was during the period of the labours of Damasus that 
 the revived interest in the Catacombs was so strikingly 
 manifested by the sudden return to the subterranean 
 mode of burial, and that many of the tombs and chapels 
 received their most elaborate adornment.f 
 
 The perversion of a natural instinct, beautiful and 
 praiseworthy in itself, became the root of much evil 
 in after times. Our hec-rts are irresistibly drawn toward 
 
 * Chap, i, p, II. To the same period belongs the description of the 
 Catacombs by Jerome, quoted on page 36. Jerome at one time acted 
 as secretary to Damasus. 
 
 f St. Ambrose, about this time, censures the constructing of costly 
 sepulchres, as if they were to be the receptacle of the soul instead of tlie 
 body. — Frustra struunt homines pretiosa sepulchra, quasi ea animae, 
 nee solius corporis, receptacula essent. — De Bono Mortis, 
 
 Basil urges men to prepare their funeral by works of piety while 
 they live. " For what need have you," he asks, " of a sumptuous 
 monument, or a costly entombing?" — Horn, in Divites. 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment. 
 
 125 
 
 the place where lie the remains of the dear departed 
 in the last long sleep of death. Although we know 
 that only the slumbering dust is there, we ove to medi- 
 tate above their graves, and seem there to hold closer 
 communion with their spirits than elsewhere. Es- 
 pecially would the early Christians be drawn to the 
 tombs of their fathers in the faith, many of whom were 
 also their fathers in the flesh, whose saintly patience or 
 glorious martyrdom had hallowed their memory for 
 evermore. They would naturally be led to adorn and 
 beautify their sepulchres, and in pious devotion to med- 
 itate and pray beside their honoured remains. This 
 innocent, and even laudable, practice gradually, and per- 
 haps inevitably, led to abuses. Th? admiration of the 
 martyr's faith and patience and heroic spirit gradually 
 intensified into superstitious veneration for his body, 
 blood, bones, ashes, clothes, staff, or any personal relic. 
 Judaism regarded the touching of aught connected with 
 the dead as involving a ceremonial pollution ; but Chris- 
 tian ideas invested even the crumbling dust of the mar- 
 tyrs with especial sanctity. 
 
 The first clear evidence that we have of this feeling 
 is in the case of Ignatius, who suffered under Trajan, 
 A. D. 107. Perhaps from a fear that superstitious rev- 
 erence might be paid to his remains, he prayed that the 
 wild beasts might become his sepulchre, so that nothing 
 of him might be left.* His desire was only partly ful- 
 filled, for "the larger and harder bones remained, 
 which were carried to Antioch and kept as an inesti- 
 mable treasure left to the Church by the grace which was 
 in the martyr." f Eusebius speaks of the charred 
 remains of Polycarp as " more precious than the richest 
 
 * Ignat., Ep. ad Rom., § iv. Euseb., Hisi. Eccles., iii, 36. 
 \ Acts of Martyrdom, § xii. 
 
126 
 
 The Citacombs of Rome. 
 
 jewels, and more tried than gold."* The martyrs 
 blood was esteemed a talisman of especial power. A 
 sponge saturated therewith was sometimes worn as a 
 sacred relic, and it may be as a supernatural amulet, 
 by their friends or relatives. Prudentius describes the 
 spectators of the martyrdom of St. Vincent as dipping 
 their clothes in his blood, that they might keep it as a 
 sort of palladium for successive generations : 
 
 Crowds haste the linen vest to stain 
 With gore distilled from martyr's vein, 
 And thus a holy safeguard place 
 At home, to shield the future race.f 
 
 In the account of the death of Hippolytus, he de- 
 scribes the gathering of his mangled limbs with a 
 minuteness too revolting for the poetry even of martyr- 
 ology- 1 With a refinement of cruelty, the persecutors 
 of Gaul cast the remains of the martyrs of Vienne to 
 the dogs, and guarded their lifeless bodies for days, in 
 order to deprive the Christians of the melancholy sat- 
 isfaction of paying the last sad rites of burial to any 
 fragments that remained. § 
 
 The primitive Christians justly discriminated between 
 the reverence due to the martyrs and the adoration to 
 be rendered only to the Supreme Being. " We worship 
 Christ as the Son of God," says the church of Smyrna, 
 " but the martyrs we deservedly love as the disciples 
 and imitators of Our Lord." | " We do not build tem- 
 
 ♦ Hist, Eccles., iv, 15. 
 
 f Plerique vestem linteam 
 Stillante tingunt sanguine, 
 Tut 1 ut sacrum suis 
 Domi reservent posteris. — Peristeph.^ v. 
 \ Hie humeros, truncasque manus et brachia, et ulnas, 
 
 Et genua, et crurum fragmina nuda legit. — Ibid.^ iv. 
 § Euseb., Hist. Eccles,, v, I. \ Ibid., iv, 15. 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment 
 
 127 
 
 pies to our martyrs as gods," says Augustine, " but only 
 memorials of them as dead men whose spirits live with 
 God ; nor do we erect altars or sacrifice to our martyrs, 
 but to the only God, both theirs and ours."* But the 
 enthusiastic feelings of the people at length failed to 
 make this proper distinction, and many even of the the- 
 ological writers of the day, not foreseeing the disastrous 
 consequences to which the practice would lead, were 
 carried away with the popular current. 
 
 One form which this veneration took was that of fes- 
 tivals in honour of the martyrs. *' By a noble metaphor," 
 says Milman,t " the day of their death was considered 
 that of their birth to immortality." J The church of 
 Smyrna celebrated the anniversary of their martyred 
 bishop's passion " with joy and gladness as his natal 
 day."§ Tertullian asserts that the practice has the au- 
 thority of apostolic tradition. | These festivals were at 
 first kept with religious solemnity, accompanied by the 
 celebration of the eucharist, often in the rock-hewn 
 chambers of the Catacombs, where a thin tile separated 
 the dead in Christ from the devout worshippers who 
 commemorated the passion of their common Lord, 
 During the ages of persecution this was a rite of deep 
 and touching significance. Frequently his partaking of 
 that feast was the recipient's own consecration to the 
 martyr's death. But after the peace of the church it 
 often degenerated into a scene of excess and vulgar 
 revelry, more like the pagan banquets for the dead than 
 
 ♦ Nos martyribus nostris non templa sicut diis, sed memorias sicut 
 hominibus mortuis, quorum apud Deum vivant spiritus, fabricamus ; 
 nee ibi erigimus altaria, in quibus sacrificemus martyribus, sed uui 
 Deo et martyrum et nostro. — De. Civ. Dei, xxii, 10. 
 
 f Hist, of Christianity, book iv, c. 2. 
 
 X Hence called Natal itia^ TevidTua, 
 
 g Eustb., Hist. EccUs., iv, 15. | De Coron. Mil., c. u. 
 
128 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 a Christian solemnity. Indeed, they were avowedly 
 employed in ignoble appeal to the baser appetites, as 
 counter-attractions to the pagan feasts, to induce the 
 poor to attend the festivals of the church.* This 
 degradation of an originally praiseworthy practice, and 
 the intensifying and abject superstition to which it led, 
 provoked the taunts of the heathen and the censure of 
 the more devout and thoughtful Christians. The philo- 
 sophic Julian recoiled from the adoration of relics as 
 from pollution. Another pagan writer contrasts the 
 veneration of obscure martyrs' names, hateful to the 
 gods and to men,t with the refined and poetic cultus of 
 Minerva and Jupiter. | Vigilantius, the Spanish pres- 
 byter, strongly condemns the " ashes worshippers and 
 idolaters;" while, on the other hand, Jerome n.agni- 
 fies the sanctity of these relics, ** around which," he 
 says, " the souls of the martyrs are constantly hovering 
 to hear the prayers of the supplicant." After in vain 
 trying to restrain their abuses and excesses, the ecclesi- 
 astical authorities were at length compelled to suppress 
 these festivals. 
 
 The reverence paid to the relics of the martyrs had two 
 remarkable and contrary effects. Having led in the first 
 place to the adornment of their sepulchres, it ultimately 
 caused their destruction and spoliation. In consequence 
 of this feeling it became an object of ambition to share 
 the resting-place of those who had been so holy in life 
 and so glorious in death. Hence new graves were 
 often excavated in the back of the arcosolia^ cutting 
 
 * Diesque festos, post eos, quos relinquebant, alienos in honorein 
 sanctorum martyrum vel non simili sacrikgio, quamvis simili luxu 
 celebrantur. — Augustin., Epis. xxix. See also Boldetti, Osservazioni 
 sopra i cimiteri dei SS. Martiri, p. 46. 
 
 f Diisque hominibusque odiosa nomina. — Aug., Epis., xvi. J Ibtd, 
 
 L-. 
 
Their Distise and Abandonment. 
 
 129 
 
 th'-oiigh the beautiful frescoes with which they were 
 adorned, ai d mutilating or destroying the paintings.* 
 The cubicula were also defaced, their symmetry injured, 
 and their construction endangered by similar imprudent 
 excavations. 
 
 Numerous inscriptions inform us that many persons 
 secured this privilege during their lives, as the follow- 
 ing examples : in crvpta noba retro sanctos emervm 
 SE VIVAS halera et sarina (j/V) — " In the new crypt be- 
 hind the saints : Valeria and Sabina bought it for them- 
 selves while living • ENOAilE HATAEINA KEITAT 
 MAKAPQ EN XQPi2 — " Here lies Paulina in the place 
 of the blessed." Another inscription of the period of 
 Damasus tells of one who was buried " within the 
 thresholds of the saints, a thing which many desire and 
 few obtain."! Sometimes the name of the saint or 
 martyr is mentioned, as in one which records the pur- 
 chase of a grave, " at the tomb of Hippolytus, above 
 the arcosolium^'' X and another at that of Cornelius.§ So 
 also the tomb of Cecilia was separated from that of one 
 of the primitive bishops by scarcely an inch of rock. 
 Great injury was thus done to the Catacombs by the 
 indiscreet devotion of those who observed this practice. 
 Many pilgrims to the graves of the martyrs, deriving, 
 they thought, a spiritual benefit from proximity to their 
 sacred dust, took up their abode in little cells beside 
 their graves while alive, and shared their sepulchres in 
 death. In answer to the inquiry of his friend Paulinus 
 of Nola, whether it was a profit to the soul that the body 
 
 * See Figs. I2 and 76. 
 
 f " Intra limina sanctorum, quod multi cupiunt et rari ac- 
 cipiunt." 
 X " At Ippolytu super arcosoliu," (jiV.) 
 
 § " Ad Santum Cornelium," See also the epitaph on p. 132. 
 
 9 
 
t ' 
 
 »30 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 shrmlil be buried near the shrine of some saint,* Au- 
 gustine wrote a special treatise f in justification of the 
 practice ; although ho7v the martyrs help men, he con- 
 fesses, is a question beyond his understanding. We 
 have already seen the very strong opinion entertained 
 cm this subject by Jerome, the contemporary of Augus- 
 tine. More in accordance with reason and scripture is 
 the sentiment contained in the epitaph of the arch- 
 deacon Sabinus, lately found at San Lorenzo : 
 
 NIL IVVAT IMMO CRAVAT TVMVI.IS IIAKRKRK I'lORVM 
 
 SANCTORVM MKRITIS OlMIMA VITA I'ROI'E EST 
 CORrORE NON 01»VS EST ANIMA TENDAMVS AO II.l.OS 
 QVAE BENE SALVA I'OTEST CORroRE ESSE SAI.VS.^ 
 
 It nothing helps, but rather hinders, to stick close to the tombs of 
 the saints ; a good life is the best approach to their merits. Not with 
 the body but with the soul must we draw nigh to them ; when that is 
 well saved it may prove the salvation of the body also. 
 
 Even Damasas, who, if any ought, might claim sepul- 
 ture with the sainted dead, shrank from disturbing their 
 remains, and was buried in a tomb above the Catacomb 
 of Callixtus. Of thr subterranean crypt he says : 
 
 HIC FATEOR DAMASVS VOLVI MEA COx^DRRE MEMHRA 
 SED riMVI SANCTOS CINERES VEXARE PIORVM. 
 Here I, Damasus, confess I wished to lay my limbs, but I feared 
 to vex the holy ashes of the saints. 
 
 The desire for communion with the holy dead con- 
 tinued throughout successive generations. Multitudes 
 of pilgrims still visited the shrines of the martyrs, and, 
 after the wont of travellers, left traces of their presence 
 in the numerous graffiti which are written on the walls. 
 Some of these are names of classical form, as Leo, Fe- 
 
 * " Apud sancti alicujus memoriam." 
 
 f De Curd pro Morinis Gere/iM, written about A. D. ^11. 
 
 % BuUetthw, 1864, 33. 
 
 X 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment 
 
 131 
 
 lix, Maximus, Theophilus; others, written in less acces- 
 sible places, are of later date and of foreign character, 
 Spanish, British, or German, as Ildebrand, Ethelred, 
 Lupo, Bonizo, Joannes. The names are frequently 
 accompanied with the letters Ph., or Presb.^ the indica- 
 tion of the ecclesiastical grade of the writer. 
 
 Many of the loftiest dignitaries in church and state, 
 popes and prelates, princes and nobles, kings and 
 queens, and even some illustrious wearers of the impe- 
 rial purple, continued to be brought, often from afar, 
 throughout the period of the Middle Ages, to lie in 
 death as near as possible to the hallowed dust of the 
 early martyrs and confessors of the faith. Among them 
 were some stained with blood, who hoped to expiate 
 their crimes by their religious austerities, and to enter 
 paradise through the intercession of the saints near 
 whose remains their bones were laid. Several petty kings 
 of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, some expelled by their 
 subjects or rivals, others flying from the post of duty, 
 muttered their prayers and counted their beads in the 
 crypts of the Catacombs, and were buried in their vicin- 
 ity. The following are a few of the more illustrious, 
 taken from the list of the Abbe Gaume : * Popes Leo I., 
 Gregory I., II., and III., Leo XL ; the Emperor Hono- 
 rius and Mary his wife, Valentinian and Otho 11. ; 
 Cedwalia, king of the West-Saxons ; Conrad, king of the 
 Me/cians ; Offa and Ina, Saxon kings, with Eldiburga, 
 wife of the latter ; the Empress Agnes, Queen Charlotte 
 of Cyprus, and the Countess Matilda, who so enriched 
 the papal see by her donations. These were buried, 
 not in the Catacombs, but in the basilicas erected over 
 
 ♦ Les Trots Homes, torn, ir, p. 39. Aringhi gives a similar list in 
 his chapter, De imperatoribus ac regibus, qui apud Vaticanum sepuU 
 tune traditi sunt. — Roma Suit^rranra, lib. ii, c. 9. 
 
132 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ > 
 
 1 
 » 
 
 \ 
 
 them, which were considered to share their sanctity. 
 Thus, as St. Chrysostom remarks, referring to the tradi- 
 tion concerning the sepulchres of St. Peter and St. 
 Paul, kings laid aside their crowns at the tombs of the 
 fisherman and the tentmaker.* 
 
 During the latter part of the fourth and the beginning 
 of the fifth century the management of the Catacombs 
 seems to have been no longer in the hands of the eccle- 
 siastical authorities, but under the control of the fos- 
 sors,t with whom the bargain for interment was made 
 by the friends of the deceased. Numerous inscriptions 
 occur in which this bargain is recorded, together with 
 the names of the buyers and sellers, and sometimes 
 those of the witnesses to the contract, and even the price 
 that was paid, as in the following examples : costat 
 
 NOS EMISSE lANVARIVM ET BRITIAM LOCVM ANTE 
 DOMNA EMERITA A FOSSORIBVS BVRDONE ET MICINMO ET 
 
 Mvsco R \TiONE AVRi SOLIDVM VN SEMES (j/V) — " It is un- 
 questionable that we, Januarius and Britia, bought a 
 place in front of [the tomb of] Lady Emerita % from the 
 fossors Burdo, Micinus, and Muscus, for the con- 
 sideration of one solidus and a half of gold *' — (about 
 
 $7.) EMPTVM LOCVM A BARTIMISTVM VISOMVM HOC EST 
 ET PRETIVM DATVM A FOSSORE HILARO ID EST FOLN 
 . . . PRESENTIA SEVERI FOSS. ET LAVRENT " The 
 
 place bought by Bartimistus, that is, a bisomus ; and 
 the price paid to the fossor Hilarus, 1400 folles, (about 
 SS ^5>) ^"^ ^^ presence of the fossors Severus and Lau- 
 rence." The fossors also probably prepared and engraved 
 the funeral slabs, as seems to be implied in the follow- 
 
 * Chrys., Quod Christus sit Deus. See legend, p. 186. 
 f From fodere, fossum, to dig. 
 
 % Saint Emerita suflFered martyrdom during the Valerian perse- 
 cution. 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment, 
 
 133 
 
 ing : Locv marmarori {sic) qvodrisomvm — " A quad- 
 ruple tomb [bought] of the stonecutter."* 
 
 In the following illustration from the Catacomb of 
 Callixtus the fossor is seen standing in a cubiculum lined 
 with graves, and surrounded by the implements of his 
 labour. On his shoulder is the mattock with which he 
 
 Fiff. 23.— Diosrenea the Fossur. 
 
 dug the friable tufa, and in his hand the lamp with the 
 spike by which it was fastened to the rock while he 
 worked. At his feet lie the compasses for marking out 
 the loculi^ and over his head we read the simple epitaph, 
 
 ♦ Jerome strongly censures the making merchandise of the resting- 
 places of the (lead — Qui sepulchra venditant, et non coguntur ut ac- 
 cepiant pretium, sed a nolentibus etiam extorquent. — Quicst. Ihb. in 
 Gen. xxiii. 
 
i 
 
 t34 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 " Diogenes the fossor, buried in peace on the eighth 
 
 before the calends of October." 
 
 The accompanying engraving from Aringhi shows the 
 
 fossor actively engaged in excavating the vaulted gal- 
 lery by the light of the 
 lamp suspended near him. 
 The marks made by the 
 mattocks, in the manner 
 here shown, may be seen 
 in the walls of the passages 
 as plainly as though the 
 fossor had but just ceased 
 his labours. 
 
 After a brief return to 
 subterranean burial in the 
 time of Damasus the prac- 
 tice fell rapidly into dis- 
 use, and after A. D. 410 
 scarcely a single certain 
 example can be found. In 
 that fatal year the blast of 
 
 the Gothic trumpet, start- 
 
 Fiflr. 24.— The Fossor at Work. ,- .1 r -j • Ui.* 
 
 ling the ear of midnight * 
 
 in the streets of Rome, proclaimed its capture by the 
 hosts of the stern Alaric. Amid the social and civil 
 commotions that accompanied the breaking up of the 
 empire, there was neither time nor means to adorn the 
 sepulchres of the saints, and the Catacombs fell into in- 
 evitable neglect and decay. Of this year not a single 
 sepulchral inscription remains, a striking indication of 
 the anarchy and confusion prevailing, when even the 
 customary honours were not paid to the dead. 
 
 * " Nocte Moab capta est, nocte cecidit mums ejus ! " exclaims 
 Jerome. — Ad Principiam. 
 
 ■I. 
 
Their Disuse and AbaadoumenL 
 
 135 
 
 Like a mighty deluge sweeping away and overwhelm- 
 ing the art and civilization of the South, came the inva- 
 sion of the barbarous hordes of the North ; yet like a 
 deluge fertilizing and enriching the soil, and leaving 
 germs of future fruitfulness behind. Having conquered 
 the world with its arms and corrupted it with its vices, 
 the mighty fabric of the Roman empire lost internal 
 strength and cohesion, and began to crumble to pieces. 
 The secret causes of its dissolution had long been stealth- 
 ily at work, and its fall at last was utter and complete. 
 Thrice in the space of three years (A. D. 408, 409, 410) 
 Rome was besieged by the hosts of Alaric, and, in vain 
 purchasing respite by a costly ransom, she was at last 
 given up as a prey to the bold, eager, and greedy sav- 
 agery of the North. The pillage of the world, accu- 
 mulated during a thousand years of conquest, left, 
 however, little pretext for violating the resting-places 
 of the dead. . As the rude soldiery gloated with hungry 
 eyes on the lavish gold and silver, the precious jewels 
 and sumptuous vestments on every side, they recked 
 little for mere works of art, and many a porphyry vase 
 and priceless statue was wantonly shivered by barbarian 
 battle-axe. Nevertheless, the conqueror respected the 
 basilicas of the apostles and the sacred vessels of their 
 shrines, declaring that he made not war upon the 
 saints.* 
 
 But succeeding conquerors were less scrupulous or 
 more rapacious. Five times in the course of the fifth 
 century, and as often in the sixth, the Eternal City, 
 " that was almighty named," was besieged by her im- 
 placable foes. The churches were plundered of the 
 massy plate and other treasures, and even the dim crypts 
 
 ♦ Gibbon, iii, 283. Am. Ed. 
 
136 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I ^ 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 of the Catacombs echoed the clanging tread of the 
 armed soldiery as with sacrilegious hands they stripped 
 the shrines of the saints of their costly adorning, and 
 rifled the graves of the dead in search for hidden 
 treasure.* Each successive invasion to which Rome 
 was exposed renewed these scenes of desecration and 
 robbery. The Huns, the Goths, the Lombards, and, 
 later, the Normans and Saracens, were rivals in spoliation 
 and destruction. 
 
 During the intervals of peace the Roman pontiffs en- 
 deavoured to restore the Catacombs and re-adorn the 
 martyr shrines, which were still the objects of pious 
 veneration. They were also used during the barbarian 
 invasions, as during the pagan persecutions, as places 
 of refuge. Boniface I., having been for some time 
 concealed in the Catacomb of Felicitas, afterwards elab- 
 orately ornamented it. Symmachus and Vigilius were 
 also especially diligent in their care for the Catacombs. 
 The latter restored many of the Damasine epitaphs 
 which had been destroyed.f We read also of popes of 
 
 * The following lines by Pope Vigilius, A. D. 537, describe this 
 event : 
 
 Dum peritnra Getae posuissent castra sub urbem, 
 
 Movenint Sanctis bella nefanda prius, 
 Totaque sacril^o Yerterunt coide sepulcra, 
 Martyribus quondam rite sacrata piis. 
 
 '* Whilst the Goths had placed their camp, soon to perish, before the 
 city, they first waged unhallowed '^/ar against the saints, and with 
 sacrilegious mind destroyed whole sepulchres once solemnly conse- 
 crated to the pious martyrs." 
 
 During the fifth and sixth centuries cemeteries were opened within 
 the walls in consequence of the peril of venturing beyond the gates. 
 
 \ DIRVTA VIGILIVS NAM POSTHAEC PAPA GEMI3CENS 
 
 HOSTIBVS EXPVLSis OMNE NOVAVIT opvs. — Inscr. in Laterati. 
 " Pope Vigilius, afterwards lamenting the demolished monuments, 
 renewed the entire work after the expulsion of the enemy." 
 
lieir Disttse and Abandonment 
 
 137 
 
 the sixth and two following centuries restoring the ceme- 
 teries and making provision for the celebration of the 
 martyrs' festivals at their subterranean shrines. The 
 sculpture and frescoes of the period of course exhibited 
 the depraved taste and debased execi tion of the times. 
 
 A new element of destruction came now into play; 
 This was the wholesale translation of the bodies of the 
 saints from the Catacombs to the churches of the city, 
 in order to sav:; theui from profanation by Astolphus 
 and his sacrilegio Lombards. These pious robbers ran- 
 s icked and systeiaatically despoiled the ancient ceme- 
 teries, and carried off the relics of the martyrs. Pope 
 Stephen III. thereupon published a letter from St. Peter 
 himself menacing with eternal damnation the violators 
 of these hallowed tombs. These spiritual terrors, how- 
 ever, were found insufficient to protect the sacred relics. 
 The work of tran'^lation was resumed, and Pope Paul I. 
 records the removal in A. D. 761 of the bodies of over 
 a hundred " martyrs, confessors, and virgins of Christ, 
 with hymns and spiritual songs, into the city of Rome." 
 He complains also of the neglect into which the Cata- 
 combs had fallen. Their deeper recesses were given 
 up to owls and bats, and nearer the entrance the prowl- 
 ing fox or jackal found a covert. There, too, the Cam- 
 pagnian shepherds frequently folded their flocks, and 
 "converted the sacred places into stables and dung- 
 hills." They became, also, the lurking places of thieves 
 and debtors, outlaws and bandits, who took refuge in 
 their tangled labyrinths. 
 
 We have observed the practice in the fourth century 
 of building churches over the martyrs' tombs. The 
 natural reverence for their remains soon passed into a 
 superstitious veneration and belief in their miraculous 
 efficacy. Even such acute minds as those of Origen, 
 
138 
 
 The Catacombs of \ome. 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 I. 
 
 Chrysostom, and Ambrose seem infected with this su- 
 perstition.* It soon became considered essential to the 
 consecration of a church that it should be hallowed by 
 some holy relics. These were placed not only on the 
 altar, but in the sides of portals, to be kissed by the 
 devout on entering.f The furnishing of these relics 
 became a gainful trade. St. Augustine complains of 
 certain vagabond monks who went about selling relics 
 of the martyrs, if indeed martyrs they were. J In con- 
 sequence of this practice a Theodosian law of the year 
 A. D. 386 forbids the removal of any body that was 
 buried, or the tearing asunder or sale of the remains of 
 a martyr.§ In consequence of the number of spurious 
 relics, the fourth Council of Carthage, in A. D. 401, 
 prohibited the use of any whose genuineness could not 
 be authenticated. | Martin of Tours narrates how he 
 discovered, by summoning the ghost of a so-called mar- 
 tyr, that the revered relics were only those of a common 
 thief.^ The Empress Constantina wrote to Gregory 
 
 * These Fathers quoted such passages as 2 Kings xiii, 21 ; Eccles. 
 xlviii, 13, 14 ; xlix, 10-15 ; Acts v, 15, and xix, ii, in proof of the 
 efficacy of relics. 
 
 f Hence in the celebration of the mass the priest kisses the altar 
 and invokes pardon " by the relics of the saints that are there." — Sec 
 Missal. Optatus tells of a lady who used to kiss the relics of he knew 
 not what martyr, if martyr it were, before communion. — Ante spirit- 
 ualem cibum et potum, os nescio cujus martyris, si tamen martyris, 
 libare dicebatur. — Oper., lib. i. 
 
 \ Membra martyrum, si tamen martyrum, venditant. — Aug., de 
 Oper. Monach. 
 
 § Humatum corpus nemo ad alium locum transferal ; nemo mar- 
 tyrem distrahat, nemo mercetur. — Cod. Theod., De Sepulchris Vtola- 
 tis, leg. 7. 
 
 I Omnino nulla memoria martyrum probabiliter acceptetur nisi aut 
 ibi corpus, aut aliquae certe reliquae sint. — Cone. Carth., v, Can. 14. 
 
 ^ Sulpitii Severi, Vita Martini, cap. viii. Julian recoiled from 
 relic worship as from the stench of dead men's bones. He compared 
 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment. 
 
 »39 
 
 de 
 
 the Great, at the end of the sixth century, for the head 
 of St. Paul, in order to consecrate a new church. He 
 replied that he could not divide the bodies of the saints, 
 and declared that, the danger of invading their tombs 
 was sometimes even fatal.* But this pious reverence 
 gave place to a more mercenary spirit, a.id the trade in 
 relics became a traffic of infamy and disgrace. Not 
 only were the bodies of the so-called martyrs torn asun- 
 der and their limbs sold to diverse and distant places, 
 but with sacrilegious fraud the relics of favourite saints 
 were multiplied till as many different cities claimed to 
 have their only true and genuine heads, arms, or bodies, 
 as contended for the honour of being the birth-piace of 
 Homer.f 
 
 These relics were endowed in popular apprehension 
 with most miraculous powers. They emitted a delight- 
 ful fragrance that ravished the senses. A fleshless skull 
 declared the name and martyrdom of its owner. The 
 bones of St. Lawrence moved in their grave to m^ke 
 room for those of another saint. The liquefaction of a 
 martyr's blood may still be witnessed by the faithful on 
 the anniversary of St. Januarius at Naples. J If we 
 may credit numerous traditions, these wonder-working 
 
 the churches to whited sepulchres full of rottenness and of all un- 
 cleanness. 
 
 * Greg. Max., Epis. iv. 
 
 f At the time of the Reformation the reputed fragments of the true 
 cross, it is said, would have freighted a lai^e ship. The relics of the 
 saints were hawked about the country from house to house by ped- 
 lers who farmed their sale, paying a percentage to the church or 
 abbey to which they belonged. D'Aubign6's Hist. Ref., i. c. 3. 
 
 \ On one occasion the blood refused to liquefy, on account, said 
 the priests, of the malign influence of the French. The French gen- 
 eral sent word that unless the miracle took place within an hour his 
 cannon should blow the church about their ears. The blood liquefied 
 immediately. 
 
HO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 1 
 
 human remains healed the sick,* raised the dead, and, 
 more difficult still, converted heretics to the true faith. 
 Nay, the mere contact with the brandea or handkerchief 
 from the martyr's tomb, the filings of his chains, or the 
 oil from the lamp before his shrine, communicated spir> 
 itual as well as physical benefit. These sacred relics 
 possessed a talismanic power to protect from evil. They 
 were borne into battle to avert the hurtling death and 
 to blunt the edge of the sword. They were affixed to 
 towers as a safeguard against the thunderbolt. \ They 
 were inlaid in the crowns and regalia of kings, \ and 
 worn in rings and amulets as prophylactics against poi- 
 son or disease, and they lent an awful sanctity to the 
 oath taken upon the altar. § . j/ 
 
 * The affidavit of its subject attests the miraculous cure, probably 
 of hysteria or hypochondria, recently wrought by a relic from the 
 Catacombs at the Hotel Dieu in Montreal, Canada. 
 
 f A nail of the true cross, says Gregory of Tours, thrown into the 
 Adriatic by Queen Radegunda, mad^ it thenceforth one of the safest 
 seas to navigate instead of one of the stormiest. — De Gloria Mar- 
 tyrum. Of another, Constantine made a bit for his horse. 
 
 X The Iron Crown of Lombardy the Roman Congregation of 
 Relics has declared to be a sacred talisman, being made of a nail of 
 the Crucifixion, although the first authentic mention of it occurs in the 
 midnight of the dark ages, A. D. 888. From the time of Charles V. 
 no sovereign ventured to wear this sacred crown till Napoleon, seek- 
 ing to consecrate his usurped authority, with his own hand placed it 
 on his head at Milan, A. D. 1805, with the vaunting words, " God 
 hath given it me ; let him take heed who touches it." — Dieu me Fa 
 donnee ; gare a qui la touche. It was carried off from the cathedral 
 of Monza by the Austrians in 1859. 
 
 § On marble tablets in the Church of St. Prassede, in Rome, is an 
 enumeration of its precious treasures, among which are a tooth of St. 
 Pe^er and one of St. Paul, part of the chemise of the Virgin Mary — 
 de camisia beata Maria Virginis, part of Christ's girdle — de cingulo 
 D. N. yesu Christi, part of Moses* rod, some of the earth on which 
 Christ prayed, also of the reed and sponge, three spines of the crown 
 of thorns, part of the towel with which he washed his disciples' feet. 
 
 1 
 
 tm 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment. 
 
 141 
 
 The slender historical evidence on which idolatrous 
 homage is paid to these relics is seen in the case of the 
 
 part of the swaddling clothes — -pannis — ii. which he was wrapped at 
 his nativity, and part of the seamless robe — de veste inconsutih. 
 The whole of this robe was formerly exhibited at Treves, where the 
 deluded votaries of this Christian idolatry invoked its intercession in 
 the formula, " Holy Coat, pray for us ! " In the year 1854, in the of- 
 ficial " Gazette of Vienna," it was announced that the tooth of St. 
 Peter, given by Pius IX. to the Emperor of Austria, would be for 
 four days exposed to the sight and homage of the faithful. Before 
 the Reformation these relics were still more puerile and absurd, and 
 calculated to provoke a smile or sneer as the humourist or the cynic pre- 
 dominated in the observer. At the Church of All Saints at Wittem- 
 berg, says D'Aubigne, were shown a frj gment of Noah's ark, some soot 
 from the furnace of the Three Hebrew Children, and nineteen thousand 
 other relics. At SchafThausen was exhibited the breath of St. Joseph 
 that Nicodemus had received in his glove. At Wurtembei^ might 
 be seen a feather plucked from the wing of the archangel Michael. 
 {Hist. He/., i, c. 3.) Heywood, in his interlude of " The Four 
 P's," one of whom was a Pardoner, among his " relykes," enumerates 
 " Of All-hallowes (that is, All-Saints) the blessed jaw-bone," the 
 great toe of the Trinity, and others in which is a still stranger mix- 
 ture of absurdity and blasphemy. (See " Inquiry into the Origin of 
 the Reformation," by the present writer, in Evangel. Repos., London, 
 Eng., Feb., 1865.) Augustine says the dung-heap on which Job sat 
 was still visited in his day ! In St. Peter's at Rome is exhibited a 
 coin said to be one of the thirty pieces of gold (?) for which Judas 
 betrayed his Master. They were made, according to the legend, by 
 Terah, Abraham's father, who was a famous artificer under King 
 Nimrod. They were the price of the field of Ephron, and also the 
 coins with which Joseph was bought, and with which his brethren 
 purchased com in Egypt. Despite the anachronism, Moses is said to 
 have given them as a dowry to the Queen of SLeba,*who presented 
 them to Solomon. Nebuchadnezzar, it is alleged, carried them away, 
 and the Magi brou^^ht them back as an offering to Christ. Finally 
 Mary cast them into the treasury of the Temple, whence the priests 
 gave them to Judas for his perfidy. (See Bingham, xiv, 4, § 18.) 
 
 The stone upon which tlie sovereigns of England are crowned is, 
 according to a venerable tradition, that which formed Jacob's pillow 
 at Hethel. 
 
 In the cathedral of Genoa is deposited the wonderful cup known 
 
143 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \\ 
 
 so-called ** Saint Theodosia of Amiens." Her epitaph, 
 found in a Catacomb near the Salarian Way, reads as 
 follows : 
 
 AVRELIAB THEVDOSIAB 
 
 BENIGNISSIMAE ET 
 
 INCOMPARAHILI FEMINAE 
 
 AVREUVS OITATVS 
 
 CONIVGI INNOCENTISSIMAB 
 
 NATAMBIANA. 
 
 Aurelius Optatus to his most innocent wife Aurelia Thcudosia, a 
 most gracious and incomparable woman, by nation an Ambian. 
 
 The Congregation of Relics decided that Theudosia 
 was both a saint and martyr, and a native of Amiens. 
 Her remains were solemnly conveyed to that city, and 
 on the 1 2th of October, 1833, they were received with 
 the utmost magnificence by no less than twenty-eight 
 mitred prelates and fifteen hundred other ecclesiastics, 
 placed in a gorgeous shrine, and honoured as in ancient 
 times they honoured a tutelar goddess. Cardinal Wise- 
 man preached on the occasion, and compared the re- 
 moval of her remains to her native place to that of the 
 patriarch Joseph's bones from Egypt to Canaan ; and 
 Bishop iSalinis commended the homage of her relics 
 
 in histoiy as the Holy Grail, which in times of yore was the object of 
 so many knightly quests, and more recently the subject of so many 
 stately epics. It was a vessel composed of a single emerald origin- 
 ally, (so runs the legend,) the marvellous cup wherewith Joseph di- 
 vined — the cup put into the mouth of Benjamin's sack. It was also 
 the mystical cup of wisdom of Solomon, and, at length, that out of 
 which Christ partook of the Last Supper. Hence its name, San 
 Greal, that is, sanguis realis, the real blood. Joseph of Arimathea 
 brought it to Britain, but it mysteriously disappeared in consequence 
 of the laxness of the times. How it came to Genoa does not clearly ap- 
 pear. From the time of Wolfram von Eschenbach, a minnesinger of 
 the thirteenth century, down to Tennyson and Lowell, this has been 
 a favourite subject of poetry. See an article on the legend, by the 
 writer, in Harper's Weekly, Feb. 5, 1870. 
 
Thrir lAsitst and Abamionmcnt, 
 
 143 
 
 " because the martyrs are, after Jesus Christ, also 
 Christs to open heaven to mankind."* 
 
 By this practice of the translation of relics Rome 
 broke the chain of positive evidence, and destroyed the 
 tender and pathetic associations conm cted with the re- 
 mains of the sainted dead. The martyr's tomb, in its 
 original position and undisturbed, is an object of in- 
 tensest interest ; but removed to some distant church 
 or abbey and redecorated with florid adornment or 
 theatrical finery, his alleged relics provoke only skep- 
 ticism or contempt. Indeed, so little attempt at proba- 
 bility is there in the names given to these relics that a 
 Romanist writer, the Abbe Barbier de Montault, con- 
 fesses that the greater part of the bodies found in 
 the Catacombs wanting proper names have received, 
 
 * As recently as the year 1870 the alleged relics of a newly discov- 
 ered St. Aureliana, a virgin martyr of the third century, who is sup- 
 posed to have been a member of the family of the Roman emperor 
 Aurelian, were transfen-ed, with many religious ceremonies, from the 
 Catacombs .to Cincinnati, in the United States. In the Roman 
 Catholic cathedral at Buffalo, N. Y., is a slab from the Catacombs 
 with the inscription, DPPEREGRINVS XII KALMARTIAS 
 Q«VIXIT«M« — "Peregrinus, buried the twelfth day before the 
 calends of March, who lived . . months." He was, therefore, an in- 
 fant ; y;it he is claimed to be a martyr, and a wax figure of an adult 
 man with gaping wounds exhibits the alleged mode of his death. At 
 its feet is placed what is said to be a phial of the martyr's blood. In the 
 same church are also what is described as " a large piece of the true 
 crc'js on which trickled the sacred blood of Christ," and " particles 
 of the bones of Saints Peter and Paul «tnd of many other holy martyrs." 
 
 Maitland quotes an account from Mabillon of the reverence paid to 
 a certain St. Viar, founded on the discovery of a stone bearing the 
 letters S-VIAR. This was, however, found to be a fragment of the 
 inscription FHAEFECTV ^-WIAK VM—" Curator of the Ways." 
 There is absolutely no warrant whatever for such assumptions as these. 
 There is not in the whole range of Christian epigraphy a single con- 
 temporary inscription of unquestioned genuineness which can lead to 
 the identification of the remains, name, and date of a primitive martyr. 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ? 
 
 ^*u^ 
 
 144 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 when they were exposed to public veneration, names a1 
 haphazard, which have only a vague or general signifi- 
 cation, as Felix, Fortunatus,- Victor.* 
 
 We return from this digression to the mediaeval his- 
 tory of the Catacombs. The efforts of Stephen III., 
 Adrian I., and Leo III., in the eighth and ninth cen- 
 turies, to restore their ancient honour and magnifi- 
 cence, were unavailing. The tombs of the saints were 
 continually being abandoned and destroyed. The 
 translation of the sacred relics was renewed with in- 
 creased energy. Pope Paschal I. was the most zealous 
 agent in the prosecution of this work. An inscrip- 
 tion in t'.c church of St. Prassede, which he built for 
 their reception, records the translation thither of 2,300 
 bodies in a single day, July 20, A. D. 817. Successive 
 popes continued to remove cartloads of relics from the 
 Catacombs in order to enhance the dignity or sanctity 
 of the churches which they built or restored, and as an 
 evidence of their own pious zeal. At this period, prob- 
 ably, the multitude of relics were borne to the Pantheon, 
 since known as St. Maria ad Martyres — 
 
 Shrine of all saints and temple of nil gods 
 From Jove to Jesus.f 
 
 * Le plupart des corps saints trouves dans les Catacombes man- 
 quant de noms propre, ont re<;u lorsqu'on les exposes a la veneration 
 publique, des noms de circonstance, qui n'ont qu'une signification 
 vague ; comme Felix, Fortunatus, Victor. — Aunee LiUirgique d 
 Rome, p. 151. 
 
 f Childe Harold. Boniface IV. is said to have previously trans- 
 ferred twenty-eight cartloads of relics from the Catacombs to this 
 place. He thus, as we read in barbaric verse on his epitaph in the 
 crypt of St. Peter's, purified the shrine of all the demons, and dedi- 
 cated it to all the saints : 
 
 " — Templa . . 
 Delubra cunctorum fuerant quae dcmonorum {sic) 
 Hie expurgavit Sanctis cunctisque dicavit." 
 
Their Disuse aud Abandonment. 
 
 '45 
 
 These perpetual spoliations of the Christian ceme- 
 teries led to the rapid destruction of many of their gal- 
 leries and chambers, and to their final abandonment 
 like a worked-out mine — a mine, too, which had been 
 the source of greater riches to the church than treas- 
 ures of silver or gold. In the removal of the relics of 
 the martyrs the principal motive for the protc^^an or 
 adornment of the Catacombs was taken away, and dur- 
 ing the gathering darkness of the Middle Ages they 
 speedily passed out of the knowledge o{ mankind. In 
 a few of those in the immediate vicinity of some church 
 or monastery a subterranean chapel was still kept open, 
 and an occasional mass was celebrated on the presumed 
 anniversary of the martyr whose name was associated, 
 often erroneously, therewith ; or some zealous and ad- 
 venturous pilgrim might even penetrate their obscure 
 recesses. But a blight had fallen on the once beautiful 
 Campagna. Desolation, pestilence, and death brooded 
 over the deserted plain. Through the natural dilap- 
 idations of time, and the spoliations of Saracens, Nor- 
 mans, and Greeks, who successively invaded Italy and 
 wasted the country with fire and sword, the basilicas 
 and oratories of the Byzantine period crumbled to de- 
 cay or were destroyed, and the monasteries were de- 
 serted ; their cowled and sandaled occupants, long the 
 sole custodians of the Catacombs, taking refuge within 
 the city walls. The rains of a thousand autumns and 
 the frosts of as many winters caused the crumbling of 
 the luminariy the falling in of the roofs, and ruin of the 
 galleries. The knowledge of the past was lost in the 
 gathering gloom of the dark ages, so that in an enumer- 
 ation of the Roman Catacombs in the fourteenth cen- 
 tury only three are mentioned, and these were connected 
 
 10 
 
I4t6 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 with some church. In the fifteenth century but one, 
 that of Sebastian, was known. 
 
 Yet there is evidence that some of the galleries were 
 accessible, and were used for dark and sinister purposes, 
 n keeping with their gloomy and desolate character. 
 Durin-T the lawless period from the eleventh to the fif- 
 teenth century, when faction and civil war and anarchy 
 laid waste the country, and even the classic mausolea 
 above ground were converted into armed fortresses, 
 these gloomy vaults became the rendezvous of insur- 
 gents and conspirators, who feared no betrayal of their 
 bloody seciets by the silent sleepers in their narrow 
 cells. In their dark recesses were concocted those 
 " treasons, stratagems, and spoils " that desolated the 
 land. Frequently armed bands of the retainers of hos- 
 tile houses — the Montagues and Capulets of the day — 
 met in these subterranean battle-grounds, and the war- 
 cry of Guelph and Ghibelline, of Colonna and Orsini, 
 rang through the hollow corridors, disturbing the quiet 
 tf M^t, gra' es. Bloodshed and cruelty often desecrated 
 the spot sacred to religion and the ashes of the sainted 
 dead. Petrarch 'hus describes these unhallowed uses 
 of the Catacombs : 
 
 They are become like robbers' caves, 
 So that only the good are denied entrance ; 
 And among altars and saintly statues 
 Every cruel enterprise is planned.* 
 
 During the period of the " Babylonish Captivity," when 
 the Papal See was removed from the banks of the Tiber 
 
 * Quasi spelunca di ladron son fatti, 
 
 Tal ch' 4 buon solamente uscio si chiude ; 
 E tra le altari, e tra statue ignude, 
 Ogni impressa crudel par che si tratti. 
 
 Canzone xi. 
 
Their Disuse and Abandonment. 
 
 147 
 
 to those of the Rhone — from the protection of the for- 
 tress of St. Angelo to the castled heights of Avignon— 
 the decay of every thing pertaining to the church in 
 Italy was precipitated. The city of Rome, which de- 
 pended for its prosperity entirely upon its ecclesiastical 
 pomps and pageants, became impoverished and almost 
 deserted. The Campagna changed to a wilderness, and 
 the entrances to the Catacombs were choked with rub- 
 bish or overgrown with tangled thickets and gigantic 
 weeds. Many of these entrances were also walled up by 
 the civic authorities to prevent their becoming the re- 
 sort of robbers, and for the safety of the inhabitants. 
 
 During the short and tumultuous career of that strange 
 reformer, Colonna di Rienzi, (1347-1354,) some of the 
 hidden crypts are mentioned as the scene of the plots 
 and counterplots of that troublous time ; and, like the sew- 
 ers and Catacombs of Paris during the Revolution, and 
 the cloacae of Rome in time of proscription and civil war, 
 they became places of refuge and concealment. On the 
 eve of his massacre Rienzi was urged to seek safety in 
 those ancient sanctuaries of the persecuted church, but 
 he replied, as Nero is said to have done thirteen centu- 
 ries before, that he would not bury himself alive.* 
 
 With the exception of these rare allusions there is 
 little mention of the Catacombs in the chronicles of the 
 Middle Ages, and they became in course of time virtually 
 unknown. They were not, however, entirely unvisited. 
 The cemetery of Sebastian was never quite forgotten, 
 but was always open to pilgrims ; and even in the 
 
 * This ancient use of the Catacombs has not been forgotten in 
 modern times. That intrepid pontiff, Pius VII., rather than yield to 
 the demands of the first Napoleon, threatened to retire to those 
 gloomy recesses which had sheltered so many of the primitive 
 bishops. 
 
143 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 darkest period there seem to have been some who, in- 
 spired by devotion or curiosity, penetrated the most 
 accessible crypts, and left inscribed upon the walls the 
 date of their visit. Thus, in one place we find a record 
 of a bishop of Pisa and his companions who visited the 
 Catacombs early in the fourteenth century. Another 
 graffitOy with the names of three persons and the date 
 A. D. 1321, reads thus : " Gather together, O Christians, 
 in these caverns, to read the holy books, to sing hymns 
 in honour of the saints and martyrs who, having died in 
 the Lord, lie buried here ; to sing psalms for those who 
 are now dying in the faith. There is light in this dark- 
 ness. There is music in these tombs."* 
 
 On one of the graves were found a small silver-gilt 
 coronet, with the date A. D. 1340, and a palm leaf 
 worked in silver. In another crypt are written six 
 names — German, in Latinized form — with a cross after 
 each, and beneath, the date A. D. 1397. f They were 
 probably a company of German priests on a pilgrimage 
 to the Eternal City and its sacred shrines. In two or 
 three cubicula in the Catacomb of Callixtus are graffiti 
 recording the visits of certain Franciscan friars in the 
 fifteenth century. Brother Lawrence of Sicily, over 
 date January 17, 145 1, records that with twenty others 
 he had come to visit the holy place. J In 1467 some 
 Scottish pilgrims,§ and two years after an abbot of 
 St. Sebastian, with a large party, || left records of their 
 visits to this Catacomb. The names of Pomponio Leto 
 and other liter-ati of the Roman Academy have also 
 been found in several of the crypts. These men, how- 
 
 ♦ MacFarlane, p. 36. \ Ibid., 49, 50. 
 
 X " Fuit hie ad visitandum sanctum locum istum." 
 § " Quidem Scoti hie fuerunt." 
 I " Cum magna cometivi." 
 
Their Disuse and Ahattdonment, 
 
 149 
 
 ever, although the avowed lovers of antiquity,* were 
 enthusiastic only in the pursuit of heathen learning, and 
 justly merited the reproach of being more pagan than 
 Christian. With the exception of such infrequent and 
 transient visits, it would appear that this priceless treas- 
 ury of Christian archaeology and legacy of the primitive 
 church to the present age was completely forgotten till 
 it was revealed to the eyes of a wondering world by the 
 explorations of the sixteenth and following century. 
 
 * " Unanimes antiquitatis amatores." 
 
ISO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ! 
 
 f I 
 
 THE REDISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF THE 
 
 CATAvOMBS. 
 
 It would seem that the rediscovery of the Catacombs 
 was providentially reserved to a period especially adapted 
 for their profitable study. In the fullness of time, when 
 the great Reformation was emancipating the minds of 
 men from the trammels of superstition, and long-vener- 
 ated beliefs and usages were being compared with the 
 still older primitive faith and practice, this marvellous 
 testimony of the purity, simplicity, and piety of the 
 early church was unveiled. These Christian evidences, 
 which have no parallel sa"e in the sacred scriptures 
 themselves, after having been sealed up during the dark 
 ages of ignorance and superstition, were brought to light 
 in a period of intellectual quickening and revived clas- 
 sical learning, which stimulated th^ minds of men to 
 the study of the past and to the rescue from oblivion of 
 the priceless remains of antiquity. The newly-invented 
 printing-press and the engraver's burin preserved the 
 record of much that has since perished ; and Roman 
 archaeologists, seeking in the monuments of antiquity 
 for corroboration of papal doctrine and practice, 
 brought to light the disproof of their existence in the 
 early ages of the church. A rejection of this testimony 
 would invalidate all monumental evidence, whether sa- 
 cred or secular, concerning the past. 
 
 The rediscovery of this subterranean city took place 
 
Their Rediscovery and Exploration. 1 5 1 
 
 in the year 1578. Some labourers digging pozzolana in 
 a vineyard on the Salarian Way came suddenly upon an 
 ancient cemetery,* with its paintings, inscriptions, sar- 
 cophagi, and graves. The event produced a profound 
 sensation in Rome. The city was amazed, says Baro- 
 nius, who himself examined and described the newly- 
 discovered Catacomb, at finding beneath her suburbs 
 long-concealed Christian colonies. \ These ancient 
 shrines became again favourite places of devotion. Here, 
 among others, St. Charles Borromeo and St. Philip Neri 
 spent whole nights in prayer. 
 
 The earliest systematic explorers of the Catacombs 
 were Alfonso Ciacconio, a Spanish priest^ and Philip de 
 Winghe and Jean I'Heureux, J two Flemish laymen. 
 The voluminous MSS. and drawings of the two former, 
 however, were never published, and they lie buried in 
 those vast cemeteries of literature, the libraries of Rome, 
 Naples, Brussels, and Paris. The valuable MS. of 
 I'Heureux, the result of twenty years' labour, although 
 ready for publication, and even licensed for printing, in 
 1605, remained unprinted for two centuries and a half, 
 when it was given to the public by Padre Garrucci under 
 the appropriate title of Hagioglypta.\ Such a length- 
 ened periov^ between licensing and publication is prob- 
 ably unparalleled in literary history. 
 
 ♦ The Catacomb of St. Priscilla. 
 
 f Ipsamet urbs obstupuit, cum abditas in !:uis suburbiis se novit 
 habere civitatis Christianorum colonias. — Ann. Eccl., ann. 130. It U 
 singular that in the very year of their rediscovery Onophrius Pavin- 
 ius, an Augustinian friar, published an account of the Christian 
 cemeteries entirely from the ancient documents of the church. Only 
 three of them were then accessible, those of Sebastian, Lawrence, and 
 Valentine. 
 
 \ Grecised into Joannes Macarius. 
 
 g Paris, 1856. 
 

 152 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 To Antonio Bosio, a native* of Malta and an advocate 
 by profession, belongs the honour of first unveiling to 
 the astonished gaze of Europe the wonders of this vast 
 city of the dead. He has well been called the Colum- 
 bus of this subterranean world. Inspired and sustained 
 by a lofty enthusiasm, he spent six and thirty years 
 groping among those gloomy corridors, deciphering the 
 half-effaced inscriptions, and making drawings of the 
 remains of early Christian art. So habituated did he 
 become to this troglodytic existence that the Cim- 
 merian gloom of the Catacombs was more grateful 
 to his eyes than the light of day, which dazzled and 
 almost blinded him. His labours were prodigious, and 
 often both severe and perilous. He had frequently 
 to force a passage with his own hands through the ac- 
 cumulated rubbish of centuries, and was constantly in 
 danger, in the zeal of exploration, of being lost in the 
 windings of the galleries, from which danger he had 
 some narrow escapes. In his great work he describes 
 himself as rushing along with breathless haste, the de- 
 sire with which he burned adding wings to his weary feet. 
 Again he is creeping serpent-wise through the low and 
 crumbling passages, consoling himself for the difficulty 
 and discomfort by the thought that this lowly attitude be- 
 fitted the humble and reverent spirit in which a place con- 
 secrated by such memories ought to be approached. But 
 he was rewarded for all his toil by the discovery of " pic- 
 tures bright with the colours of yesterday, and characters 
 still sharp and angular from the primeval graving tool." 
 
 The elder D'Israeli has cited Bosio as an illustrious 
 example of the enthusiasm of genius. " Taking with 
 him a hermit's meal for the week," he remarks, " this 
 new Pliny often descended into the bowels of the earth 
 by lamp-light, clearing away the sand and ruins till 
 
Their Rediscovery and Exploration, 1 5 3 
 
 some tomb broke forth or some inscription became 
 legible, tracing the mouldering sculpture and catching 
 the fading picture. Thrown back into the primitive 
 ages of Christianity amidst the local impressions, the 
 historian of the Christian Catacombs collected the me- 
 morials of an age and of a race which were hidden be- 
 neath the earth."* 
 
 The literary industry of this pioneer explorer was 
 immense. He carefully examined all the Latin, Greek, 
 and Oriental Fathers ; all the ecclesiastical records, 
 canons, and decrees of councils ; the lives of the saints, 
 the acts of the martyrs — everything, in fact, whirh rould 
 illustrate the history of the Catacombs and of the earl/ 
 church. The result of these labours is seen in the bulky 
 MS. volumes, of many thousand pages, written with his 
 own hand, which are still extant in the Oratorian Li- 
 brary at Rome. He was not permitted to see the pub- 
 lication of his great work, in which was disclosed to the 
 world the wonderful terra incognita lying so long hidden 
 beneath the busy life of the Eternal City, but died while 
 writing the last chapter. It was too valuable a contri- 
 bution to Christian archaeology, however, to remain un- 
 published, and it was given to the world, under the ap- 
 propriate title of " Subterranean Rome," f in the year 
 1632, or five years after its author's death. 
 
 This book contains an admirable topographical ac- 
 count of each cemetery which he had explored, taking 
 in order the great consular roads leading from the city. 
 Bosio's attempted identification of the cemeteries and 
 
 * Essay on the Literary Character. Eng. ed., p. 144. 
 
 f Roma Sotteranea, opera postuma di Antonio Bosio eomposta 
 disposta ed accresciuta da Giovanni di Severano, Sacerdote delta Con- 
 gregazione delt Oratorio. Roma, 1632. 
 
 MacFarlane and Kip are in enor as to the period of Bosio's labours, 
 antedating them about thirty years. 
 

 154 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 ' 
 
 principal tombs and shrines described in the ancient 
 ecclesiastical records is not always sufficiently accurate. 
 He is rather uncritical and confused in his arrangement, 
 although honest and, in matters of personal observation, 
 exact. His work is of great value as giving an account 
 of many crypts and monuments, and copies of many 
 paintings which have perished through the decay or 
 vandalism of the last two hundred years, or whose posi- 
 tion has been forgotten. Among these is the Jewish 
 Cemetery before mentioned, of which no evidence is 
 extant save Bosio's description. His name, written in 
 his own peculiarly bold styie, is met with in many of the 
 newly opened galleries of the Catacombs, showing that he 
 had previously explored those parts since filled with 
 earth. 
 
 Many objects of priceless value have been lost since 
 Bosio's day by the desultory and unsystematic excava- 
 tions of private and independent explorers. These 
 were conducted, not upon a system of enlightened 
 archaeological research, but upon mere caprice; and 
 were guided too often by a superstitious zeal for the 
 identification and translation of the relics of the saints, 
 or by the more sordid motive of trafficking in their re- 
 mains, or of pillaging the gold and silver with which 
 some of the more illustrious shrines were still adorned. 
 In this quest many paintings, sculptures, and inscriptions 
 were destroyed or defaced of which no record has been 
 preserved. After the year 1688 the excavations were 
 pursued under pontifical supervision, though often ne- 
 glected through indifference or embarrassed by want of 
 funds. 
 
 In 165 1 a Latin translation of Bosio's great work* 
 
 * /^onta Subierranea novissima po:t Ant. Bosium et Joan. Seve- 
 
 ranuin. Romse, 1651. Two vols, fui. It is said that there are only 
 
 ■«««■ 
 
Their Rediscovery and Exploration. 1 55 
 
 was published by Padre Aringhi, a learned Oratorian 
 priest, who added numerous important discoveries of his 
 own. This book has been largely consulted in the 
 preparation of these pages, collated, of course, with 
 more recent and more accurate explorers. 
 
 The Catacombs were now frequently visited by trav- 
 ellers, who have left a record of their impressions in 
 their published works. Among these were two distin- 
 guished Englishmen, John Evelyn and Bishop Burnet. 
 The sturdy Protestantism of the latter, rejecting the 
 unwarranted inferences drawn by the Roman archaeolo- 
 gists from this testimony of the primitive ages, was be- 
 trayed into an unjust skepticism as to the character of 
 that testimony. He does not scruple to affirm that 
 " those burying places that are graced with the pompous 
 title of Catacombs are no other than the puticoli men- 
 tioned by Festus Pompeius, where the meanest sort of 
 the Roman slaves were laid," and that they did not 
 come into the possession of the Christians till the fourth 
 or fifth century.* A more careful or more candid ex- 
 amination of those early evidences of Christianity would 
 have shown him the error of this statement, in which 
 he has been followed by Misson, a French Protestant, 
 and by some other writers. 
 
 In 1 68 1 Bertoli published an interesting work on the 
 sepulchral lamps of the Catacombs f with numerous il- 
 lustrations ; but a more valuable contribution to the 
 literature of this subject was a collection of Christian 
 
 two copies of this work in America. Aringhi's version, being in 
 Latin, is better known out of Italy than the Italian treatises of Bosio, 
 Boldetti, or Bottari. 
 
 * " Letters from Italy in 1685 and 1686." Rotterdam. Pp. 209. 
 
 f Li antichi lucerni sepolcrali figurante raccolte dale cave sotter- 
 raiiea e grotte di Roma. Roma, 1 68 1. 
 
156 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 t 
 
 epitaphs * by Raph \ Fabretti, for many years custodian 
 of these sacred cry\ .;, who prevented the wholesale de- 
 struction of the inscriptions by their careless removal. 
 The learned Benedictine, Mabillon, personally examined 
 the evidences of the Catacombs, and wrote a treatise 
 concerning the reverence of the unknown saints.f This 
 led to the publication, under the patronage of Clem- 
 ent XI., of a theological and apologetic, rather than 
 scientific, treatise on the cemeteries of the holy martyrs 
 and early Christians of Rome,t by Marc Antonio Bol- 
 detti, the successor, for thirty years, of Fabretti, as cus- 
 iode of the Catacombs. But in his case, as in that of 
 several other Roman archaeologists, theological zeal was 
 allied with antiquarian enthusiasm, and sometimes im- 
 paired or destroyed the value of his researches. 
 
 Gruter's vast collection of ancient inscriptions,§ pub- 
 lished early in the century, and more especially that 
 of Muratori, || were valuable contributions to Chris- 
 tian epigraphy. The learned Jesuit, Marangoni, pre- 
 pared the material of a systematic work on the topo 
 graphical principle of Bosio, when the labour of nearly a 
 score of years was destroyed by fire. " It seems," says 
 De Rossi, recording the event, " that the literary history 
 of the Catacombs is but an Iliad of disaster and irrep- 
 arable losses." 
 
 The next name of distinction that we meet in connec- 
 tion with this subject is that of Bottari, equally versed 
 in profane and sacred antiquities. His great work on 
 
 * Inscriptionum antiqttarum qua in adibus patemis asservantur^ 
 etc. Romse, 1702. 
 
 f De Cultu Sanctorum Ignotorum, 
 
 \ Osservazioni sopra i c' ,eteri del SS, Martiri edantichi cristiani 
 di Roma. Roma, 1720. 
 
 § Insciiptiones Antiques. Amstelodami, 1707. 
 
 \N\tvu5 Thesaurus Veterum Inset iptionwn. Mediolani, 1739. 
 
Their Rediscovery and Exploration. 
 
 15; 
 
 the sculpture and paintings of the Catacombs * was is- 
 sued from the Vatican press, under the patronage of 
 Clement XII., during the years 1 737-1754. Other ar- 
 chaeologists, among whom we may enumerate Buonar- 
 rotti, Mamachi,t Marini, Lupi, Zaccaria, J Danzetta,§ 
 Olivieri, Borgia, and others, illustrated the subject in vari- 
 ous works during the eighteenth century. The establish- 
 ment of the Christian Museum in the Vatican by Bene- 
 dict XIV. greatly facilitated the study of these antiqui- 
 ties. The taste for archaeological researr i, however, 
 even among ecclesiastics, was principally confined to the 
 remains of pagan antiquity ; and amid the many mu- 
 seums of Rome only one was devoted to the Christian 
 monuments of the primitive ages, of which such vast 
 treasures lay buried in the earth. 
 
 During the present century important contributions 
 have been made to the literature of the Catacombs by 
 D'Agincourt,! RostelM Raoul-Rochette,** the Abb6s 
 
 ♦ Sculture e Pitture Sacre estratte dai Cimeteri di Roma. Roma. 
 
 f His Originum et Antiquitatum CAris/lanorum, Rom A, 1749-51, 
 treats especially on the sarcophagi of the Catacombs. 
 
 I This celebrated Jesuit projected a work " On the Use of Ancient 
 Christian Inscriptions in Theology." See Migne, Cursus Computus 
 Tfuolog.t vol. V, pp. 309, etc. 
 
 § Danzetta continued Zaccaria's plan. His work, which he called 
 Theologia Lapidaria, left unfinished, was undertaken by Geatano 
 Marini, who spent many years collecting materials to embrace the 
 first ten centuries. He was interrupted by the French Revolution, 
 and his thirty-one volumes of MS. in the Vatican are an unfinished 
 monument of his learning and industry. 
 
 I In LHistoire de L'Art par Us Monumens. Six vols. fol. Paris. 
 D'Agincourt came to Rome intending to spend six months in the 
 study of this subject, but its fascination so grew upon him that it occu- 
 pied the remaining fifty years of his life. 
 
 1" In Bunsen's Beschreibung der Stadt Rom. Stuttgard, 1830. 
 
 ♦* Mimoire surUs antiquites ChritUnnes des Catacombes. {Mem. di 
 FAcad. des Inscr.^ XIII.) See also TabUau des Catacombes. 
 
r 
 
 
 158 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 I |! 
 
 Ciaume * and Gerbet,f Bishop Muntcr,J Cardinal Mai,§ 
 and especially Padres Marchi || and Garrucci. 
 
 Cardinal Wiseman, in his beautiful tale of Fabiola,1[^ 
 attempts to rehabilitate the primitive ages in the garb 
 of modern Romanism. He brings together from widely 
 different periods the legends and traditions, often based 
 on very scanty evidence, which are most favourable to 
 the claims of u'tramontanism, and thus completely de- 
 stroys the historic value of the work, rendering it in 
 essence, as it is in form, a mere romance. 
 
 The most magnificent contribution to the literature 
 of the Catacombs, at least in point of artistic excellence 
 and costliness, is the superb work of M. Perret,** in six 
 huge folio volumes, with some five hundred coloured 
 drawings, two thirds of which were never before copied, 
 and as many facsimile inscriptions. It was prepared 
 under the direction of the French Academy of Inscrip- 
 tions, and by a vote of the Legislative Assembly of the 
 French Republic of 185 1 a grant of one hundred and 
 eighty thousand francs was given to defray the cost. No 
 
 ♦ In Les Trois Homes. 
 
 ^ Esquisse de Rome Chrttienttt. 
 
 X Sinnbilder und Kunstvorstellungender Alten Christen. Altona. 
 
 § Veterum Scrip tor um Nova Collectio. Roma, 1831. 
 
 I Monumenti delle Arti Cristiane Primitive nella Metropoli del 
 Oistianesimo. Roma, 1844. The political troubles of the year 
 1848 prevented its completion. The theological zeal of this writer, 
 however, has in many cases biassed his judgment. " In every page 
 of his work," says a critic in the Edinburgh Review, (January, 1859, 
 Am. ed., ccxxi, p. 48,) " an exuberant desire to find evidence in sup- 
 port of the later Romish doctrine among these records of the primi- 
 tive church predominates over every other consideration." 
 
 ^ London, 1857. 
 
 *♦ Les Catacombes de Rome, par Louis Perret. Six vols., fol. Paris, 
 1852-57. This book costs in the United States $600. Only three 
 copies are known to be in America. One of these is a gift from the 
 late emperor of the French to the parliamentary library of Canada. 
 
 \ II 
 
Their Rediscovery and Exploration. 1 59 
 
 expense was spared in its production. An able corps of 
 artists and architects were employed for several years 
 in the undertaking. The galleries and cubicula are 
 represented in elaborate drawings, plans, and sections, 
 and many of the frescoes are copied full size. In these 
 latter, however, the artists have injudiciously endeav- 
 oured to reproduce the original force, colour, and expres- 
 sion, instead of giving facsimiles of the faded, and often 
 half-obliterated, paintings. Many of the pictures have, 
 therefore, a pre-Raphaelite beauty, which destroys their 
 value as accurate representations of the art of the Cat- 
 acombs. It is to be regretted that the letter-press which 
 accompanies these plates is not more worthy of the gen- 
 eral magnificence of thii splendid work. " It is strung 
 together," says the writer already quoted,* " without 
 discrimination or critical research, and conveys a very 
 inaccurate notion of the results which scientific inquiry, 
 as opposed to mere ecclesiastical tradition, has now 
 reached." We have rarely ventured to make a state- 
 ment on its ajthority unless corroborated by more 
 authentic testimony, but many of its accurate draw- 
 ings of subterranean architecture enhance the value 
 of these pages. 
 
 All previous explorers, however, are left far behind 
 by the invaluable labours of the Cavaliere De Rossi, the 
 present custode of the Catacombs, and head of the Ro 
 man archaeological commission. His profound knowl- 
 edge of Christian antiquities, his unchallenged candour 
 and honesty of statement, his patience and ingenuity 
 in exploration, his scientific method, accurate observa- 
 
 ♦ Edinburgh Review, January, 1859, p. 48. De Rossi speaks with 
 tenderness of this superb editien — la grandiza edizione — which, in 
 spite of its defects — mal grado i xuoi difetti — is a valuable contribu* 
 lion to the literature of the Catacombs. 
 
•an 
 
 i6o 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i! 
 
 Ifii I 
 
 1 
 
 tion, and careful deductions, place him far beyond any 
 of his predecessors in this fascinating but difficult field 
 of inquiry. While, however, his statements of facts 
 may always be relied upon, his theoretical conclusions 
 must sometimes be received with caution, in conse- 
 quence of that seemingly inevitable tendency in Roman 
 Catholic writers to discover ancient evidences in favour 
 of their modern belief and practice where they can be 
 found by no one else. 
 
 The Catacombs are now placed under the jurisdiction 
 of the Roman Cardinal Vicar, assisted by a commission 
 of sacred archaeology appointed by the present pontiff. 
 As far as the comparatively limited means at their com- 
 mand will allow, they zealously pr >secute the excavation 
 and exploration of this subterranean Rome wi S a sys- 
 tematic method which has already been attended with 
 remarkable success, and which promises the most happy 
 results in the future. From its crumbling ruins, paint- 
 ings, decorations, and inscriptions of different ages, De 
 Rossi reconstructs its history, often with the gieatest 
 minuteness and fidtlity. His Roma Sotterranea * con- 
 tains a general history of the Catacombs on the principle 
 adopted in this volume, and a particular analysis of that 
 of Callixtus, embodying his most important discoveries. 
 The learned author is also publishing a complete col- 
 lection of all the Christian inscriptions of the first seven 
 centuries found in the vicinity of Rome. The first 
 volume t contains all those with consular dates, which 
 
 * Roma Sotterranea Cristiana. Roma, 1864-67. Four vols, fol., two 
 of text and two of plates, which are of great fidelity. The text is 
 from the Vatican press. The plates bear the imprint Venezia. 
 
 f Inscriptiones Christiana Urbis Romce Septimo Saculo Antiqui' 
 ores. Romie. One vol. fol., 1857-61. It is dedicated to the present 
 pope, "Another Damasus, who has brought to light the monuments 
 of '.he martyrs, . . . overwhelmed with ruin." — " PioIX., Pont. Max. 
 
 is 
 
Their Rediscovery and Exploration. i6i 
 
 are invaluable as fixing the chronology of the Catacombs 
 and as evidences of doctrine, showing its gradual cor- 
 ruption in later times. De Rossi also edits a bimonthly 
 journal — the Bullettino di Archeologia Cristiana — in which 
 the new discoveries are announced. 
 
 Dr. Maitland has the honour of being the first English 
 writer on this subject, with the. exception of the inci- 
 dental allusions of travellers like Evelyn and Burnet. 
 His admirable volume on the "Church in the Cata- 
 combs " is one of great interest, but having been writ- 
 ten thirty years ago is quite out of date ; and the recent 
 discoveries of De Rossi and others have shown some of 
 its conclusions, especially on the origin of the Cata- 
 combs, to be erroneous. His chapters on religious art 
 and symbolism are of permanent value, and the theo- 
 lo;^ical bearing of these Christian evidences has been 
 discussed with great candour and moderation. 
 
 In 1852 Mr. MacFarlane published a small volume 
 giving a popular account of the Catacombs, making no 
 reference, however, to their doctrinal teachings. " I 
 have," he says, "carefully avoided controversy." The 
 Rev. J. W. Burgon's " Letters from Rome " contain 
 some valuable chapters on this subject. The Rev. J. 
 Spencer Northcote, D.D., a Roman Catholic clergy- 
 m.an, published in 1857 a compendious "Account of 
 the Burial-places of the Early Christifirts in Rome," 
 compiled chiefly from Padre Marchi, whose strongly 
 Romanist views he fully adopted. In conjunction with 
 the Rev. \V. R. Brownlow, M.A., he published in 1869 
 
 alteri Damaso, qui monumenta martyrum, . . . minis obstructa in 
 lucem revocat." Both of these works, which embody the result of the 
 most recent explorations, have been laid under tribute in the prepara- 
 tion of these pages. Several of the illustrations are from the same 
 
 sources. 
 
 11 
 
1 62 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 the results of De Rossi's labours in a condensed form, 
 with reduced copies of many of his plates. With 
 the same reserve as in the case of h? former volume, 
 this is a valuable contribution to the literature of 
 this subject.* More recently the Rev. W. B. Mar- 
 riott, B,D., has written a work entitled "The Testi- 
 mony of the Catacombs," consisting of three mono- 
 graphs illustrating the development of the cultus of 
 Mary, the gradual encroachments of the papal see, 
 as indicated in Christian art, and a critical analysis of 
 the celebrated Autun inscription. 
 
 In America, the Right Rev. Wm. Ingraham Kip, D.D., 
 published in 1853 a little book of a popular character, 
 giving an account of the Catacombs, chiefly from Mait- 
 land, MacFarlane, and Aringhi. The authorities on 
 which it is based, however, have since been superseded, 
 and some of the views which they held disproved by 
 recent discovery. 
 
 The only remaining work to be mentioned as illustrat- 
 ing this subject is an admirable volume on Christian 
 epigraphy f by the Rev. John McCaul, LL.D. The 
 learned author's expansions, interpretations, and emen- 
 dations of the frequently elliptical, obscure, and un- 
 grammatical inscriptions of the Catacombs and other 
 early Christian cemeteries, and the reconstruction from 
 
 * Roma Sotterraea. London, 1 869. 8vo.,pp. 414. It sells in New 
 York for about $16 00. 
 
 f "Christian Epitaphs of the First Six Centuries," by the Rev. John 
 McCaul, LL.D., President of University College, Toronto. To- 
 ronto and London, i86g. Dr. McCaul was previously well known 
 to the archaeological world by his learned volume on Brittanno-Ro- 
 mano Inscriptions, a work which has elicited the commendations of 
 the highest critical authorities in Europe. The writer of these pj^es 
 has been greatly assisted by his veteran scholarship and critical re- 
 vision of the text. 
 
Their Rediscovery and Exploration. 163 
 
 a few mutilated fragments of important historic evi- 
 dence, seem to the uninitiated more a sort of divination 
 than a process of reasoning.* 
 
 * Among the sm<j.!!er treatises on the Catacombs, and separate ar- 
 ticles in the encyclop*viU.s and journals of higher literature, may be 
 mentioned the following, most of which have been consulted in the 
 preparation of these pages : ^emusat, Musee Chretien de Rome ; Re- 
 vue des D.nx Mondcs, Juin 15. 1863 ; Rruue Chietienne.Mai, 1864 ; 
 Jehan, Diet, dcs Origin, du Christ., pp. 212, 89 ; Martigny, Diet, des 
 Antiq.Chrlt.,\).i6b\ Bouix, 1 heologie des Catacombes, Arras, 1864; 
 Piper, Mythologie und Syinbolik der Christlichen Kunst, Weimar, 
 pp. 184, 51, and Die Graben Schriften derAltenten Christen in Evang. 
 Kallendar 1855, p. 27, 1827, p. 37 / Edin. Rev., January, 1859, and 
 July, 1864 ; Contemp. Rev., September, 1866, and May, 1872 ; 
 Monumental Theology, by Prof. Bennett, in Meth. Quar. Rev., 
 January and April, 1871 ; M'Clintock and Strong, Cyclopedia, in verba. 
 In the Hiitory of Sacred Art in Italy, by C. L. Hemans, son of the 
 poetess, are two interesting chapters on the Catacombs, and valuable 
 notes of ancient ari, passim. Seymour's Mornings with the yesuits has 
 some interesting paragraphs on this subject, as has also Prof. Silliman's 
 Visit tc Europe. The Rev. Wm. Arthur, M.A., has an able Exeter 
 Hall lecture on the Catacombs. In Murray's Hand-Book of Rome, 
 ed. of 1867, is some interesting information on this topic. In Har- 
 pet^ji Mag., April, 1865, is a popular article by Prof. Greene, U. S. 
 Consul at Kome. In SchaflTs Ch. Hist., i, § 93 / Killens Anc. Ch., pp. 
 348-351 ; Stanley's -fi'rtj/f;-// Churches, and Milman,/rtjj/;/;, are inter- 
 esting reffirences to the subject. In Westcrop's Hand-Book of Ar- 
 chaology, London, 1867, and in the Diet. Epig. Ckretienne, Paris, 
 1852, ary valuable contributions on the epigraphy of the Catacombs. 
 Didron's Iconographie Chritienm, Paris, 1841 ; Lord Lindsay's Hist, 
 of Aft, London, 1847 ; Liibke's History of Art, London, 1869 ; Mrs, 
 Jameson's Sacred Art, Tyrwhitt's Christian Art and Symbolism, and 
 Hare's Walks About Rome, have also been laid under contribution. 
 
I^?** 
 
 164 
 
 Tlic Catacombs of Rcme. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PRINCIPAL CATACOMBS OF ROME. 
 
 it 
 
 Before leaving this division of* our subject we will 
 take a rapid survey of the more remarkable of that vast 
 system of Christian cemeteries that engirdles the city 
 of Rome. It will be more convenient to notice them in 
 topographical order, beginning with those on the Appiaii 
 Way, and sweeping around the city to the north-west, 
 over the great roads on the borders of which the Cata- 
 combs are chiefly situated. The ground near these roads 
 is honeycombed with sepulchral excavations, to which 
 there are said to be six hundred entrances scattered 
 over the Campagna. Bo^io found them in almost every 
 vineyard near the Salarian Way. In some of these the 
 peasants keep their wine, although their fears prevent 
 them from venturing far irom the mouth ; and some- 
 times villas fall in through the subsidence of the 
 soil. 
 
 The various groups of crypts have been known by 
 diff"erent names at different periods, or even at the same 
 period ; and it is sometimes difficult or impossible to 
 disentangle the conflicting accounts, and to identify the 
 cemeteries to which the ancient names were applied. 
 The original records — the martyrologies and the Liber 
 Pontificalis* — are sometimes utterly unreliable, and the 
 
 * This book, so often referred to, has been ascribed to Damasus, 
 but much of it is unquestionably of much later origin. While much 
 of its information i^ valuable, more of it is quite unauthentic. 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 i6s 
 
 very existence of the saints and martyrs whose lives are 
 recorded is often exceedingly apocryphal ; and even if 
 their traditions are in the main correct, it is in many 
 cases doubtful if they are buried in the Catacombs 
 which bear theT names. Frequently, however, these 
 traditions are confirmed by inscriptions and other mon- 
 umental evidence, which establish beyond doubt the 
 identity of the Catacomb, as in the case of that of 
 Callixtus and others which we shall notice. 
 
 Fig". 25.— Tombs on Appian Way. 
 
 Southeastward from the ancient Porta Capena of the 
 city of Rome stretches the celebrated Appian Way, the 
 most remarkable of those vast arteries of commerce 
 along which flowed to the most distant provinces the 
 vital currents from the great heart of the empire. This 
 " Queen of Roads," * as it was proudly called, was lined 
 on either side by the stately tombs in which reposed the 
 
 * " Qua limite noto 
 Appia longarum tcritur Kegina J'ia7-utn" — Stat. Syl., II, 2. 
 
i66 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ashes of the mighty dead. * " The history of Christian 
 Rome," says Padre Marchi, \ ** gives to this same 
 road titles of glory incomparably more solid, just, and 
 indisputable. We are forced to acknowledge it as the 
 queen of Christian roads by reason of the greater num- 
 ber and extent of its cemeteries, and still more by the 
 greater number and celebrity of its martyrs." Under 
 the present pontiff this historic highway has been ex- 
 cavated and opened for travel as far as Albano ; and 
 one may now traverse that avenue of tombs on the very 
 causeway on which Horace and Virgil, Augustus and 
 Maecenas, Cicero and Seneca, must often have entered 
 Rome. But it is invested with a profounder interest as 
 the way by which the great Apostle of the Gentiles 
 approached the city, " an ambassador in bonds," to 
 preach the gospel in Rome also, and to finish his testi- 
 mony by a glorious martyrdom. By this very road also, 
 according to an ancient tradition, his body was stealth- 
 ily conveyed by night and deposited in an adjacent Cat- 
 acomb ; and here wended many a mourning procession 
 
 * Often mere vulgar wealth exhibited its ostentation even in death 
 by the magnitude and magnificence of these tombs designed to per- 
 petuate the memory of their occupants forever. But, as if to rebuke 
 that posthumous pride, they are now mere crumbling ruins, often de- 
 voted to ignoble uses, the very names of whose tenants are forgotten. 
 Many of them, during the stormy period of the Middle Ages, were 
 occupied as fortresses. More recently that of Augustus, on the Cam- 
 pus Martius, was used as an arena for bull-fights, and as a summer 
 theatre, where Harlequin played his pranks upon an emperor's grave. 
 Some of the tombs have been converted into stables, pig-styes, or 
 charcoal cellars. The cinerary urn of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, 
 was long used as a measure for com. In many a vignarolo's hovel in 
 the Campagna swine may be seen eating out of sculptured sarcoph- 
 agi, and in the imperial halls where banqueted the masters of the 
 world they hold their unclean revels. " Expende Hannibalem," says 
 the Roman satirist, " quot libras in duce summo invenies?" 
 
 f Monumcnti delle Arti C^fstiane Primitive^ p. 73. 
 
 I 
 
The Principal Catacombs, 
 
 167 
 
 bearing to those lowly crypts the remains of Rome's 
 early bishops, martyrs, and confessors. 
 
 The ancient Porta Capena, with the dripping aque- 
 duct above it,* have disappeared, and the fountain of 
 Egeria, trampled by cattle, is no longer the haunt of 
 nymph or naiad. Passing through the modern Sebastian 
 gate and crossing the classic Almo, the traveller reaches 
 at a short distance the little church of Domine quo 
 vadis, with which is connected one of the most beau- 
 tiful legends of the martyrology.f 
 
 About a mile and three quarters from the city he 
 comes to Vigna Animendola, on the doorway leading to 
 which is a marble tablet with the words ccemeterivm 
 s. CALLiXTi. Beneath this vineyard lies the celebrated 
 Catacomb of Callixtus, of which we propose to enter 
 into a somewhat detailed description, as it will give 
 
 * Substitit ad veteres arcus, madidamque Capenam. 
 
 — ^Juv., Sat., iii. 
 
 f The legend asserts that as the Apostle Peter was leaving Rome 
 in the early dawn, in order to escape martyrdom, he met Our Lord 
 bearing his cross, and, throwing himself at his feet, exclaimed, 
 Domine quo vadis — " Lord, whither goest thou ? " In accents of 
 tender rebuke the Master answered, Venio Romam iteruin crucifigi 
 — " I am going to Rome to be crucified again." Stung with contrition 
 and remorse, the disciple, according to the tradition, returned to the 
 city, and there was crucified — by his own request with his head 
 downwards, as unworthy to share the same mode of death as the Lord 
 whom he had denied. In the neighbouring church of St. Sebastian 
 is a white marble slab bearing impressions said to have been made 
 by the feet of Our Lord. The stoiy is first mentioned by Origen, who 
 applies it to St. Paul. St. Ambrose substitutes St. Peter, but the 
 precise spot was not fixed till the fifteenth century ; and Aringhi, in 
 the seventeenth century, is the first who mentions the impression of 
 the feet in " that stone most worthy, more valuable than any precious 
 jewel." This white marble slab is certainly very unlike the dark 
 gray porphyry of the Appian pavement, and the irregular depression 
 in its surface bears slight resemblance to human feet. But no his- 
 torical difficulties are too great for the devout credulity of Rome. 
 
i , 
 
 'I 
 
 i 
 
 r 
 
 » 
 
 i ( 
 
 I 
 
 I68 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 greater definiteness to the general conceptions already 
 received, and will serve as a typical example of the 
 origin and history of the Catacombs in general. 
 
 In the year 1849 De Rossi found in a cellar in this 
 vineyard a broken marble slab with the mutilated in- 
 scription ELIVS • MARTYR, and at the beginning the 
 upt3er part of the letters RN. He immediately conjec- 
 tured that this was a fragment of the tombstone of 
 Cg 1 elius, a Roman bishop of the third century, whose 
 sepul^ ^ e would probably be found not far off. At his 
 persuasion the pope purchased the vineyard, and the 
 archaeological commission began the work of excavation. 
 They were rewarded by some of the most remarkable 
 discoveries which have yet been made. 
 
 The cemetery is situated between the Via Appia and 
 the Via Ardeatina, which are connected by narrow 
 cross-roads. De Rossi has prepared a map of the prin- 
 cipal part of it, divided into fifteen rectilinear and gen- 
 erally rectangular areas. The dimensions of these 
 areas are not fractional but round numbers, as 100, 125, 
 150, and 250 feet, which cannot be the result of accident, 
 and, with other evidences, indicate that they were, like 
 similar pagan sepulchral areas, originally so many sepa- 
 rate places of burial. When brought under the eccle- 
 siastical control of Callixtus, about A. D. 200, they 
 probably received one common name, became struc- 
 turally united, and were used as a public cemetery 
 of the church. 
 
 The first of these areas which we reach on entering 
 the vineyard is that known as the crypt of St. Lucina. 
 It has a frontage of one hundred feet on the Via Appia, 
 and an extension in agro of two hundred and thirty feet. 
 The limits of this area are exactly defined by the pres- 
 ence of a small pagan hypogceum on each side, which the 
 
 i ! 
 
 At 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 169 
 
 Christians dared not undermine. In the centre, near 
 the road, is a massive monument, shown in the section 
 of this crypt. Fig. 14, which De Rossi conjecti . js to have 
 been a Christian mausoleum,* quoting Tertuilian f as a 
 witness that they had monutnenta et mausolea at a very 
 early period. % This is more probable from the fact that 
 the property belonged to the noble Roman family of the 
 Caecilii, with which Cicero was connected, many of 
 whose tombs were found in the neighbourhood. This 
 probably explains its vicinity to the stately mausoleum 
 of Caecilia Metella. "^1 .e ames of many CEecilii and 
 other noble Roman far^lies are also found on epitaphs 
 in this crypt. This was unquestionably one of the most 
 ancient areas of the Cat combs. 
 
 In this area, in i? 2, the remaining portion of the epi- 
 taph of Cornelius was found at the foot of the tomb to 
 which it evidently belonged, in a gallery of unusual 
 width. 
 
 This tomb is flanked by pilasters covered with fine 
 white stucco, and a mutilated inscription in the well- 
 known manner of Damasus commemorates its adorn- 
 ment by that pontiff. Numerous graffiti indicate that 
 this was a favourite shrine. Faded frescoes of Cornelius, 
 Cyprian, and two other bishops, wearing the stole, ton- 
 sure, and nimbus, are attributed by De Rossi to the 
 ninth century. Beside the tomb is a short column of 
 masonry, covered with stucco, which probably sustained 
 an altar or the vase of oil in which tapers were anciently 
 burned before the shrines of the martyrs ; § indeed, the 
 
 * Rom. Sott.y ii, 367. \ De Resurrect. Camis., c. 27. 
 
 X Rom. Sott., i, 210. 
 
 § The Council of Elvira, A. D. 305, forbade the burning of wax 
 tapers by day in the cemeteries of the dead — Cereos per diem placuit 
 in Cfjemetcrio non incendi. Cone. Elib., can. 34. 
 
'f^ 
 
 li 
 
 170 
 
 T/te Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ; 41 
 
 s 
 
 'i 
 
 
 fragments of such a vase have been found among the 
 rubbish of the tomb. Among the relics sent by Gregory 
 the Great to Queen Theodelinda, according to the list 
 still extant in the cathedral of Monza, said to be in the 
 handwriting of that pope, is one ex oleo S. Corneliiy which 
 must have come from this spot. 
 
 When the area of Lucina became crowded with tombs 
 another of the same size was opened about a hun- 
 dred yards off. It contains the celebrated " Papal 
 Crypt," the tomb of St. Cecilia, and other monuments 
 of the greatest interest. We will give a somewhat de- 
 tailed account of the construction and successive changes 
 of this area, following the skilful analysis of De Rossi, 
 who has given accurate plans, sections, and measure- 
 ments of the whole. It extended, as is shown by the 
 dotted lines in the accompanying plan, two hundred 
 and fifty feet along the narrow cross-road marked M N, 
 and one hundred feet in agro. This would, in the 
 first place, be secured as a burial-ground by the 
 Christian owner with the proper legal forms, which, we 
 have seen, protected the places of sepulture from inva- 
 sion or disturbance till the times of the later persecution. 
 Openings were then made from the surface at A and B, 
 and stairways constructed reaching to a depth of thirty- 
 nine feet. These stairways were partly lined with brick- 
 work, but were chiefly cut in the solid tufa. The walls 
 were coated with fine stucco, white and firm — an evi- 
 dence of antiquity — and ornamented with bands of 
 a bright red pigment. The original steps were cov- 
 ered with marble, but they were afterwards restored 
 with masonry. The upper part, indicated by dotted 
 lines, is destroyed to the depth of ten feet, and there is 
 evidence of the complete obstruction of the passage, 
 doubtless during time of persecution. The stairway B 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 171 
 
 has been used as a wine store, and is obstructed by a 
 wall and a smaller transverse stairway. 
 
 An ambulacrum or gallery was first excavated around 
 the sides of the area, and several cross passages, as D.. 
 
 "^.iiiiSr^m^ ^-^X^ N 
 
 FlflT. 26.— Part of Cemetery of Callixtus. 
 
 E, F, G, H, I, constructed. The walls are thickly lined 
 with graves, and in places the floor has been lowered to 
 give room for still more loculi. At D, C, the fossors 
 finding the wall to crumble, had to stre-.gthen it with 
 masonry, and to desist from lowering the floor of the 
 
 
1/3 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ■ i 
 
 i 
 
 gallery. Hence the latter is not level, but has, in places, 
 steps which have been worn to an inclined plane. The 
 increasing demand for graves led to the formation of the 
 cubicula Ai to A«, as well as others in the interior of the 
 area. Many of these are decorated with frescoes, and A| 
 is known as the Capclla dei Sacramenti^ or Chapel of the 
 Sacrament, on account of its so-called liturgical paint- 
 ings. A4 has a coloured marble floor of symmetrical de- 
 sign, and A, has a large sepolcro a mcnsa lined with 
 marble and flanked with marble pilasters. T^e iron 
 bars which supported the table tomb may still be seen. 
 There are many Greek as well as Latin inscriptions in 
 these galleries, and some of the tiles which close the 
 loculi bear the stamp of the emperors M. Aurelius and 
 Commodus, which fixes the date of this area. Some 
 of the passages are entirely paved with such tiles. Nu- 
 merous niches for lamps also occur. At F a well was 
 excavated which still contains water. It is furnished 
 with foot-holes, that a man might descend in order to 
 clean it out. This is common in other wells in the 
 Catacombs. 
 
 The ever-pressing necessity for graves compelled the 
 fossors at length to attempt the construction of galleries 
 on a lower level. Accordingly we find a stairway, 
 H, Hs, of thirty-four steps leading down from the gal- 
 lery H. The rock, however, through which this stair- 
 way descends is no longer the firm tufa granolare of the 
 upper level, but a very friable stratum of pozzolana^ 
 which made it necessary to protect the walls with brick- 
 work. Finding this stratum of great depth, they exca- 
 vated a horizontal passage, and a still further narrow 
 experimental cleft, as it were, in search of firmer rock, 
 but soon abandoned the attempt, failing to find any 
 suitable for sepulture. The few graves they made had 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 173 
 
 to be built of brick-work ; and in one of these was found 
 a little terra cotta sarcophagus, containing the body of 
 an infant. This shows the utter unfitness of the pozzo- 
 iana beds in which the arenaria are excavated for the 
 construction of the Catacombs. We have seen that 
 about A. D. 200 Callixtus became the guardian of this 
 cemetery, which seems to have then become the burial- 
 place of the bishops of Rome instead of the crypts of 
 the Vatican as previously. According to the Liber 
 Pontificalisy out of eighteen bishops from Zephyrinus to 
 Sylvester, that is, from A. D. 197 to A. D. 314, no less 
 than thirteen were buried in this cemetery. This Cal- 
 lixtus was originally a slave, afterwards elevated to the 
 highest ecclesiastical dignities, including the episcopate 
 itself — a proof of the superiority of the church to all 
 social distinctions. According to Hippolytus, the un- 
 doubted author of the recently discovered Philosophou- 
 viena^ he reached that dignity by dishonourable means, 
 by fraud and guilfe. He was at one time banished by 
 the emperor to the mines of Sardinia for embezzling 
 moneys intrusted to his care, and on his return lapsed 
 • into heresy bordering on pantheism, or at least was 
 charged with that offence. But although the character 
 of Callixtus shows the nascent corruptions of the church 
 of Rome even early in the third century, it should not 
 prejudice us against the cemetery called by his name. 
 He himself is interred elsewhere,* and the holy con- 
 fessors and martyrs who slumbered here have consecrated 
 the place forever with their hallowed dust. 
 
 Toward the middle of the third century, as we have 
 
 * He was killed by being thrown out of th «rindow of his house 
 in a popular tumult in Rome. His body v cast into a well, and 
 afterwards secretly coiweyed to the cemetery of Calepodius, on the 
 Via Aurelia, in the immediate vicinity. 
 
«■ 
 
 I- 
 %■ 
 
 !■ 
 I 
 
 i' ; 
 '.'il ' 
 
 « 
 
 174 
 
 T/te Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 :JI 
 
 P 
 
 i 
 
 seen, even the cemeteries themselves were not secure 
 from invasion by the persecuting tyrants. When the 
 protection of the law was withdrawn, the public stair- 
 ways A and B, Fig. 20, were blocked up and partially 
 destroyed, new passages, B, and B3, were opened into 
 the adjacent arenarium for the entrance and escape of 
 the Christians, and a very narrow and steep secret stair- 
 way, X4, was constructed from the roof of the latter to 
 the open air, requiring a ladder, which might be re- 
 moved to cut off pursuit, or the assistance of friends for 
 entrance or departure.* We have here an affecting in- 
 stance of the perils to which the persecuted Christians 
 were exposed when hunted through these gloomy crypts 
 by their cruei pagan foes. The difference between the 
 straight and narrow galleries of the Catacombs and the 
 wide and unsymmetrical windings of the arenarium 
 will be remarked. Connexions were also formed with 
 adjacent areas at S, Ci, Cj, and Bi, sometimes break- 
 ing directly through the loaili and cubicula. The ut- 
 most economy of space was now observed, every ava'.l- 
 able foot of wall being occupied ; the inscriptions be- 
 come more rude, indicating poverty and oppression ; and 
 the stucco or marble ornaments give place to rude 
 carvings of the tufa itself into cornices, columns, and 
 capitals. Some of the cubirula are made of larger size, 
 as if for worship, sometimes six or eight-.sided, and oc- 
 casionally with apsidal recesses. 
 
 During the terrible period of the Diocletian persecu- 
 tion, when the cemeteries were confiscated by the 
 heathen government, the Christians, in order to prevent 
 the profanation of the more sacred sepulchres, and espec- 
 ially that of'the bishops, filled up the principal galleries 
 with earth at immense expense and labour. Much of 
 * See secti'^n of this stairway in Fig. 22. 
 
 1 
 
 
The Prhuipal Catacombs. 
 
 175 
 
 this still encumbers the passages and forms the chief 
 obstacle to their exploration. On the cessation of the 
 persecution some of these galleries leading to the prin- 
 cipal crypts were cleared out by means of cylindrical 
 shafts made for the purpose ; and sometimes new gal- 
 leries were excavated in the tufa above the old ones, 
 the floor of which was formed of the consolidated earth 
 in the former gallery. Where this earth has been re- 
 moved the height of the two galleries is, in places, twenty 
 feet, filled with graves to the top, the upper part being 
 much narrower than the lower. The obstructions in 
 the stairways A and B were also removed and the stairs 
 renewed. 
 
 We have seen that Damasus was indefatigable in his 
 restoration of the Catacombs. It might, therefore, be 
 expected that this important area would give evidence 
 of his labours. Such evidence is found in a broad 
 stairway of fine masonry, not shown in Fig. 26, made to 
 accommodate the crowds of pilgrims who thronged to 
 those sacred shrines, the " Papal Crypt " and tomb of St. 
 Cjcilii. This stairway was discovered by De Rossi in 
 1854, entirely blocked up with an immense mass of earth 
 and rubbish, as were also the chambers to which it led. 
 The removal of this was a work of great expense and 
 labour. The vestibule, L, which we first enter, is con- 
 structed entirely of masonry, and is lighted by a large 
 luminare. Its plastered walls are covered with graffiti^ 
 an indication that we are approaching a spot held in 
 especial sanctity by the ancient church.* 
 
 These casual records of the generations of pilgrims 
 who have visited the tombs of the primitive bish- 
 ops, martyrs, and confessors, have proved in many 
 
 " Here were also found a number of polygonal basalt paving- 
 stones. evidenMy from the roadway above. 
 
lyC 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 * \\ 
 
 II f 
 
 
 r i.ses of great importance, and are, in the words of De 
 iLossi, " the faithful echoes of history, and infallible 
 guides through these subterranean labyrinths." But 
 they are sometimes also, as we shall see hereafter, 
 indications of the corruption of doctrine, and of the 
 nascent belief in human mediation between man and 
 God. 
 
 It is somewhat of a disappointment to find, on enter- 
 ing this celebrated sanctuary, (Li in the plan,) that in- 
 stead of being a veritable relic of the third or fourth 
 century, most of the masonry is only a few years old. 
 When an entrance was effected into it in 1854, which 
 could only be done through the luminare^ it was found 
 in a ruinous condition, filled with earth, broken brick- 
 work, and rubbish of every sort. When this was removed 
 the vault gave way, and had to be almost entirely rebuilt 
 and lined with masonry. The chamber itself is com- 
 paratively small, being only about eleven by fcurteen 
 feet. It has a barrel roof, and is lighted by a large 
 liiminare. The pavement was of marble, and covered 
 graves made beneath it. On each side are eight large 
 ioci/li\ the lower row of which has spaces to contain sar- 
 cophagi. The walls were formerly lined with marble, 
 and had semi-detached marble pillars, the bases of 
 which still remain. At the end opposite the entrance 
 is a large sepolcro a mensa, in front of which is a dais 
 elevated two steps. In thi«i dais are four sockets to 
 receive the bases of as many short pillars which sup- 
 ported a marble table standing out from the wall, as 
 unlike as possible to a modern Roman altar. The whole 
 was surrounded by a low parapet of marble lattice work, 
 fragments of which have been disinterred from the debris 
 that encumbered the spot. 
 
 In this little chamber no less than eleven Roman 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 177 
 
 bishops of the third century are recorded to have been 
 Ijuried, and others :n iJ^s immediate vicinity, when per- 
 secution or other reasons prevented their being laid in 
 its sacred inclosure. As we have already seen,* De Rossi 
 has recovered in the rubbish of this chamber what he 
 conceives to be the original epitaphs of five of these 
 bishops, and presumptive evidence of the presence of 
 others. St. !Sixtus, indeed, is frequently mentioned in 
 the graffiti as he to whom especial reverence was here 
 paid, and De Rossi found in this crypt fragments of 
 his epitaph which we have prevlo'^jly given. f The fol- 
 lowing Damasine inscription was discovered by De Rossi 
 among the dtbris of this chamber in one hundred and 
 twenty fragments, and with great skill and learning re- 
 constructed and restored to the wall. 
 
 HIC CONGESTA lACET QVAERIS SI TVRBA PIORVM 
 CORPORA SANCTORVM RETINENT VENERANDA SEPVLCHRA 
 SVBLIMES ANIMAS RAPVIT SIBI REGIA CAELI 
 HIC COMITES XYSTI PORTANT QVI EX HOSTE TROPAEA 
 HIC NVMERVS PROCERVM SERVAT QVI ALTARIA CHRISTI 
 HIC POSITVS LONGA VIXIT QVI IN PACE SACERDOS 
 HIC CONFESSORES SANCTI QVOS GRAECIA MISIT 
 HIC IVVENES PVERIQVE SENES CASTIQVE NEPOTES 
 QVIS MAGE VIRGINEVM PLACVIT RETINERE PVDOREM 
 HIC FATEOR DAMASVS VOLVI MEA CONDERE MEMBRA 
 BED CINERES TIMVI SANCTOS VEXARE PIORVM. 
 
 •' Here, if you would know, lie heaped together a whole crowd of 
 
 holy ones. 
 These honoured sepulchres inclose the bodies of the saints. 
 Their noble souls the palace of Heaven has taken to itself. 
 Here lie the companions of Xystus, who bear away the trophies from 
 
 the enemy ; 
 Here a number of elders, who guard the altars of Christ ; 
 Here is buried the priest, who long lived in peace ; 
 Here the holy confessors whom Greece sent us ; 
 
 * Pp. 81-83. 
 
 12 
 
 f Pp. 85. 86. 
 
 m- 
 
 r^ 
 
 tiH 
 
» 
 
 I f 
 
 i 
 
 178 The Catacombs of Kom(r. 
 
 Here lie youths and boys, old men a:td :b< ir chaitc pffspring, 
 Who chose, as the better part, to keep their virgin chastity. 
 Here I, Damasus, confess I wished to lay my limbs, 
 But I feared to disturb the holy ashes of the saints." * 
 
 An ancient itineran- states that eighty, or, according 
 to one account, eight hundred, martyrs ;.re buried in 
 this part of the Catacomb ; and in the corner of this 
 very crypt is a pit of remarkable depth, probably the 
 pdyandria^ in which were " heaped together a whole 
 crowd " of the victims of persecution. 
 
 Besides these restorations of Damasus, there Is evi- 
 dence of successive decorations of this celebrated 
 shrine down to the period of Leo III., at the end of the 
 eighth century. So great have been the changes thus 
 caused that De Rossi confesses that it is impossible to 
 say what was the original character of the chamber. 
 
 Adjoining the " Papal Crypt " Is tha^. of St. Cecilia, 
 (O, Fig. 26,) to which we pass from the former through 
 a narrow doorway in the rock. This is 3ne of the largest 
 cubicula in the Catacombs, being nearly twenty feet 
 square, and ii >ded with light by a large luminare. 
 The chamber, ¥, il h gives evidence of having been greatly 
 enlarged from its original dimensions, was once lined with 
 marble and mosaic, as were also the sides of the doorway 
 and the arch above. It has also been frequently adorned 
 with paintings, a sure indication of its especial sanctity. 
 Among these are a large head of Our Lord, of the Byzan- 
 tine type, with 4 Greek nimbus, in a semicircular niche, 
 
 * The old brick building with three npsides and a vaulted roof, 
 near the entrance to this cr)'pt, long i^sed as a gardener's storehouse, 
 has been claimed as the basilica which Damasus prqvided for the 
 bu';al of himself, his mother, and sister ; but it was more pfqbably 
 ^t fabrici'i for worship or the celebration of the agape, or siniply fof 
 the guardian .)f the Catacomb. 
 
The Prindj^al Catacombs. 
 
 If 79 
 
 and a full-length ligure of St. Urban in pontifi-: il iO*>es, 
 with his name inscribed. Both of these, De Ros linuks^ 
 belong to the tenth or eleventh century. A'' "hti ;)ic- 
 ture, probably of the seventh century, of a rich.y Litired 
 Roman lady with jeweled bracelets and necklace, is 
 conjectured to represent St. Cecilia. A large recess in 
 the wall next to the " Papal Crypt " is thought to have 
 held her sarcophagus, De Rossi and his English editors 
 seem to accept substantially the Romish legend of this 
 celebrated martyr. Protestant readers, however, will 
 take the liberty of rejecting the miraculous part of the 
 story as an invention of the fifth century, when the le- 
 gend first appears. 
 
 St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, according to her rather 
 apocryphal Acts was a maiden of noble rank — ingenua^ 
 nobilis, clarissima. She sang so sweetly that the angels 
 descended to listen to her voice; and to her i: ascribed 
 the invention of the organ, which is therefore uer attri- 
 bute in art. She was betrothed to Va'^rian. a 'nagan of 
 patrician rank, yet had vowed to be th-^ pous* of Christ 
 alone. She confessed her vow to Va' an oa her mar- 
 riage-day, and assured him that she v- 3? ever guarded 
 by an angel of God, who would avenge r^ violation. 
 He promised to respect her vow if he iMgiu oehold her 
 celestial visitant. She told him that his « yes must be 
 first illumed by faith and purged with spiritual euphrasy 
 by baptismj and sent him to St. Urban, then hiding in 
 the Catacomb of Callixtus, who instructed and baptized 
 him. On his return he found Cecilia praying, with an 
 angel by her side who crowned her with immortal 
 flowers — the lilies of purity and the roses of martyrdom. 
 His brother Tiburtius came in, and, struck with the 
 heavenly fragrance, for it was not the time of flowers, 
 he also was converted and baptized. Refusing to 
 
 iki 
 
 w\ 
 
1 80 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 sacrifice to the pagan gods, the brothers both received 
 the crown of martyrdom.* 
 
 Cecilia herself was reserved for a more glorious tes- 
 timony. By order of the Roman prefect she was shut 
 up in the caldarium, or chamber of the bath, in her own 
 palace, which was heated to the point of sufifocation. 
 After a whole day and a night she was found unharmed. 
 No sweat stood upon her brow, no lassitude oppressed 
 her limbs. A lictor was sent to strike off her head. 
 Three times the axe fell upon her tender neck, but, as 
 the law forbade the infliction of more than three strokes, 
 she was left alive though bathed in blood. For three 
 days she lingered, testifying of the grace of God and 
 turning many to the faith ; and then, giving her goods 
 to the poor and her house for a church forever, she 
 sweetly fell asleep. Her body was placed in a cypress 
 coffin — very un^ ual in the Catacombs, it is doubtful if 
 a single example was ever discovered — and buried in 
 the cemetery of Callixtus, " near the chapel of the 
 popes." 
 
 But miracles ceased not with her death. In the trans- 
 lation of the martyrs from the Catacombs by Pascal I., 
 in 817, the remains of Cecilia were overlooked. The 
 saint appeared to the pope in a vision and revealed the 
 place of her burial. f He sought the spot, and found her 
 body as fresh and perfect as when laid in the tomb five 
 centuries before ! He placed it in a marble sarcopha- 
 ♦- IS under the high altar of the church of St. Cecilia, 
 \v\lich he rebuilt upon the site of her palace. 
 
 In the year 1599, or nearly eight centuries later, Car- 
 
 * About A. D. 230, say the Acts, although the Christians then en- 
 joyed profound peace. 
 
 f An antioue fresco at St. Cecilia represents the apparition of the 
 martyr to the pontiff as he slept in his throne on St. Peter's day. 
 
 I- 
 
 i 
 
r ^ - .W ■ - 
 
 The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 i8i 
 
 dinal Sfondrati, while restoring the church, discovered 
 this ancient sarcophagus. It was opened in the presence 
 of trustworthy witnesses, and there, say the ecclesiastical 
 records of the time, vested in golden tissue, with linen 
 clothes steeped with blood at the feet, besides remnants 
 of silken drapery, lay the incorrupt and virgin form of 
 St. Cecilia in the very attitude in which she died.^ 
 
 It is difficult to know what proportion of truth this 
 legend contains ; but, like many other of the Romish 
 traditions, the large admixture of fiction invalidates 
 the claims of the whole. Its sweet and tender mysti- 
 cism, however, lifts it out of the region of fact into that 
 of poetry, and almost disarms hostile criticism. f The 
 excessive praise of virginity indicates a comparatively 
 late origin. On the festival of St. Cecilia, the 22d of 
 November, her tomb is adorned with flowers and illu- 
 mined with lamps, and mass is celebrated in her subter- 
 ranean chapel by a richly appareled priest — strange con- 
 trast to the primitive worship with which alone she was 
 acquainted. In a sarcophagus discovered near her 
 
 * In an arched recess under the high altar of St. Cecilia is a beau- 
 tiful marble statue of the saint in a recumbent posture, by Stefano 
 Madema, accompanied by the following inscription : 
 
 EN TIBI SANCTISSIMAE VIRGINIS CAECILIAE IMAGINEM QVAM IPSE 
 INTEGRAM IN SEPVLCHRO lACENTEM VIDI EADEM TIBI PRORSVS 
 EODEM CORPORIS SITV HOC MARMORE EXPRESSI. 
 
 " Behold the image of the lost holy Virgin Cecilia, whom I myself 
 saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for 
 thee the same saint in the very same posture of body." 
 
 f The modem additions have less claim on our reverence. The 
 skeptical will see no reason why the remains of Cecilia should defy 
 the laws of nature for fourteen centuries, when after only two those 
 of Charles Borromeo, also a saint, which are exhibited at Milan arrayed 
 in (ostly gold-embroidered robes and sparkling with gems, reveal 
 only a black and decaying head and eyeless sockets, the skin shriveled 
 and ruptured and the shrunken lips parting in a ghastly smile. 
 
f. 
 
 1 
 
 182 
 
 Tke Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 tomb were found the remains, it is assumed, of her hus- 
 band Valerian and his brother Tiburtius, who had 
 manifestly been beheaded ; and also those of the prefect 
 Maximus, who was converted by their martyrdom and 
 was himself beaten to death by plumbatce. The skull of 
 the latter was found broken, as if by such a weapon, and 
 its abundant hair matted with blood ! 
 
 Other definite areas of this Catacomb have been 
 recognized and their outlines defined. Indeed, Father 
 Marchi asserts that this is " the colossal region of Roma 
 Sotterranea^ all the rest being only small or middling 
 provinces,"* About a hundred yards from the "Papal 
 Crypt " is the tomb of another celebrated martyr and 
 bishop, St. Eusebius; the graffiti on the walls, the stair- 
 way, and the decorations of which attest the reverence 
 in which it was held. While digging here in 1856, De 
 Rossi found the important epitaph of Eusebius before 
 given, f 
 
 Intimately connected with this are also the adjacent 
 cemeteries of St. Soteris, a virgin martyr of the same 
 family from which Ambrose was descended ; and that of 
 St, Balbina, of vast extent, in several piani^ and on a 
 scale of unusual grandeur. These are as yet only par- 
 tially explored, and promise the richest results to future 
 examination. That of St. Balbina has many double, and 
 even quadruple, cubicula^ and the largest and most regu- 
 lar group of subterranean chambers that have yet been 
 discovered, all lighted by one large hexagonal shaft. 
 They were evidently excavated for worship, not for 
 sepulture. This Catacomb was enlarged and beautified 
 by Mark, bishop of Rome, in A, D, 330, ivho was buried 
 in a basilica erected over these tombs. 
 
 These several areas were at first all distinct properties, 
 * Afonumen, Art. Crist. Prim.y p. 172. f Page 95. 
 
 .A 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 183 
 
 and as carefully restricted within their respective limits 
 as would be buildings above ground. When, however, 
 the sepulchres of the Christians, no longer protected by 
 law, were invaded by the persecutors, the different areas 
 were connected by a vast and bewildering labyrinth of 
 cross passages for the purpose of facilitating escape and 
 of furnishing additional space for interment. As the areas, 
 even when contiguous, were often at different levels, a 
 good deal of ingenuity was exercised by the fossors in 
 effecting a junction of the different galleries; though 
 often they had to break throug;\ loculi and cubicula for 
 that purpose. Thus the area we have described so fully 
 is five feet lower than that which is adjacent on one 
 side, which enables us to determine its exact limit. 
 
 We will now take a more rapid survey of the other 
 principal Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Nearly opposite ihe cemetery of Callixtus, on the 
 Appian Way, is that of Praetextatus. One of the en- 
 trances, situated in the Vigna Molinari, is represented 
 in Fig. 2. A well-worn stairway, trodden by the feet of 
 pious generations, leads to subterranean galleries of 
 considerable extent. It is celebrated as the scene of 
 the martyrdom of St. Sixtus and his deacons, A. D. 259; 
 and as the burial-place of two of them, Felicitas and 
 Agapetus, commemorative epitaphs of whom have been 
 found. Their tomb, accidentally discovered by some 
 labourers in 1857, presents the unique example of a large 
 square crypt, not hewn out of the rock but built of solid 
 masonry, and formerly lined with marble. This is ex- 
 plained by the ancient record that the Christian matron 
 Marmenia constructed their tomb immediately beneath 
 her own house. A Damasine epitaph of Januarius, who 
 suffered under Aurelius, A. D. 162, has also been found 
 here. In this cemetery, too, occurs that suite, of 
 
 'A 
 
1 84 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i 
 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
 1 i 
 
 t 
 
 \ i 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 ' 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 chambers, with a hexagonal apartment, known as the 
 chapel with two halls, represented in section and per- 
 spective in Figs. lo and ii. 
 
 Especial interest attaches to the Catacomb of St. Se- 
 bastian from the fact of its being the only one of which 
 any knowledge was retained during the darko.ir'^s of the 
 Middle Ages. During that obscure period it was known 
 in all the ancient documents as the Civmeterium ad cata- 
 cumbas, and has given their generic name ;> this vast 
 system of subterranean sepulchres. Lying beneath the 
 property of the Augustinian monks, it enjoyed religious 
 protection in the rudest ages, and was open to the oc- 
 casional pilgrims to the sacred places of the Eternal 
 City. It is also that which is most frequently visited by 
 modern crav^llers, being accessible without the special 
 permission which must be obtained for exploring the 
 other Catacombs. It is situated on the Appian Way, 
 about two miles from the Sebastian gate. A stately 
 basilica was erected over the entrance to the Catacomb, 
 it is said in the time of Constantine. A part of the 
 original building which yet remains is claimed to be 
 still older, dating from the first century. Witl. Jiis pos- 
 sible exception, few traces of the ancient structure now 
 exist, the present building having been erected in i6ii 
 by Cardinal Scipio Borghese. The church is very rich 
 in paintings, sculptures, and relics, among which are the 
 reputed head of Callixtus, arm of St. Andrew, and body 
 of St. Sebastian, the impressions of the Saviour's feet 
 in the stone from the Appian Way, and the very chair 
 in which St, Stephen received the crown of martyrdom, 
 and which was sprinkled with his blood ! 
 
 This Catacomb takes its name from the Christian 
 martyr Sebastian, who suffered during the Diocletian 
 persecution. The story of his martyrdom is one of 
 
The Principal Catacombs, 
 
 185 
 
 great beauty ; but, as is the case with most of these 
 legends, its historic value is invalidated by the miracu- 
 lous episodes of his history. According to the " Acts 
 of St. Sebastian," this young and gallant officer was a 
 native of Narbonne, in (iaul, who held the high rank 
 of commander of the praetorian guard of Diocletian 
 and Maximian. His access to the emperors enabled 
 him to offer a powerful protection to the persecuted Chris- 
 tians, which he did not fail to extend. Two of his fellow- 
 soldiers, Marcus and Marcellinus, were ibout to recant 
 their profession, when Sebastian exhorted tUem to stead- 
 fastness with such fer\ our as to nerve them for martyr- 
 dom and convert the judges and all present. For his 
 own fidelity to the Christian faith he was transpierced 
 with arrows and left for dead. He recovered, however, 
 either through the pious care of the Christian matron 
 Irene, or through the special grace of the Virgin. Un- 
 deterred by his recent experience, he presented himself 
 before the emperor, upbraided him for his persecution 
 of the Christians, and foretold his death. He was im- 
 mediately seized by the command of the tyrant and 
 beaten to death with clubs in the hippodrome of the 
 palace, A. D. 286. His body was ignominiously thrown 
 into the Cloaca Maxima, or main sewer of Rome, in 
 order io deprive it of Christian burial. But the place 
 where it lay being revealed in a dream, his remains 
 were rescued from their loathsome and unconsecrated 
 grave, and piously interred in the Catacomb which 
 bears his name 
 
 The indignities that he suffered have been more than 
 compensated by the honours paid his relics. Over his 
 tomb the high altar of the church blazes with lights 
 and jewels, and a marble effigy of the saint pierced with 
 arrows commemorates his martyrdom. The genius of 
 
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 K<^ 
 
 f<K4 
 
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 1 86 
 
 Tfie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 , \ 
 
 f 
 
 Berini, Guido, and the Caracci, has glorified his memory 
 in deathless painting and in " animated bust."* 
 
 Connected with the church is an irregular semi-sub- 
 terranean building, where, tradition asserts, the bodies 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul for a time reposed. It would ap- 
 pear, according to the legend, that upon the martyrdom 
 of these " princes of the apostles " the oriental Chris- 
 tians sent for their hallowed remains as belonging of 
 right to them as their fellow-countrymen. Their bodies 
 were conveyed thus far from their original sepulchres 
 when a violent storm prevented the accomplishment of 
 the sacrilegious act, and the Roman Christians re-interred 
 the sacred relics in this chamber, where they remained, 
 according to one account, a year and seven months, or, 
 according to another, forty years. J- \ 
 
 The present structure dates probably from the time 
 of Liberius, in the middle of the fourth century. The 
 indefatigable Damasus made a marble pavement— /^fr// 
 platoniam — and seems to refer to the legend in the fol- 
 lowing rather unclassical metrical inscription : 
 
 HIC HABITASSE PRIVS SANCTOS COGNOSCERE DEBES 
 
 NOMINA QVISQVE PETRI PARTTKR PAVLIQVE REQVIRIS 
 
 DISCIPVLOS ORIENS MISIT QVOD SPONTE FATEMVR 
 
 SANGVINIS OB MERITVM CHRISTVMQVE PER ASTRA SEQVVTI 
 
 AETHERIOS PETIERE SINVS ET REGNA PIORVM 
 
 ROMA SVOS POTiVS MERVIT DEFENDERS CIVES 
 
 HAEC DAMASVS VESTRAS REFERAT NOVA SIDERA LAVDES. 
 
 " Here, you must know, that saints once dwelt. If you ask their 
 
 * This striking object of Christian art has been known, says Mrs. 
 Jameson, to cause in Italian women a devotion leading to hopeless ^ 
 passion, madness, and death. (" Sacred and Legendary Art," in loco.) 
 The soldier saint is regarded as a sort of Christian Apollo, banishing 
 disease and pestilence. 
 
 f Pope Gregory I. first mentions the story, circ. A. D. 600, as a 
 reason for refusing to send the head of St. Paul to the Empress 
 Constantina. » 
 
The Principal Catacombs, 
 
 187 
 
 namex, they were Peter and Paul. The East sent disciples, as we 
 willingly acknowledge. The saints themselves had, by the merit of 
 their bloodshedding, followed Christ to the stars, and sought the home 
 of heaven and the kingdoms of the blest. Rome, however, obtained 
 to defend her own citizens. These things may Damasus be allowed 
 to record for your praise, O new stars of the heavenly host 
 
 Flff. 27.— Plan of Orypt of Saint Peter and Saint PauL 
 
 Figs. 27 and 28 show the plan and perspective of 
 the crypt. D is the chamber and E the subterranean 
 vault. Around the wall are twelve arcosolia^ in front 
 of which runs a low stone seat. In the centre is an 
 opening in the floor widening into a vaulted and fres- 
 coed marble tomb about six feet square and as many 
 deep. Here, according to tradition, the two great 
 apostles lay side by side in death ; and to this spot was 
 especially given for many centuries the name Catacumba. 
 
 A door out of the left aisle of the church leads to the 
 Catacomb proper. This^ having been so long open, has 
 been despoiled of every object of interest, and nearly 
 all the monuments and inscriptions have been removed 
 
1 88 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 i 
 
 Fiff. 23.— Crypt of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. 
 
 to the museums of the city. Though of considerable 
 extent, it is not nearly as large as some others. Pre- 
 vious to De Rossi's exploration of the Catacomb of Cal- 
 lixtus in 1854 it was confounded with that cemetery, 
 but he has shown that opinion to be erroneous. • 
 
 Nearly opposite the church of St. Sebastian is situ- 
 ated the Jewish Catacomb discovered in 1859 in the 
 Vigna Randanini, and already in part described. The 
 principal entrance is an open chamber, originally vaulted, 
 with a floor of black and white mosaic and walls of 
 masonry. A peculiarity in this cemetery is the number 
 of deep graves in the floor capable of containing sev- 
 eral bodies, and the number of sarcophagi, some of 
 which are finely carved and gilt. The seven-branched 
 candlestick frequently occurs on the walls and tombs. 
 This Catacomb has been often rifled, and the gal- 
 leries are strewn with marble fragments of its monu- 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 i?9 
 
 ments. Most of the inscriptions have been dug out of 
 this dhbris and affixed to the adjacent walls. At the 
 other entrance, on the Appian Way, are raised stone 
 seats, intended, it is thought, as resting-places for Khe 
 bearers of the dead. 
 
 Not far from this cemetery, but fronting on the Via 
 Ardeatina, is one which De Rossi concludes upon very 
 good evidence to be that of Domitilla, grand niece of 
 the emperor Domitian, of whose banishment and prob- 
 able martyrdom for the Christian faith we have already 
 spoken. The entrance is an elegant structure of fine 
 brickwork with a cornice of terra cotta, built in the 
 slope of a rising ground and close by the roadside. 
 Connected with the entrance are external chambers, in 
 one of which is a well, which were designed, it is con- 
 jectured, for the custodian of the Catacomb, and for 
 the holding of the religious services connected with the 
 burial of the dead and the anniversaries of the martyrs. 
 A spacious vestibule within contains recesses once oc- 
 cupied by several large sarcophagi, fragments of which 
 still remain. The entire roof and walls are covered 
 with the most exquisite arabesques and graceful land- 
 scapes, as well as biblical paintings, in the style of the 
 best classic period. It is evidently the monument of a 
 family of wealth and distinction. 
 
 Connected with this Catacomb is that of Nereus and 
 Achilles, the chamberlains of Domitilla, who suffered 
 martyrdom in the second century. A broad and hand- 
 some stairway leads down to the supposed tombs of the 
 martyrs in the lower level of the Catacomb. To facil- 
 itate the visits of pilgrims to these shrines the galleries 
 have been widened and lined with masonry, probably 
 by John I., A. D. 523. There are two principal 
 piani^ in the lower of which is a large chamber 
 
190 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 paved with marble and lighted by a luminare of unusual 
 size, reaching to the surface of the ground. A l&rge 
 proportion of the inscriptions are Greek, or Latin in 
 Greek characters, which circumstance refers the date 
 of this Catacomb to a period when Greek was still re- 
 garded as a sort of sacred and official language of the 
 church. 
 
 On the Via Labicana are several interesting Cata- 
 combs. About a mile and a half from the city is that 
 of Feter and Marcellinus, the former a priest and the 
 latter an exorcist of the time of Diocletian, who with 
 other martyrs are said to be buried here. The entrance 
 to the Catacomb is from a church built in the ruins of 
 the ancient structure traditionally called the mausoleum 
 of Helena. 
 
 This tradition has given its name to the interesting 
 Catacomb of Helena discovered in 1838 in the Vigna 
 del Grande, about a quarter of a mile further along the 
 Via Labacana. It was evidently constructed after the 
 peace of the church. The marble stairway, mosaic 
 pavements, and elegant stucco ornaments betray an 
 imperial magnificence 'impossible during the age of per- 
 secution, and which is found in no other Catacomb. 
 The similarity of style and material to that of the con- 
 tiguous tomb of Constantia, the sister of Helena, indi- 
 cates a synchronous construction. The entrance to the 
 Catacomb is by one of those brevissinuB eccUsia^ or ora- 
 tories for meditation and prayer, which were early erected 
 near most of the cemeteries, now generally in ruins. 
 As shown in the illustration, the descent is by an easy 
 stairway and an inclined plane to a vaulted gallery with 
 mosaic pavement, in which are arcosolia with brick arch- 
 es. The galleries are of great width, and the luminari will 
 be observed to be cylindrical in shape. One of these, 
 
The Principal Catacombs, 
 
 191 
 
 it will be seen, is choked with rubbish. The double 
 entrance indicated is in accordance with the ancient 
 usage, especially in subterranean assemblies, of separat- 
 ing the sexes. The same purpose is effected within the 
 
 Flff. 29.-Sectlon of Oataoomb of Helena. 
 
 crypt by balustrades, and even by parallel galleries 
 to the same chamber. This Catacomb is remarkable 
 for the number of its luminari, arcosolia^ cubicula^ and 
 mosaics. A variety of marble, glass, and terra cotta 
 vases have also been found, as well as numerous coins 
 and medals of the Constantinian period. 
 
 About three miles from Rome on this road, in the 
 Vigna del Fiscale, is the Catacomb of 1 Santi QuairOy or 
 Quatuor Coronati^ the Four Crowned Ones, as they are 
 called. They are said to have been Christian sculptors, 
 who, for refusing to exercise their art in the service of 
 idolatry, suffered martyrdom under Diocletian. Iron 
 crowns, set with spikes, were forced upon their heads, 
 and they were then scourged to death with plumbata. 
 Ten miles from Rome in this same road is the Cata- 
 comb of St. Zoticus, also honoured as one of the prim- 
 itive martyrs. 
 
 On the Via Tibuitina, about ten minutes' walk from 
 the Porta di San Lorenzo, is the Catacomb of St. Cyriaca, 
 named after a Christian matron of noble family, who 
 founded it in her own land in the year A. D. 258. Dur- 
 
192 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ing the thirty-two years of her widowhood she employed 
 her vast wealth in ministering to the necessities of the 
 saints, and finally herself received the crown of martyr- 
 dom. Here it is said the body of St. Lawrence was first 
 interred, and afterward removed to the neighbouring 
 church, where it is still revered with devout superstition. 
 The excavations made to insulale the ancient basilica 
 of San Lorenzo, and to enlarge the cemetery at present 
 in use, have laid open a number of galleries cf this 
 Catacomb, exposing the long hidden hculi and paintings 
 to the light of day. The style of the ancient inscrip- 
 tions and those of the modern necropolis, which, in ac- 
 cordance with a decree of the pope, are all in Latin, 
 may be compared ; not greatly to the advantage of the 
 latter, notwithstanding the rigorous censorship they 
 must first undergo. This Catacomb, with others, wa" ex- 
 plored and described by Bosio two centuries and a half 
 ago. On the opposite side of the road is the cemetery 
 of Hippolytus, commemorated in the verses of Pruden- 
 tius ir the fourth century. 
 
 About a mile and a quarter from the Porta Pia, on the 
 Via Nomentana, is siiuated the Catacomb of St. Agnes. 
 The legend of this saint is one of the most beautiful in 
 the martyrology, and has been preserved with peculiar 
 fulness of detail by St. Ambrose in his treMise de Vir- 
 ginil'us. The youthful martyr was the daughter of rich 
 and noble Roman parents, and is described in the Acts 
 that bear her name as being of a sweet and tender 
 beauty. Being sought in marriage by the son of the pre- 
 fect of the city, she rejected his suit; declaring in a 
 strain of impassioned eloquence her espousals to a bride- 
 groom nobler, richer, and more beautiful far than any 
 of earth, who had betrothed her by the ring of his faith 
 and would crown her v/ith jewels to which earthly gifts 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 193 
 
 were dross — a bridegroom so fair that the sun and 
 moon were ravished by his beauty, and so mighty that 
 the angels were his servants.* She thus betrayed her 
 attachment to the cause of Christ, and was forthwith 
 put to the torture in order to compel her recantation of 
 the faith. With touching naivet't the Acts relate that no 
 fetters could be found small enough for her wrists. As 
 the crowning ignominy to which her maiden modesty 
 could be exposed, she was sent to the place of shame — 
 ad locum turpitudinis ; but her unshorn hair flowed in 
 golden waves to her fee':, forming a perfect veil, and 
 the eyes of the gazers on her degradation were smitten 
 with blindness. Having been first cast into the flames, 
 which, it is said, played harmlessly about her, she was 
 publicly beheaded in the amphitheatre, and overcom- 
 ing the feebleness of her age and sex, thus received the 
 crown of martyrdom at the tender age of thirteen, 
 A. D. 303.1 
 
 * Discede a me fomes peccati . . . quia jam ab alio amatore prae- 
 venta sum, qui mihi satis meliora obtulit omamenta, et annulo fidei 
 suae subarravit me, longe te nobilior, et genere et dignitatc. — Ambros., 
 £pis. 34. 
 
 T Damasus at the end of the fourth century thus commemorates the 
 event in one of his metrical inscriptions, now in a lateral aisle of the 
 basilica of S. Agnese fuoH le Mura : 
 
 FAMA REFERT SANCT03 DVDVM RETVLISSE PARENTES 
 AGNEN CVM LVGVBRES CANTVS TVBA CONCREPVISSET 
 NVTRICIS GREMIVM SVBITO LIQVISSE PVELLAM 
 SPONTE TRVCIS CALCASSE MINAS RABIEMQVE TVRANNI 
 VRERE CVM FLAMMIS VOLVISSET NOBILE CORPVS 
 VIRABVS IMMENSVM PARVIS SVPERASSE TIMOREM 
 NVDAQVE PROFVSVM CRINEM PER MEMBRA DEDISSE 
 NE DOMINI TEMPLVM FACIES PERItVRA VIDERET 
 O VENERANDA MIHI SANCTVM DECVS ALMA PVDORIS 
 VT DAMASI PRECIBVS FAVEAS PRECOR INCLVTA MARTYR. 
 
 " Fame reports that the pious parents formerly brought back Agnes 
 when the trumpet had resounded the funeral chants ; that suddenly 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ' 
 
 \ i 
 
 \ \ 
 
 She is frequently represented in art; sometimes, in 
 allusion to her name, with a lamb as her attribute. In- 
 deed, after Christ and the Apostles, no figure is more 
 common.* The den of infamy in which she was exposed 
 to shame became changed to the Christian sanctuary of 
 S. Agnese in Piazza Navone^ one of the most beauti- 
 ful churches in Rome. A subterranean cell of peculiar 
 sanctity is said to have been the scene of her degrada- 
 tion and deliverance. She was buried in a garden a 
 mile from the city, and Constantia, the daughter of Con- 
 stantine, having been healed at her tomb of a danger- 
 ous malady, that prince erected over her body the churcli 
 of S. Agtiese fuori le Mura^ which is one of the least 
 altered and most beautiful examples of the imperial 
 basilicas. A long flight of stairs, whose walls are cov- 
 ered with inscriptions from the adjacent Catacombs, 
 leads down to the church, which was constructed on a 
 level with the reputed tomb of the saint.f 
 
 Many noble Roman families chose the place of their 
 sepulture near the tomb of so illustrious a martyr. Con- 
 
 the maidem left the bosom of her nurse, and willingly spumed the 
 threats and rage of the cruel tyrant, when he resolved to bom her 
 noble body in the flames ; that she overcame her intense fear with 
 her feeble strength, and spread her luxuriant hair over her naked 
 limbs, lest the face of a perishing man might behold the temple of 
 the \joxA. O holy one, ever to be honoured by me, sacred ornament 
 of modesty, illustrious martyr, I entreat that you aid the prayers of 
 Pamasus." 
 
 * Jameson, Sac. and Leg. Art., p. 381. According to St. Jerome, 
 in the fourth century her fame was in all lands. 
 
 f Here on the Festival of St. Agnes, January 21, is performed the 
 ceremony of blessing two lambs, the emblems of the innocence and 
 of the name — Agnus, a lamb — of the child-martyr. From the wool 
 of these lambs are woven the pallia, which, after lying on the so- 
 called tomb of St. Peter, are distributed by the pope to the great 
 church dignitaries as emblems of office. 
 
Tin: Principal Catacombs. 
 
 195 
 
 stantia herself was there interred, and soon after two 
 other driughters of Constantine, Helena, the wife of 
 Julian, and Constantina, the wifeof (talliis. Having died, 
 the former at Vienne in Gaul, the latter at the extremity 
 of Kithynia, they were brought from the west and the east 
 to rejoin their sister sleeping near this celebrated saint. 
 This region became, in fact, the fashionable cemetery 
 of the great during the fourth century ; as is still evi- 
 dent from the superior regularity and spaciousness of 
 the corridors, and the more laboured execution although 
 inferior style of the paintings. Thus was formed in 
 course of time the vast Catacomb of St. Agnes. 
 
 Fiff. 30.— Entrance to the Catacomb of St. Affnes. 
 
 The entrance to the cemetery is situated in a deli- 
 cious valley about a quarter of a mile from the church, in 
 view of the storied hills which have been celebrated by 
 Martial and Pliny, and near the ruins of a pagan temple. 
 Behind are the gray walls and towirs of Rome, and on 
 every side spreads the solemn expanse of the Campagna. 
 
196 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 All is gfAccfuI and pirturesque in the landicapc, " and 
 it is not," says Pcrret, *' without a pious tenderness* that 
 the charm of the place blends in the soul of the pilgrim 
 to the shrine of the Christian heroine." The stairs by 
 whi -h the descent is made date proba!)ly from the time 
 of Constantinc. The graves on either side of the some- 
 what spacious gallery have long been rifled of their 
 contents. Several of these from their size were evi- 
 dently designed for bisomi. The consular date, A. D. 
 336, on a tomb attests the age of this part of the Cata- 
 comb. One suite of chambers near the entrance, but in 
 the lower and therefore more recently constructed piano., 
 has received the title of the Basilica. The larger r/^^/Vi^- 
 lum has two tufa seats at the side, and one more elevated 
 for the presiding presbyter. The altar, probably a small 
 movable one of wood, if any at all, must have stood before 
 the presbyter. On the opposite side of the gallery is a 
 chamber, divided by columns and an arch, supposed to 
 have been for the females of the assembly, or perhaps 
 for the catechumens not yet admitted to the celebration 
 of the eucharist. A connected series of five chambers has 
 been found, and one cuhiculum^ called the scuoU grande^ 
 will contain seventy or eighty persons. Much of the 
 architecture, however, is debased, indicating the de- 
 cline and eclipse of art in the fifth or sixth century. 
 Another chamber is known as the Lady Chapel, or 
 Crypt of the Virgin, on account of the so-called 
 picture of the Madonna which it contains ; f and a 
 third as the Baptistery, from the presence of a spring) 
 of water, supposed to have been used in baptismal' 
 rites. 
 
 One feature of especial interest associated with this 
 
 ♦" Attend rissement." — I^s Catacombes dt Rome, torn, ii, p. 52. 
 f Set Fig. 90. 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 197 
 
 cemetery is its connexion with an adjacent arenanum^ 
 or sand pit. This is situated near the basilica of St. 
 Agnes, and overlies part of the Catacomb. It consists 
 of a series of large and gloomy caverns utterly unlike the 
 sepulchral crypts below. A stairway leads down to the 
 Catacomb, and also a deep shaft with foot-holes cut in 
 the rock for climbing. Probably this was the only way 
 of escape in time of persecution. There is also ap- 
 parent evidence of the existence of a windlass, by which 
 the excavated tufa was raised, and either deposited in 
 the arenarium or carted away. This cemetery has been 
 carefully examined by Padre Marchi, who has published 
 a plan of an area of about seven hundred by five hun- 
 dred and fifty feet. The united length of the passages 
 in this part is about two English miles. Yet Father 
 Marchi says this area is only about one eighth of ih* 
 whole Catacomb, the aggregate extent of whose streets 
 would, therefore, be fifteen or sixteen miles. 
 
 Just without the Porta Pia on this Nomentan Way, is 
 the little Catacomb of Nicodemus. At the third mile, 
 we read in ancient records, was that of Ostrianus or 
 P'ons Petri, as it was called, from a tradition that Peter 
 once baptized there. It has not, however, been satis- 
 factorily identified. Nearly six miles from the city is 
 the so-called Catacomb of Alexander, bishop of Rome 
 A. D. 1 1 7-1 20, who, according to the Liber PontificaliSy 
 suffered martyrdom by decapitation on this spot under 
 the emperor Hadrian, together with the presbyter Even- 
 tius and the deacon Theodulus. Here were discovered 
 in 1853, below the level of the Campagna, the ruins of 
 an ancient basilica erected in honour of these martyrs. 
 In the roofless structure was found a sarcophagus bear- 
 ing the name of Alexander, and probably once contain- 
 ing his ashes. The graves here are less disturbed than 
 
I 
 
 198 
 
 The Caiacomhs of Rome. 
 
 in the Catacombs nearer Rome. This cemetery was 
 used for sepulture comparatively late, as the language of 
 some of the inscriptions indicates a decided approxima- 
 tion to modern Italian. In 1857 the foundations of a 
 large church, designed to include the whole of the an- 
 cient structure, were laid with great pomp by the present 
 pontiff. 
 
 The Salarian Way is exceedingly rich in Christian 
 cemeteries. Prominent among these is the Catacomb 
 of St. Priscilla, one of the noblest monuments of the 
 primitive church. It is of interest also as that whose 
 accidental discovery in 1578 led to the unveiling of these 
 vast treasuries of Christian antiquity. The entrance is 
 beautifully situated amid embowering verdure, in the 
 vineyard of the Irish college, about two miles from the 
 Porta Salara.* Tradition asserts that this cemetery was 
 dug in the property of the senator Pudens, mentioned 
 by St. Paul , and a crypt called, from the language of 
 its inscript'ons, the Cappella Greca^ is alleged to be the 
 sepulchre of his daughters Pudentiana and Praxedes, 
 and other members of that distinguished Christian fam- 
 ily. If so, this is the most ancient Catacomb yet dis- 
 covered. The classical style of the architecture, fres- 
 coes, graceful stucco reliefs, and garlands, and the 
 character of the inscriptions, all point to a period before 
 art became degraded and the church oppressed. Some 
 of the galleries are exceedingly long and straight, and 
 one is the most extensive yet discovered. Its prin- 
 cipal crypt is remarkable as being regularly built of 
 masonry, and without the usual loculi in the walls, being 
 evidently designed for the reception of sarcophagi — 
 another proof of its high antiquity. A portion of this 
 cemetery has been constructed with great labour in an 
 
 * See Fig. i. 
 
The Principal Catacombs. 
 
 199 
 
 ancient arenariumy and shows how unsuited these exca» 
 vations were for the purposes of Christian sepulture. 
 Long ^alls of solid masonry and numerous pillars 
 of brick work have been built for supporting the 
 roof and giving space for loculi. A large shaft for re- 
 moving pozzolana has been transformed into a luminare 
 by being bricked up to about half its original dimen- 
 sions. Only one of the four piani in which the Cata- 
 comb is constructed being easily accessible, it has been 
 but partially explored. The ancient records assert that 
 Marcel!inus and Marcellus, martyr-bishops of the church 
 in the time of Diocletian, are buried here ; also Crescen- 
 tianus and Silvester; and we have already seen the 
 memorial inscription of three thousand other martyrs, 
 whose remains are said to hallow these sacred crypts. 
 
 On this same road are the Catacomb of St. Felicitas, 
 with three piani of galleries much dilapidated ; that of 
 Thraso and Saturninus, of considerable extent but diffi- 
 cult of access ; and the crypt of Chrysanthus and Da- 
 ria, in which these martyrs were blocked up alive by 
 command of the Emperor Numerian. On the old Sala- 
 rian Way is the Catijcomb of Hermes, who is said to 
 have suffered in the time of Hadrian. It is parbr Uy 
 const/ucted, as we have seen, in an arenarium^ and con- 
 tains the largest subterranean church yet found, with 
 remarkable mosaics of Daniel and of the resurrection of 
 Lazarus in the vaulting of the roof. 
 
 There are comparatively few Catacombs of interest on 
 the northwest bank of the Tiber, owing to the smaller pop- 
 ulation of that part of Rome in ancient times. We shall 
 briefly enumerate the more hnportant. On the Flaminian 
 Way is the cemetery of St. Valentinus. On the Aure- 
 lian Way are those of Agatha, Pancratius, and Calepo- 
 dius. The latter, the reputed burial place of Callixtus 
 
 
200 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ i 
 
 \ 
 
 and of many martyrs, is beneath the church dedicated 
 to Pancratius — the English Pancras — and on the sup- 
 posed scene of his sufferings. On the Via Portuensis, 
 near the city, is the Catacomb of Pontianus, a patrician 
 Roman of the third century. It is remarkable for the 
 very perfect subterranean baptistery to be hereafter de- 
 scribed. On the Ostian Way, near the basilica of S. 
 Paolo fuori le Mura^ is the ancient cemetery of Commo- 
 dilla, or Lucina, in which tradition asserts that the body 
 of the apostle Paul was laid after his martyrdom. It 
 is in a very ruinous condition, most of the galleries be- 
 ing choked up and impassable ; but here Boldetti found 
 the two oldest extant inscriptions. On this road also is 
 
 « 
 
 the Catacomb of St. Zeno, in which were said to be 
 buried twelve thousand Christians employed in building 
 the Baths of Diocletian. 
 
 On the Vatican Hill, now crowned with the grandest 
 temple in Christenaom, is said to have existed the old- 
 est Christian cemetery of Rome. Tradition asserts that 
 the remains of St. Peter were interred on this spot, on the 
 site of an ancient temple of Apollo, and near the alleged 
 scene of the apostle's martyrdom in the circus of Nero, 
 and that hither they were restored after their removal to 
 the crypt of Sebastian.* Here also ancient ecclesiastical 
 documents record the burial of ten of the Roman 
 bishops of the first and second centuries ; f after which, 
 we have seen, the Catacomb of Callixtus became their 
 
 * This is probably " the trophy on the Vatican," mentioned by 
 the Roman presbyter Caius, quoted by Eusebius, Hist, Eccles.^ ii, 25. 
 When Heliogabalus made his cii-cus on the Vatican the body was said 
 to have been again transferred to St. Sebastian ; but it is impossible to 
 unravel the tangled accounts of the ancient documents. 
 
 f On this spot De Rossi says was discovered in the seventeenth 
 century the sepulchre of the very first bishop after Peter, (?) bearing 
 simpiv the name LINVS. 
 
The Ptincipal Catacombs. 
 
 201 
 
 chief place of burial. The series of papal interments 
 in this place again begins with that of Leo the Great, 
 A. D. 461. In the dim crypts beneath the high altar 
 of St. Peter's are shown the tombs of most of his suc- 
 cessors, many of them far removed in life and character 
 from the lowly Galilean fisherman.* 
 
 We cannot better conclude this necessarily imperfect 
 survey of these ancient Christian cemeteries than by 
 quoting the following passage, though characterized by 
 a somewhat fervid rhetoric, from " Les Trois Romes " 
 of the Abb6 Gaume : " Here is the glorious monument," 
 he exclaims, "of the faith and charity of our fore- 
 fathers ! This work of giants was completed by a com- 
 munity of poor men, destitute of resources, without talent 
 as without fortune, incessantly persecuted and frequently 
 decimated. What, then, was the secret of their power? 
 This is the problem suggested by the sight of the Cata- 
 combs in general, and of the Catacombs on the Appian 
 Way in particular. The solution is in one word — 
 Faith. This power — unknown to the ancient world, 
 
 * Of especial interest to English-speaking visitors lo this shrine of 
 departed greatness will be three urns containing the ashes of " James 
 III.," "Charles III.," and " Henry IX.," as they are designated, the 
 last princes of the unfortunate house of Stewart. The third of these, 
 Henry Benedict Maria Clement, second son of James the Pretender, 
 took orders at Rome, was advanced to the purple, and during the life- 
 time of his brother, Charles Edward, was known as Cardinal York. 
 On the death of his brother he assumed the regal style of Henry IX., 
 King of England. The usuqiation of Bonaparte caused his flight to 
 Venice, where, aged and infirm, the descendant of a line of kings 
 sank into absolute poverty. His successful rival for the British 
 throne, George III., learning his deplorable situation, generously set- 
 tled on him an annuity of ;^4,ooo, which he enjoyed till his d^ath in 
 1807, at the age of eighty-two. With the worn old man, dying upon 
 a foreign shore, passed away the last survivor of the ill-starred dy- 
 nasty which has contributed through successive generations so many 
 tragic and romantic episodes to the drama of history. 
 
I 
 
 202 
 
 TIu Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 and too little recognized in the modern world — this faith, 
 was the lever by which the early Christians could re- 
 move mountains, and turn and change the universe. 
 With one hand they constructed in the bowels of the 
 earth a city more astonishing than Babylon or the 
 Rome of xhe Caesars; and with the other, seizing on 
 the pagart world in the abyss of degradation into which 
 it was pltnged, they raised it to the virtue of angels, 
 and suspended it to the cross." 
 
 j 
 
BOOK SECOI^D. 
 
 THB ART AND SYMBOLISM OF THE CATACOMBa 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. 
 
 The conditions ynder which Christian art was culti- 
 vated in the early centuries were eminently unfavourable 
 to its highest development. It was not, like pagan art, 
 the aesthetic exponent of a dominant religion, enjoying 
 the patronage of the great and the wealthy, adorning 
 the numerous temples of the gods and the palaces and 
 banquet chambers of the emperors and senators, com- 
 memorating the virtues of patriots and heroes, and body- 
 ing forth the conceptions of poets and seers. There 
 was no place in the Christian system for such repre-' 
 sentations as the glorious sun-god, Apollo, or the lovely 
 Aphrodite, or the sublime majesty of Jove, which are 
 still the unapproached chefs {foeuvre of the sculptor's 
 skill. The beautiful myths of Homer and Hesiod were 
 regarded with abhorrence, and the Christians were ex- 
 pressly forbidden to make any representation of the 
 supreme object of their worship, prohibition which in 
 the early and purer days of Christianity they never 
 transgressed. 
 
 Nevertheless, the testimony of the Catacombs gives 
 evidence that art was not, as has been frequently as- 
 serted, entirely abjured by the primitive Christians on 
 account of its idolatrous employment by the pagans. 
 
204 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ - 
 I 
 
 They rather adopted and purified it for Christian pur- 
 poses, just as they did the diverse elements of ancient 
 civilization. It was not till increasing wealth and the 
 growing corruptions of the church led to the more lav- 
 ish employment of art and its perversion to superstitious 
 uses that it called forth the condemnation of the Fathers 
 of the early centuries. 
 
 The art of any people is an outgrowth and efflores- 
 cence of an internal living principle : and as is the 
 tree so is its fruit. An adequate representation of its art 
 being given, we may estimate, at least proximately, the 
 moral condition of any age or community. It is the 
 perennial expression of the phenomena of humanity. 
 The iconography of the early centuries of Christian- 
 ity is, therefore, a pictorial history of its develop- 
 meat and of the successive changes it has under- 
 fone.* The corruptions of doctrine, the rise of dog- 
 mas, the strifes of heresiarchs and schismatics, are all 
 reflected therein, f 
 
 The frescoes of the Catacombs are illustrations, in- 
 estimable in value, of the pure and lofty character of 
 that primitive Christian life of which they were the off*- 
 spring. They were the exponent of a mighty spiritual 
 force, " seeking," as Kugler remarks, " to typify in the 
 earthly and perishing the abiding and eternal."! The 
 very intensity of that old Christian life under repression 
 and persecution created a more imperious necessity for 
 a religious symbolism as an expression of its deepest 
 feelings and as a commor^ sign of the faith. Early Chris- 
 
 * M. Didron's Iconographie Chrktienru is a valuable contribution 
 on this important subject 
 
 f In the beautiful figure of Pressens^, all art is an iColian harp, 
 shivering with the breezes that pass over it. 
 
 \ Ilandbuch der Kunstgeschichte, p. xii. 
 
Early Christian Art, 
 
 205 
 
 tian art, therefore, was not realistic and sensuous, but 
 ideal and spiritual. It sought to express the inner es- 
 sence, not the outer form. 
 
 Christianity has nothing to fear from the comparison 
 of these remains of its primitive art with those of the 
 pre-existing art of paganism. As little has Protestantism 
 to fear their comparison with the monuments of that de- 
 based form of Christianity into which the early church 
 so soon, alas ! degenerated. On the one hand may be 
 seen the infinite contrast between the abominable con- 
 dition of society under the empire and the purity of life 
 of the early Christians ; and on the other, the gradual 
 corruption of doctrine and practice as we approach the 
 Byzantine age. The exhumation of Pompeii and the 
 recent exploration of the Catacombs bring into sharp 
 contrast Christian and pagan art. While traversing the 
 deserted chambers of the former " two thousand years 
 roil backward," and we stand among the objects familiar 
 to the gaze of the maids and matrons of the palmy days 
 of Rome. But what a tale of the prevailing sensuality, 
 what a practical commentary on the scathing sarcasms 
 of Juvenal, the denunciations of the Fathers, and the 
 awful portraiture of St. Paul, do we read in the polluting 
 pictures on every side. Nothing gives a more vivid 
 conception of the appalling degradation of pagan society 
 in the first century of the Christian era than the disin- 
 terred art of that Roman Sodom. Amid the silence and 
 gloom of the Catacombs we are transported to an en- 
 tirely different world ; we breathe a purer moral atmos- 
 phere ; we are surrounded by the evidences of an 
 infinitely nobler social life; we are struck with the 
 immeasurable superiority in all the elements of true 
 dignity and grandeur of the lowly and persecuted Chris- 
 tians to the highest development of ancient civilization. 
 
206 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The decoration c ' these subterranean crypts is the 
 first employment of art by the early Christians of which 
 we have any remains. A universal instinct leads us to 
 beautify the sepulchres of the departed. This is seen 
 alike in the rude funeral totem of the American savage, 
 in the massive mausolea of the Appian Way, and in the 
 magnificent Moorish tombs of the Alhambra.* It is 
 not, therefore, remarkable that the primitive Curistians 
 adorned with religious paintings, expressive of their faith 
 and hope, the graves of the dead, or in times of persecu- 
 tion traced upon the martyr's tomb the crown and palm, 
 emblems of victory, or the dove and olive branch, the 
 beautiful symbol of peace. It must not, however, be 
 supposed that the first beginnings of Christian art were 
 rude and formless essays, such as we see among bar- 
 barous tribes. The primitive believers had not so much 
 to create the principles of art as to adapt an art already 
 fully developed to the expression of Christian thought. 
 Like the neophyte converts from heathenism, pagan art 
 had. to be baptized into the service of Christianity. 
 " The germs of a new life," says Dr. Liibke, " were in 
 embryo in the dying antique world. Ancient art was the 
 garment in which the young and world-agitating ideas 
 of Christianity were compelled to veil themselves." f 
 Kence the earlier paintings are the superior in execu- 
 
 * One of the earliest indications of human existence on the planet 
 is a sepulchral cave in the post-pliocene drift at Aurignac, in Frar-ce, 
 in which are evidences of the celebration of the funeral banquet and 
 other sepulchral rites. " The artificially closed Catacomb," says Dr. 
 Wilson, " the sepulchred dead, the gifts within, the ash^s and dkbris 
 of the last funeral feast without, .... all tell the ever-recurring story 
 of reverent piety, unavailing sorrow, and the instinctive faith in a 
 future life which dwells in the breast of the rudest savage." — " Pre- 
 historic Man," by Daniel Wilson, LL.D., Toronto University, p. 84. 
 
 f " History of Art," by Dr. Wilhelm Liibke, vol. i, p. 275. 
 
Early Christian Art, 
 
 207 
 
 tion, and manifest a richness, a vigour and freedom like 
 that of the best specimens of the classic period. Their 
 design is more correct, their ornamentation more chaste 
 and elegant, and the accessories more graceful than in 
 the later examples. These shared the gradual decline 
 which characterized the art of the dying empire, be- 
 coming more impoverished in conception, stiff in man- 
 ner, and conventional and hieratic in type, till they sink 
 into the barbarism of the Byzantine period. 
 
 This is contrary to the opinion which has till recently 
 been entertained. Lord Lindsay asserts of the paint- 
 ings of the Catacombs that, " considered as works of 
 art, they are but poor productions — the meagreness of 
 invention only equalled by the feebleness of execution 
 — inferior, generally speaking, to the worst specimens of 
 contemporary heathen art."* But this characteriza- 
 tion was the result of imperfect acquaintance with the 
 subject. Indeed, he speaks of the Catacombs as " for 
 the most part closed up and inaccessible, and the 
 frescoes obliterated by time and destroyed." But re- 
 cent discoveries have brought to light many important 
 examples which completely disprove his depreciatory 
 estimate. In many of the newly opened crypts the 
 colours are as fresh as if applied yesterday ; and, as re- 
 gards style and execution, the frescoes of the Ca;tacombs 
 " approach," says the eminent art critic, Kugler, " very 
 near to the wall paintings of the best period of the em- 
 pire."! No one can look through the magnificent vol- 
 umes of Perret without being struck with the grace, 
 vigour, and classic beauty of many of the paintings there 
 reproduced. It is admitted that the French artists have 
 " touched up " the faded colours, and some of the pic- 
 
 * " History of Christian Art," vol. i, p. 39. 
 f Handbuch der Kunstgeschickte, p. 14. 
 
2o8 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 turcs may be better termed restorations than accurate 
 copies ; but thev are nowhere accused of being false to 
 the general „ter and spirit of the originals. 
 
 The antiquity of these better specimens of Christian 
 art is still further confirmed by their being fouwd in the 
 oldest crypts of the Catacombs ; and, like the architec- 
 tural character of these more ancient chambers, they 
 indicate the publicity of their construction and their legal 
 protection. In the later excavations, on the contrary, the 
 paintings are few in number, and inferior in type and 
 execution — an evidence of the persecution and impov- 
 erishment of the Christians as well as of the decline of 
 art. The more celebrated shrines, it is true, were repeat- 
 edly decorated at successive periods down to the ninth 
 century ; * but the times of these decorations may be 
 approximately estimated by internal evidence, as the 
 presence of the Constantinian monogram, of the 
 nimbus,! and other characteristic signs testify. 
 
 Early Christian art thus sprang out of that 
 which was pre-existing, selecting and adapting what was 
 consistent with its spirit, and rigorously rejecting what- 
 ever savoured of idolatry or of the sensual character of 
 ancient heathen life. It stripped off, to use the figure 
 of Dr. Lubke, what was unsuitable to the new ideas, 
 
 * Mr. J. H. Parker refers to the fifth or sixth century many paint- 
 ings which De Rossi ascribes to the second or third. These eminent 
 authorities represent two extremes of opinion. Probably the truth 
 lies between them. 
 
 \ No example of the former is known before A. D. 312. The nim- 
 bus is given to Our Lord in the fourth century, to angels in the fifth, 
 but did not reach its widest application till the seventh. (Martigny, 
 Diet, des Antiqs. CArit.) It was employed in ante-Christian pagan 
 art, both Egyptian and classical. In Byzantine art it is a symbol of 
 power and of office, and was therefore given alike to Pharaoh, Saul, 
 Herod, Constantine, Judas, the apocalyptic Dragon, and Satan. 
 Sometimes that of Judas is /f/aci. (Didron, Iconog. Chrit. in hco.) 
 
 X 
 
Ear!/ Christian Art. 
 
 309 
 
 and retained the healthy germ from which the tree of 
 Christian art was to unfold in grand magnificence. As 
 Christianity was the very antithesis of paganism in 
 spirit, so its art was singularly free from pagan error. 
 There are no wanton dances of nude figures like those 
 upon the walls of Pompeii, but chaste pictures with fig- 
 ures clothed from head to foot; or, where historical 
 accuracy required the representation of the undraped 
 form, as in pictures of our first parents in the garden of 
 Eden, or of the story of Jonah, they are instinct with mod- 
 esty and innocence. Pagan art, a genius with drooping 
 wing and torch reversed, stood at the door of death, but 
 cast no light upon the world beyond. Christian art^ in- 
 spired with lofty faith, pierced through the veil of sense, 
 beyond the shadows of time, and beheld the pure spirit 
 soaring above the grave, like essence rising from an 
 alembic in which all the grosser qualities of matter are 
 left behind. Henc only images of hope and tender 
 joy were employed There is no symptom of the de- 
 spair of paganism ; scarce even of natural sorrow. 
 
 Independent statues were in the first ages rarely if 
 ever used.* There seemed to be greater danger of 
 falling into idolatry in the imitation of these, in which 
 form were most of the representations of the heathen 
 deities, than in the employment of painting; and it 
 was igainst the making of graven images that the pro- 
 hibiaon of Scripture was especially directed.f Their 
 fabrication, therefore, was especially avoided. Indeed, 
 sculpture never became truly Christian, and even 
 in the hands of an Angelo or a Thorwaldsen failed 
 to produce triumphs of skill like those of Phidias or 
 
 * Certain Gnostic images will be hereafter mentioned. 
 
 f Ex. XX, 4. ^9^ i^ ^ carved image, from the root boS, to cut, or 
 
 carve. 
 
 14 
 
2IO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ! 
 
 Praxiteles. Christian graphic art, however, in its noblest 
 development far surpassed even the grandest achieve- 
 ments of which we have any account of the schools of 
 Apelles and Zeuxis. Christianity is the embodiment of 
 the gentler graces ; paganism, in its purest form, that 
 of the sterner virtues. The former finds its best expres- 
 sion in painting, the latter in sculpture. 
 
 The first Christian paintings were light and graceful 
 sketches, afcer the manner of the older classic art; and 
 but for the substitution of a Christian for a heathen con- 
 ception — a biblical scene or character, as Daniel in the 
 lions' den, Jonah, or the Good Shepherd, or some strik- 
 ing Christian symbol — it would be difficult to distinguish 
 them from contemporary pagan pictures.* While the 
 principal figure gave an unquestionably Christian char- 
 acter to the whole, the accessories, divisions of space, 
 colouring, and general treatment were quite in the 
 manner of the antique. Garlands, festoons of flowers 
 and vases of fruits ; graceful arabesques, luxuriant vines, 
 grapes, birds and genii ; ideal heads, masks, and fabu- 
 lous animals ; hunting, vintage and harvest scenes, and 
 pastor:«l groups ; personifications of the hours, seasons, 
 rivers, and the like, made up the entourage^ or formed 
 part of the picture. Thus the roof of a crypt in the 
 most ancient part (probably of the first century) of the 
 cemetery of Domitilla is completely covered with 
 branches trailing in graceful curves with exquisite natu- 
 
 * These pictures were generally cu smooth white plaster, and in 
 beautiful bright colours, for the most part in spaces limited by lines 
 of vivid blue, yellow, or red, or by band; of Egyptian-like lotus or 
 lily pattern. If on the ceiling, they were in /vw/'/iSM similarly divided. 
 These bands frequently run around the loculi and arcosolia, and di- 
 vide the walls into panels. Occasionally the latter are covered with 
 a reticulated or lattice-like pattern in bright, opaque colors. Thr 
 paintings are now often much faded and defaced. 
 
 i,: 
 
Early Christian Art. 
 
 311 
 
 ralness, and entirely free from the conventional restraint 
 and geometrical symmetry which indicate the subsequent 
 decline of art. Among the branches flit birds, and 
 winged genii like little cupids. Another specimen of 
 great beauty, of the second century, in the Catacomb 
 of Prsetextatus, exhibits a well drawn harvest scene, with 
 wreaths of roses, vine, and laurel, and with birds flitting 
 about their nests. A fresco of the Good Shepherd and 
 an inscription attest its Christian character. I'he dra- 
 pery and drawing of the figures in the earlier examples 
 are also exceptionally good. 
 
 Several of the Christian symbols were common also 
 to pagan art ; as the palm, the crown, the ship, and 
 others to be hereafter mentioned. They acquired, how- 
 ever, under Christian treatment a profounder and nobler 
 significance than they ever possessed before. But there 
 are other and more striking examples of the adoption, 
 when appropriate to Christian themes, of subjects from 
 pagan art. Orpheus charming the wild beasts with his 
 lyre is a frequently recurring figure in the Catacombs, 
 and is referred to by the Christian Fathers as a type of 
 Him who drew all men to himself by the sweet persua- 
 sive power of his divine wdrd. The victory of Our 
 Lord over death and hell, and probably an ancient inter- 
 pretation of his preaching to the spirits in prison,* may 
 have found a sort of parallel in the beautiful legend of 
 the faithful lover seeking in the under-world the lost 
 Eurydice bitten by a deadly serpent ; while, at the 
 sound of his wondrous harp, gloomy Dis was soothed, 
 Ixion's wheel stood still, Tantalus forgot his thirst, and 
 the stone of Sisyphus hung poised in air.f The Orphic 
 
 ♦ I Pet. iii, 19. 
 
 f The Mediaval conception of Christ's '• Harrowing of Hell " and 
 delivery of our first parents, ruined through the guile of the serpent. 
 
i:! 
 
 212 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 al -- 
 
 verses were also said by the Fathers to have contained 
 many true prophecies concerning Our Lord. These, 
 however, like the testimony of the Sibyls, were pious 
 forgeries o^ post-Christian date. 
 
 Another fable of the pagan mythology reproduced in 
 early Christian art is that of Ulysses and the Sirens. A 
 sarcophagus in the crypt of Lucina represents the 
 " much-planning " wanderer of Ithaca, bound to the 
 mast, deaf to the blandishments of the rather harpy- 
 like daughters of the sea, and so sailing safely by. Max- 
 imus of Turin, in the fifth century, explained the ship 
 of Ulysses to be " a type of the church, the mast being 
 the cross, by which the faithful are to be kept fronrthe 
 seductions of the senses. Thus," he says, " shall we be 
 neither held back by the pernicious hearing of the 
 world's voice, nor swerve from our course to the better 
 life, and fall upon the rocks of voluptuousness."* 
 
 These reminiscences of pagan art are more frequent 
 in the sculptures of the sarcophagi, in which the classic 
 type seems more persistent than in the paintings. Thus, 
 in a bas-relief, in the Lateran Museum, of the ascent of 
 Elijah in the fiery chariot to heaven, by a strange solecism 
 Mercury is represented standing at the horses' heads. 
 This was probably the result of an unconscious imitation 
 of some heathen design. On a sarcophagus from the 
 Catacomb of Callixtus, in a harvest scene, is what seems 
 to be a representation of Cupid and Pysche. This, 
 however, was found buried beneath the floor, and bore 
 indications of having been coated witl. plaster, as if in 
 concealment of the heathen figures. On others have 
 
 is a striking analogue of this myth. Compare also Bacon's rathtir 
 fantastic explanation of this legend by the principles of natural and 
 moral philosophy. See his ** Wisdom of the Ancients," chap. xi. 
 ♦ Horn, i, De Crttce Domini. 
 
Early Christian Art. 
 
 213 
 
 
 been observed bas-reliefs of Bacchus attended by cu- 
 pids, fawns and satyrs, the unfortunate Marsyas, the 
 desertion of Ariadne, and the return of Ulysses. It is 
 probable that some of thtte incongruities resulted from 
 the sarcophagus having been carved by a pagan artist, 
 inasmuch as sculpture was less likely to be practised by 
 the Christians than painting. Indeed, some of these 
 subjects, offensive to Christian feeling, have been care- 
 fully defaced with a chisel, or turned to the wall ; as one 
 in the crypt of Lucina, on which is a bacchanalian scene, 
 while on the rough side, exposed to view, is inscribed the 
 Christian epitaph. The sarcophagi of Constantia and 
 Helena, daughters of Constantine, now in the Vatican 
 Museum, bear vintage and battle scenes and Bacchic 
 masks ; and on that in which the Emperor Charlemagne 
 was buried, probably of pagan origin, is represented the 
 rape of Proserpine. On the gilded glasses of the Cata- 
 combs, some of which were evidently employed for fes- 
 tive purposes, pagan influence also appears in such 
 representations as Achilles, Hercules, Daedalus, Minerva, 
 the Graces, Cupid and Psyche, (Neptune with his trident, 
 and a river-god as the symbol of the Jordan. 
 
 Even in distinctively Christian subjects it is some- 
 times apparent that the artist had not freed himself from 
 the influence of pagan types. Thus the Good Shepherd 
 is represented with the short tunic and buskins of the 
 Roman peasant, and often with the classic syrinx or 
 rustic pipes, probably from some reminiscence of the 
 popular rural deity, the god Pan. In the Lateran Mu- 
 seum is a manifest example — the sarcophagus of Pau- 
 lina — of a pagan sculpture having been adapted as a 
 Christian Good Shepherd. In a bas-relief of Jonah, 
 \v the Vatican Library, the classic influence is seen 
 in the Triton blowing his horn, and Iris floating over 
 
 % 
 
214 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 the vessel with her fluttering scarf, to indicate the sub- 
 sidence of the storm. The ship is like the barges that 
 navigate the Tiber, and the sea-monster that swal- 
 lows the recreant prophet i^like that which menaced 
 Andromeda. 
 
 Christianity thus preserved amid the wreck of an- 
 cient civilization some germs of classic art, over 
 which she brooded till they quickened under the more 
 genial influences of later times. She became thus, as 
 Dr. Liibke remarks, the mediator between the antique 
 heathen life and the art of modem Christendom. That 
 distinguished crftic, Raoul-Rochette, has, however, at- 
 tributed to pagan types too great an influence on the 
 art of the Catacombs, and almost denies the latter all 
 originality or distinctiveness of treatment; and he is 
 certainly quite in error in speaking of the almost pagan 
 physiognomy of the decorations of the Catacombs.* 
 He was misled in forming these opinions in part by cer- 
 tain monuments in the Catacomb of Praetextatus, dis- 
 covered and described by Bottari, and at first supposed 
 to be of Christian origin. f This opinion, however, has 
 been since refuted in an able monograph on the subject 
 by Padre Garrucci. J 
 
 The exceptional and unique character of these mon- 
 uments deserves a somewhat detailed examination. 
 They occur in a gallery of the Catacomb, not far from 
 the Appian Way. In the vault of an arcosoHum is a 
 representation of Venus — a subject never fo id in early 
 
 * " La physionomie presque payenne qui offre le decoration des 
 Catacombes de Rome." — Discours Sur I ' origine des types imitatifs 
 de TArt du Christianisme. Paris, 1834, p. 96. 
 
 \ Sculture e pitture sagre, etc., t. iii, pp. 193, 218. 
 
 % Le Mysthre de Syncretisme Phrygien dans les Catacombes Koiium 
 de Pn'textat. {N^ouvelle Interpretation.) Paris, 1854. 
 
%, 
 
 Early Christian Art. 
 
 2i«; 
 
 Christian art — accompanied by two genii as infants. 
 Near these are the following epitaphs of a pagan priest 
 and his wife '- 
 
 NVMENIS ANTISTES SEBASIS VINCENTIVii HIC [EST] 
 QVI SACRA SANCTA DEVM PIA MENTE C0[LVIT]. 
 
 Here lies Vincentius, a priest of the deity Sebasis, who with pious 
 mind has observed the sacred rites of the gods. 
 
 VINCENTI HOC GLIM FREQVENTES QVOD VIDES ♦ 
 PLVRES ME ANTECESSERVNT OMNES EXPECTO 
 MANDVCA BIBE LVDE ET VENI AD ME 
 CVM VIVES BENEFAC HOC TECVM FERES. 
 
 O Vincentius, many formerly in crowds, as you here see, have gone 
 before me ; I await all. Eat, drink, play, and come to me. While 
 thou livest act well : this thou shalt bear with thee. 
 
 The arcosolium to which this is attached contains the 
 remarkable paintings represented in the accompanying 
 engraving.f The first picture to the left represents the 
 death of Vibia, wife of Vincentius, and is labeled a b- 
 REPTio • viBiES • ET • DESCENSio. She is depicted as b'eing 
 borne off by Pluto, to indicate that her death was pre- 
 mature. The god is standing upright in his quadriga^ 
 conducted by Mercury and holding in his arms the form 
 of Vibia. In the original picture, issuing from an urn at 
 the foot of Mercury, is seen the river Acheron, by 
 which Pluto is about to descend to the infernal regions, 
 as indicated by the word descensio. 
 
 At the top of the vault is represented the judgment of 
 Vibia at the tribunal of Pluto. The <od is seated on 
 his throne, with his wife Proserpine, and over their heads 
 
 * Another reading is : 
 
 HIC ORO NE INQVETES QVOT VIDES. 
 
 f Fig. 31, from Ferret, tom. i, planche Ix. The description in the 
 text is translated from his account, founded on Gamicci. See also 
 Tre sepolcri con pitture ed iscrizioni apparten:nti alle sttperstizioni 
 pagane del Bacco Sahazio e del Per^idico Alitra. Napoli, 1852. 
 
 '■) 
 
'i 
 
 2l6 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
Early Christian Art. 
 
 217 
 
 are written the words dispater and abracvra — titles 
 of the deities. To the right of the throne we see three 
 fates — FATA . DiviNA — and to the left Vibia preceded by 
 Mercury — mercvrivs • nvntivs — and accompanied by 
 Alcestis, the heroine of conjugal love. The figures all 
 have their names written above their heads. 
 
 The principal painting of the series, that in the tym- 
 panum of the arch, represents the introduction of Vibia 
 to the banquet of the blessed. This is shown in the 
 left hand corner of the picture, and is designated indvc- 
 Tio • viEiES. She is introduced by a youthful figure 
 crowned with flowers, and holding in his hand a floral 
 wreath. His name — angelvs • bonvs — '^*' good mes- 
 senger — is perhaps less an indication of Christian 
 influence than of the Greek and Oriental ideas which 
 have presided over the whole of these scenes. Vibia 
 next appears seated at the banquet in the midst of those 
 who have been judged worthy of the recompense of the 
 good — bonorvm • ivDicio • ivDiCATi. They are ranged 
 around a crescent-shaped table formed of cushions, and 
 wear festive crowns upon their heads. In the foreground 
 are seen the servants. 
 
 The fourth scene, to the extreme right of the vault, 
 represents the funeral banquet in honor of Vibia, It is 
 given by her husband Vincentius, who is designated by 
 name, to the priests of Sebasis, over whose heads are 
 written the words, septe • pii • sacerdotes. All these 
 paintings, not only by their inscriptions, but by their con- 
 ception and treatment, demonstrate their pagan origin. 
 They are not in any sense or degree Christian ; nor is 
 there any reason to infer, as has been asserted, that they 
 are of Gnostic execution, but decidedly the reverse. 
 
 But how are we to account for the presence of this 
 pagan monument within the limits of a Christian cem- 
 
,' 
 
 2l8 
 
 TAe Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 etery ? There arc two things to be observed, s.iys M. 
 Perret, in explanation of this circumstance. First, the 
 arcosolium is not exclusively Christian in character. M. 
 de Saulcy has given examples of several Jewish and 
 pagan tombs in the form of arcosolia* In the second 
 place, there is nothing strange in a family practising an 
 oriental rite, like the worship of Mithras — which with the 
 Phrygian and Isiac mysteries were widely prevalent in 
 Rome in the early Christian centuries — having a private 
 place of sepulture, as this seems to have been. It is 
 situated near the Appian Way, from which there was 
 probably a separate entrance. Near by is a pagan 
 columbarium which now forms one of the entrances of 
 the Catacomb, of which it seems part equally with the 
 galler) containing this tomb. This space may possibly 
 have been originally usurped from the Christian ceme- 
 tery ; but it is more probable that the gallery and tomb 
 were independently constructed, and that the fossors 
 came unexpectedly upon it in their excavations. This 
 conjecture is confirmed by the indications of its having 
 been subsequently shut off, but the obstructions have 
 long since been removed. It is impossible to admit that 
 the Christians, in contempt of the sacred usages of the 
 primitive ages, have cc Timingled their, sepulchres with 
 those of the pagans.f A 
 
 But Christian art, though affected by pagan influ- 
 ence, did not servilely follow pagan types. It intro- 
 duced new forms to express new ideas, or employed 
 existing forms with a new significance ; just as Chris- 
 tianity itself introduced new words, or gave new mean- 
 ings to old ones, not only in the classic tongues but 
 in every language which it has adopted as the vehicle 
 of its sublime truths. It created a cycle of symbolical 
 . ♦ Voyage dans les terres bibliques, pi. 5. f Perret, i, p. 44. 
 
Early Christian Art. 
 
 219 
 
 types of especial Christian significance ; and became 
 more enriched and enlarged in its scope by allegorical 
 representations of religious doctrine, and by ill .stra^ions 
 of Old and New Testament history and miracles. But 
 Christian art soon lost that freedom of treatment which 
 it inherited from its classic parentage, and fell into fixed 
 and conventional forms, which were endlessly reiterated. 
 " Before many years," says Maitland, " the empire of 
 imagination passed away, and the genius of art, with 
 * torch extinct and swimming ey^,' had to mourn over 
 the introduction of the hieratic style which, wherever 
 it has appeared throughout the world, has cramped and 
 almost annihilated the inventive faculty." Like the 
 hieroglyphs of Egypt and of India, or like the picture- 
 writing of the lost races of Central America, though in 
 a less degree, the objects of Christian art became not 
 so much representative as symbolic. Individual genius 
 can only struggle hopelessly with the shackles of a con- 
 ventional system. From the freedom of nature it sinks 
 into a servile copyism which can hardly be called art at all. 
 Yet the symbols of the Catacombs, though often rude 
 and uncouth, must not provoke our contempt. They 
 fulfilled their purpose no less fully than the triumphs of 
 art in the Camera Raphaele or the Sistine Chapel. They 
 were addressed not to the external sense, nor to the 
 critical taste, but to the inner eye of the soul and to 
 the sublime faculty of faith. They were not mere 
 representations of the outward semblances of things, 
 but suggestions of eternal verities which transcend the 
 limits of time and space. The rudely scratched anchor 
 told of a hope that reached forward beyond this world 
 and laid hold on the great realities of the world to come ; 
 the dove spoke of the brooding peace of God, which 
 kept the heart and the mind amid persecution and afflic- 
 
220 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 tion with the power of an everlasting life ; and the palm 
 was the symbol of the final victory over death and hell. 
 
 When the age of persecution passed away, this child- 
 like and touching simplicity of Christian art gave place 
 to a more ornate character. Called from the gloomy 
 vaults of the Catacombs to adorn the churches erected 
 by Constantine and his successors, it gradually devel- 
 oped into the many-coloured splendour of the magnificent 
 frescoes and mosaics of the basilicas. It becrme now 
 more personal and historical, and less abstract and doc- 
 trinal. The technical manipulation became less under- 
 stood, and the artistic conception of form more and 
 more feeble, till it gradually stiffened into the immobile 
 and rigid types which characterize Byzantine painting. 
 It exhibited the weakness not of infancy but of decrep- 
 itude, and might almost be called the last sigh of art 
 till its revival after the long slumber of the Middle 
 Ages. It is of importance, however, as enabling us to 
 trace the development of religious error, and the intro- 
 duction of unorthodox additions to Christian belief, and 
 as showing the slow progress toward image worship. It 
 demonstrates the non-apostolicity of certain Romish 
 doctrines, the beginning of which can be here detected. 
 It utters its voiceless protest against certain others 
 which are sought for in vain in the places where, accord- 
 ing to the Roman theory, they should certainly be found. 
 Where still employed in the Catacombs, art shared the 
 corruption and degradation above described. 
 
 It is to this period that most of the condemnations 
 of art, or rather *" 'ts abuse, in the writings of the 
 primitive Fathers must be referred. Toward the close 
 of the fourth century Augustine inveighs against the 
 superstitious reverence for pictures, as well as the grow- 
 ing devotion to the sepulchres, which he says the church 
 
 V 
 
Early Christian Art. 
 
 221 
 
 condemned and endeavoured to correct.* His contem- 
 porary, Epiphanius, stigmatizes the employment of 
 painting as contrary to the authority of Scripture. f 
 About the same time Paulinus of Nola made use of 
 biblical pictures for the instruction of the rude and 
 illiterate multitude who visited the shrine of Felix. 
 " Perhaps it may be asked," he says, " for what reason, 
 contrary to the common usage, I have painted this sa- 
 cred dwelling with personal representations ? . . . Here 
 is a crowd of rustics of imperfect faith, who cannot read, 
 who before they were converted to Christ used profane 
 rites, and obeyed their senses as gods. I have, there- 
 fore, thought it expedient to enliven with paintings the 
 whole habitation of the saint. Pictures thus traced 
 with colours will perhaps inspire those rude minds with 
 astonishment. Inscriptions are placed above the paint- 
 ings in order that the letter may explain what the hand 
 has depicted." t 
 The feeblest intelligence might rise through the ma- 
 
 ♦ Novi multos esse sepalchronim et picturanim adoratores . . . 
 quos et ipsa ecclesia condemnat, et tanquam malos filios corrigere 
 studet. — Aug., ffe Morib. Eccl. Cathol., lib. i, c. 34. 
 f Cuntra auetoritatem Scripturarum. — Epiphan., ad yohan. HierosoL 
 X Forte requiratur, quanam ratione gerendi 
 Sederit hsec nobis sententia, pingere sanctas 
 Raro more domos animantibus adsimulatis. 
 
 Turba frequentia hie est 
 Rusticitas non casta fide, neque docta legend!. 
 Haec adsueta diu sacris servire profanis. 
 Ventre Deo, tandem convertitur advena Christo. 
 Propterea visum nobis opus utile, totis 
 Felicis domibus pictura illudere sanct4 : 
 Si forte attonitas hsec per spectacula mentes 
 Agrestes caperet fucata coloribus umbra. 
 Quae super exprimitur titulis, ut litera monstret 
 Quod mat^us explicuit. 
 
 — Paulin., De Felice Natal. Cann., ix, w, 541, et seq. 
 
 \\ 
 
 J 
 
«aHai^= 
 
 222 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 tcridl to the conception of spiritual truth.* But this 
 ecclesiastical employment of art speedily became the 
 source of religious corruption and the object of super- 
 stitious worship. At length it provoked the stern icon- 
 oclasm of the Isaurian Leo and his successors, and 
 was formally prohibited by the general Council of Con- 
 stantinople in the eighth century. Even early in the 
 fourth century the Council of Elvira, as if with a pres- 
 cience of the dire result that would follow, prohibited 
 the use of pictures in the churches, " lest that which 
 was worshipped and adored should be painted on the 
 
 walls." t 
 
 The iconoclastic spirit, however, was principally 
 directed against graven images, which were regarded 
 as the special objects of idolatry. The earliest ex- 
 amples of these have been attributed to the Gnostics, 
 who so strangely blended the doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity with pagan superstition. They claimed to possess 
 contemporary images of Christ from the collection of 
 
 * Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem 
 Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus. — Hot., de Arte PoetUd. 
 
 Mens hebes ad vemm per materialia surgit 
 Et, demersa prius, hac visa luce resurgit. 
 
 — On doonvay of St. Denis, Paris, 
 
 During the Middle Ages much religious truth was doubtless con- 
 veyed by these storied basilicas or " gospels in stone." Of St. Mark's, 
 V^enice, Dr. Guthrie says, " It is not more remarkable for its oriental 
 splendour than for the flood of gospel truth set forth to all eyes in 
 the mosaics that cover and adorn its domes and walls. . . . Here the 
 grand central, saving doctrine, the glory of Paul and hope of sin- 
 ners, ' Jesus Christ, and him crucified,* is exhibited with wonderful 
 fulness and fidelity." In A. D. 483, Pope Sixtus dedicated to the 
 people of GoA—plehi Dei — the mosaics o» 3. Maria Maggiore at 
 Rome, executed for their instruction. 
 
 f Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne quod colitur ant 
 adoratur in parietibus depingatur.- -Concil. E liber., A. D. 305, c. 36. 
 
Eariy Christian Art. 
 
 223 
 
 Pontius Pilate! But doubtless, like the alleged statue 
 of Christ a* Caesarea Philippi, mentioned by Eusebius,* 
 even if they had any reference to Our Lord at all, they 
 were of much later date. According to Augustine.f 
 the Carpocratian heretics had similar images ; and Mar- 
 cellina, who belonged to that sect, exhibited in the 
 Gnostic church at Rome figures of Christ, Paul, Ho- 
 mer, and Pythagoras. In a similarly eclectic spirit 
 the emperor Alexander Severus placed among his lares 
 the images of Our Lord and Abraham, with those of 
 Orpheus and ApoUonius.J 
 
 Mosaic, which in classic times was used only for the 
 decoration of floors, was employed in Christian art in 
 the more honourable task of adorning the walls of the 
 stately basilicas and churches. This intractable ma- 
 terial was not adapted for the delineation of objects re- 
 quiring delicacy of expression, but was admirably suited 
 for representing strongly pronounced types and solemn 
 figures of Christ and th3 saints, analogous to those in the 
 stained-glass windows of gothic cathedrals and minsters. 
 Hence the mosaics, and gradually all Byzantine art, stiff- 
 ened into an expression of severity and gloom, filling the 
 mind of the beholder with solemnity and awe.§ This 
 charac;:er is still strikingly seen in the art of the Greek 
 
 * Tovrop Sk rhv uvSpi&vra eUova rov 'I900V fipetv IXe/oi*. — f/ist. 
 EccUs., vii, 18. 
 
 f Sectae ipsius (Carpocratis) fuisse traditur socia quaedam Marcel- 
 lina, qua. colebat imagines Jesu ct Pauli, ct Homeri et Pythagorae, 
 rrlorando incensumque ponendo. — Aug., d£ Hargsib., c. vii ; cf. Iren., 
 advers Hares., i, c. xxv, § 6. Rochette figures one of these Gnostic 
 tessarse or amulets with a head of Christ and the word XP12T0£, ac- 
 companied by the symbolic fish. 
 
 X In larario suo . . . Christum, Abraham et Orpheum, et hujus- 
 modi ceteros, habebat ac majorum effigies, rem divinam faciebat.— • 
 Lamprid., in Alex. Sever., c. xxix. 
 
 § Lubke, vol. i, p. 316. 
 
224 
 
 The Catacombs of Rotne. 
 
 church, especially in Russia, where there is an intense 
 and superstitious reverence for pictures, known nowhere 
 else. Many of the churches are completely covered 
 with paintings, which are valued, not for their execution, 
 for they are often hideously ugly, but as a sort of talis- 
 mans on account of their supposed religious sanctity.* 
 Thus art, which is the daughter of paganism, relapsing 
 into the service of superstition, has corrupted, and often 
 paganized, Christianity, as Solomon's heathen wives 
 turned his heart from the worship of the true God to 
 the practice of idolatry. Lecky attributes this degra- 
 dation of style to the latent Manicheism of the dark 
 ages, to the monkish fear of beauty as a deadly tempta- 
 tion, and to the terrible pictures of Dante, which opened 
 up such an abyss of horrors to the imagination. But by 
 means of this mediaeval art, imperfect, and even gro- 
 tesque as it often was, would be brought vividly before 
 the minds of the people of a rude and barbarous age an 
 intense conception of the scenes of Christ's passion, and 
 a realistic sense of the punishment of the lost. 
 
 It will be convenient to treat the art of the Catacombs 
 under the two heads of symbolical and biblical paint- 
 ings, and to discuss separately the gilt glasses and other 
 objects of interest found in these crypts. De F<.ossi 
 divides the subject into symbolical, allegorical, biblical, 
 and liturgical paintings; but some of these divisions, 
 as for instance, the last, assumes the whole question of 
 the purport and interpretation of these pictures. 
 
 * Stanley's Eastern CAurcJUs, passim. 
 
Tkiir Symbolism, 
 
 225 
 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SYMBOLISM OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 Primitive Christianity was eminently congenial to re- 
 ligious symbolism. Born in the East, and in the bosom 
 of Judaism, which had long been familiar with this uni- 
 versal oriental language, it adopted types and figures 
 as its natural mode of expression. These formed the 
 warp and woof of the symbolic drapery of the tabernacle 
 and temple service, prefiguring the great truths of the 
 Gospel. The Old Testament sparkles with mysterious 
 imagery. In the sublime visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, 
 and Daniel, move strange creatures of wondrous form 
 and prophetic significance. In the New Testament the 
 Divine Teacher conveys the loftiest lessons in para- 
 bles of inimitable beauty. In the apocalyptic visions 
 of St. John the language of imagery is exhausted to rep- 
 resent the overthrow of Satan, the triymph of Christ, 
 and the glories of the New Jerusalem. 
 
 The primitive Christians, therefore, naturally adopted 
 a similar mode of art expression for conveying religious 
 inbrruction. They also, as a necessary precaution in 
 times of persecution, concealed from the profane gaze 
 of their enemies the mysteries of the faith under a veil 
 of symbolism, which yet revealed their profoundest 
 truths to the hearts of the initiated. That such disguise 
 was not superfluous is shown by the recent discovery of 
 a pagan caricature of the Crucifixion on a wall beneath 
 
 the Palatine, and by the recorded desecration of the 
 
 15 
 
 
226 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 eucharistic vessels by the Apostate Julian.* To those 
 who possessed the key to the " Christian hieroglyphs," 
 as Raoul-Rochette has called them,f they spoke a lan- 
 guage that the most unlettered as well as the learned 
 could understand. What to the haughty heathen was 
 an unmeaning scrawl, to the lowly believer was eloquent 
 of loftiest truths and tenderest consolation. 
 
 Although occasionally fantastic and far-fetched, this 
 symbolism is generally of a profoundly religious signifi- 
 cance, and often of extreme poetic beauty. In perpet- 
 ual canticle of love it finds resemblances of the Divine 
 Object of its devotion throughout all nature. It beholds 
 beyond the shadows of time the eternal verities of the 
 world to come. It is not of the earth earthy, but is 
 entirely supersensual in its character, and employs ma- 
 terial forms c -ily as suggestions of the unseen and spirit- 
 ual. It addresses the inner vision of the soul, and not 
 the mere outer sense. Its merit consists, therefore, not 
 in artistic beauty of execution, but in appositeness of 
 religious significance — a test lying far too deep for the 
 apprehension of the uninitiate. It is perhaps also in- 
 fluenced, as Kugler remarks, in the avoidance of real- 
 istic representation, by the fear which pervaded the 
 primitive church of the least approach to idolatry. 
 
 Great care must be observed, however, in the inter- 
 pretation of this religious^ymbolism, not to strain it 
 beyond its capacity or intention. It should be with- 
 drawn from the sphere of theological controversy, too 
 
 ♦ When persecution ceased, this veil of mystery was thrown off and 
 a less esoteric art employed ; but even when Christianity came foith 
 victorious from the Catacombs, symbolical paintings celebrated its 
 triumph upon the walls of the basilicas £lnd baptisteries which rose in 
 the great centres of population. 
 
 f Memoire sur les antiquitks Chrktiennes des Catacombes, {Afim. de 
 FAcad. des Inscr., XII I.) 
 
Their Symbolism, 
 
 227 
 
 often the battleground of religious rancour and bitter- 
 ness, and relegated to that of scientific archaeology and 
 dispassionate criticism. An allegorizing mind, if it has 
 any theological dogma to maintain, will discover sym- 
 bolical evidence in its support where it can be detected 
 by no one else.* 
 
 One of the most striking circumstances which im- 
 presses an observer in traversing these silent chambers 
 of the dead is the complete avoidance of all images 
 of suffering and woe, or of tragic awfulness, such as 
 abound in sacred art above ground. There are no 
 representations of the sevenfold sorrows of the Mater 
 Dolorosa, nor cadaverous Magdalens accompanied by 
 eyeless skulls as a perpetual memento mori. There are 
 no pictures of Christ's agony and bloody sweat, of his 
 cross and passion, his death and burial ; nor of flag- 
 
 * Sometimes this superzealous interpretation leads to absard mis- 
 takes. Aringhi devotes two folio pages to the explanation of certain 
 figures which occur in the inscriptions of the Catacombs, which he 
 calls representations of the human heart. He illustrates the subject 
 with much sacred and profane learning, and with many quotations from 
 the Scriptures, the Fathers, and classic authors. Another archaeol- 
 ogist, Boldoni, suggests that the figures signify the bitterest sorrow 
 of heart — dolorem cordi intimum ; and another believes them to be 
 representations of a heart transpierced with a thorn, the symbol of 
 profoundest grief. These mysterious figures, whose hidden meaning 
 was sought with such empty ioW—i^anam significationem inani la^ 
 bore investagarint, says De Ros&i^Pk'ere, however, nothing more than 
 the leaf-decorations employed in both pagan and Christian inscrip- 
 tions by way of punctuation ! See the following example : 
 
 BERPIO^W PACE 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 Figr. 32.— T i Ber^uj, (or Verplus,) in Peace. 
 
228 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 If 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ellations, tortures, and fiery pangs of martyrdom, such as 
 those that harrow the soul in many of the churches and 
 picture-galleries of Rome.* Only images of joy and peace 
 abound on every side. These gloomy crypts are a school 
 of Christian love and gentle charity, of ennobling thoughts 
 and elevating impulses. The primitive believers, in the 
 midst of their manifold persecutions, rejoiced even in 
 tribulation. "There is no sign of mourning," says 
 d'Agincourt, "no token of resentment, no expression 
 of vengeance; all breathes of gentleness, benevolence, 
 and love." " To look at the Catacombs alone," says 
 Rochette, "it might be supposed that persecution had 
 no victims, since Christianity has made no allusion to 
 suffering." There are no symbols of sorrow, no appeals 
 to the morbid sympathies of the soul, nothing that could 
 cause vindictive feelings even toward the persecutors 
 of the church ; only sweet pastoral scenes, fruits, flow- 
 ers, palm branches and laurel crowns, lambs and doves ; 
 nothing but what suggests a feeling of joyous innocence, 
 as of the world's golden age. 
 
 The use of pictorial representations appears often to 
 have been a matter of necessity. Many of the Chris- 
 tians could understand no other written language. 
 Numerous inscriptions, by the extreme ignorance mani- 
 
 * See especially the church of S. Stefano Rotondo, where is a chron- 
 ological series of martyrdoms, reprerented in all their direst horrors, 
 from the crucifixion of Our Lord to the reign of Julian. Among 
 other grote^queries is a picture of St. Dionysius walking in full epis- 
 copal robes at the head of a procession, holding his head, streaming 
 with blood, in iiis hands ! 
 
 The desire to find martyrs has led over-zealou^ antiquarians to dis- 
 cover instruments of torture in the implements of trade commonly 
 represented on the giavestones of the Catacombs. The adz and saw 
 of the carpenter are inade to do duty in some sensational tale of chop- 
 ping and sawing of a Christian sufferer, and the baker's com measure 
 is transformed into a martyr's fiery furnace. 
 
Their Symbolism, 
 
 229 
 
 fested — the wretched execution, grammar, and spelling 
 — show the lowly and unlettered condition of those who 
 affixed them to the walls.* The relatives cf the de- 
 ceased would naturally desire some token by which they 
 might recognize, in that vast and monotonous labyrinth 
 of graves, the tomb of their departed friend. To those 
 ignorant of letters an inscription would but ill subserve 
 this purpose. Hence we often find some pictorial repre- 
 sentation, either with or without an accompanying 
 inscription, on the tomb. These were sometimes rude 
 figures having a phonetic correspondence to the name 
 of the deceased, and sometimes the emblems of his 
 trade. Of the former kind are the following examples 
 copied from the walls of the Lapidarian Gallery : 
 
 PONTIVS • LEO . SE • BIVO • FECIT • SIBI 
 ET PONTIA • MAZA • COZVS • VZVS. («V.) 
 FECERVNT • FILIO • SVG • APOLLINARI • BENB 
 MSRENTI* 
 
 " Pontius Leo made this for himself while living. He and his wife 
 Pontia Maxima made this for their well-deserving son, ApoUinaris." 
 Flff. 33.— Phonetic SymboL 
 
 The friends of Leo were probably unable to read this 
 inscription, whose atrocious latinity betrays the igno- 
 rance of the mason by whom it was executed, and there- 
 fore had engraved upon the stone the rude outline of a 
 lion, the symbol of his proper name. 
 
 Another slab bears the outline of a little pig, the picto- 
 rial translation of the somewhat singular name Porcella. 
 • See Figs. 122 to 128, and context. 
 
 BtBB 
 
230 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 It was, perhaps, a term of endearment, like the obsolete ' 
 English " Pigsney." 
 
 PORCELLA HIC DORMIT IN P. 
 Q* VIXIT ANN • lU • M • X • D • XIU* 
 
 " Here sleeps Porcella in peace. She lived three years, ten months, 
 and thirteen days." 
 
 Fiff. 34.— Phonetic SsrmboL 
 
 In like manner the tombs of Dracontius, Vitulus, and 
 Onager, bear respectively a dragon, a steer, and an ass, 
 the phonetic synonymes of these names. These figures 
 may in some cases be a mere pictorial paronomasia, but 
 the explanation above suggested is the more probable 
 one. In the following example this is almost asserted : 
 
 NABIRA TW PACE ANIMA DVLCIS 
 
 QVI VIXIT ANOS XVI • M • V • 
 
 ANIMA MELEIEA 
 
 TITVLV FACTV 
 
 APARENTES SIGNVM NABE. [jlV.] 
 
 " Navira in peace ; a sweet soul, who lived sixteen years and five 
 months ; a soul sweet as honey ; this epitaph was made by her 
 parents. The sign, a ship." 
 
 Plfif. 35.— Phonef c Symbol. 
 
 More frequently the figures had reference to the trade 
 or occupation of the deceased, as in the following epi- 
 taph, probably of a wool-comber, found by Dr. Mait- 
 land built into the wall of the Piazzo di Spagna, in 
 Rome. Many important funeral tablets, both Christian 
 and pagan, have been thus employed for the commonest 
 
 -I 
 
Their Symboihm. 
 
 2\\ 
 
 purposes. The objects in the engraving are probably 
 the shears, comb, ladle, and an unknown instrument 
 used for cleansing wool. 
 
 " To Veneria, in pecce." 
 F*fr. 36.— Wool-Ck>mber's Implements. 
 
 The following, from the Lapidarian Gallery, indicates 
 the trade of a carpenter. The saw and adz are very 
 like those now employed : 
 
 BAVTO ET MAXIMA SE VIVI 
 FECERVNT. 
 
 " To Bautus and Maxima. They made this during their lifetime.* 
 Pifir. 37— Carpenter's Tools. 
 
232 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 w 
 
 ! 
 
 On another slab is a figure, probably of a vine-dresser, 
 in a short Roman tunic, standing near a wine cask, the 
 symbol of his occupation. He appears to be starting 
 to the field with his mattock on his shoulder, and in his 
 hand is a wallet containing, perhaps, the provision for 
 the day. 
 
 GAVDENTIO FECERVM FRATRI 
 QVI VICSIC ANNIS XXVIII • M • VIII • D • XVII 
 
 
 *^i,.^\ 
 
 
 l\\Aj[y 
 
 1 Vi 1 1 ' 1 1 r^ \ V 
 
 \1 
 
 1 r j 1 o 1 1 ti ) X ^ 
 
 \ H 1 1 11 r\/ \ 
 
 '^ 
 
 ^=^ <^ 
 
 " To Gaudentius. His brothers made this. He lived twenty-eight 
 years, eight months, seventeen days." 
 
 F\g. 38.— A Vine-Dresser's Tomb. 
 
 ■i 
 
 ,i 
 
 In the Catacomb of St. Agnes is a fresco of husband- 
 men carrying a wine butt on their shoulders, the mean- 
 ing of which is probably the same. Mr. Hemans rather 
 fantastically interprets this symbol as implying concord, 
 or the union of the faithful bound together by sacred 
 ties, as the staves of the cask are by its hoops.* Mait- 
 land translates it as standing for a proper name. We 
 have seen examples representing fossors at work,f and 
 Fabretti figures the slab of a sculptor, exhibiting the man- 
 ufacture of sarcophagi. Other examples occur, in which 
 
 ♦ Sa(. Art, p. 43. | Figs. 23, 24, 
 
1 heir Symbolism. 
 
 233 
 
 the fuller's tomb is indicated by mallets, the shoemaker's 
 by shoes or lasts, the baker's by loaves, the wood-feller's 
 by an axe, the grocer's by scales, and the like, although 
 the meaning of some of these figures is questioned.' 
 Didron, however, presses this interpretation of these 
 symbols much too far, making the djve, fish, anchor, 
 and sheep, only the emblems of the occupation of the 
 fowler, fisherman, sailor, and shepherd, respectively, 
 thus doing violence to the acknowledged canons of 
 epigraphic criticism to be presently indicated.* 
 
 But by far the larger proportion of these symbols have 
 a religious significance, and refer to the peace and joy 
 of the Christian, and to the holy hopes of a life beyond 
 the grave ; and many of them were derived directly f? om 
 the language of Scripture. They were often of a very 
 simple and rudimentary character, such as could be 
 easily scratched with a trowel on the moist plaster, 
 or traced upon the stone. They were sometimes, how- 
 ever, elaborately represented in excellent frescoes or 
 sculpture. 
 
 * Such symbols were not peculiar to Christian tombs. There were 
 many pagan examples of a similar character. Thus a cultrarius, or 
 cutler, has knives ; z.pullarius^ or poulterer, a cage or coop of chickens ; 
 a tabellariuSf and postman, a writing case ; and a marmorarius, or 
 mason, a mallet and chisel, on his tomb. Sometimes a shop, with 
 customers bargaining, is shown. A bag or purse signifies an agent ; 
 money, a banker ; and the like. The ascia or axe, so common on 
 Roman tombs, probably represents a sacrificial instrument. Anal- 
 c^ous to these are. the sphere and cylinder engraven on the tomb of 
 Archimedes, and the square and compasses on modem masonic mon- 
 uments. In the Armenian cemeteries a hammer, trowel, last, scales, 
 and shears, indicate the grave of a carpenter, mason, shoemaker, 
 grocer, or tailor. In the Cemetery de I'Est, at Paris, animals act- 
 ing mark the tomb of the French fabulist, La Fontaine ; masks, that 
 of Moli^re ; a palette or brushes, that of a painter. See also the 
 naval and military trophies on the tombs of many distinguished 
 sailors and soldiers. 
 
234 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The beautiful allusion of St. Paul to the Christian's 
 hope as the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, 
 is frequently represented in the Catacombs by the out- 
 line of an anchor, often rudely drawn, but eloquent with 
 profoundest meaning to the mind of the believer. It 
 assured the storm-tossed voyager on life's rough sea 
 that, while the anchor of his hope was cast "within the 
 veil," his life-bark would outride the fiercest blasts and 
 wildest waves of persecution, and at last glide safely 
 into the haven of everlasting rest. This allusion is 
 made more apparent when it is observed how often it is 
 found on the tombstones of those who bear the name 
 Hope, in its Greek or Latin 
 form, as Ei\niC, EAniAlOC, 
 SPES,etc. In the accompany- 
 ing example it is displayed oh 
 a Christian patera. This sym- 
 bol is not unknown in classic 
 art. It occurs on a ring from 
 Pompeii, in the Museum of 
 Naples, with the word EAIIIC, 
 }{ope. ^ff' 30.— Symbolical Anchor. 
 
 Of kindred significance with this is the symbol of a 
 ship, which may also refer to the soul seeking a country 
 out of sight, as the ship steers to a land beyond the hori- 
 zon. Sometimes it may be regarded as a type of the 
 church ; and in later times it is represented as steered 
 by St. Peter and St. Paul.* The symbol of " the heaven- 
 
 * Fig. 112. This symbol is designated by modem Italians La 
 Navicella di San Pietro — the Bark of St. Peter. From the fian- 
 cied resemblance of the body of the church to a ship, or from 
 the above allusion, the word nave, applied to that part, has been 
 derived as if from ttavis, a ship. May it not possibly be from vaAf, 
 a temple ? 
 
Tlieir Symbolism, 
 
 •^35 
 
 
 bound ship " — 7\ vavg ovQaoSpuftovaa — is mentioned by 
 Clement of Alexandria as being in vogue in the second 
 century. This figure was used also in pagan art as an 
 
 emblem of the 
 close of life, and 
 may still be seen 
 carved on a tomb 
 near the Nea- 
 politan Gate of 
 Pompeii. In the 
 Catacombs the 
 execution of the 
 symbol is often 
 PIff . 40.-S7mboUoal Ship. exceedingly 
 
 rude, the design being apparently copied from the 
 clumsy barges of the Tiber. The mast and yard some- 
 times present a vague imitation of the cross.* The ac- 
 companying figure is from the Lapidarian Gallery of 
 the Vatican.! 
 
 The palm and crown are symbols that frequently 
 occur, often in a very rude form. Although common 
 also to Jewish J and pagan art, they have received in 
 Christian symbolism a loftier significance than they ever 
 possessed before. They call to mind that great multitude 
 
 * " Arbor quaedam in navi," says St. Ambrose, " est crux in ecclesia." 
 f Compare the following beautiful passage from Tertullian, in which 
 the metaphor is elaborately carried out : " Amid the reefs and inlets, 
 amid the shallows and straits of idolatry, Fai'th, her sails filled with the 
 Spirit of God, navigates ; safe, if cautious, secure, if intently watch- 
 ful. But to such lis are washed overboard is a deep, whence is no out- 
 swimming ; to such as run aground is inextricable shipwreck ; to such 
 as are engulfed is a whirlpool, where there is no breathing in idol- 
 atry. All its waves suffocate ; every eddy drags down to Hades. — De 
 Idol.y c. 24. 
 
 X Compare 2 Esdras ii, 44, 45. See ante. Fig. 18. The palm ap- 
 pears on the coins of Simon Barchocab. 
 
 f' 
 
 *^*!$!5i|rl 
 
236 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 whom no mdn can number, with whom Faith sees the dear 
 
 departed walk in white, bearing palms in their hands. 
 
 The crown is not the wreath of ivy or of laurel, of 
 
 parsley or of bay, the coveted reward of the ancient 
 
 games ; nor the chaplet of earthly revelry, which, placed 
 
 upon the heated brow, soon fell in withered garlands to 
 
 the feet ; but the crown of life, starry and unwithering, 
 
 the immortal wreath of glory which the saints shall wear 
 
 forever at the marriage supper of the Lamb. They are 
 
 the emblems of victory over the latest foe, the assurance 
 
 that 
 
 The struggle and grief are all past ; 
 The glory and worth live on. 
 
 The palm and crown conjoined, the latter encircling 
 the sacred monogram, are represented in the accompa- 
 nying example from a slab in the Vatican Library. 
 
 Fiff. 41.— SymboUoal Palm and Crown. 
 
 The palm has also been claimed, but, as we shall see, 
 without any warrant whatever, as the emblem of the 
 martyrs and the designation of their tombs. 
 
 One of the most beautiful symbols of the Catacombs 
 is the dove, the perpetual synonym of peace. Indeed, 
 that word is frequently annexed to the figure as if to 
 show more distinctly its meaning, as in Figs. 42 and 43.* 
 The innocence and purity of the dove make it an ap- 
 propriate emblem of the souls of departed Christians, 
 soaring beyond the defilements of earth to the peaceful 
 
 ♦ See also Figs. 15, 77, and 82. The figures are often very con- 
 ventional, and look more like geese or ducks than doves. 
 
Their Symbolism, 
 
 337 
 
 blessedness of heaven.* It is, therefore, in allusion to 
 this thought sometimes accompanied by the words, 
 anima innocens^ anima simplex — " innocent soul," " sim- 
 ple soul." Perhaps there may be also a reference to 
 the admonition of Our Lord, " Be ye, therefore, . . . 
 harmless as doves." The gentleness and tender affec- 
 tion of these beautiful birds make them an emblem of 
 endearment in every age, as is strikingly seen in the 
 frequent allusions of the matchless Song of Songs. It 
 may, therefore, be often employed in the Catacombs with 
 reference to the domestic virtues of the deceased, and 
 to the mutual constancy of husband and wife. The 
 expression, palumbus situ felU — " a dove without gall " — 
 is often applied in Christian epitaphs to the departed, 
 especially in its diminutive (orm—palumbulus sine felle — 
 on the tombs of little children, as if the bereaved parents 
 presented their babes to the Lord, like the turtle-doves 
 and young pigeons of the ancieat Jewish offering of 
 infant consecration. 
 
 " In the Peace of God.** 
 Flcr. 42.— Symbolical Ooveck 
 
 The dove generally bears in its beak or claws an olive 
 branch, the sign of the assuaging of the waters of Divine 
 vengeance from the face of the earth. (See Fig. 43.) It 
 
 * See Psa. Ixviii, 13. In Mediaeval art the soul is represented is- 
 suing from the mouth of the dying or flying through the air in the 
 form of a dove. One example bears the inscription — anima inter- 
 fectorum — the souls of the slain. 
 
238 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 If 
 
 is, then, as TertuUian expresses it, " the herald of tht 
 peace of God." 
 
 FliT* 43.— Symbolical Dove. Piff. 44.— Dovea and Vaae> 
 
 Sometimes •* i** seen drinking out of a vase, or peck- 
 ing at grapes or olive berries, a symbol of the soul's 
 enjoyment of the fruits and refreshing draughts of par- 
 adise.* (See Figs. 44 and 45.) As seen sitting on the 
 arms of the cross,t the dove is an appropriate symbol 
 of the peace with God purchased by the death of Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. The dove in a cage may imply the 
 
 l^ocyspWMI ^ 
 
 " The place of Primus." 
 Figr. 45.— Dove Eatingr Olive Berries. 
 
 * See the common epigraphic expression, HIE EN 9EQ — *' Drink In 
 God," and the language of Augfustine concerning a deceased friend— 
 " Jam ponit spirituale os ad fontem tuum, Domine, et bibit quantum 
 potest." — Con., ix, 3. 
 
 f See Figs. 60 and lo^ " The doves which perch upon the cross,** 
 says Paulinus, " show that the kingdom of God is open to the simple " — 
 Quseque super signum resident caeleste columbae 
 Simplicibus produnt regna patere Dei. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 239 
 
 f 
 
 faithful under persecution, or the soul imprisoned in 
 the body. 
 
 The dove was also used in the Catacombs as the sym- 
 bol of the Holy Spirit in representations of the baptism 
 of Our Lord, and is described by Paulinus as similarly 
 employed in the church of Nola.* Tertullim f applies 
 toward the ecclesiastical edifice the expression, columba 
 domus — " house of the dove " — possibly, however, with 
 reference to the dove-like religion and character of the 
 Christians. In Mediaeval art the Holy Spirit, 'inder 
 the form of a dove wearing a cruciform nimbus, the 
 symbol of divinity, is represented brooding over the face 
 of the waters of primeval chaos, inspiring the prophets 
 and saints, and even nailed to the cross above the cruci- 
 fied body of Our Lord. This sacred emblem of the 
 Paraclete, the Divine Comforter, by a monstrous viola- 
 tion of propriety was emblazoned upon battle-flags, and 
 the Holy Name given to a military order and to ships 
 of war.J 41 
 
 • Per columbam Spiritus Sanctus fluit. — Ep. ad Sever. 
 
 \ Contra Valentin. ^ c. iii. Sometimes a gold or silver dove was 
 placed over the altar, (Bing., viii, 6, § 19,) as is still occasionally seen 
 even in Protestant churches. In the Middle Ages cliurches and abbeys 
 were named from this symbol, as Santa Columba and Sainte Colombe, 
 the church of the Holy Dove. They were also dedicated to the Holy 
 Ghost under the title of Saint Paraclete, Santo Spirito, and Saint 
 Esprit. 
 
 X According to an apocryphal Gospel, the Holy Ghost under the 
 form of a dove designated Joseph as the spouse of the Virgin Mary 
 by lighting on his head ; and in the same manner, says Eusebius, (vJ. 
 29,) was Fabian indicated as the divinely appointed bishop of Rome. 
 According to a singular legend, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove 
 was present at the Council of Nice, and signed the creed that was 
 there framed. In the Arthurian legend a snowy dove accompanied 
 the apparition of the Holy Grail. In the fifteenth century a pigeon 
 which lighted on the tent of Edward III., at Calais, was thought to be a 
 manifestation of the Holy Ghost. {Mimoires de Phil, de Commines, 
 
240 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 This emblem was also used in pagan art. The light- 
 winged coursers who drew the airy chariot of Venus 
 were doves. From the oaks of Dodona doves uttered 
 oracles of the future. A dove was also the celestial 
 messenger cl Ma'iomet. The olive, too, was sacred to 
 Minerva, and as the symbol of peace was woven into the 
 victor's crown. 
 
 Other pagan types were employed, but with a new and 
 nobler Christian significance. Thus the peacock, the 
 proiid bird of Juno, frequently appears in the Cata- 
 Ci>mbs, not as the symbol of the all-seeing eye of God, 
 in imitation of the pagan myth of the hundred eyes of 
 Argus, but as the emblem of immortality.* Associated 
 in meaning and frequent- 
 ly confounded in form 
 with the peacock was the 
 phconix, the marvellous 
 story of whose rejuvenes- 
 cence fiom the ar les of its 
 funeral pyre Clement of 
 Rome recounts with u.i- 
 faltering faith. f Lactan- 
 tius makes it the theme 
 
 of an elaborate poem,J; 
 
 , rr, ^11- -i. -i. ^fir. 46.--Symbolical Peacock, 
 and Tertulhan cites it as 
 
 a striking illustration of the resurrection of the 
 dead. § It was also considered a type of the new 
 birth and of eternal felicity. The cock, generally as- 
 sociated with St. Peter, || is interpreted as the symbol 
 
 • 
 iv, lO.) Seven doves hovering around the head of Our Lord or the 
 Virgin Maiy symbolize, in Mediaeval art, the seven-fold gifts of the 
 
 Spirit. 
 * See Figs. 46, 89. \ Ep. ad Corinth., § 25. % De Phcenice, 
 § De Resurrec. Cam., c. 13. | See Fig. 102 
 
 aaaa 
 
'? 
 
 Their Symbolism. 
 
 241 
 
 of unsleeping vigilance; it is, perhaps, also an emblem 
 or suggestion of the remorse of the apostle for his 
 denial of his Lord. 
 
 Another adaptation of classic symbolism is the employ- 
 ment of the stag, the attribute of Diana, as the emblem of 
 the Christian thirsting after the living waters. It is gener- 
 ally represented drinking at a stream, probably in allusion 
 to the Psalmist's panting after God as the hart after the 
 water-brooks.* The hare sometimes occurs, an appro- 
 priate type of the persecution of the Christians, hunted 
 amid those secret burrows in the earth like rabbits in 
 their warrens. The horse is interpreted as symbolizing 
 eagerness or speed in running the Christian race, or, per- 
 haps, the course of life happily accomplished ;f and the 
 lion, fortitude of soul, or, from the notion that he slept 
 with open eyes, vigilance against the snares of sin.J It 
 is remarkable that the dog, a pagan symbol of fidelity. 
 
 * Psa. xlii, I. See Fig. 132. f See Fig. 115. 
 
 ^ In later art this figure is used as an emblem of the Lion of the 
 tribe of Judah, and is sometimes represented as opening the apoca- 
 lyptic book with seven seals. The four living creatures of John's 
 vision, (chap, iv, 6, 7,) the lion, calf or ox, eagle, and m?.n or angel, 
 and the tetramorph figun of that of Ezekiel, (chap, i, ver. 10,) became 
 symbols of the four evangelists, and also of Christ. 
 
 In mediaeval art uncouth and grotesque figures — " Gorgons and 
 hydras and chimeras dire" — took the place of the bright and 
 genial symbols of the Catacombs. To the terrified imagination 
 of the age all nature swarmed with malignant and demoniac be- 
 ings, which were bodied forth in the dragons and griffins, and mon- 
 strous forms and faces that haunt the gothic minsters and abbeys, es- 
 pecially in the northern countries of Europe, where the savageness of 
 nature is reflected in the weirdness of art. Yet even in its distorted 
 grotesqueness, this art proved its moral superiority to the gay and joy- 
 ous spirit of heathenism. The intense consciousness of sin and evil, 
 and of the mortal struggle of the human soul with the powers of dark- 
 ness which it manifested, is essentially nobler than the frivolous sen- 
 sualism of ancient art and life, without hope or fear of the future. 
 
 Id 
 
242 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 never occurs except as accessory in hunting scenes of 
 manifestly heathen type; probably on account of the 
 abhorrence of this, to them, unclean beast, by the Jews, 
 who so largely impressed their characteristics on Chris- 
 tian thought and feeling.* The serpent, a common 
 pagan symbol, and with the cock the attribute of -^scu- 
 lapius, nowhere appears but in the scene of the temp- 
 tation of Eve by the " Old Serpent, the Devil." 
 
 The vine is ati appropriate symbol of the intimate 
 union of the believer and Christ, and the olive tree of 
 a life fruitful in good deeds, or of the church, in whose 
 sheltering arms all souls may find rest, as the fowls of 
 the air in the boughs of a tree. Flowers and fruits may 
 be the emblems of future beatitude ; and a loaf, of the 
 bread of life or of the holy eucharist. The fountain is 
 a type of the living waters, and the lyre, of the influence 
 of the Divine Orpheus. The lamp and the light-house 
 are the emblems of spiritual illumination through the 
 gospel. The balance -may refer to the just dealing of 
 the deceased, or perhaps to the final judgment and the 
 Eastern notion of psychostasy.f The house probably 
 indicates the tabernacle of the body, or perhaps the 
 last long home of the grave, or the house not made with 
 hands on high. Most of the symbols, however, refer 
 to the person and work of Christ, as the central and 
 
 * See Job xxx, i ; Psa. xxii, i6 ; Matt, vii, 6 ; Phil, iii, 2 ; Rev. xxii, 15. 
 
 f Compare the prophecy of Belshazzar's doom — Dan. v, 27. To 
 this the weighing of the fates of Achilles and Hector in the Iliad is 
 analogous. (McCaul, 49.) Several of these symbols are often associ- 
 ated together. Thus, on a slab bearing date A. D. 400, arc crowded 
 the Constantinian monogram, the balance, mummy, candelabrum with 
 seven lights, a house, and fish. On a marble ambo at Ravenna are 
 six series, ten in each, of sheep, peacocks, doves, stags, ducks, and 
 fishes. Whether symbolical or not, the selection is a remarkable 
 parallel to many of the figures of the Catacombs. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 243 
 
 dominating idea of the church of the Catacombs. 
 Some of these are of such importance and of so 
 frequent occurrence as to demand a more detailed 
 examination. 
 
 One of the most striking and beautiful of these sym- 
 bols is that which represents Christ as the Good 
 Shepherd, and believers as the sheep of his fold. While 
 the doves, as we have seen, may be regarded as emblem- 
 atic of the beatified spirits of the departed, the sheep 
 more appropriately symbolize those who, still in the 
 flesh, go in and out and find pasture. Suggesting the 
 thought of that sweet Hebrew idyl* of which the world 
 will never grow tired ; which, lisped by the pallid lips 
 of the dying throughout the ages, has strengthened their 
 hearts as they entered the dark valley ; and to which 
 Our Lord lent a deeper pathos by the tender parable 
 of the lost sheep — small wonder that it was a favourite 
 type of that unwearying love that sought the erring and 
 the outcast and brought them to his fold again. With 
 reiterated and manifold treatment the tender story is 
 repeated over and over again, making the gloomy crypts 
 bright with scenes of idyllic beauty, and hallowed with 
 sacred associations. 
 
 This symbol very happily sets forth the entire scope 
 of Christian doctrine. It illustrates the sweet pastoral 
 representations of man's relationship to the Shepherd 
 of Israel who leadeth Joseph like a flock, f and his in- 
 dividual dependence upon him who is the Shepherd and 
 Bishop of all souls. J But it especially illustrates the 
 character and office of Our Lord, and the many passages 
 of Scripture in which he represents himself as the 
 Good Shepherd, who forsook his eternal throne to seek 
 through this wilderness-world the lost and wandering 
 
 ♦ Psa. xxiii. 
 
 f Psa. Ixxx, I. 
 
 X I Pet. ii, 25. 
 
244 
 
 The Catacombs of Rjin:. 
 
 l! 
 
 i; 
 
 sheep, to save whom he gave his life that he might bring 
 them to the evergreen pastures of heaven. 
 
 This subject undergoes every possible variety of treat- 
 ment and is endlessly repeated — rudely scratched on 
 funeral slabs, elaborately sculptured on sarcophagi, 
 moulded on lamps and vases, graven on seals and rings, 
 traced in gold on glass, and tainted in fresco, generally 
 in the most prominent and honourable position, in the 
 vaulting of the chambers and tympana of the arcosolia* 
 The Good Shepherd is generally represented as a youth- 
 ful beardless figure in a short Roman tunic and buskins, 
 bearing tenderly the lost sheep which he has found and 
 laid upon his shoulders with rejoicing. This is evidently 
 not a personal image, but an allegorical representation 
 of the " Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep." 
 He is generally surrounded, as in Fig. 47, by a group 
 of fleecy followers, whose action and attitude indicate 
 the disposition of soul and manner of hearing the 
 word. Some are listening earnestly ; others are more 
 intent on cropping the herbage at their feet, the types 
 of those occupied with the cares and pleasures and 
 riches of this world. A truant ram is turning heedlessly 
 away, as if refusing to listen ; and often a gentle ewe 
 nestles fondly at the shepherd's feet or tenderly caresses 
 his hand. An early Christian writer, contemporary with 
 this primitive art, furnishes an interpretation of these 
 pictures. He compares the poor of this world to sheep 
 in a barren desert ; finding no allurements here below, 
 they seek after those things which are above. The rich, 
 on the contrary, are like sheep in a pleasant pasture, with 
 heads and hearts always intent on the things of earth. 
 Frequently a shower of rain, or of water from a rock — 
 the emblem of the dews of grace or the waters of sal- 
 
 ♦ See Fig. 105. 
 
 \ 
 
 1^1- 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 245 
 
 r 
 
 vation — falls, abundantly on the listening sheep, scantily 
 on those that are feeding, not at all on the one that is 
 turning away. 
 
 Fiir* 47.— The Good Shepherd. 
 
 Sometimes ilic sheep appears to nestle with an ex- 
 pression of human tenderness and love on the shep- 
 herd's shoulders ; in other examples it is more or less 
 firmly held with one or both hands, as if to prevent its 
 escape. In a few instances the fold is seen in the back- 
 gnund, which seems to complete the allegory. Fre- 
 quei>tly the shepherd carries a staff or crook in his 
 hand, on which he sometimes leans, as if weary beneath 
 his burden. He is sometimes even represented sitting 
 on a mound, as if overcome with fatigue, thus recalling 
 the pathetic words of the Dies Ira : 
 
 Quaerens me sedisti lassus. 
 
 Occasionally he is represented with a musical instru- 
 ment, like the classical syrinx or Pan's-pipe, in his hand, 
 as in Fig. 48, as if to indicate the sweet persuasive in- 
 fluence of his word. In allusion to this thought Greg- 
 ory Nazianzen remarks, " The Good Shepherd will at 
 one time give his sheep rest, and at another time lead 
 
I 
 
 111 
 
 iJ! 
 
 I 
 
 246 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 and direct them, with his staff seldom, more generally 
 with his pipe." In a fresco in the Catacomb of St. 
 Agnes the shepherd's tenderness and pity are contrasted 
 with the mercenary harshness of the hireling who careth 
 not for the sheep, and who rudely seizes by the leg one 
 that struggles to get free, while the Good Shepherd 
 merely calls his sheep, and they hear his voice and fol- 
 low him. Sometimes an Orpheus, to whose lyre the 
 sheep seem to listen with pleased attention, takes the 
 place of the Good Shepherd. 
 
 Pigr. 48.— Good Shepherd with Syrinx. 
 
 Sometimes the shepherd is represented as leading or 
 bearing on his shoulders a kid or goat instead of a sheep 
 or lamb. This apparent solecism has been thought a 
 careless imitation of pagan figures of the sylvan deity 
 Pan, who frequently appears in art in this manner. It 
 is more probable, however, that it was an intentional 
 departure from the usual type, as if to illustrate the 
 
 ! 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 247 
 
 words of Our Lord, " I am not come to call the right- 
 eous, bvt sinners to repentance," and to indicate his 
 tenderness toward the fallen, rejoicing more over the lost 
 sheep that was found than over the ninety and nine that 
 went not astray. It was also, probably, designed as a 
 protest against the rigour of the Novatians in refusing 
 reconciliation to penitent apostates. Sometimes Our 
 Lord, thus symbolically represented, is accompanied by 
 one or more of his disciples, as under-shepherds to 
 whom is given command to feed the flock of Christ, over 
 which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers. 
 
 In the Catacomb of St. Agnes is a remarkable fresco 
 of a lamb between two wolves, over which is written 
 the word seniores, evidently an allegorical representa- 
 tion of the story of Susanna and the elders, and in 
 mystic form an image of the church surrounded by per- 
 secution, or an illustration of the words of Our Lord, 
 "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of 
 wolves." 
 
 The figure of the Good Shepherd has been a favourite 
 symbol in every age, and was common in pagan art. 
 Mercury was worshipped under the name Criophorus, 
 or the Ram-bearer, and was thus represented in paint- 
 ing and statuary.* More frequently the god Pan appears 
 under that figure, generally bearing in his hand the sim- 
 ple instrument to which he has given his name. The 
 Roman poets employ this sweet pastoral image in their 
 beautiful eclogues f to illustrate the shepherd's tender 
 care for his flock, gently bearing the lambs in his arms 
 or on his shoulders, recalling the inspired language in 
 which Isaiah depicts the Almighty's loving-kindnesi to- 
 ward his people. t From this outward resemblance be- 
 
 * Pausanias, lib. x. 
 
 f TibuUus, £/i?^., ii, n, 12 ; Calpum., Ec'og., v,39. % Isa. x(, ij. 
 
248 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 tween the pagan and Christian themes, Raoul-Rochette 
 has imagined that the frescoes of the Catacombs were 
 careless imitations of the heathen type, overlooking 
 their distinctively Christian interpretation. But the 
 naked fauns dancing with the nymphs of pagan art, as 
 in the tomb of the Nasos, are infinitely removed from 
 the sweet and tender grace of the Christian " Pastor 
 Bonus." TertuUian, in the second century, speaks of 
 chalices on which were paintings of the Good Shepherd 
 and the lost sheep.* Eusebius says that Constantine 
 placed a statue of this subject in the forum of Constan- 
 tinople. It also appears in mosaic at Ravenna, A. D. 
 440, and in a Catacomb at Cyrene in Africa. f 
 
 But Our Lord is sometimes represented as a lamb in- 
 stead of a shepherd.J Indeed, this symbol is no less 
 
 * Patrocinabitur Pastor, quern in calice depingitis. A parabolis lice- 
 bit incipias, ubi est ovis perdita, a Domino requisita et humeris ejus 
 revecta. — De Pudicit, ii and x. 
 
 f The later Christian poets also celebrated this tender theme. In 
 lines whose lyric cadence charm the ear like a shepherd's pipe 
 Thomas Aquinas sings : 
 
 Bone Pastor, pan is vere, 
 Jesu, nostri miserere, 
 Tu nos pasce, nos tuere ; 
 Tu nos bona fac videre, 
 In terra viventium. 
 
 Tu qui cuncta scis et vales, 
 Qui nos pascis hie mortales 
 Tuos ibi commensales 
 Cohaeredes et sodales 
 Fac sanctorum civium. 
 
 Another Mediaeval hymn runs sweetly thus : 
 
 Jesu dulcissime, e throno gloriae 
 Ovem deperditam venisti quaerere ! 
 Jesu suavissime, pastor fidissime. 
 Ad te O trahe me, ut sen; per sequar te ! 
 
 ^ In a distich accompanying an Ag;*us Dei in the church of St. 
 Fudentiana at Rome, both characters are ascribed to Our Lord : 
 
 Hie agnus mundum restaurat sanguine lapsum, 
 Mortuus et vivus idem sum, pastor et agnus. 
 
 Pf.t 
 
 k 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 249 
 
 I 
 
 appropriate than the one just considered, and has 
 equally the sanction of Scripture. The manifold sacri- 
 fices of the tabernacle and temple all pointed to the 
 Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the true 
 Passover of mankind. The immaculate purity, gentle- 
 ness, and divine affection of the Redeemer, and his 
 patience under affliction and persecution, make this 
 beautiful symbol an appropriate type of his innocence 
 and sufferings as he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, 
 and, as a sheep dumb before its shearers, opened not 
 his mouth.* In the devout recognition of Our Lord by 
 John the Baptist,f and in the sublime visions of the 
 Apocalypse, J he is thus fig- 
 uratively represented ; and to 
 this divine Lamb is chanted 
 evermore the song of praise 
 and honour and thanksgiv- 
 ing. § 
 
 In the accompanying en- 
 graving from a sarcophagus 
 in the Lateran, of the fourth 
 or fifth century, the lamb, 
 wearing the nimbus in which 
 are inscribed the sacred mon- 
 ogram and the letters Al- 
 pha and Omega, the emblems 
 
 r J- • •. 4. J- Piar. 49.— Lamb ajB Symbol of 
 
 of divmity, is standmg upon Christ. 
 
 " This Lamb restores the lost world with his blood. Dead and living, 
 I am but one ; I am at once the Shepherd and the Lamb." 
 
 Paulinus beautifully says : " The same Lamb and Shepherd rules us 
 in the world who from wolves has made us lambs. He is now the 
 Shepherd of those sheep for whom he was once the victim Lamb." 
 — Epis, iii, ad Florent. 
 
 * Isa. liii, 7. f John i, 19. | Rev. v, 6. § Ibid., v, X2. 
 
250 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 a hillock, perhaps tended for Mount Zion,* from 
 which flow four strev»» .i, probably the *' river of water of 
 life, . . . proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 
 Lamb," and dividing toward the four quarters of the earth. 
 These streams are also variously interpreted as signi- 
 fying the four evangelists, and the four rivers of para- 
 dise. f On a sarcophagus of later date Our Lord is 
 represented in human form with a scroll in his hand, 
 standing on a mound from which the four mystical 
 rivers flow, and by his side a lamb bearing a Latin 
 cross on its head. On either side are lambs, personi- 
 fications of the apostles, to whom he is giving the 
 final commission to preach in all lands the gospel con- 
 tained in the scroll which he holds, and to baptize 
 with the sacred waters at their feet. Sometimes 
 twelve lambs are represented approaching one in 
 the centre, as in frescoes in St. Clement's at Rome, and 
 at Ravenna. On a gilt glass patera in the Vatican Li- 
 brary the lambs are seen to issue from Jerusalem and 
 Bethlehem, as indicated by their names written above, 
 and to approach Mount Zion, from which flow the 
 four evangelical streams united in the mystical Jordan. 
 This is perhaps emblematic of the twelve tribes, or 
 of the gentiles coming from the east and west to drink 
 of the water of life,, Paulinus describes a mosaic in 
 
 * " And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Sion." — Rev. 
 xiv, I. 
 
 f Paulinus thus describes a mosaic of this subject at Fondi, {Epis. 
 xii, ad Severum .•) 
 
 Petram superstat, ip^e petra ecclesise, 
 Ex qua sonori quatuor fontes meant, 
 Evangelists, viva Christ! flumiila. 
 
 " Standing upon a rock ia lie who is himself the Rock of the church, 
 and from this go forth four voiceful streams, evangelists, the living riv< 
 ers of Christ." 
 
 The Agnus Dei is still often seen on altar cloths and tombstones. 
 
Tlieir Symbolism. 
 
 251 
 
 his basilica of Fondi, where a cross symbolical of Christ 
 was placed on the rock, and tno flocks, of sheep and 
 goats respectively, stood around it. " The shepherd 
 turns away," he says, "the goats on the left, and em- 
 braces with his right hand the well-deserving lambs."* 
 This was perhaps the first of that series of art-presenta- 
 tions of the last judgment which culminates in the tragic 
 terrors of the Sistine Chapel. 
 
 Sometimes a milk-pail is representee" "<ear a lamb, or 
 hanging on a crook by its side, or even resting on its 
 back. Sometimes also it is carried by the Good Shep- 
 herd. This has been magnified without due evidence 
 into a symbol of the eucharist. It might more natu- 
 rally be regarded as an emblem of the blessings of sal- 
 vation, set forth by Isaiah under the figure of wine and 
 milk, or it may refer to the soul's being fed with the 
 sincere milk of the word. 
 
 On the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus in the crypts 
 of St. Peter's, of date A. D. 359, are exhibited several 
 scenes from scripture history, which will be hereafter 
 described. In the spandrels of the arches over these 
 is a series of bas reliefs, in which lambs are naively 
 shown as enacting other scriptural scenes. In one a lamb, 
 the personification of Moses, strikes a rock from which the 
 water bursts forth, and another receives the law from the 
 hand of God. Three lambs in a fiery furnace represent 
 the three Hebrew children in the furnace of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar. Our Lord is symbolized by a lamb on whose 
 head another, personifying John the Baptist, is pouring 
 
 * Et quia celsa (crux) qnasi judex de rupe superstat, 
 Bis geminae pecudis discors agnis genus haedi 
 Circumstant solium ; laevos avertitur haedos 
 Pastor et emeritos dextra complectitur agnos. 
 
 — Epis. xii, ad Sulpic. Sever. 
 
ti ; 
 
 252 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 the waters of baptism, while the Holy (ihost in the form 
 of a dove breathes divine grare. A lamb, the personi- 
 fication of Christ, multiplies the loaves, and brings forth 
 Lazarus from the grave. 
 
 One of the most remarkable and important, in its theo- 
 logical significance, of the symbols of the Catacombs 
 is that of the fish. It is one of the oldest in the entire 
 hieratic cycle. It is found accompanying the first dated 
 inscription which bears any emblem whatever.* and 
 nearly a hundred examples occur which are attributed 
 to the first three centuries. It was also one of the first 
 to be discontinued. During the fourth century it rap- 
 idly fell into disuse, and by the beginning of the fifth 
 had almost entirely disappeared from religious art.f 
 
 'J he abandonment of this remarkable figure may be 
 explained by its mysterious and anagrammatic charac- 
 ter. It is a striking illustration of that disciplina arcana 
 of the primitive church which employed signs whose 
 secret meaning its heathen foes could not understand. 
 When the age of persecution passed away there was no 
 longer the necessity to conceal under allusions and em- 
 blems, known only to the initiated, religious truths which 
 were openly proclaimed on every hand. Hence this 
 purely conventional sign fell into disuse. 
 
 This symbol probably derived its origin from the fact 
 
 ♦ A. D. 234. De Rossi, Inscript. Christ., No. 6. (See Fig. 52.) Of 
 course, there may have been many earlier whose precise date we caa- 
 nf»t determine. 
 
 f In later art, indeed, the figure sometimes occurs on baptismal 
 fonts, in mosaics, and in architecture, but probably as a mere orna- 
 ment, without any religious meaning. In Byzantine art it is unknown 
 except as a natural representation, for example, of fish swimming in 
 the water, or, in frescoes of the last judgment, as restoring human 
 limbs which they had devoured, illustrative of the passage, " And the 
 fcea gave up the dead which were in it." — Rev. xx, 13. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 253 
 
 that the initial letters of the names and titles of Our 
 Lord in dreek — '\i\navf; Xptffxdf, GcoOTid^, ^hivfftf^ Jesus 
 Christ, Son of Clod, the Saviour — make up the word 
 IX9T2, a fish. " This single word," says Optatus, ** con- 
 tains a host of sacred names."* The same word also 
 occurs acrostically in the initial letters of certain so- 
 called Sibylline verses quoted by Eusebiusf and Au- 
 gustine,^ which were doubtless of Christian origin. The 
 symbol is first mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, § 
 and probably had its origin in the allegorizing school of 
 Christianity which sprang up in that city. \ 
 , There appears also to have been an allusion in this 
 figure to the ordinance of baptism. " We are little 
 fishes," says Tertullinn, "in Christ our great fish. For 
 we are born in water, and can only be saved by contin- 
 uing therein,"^ that is, through the spiritual grace of 
 which baptism is the visible sign. " This sign," says 
 Clement, "will prevent men from forgetting their origin." 
 " He (that is, Christ) is that fish," says Optatus, " which 
 in baptism descends in answer to prayer into the bap- 
 tismal font, so that what was before water is now called, 
 
 * Piscis nomen, secundum appellationem Gnecam, in uno nomine 
 p>er singulas liters'.s turbam sanctorum nominum continet '1X0Y2,' quod 
 est Latine, Jests Christus, Dei Filius, Salvator. — Optat., Cont. Par- 
 men., lib., iii. 
 
 f Orat. Const, ad Cast. Sanct., § 18. X ^' ^*^" ^<^» xviii, 23. 
 
 § Padag., lib. iii, cap. ii. The symbol also occurs in a Christian 
 Catacomb at Alexandria, and at Cyrene, in Upper Egypt. 
 
 I The Jewish Christians of that city would be already familiar with 
 this mode of coining significant titles, which is illustrated in the name 
 of their natio^'al heroes, the Maccabees, said to be made up o." the 
 initial letteni, "ns^Ta, of their battle cry, XVT^ C^nJfita n5J:3""'>a 
 — " Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? " 
 
 ^ Nos, pisciculi secundum 1X9TN nostrum Jesum Christum, in 
 aqua nascimur, nee aliter quam in aqua permanendo salvi sumus. — 
 De Baptismo, cap. i. 
 
254 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 M 
 
 from the fish, (a pisce.^ piscina^''' Even the mythical 
 fish mentioned in the apocryphal book of Tobit,t occa- 
 sional pictures of which occur in the Catacombs, is 
 interpreted by some of the Fathers as typifying Our 
 Lord. " That fish which came alive out of the river to 
 Tobias," says Augustine, " whose heart, (liver,) consumed 
 by passion, put the demon to flight, was Christ." J 
 
 This sacred sign was also regarded as an emblem of 
 the sufferings of Our Lord and the benefits of his atone- 
 ment. ** The Saviour, the Son of God," says Prosper 
 of Aquitania, " is a fish prepared in his passion, by whose 
 interior remedies we are daily enlightened and fed." § 
 " IX6TS is the mystical name of Christ," says Augustine, 
 " because he descended alive into the depths of this 
 mortal life aa into the abyss of waters." || " The fit.'^ in 
 whose mouth was the coin paid as the tribute money," 
 says Jerome, "was Christ, at the cost of whose blood 
 all sinners were redeemed." Origen merely speaks of 
 him as " figuratively called the fish." ^ " Thus this sym- 
 bol became," says Dr. Northcote, " a sacred tessera^ err. 
 bodying with wonderful brevity and distinctness a 
 
 * Hie (so. Christus) est piscis qui in baptismate per invocationem 
 fontalibus undis inseritur ut quse aqna faerai: a pisce etiatn piscina 
 vocitetur. — Epis. Milcvitantts. The piscina is now the basin in 
 which the sacred vessels are washed. 
 
 { See chaps, vi and xi. 
 
 \ Est Christus piscis ille qui ad Tcbian? ascendit de flumine vivus, 
 cujus jecore per passionem assato fugatus est diabolus. 
 
 § Dei Filius, Salvator, piscis in sua passione decoctus, cujus ex 
 interioribus remediis quotidie illuminamur et pascimur. — De Promis. 
 et Pradic. Dei^ ii, 39. 
 
 \ IX0Y2, in quo nomine mystice intelligitur Christus, eo quod in 
 hujus mortalitatis abysso, velut in aquaruni profunditate vivus.— Z>^ 
 Civ. Dei, 
 
 ^ Xptaroc 6 TpoTTtKug Xeyofievog 'I;f^i5f. — 0pp. ed. Bened., torn, iii, 
 
 p. 584. 
 
Their Symbolism, 
 
 255 
 
 complete abridgment of the creed — a profession of 
 faith, as it were, both in the two natures and unity of 
 person, and in the redemptorial office, of Our Blessed 
 Lord."* 
 
 Few symbols, if any, were more common than this. 
 It occurs rudely scratched on funeral slabs, painted in 
 the cubicula^ sculptured on the sarcophagi, moulded on 
 iamps,f engraven on rings and seals,J carved in ivory, 
 mother-of-pearl, and precious stones, and cast in bronze 
 or glass. These last, often pierced in order to be worn 
 like an amulet, were frequently given to the neophyte 
 at baptism to remind him of the privileges and obliga- 
 tions which it conferred, and they are often found buried 
 with the dead. One of these has engraved upon it the 
 word 2i2IIAI2 — " Mayest thou save us ; " and a sepulchral 
 lamp, besides representations of fishes, bears the word 
 IX9T2, and, as if in explanation, the cyphers A. Q., IH. 
 Xe. i:rzTHP— that is. The First and the Last, Jesus Christ, 
 the Saviour. A slab, on which are engraved two fishes 
 and an anchor, bears the inscription, IX0T2 ZQNTQN — 
 "The fish of the living." Sometimes this sacred sign is 
 inscribed on pagan tombstones used to close the loculi 
 of the Catacombs, in order to give them a Christian 
 character. Frequently the execution is exceedingly 
 rude, as in Fig. 50 ; occasionally it is of a more artistic 
 form, as in Fig. -^<:;^ ^^ ^o^ 
 
 51. It seldom ^.^^ — - \. s\ ^ 
 
 occurs alone, f ^ ^..^^ — " " ^NX 
 
 however, but as- C-> X^'^^ 
 
 sociated with 
 
 , . . . . Piflr. 50.-Bymbollcal PWh. 
 
 other Christian 
 
 * /?om. So/f.f p. 210. Probably the aureole of Mediaeval art de- 
 rived its name of vesica piscis from this symbol, 
 f See Fig. 113. % See Fig. u8. 
 
256 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 . 
 
 Fier. 61.-S3rmbolical Pish, 
 
 emblems, as the anchor or dove, (see Figs. 52 and 53,) 
 
 as if to indicate that 
 the deceased rests in 
 Christ, in hope and 
 in peace. Sometimes 
 the fish bears a wreath 
 in its mouth, perhaps 
 in alhision to the crown which Christ will give to all his 
 
 saints. Didron ob- 
 jects to applying 
 these symbols to 
 Christ, because the 
 fish does not wear 
 the nimbus. But 
 the nimbus was not 
 worn at all at this 
 early period ; such 
 
 Fig. 62.— Fish and Anchor. 
 From ih6 Catitcomh of IhrmfH. Ectrliest cUited 
 eatntmple, A. D. 234 
 
 a criterion is therefore inadmissible. 
 
 Plfir. 53.— Pish and Dove. 
 
 From the Catiicomh of St. PrisciUa. 
 
 This sa- 
 c r e d fish 
 is sometimes 
 represented, 
 as in Fig. 54, 
 f ro m the 
 crypt of St. 
 Lucina, bear- 
 
 ing what seems to be a basket of bread and a flagon of 
 
 wine on its back, or occasionally a 
 loaf of bread in its mouth. In these 
 cases there is probably a reference 
 to the bread of life which Christ 
 breaks to his disciples, or possibly 
 to the holy eucharist. Sometimes 
 
 a bird is pictured as deriving nourishment from the 
 
 Pifir 
 
 64.— Bucharlsttc 
 Symbol. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 257 
 
 mouth of a fish, the symbol of a soul receiving refresh- 
 ment from Christ. The eucharist is also thought to be 
 indicated by frequent representations of a fish and bread 
 on a table, sometimes with a figure in prayer standing by ; 
 and also by a. ol ^*^ure of sev<;n persons eating a repast 
 of bread and fish together, probably Christ dining with 
 the disciples by the '; ,a-shore after his resurrection. 
 
 Melito of Sardis speaks of Our Lord under the fig- 
 ure of a fish broiled on the fire of tribulation.* A mys- 
 tical interpretation wa> also given to the loaves and 
 fishes multiplied by Christ for the feeding of the multi- 
 tude, as indicating the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit and 
 the dispensations of the law and the gospel.f 
 
 A remarkable Greek inscription, found about thirty 
 years ago in an ancient Christian cemetery at Autun, in 
 France, throws much light on the profound religious 
 significance of the symbol of the fish. J Its date, as in- 
 dicated by the character of the epigraphy, in the opin- 
 ion oi" the most eminent critics, is about the year 400. § 
 The language is of Homeric purity and vigour, which is 
 accounted for by the fact that Autun was, during the 
 fourth and fifth centuries, a sort of " French Eton," where 
 Greek, the tongue "of Homer and the gods," was sed- 
 ulously cultivated. The following is the text as restored 
 
 * Piscis . . . Christus tribulationis igne assatus. Compare the 
 phrase of Augustine — Piscis assus Christus passus. 
 
 f Plerique septiformis Spiritus gratiam in panibus definitam, in 
 piscibus quoque duplicis testamenti figuram intelligendam putant. 
 — Ambrose, in Luc. ix. 
 
 \ This has been minutely examined by Cardinal Pitra — its discov- 
 erer — Kirchoff. Garrucci, Le Blant, and other eminent scholars. The 
 monograph of Marriott, its latest editor, is a masterpiece of epigraph- 
 ical criticism. 
 
 ■ ^ Cardinal Pitra places it about A. D. 250, but the elongated form 
 of the letters, of which there is no early example, forbids the sup- 
 position. 
 
 n * 
 

 258 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 and translated by Marriott. It will be perceived that 
 the word IX6TII occurs acrostically in the initial letters 
 of the first five lines, and is found four times in the body 
 of the inscription. It is conjectured that the figure 
 of a fish was also engraved, though now unhappily oblit- 
 erated, at both the lower corners, where spaces for it 
 seem to have been left. 
 
 IXGYOC ovpaviov uyiov yevoc, ^ropi aeftvift 
 Xp^oe, Xa^dv Cw^v uuftpoTov kv Pporeoi^ 
 Oeairealuv vduruv ripf a^v, 0tXf, OuXneo "^Intxijv 
 "Tdaaiv uevuoiQ rr^ovTodoTov ^o^itjg, 
 SwT^/iwf & uyiuv fisAiridea hifi(3ave ^pCtaiv. 
 'Eafft? tteivnuv IXGTN lx*^v nahifiaig. 
 IX6Y1 ;tetpof ufynpa- XiXaieu dianora YtOtrep 
 EvOv ftot t/yvf^Pi oe XiTu^o/ie, ^f to OavovTuv. 
 ^Aoxavdte nurep, t^ 'fuo Kexoptofieve OvfMlt, 
 2vv fiT/Tfu y?.vKep^ koI irdoiv Toiaiv hftoiaiv 
 1X9TN i6uv vlov jivqaeo TicKTopiov. 
 
 " Offspring of the heavenly Ichthus, [Christ,] see that a heart of holy 
 reverence be thine, now that from divine waters thou hast received, 
 while yet among mortals,' a spring of life that is to immortality. 
 Quicken thy soul, beloved one, to ever fuller life, with the unfailing 
 waters of wealth-giving wisdom, and receive the honey-sweet food of 
 the Saviour of the saints. Eat w^th longing hunger, holding Ichthus 
 [the Divine Food] in thy hands. On Ichthus [Christ] my hands are 
 clasped ; in thy love draw nigh unto me and be my guide, my Lord, 
 and Saviour ; I entreat thee, thou Light of them for whom the hour of 
 death is past. My father, Aschandeius, dear unto my heart, and thou, 
 sweet mother, and all I love on earth, oft as you look on Ichthus 
 [the holy sign of Christ] so often think of me, Pectorius, your son." * 
 
 * The epitaph of Abercius, a Phrygian bishop of the second century, 
 also cantains an allusion to the heavenly Ichthus, and probably to the 
 eucharist, in the lines which we quote : 
 
 . . . TiLaTiq Sk irpoaffye 
 Kcu napiOfiKe trpo^priVj 'I:f0vv delaf unb iTijy^c, 
 Happeyedrjj Kadarbv, bv iipt'i^aTo irapOevog uyvy' 
 Kal TovTov ktreduKe <ltiX(iiQ ladeiv rUa Travrof, 
 Olvov xpf}orbv f;j;ot;(T«, Kipaafia diiovaa fief' aprov. 
 
 " Faith brought to us and set before us food, a fish from a divine fount, 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 259 
 
 In this beautiful expression of primitive faith and 
 hope Romish interpretation has discovered evidence 
 of prayers for the dead, of the invocation of the Virgin 
 Mary, the doctrine of transubstantiation and communion 
 in one kind, and mention of the " sacred heart of Jesus." 
 Marriott has well shown the grammatical and other dif- 
 ficulties which these forced interpretations create, and 
 the absurdity of importing into antiquity " controversial 
 phrases of comparatively modern theology, utterly un- 
 known to the early church." 
 
 Sometimes, by a confusion of metaphor common to 
 both pictorial and literary figurative expression, the sym- 
 bol of the fish is applied to men as well as to Our Lord. 
 Indeed, this may have been its primary application, and 
 has the sanction of the scriptural designation of the 
 apostles as " fishers of men." The Greek liturgy adopts 
 the same figure, and, in pursuance of the metaphor, 
 speaks of the rod of the cross, the hook of preaching, 
 and the bait of charity.* There are also frequent 
 representations on the sarcophagi and in the frescoes of 
 the Catacombs, doubtless in allusion to this function of 
 the Christian ministry, of men drawing fish out of the 
 water. These, however, must not be confounded with 
 the occasional fishing scenes copied from pagan art ; and 
 the symbolical fish must be carefully discriminated from 
 the dolphins which frequently occur on the sarcophagi, 
 and from the " great fish " which swallowed Jonah. It is 
 
 great and clean, which the holy maiden took in her hand and gave it 
 to her friends, that they should always eat thereof, holding goodly 
 wine, giving with bread a mingled drink." 
 
 The "holy maiden" is evidently, from the context, as Marriott re- 
 marks. Faith personified, although Padre Garrucci and Dr. Northcote 
 regard her as no other than the Virgin Mary. 
 
 ♦ We have seen how TertuUian designates believers as little fishes 
 —puciculi. 
 
26o 
 
 Tlie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 \\ 
 
 remarkable that a bronze image with a chalice and fish 
 was found at Autun, in the neighbourhood of the in- 
 scription above given. The figure occurs also on cer- 
 tain ancient coins, and in representations of the Phoe- 
 nician Dagon or fish-god. 
 
 It is noteworthy that there are in the Catacombs com- 
 paratively few representations of the cross, that sacred 
 sign of salvation which in after years became per- 
 verted to such superstitious uses; and when it does 
 occur it is generally in some disguised form, and not in 
 that by which it is now generally indicated, familiarly 
 known as the Latin cross. There is probably a twofold 
 reason for this. The very sanctity of the symbol, 
 and the detestation in which it was held by the heathen, 
 conspired to prevent the early Christians from exposing 
 it to their profane gaze. It is almost impossible to con- 
 ceive the abhorrence in which the cross was held in the 
 early centuries by the Greek and Roman mind. It has 
 for ages been hallowed by the most sacred and vener- 
 able associations, and invested with the most sublime 
 and solemn interest as the emblem of the world's re- 
 demption. It has waved on consecrated bankers, and 
 been quartered on the arms of earth's proudest mon- 
 archs. It has shone on cathedral spire and dome, and, 
 emblazoned with gold and costly gems, has gleamed on 
 many a sacred shrine. It has been marked on the in- 
 fant brow in baptism, and held before the filming eyes 
 of the dying ; and has been associated with the deepest 
 emotions and holiest hopes of the soul. 
 
 Not so in the earliest ages of the church. It was then 
 the badge of infamy and sign of shame — the punishment 
 of the basest of slaves and the vilest of malefactors. It 
 was regarded with a loathing and abhorrence more in- 
 tense than that in which the felon's gibbet is held 
 
Their Symbolism,. 
 
 261 
 
 to-day. Its very name was an abomination to Roman 
 ears,* and it was denounced by the prince of Roman 
 orators as a most foul and brutal punishment, an infa- 
 mous and unhappy tree.f Hence this Christian em- 
 blem became the object of scoffing and derision by the 
 persecuting heathen. An illustration of this is seen in 
 the blasphemous caricature of the Crucifixion, found 
 upon the walls of the palace of the Caesars and attrib- 
 uted to the time of Septimius Severus.J It represents a 
 figure with an ass's head attached to a cross, which 
 another figure, standing near, salutes by kissing the hand, 
 or adores in the classical sense of the word. Beneath 
 is a rude scrawl which has been interpreted thus : 'AAc^- 
 opLEvo^ ae(iETe (sic) Qedv — " Alexomenos worships his god," 
 probably the sneer of some Roman legionary at a Chris- 
 tian soldier of Caesar's household. Lucian also contempt- 
 uously speaks of Our Lord as a " crucified impostor." § 
 The Christians, therefore, reverently veiled this sacred 
 sign from the multitude ; but they cherished it in their 
 hearts, and in times of persecution gladly bore its re- 
 proach. The early Fathers, both Greek and Latin, 
 
 * Nom«n ipsum crucis absit non modo a corpore civium Romano- 
 rum, sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus. — Cicero, pro Rabirio. 
 
 f Crudelissimum et teterrimum . . . arbor infelix, infame lignum. 
 — Cic, pro Rabirio. 
 
 \ Now in the Museum of the Collegio Romano. 
 
 § Tov uveaKo?i,07naiievov sKelvov aoijuar^v. — De Morte Peregr, 
 
 TertuUian mentions as a common heathen delusion the idea that 
 the God of the Christians had an ass's head. He also speaks of a 
 heathen picture of a figure having the ears of an ass, hoofed in one 
 foot, carrj'ing a book and wearing a toga, to which was affixed the in- 
 scription, " The God of the Christians, born of an ass." — Apol., c. 16. 
 
 Probably such caricatures were common. On a slab recently dis- 
 covered in the Vigna Nussiner is a representation of an ass with the 
 inscription, " Hie est Deus Hadriani," apparently a satirical allusion to 
 that emperor's favourable disposition to Christianity. 
 
262 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i 
 
 recognize the occurrence of this symbol everywhere 
 throughout the universe, and expatiate with fervent elo- 
 quence on its mystical meaning. The points of the 
 compass, says Jerome, and the fourfold dimensions of 
 space as mentioned by the apostle,* set it forth. Its 
 form was assumed by birds in their flight, by men in the 
 act of swimming and in the attitude of prayer, and is 
 setA in the masts and yards of vessels.f " The cross," 
 uiy^ Justin Martyr,t "is impressed on all nature; there 
 ii sc,"'-' ely a craftsman but employs the figure of it 
 among the implements of his industry." It was seen in 
 the beam and share of the plough, and in the forms of 
 flowers and leaves. It was typified in countless analo- 
 gies of Scripture, in the measurement of the ark, the 
 number of Abraham's servants, the shape of Jacob's staff", 
 and the roasting of the paschal lamb ; in the rod of Moses, 
 the seven-branched candlestick, and the wave-offerings 
 of the temple service; and it was the hallowed sign 
 marked in blood on the lintels of the Hebrews' houses. 
 It healed the envenomed wounds of the serpent-bitten 
 Israelites in the desert, routed the Amalekites in battle, 
 and restored to life the son of the widow who gave 
 bread to the prophet. It was the mark of God on the 
 saints of Jerusalem, and was to be the sign of the Son 
 of man in the heavens. The Christians wore the sacred 
 token like a banner on their foreheads, § and the form 
 at which men once shuddered, says Chrysostom, be- 
 
 * Eph. Hi, i8. 
 
 \ Ipsa species crucis quid est nisi forma quadrata mundi ? . . . Aves 
 quando volant in aethera, formam cracis assumunt ; homo natans per 
 aquas, vel orans, forma crucis vehitur. Navis per maria antenna cruci 
 similata sufflatur. — Hieronym. in Mark xv. 
 
 \ Apol., i, 72. See also Minuc. Felix, cap. 29. 
 
 § Ego Christianus . . . et vexillum crucis in mea fronte portans.— 
 Ilieron., Ep. 113. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 263 
 
 came the badge of highest honour, so that even emperors 
 laid aside the diadem to assume the cross. " Let him 
 bear the cross," says Paulinus, " who uld wear the 
 crown."* Christians were known as "devotees of the 
 cross, "t and this sign of Christ J was employed to hal- 
 low every act of their lives, their down-sitting and up- 
 rising, their going out and coming in.§ It was especially 
 adopted, as several of the Fathers remark, || as the atti- 
 tude of prayer, and Chrysostom quotes in explanation 
 the words of the Psalmist, " Let the lifting up of my 
 hands be as the c ning sacrifice." If Tertuilian and 
 Asterius Amasenus** vpressly declare that thus is set 
 forth the passion 01 Our Lord. 
 
 This symbol acqu!*"ed at length in popular apprehension 
 the power of a sicred talisman to banish demons, van- 
 
 ♦ Tolle crucem qui vis auferre coronam. 
 
 f Crucis religiosi. — Tertul., Apol., 16. 
 
 \ Signum Christi, rh KvpuiKov arifielov. — Clem. Alex., S from., vi, 11. 
 
 § Ad umnem progressum atque prornotum, ad omnem aditum et 
 exitum, ad vestitum, ad calceatum, ad lavacra, ad mensas. ad lumU 
 na, ad cubilia, ad sedilia, qusecunque nos conversatio exercet, frontem 
 crucis signaculo tenemus. — Tertul., de Coron. Mil., c. iii. 
 
 I Crucis signum est, cum homo porrectis manibus Deum pura 
 mente veneratur. — Minuc, Dial., p. 90. Expansis manibus in mo- 
 dum crucis orabat. — Paulin., Vit. Ambros.,^. 12. Hie habitus oran< 
 tium est, ut manibus in ccelum extensis precemur. — Apuleius. — Accord- 
 ing to Eusebius, Constantine was thus represented on the coins of the 
 empire. — 'Qg uvu fiXiireiv doKtiv uvaTerafikvog irpog Qebv, rpoirov evxo~ 
 ui-vov. — P'it. Const., 1. iv, c. 15. 
 
 ^ Chrys. in Psa. cxli, 2. Compare Paul's expression about " lift- 
 ing up holy hands " in prayer. — i Tim. ii, 8. 
 
 ** Nos vero non attoleimus tantum, sed etiam expandimus, et Do- 
 minica passione modulantes, et orantes Christo confitemur. — Tertul., de 
 Orat., c. H. To tov aravpov ttuOoc hv r^ axhlidTi k^eiKovi^ei. — Aster., 
 op. Phot., cod. 271. This attitude of prayer was also common to the 
 pagans in their addresses to the Dii Superi, or celestial gods. Hence 
 Virgil represents /Eneas as praying with his hands stretched out to 
 heaven — Duplices tendens ad sidera palmas. 
 
264 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 rjuish Satan, avert evil, protect in time of danger or temp- 
 tation, and to shut the mouths of lions about to devoui 
 the intrepid confessors of the faith.* The sign of the 
 cross on the forehead and heart, says Prudentius, ban- 
 ishes all evil, t Another poet of the fifth century recom- 
 mends the mystical charm as arv antidote to diseases of 
 cattle. Into such superstition had Christianity already 
 degenerated. J 
 
 More common than any other Christian symbol in the 
 Catacombs is the so-called Constantinian monogram,^ . 
 
 ♦ See an instance of this miracle recorded in Eusebius. — Hist. Eccies., 
 
 viii, 7. 
 
 f Fac cum vocante somno 
 
 Castum petes cubile, 
 
 Frontem locumque cordis, 
 
 Crucis iigura signet. 
 Crux pellit omne noxium. — Hymn vi. 
 \ Endelechius, De mortibus Bovium. In later times the sign of the 
 cross was used in both Greek and Latin benedictions, which were given 
 with many puerile distinctions, and with much supposed spiritual ben- 
 efit. — See Didron, Iconog. Chret., pp. 406-410. The cross has also 
 given the name to many famous churches, which were frequently cru- 
 ciform in shape. In France are over a score of cathedrals or abbeys 
 named Sainte Croix, and in Italy many named Santa Croce. In 
 Great Britain we have Saint Cross at Winchester, and Holyrood in 
 Edinburgh. The cross was also used to mark boundaries, parishes, 
 cross roads ; hence the phrase, " to beg like a cripple at a cross." Of 
 three hundred and sixty wayside crosses once existing in lona only 
 one remains. This sign was used to mark the beginning and end of 
 books, and as a mark of punctuation. It gave validity to legal doc- 
 uments, and still accompanies tht sign manual of ecclesiastical 
 dignitaries. 
 
 Crucifixion was abolished by Constantine out of reverence for the 
 manner of Our Lord's death. 
 
 The cross would scarcely have been publicly employed while this 
 shameful mode of punishment was practiced. The earlier examples 
 had probably a baptismal signification as a sign of the faith. Of this 
 character seem to have been those ejected or inlaid by Constantine 
 in his baptisteries and elsewhere. Only by slow degrees did it be- 
 come the symbol of the sufTerings of Christ. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 265 
 
 The first certain example of this is the following, which 
 bears the date A. D. 331 :* 
 
 
 ASELLVS ET LEA PRISCO PATRI BENEMERENTl IN PACE 
 QVI BIXIT ANSIS LXIIII MENSIBVS III DIES N XII. 
 
 N SIGNO 
 
 % 
 
 Asellus and Lea to Priscus, their well-deserving father, in peace, who 
 lived sixty-four years, three months, twelve days. In the sign of Christ. 
 
 Fiff. 56.— Earliest dated Ck>n8tantinJan Monogrram. 
 
 A somewhat similar form occurs with the date A. D. 
 291, but De Rossi thinks it is only an ornamental point. f 
 The following fragment may possibly belong to the year 
 298, when one of the consuls was named Gallus ; but it 
 cannot be proved that he is the one mentioned in the 
 inscription; [viJxit . . . J51 • • • ^^^ • conss. — " He 
 lived in Christ . . . and Gallus being consuls." J 
 
 In the year 339 the second dated example occurs, en- 
 closed in a circle. In A. D. 341 three examples are 
 found, and in A. D. 343 it occurs four times in one 
 in.scription. After this it becomes exceedingly com- 
 
 * De Rossi, Inscript. Christ.^ No. 39. 
 
 \ Ibid., No. 17. 
 
 \ Ibid., No. 26. With true archaeological enthusiasm, De Rossi ex- 
 claims, '* Scarcely any monument in this whole class is worthy of such 
 observation as this sepulchral fragment. For if indeed this name is that 
 of Gallus, the colleague of Faustus, behold, what I have ever intensely 
 desired, I have at length with joy obtained — to see with my own eyes 
 a certain dated monument which exhibits the celebrated monogram ■>&• 
 before the year 312. Would that I could find the part of the in- 
 scription that is lost," he adds, " which, if it bore the name of Faus- 
 tus, I would esteem more precious than gold and gems " — auro contra 
 et gemmis cariorem aestimarem." But he was not permitted to be 
 so happy, and it is probable that the Gallus ref rred to is another of 
 much later date. 
 
256 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 mon, and is even employed as a mark of punctuation 
 between the words. 
 
 This monogram is formed, as will be perceived, by the 
 combination of the (Ireek characters X and P, the first 
 two letters of the word XPI2T01, or Christ. It may, 
 indeed, be regarded rather as a contracted form of 
 writing that word than as a proper symbol, just as we 
 sometimes write Xt. and Xmas. for Christ and Christ- 
 mas. Indeed, it most probably originated in the prev- 
 alent practice of contracted and monogrammat: writ- 
 ing, of which we have so many examples in these in- 
 scriptions. That the monogram stands for the name of 
 Our Lord will be apparent from an examination of a 
 few of the inscriptions in which it occurs, as, for in- 
 stance, the very first dated example, above given. See 
 also the following : in pace et in ]^ deo — " In peace 
 and in Christ God; " bibas in ^ — "May you live in 
 Christ;" IN ^ victrix, which probably meant " Victrix 
 (a woman's name) victorious in Christ." Marangoni 
 gives the accompanying impression of a seal on the 
 plaster of a grave. See figure 56. 
 
 This monogram soon became almost 
 
 > universal in the Catacombs, on sepul- 
 
 ^ chral slabs, lamps, vases, rings, seals, 
 
 weights, gems, etc., and in every con- 
 
 iLt ^ ceivable modification of form, some of 
 
 „ „ IT. . which are shown in the illustration on 
 
 *• Hope in Him, 
 
 I. e., in Christ. ^^^ P^ge. See also the vignette on title 
 Fiff. 5e.-Chrl«- P^g^* copied from an alabaster slab in 
 tian Seal. the Collegio Romano, originally from 
 the Catacombs. 
 
 Frequently the Greek letters Alpha and Omega ac- 
 company the monogram, as in numbers i, 4, and 6 of 
 Fig. 57, in allusion to the sublime passage in the Reve- 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 267 
 
 Plflr. 67.— Various Forms of the Ck>natantlnlan Monogrrani. 
 
 lation descriptive of the eternity of Christ.* Some- 
 tiitles the order of the letters is reversed, probably 
 through the ignorance of the artist, as in the accompany- 
 ing rude example, Fig. 58. 
 The whole was sometimes 
 placed obliquely, or even / 7 r i' 
 turned upside down, doubt- / V..>\^/ 
 less for the same rea- 
 son. Even in its simplest 
 form it was considered suf 
 ficient to give a Christian 
 
 character to a tombstone Fiar. 58.— " Taaaris in Cbrist. the 
 which had been originally First and the Last." 
 
 ♦ Rev. i, 8. Prudentius 5n his ninth hymn paraphrases the same 
 
 thought : 
 
 Alpha et Q cognominatus ; ipse fens et clausula 
 Omnium quae sunt, fuerunt, quaeq post futura sunt. 
 
 In Mediaeval art the letters it (jvare oft nscribed on the cruciform 
 
 nimbus indicating Our Lord, in allusion lo the scripture, ^yw t\\u 6 Crv 
 
 — " I am that I am." 
 
268 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 pagan. Such inscriptions are called opisthographce^ that 
 is, afterwritten. In the following example from Aringhi 
 the letters D, M., for the heathen formula dis manibvs, 
 — " To the Divine Manes," are partially obliterated, and 
 the consecrating sign substituted instead. 
 
 HERCULIO. INNOCENT! 
 
 FN 
 
 .AN in vni 
 
 JENUARIA ALUNINO MERE. 
 IN PACE 
 
 Fig- 59.— Opiethogrraphic Inscription. 
 
 This monogram has been supposed to have been 
 adopted from the celebrated Labjjirum, or battle-stand- 
 ard of Constantine, which bore this sacred figure. This 
 was derived in turn, it was feigned, from the image 
 which the imperial convert saw, or thought he saw, 
 traced in the sky in characters of fire brighter than the 
 noon-day sun, before the battle of the Milvian Bridge. 
 Probably a solar halo of unusual splendour was magnified 
 by the eager imagination of Constantine into a token of 
 divine assistance, and the legend 'Ev roifru) vlku wsls an 
 after addition of the credulous historian. The Christian 
 emblem, according to Prudentius,* was worn upon the 
 shields and helmets of the whole army as well as on the 
 imperial standard ; " and so," says Milman, " for the 
 first time the meek and peivceful Jesus became a God 
 
 * Christus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro, 
 Signabat labarum, clypeonim insignia Christus 
 Scripserat : ardebat summis crux addita cristis. 
 
 — /n Symniachttm, vv. 487-489. 
 
Their Symbolhm. 
 
 269 
 
 of battle ; and the cross, the holy sign of Christian re- 
 demption, a banner of bloody strife." * 
 
 Probably there is allusion to the above mentioned 
 legend in the following inscription from Bosio : 
 
 IN HOC VINCES 
 
 X 
 
 SINFONIA ET FILIIS. 
 In this thou shalt conquer. In Christ. Sinfonia, also for her sons. 
 
 On a remarkable sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum 
 is a representation of the monogram f supported on a 
 cross and surrounded by a wreath, at which doves are 
 pecking ; probably a symbol of the souls of the blessed 
 feeding on the hope of an immortal crown and the 
 sweetness of eternal bliss. Beneath are crouched two 
 soldiers, types, it is thought, of the Christian warriors not 
 yet entered into rest, whose only place of safety is at 
 the foot of the cross ; or they may refer to the Draconii, 
 or imperial guard of the Labarum, who, according to 
 Eusebius, passed unhurt amid showers of javelins. 
 
 The following enlarged copy of an early Christian seal 
 exhibits the triumph of the cross over the Old Serpent, 
 the Devil, while it is the symbol of salvation to the 
 saints represented by the doves at its foot. In later 
 
 * Hist, of Christianity, bk, iii, chap. i. From the time of Constan- 
 tine the monogram became common on the coins of the Empire. 
 Valentinian III. and his wife Eudoxia first wore it on the im- 
 perial crown. In later Greek art the cross is generally accompanied 
 by the letters IC-XC NIKA, that is, ** Jesus Christ is conqueror." 
 Eusebius describes a statue of Constantine at Rome bearing this 
 monogram. {Hist. Eccles., ix, 9.) 
 
 f See Fig. 104, chap. iv. Paulinus refers to the bitter cross sur- 
 rounded by a flowery crown : 
 
 Ardua floriferje Crux cingitur orbe coron?e. 
 
 — Epis. xii, ad Severum, 
 
 ' 
 
 
n 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
 : 
 
 270 
 
 7Vu' Catacombs of Route. 
 
 art the figures of lions, eagles, falcons, peacocks, doves, 
 and lambs, grouped around the cross, seem to signify 
 
 its power to subdue evil pas- 
 sions and to inspire holy virtues. 
 The change of the monogram 
 into the cross was very gradual. 
 First one stroke of the X be- 
 came coincident with the verti- 
 cal part of the P, and the other 
 at right angles to it, as in No. 6, 
 Fig. 57. At length the loop of the 
 P disappears and the Greek cross 
 
 Fig. 60.-Early Christian results. In the other examples 
 
 Seal 
 
 of Fig. 57 the cross, if cross it 
 
 was at all, was neither in the Greek nor Latin form, 
 but in that known as St. Andrew's. Finally the lower 
 arm was lengthened till it assumes the form shown 
 in the accompanying engraving, which was found on 
 
 the grave of a neophyte four 
 years old. The first dated ex- 
 ample of a simple undisguised 
 cross in the (Catacombs does not 
 occur till A^. D. 407 ; * but dur- 
 ing the latter part of the fifth 
 century it became quite com- 
 mon. Il also' became more or- 
 nate in form, and was frequently 
 adorned with gems and wreathed 
 with flowers, especially in the 
 
 Fig. 61.-Monogram, 1^^^^' ^as reliefs. In the fourth 
 united with the Cross, century it had already become 
 
 * l)e Rossi, Inscrip. Christ., No. 576, Of course there may be 
 earlier examples which are undated. 
 
 iiasag 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 271 
 
 an object of such saperstitions veneration as to call 
 forth the reproaches of Julian and the extravagant 
 laudation of many of the Christian fathers.* In the time 
 of Chrysostom the alleged discovery of the true cross 
 by the Empress Helena was universally received, and 
 " materialized at once," says Milman, " the spiritual 
 worship of Christianity." f Its position was revealed in 
 a vision and its genuineness proved by the miraculous 
 cures which it performed, as recorded by St. Cyril, 
 afterward bishop of Jerusalem, a reputed eye-witness of 
 the event. The precious re ic, distributed throughout 
 Christendom J and in minute portions worn as sacred 
 talismans, did much to cultivate a spirit of superstition 
 which culminated in the Romish festivals of the In- 
 vention i.nd Exaltation of the Cross, and in the hymns 
 and offices of the church, often bordering, at least, upon 
 idolatrous homage. § It also led to the conception of 
 
 * In later art ingenuity was exhausted in multiplying varieties of 
 the form of the cross. Besides the ordinary Greek and Latin types, 
 there was the Resurrection cross, a reed-like shaft with a small cross- 
 let, generally bearing a banneret ; the Calvary cross, with steps at its 
 foot ; the crux gammata, or fourfold repetition of the Greek letter 
 r, the crux gemmata, stellata, Jlorida, etc. There were also innu- 
 merable minor varieties for which distinguishing names are provided 
 in the jargon of heraldry. 
 
 \ Hist. Christianity, iii, 3. Eusebius is silent concerning this event. 
 
 \ Helena calmed the Adriatic with one of the nails ; of another Con- 
 stantine made a bit for his horse ; a portion is annually exhibited at 
 Rome bearing the threefold title of Our Lord in Hebrew, Greek, 
 and Latin, the first undecipherable, 
 
 § Witness the following from the Vexilla Regis, addressed to the 
 material cross : " Hail, O cross, our only hope ! give grace to the pious, 
 blot out the sins of the wicked " — 
 
 O crux, ave, spes unica ! 
 Piis adauge gratiam ; 
 Reisque deie crimina. 
 
 Compare also the following, from the Office of the Invention of the 
 Cross : "O cross, more splendid than all the stars, . . . which alone 
 
 '^,- 
 
 I: f^ 
 
1 
 
 f 
 
 'I'i t 
 
 272 
 
 T/ie Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 the marvelous legend of the croi^s in the apocryphal 
 gospels and ancient traditions.* 
 
 wast worthy to bear the ransom of the world ! sweet wood, sacred 
 nails, bearing so precious a burden, sa^'o this people assembled to- 
 day to sing thy praises." — O Crux, splendidior cunctis astris, . . . 
 quae sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi ! ''.ulce lignum, dulces 
 clavos, dulcia ferens pondera, salva praesentem catervam in tuis 
 hodie laudibus congregatam. 
 
 This sacred theme has also been the subject of some of the 
 noblest lyrics of the church, none of which, however, surpass the im- 
 passioned devotion of the following lines of Savonarola, the Luther 
 of Italy, whose reform, alas ! was quenched in his own blood. 
 
 O croce, fammi loco ! 
 E le mie membre prendi ! 
 Che del tuo dolce foco 
 II cor e I'alma accendt • 
 La croce e'l crocifisso, 
 Sia nel mio cor scolpito, 
 Ed io sia sempre affisso 
 In gloria ov' egli e ito ! 
 
 Cross of my Lord, give rvtorn ! give room ! 
 
 To thee my flesh be given . 
 Cleansed in thy fires of love and praise, 
 
 ^^y soul, rise pure to heaven ! 
 Ah ! vanish each unworthy trace 
 
 Of earthly care or pride ; 
 Leave only graven on my heart 
 
 The Cross, the Crucified. 
 
 * According to this legend Adam when sick sent Seth to the gate 
 of Eden to ask for the healing balm of the tree of life, but the 
 guarding angel replied that ages m.ust pass before that boon could 
 be conferred on man. Seth received, however, three seeds, which 
 he planted by his father's grave, situated on the site of Gol- 
 gotha. From these sprang the rod of Aaron, and the tree which 
 gave its mysterious virtue to the Pool of Bethesda, and rising to the 
 surface at the hour of the passion, became the instrument of the 
 CI icifixion of Our Lord. After that momeritous event it was thrown 
 into the town ditch with the crosses of the two thieves, and covered 
 with rubbish ; but at the intercession of Helena the earth opened, 
 divine odrars breathed forth, the three cro.sses were discovered, and 
 
i heir Symholism. 
 
 The cross thvis gradually assumed the forr' I., which 
 it is now generally represented ; but it was i sif»u jf 
 joy and gladness, crowned with flowers, ar^ 'ned with 
 precious stones, " a pledge of the resurrection gather than 
 a memorial of the passion." * It was like the rainbow in 
 the cloud to Noah after the flood — a promise of mercy, 
 not a symbol of wrath. It was not the dead Christ but 
 the glorified Redeemer that the primitive Church pre- 
 sented to the imagination. She lingered not by the 
 empty sepulchre, but followed by faith the risen Lord. 
 The persecuted saints shared the triumph of His vic- 
 tory over death and the grave, and felt that because He 
 lived they should live also. 
 
 The early believers carefully avoided, as though 
 prevented by a sacred interdict, any attempt to depict 
 the awful scenes of Christ's passion, the realistic treat- 
 ment of which in Roman Catholic art so often shocks 
 the sensibilities and harrows the soul. This solemn 
 tragedy tney felt to be the theme of c'evout a^^d prayer- 
 ful meditation rather than of portraitu/ in at. Hence 
 we find no pictures of the agony an ^ »ioo(ly sweat, the 
 mocking and the shame, the death r^nd burial of Our 
 Lord. "The Catacombs of Rome,' s.3ys Milman, 
 " faithful to their general character, o!Ter a ) instance of 
 a crucifixion, nor does any allusion to such a subject of 
 art occur in any early writing." f " The passion is not 
 
 that of Our Lord was revealed by its curing an inveterate disease 
 and raising a dead man to life. See also Legenna A urea, De luven- 
 tione et Exaltationt Sancta: Crucis. 
 
 The material of the cross is described in the following distich : 
 Pes crucis est cednis, corpus tenet alta cupressus, 
 Palma manus retinet titulo laetabor oliva — 
 "The foot is cedar, a lofty cypress bears the body, tuc ai-ms art- 
 palm, the title olive bears." 
 
 *Mihiian, Hist. Chrintianity, bk. iv, c. 4. 
 
 \ Nist. Ckfistianily, bk. iv, c. 4. One or two apparent excep- 
 
 l8 
 
 ^1 
 
 lk 1 
 
 %l 
 
 I 't^-'l' 
 
i 
 
 pi 
 
 11 
 
 i 
 
 4 
 I 
 
 274 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 represented literally," says Dr. Northcote, a strenuous 
 advocate of Roman Catholic views, " but under the veil 
 of secresy. It is not our Beloved Lord, but some other 
 who bears his cross. The crown which is placed on 
 his head is of flowers rather than of thorns, and corre- 
 sponds better with the mystical language of the Spouse 
 in the Canticles* than would a literal treatment."! 
 With this agrees the assertion of the distinguished Prus- 
 sian archaeologist, Prof. Piper, of Berlin. Speaking of 
 the series of art representations, belonging to the first 
 five centuries, of scenes in the life of Our Lord, 
 which extend from his nativity to his appearance be- 
 fore Pilate, he says, " Further, however, this series does 
 not go : the death and resurrection of Christ have not 
 at ail been made the subject of representation in this 
 period." t 
 
 In the fift'i century Paulinus of Nola speaks of 
 Christ as represented by a snowy lamb standing at the 
 /oot of the cross. § Sometimes a lamb bore the cross, 
 at others it was couchant in the midst of it; and, as if 
 
 tions, as in the semi-subterranean chajjel annexed to the church of 
 St. Sebastian, by their internal evidence — the drooping head, severe 
 expression, and degraded art — indicate their late origin, Perret thinks 
 of the twelfth or thirteenth century. Bottari figures one (Tav. 190) 
 which may possibly belong to the seventh or eighth century. 
 
 ♦Cant, iii, 11. 
 
 f Northcote's " Catacombs'' p. 130. 
 
 \ Weiter aber geht diese Reihe nicht ; Tod und Auferstehung 
 Christi sind in diesem Bereich gar nicht zur Darstellung gekommen. 
 — Ueber den Christlichen Bilderkreis, p. 7. Berlin, 1852. Bishop 
 Murter, indeed, asserts that, although it i^ impossible precisely to de- 
 termine the first appearance of the crucifix, before the end of the 
 seventh century the church knew nothing of them — Es ist un- 
 uxoglich das alter der crucifixe genau zu bestimmen. Vor dem 
 Ende des siebenten Jahrhunderts kannte die Kirche sie nicht.— 
 Sinnbilder, etc., p. 77. 
 
 § Sub crucesanguinea niveo stat Christus in agno. — Epis. xxxii. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 275 
 
 to bring the sacrificial emblem more vividly to mind, 
 the lamb was represented as wounded and bleeding, an 
 innocent victim given to an unjust death.* 
 
 In A. D. 692 the Quinisextan Council decreed that 
 the historic figure of Christ in human form should be 
 substituted for paintings of the lamb f — an evidence 
 that the earlier representations were purely allegorical. 
 The lamb, however, still continued to be employed, and 
 it required the reiterated injunction of Pope Adrian, in 
 the eighth century, to enforce uniformity of usage ; and 
 even after that time a reversion to the former practice 
 sometimes occurred. 
 
 The oldest extant representation of the crucifixion is 
 a miniature in a Syrian evangelarium, of date A.D. 586, 
 now in the Laurentian Library at Florence. The treat- 
 ment of the subject is exceedingly rude, bordering on 
 the grotesque. The figure of Our Lord is crowned 
 with a nimbus and clothed with a long purple robe. 
 The soldiers on the ground are casting lots for his gar- 
 ments, and the sun and moon look down upon the 
 scene. A companion picture represents the ascension 
 of Christ and the effusion of the Holy Spirit. 
 " These are the oldest pictorial representations," says 
 Prof. Piper, "of the earthly life of Jesus and of his ex- 
 altation. ... At a somewhat later period," he continues, 
 " they appear also in tl^e west." J 
 
 Gregory of Tours, about the end of the sixth cen- 
 
 * Agnus ut innocua injusto datur hostia letho. — Paulin., Epis. xxxii. 
 
 f Christi Dei Bostri humana forma characterem etiam in imaginibus 
 deinceps proveteri agno erigi acdepingi jubemus, — Concilium Quini- 
 Sextum, Caaaon 82. 
 
 X Das sind die iiltesten Bilder von dem Ende des irdischen Lebens 
 Jes'i und seiner Erhohung. . . . Bald darauf kommen sie bin und 
 wieder aucb in Abendlande vor. — Ueberden Christlichen Bilderkreis^ 
 pp. 26, 27. 
 
 ,\i 
 
 
276 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 r> 
 
 ht 
 
 tury, mentions, apparently as an unusual innovation, a 
 picture in the church at Narbonne which represented 
 the crucifixion of Our Lord.* About the same time 
 Venantius Fortunatus mentions what seems to haye 
 been a metallic cross bearing the image of Christ. f \, 
 
 The figure of Jesus first appeared standing at the 
 foot of the cross, frequently with outstretched arms as 
 if in prayer, which type was common in the eighth 
 century. Sometimes the bust only was exhibited at the 
 top of the cross, or even hovering over it. as in a re- 
 liquary presented to Theodelinda by Gregory the 
 Great, the head being crowned with a nimbus, but 
 without any expression of pain. 
 
 In the ninth century the form of Christ is raised to 
 the centre of the cross ; but he is still alive, with open 
 eyes and head erect, as if to indicate that the divine 
 nature was not subject to death. The hands are not 
 nailed, but extended in prayer ; the darkened sun and 
 and moon look down upon the awful tragedy ; but still 
 a feeling of reverence prevented the depicting of any 
 expression of suffering on the countenance of the Re- 
 deemer. It was not till the eleventh century that art 
 attempted to represent either the agony or death of the 
 Son of God.J From this time he is exhibited lifeless 
 
 * Est et apud Narbonensem urbem pictura quae Dominum nostrum 
 quasi praecinctum linteo indicat crucifixum. — De Glor. Mar.^ i, 23. 
 f Crux benedicta nitet Dominus qua carne pependit. — Carrn., lib. 
 
 ii, 3- 
 
 X The earliest example of a dead Christ is in a MS. of date A.D. 
 1059. The oldest mural picture of this awful theme, now so com- 
 mon throughout Roman Catholic Christend )m, and which was pre- 
 scribed as necessary for every altar by Benedict XIV, 1754, is the 
 Church of Urban at Rome, and bears the date A. X. R, I. MXI. — 
 Anno Christi ion. Few of those in the Italian churches are older 
 than the fourteenth century. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 277 
 
 upon the cross, his hands and feet transpierced with 
 nails and a spear wound in his side, from which the 
 flowing blood sometimes falls on the head of the spec- 
 tators, as if indicating the efficacy of the atonement; and 
 in the thirteenth century the head drops heavily to one 
 side.* 
 
 The arrangement of the drapery differs greatly in 
 these paintings. In the tenth century the form of the 
 divine victim is entirely clothed with a long robe with 
 sleeves che hands and feet alone being uncovered. In 
 the eieventb and twelfth centuries the robe becomes 
 shorter and the sleeves disappear; in the thirteenth 
 it is reduced to a short tunic ; and in the fourteenth it is 
 little more than a narrow girdle about the loins, at 
 which stage it has since remained. The suppedaneum^ 
 or support for the feet, is generally represented. It is 
 frequently in the iorm of a globe, or of a chalice. 
 The support for the body is never shown in art. Some- 
 times the sepulchre, with the angel and the two Marys, 
 is seen in the background. One example, in St. John's 
 Lateran, exhibits the gate of paradise and the tree of 
 life. 
 
 The expression of the face also underwent a change 
 — a dire eclipse of woe — no less painful to behold. In 
 the earlier pictures of the crucifixion the countenance 
 of the Redeemer is still gentle and benign, the type of 
 tenderness and truth ; but it gradually becomes more 
 and more strongly marked with the expression of sor- 
 row and physical anguish, till all the divine fades away, 
 and only the human agony of the wan and furrowed 
 face remains. The serene and joyous aspect which, as 
 
 li 
 it 
 
 ♦The inclination of the apse from the axial line in some churches 
 is said to represent this drooping of the head. 
 
 
 s;l 
 
278 
 
 The Catacombs of Koine. 
 
 we shall see, the representations of Our Lord always 
 wore in the Catacombs, vanishes, and he is depicted as 
 the '* man of sorrows," crushed with hopeless grief, 
 crowned with thorns, transpierced with nails, and stained 
 with dropping blood from the ghastly s;»ear-wound in 
 his side. Art exhausted its power in df lu) ^ating the 
 intensest forms of anguished suffering, sinking lower and 
 lower in the depths of a brutal materiality and ferocity 
 of treatment of this sacred theme. Even the genius 
 of Michael Angelo only renders more painful the con- 
 trast between the tender and pitiful Good Shepherd of 
 the Catacombs and the relentless Judge of the Sistine 
 Chapel, menacing the guilty with the thunderbolts of 
 wrath — a pagan Zeus rather than the Christian God of 
 Mercy. I'his striking change but too faithfully repre- 
 sents the corresponding degradation and materialization 
 of religious belief. 
 
 The crucified Christ was not only depicted in his 
 dying agonies on earth, but this human anguish is even 
 introduced into representations of heaven, bringing 
 gloom upon its glory and sadness amid its joy. The 
 Divine Fathei- is frequently portrayed as , tting on the 
 throne of his majesty, and holding in his hand a cross 
 on which hangs tl e agonized body of his Son.* 
 
 In the East the development of image worship seems to 
 have been earlier than in the West.f During the eighth 
 century its corruptions provoked the iconoclastic zeal 
 of the Isaurian Leo ; and a general council condemned 
 as idolatrous all symbols of Christ except the holy 
 Eucharist. J Their destruction was rigorously prose- 
 
 * Didron, Iconog. Chret., pp. 226, 505. 
 
 f Die also dem Morgenlande entstammen, says Professor Piper. — 
 Ueber den Christ lie hen Bilderkreis, p. 27. 
 X The Council of Constantinople, A. D, 754. 
 
Their Symbolism, 
 
 279 
 
 cuted in the F^astern Empire; but Gregory II. became 
 the champion of image worship in the West, and Italy, 
 adhering to her ancient pagan instincts, substituted this 
 new idolatry for that which she had abandoned. 
 
 The development of the graven representation of the 
 passion was more gradual than its treatment in graphic 
 art. Thi:; was the work of the sculptors. At first the 
 figure of Our Lord was merely painted on 1 flat surface 
 of wood or metal. This was afterward incised in out- 
 line, and exhibited in low relief, as or an ivory diptych 
 of date A.. D. 888 in the Vatican Muceum. In this the sun 
 and moon, as geni hold torches above the cioss ; and 
 by a singular association of ideas, Romulus and Remus, 
 suckled by the wolf, appear at its foot, probably in allu- 
 sion to Christ's spiritual subjugation of the Roman Em- 
 pire.* The treatment of this sacred theme passed 
 gradually through the stages of basso^ mezzo, and alto 
 relievo, becoming more and more detached, till, in the 
 fourteenth century, the figure of Our Lord upon the 
 cross sfood out, the completed and portable crucifix. f 
 From this, through rapid stages, we arrive at the gross 
 and ghastly images which abound throughout Roman 
 Catholic Christendom; in every church and at every 
 shrine ; in the homes alike of prince and peasant ; at 
 the street corners and by the way side ; often in popu- 
 lar apprehension endowed with the power of weeping, 
 mo- ion, speech, and working miracles. | \ By such grada- 
 
 ') 
 
 * Hemans, Sacred Art in Italy, p. 534. 
 
 f See the reliefs upon the marble pulpits of Pisa and Sienna. 
 
 X See CMC at Lucca, ascribed by tradition to the workmanship of 
 Nicodemas, which was so famous as to be swoVn by in the oath, a 
 favourite one with the Plantagenet kings, " by .Saint Vult of Luoca." 
 Hemans, Sac. Art, p. 534. Another at Naples is said to have spoken 
 in approval to St. Thomas Aquinas. Perhaps the most revolting ex- 
 tant representation of Ouf Lord is one in the Cathedral of Buncos, 
 
 i 
 
 
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 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 
 tions between the soul of man and the living Saviour 
 came the image of the dead Christ, diverting the thoughts 
 from the faith in a living Lord to an idolatrous venera- 
 tion of a lifeless symbol. 
 
 Thus, as Dr. Maitland remarks, in painting sight 
 superseded faith, and in sculpture touch superseded 
 sight. But still another resource of sensuousness was 
 to be discovered; and in the year 1223, "when the 
 world was growing cold,"* as the Roman Church, 
 with a deeper meaning than it knew, asserted. Saint 
 Francis of Assis is feigned to have received the 
 stigmata of the five wounds of Christ, and thenceforth 
 to have borne about in his body — a living crucifix— the 
 marks of the Lord Jesus. This miracle was afterwards 
 frequently repeated ; but the Church, seeking amid the 
 growing darkness of the times to walk by sight and not 
 by faith, wandered ever further and further from the 
 central source of light and power, and lost all ability to 
 communicate to a cold and dying world any spiritual 
 life and warmth. 
 
 The sad lesson of the history we have been tracing 
 is but too plain. In the early ages, and in the fervent 
 glow !t primitive faith, no outward symbol was neces- 
 sary to reveal to the soul the presence of the Divine, 
 or to interpret the profound meaning of the atonement. 
 The Church required no sensuous image of Him, whom 
 having not seen she loved, to prevent that love from 
 growing cold. As the fervour of faith failed she relied 
 more on the visible sign to quicken her languid devo- 
 
 in Spain. It b a stuffed human skin, w th a wig of false hair and a 
 crown of real thorns. Elsewhere are Ecce Homos in wax with 
 enamel eyes, and other puerile and unartistic modes of treatment of 
 this solemn theme. 
 
 • Refrigerante mundo, says the Roman office for St. Fnincis' day. 
 
Their Symbolism. 
 
 28 { 
 
 tion ; but not till six centuries of gathering gloom had 
 passed over her head after her fatal alliance with im- 
 perial power did degenerate art dare to portray to the 
 eye of sense the death pangs and throes of mortal 
 agony of the suffering Son of God. In the church of 
 the Catacombs these images of sadness and gloom have 
 no place. All is bright, cheerful, and hope-inspiring. 
 In the following chapter we shall see that these charac- 
 teristics are strikingly manifested in all the representa- 
 tions of Our Lord that there Ov':cur. 
 
 Note. — We have made no reference in the foregoing remarks to the 
 pre-Christian crosses, of which so many examples occur. It is not re- 
 markable that this perhaps simplest of all geometrical figures should 
 have attracted the notice of many diverse and ancient races, and 
 even have been regarded as z sign of potent mystical meaning. This 
 subject has been treated wich n good deal of fantastic theoir by S. 
 Baring-Gould, M.A., {Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, pp. 341, et 
 seq. /)more philosophically byCreuzer, {Symbolek, pp. lt%etseq.^xaA 
 by various travellers and observers of ancient remains in many lands. 
 Sir Robert Ker Porter mentions the hieroglyph of a cross, accompa- 
 nied by cuneiform inscriptions, which he saw on a stone among the ruins 
 of Susa. {Travels, vol. ii, p. 414.) Prescott mentions its occurrence 
 among the objects of worship in the idol temples of Anahuac, {Con- 
 quest of Mexico, vol. iii, pp. 338-340.) It was found on the temple 
 of Serapis at Alexandria, which fact was urged by the pagan 
 priests to induce Theodosius not to destroy that building. (Socrates, 
 Eccl. Hist., v, 17.) It was probably a Nilometer, or perhaps the so- 
 called " Key of the Nile," frequently held in the hand of Egyptian 
 deities as the emblem of life, or the symbol of Venus, probably of 
 phallic significance. (Tertul., Apol., c, 16.) It is found alsoon Babylo- 
 nian cylinders, on Phoenician and Etruscan remains, and among the 
 Brahminical and Buddhist antiquities of India and China. (Med- 
 hurst's CAtiMf, p. 217.) It was also the sign of the Hammer of 
 Thor, by which he smote the great serpent of the Scandinavian 
 mythology. On rather slender evidence S. Baring-Gould attributes 
 its use to the pre-historic lake-dwellers of Switzerland. It was also 
 found, he asserts, combined with certain ichthyic representations in a 
 mosaic floor of pre-Christian date, near Pau in France, in 1850. This 
 example was probably post-Christian. 
 
»! 
 
 282 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BIBLICAL CYCLE OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 The " Circle Biblico," or Biblical Cycle, of the Cata- 
 combs, as De Rossi has called it, partakes of the same 
 symbolical character as their other art-creations. It 
 has, for the most part, a twofold object : first, the 
 literal presentation of certain historical events; and, 
 second, a typical or allegorical reference to the spiritual 
 truths of Christianity, especially to the cardinal doc- 
 trines of the sacrifice, resurrection, and ascension of 
 Our Lord. The range of this art cycle comprehends 
 the grand drama of redemption, from the fall of man 
 to his restoration through the greater Man, Christ 
 Jesus; with the careful avoidance, however, of the 
 scenes of the passion, which are nowhere exhibited 
 except under the veil of allegory or symbol. These 
 numerous and varied biblical representations imply a 
 remarkable familiarity of the primitive Christians with 
 the holy scriptures, in striking contrast with the prev- 
 alent ignorance of these sacred books in the papal 
 Rome of to-day. Indeed, these storied crypts must 
 have been a grand illustrated gospel, impressing upon 
 the mind of the believer the lessons of holy writ, and 
 probably furnishing to the catechumens of the faith 
 and recent converts from paganism a means of instruc- 
 tion in these sacred themes. The execution may often 
 be coarse, and the drawing uncouth ; but to the devout 
 mind this primitive Christian art is invested with a 
 
The pibiical Cycle, 
 
 283 
 
 man 
 
 profounder interest than all the triumphs of genius in 
 the galleries of the Vatican.* 
 
 In consequence of its symbolical purpose this hier- 
 atic series is rather eclectic than cyclopaedic in its 
 character. Of the great variety of available topics, 
 the number selected for akt-presentation was compar- 
 atively limited ; and the artist, in the treatment of these, 
 frequently contented himself with the constant and un- 
 varied reiteration of the same types, which were often 
 of the rudest and most conventional form. " The in- 
 cidents that exemplified the leading doctrines of the 
 faith," says Kugler,t "were chosen in preference to 
 others." Hence the very fixedness of these doctrines 
 imparted somewhat of their own character to the pic- 
 torial representations employed. 
 
 Subjects from the Old Testament are more numerous 
 in proportion to the whole than would have been 
 anticipated. This is also a result and illustration of 
 the allegorical nature of the series. " Rome," says Lord 
 Linu«.-y, " seems to have adopted from the first, and 
 steadily adhered to, a system of typical parallelism — 
 of veiling the great incidents of redemption, and the 
 sufferings, faith, and hopes of the church under the 
 parallel and typical events of the patriarchal and Jew- 
 ish dispensations." I We can refer in detail to only 
 the more striking of these biblical scenes. For 
 
 
 * In the has reliefs of Chartres Cathedral and in other mediaeval 
 churches, a biblical cycle somewhat analogous in character to that 
 of the Catacombs is represented. In the former case the whole 
 drama of time from the creation of the world to the last judgment 
 is set forth in a series of pictures in stone comprising 1,800 figures, 
 often with a touching naiveU and simple grace. 
 
 f h'andbuch der Kunstgesckichte. 
 
 \ History of Christian Art, vol. i, p. 47. 
 
284 
 
 The Catacombs ^of Rome. 
 
 convenience of treatment we will include here those 
 sculptured on the sarcophagi as well as those painted on 
 the walls. The temptation and fall of our first parents 
 is a frequent subject, and meets with considerable va- 
 riety of treatment.* They are generally shown as 
 standing by the tree of knowledge, around which the 
 serpent coils, and receiving from him the fruit 
 
 " Whose mortal taste 
 Brought death into the world and all our woe." 
 
 In the following example from the Catacomb of Cal- 
 lixtus, the fig-leaf aprons with which they try to hide 
 their guilty shame indicate that the act of disobedience 
 has been already consummated. 
 
 Fiff. 62.— The Temptation and Fcdl. 
 
 * In an ivory diptych, probably of the fourth century, which is fig- 
 ured in Marriott's Testimony of the Catacombs, is a very spirited has 
 relief of Adam in the garden giving the beasts their names. 
 
Tlu Biblical Cycle. 
 
 285 
 
 On a sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum is a bas 
 relief in which Our Lord, as the representative of the 
 Eternal Father, is seen standing between Adam and Eve, 
 and giving to the former a sheaf of grain, the symbol that 
 by the sweat of his brow he should eat bread, and to 
 the latter a lamb, that she may work diligently with her 
 hands in the domestic employnf^ent of spinning — the 
 allotted labour of woman in every age. Perhaps, also, 
 as Dr. Northcote suggests, the lamb was a symbol and 
 mute prophecy of " the Lamb of God whom the sec- 
 ond Eve was to bring forth to atone for all the evil 
 that the hrst Eve had brought upon mankind." 
 
 FifT. 63.— Adam and Bve Receiving their Sentence. 
 
 On another sarcophagus in the same museum is a 
 bas relief of Cain and Abel offering their respective 
 sacrifices of the fruits of the ground and the firstlings 
 of the flock. This subject, however, is exceedingly 
 rare in the Catacombs. 
 
 i 
 
 H 
 
i 
 
 'dt Ml 
 
 286 
 
 T/te Catacombs of Rofne. 
 
 One of the most frequently recurring figures in this 
 series is that of Noah in the ark. This is always re- 
 peated in one unvarying phase of the most jejune and 
 meagre character. There is no attempt at historical 
 representation of the actual scenes of the deluge. In- 
 stead of a huge ve.ssel riding upon the wavef, with its 
 vast and varied living freight, there is only a small pul- 
 pit-like enclosure,* in which Noah stands and receives 
 in his hand the returning dove with the olive branch in 
 its mouth. The following engraving, which, although 
 apparently out of perspective, is an accurate copy of a 
 painting in the Catacomb of Callixtus, is a character- 
 istic example. 
 
 11^ 
 
 Flff. 04.-Noah in the Ark. 
 
 Occasionally the position of the patriarch is slightly 
 altered, as in Fig. 65, from the Catacomb of St. Priscilla ; 
 
 * Is there any allusion here to Noah as a "preacher of righteous- 
 ness ? " 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 28; 
 
 but this is all the variety 
 of treatment of which the 
 artistic genius of the age 
 seemed capable. 
 
 In the bas reliefs the 
 treatment of this subject 
 exhibits a still greater de- 
 gree of degradation and 
 constraint, as in the fol- 
 lowing examples from 
 Christian sarcophagi of the 
 fourth century. 
 
 Sometimes the figure lu- 
 dicrously resembles the 
 toy called " Jack in a box," 
 which resemblance is 
 
 Fife 66.— Noftta In the Ark. 
 
 heightened by the lid being half open and a lock bting 
 carved on the front. 
 
 Fiff. ee.— Nosh in the Ark. 
 
 This rude representation, however, was regarded, in 
 accordance with the exposition of St. Peter,* as a sym- 
 
 • I Pet, Hi, 20, 21. The dove is the symbol, says Tertiillian, of the 
 Holy Spirit bringing the peace of God after the mystical lustration 
 of the soul in baptism. — De Baptismo^ .ii. 
 
288 
 
 The Catacombs of Roinc. 
 
 bol of Christian baptism ; while the ark was the figure 
 of Christ's church, in which believers "may so pass the 
 waves of this troublesome world that finally they may 
 come to the land of everlasting life." The dove and 
 olive branch may further imply, that the weary soul, 
 being justified by faith, found peace with God and en- 
 tered into endless rest.* 
 
 Another favourite subject of 
 the early Christian artists was 
 the sacrifice of Isaac, an ap- 
 propriate type of the greater! 
 sacrifice to be offered up when,! 
 in the fulness of the time, God 
 should provide himself a lamb 
 for an offering. From this theme 
 the persecuted Christians doubt- fi^, 67.— Apamean 
 less often derived spiritual com- iCedaL 
 
 fort amid the fiery trials of their faith to which they 
 were exposed. It taught also the duty of self-conse- 
 cration. " May I, like the youthful Isaac," says Paulinus, 
 " be offered to God a living sacrifice, and, bearing my 
 wood, follow my Holy Father beneath the cross." f This 
 subject is repeated, with considerable variety of treat- 
 ment, both in frescoes and in sculpture. In Fig. 68, 
 from the cemetery of St. Priscilla, Isaac is seen bearing 
 
 * It is difficult to conceive how such a wide departure from his- 
 toric truth took place in these representations. It has been suggested 
 that they were copied from some pre-existing type, upon which this 
 form was imposed by the conditions of space in which it was exe- 
 cuted. Such a type occurs in the celebrated Apamean medals, of 
 date A, D. 193-21 1. See Fig. 67. It probably commemorated the 
 Deucalion deluge ; and the design was apparently modified by the 
 Christian artists to represent the preservation of Noah, 
 f Hostia viva Deo tanquam paer offerar Isaac, 
 £t mea ligna gerens, sequar almum sub cruce patrem. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 289 
 
 
 Fiff. 08 .-The Saoriflce of laoac. 
 
 the wood for the sacrifice. In Fig. 69, from the Cat3- 
 comb of Marcellinus, he is already bound, and Abraham 
 has stretched forth his hand to slay his son, while the 
 divinely substituted lannb appears from behind the altar. 
 
 FlfT. 60.— The Sacrifice of Isaac 
 
 In several examples a hand stretched forth from on 
 high seizes the knife to prevent the consui imation of 
 the sacrifice. (See Fig. 107.) It is recorded that 
 Gregory of Nyssa frequently shed tears on reading 
 this pathetic story. 
 
 Joseph, sold by his brethren and afterward saving 
 
 them alive, was a striking type of Him who redeemed 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 with his own blood the guilty race which caused his death. 
 It is, therefore, a subject that appears with peculiar pro- 
 priety among the tombs of the primitive Christians. 
 
 Several scenes from the life of Moses are delineated 
 in this biblical cycle. One of these, as sometimes 
 treated, for classic grace and dignity reminds one of 
 some noble antique. It is Moses on Mount Horeb 
 putting off his shoes from his feet. This act is inter- 
 preted by some of the Christian Fathers* as an emblem 
 of the renunciation of the world, the flesh, and the devil 
 demanded of the servants of Christ. The accompany- 
 ing example, Fig. 70, is from the cemetery of Callixtus. 
 
 nff. 70.— Moses on Moiiut 
 Horeb. 
 
 Flff. 71.— Moses Reoelvlnff the 
 Law. 
 
 Fig. 71, from a sarcophagus in the Lateran, represents 
 Moses on Mount Sinai receiving from the hand of God 
 the law, which was to be the schoolmaster to bring 
 
 ^E. g., Greg. Nazianz., Omt. 43. 
 
Tht Biblical Cycle. 
 
 291 
 
 men to Christ. Moses is sometimes exhibited, also, ns 
 breaking the tables of the law on his descent from the 
 mount. 
 
 In the Catacomb of St. Cyriaca is a unique picture 
 of the descent of the manna — the emblem of the 
 **True Hread which came down from heaven." It is 
 seen falling in a copious shower, and gathered in the 
 vestments of four Israelites. According to Martigny 
 the accompanying engraving. Fig. 72, from the Cata- 
 comb of St. Priscilla, and another in the Callixtan Cata- 
 comb, represent Moses standing among the baskets of 
 manna gathered in the wilderness. But for the severe 
 and aged expression of countenance, so different from 
 the youthful aspect of Our Lord in the frescoes of the 
 Catacombs, they might be taken for pictures of ('hrist 
 
 Flff. 72.— Moses and the Bas- Plff. 78.— Moses Striking the 
 kets of Manna. Rock. 
 
 and the seven baskets of fragments left after feeding 
 the multitude. 
 
 ! 
 
2()2 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ta 
 
 ( 
 
 More frequently recurring than any other scene in 
 the histor) of Moses is that of his striking water 
 from the rock, an emblem of the spiritual blessings 
 flowing to the church through the sufferings of the 
 Messiah, " For they drank of that spiritual Rock which 
 followed them; and that Rock was Christ."* The 
 ilhistration in Fig. 73 is taken from a sarcophagus found 
 in the cemetery of St. Agnes. That iu Fig. 74 is from 
 a fresco of earlier date in the Catacomb of Marcel- 
 linus. 
 
 Fi{f. 74.— Moses Strikiner the Bock. 
 
 In two or three of the gilded glasses to be hereafter 
 mentioned, which are of comparatively late date, this 
 scene is rudely indicated, and over the head or at 
 the side of the figure is the word Petrvs or Peter. 
 From this circumstance P.oman Catholic writars have 
 asserted that in many of the sarcophagal and other rep- 
 resentations of this event it is no longer Moses but 
 Peter, " the leader of the new Israel of God," who is 
 striking the rock with the emblem of divine power — a 
 
 ♦ I Cor. X, 4. 
 
T)ie Biblical Cycle. 
 
 293 
 
 FifiT. 75.-The Sufferings of 
 Job. 
 
 conclusion for which there is absolutely no evidence 
 except the very trivinl fact above mentioned.* 
 
 The sufferings o. the pa- 
 triarch Job form the sub- 
 ject of a few of these scrip- 
 tural illustrations. In the 
 accompanying illustration, 
 taken from the cemetery 
 of Marcellinus, he is seen 
 sitting in his sorrow and be- 
 moaning the day that gave 
 him birth. Amid their fiery 
 trials of persecution the 
 primitive Christians doubt- 
 less often found comfort in 
 contrasting their sufferings 
 with the still more terrible afflictions of the patriarch 
 of Uz. 
 
 The sarcophagus of Junius Bass>uS exhibits a bas 
 relief of Job comforted by his friends. The complaint 
 of the patriarch that even his wife had abhorred his 
 breath — so reads the Vulgate translation of Jerome, 
 which was in use at this period — is grotesquely illustra- 
 
 * Paulinus of Nola, in the beginning of the fifth century, describes 
 in spirited lines certain paintings analogous to those of which we 
 have been speaking, but including some subjects not treated in the 
 Catacombs. Among these are the passage of the Red Sea and the 
 destruction of Pharaoh and his host, Joshua and the ark of God, 
 Samson bearing away the gates of Gaza, the Israelites crossing 
 Jordan, and the pathetic episode of Ruth and her sister-in-law, the 
 on<; following and the other forsaking the stricken Naomi, the 
 emblem, as the worthy bishop remarks, of mankind, part deserting, 
 part adhering to the true faith : 
 
 Ruth sequitur sanctam, quam deserit Orpa, parentem ; 
 Perfidinm nums una, iidem nunis altera monstrat. 
 Pnefert una Deuin patrije, patriam altera vit;t. 
 
 
294 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 4 I 
 J 1 
 
 
 ted by a female figure, who holds a handkerchief to her 
 nose.* 
 
 The victory of the stripling David over the great 
 champion of the enemies of Israel seemed strikingly to 
 prefigure the triumph of primitive Christianity over the 
 colossal paganism to which it was opposed. It was also 
 the symbol of the victory of Our Lord over a mightier 
 foe than the insolent Philistine ; and by some of the 
 Fathers the stones and sling of the Jewish shepherd-lad 
 w^ere likened to the cross of Christ, by which Satan is 
 vanquished and his kingdom overthrown. The devout 
 monarch of Israel was also a recognized type of Him 
 who was the root and the offspring of David, who should 
 inherit his throne, and reign over the house of Jacob 
 forever. 
 
 The translation of Elijah was frequently depicted 
 as being typical of the d':cension of Our Lord, which 
 was regarded as too sacred a theme for direct present- 
 ment in art. The chariot generally resembles the 
 classic quadriga. In a sarcophagal example in the 
 Lateran Museum Elisha is represented as reverently 
 receiving the mantle of Elijah, the emblem of the 
 double measure of his spirit that rested upon him. In 
 the background two sons of the prophets gaze with 
 apparent astonishment on the scene. Two bears, which 
 are also indicated, are probably intended for those that 
 devoured the children who mocked the prophet Elisha 
 on his way to Bethel. 
 
 ♦Jobxix, 17. This subject i» also fantastically treated in Me- 
 diaeval art. In a Byzantine MS. of the ninth or tenth century Job 
 is exhibited as sitting in lugubrious melancholy amid the ntins'of 
 his house, while Satan is dancing before him in fiendish joy over the 
 desolation 1 e has caused, and is torturing his victim with a red-hot 
 goad. Didron., Iconog. Chtit., p. 158. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 295 
 
 er 
 
 In Fig. 76, from a fresco of earlier date in the Cat- 
 acomb of Callixtus, it will be seen that graves have 
 been made in the back of the arcosolium^ cutting off the 
 head of Elijah and the feet of the two lower figures. 
 
 According to the 
 strained mode of in- 
 terpretation of Roman 
 Catholic writers on this 
 subject, the gift of the 
 mantle of Elijah to his 
 successor in office is 
 a type of Christ's be- 
 stowment of authority 
 
 -J 
 
 Oft 
 
 upon St. Peter as the ^ 
 " Prince of the Apos- 
 tles," and his espe- 
 cial representative on 
 earth. " It would cer- 
 tainly," says Dr. North- 
 cote, " have reminded 
 the Roman Christians 
 of the pallium, the 
 symbol of jurisdiction 
 worn by the bishops 
 of Rome, and given 
 by them to metropol- 
 itans as from the very 
 body of St. Peter— Z?<r 
 Corpore Sancti Petri." * A more ini probable assumption 
 
 ♦ Roma SotUrratua, i. 310. The newly elected pope receives the 
 investiture with the words, " Receive the pallium, to wit, the fullness 
 of the apostle's office." Pallia are sent to foreign bishops from the 
 tomb of St. Peter, and those who receive them keep them " in obse- 
 quium Petri " — in obedience and devotion to Peter. 
 
296 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 
 it would be difficult to imagine. Nobler in conception, 
 which, as well as more scriptural, is the interpretation of 
 this type given by St. Chrysostom : ** Elias, in ascending 
 into heaven, let his mantle fall on EHsha : Jesus, when 
 he, too, ascended thither, left the gift of his graces to 
 his disciples — graces which constitute not merely a 
 single prophet, but an infinite numbe: of Elishas, much 
 greater and more illustrious than that one."* 
 
 The persecuted saints who dared to encounter death 
 and danger in their most dreadful forms rather than 
 deny their faith, found great consolation in the remem- 
 brance of God's deliverance of his servants in the days 
 of old. With the oloodthirsty cry of the ribald plebs 
 of Rome — Christiani ad leones — still ringing in their ears, 
 and, it may be, with the roar of the savage beasts of 
 prey crashing on their shuddering nerves, they were 
 sustained by the thought of the fidelity of those ancient 
 
 Ficr. 77.— The Three Hebrew Children. 
 
 worthies who, for their integrity to God, braved the 
 flames of the fiery furnace and the perils of the lions' 
 den. The three Hebrew children are generally exhib- 
 ited with the oriental tiara and tunics. In the forego- 
 * Hum. U, In Ascau. Dom, 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 207 
 
 ing example from the cemetery of St. Priscilla, a dove is 
 shown bringing an olive branch, the pledge of victory 
 and peace. 
 
 In Fig. 78, from the cemetery of Hermes, they are 
 shown as standing in a " burning fiery furnace," whose 
 flames, though heated seven times hotter than their 
 wont, play lambently around them without even singe- 
 ing their garments. 
 
 "FUg. 78.— The Three Hebrew Children. 
 
 In the following example from the Catacomb of St. 
 Agnes the furnace is reduced to a shalk vessel in 
 which the Hebrews stand unhurt. This has been incor- 
 rectly interpreted as a representation of martyrdom by 
 boiling in oil. Its association, however, with the figure 
 of Daniel in the lions' den, and its general resemblance 
 to other groups of the same subject, unquestionably 
 
298 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 Plgr. 70— The Three Hebrew Children. 
 
 indicate its true 
 character. 
 
 In all these the 
 expression of 
 countenance and 
 attitudeof the im- 
 mortal t h r e e — 
 more dauntless 
 than even the 
 
 '' ;! 
 
 brave Horatii of classic story — as they stand calmly 
 amid the flames, indicates the presence with them in 
 their !?ery trial of the Almighty Deliverer of his saints. 
 It is noteworthy, however, that the fourth figure, " like 
 the Son of God," is never shown in these groups. It 
 was reserved, as will be hereafter seen, for mediaeval art 
 to attempt the representation of the Divine. 
 
 The fait' I and heroism of many of the primitive Chris- 
 tians in refusing to burn incense on the heathen altars, 
 or to salute the statues of the Caesars, was no unworthy 
 imitation of the fidelity of these Hebrew youths in 
 refusing to worship the great golden image set up on the 
 plains of Dura. ' 
 
 Daniel in the den is generally represented by a nude 
 figure standing between two lions, with his hands 
 stretched out' as if in supplication, and thereby, says 
 St. Gregory, conquering the lions by prayer. While, 
 generally, the type of the deliverance of God's people, 
 it may sometimes by association have been a memorial 
 of the Christian martyrs devoured by wild beasts in the 
 neighbouring Coliseum, whose sands were so often 
 drenched with their gore. The following fresco from 
 the Catacomb of St. Priscilia is a characteristic ex- 
 ample. See Fig. 80. 
 
 Sometimes another figure, interpreted as "the prophet 
 
The Biblical Cycle, 
 
 299 
 
 Habaccuc," is depicted as borne by an angel by the hair 
 of the head and offering food to Daniel, as described 
 
 Fiff. 80.— Daniel in the Lions' Den. 
 
 in the apocryphal story of Bel and the Dragon. Another 
 fresco represents Daniel as giving to the monster the 
 cake which he had prepared for its destruction. The 
 story of Tobias and the fish, and of Susanna and the 
 elders, are also illustrated in this remarkable series of 
 paintings. These last are of interest as indicating a 
 familiar acquaintance with the apocryphal books in the 
 early centuries. Figures interpreted as Isaiah, who 
 seems, like the Magi, to come from afar to lay his gifts at 
 the feet of Christ, and as Ezekiel in the valley of dry 
 bones, also occur in the Catacombs. 
 
 One of the most common, and, if we may judge from 
 the style of execution, one of the favourite subjects 
 of mural and sarcophagal presentation in this biblical 
 cycle, is the history of Jonah. It is repeated over and 
 over again with a high degree of picturesqueness, and with 
 greater variety of treatment than, perhaps, any other. It 
 appears also on lamps, vases, medals, gilt glasses, and 
 
300 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 
 funeral slabs. The story is generally represented in a 
 series of four scenes : the storm, and the monster of the 
 deep swallowing the prophet ; his deliverance from its 
 horrid jaws, and restoration to land ; his reclining un- 
 der the shadow of the gourd for refreshment and rest ; 
 and his gloom and anger when the gourd has withered 
 away and he lies in his misery beneath the burning sun. 
 Sometimes the four scenes occupy the four walls of the 
 cubiculum^ or the compartments of a vaulted ceiling; or 
 only two may be exhibited, as in the engraving on the 
 opposite page, from the cemetery of St. Priscilla, in 
 which Jonah is portrayed as a child issuing from the 
 mouth of the sea-monster, and afterward reclining under 
 the booth. 
 
 Sometimes the whole history is compressed into one 
 crowded scene, as in the following example. (Fig. 8i.) 
 
 Figr. 81.— The History of Jonah. 
 
The Biblical Cycle, 
 
 301 
 
302 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The character of the little bark is much like that seen 
 in pagan frescoes. 
 
 In some instances the ' j""* is reduced to a mere 
 boat, and the " mariners " to a single individual, as in 
 Fig. 83, from the cemetery of St. Priscilla. 
 
 Flff. 83.-Jonah SwaUowed by the " Great Ftsh." 
 
 In the following sarcophagal example, (Fig. 84,) the 
 somewhat startling anachronism of Noah receiving the 
 dove from the prow of Jonah's vessel appears in the 
 
 Fig-. 84.— Noah and Jonali. 
 
 background. The "sea" is here a narrow stream; 
 and the " fish," a monster with the head and paws of a 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 303 
 
 quadniped, on one side of the boat is swallowing the 
 disobedient prophet, and on the other is casting him 
 forth upon the rocky shores. Such solecisms are by no 
 means uncommon in these groups. 
 
 On another sarcophagus in the Latenin Museum the in- 
 fluence of pagan thought may be observed. The storm 
 is personified by a triton blowing through a convoluted 
 shell, and Iris, hovering with floating scarf above the 
 ve.ssel, indicates the calm which followed the casting 
 out of the prophet. 
 
 The " great fish " in these scenes bears no resemblance 
 to any living thing. It is generally a monster with con- 
 torted body, a long neck and large head, sometimes 
 armed with horns, (see Figs. 81, 82,) probably to distin- 
 guish it from the symbolical fish, the emblem of Our 
 Lord, or as a type of " the old serpent, the devil." The 
 form may have been derived from the mythological rep- 
 resentations of the marine mo» "ter from whose jaws 
 Andromeda was rescued by Perf eus. The latter story, 
 like that of Deucalion and many others in the Greek 
 mythology, probably had its origin in holy scripture. 
 
 This subject was \iaturally dear to the early Chris- 
 tians, inasmuch as it was set forth by Our Lord himself 
 as a type of his own resurrection and that of his disciples. 
 Therefore as the persecuted believers met in those sol- 
 emn and silent diambers of the dead, they inscribed on 
 the sepulchral slabs which hid the mouldering dust of 
 the departed from their view, or on the walls of the 
 cubicula in which they worshipped, this symbol of faith 
 and hope in the glorious resurrection. It also conveyed 
 a lesson of sublimest meaning to the primitive Chris- 
 tians, called to be witnesses for God in a city greater and 
 more wicked and idolatrous than even Nineveh. It was 
 a potent incentive to fidelity even unto death. The 
 

 304 
 
 The Catacotnbs of Rome. 
 
 storm-tossed bark, the ravening monster, and the proph- 
 et's booth and gourd, were the types of life's rough 
 voyage, the yawning grave, and the speedy transit to 
 the bowers of everlasting bliss and the refreshing fruits 
 of the tree of life. 
 
 A long and acrimonious controversy was waged be- 
 tween Jerome and Augustine as to the nature of the 
 plant which overshadowed the prophet. Jerome called 
 it ivy; but Augustine retained the word gourd of 
 the older Italic version, and excluded from his diocese 
 of Hippo the Vulgate version of Jerome containing the 
 obnoxious translation. It is a curious commentary on 
 an ancient dispute in the church, and a proof of the 
 antiquity of the Catacombs, that their frescoes seem to 
 have followed the older version^ and to have given their 
 testimony against the innovation of Jerome. See Fig. 85, 
 a copy of a broken sepulchral slab, in which the prophet's 
 booth is reduced to a single branch of a gourd. 
 
 Vig. 85.— Jonah's Oourd. 
 
 Here ends this Old Testament cycle, so rich in holy 
 teaching, all whose types and symbols point to the great 
 Antitype of whom Moses and the prophets spake. The 
 New Testament series will in like manner be found to 
 
The Biblical CycU, 
 
 305 
 
 cluster around the person and work of the Redeemer; 
 to the exclusion, however, of the solemn scenes of the 
 transfiguration, the passion, resurrection, and ascen- 
 sion, which are the principal themes of later religious 
 art; and without the slightest indication of tiiat idola- 
 trous veneration of Mary which is the chief feature of 
 modern Romanism, thus showing how far that church 
 has departed from the usage of apostolic times. 
 
 The first subject of this New Testament cycle is the 
 manifestation of Our Lord to the Magi by the blur in 
 the east, the sign that the Bright and Morning Star had 
 risen upon the world.* Over twenty repetitions of this 
 scene are found in the Catacombs. 
 
 The following sarcophagal example, from the Cata- 
 comb of Callixtus, represents the Magi bearing their 
 gifts, and led by the star to the place where the young 
 
 Flff. 86.-The Adoration of the MsiirL 
 
 child lay. The babe is seen wrapped in swaddling- 
 clothes and lying in a manger. An ox and an ass ^tand 
 near the divine child, probably in fanciful allusion to 
 that scripture, " The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass 
 his master's crib ; " as well as in historical illustration of 
 
 * Several Romanist writers interpret, with doubtful propriety, a 
 fresco in the cemetery of St. Priscilla as a represetUation of the Annun- 
 ciation. True to its gentle genius, the art of the Catacombs passes 
 over the tragical scenes of the Slaughter of the Innocents, whose 
 horrors later art has delighted to portray. 
 
 20 
 
3o6 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Fiff. 87.— Adoration of the li<8«ri> 
 
 the scene. Joseph and Mary appear in the background 
 as mere accessories of the group. 
 
 In the accompanying engraving of a fresco in the 
 cemetery of St. Marcellinus the virgin mother is rep- 
 resented as seat- 
 ed in the calm at- 
 titude and dress 
 of a Roman ma- 
 tron, holding the 
 infant Christ in her 
 arms, but not in the 
 least suggesting 
 the modem Ma- 
 donna.* The Ma- 
 gi bring their offerings as the first-fruits of the hom- 
 age of the world. Sometimes the number is increased 
 to four or reduced to two, in which case they are 
 arranged on either side of the Virgin, to preserve the 
 balance and symmetry of the picture.f The figure of 
 Joseph sometimes completes the group, but generally 
 
 * In the church of the Ara Coeli, at Rome, is a miraculous image 
 of tlie infant Christ, carved, it is said, out of wood from the Mount of 
 Olives, and painted by St. Luke. It is known as the Santissimo 
 Bambino, or Most Holy Babe, and is taken in its state-coach to visit 
 the sick. At one time it received more fees than any physician in 
 Rome. Its fete is celebrated by theatrical representations of the 
 scenes of the Advent. The apocryphal Gospel of the Infancy tends 
 to popularize this feature of Romanism. 
 
 \ According to an ancient tradition mentioned by Origen and Leo the 
 Great the number of the Magi was three. In the mediaeval miracle 
 plays they are called three gipsy kings, and their names are given 
 as Gaspar, Melchior, and Belshazzar. 
 
 The early Fathers all refer to the adoration of the Magi as a proof 
 of the divinity of Our Lord, not as any homage to Mary. See Clem. 
 Alex., Pad., ii, 8; Origen, c. Cels., i, p. 46; Chrysos., in Matt. ; 
 Jus. Mar., Dial, cum Tiyph. ; Iren., c. Har., iii, 2 ; Hieron., in Esaiant^ 
 vi, 19 ; Ambr., in Luc, ii ; Aug., Epiph. Strm. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 307 
 
 r 
 
 as a young and beardless man, in contradiction to the 
 Romish tradition of his old age, derived from the apoc- 
 ryphal gospels. These legends supply the theme of 
 much of the religious art of the fifth and following cen- 
 turies; but Dr. Northcote admits that "before that 
 time Christian artists seem strictly to have been kept 
 within the limits of the canonical books of the holy 
 scripture."* 
 
 A fresco in the Catacomb of Nereus and Achilles, 
 attributed to the second century, is supposed to be the 
 oldest extant art-presentation of the Virgin Mary. In 
 these early pictures she is generally exhibited as veiled, 
 
 * Rom. Sott., p. 261. — One of these devout fictions, known as the 
 Proto-Evangelium, and attributed to St. James, was the source of 
 those legends of the early life of Mary which furnished so many sub- 
 jects to Italian art. According to this tradition she was dedicated 
 while yet an infant to a religious life, and re.nained till twelve years 
 of age in the temple, where she was daily fed by angels. See an in- 
 scription in Provence: MARIA VIRGO minister in templo gero- 
 SALE. Later legends assert the angelic pre-annunciation of her birth 
 and her immaculate conception, which has at length become a formu- 
 lated dogma of the church, though contrary to the opinion of the ancient 
 Fathers. (Kayes' Tertul., p. 386 and postea.) St. Joachim and St. 
 Anne, her parents, are invoked in the Missal, which also asserts her 
 freedom from original sin, an exemption shared only by Our Lord, 
 John the Baptist, and Jeremiah. 
 
 In her youth, says the Proto-Evangeliutn, Mary was consigned to 
 Joseph, not for marriage, but for parental guardianship. A num- 
 ber of suitors claimed her hand, but the apparition of a dove flying 
 from the top of Joseph's rod indicated the divinely chosen spouse. 
 In course of time, in consequence of the growing superior regard for 
 c^bacy, the legends of her perpetual virginity were developed, al- 
 though some, at least, of the Fathers held a contrary opinion. See Ter- 
 tuL, DeMonogamia, c. 8, and De Came Christine. 23 ; Neander's 
 Antignostikus, Whedon's Commentary, Matt, xiii, 55. The word 
 irpuT^TOKiT^, Jirst-bom, applied to Jesus, Matt, i, 25, implies a second 
 bom afterward, as in Rom. viii, 29, " first bom of many brethren ; " 
 otherwise the word fiovoyev^f, only bom, would be used, as in Luke 
 vii, 12 ; ix, 38. 
 
 !J 
 
3o8 
 
 Tlie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 and expressing dignity and modesty in her attitude and 
 dress, and only in her historical relation to the divine 
 child. Not till later does she appear alone, or even as 
 the principal figure. Dr. Northcote, indeed, cites one 
 example apparently of Joseph,* Mary, and the infant 
 Jesus, concerning which he says that the Virgin does not 
 enter into the composition as a secondary personage, 
 but herself supplies the motive to the whole painting.f 
 In the engraving which he gives, this indeed appears to 
 be the case ; but in the original, and in the copy given by 
 De Rossi,! which shows the entire painting, the figure of 
 the Virgin is only a s^ry small and subordinate portion 
 of an elaborate decorative design, and its position is not 
 upright, as if it were the principal object, but horizontal, 
 as being only accessory to the main grouping. All these 
 early presentations of the Virgin Mary, says Mr. Mar- 
 riott, § occur only in such connexion as is directly sug- 
 gested by holy scripture, and none of them would 
 appear out of place in an illustrated English Bible, 
 so different are they from the Madonnas of Roman 
 Catholic art. 
 
 There are numerous frescoes in the Catacombs of 
 persons, both male and female, in the attitude of prayer, 
 hence called Oranti, (see Fig. 82,) and the acciompany- 
 ing simpler example from the cemetery of Sts. Peter 
 and Marcellinus. These are frequently found on sepul- 
 chral slabs, the sex and apparent age of the Orante 
 always corresponding with that of the person named \r 
 the inscription. They are generally regarded, therefore, 
 
 * De Rossi and some other writers call this figure Isaiah without 
 any good reason. 
 
 f Rom. Sott., p. 260. 
 
 \ Imagines Seltct<t Deiparct Virginis, pi. iv. This picture is 
 thought to be of the sixth century. 
 
 § Test, of Catacombs, p. 27. 
 
 ■ 
 
Tlu Biblical Cycle. 
 
 309 
 
 IS 
 
 as portraits of the departed, and as probably indicat- 
 ing that they lived a life of prayer, and died in the 
 faith. Thus the oranti, in Fig. 82 are thought by Fer- 
 ret to be intended for Pris- 
 cilla, in whose cemetery it 
 is found, and her com- 
 panion.* It is at least most 
 likely that they represented 
 the deceased and not anoth- 
 er, in the same manner as 
 modern sepulchral effigies, 
 and as the pictures of fos- 
 sors, vine-dressers, and 
 handicraftsmen in the Cat- 
 acombs. Dr. Northcote at 
 one time admitted this ex- 
 planation of these figures. 
 "We can scarcely err," he 
 says, "in supposing them 
 to be the persons, whoever 
 they were, who were buried 
 in these chambers."! But 
 in his later work on the 
 Catacombs he says, " Pos- 
 
 Fijf . 88 .— Orante. 
 
 i5^^ 
 
 sibly this conjecture may sometimes be correct, but in 
 the majority of instances we feel certain that it is inad- 
 missible ;" J and he claims them as representations 
 of the Virgin Mary, or as symbols of the Ch ch, the 
 Bride of Christ, whose life on earth is a life of prayer. 
 This is manifestly the intention, he asserts, when, as 
 
 * One of these has a saffron-coloured robe, and soft brown eyes and 
 hair. The other wears a deep crimson robe with purple stripes. Both 
 are richly embroidered .«.nd bejeweled. 
 
 f Northcotc's Catacombs, p. 77. \ Rom. Soft., p. 255. 
 
3IO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \\\ 
 
 i:i 
 
 is frequently the case, the figure is found as a companion 
 to that of the Good Shepherd ; and he gives an engrav- 
 ing from Bosio of one such, which is catalogued as the 
 "Good Shepherd and the Blessed Virgin."* But in 
 referring to Bosio this figure is found to be not the 
 Virgin Mary at all, but a Christian martyr, as is indi- 
 cated by the attribute of a plumbata^ or leaden scourge, 
 painted beside her, which is omitted in Dr. Northtcte's 
 engraving, (inadvertently, as he explains ;) and she is 
 designated by Bosio, Una Donna Orante — a woman m the 
 act of prayer. And this figure is the only one out of all 
 figured by Bosio and Aringhi which at all agrees with 
 Dr. Northcote's description. The others when associ- 
 ated with the Good Shepherd are either in groups of 
 two or more, or are mixed with male oranti, the exist- 
 ence of which Dr. Northcote seems to ignore. 
 
 But even if the Virgin Mary were referred to in 
 these paintings it would prove nothing in favour of 
 modern Mariolatry. Indeed, nothing could be more 
 striking than the contrast between these simple praying 
 figures, undistinguished by any attribute from others of 
 the pious dead, and the crowned Queen of Heaven re- 
 ceiving the homage of mankind, of later Roman Cath- 
 olic a»t. But that they are such is an etitirely gratuitous 
 and unwarranted assumption ; and with equal propriety, 
 or rather lack of it, they have been interpreted by 
 the monkish ciceroni of the Catacombs as symbols of 
 martyrdom, as portraits of living persons praying to the 
 dead, and as saints in heaven praying for men on earth. t 
 
 * Horn. Sott , pi. viii. 
 
 f The circumstance above mentioned is another evidence that no 
 lexical nor historical difficulties are any obstacle to the devout cre- 
 dulity of Rome, in discovering proofs of its favourite dogmas where a 
 rational criticism is unable to find them. 
 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 311 
 
 'if 
 f 
 
 t 
 
 t 
 
 In the gilded glasses, to be hereafter described, which 
 belong to a ptriod of very degraded ait, proba])ly from 
 the fourth to the sixth century, representations of the 
 Virgin mother 
 sometimes occur, 
 recognized by her 
 name written above 
 her head after the 
 Byzantine manner. 
 She appears either 
 alone, or between 
 figures of the 
 apostles Peter and 
 Paul. This honour, 
 however, is shared 
 by other female 
 saints, especially by 
 Saint Agnes. In 
 one example Mary 
 wears a nimbus, a 
 proof of compara- 
 tively late date. 
 
 One fresco in the 
 Catacomb of Sts. 
 Thraso and Satur- 
 ninus has been sup- 
 posed to have some 
 reference to the 
 Virgin Mary. It is 
 
 figured in the lu- ^ „ ^ 
 
 o Pigf. 89.— Supposed Madonna. 
 
 nette of the vault 
 
 in the accompanying engraving. (Fig. 89.)* It is inter- 
 
 ♦ These figures are given in minute detail in Perrat., torn, iii, 
 
 planches i6 to 20. On the arch and on the other lunettes will be 
 
/ r- 
 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 preted, however, by Bcttari, a distinguished Romanist 
 antiquary as not a painting of the Madonna at all, but 
 simply of a family group. 
 
 The first art-presentation of the Virgin Mary bearing 
 any resemblance to the conventional Madonna, which 
 has been bO endlessly reproduced and so idolatrously 
 honoured throughout Roman Catholic Christendom, is 
 one in an arcosolium in the Catacomb of St. Agnes. 
 
 Fier. 90.— The Barliest Madonna. 
 
 (See Fig. 90.) The head of the Virgin is veiled, a neck- 
 lace of pearls adorns her person, and her hands are 
 extended in prayer. The infant Ch ist is not seated, 
 but standing before her, as is common in a favour- 
 ite type of the Greek church, especially in Russia — 
 an indication that this was probably painted by a 
 Byzantine artist, as was most of the later work at 
 Rome. But even in this picture the early Chris- 
 tians, unprescient of the Mariolatry of the future, would 
 see the expression only of a loving regard for her who 
 
 seen the " great fish " and the prophet Jonah, the Good Shepherd 
 bearing a goat, not a lamb, on his shoulders, and the ever-recurring 
 peacocks and doves. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 313 
 
 was pronounced the "blessed among women." The 
 sacred monogram on either side assigns a date not 
 earlier than the fourth century to this painting; an i 
 Martigny, an eminent Romanist authority, thinks it is 
 later than the Council of Ephesus, in the fifth century, 
 — A. D. 431. 
 
 By this time a sad departure from primitive ortho- 
 doxy of belief had already taken place. The blasphe ■ 
 mous title Theotokos, Mother of God, since so unhappily 
 familiar,* had been applied to the Virgin Mary, at first 
 in protest against the Arian heresy which denied the 
 divinity of Our Lord, and not in exaltation of his vir- 
 gin mother. Nestorius strongly objected to the un- 
 warranted and antiscriptural title, and suggested that 
 of the mother of Christ. An angry controversy re- 
 sulted, to appease which Theodosius the younger 
 assembled the Council of Ephesus. Nestorius was 
 judged without being heard, degraded from the episco- 
 p?.l dignity, and sent into exile ; and the obnoxious 
 epithet was confirmed through the exercise of fraud and 
 violence. Flavianus, a member of the Council, actually 
 died of wounds received in that turbulent assembly; 
 and amid these disgraceful scenes was first formu- 
 lated this dogma, which has been fraught with such 
 perilous consequences to both Greek and Latin 
 Christianity. 
 
 The artistic embodiment of this doctrine underwent 
 a rapid decline. The sweet and tender grace of the 
 virgin mother disappears, the modest veil gives place 
 to a crown, she becomes vulgarized in expression, jew- 
 els bedizen her person, the attitude becomes stiff and 
 lifeless, the countenance darkens and assumes an ex- 
 
 * In Byzantine art, pictures of the Virgin Mary are generally in- 
 scribed with the letters MP 9T for MHTKP GEOT— Mother of God. 
 
314 
 
 h 
 
 ll 
 
 "lie Catacvmbs of Rome. 
 
 pression of pain rather than that of gentleness and 
 peace, and the innocent smile of the Divine Infant 
 gives place to an unnatural severity and gloom. The 
 beginning of this decline is seen in the Madonna already 
 described, (Fig. 9c,) in which the person of Mary is 
 adorned with a showy necklace of jewels. This type 
 passes by rapid gradations, during the gathering gloom 
 of the dark ages, into the anguished pictures of the 
 Mater Dolorosa, bowed down with sevenfold sorrows, 
 and the gross images of Our Lady of the Bleeding 
 Heart, her bosom transpierced with a naked sword.* 
 But even in this is seen the striking moral contrast be- 
 tween the spirit of Christian and that of pagan art. The 
 loftiest ideal of the latter is the expression of mere cor- 
 poreal beauty, while the former exhibits the noblest type 
 of purity, sorrow, and love the world has ever seen. 
 With the Renaissance this ideal became the inspiration 
 of art, and gave birth to those triumphs of genius which 
 kindle admiration in the coldest nature, and invest with 
 a spell of pathos and power a dogma which the judg- 
 ment rejects. 
 
 The silence of the primitive Fathers concerning the 
 worship of Mary is a striking evidence of its non-exist- 
 ence, and their language when they do speak of her 
 still more strongly demonstrates that fact. Tertullian 
 seems to infer her lack of faith in the mission of Our 
 Lord, and compares her unfavourably with Martha and 
 Mary.f Prudentius refuses to ascribe to her absolute 
 
 * A literal interpretation of the Scr "e : " Yea, a sword shidl 
 pierce through thine own soul also." — Lukc ii, 35. 
 
 \ Mater aequd non demonstratur adhsesisse illi, cum Marthse et 
 Mariae aliae in commercio ejus frequentantur. Hoc denique in loco 
 (Luke viii, 20) apparet incredulitas eorum cum is doceret viam vitaj. 
 — Dc Came Chtisti^ c. 7. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 3»5 
 
 sinlessness.* Augustine asserts the natural depravity 
 of her flesh. t Chrysostom boldly accuses her of ambi- 
 tion and thoughtlessness,! and says, " She shall have no 
 benefit from being the mother of Christ unless in all 
 things she doeth what is right." § Cyril of Alexandria, 
 Basil of Csesarea, and Hilary of Poitiers, speak in simi- 
 lar unequivocal terms, which Petavius, the Roman the- 
 ologian, says are not fit to be uttered. | The Colly ri- 
 dian heretics, indeed, rendered idolatrous homage to 
 Mary ; ^ but Epiphanius vehemently denounces the prac- 
 tice as blasphemous and dangerous to the soul. " Let 
 Mary be held in honour," he says, " but let her not be 
 worshipped."** Irenaeus first points out the fanciful 
 antithesis between Mary and Eve, which was afterward 
 so remarkably elaborated in Roman thought and dic- 
 
 * Solus labe caret peccati conditor orbis, 
 Ingenitus genitusque Deus, Pater et Patre natus. 
 
 — Apotheosis^ 894. 
 
 f Nee sumpsit [Christus] carnetn peccati quamvis de matema 
 came peccati. — De Peccatorum Meritis et Remissione, lib. i, c. 24. He 
 further beautifully says : Solus unus est qui sine peccato natus est 
 in similitudine carnis peccati, sine peccato vixit inter aliena peccata, 
 sine peccato mortuus est propter nostra peccata. — Ibid., c. 35. 
 
 \ ^tXoTtfila Kal uTTovoia. — Horn, in Matt., xii, 47. 
 
 § See the words of Our Lord on this very subject, Luke xi, 28 : 
 "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and 
 keep it." 
 
 I " Infanda." — • Theol. Doginat. de Inrarn., lib. xiv, c. i. 
 
 ^ These heretics receive their name from the KoKkvpa, or cake, 
 which they offered to the deified Virgin. Thus early was a new pa- 
 ganism substituted for that which was passing away. In modern 
 Rome, cook-shops are dedicated to Mary under the title of ** Our 
 Lady of Cakes and Sugar- Plums,'' thus literally " baking cakes to 
 the Queen of heaven," like the idolaters of Palestine denounced by 
 the prophet. Madame de Stael has truly said, " The Catholic is the 
 Pagan's heir." 
 
 ** Iren., adv. Hareses, lib. iii, c. 33 ; lib. v, c. 19. 
 
' 
 
 
 u 
 
 316 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 tion.* Ephraem Syrus and Gregon' Nazianzen, indeed, 
 speak of her invocation in prayer, but this was an honour 
 already bestowed on numerous other saints. The hea- 
 then writers, moreover, who accused the Christians of 
 worshipping a mere man, as they considered Christ, 
 would surely have brought a similar accusation on ac- 
 count of the worship of Mary if it were known; but 
 we nowhere find that this was done. Indeed, it is prob- 
 able that the contumely and opprobrium with which 
 the heathen spoke of the mother of Our Lord may 
 have intensified into superstitious veneration the loving 
 reverence with which she was regarded in the primitive 
 ages. Tertullian quotes the blasphemous pagan epithet, 
 " the harlot's son," applied to Christ in allusion to his 
 miraculous birth. f It has been reserved for a gifted 
 modern poet, as pagan and skeptical in sentiment as 
 Lucretius, to parallel, or even surpass, this revolting 
 impiety.J 
 
 ''^he testimony of the early Christian inscriptions is 
 not less strikingly opposed to the modem Mariolatry of 
 the church of Rome. " In the Lapidarian Gallery," 
 says Maitland, " the name of the Virgin Mary does not 
 once occur. Nor is it to be found in any truly ancient 
 inscription contained in the works of Aringhi, Boldetti, 
 or Bottari."§ No Ave Maria or Ora pro nobis^ no 
 Theotokos or Mater Dei^ occurs in any of the subterra- 
 nean crypts or corridors, of the Catacombs. Even the 
 name Maria, now so commonly applied in varying forms 
 
 ♦ See the hymn in the office of the Virgin ; 
 
 Quod Eva tristis abstolit 
 Tu reddis ahno germine. 
 
 Compare also the " Ave maris stella." 
 
 f De Spectaculis, c. 30. % See Shelley's Notes to Queen Mab, 
 § Maitl'nd, p. 333. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 3»7 
 
 to both males and females throughout Roman (.'atholic 
 countries, does not c cur till the year 381, and only 
 twice afterward, in 536 and 538 — an evidence of the 
 entire absence of that devotional regard now lavished 
 upon the Virgin Mary.* 
 
 This religious homage was only gradually developed 
 to its present full-blown idolatry. Its traces in early 
 Christian art are extremely infrequent and obscure. In 
 the numerous mosaics of the fifth and sixth century at 
 Rome and Ravenna, the figure of Mary very rarely 
 occurs, and never but as accessory to the Divine Child 
 in the Nativity or Adoration of the Magi. In these 
 there was no attempt at literal portraiture, but only the 
 expression of the virtues that adorned her character; 
 "that," as Ambrose expresses it, "the face might be 
 the image of her mind, the model of uprightness."! 
 Indeed, Augustine expressly asserts that we are ignorant 
 of her appearance. t 
 
 During the seventh century, along with ?. progressive 
 barbarism of treatment may be observed a gradual ex- 
 altation of Mary in the Roman mosaics to those places 
 previously devoted to the image of Christ.§ In the eighth 
 
 * The letters B. M., so frequently recurring in sepulchral inscrip- 
 tions, have no reference to the Virgin Mary. They stand for Bene 
 Merenti — To the well-deserving, or Bonce Memoriee—Oi pious 
 memory. 
 
 f Ut ipsa corporis facies simulacrum fuerit mentis, figura probilatis. 
 — De Virgin., lib. ii, c. 2. 
 
 X Neque enim novimus faciem Virginis Manse. — De Trin., c. 8. 
 
 § Aringhi (tom. ii, p. 195) copies a crucifixion from the Catacomb 
 of " Julii Papae," in which Mary appears crowned with a nimbus, 
 and bearing, after the Byzantine manner, the label Dei Genetrix — 
 Mother of God. It was probably painted by a Greek artist of late 
 date. The miraculous images of Mary are too numerous to mention. 
 Among these are the winking Madonna of Rimini ; that of St. Peter's, 
 which shed blood when struck ; that of Arezzo, which wept at the 
 
3<8 
 
 The Ottacomhs of Rome. 
 
 ,■ 
 
 1 
 
 '\' 
 
 century, according to D'Agincourt, " the homage paid 
 to her was no longer distinguished from that rendered 
 to the Lord of all ; "* and the Council of Constantinople 
 decreed, " that whoever would not avail himself of the 
 intercession of Mary should be accursed." f In extant 
 pictures of the ninth century she is exhibited in bejew- 
 elled purple robes as the crowned Queen of Heaven, 
 receiving the homage of the four and twenty elders and 
 of the celestial hosts.J In this century also the legend 
 of her bodily assumption to the skies, which has since 
 become such a prominent theme in Roman Catholic art 
 and doctrine, is first represented in the crypts of St. 
 Clements at Rome.§ 
 
 profanity of some drunkards ; another at Rome, which shed tears 
 at the invasion of the French ; stranger still, one at Lucca, which 
 transferred the infant Christ from one ami to the other to preserve 
 him from danger ; and one mentioned in the Fablieux of Le Grand, 
 which, when a scaffold broke, stretched forth a painted arm to rescue 
 from death the artist to whom she owed her existence ! The practi- 
 cal and undevout curiosity of the Czar Peter of Russia exposed the 
 fraud of one of the weeping Madonnas of the Greek church by the 
 detection of a reservoir of water behind her eyes. In popular legend, 
 also, Mary has often come down from her throne of glory, not to com- 
 municate lessons about sin and salva'ion, but to secure some trivial 
 gain or to recover some lost money. 
 
 ♦ Peinture, tom. ii, p. 38. 
 
 f Harduin, iv, 430, A. D. 712. 
 
 \ In the church of St. Cecilia at Rome. The homage of the Vir- 
 gin was now called virepdovXeia — the highest degree of veneration. 
 
 § This legend is first mentioned by Gregory of Tours in the sixth 
 century, (Df Gloria Afart., lib. i, c. 4,) next by John Damascenus in 
 the eighth century, but is most fully detailed in the Legenda A urea 
 in the fourteenth. Some of the earlier paintings represent with 
 touching naivetk the translation of the soul of Mary as anew-born in- 
 fant to heaven, where it is received in the arms of her Divine Son. 
 In later art the assumption is more literally represented, and Mary is 
 received and crowned by the three persons of the Holy Trinity, 
 while angels bear her train. Bodily assumption was also attributed 
 to John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 3»9 
 
 In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the apotheosis 
 of Mary is complete. In a fresco at Rome, of date 
 1 154 A, D., Popes Callixtus II. and Anastasius IV. 
 are shown embracing her feet in adoration, and trans- 
 ferring to the human mother the homage due alone 
 to the Divine Son. She is now worshipped co-ordi- 
 nately with Christ, or, indeed, almost to his exclusion, 
 her name being substituted for his in many of the collects 
 of the church. Much of the language of Scripture was 
 also blasphemously perverted from its proper applica- 
 tion to her. The glowing images of the Song of Songs, 
 addressed to the church as the spouse of Christ, were 
 also applied to Mary as her right ; and one of Rome's 
 most common and popular books of devotion of this 
 period, the psalter of her " Seraphic Doctor," St. 
 Bonaventura, has a shocking parody on the book of 
 Psalms, in which the name of God was every-where ex- 
 punged and that of Mary substituted instead.* The 
 At^e Maridy with its human additions, was regarded as 
 of equal importance and value with the Lord's Prayer, 
 and was made the basis of the vain repetitions of the 
 rosary. Mary now shares the government of heaven 
 and earth, " raised higher than cherubim and ser- 
 aphim,"! throned in glory, sitting on a rainbow, en- 
 veloped in an aureole, clothed with the sun, the 
 moon beneath her feet, a crown of stars upon her 
 head, % ^^^ r«;.cliating from her person beams of light, 
 
 * E. g.t Psa. Ixviii, i ; '* Let Mary arise, and let her enemies be scat- 
 tered." On one of the principal churches of Rome may still be 
 read the awful per\'ersion of Scripture : " Let us therefore come 
 boldly to the throne of Mary, that we may obtain mercy and find 
 grace to help in time of need." 
 
 f The expression of Modestus, patriarch of Jerusalem in the seventh 
 century. » 
 
 \ In allusion to the woman in the Apocalypse, xii, I. 
 
320 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ^ 
 
 the proper attribute of deity.* She is frequently rep- 
 resented, even in heaven, with the infant Christ in her 
 arms, a mere accessory to indicate her personality, as if 
 to show his relative inferiority. f She becomes, too, her- 
 self the object of prayer, having a special litany and 
 numerous offices in the liturgy of the church ; while 
 her praises are chanted in some of its noblest lyrics. 
 She is addressed as the gate of heaven, J the morning 
 star,§ and the refuge of sinners ; Q and is exhorted to suc- 
 cor the wretched,!^ protect from enemies, receive in the 
 hour of death,* * and intercede with God for men.f f She 
 is endowed with the faculty of omniscience and ubiq- 
 uity, and is made almost to thrust the Eternal from 
 his throne by her usurpation of his divine prerogatives. J J 
 But this impious blasphemy seems to have culmi- 
 nated in the Italian frescoes of the fifteenth century, 
 in which the infamous Giulia Famese is exhibited in 
 the character of the Madonna, and Pope Alexander VI., 
 the execrable Borgia, kneeling as a votary at her feet. 
 The Florentine churches, too, were desecrated by 
 
 * See a fresco in the Campo Santo^ Pisa, 
 
 f In the church of Gesu e Maria at Rome. 
 
 ^ Janua Coeli. § Stella matutina. 
 
 I Refugium peccatorum. ^ Succurre miseris. 
 
 * * Tu nos ab hoste protege, et mortis hora suscipe. • 
 
 f f Ora pro populo, interveni pro clero intercede pro (^evoto femineo 
 sexu. See also in the *' Ave Maris Stella," 
 
 Salva vincla reis, 
 Profer lumeii caecis. 
 Mala nostra pelle. 
 Bona cuncta posce. 
 See also the " Regina CfEli," and the " Ave Regina Ccelonim." 
 X X She has been actually designated the Fourth Person of the 
 Trinity. In Rome there are twenty-seven churches dedicated to 
 Mary for one dedicated to Christ. 
 
 " In dangers, in difficulties, in doubts." says the Roman Breviary, 
 " in the abyss of .sadness and despair, think of Mary, invoke Mary." 
 
 i 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 321 
 
 portraits of well-known harlots, flaunting their mere- 
 tricious beauty as the personations of the mother of Our 
 Lord. For his denunciation of these profanations and 
 of other impieties Savonarola perished at the stake.* 
 
 The rapid development of^ariolatry, the great cor- 
 ruption of Christianity, as Hallam has justly called it, 
 may to some extent be regarded as a reaction against 
 the harsh and austere character which was given to Our 
 Lord both in art and dogma. He was enthroned in 
 uwful majesty as the dreadful Judge of mankind. Re- 
 moved from human sympathy, inspiring only terror to 
 the soul, he was no longer Christ the Consoler, but 
 Christ the Avenger.f Religion was darkened by dismal 
 bodings of endless doom, and embittered by the fierce- 
 ness of polemic strife ; and the moral atmosphere 
 seemed lurid with the hurtling anathemas of rival sects. 
 To the yearning hearts of mankind ; to the multitude 
 of the weary and the heavy laden, to whom the 
 Saviour's voice, " Come unto me, and I will give you 
 
 * In the church of S, Maria Magglore at Rome may be seen a re- 
 stored mosaic of the adoration of the Magi, in which Mary is repre- 
 sented, with a golden nimbus and tunic, as sitting on a chair of state 
 higher than that of the Divine Child. But in copies of the original 
 mosaic of the fifth century, made two centuries ago, (Ciampini, Vet. 
 Man., i, p. 200,) Mary is standing, without any nimbus or other sign of 
 honour, by the side of Christ, who, attended by angels, occupies the 
 throne. This was evidently a vindication of the divinity Of the Son 
 of Mary against the heresies of the Arians, which has feefrft petrerted 
 by modem Romanists to an exaltation of the Virgiti to Co-equal 
 honours with the Son of God. 
 
 The figure of Mary as the Queen of heaven I'n the chtifch of St. 
 Nicholas at Rome is said by Papebrocius, a Roman authority, to 
 have been originally intended for Our Lofd, but aftetward altered 
 to the Madonna, a significant illustration of the substitution of her 
 worship for that of her Divine Son. 
 
 f See the wrathful image of Christ in the Last Judgment of the 
 Campo Santo and the SistineChipel. 
 
 21 
 
122 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 rest," was inaudible amid the conflicts of the times ; 
 and especially to those bowed down with a sense of sin 
 and sorrow, and trembling at the thought of the severe, 
 inexorable Judge, the gentle gospel of Mary came with 
 a sweet and winning grace that found its way into their 
 inmost souls. All images of tenderness and ruth sur- 
 rounded her. The blending 
 
 Of mother's love with maiden purity * 
 
 touched the hidden springs of feeling which exist in the 
 rudest natures, and made the worship of Mary a religion 
 of hope and consolation. She became the new Media- 
 trix between the sinful human soul and the Father in 
 heaven. Those who shrank from God fled for succour 
 to the virgin mother. The pitifulness of her human 
 nature was esteemed a stronger ground of confidence 
 than that infinite compassion and everlasting love which 
 was manifested in the agony and bloody sweat of Geth- 
 semane and the cross and passion of Calvary. Hence 
 Mary has often been regarded as a sort of tutelar divin- 
 ity by the ferocious brigand who stained with blood 
 the scapular which he wore as a sacred talisman ; and 
 by the daughter of shame who, in strange blending 
 profligacy and devotion, cherished her image in the 
 very lair of vice. 
 
 But, as there is a soul of goodness in things evil, so 
 even the antiscriptural perversions of Mariolatry were 
 not without some moral benefit to mankind. In a 
 coarse, rude a^^e a new ideal of excellence was devel- 
 oped. A morose asceticism was spreading on every 
 side, denouncing the sweet and gentle charities of 
 hearth and home, and forbidding the love of wife and 
 
 ♦ Wordsworth's EccUs. Sonnets, xxi. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 3^3 
 
 rhild to those who would attain to the heights of holiness. 
 Woman was degraded as a being of inferior nature, re- 
 garded as " a necessary evil," and forbidden, as un- 
 worthy, to touch with her hand the sacred emblems of 
 the passion of Christ. But this cultus of Mary raised 
 woman to a loftier plane of being, invested her with a 
 moral dignity and power infinitely superior to any thing 
 known to pagan times, and called forth a deeper rev- 
 erence and more chivalrous regard. 
 
 This example of all womanhoo<l, 
 So mild, so merciful, so strong, so good, 
 So patient, peaceful, loyal, loving, pure,* 
 
 ennobled and dignified the entire sex, and therefore 
 raised and purified the whole of society. The worship 
 of sorrow softened savage natures to more human gen- 
 tleness, and ameliorated the horrors of long dark cen- 
 turies of cruelty and blood. 
 
 We have dwelt thus long on this development of 
 Romanism on account of the remarkable prominence 
 and enhanced dignity it has received by the bull of 
 the Immaculate Conception, issued on the individual 
 authority of the present pontiff,! ^^^ by the decree of 
 his personal infallibility imposed on all Roman Catholic 
 Christendom. We have seen how alien it is to the 
 entire spirit and teachings, both in art and litera- 
 ture, of the primitive church, and have traced its 
 growth with the decline of Christianity, like a fungus 
 on a dying tree, till it has sapped its very life, and con- 
 cealed its early beauty and strength beneath defonnity 
 and decay. 
 
 ♦ Longfellow's " Golden Legend." 
 
 f Dec, 1854. An inscription in St. Peter's commemorates its pub- 
 lication. 
 
3^4 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 • 
 
 The other groups of the New Testament cycle are 
 chiefly scenes in the life of Our Lord, together with 
 representations of some of his principal miracles and 
 two or three illustrations of the parables. This series, 
 it must be confessed, is of exceedingly meagre charac- 
 ter and limited range, being remarkable as much for 
 what it omits as for what it contains. Out of the vast 
 number of subjects which have been treated in later 
 religious art. a comparatively few have been selected, 
 which are over and over repeated with unvarying itera- 
 tion of type. 
 
 The accompanying 
 bas relief, from the 
 sarcophagus of Ju- 
 nius Bassus, (A. D. 
 359>) is probably in- 
 tended for Christ 
 "sitting in the midst 
 of the doctors, both 
 hearing them and ask 
 ingthem questions."* 
 He is here shown 
 seated on a curule 
 chair, wearing a Ro- 
 man toga, and hold- 
 ing a half open scroll 
 in hi i hand. His feet 
 Pifif. Ol.-Christ with the Doctom. ^^^^ ^n a scarf held 
 
 by an allegorical figure, probably a personification of 
 the earth — a conception borrowed from Pagan art. 
 
 Frescoes of the baptism of Our Lord occasionally oc- 
 cur ; f but the scenes of the temptation, the subject of 
 
 * Luke ii, 46, Such is Didion's opinion. 
 
 f See Fig. 132. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 3^5 
 
 such grotesque treatment 
 in mediaeval art, nowhere 
 appear in the Catacombs. 
 
 On a sarcophagus in the 
 Lateran Museum is an il- 
 lustration of Our Lord's 
 first miracle at Cana of 
 Galilee, in which he is 
 touching the water-r>ots 
 wich his rod of power a»"1 
 turniag he water into wii-e. 
 
 Chrisc talking with the 
 
 woman of Samaria at the 
 
 well of Sychar is a subject 
 
 that is frequently repeated ^^-^^--Cbriat and the Woman 
 
 r I 1- r T 1 of Samaria, 
 
 m fresco and relief. In the 
 
 accompanying example from a sarcophagus in the Later- 
 an, a windlass of priwiitive construction, like those still 
 common in the 
 Campagna, is 
 shown. 
 
 The healing 
 of the paralyt- 
 ic has been 
 regarded as a 
 type of the res- 
 toration of the 
 soul paralyzed 
 by sin. Inge- 
 nious Roman- 
 ists have dis- 
 covered herein 
 a symbol of Flflf- 03.— *'!»© Healing of the Paralytic. 
 
326 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
 " the Sacrament of Penance," and also of " Baptism 
 and the Remission of Sins." In the frescoes of the 
 Catacombs the man is represented in the act of obeying 
 the command, "Take up thy bed and walk." Some- 
 times the bed is a mere reticulated frame-work. It is 
 also shown as in the foregoing example from the Cata- 
 comb of Callixtus. See Fig. 93. 
 
 Our Lord healing the infirmity of the woman with 
 the issue of blood, who drew nigh and touched the 
 
 hem of his gar- 
 ment, is 9 fre- 
 quent subject of 
 both sarcophagal 
 and mural pre- 
 sentation. In the 
 accompanying ex- 
 ample from a bas 
 relief of the fourth 
 century the Sav- 
 iour is apparently 
 uttering the 
 words, " Daugh- 
 ter, be of good 
 comfort, thy faith 
 hath made thee 
 whole." In the background is seen, in confused 
 perspective, a Christian basilica of the period, with 
 its semicircular absis and detached baptistery. The 
 doors are hung with heavy curtains to exclude 
 the noontide heat, as is still common in Italian 
 churches.* 
 
 ♦Numerous references to these veils occur in the Fathers; e.g.^ 
 Paulin., iVa/flt/. Felic, iii, 6 : Aurea nunc niveis ornantur limina velis ; 
 Hieron., Epitaph. Nepot, : Vela seini)er in ostiis ; Epiphan., ep aJ 
 
 Piff. 94.— Christ Healingr the Woman 
 with the Issue of Blood. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 327 
 
 The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and 
 fishes is a theme of frequent treatment in early Chris- 
 tian painting and 
 sculptul'e, and was 
 regarded in the 
 writings of the 
 Fathers as a 
 eucharistic type 
 of Him who, as 
 the true Bread 
 from heaven, gave 
 his body to be ^^' ©^.-The Miracle of the Loaves and 
 
 fishes, 
 broken for the life 
 
 of the world. Sometimes, as on a sarcophagus in the 
 Lateran, Our Lord stands between two disciples bless- 
 ing with either hand the 
 food which they hold. 
 Occasionally, as in the 
 foregoing fresco from the 
 cemetery of St. Priscilla, 
 the scene is represented by 
 a group of disciples kneel- 
 ing on the ground as if they 
 had just received the food 
 so marvellously multiplied. ^ 
 At their feet are seen the m 
 loaves and fishes, and in - 
 
 the foreground stand the 
 
 , , r II /• /■ Fiff. 06.— Chralt Opening the 
 
 seven baskets full of frag- ^^^ ^^ ^^e Blind. 
 
 ments that remained. 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 yohan. Hierosol. : Inveni vela pendens in foribus. They were used 
 also at the entrance of Pagan schooLs, " to conce&l," says Augustine, 
 " the ignorance that took refuge within." 
 
 ' 
 
328 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 The miracle of opening the eyes of the blind, which 
 was at once a fulfillment of the ancient prophecies con- 
 cerning the Messiah and a type of that moral illumi- 
 nation which he should impart, appropriately found a 
 place on the tombs of those who had been called from 
 
 darkness into God's marvellous 
 light. The preceding example 
 is from the Catacomb of CaL 
 lixtus. 
 
 Our Lord laying his hand in 
 blessing on the head of a little 
 child, or probably teaching hu- 
 mility and rebuking the ambi- 
 tion of his disciples by setting a 
 child in their midst, is a fre- 
 quently recurring subject in this 
 primitive cycle. It was a lesson 
 which the early Christians of 
 PUrure 07. -Our Lord r^^^ ^^d often to learn : that 
 bleasinff a little ChUd. , ., ^ ., , 
 
 he that would be greatest among 
 
 them must be the servant of all ; that exaltation of office 
 was only pre-eminence of danger and of toil. The 
 example above given is from the Catacomb of Callixtus. 
 A bas relief in the Kircherian Museum, of the parable 
 of the sower and the seed, appropriately symbolized the 
 sowing in the furrows of society of the good seed of the 
 kingdom, from which should spring a harvest of righteous- 
 ness. The frequent representations of fishing scenes may 
 refer to the occupation of several of the first disciples of 
 Our Lord, or to their spiritual vocation as fishers of 
 men. In these, however, Roman Catholic writers have 
 fancied an allusion to the sacrament of baptism. Wc 
 have already seen in the ever-recurring figure of the 
 Good Shepherd an illustration of the beautiful parable 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 339 
 
 of the lost sheep, and a most appropriate symbol of thi; 
 Shepherd and Bishop of all souls. In the Catacomb 
 of St. Agnes is a fresco of the five wise virgins of the 
 parable going forth to meet the bridegroom, and it is so 
 designated by Bosio.* Each of the virgins bears in her 
 hand the vessel of oil to replenish her lamp ; the fore- 
 most holds a torch or candle of wax, anciently much 
 used in Roman marriage processions,! as it still is; while 
 the others bear branches of palm in token of festivity. 
 A distinguished Roman theologian has, however, with 
 perverted ingenuity, discovered in the vessels of oil the 
 modern ecclesiastical situla, or holy-water vases, and in 
 the radiant torch of the foremost figure the tufted asper- 
 gillum with which the holy water is sprinkled. J 
 
 The story of Lazarus, as we may easily conceive, was 
 an especial favourite of the early Christian artists. It 
 spoke to the deepest feelings, and inspired the loftiest 
 hopes of the primitive believers. Rescued from the 
 darkness and despair of paganism as to the future state 
 of the soul, they grasped with intensest fervour the glo- 
 rious doctrine of its immortal existence and of the 
 resurrection of the body. Amid the gloom of the Cat- 
 acombs, and surrounded by the silent congregation of 
 the dead, they heard with joy the thrilling words, " I 
 am the Resurrection and the Life," and laid their loved 
 ones to their rest, not with everlasting farewells and 
 passionate complainings at the gods, but exulting in the 
 hope of a blessed immortality. Therefore they engraved 
 on the funeral slab, or painted on the tomb, this record 
 of Christ's triumph over death, as a symbol of that 
 hope which kept their hearts strong in life's trial hour. 
 
 * Prudentes quinque virgines olei vasa cum lampadibus deferentes. 
 —Roma Sotteranea, torn, iii, p. 171. 
 
 f Plutarch, Quast. Rom. J Rock's Hierurgia, p. 463. 
 
330 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 These representations are of every de- 
 gree of artistic merit, from the rudely 
 scratched and scarcely intelligible out- 
 line, to the elaborately sculptured bas 
 relief on the costly sarcophagus. Of the 
 former the annexed is perhaps the sim- 
 plest example to be found. It is of 
 date A. D. 400. 
 
 Lazarus is generally exhibited as a 
 
 Pi». 08.— Laz- mummy-like figure, " bound hand and 
 
 foot with grave-clothes," standing in a 
 
 temple-shaped tomb or adicula^ like those which 
 
 line the Appian Way. This figure Our Lord, the 
 
 Prince of Life, is 
 touching with the 
 rod of his power, 
 as shown in the ac- 
 companying fresco 
 from the Catacomb 
 of Sts. Peter and 
 Marcellinus. 
 
 The figure of 
 Mary, frequently 
 of very diminutive 
 size, setting all pro- 
 portion at defiance* 
 Plff. OO.-The Raisinfir of La«araa. j^ ^^^^^ depicted as 
 
 crouching at the feet of Jesus, and sometimes as 
 kissing his hand in gratitude for restoring her brother 
 to life. Sometimes, also, Martha is seen standing by 
 the tomb, and the disciples standing around Jesus. 
 The following engraving, from a sarcophagus in the 
 I^ateran, is a characteristic example of the ordmary type. 
 A much less frequent subject of art-presentation 
 
The Biblical Cycle, 
 
 33' 
 
 was Mary Magdalene holding in her hands the " ala- 
 baster box of very precious 
 ointment," wherewith shs, 
 anointed Our Lord. c^-^ 
 
 Christ's triumphant entry H ) 
 into Jerusalem, the presage vs [ 
 and symbol of his final vie- ^ fii 
 tory in the world and en- 
 trance as the King of Glory 
 into the New Jerusalem on 
 high, occurs with great fre- 
 quency and considerable va- 
 riety of treatment. Although 
 dissociated from this scene 
 in the gospel narrative, Zac- 
 chaeus is almost invariably F*»- lOO.-RaisinRof Lazarus.* 
 connected therewith in this primitive art, and generally 
 
 mfir. 101.— Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. 
 
 * On an ivory diptych in the Educational Museum at Toronto, 
 Ca., the raising of Lazarus appears exactly after this primitive type. 
 
 I 
 
 \\ 
 
. 
 
 332 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \;<l 
 
 ' 
 
 \ 
 
 ' 
 
 appears mounted in a tree gazing at the procession. 
 At times the scene is reduced to its simplest elements; 
 at others, as in Fig. loi, from a sarcophagus in the Lat- 
 eran, it is more elaborately treated, exhibiting the mul- 
 titudes spreading their garments, and strewing branches 
 of palm before the .meek conqueror. 
 
 Peter's denial of his Master is a theme that is fre- 
 quently repeated. The cock, whose crowing awoke the 
 disciple's late remorse, without which it would some- 
 times be impossible to discriminate the scene, is gener- 
 ally shown, as in the following sarcuphagal example 
 from the Late ran Museum. 
 
 As we have already re-' 
 
 marked, the tragic scenes 
 of the passion of Our 
 Lord find no place in this 
 primitive cycle. 'J'hese 
 were felt to be subjects for 
 devout meditation rather 
 than for pictorial treat- 
 ment. The early Chris- 
 tians preferred to contem- 
 plate Christ rather as the 
 victor over death and hell, 
 than as the victim of sufTer- 
 Piar. 102.-Peter'8 Denial of ing and shame. " The ago- 
 
 ny, the crown of thorns, 
 the nails, the spear," says a distinguished critic of this 
 primitive art,* " seem all forgotten in the fullness of joy 
 brought by his resurrection. This is the theme, Christ's 
 resurrection, and that of the church in his person, on 
 which, in their peculiar language, the artists of the 
 Catacombs seem never weary of expatiating; death swal- 
 * Lord Lindsay, Christian Art, vol. i, p. 51. 
 
 I 
 
llw Biblical Cycle, 
 
 III 
 
 
 lowed up in victory, and the victor crowned with the 
 amaranth wreath of immortality, is a vision ever before 
 their eyes, with a vividness of anticipation which we, 
 who have been born to this belief, can but feebly 
 realize." * 
 
 The only scenes connected with the passion, besides 
 that of the denial, already given, are those which oc- 
 curred in the judgment-hall of Pilate, and a unique 
 example of Simon bearing the cross. One scene in 
 particular seems to have been selected rather as a testi- 
 mony of Christ's innocence than of his sufferings. It is 
 that in which Pilate declares, ** I have found no fault 
 in this man ; ** and calling for water washes his hands, 
 as if to blot out the damning guilt of that judicial 
 murder. In the accompanying engraving, from a muti- 
 
 ■ 
 
 Flgr* 103.— Pilate on the Judfirment Seat Washing his Hands. 
 
 lated bas-relief in the Lateran Museum, this scene is 
 exhibited. In the original the face of the irresolute 
 
It 
 
 334 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 . 
 
 governor seems to express compunction at this perver- 
 "'on of justice to which he is yielding. In the back- 
 ground is seen the profile of his wife, as though utter- 
 ing her solemn admonition against the impending crime. 
 The servant with thi: ewer and empty basin appears in 
 conformity with the oriental ablutionary custom of pour- 
 ing water upon the hands. 
 
 In the last compartment to the right of the remark- 
 able sarcophagus in the Lateran, represented in Fig. 104, 
 this scene is repeated. Associated therewith in the 
 
 next adjoining compartment are 
 two figures interpreted as Christ, 
 guarded by a Roman soldier, 
 witnessmg a good confession be- 
 fore Pontius Pilate. The crown 
 above the head of the latter, if 
 not a mere architectural decora- 
 tion, may indicate the reward 
 of those who confess Christ be- 
 fore men. 
 
 Thij sarcophagus exhibits, as 
 Dr. Northcote admits, " the 
 nearest resemblance to the later 
 representations of Our Saviour's 
 Passion to be found in early 
 Christian art."* The Constan- 
 tinian monogram in the central 
 compartment has been already 
 described.! To the left is seen 
 the figure of Christ crowned, 
 not with thorns, but, as if sym- 
 bolizing his crown of rejoicing 
 on high, with a garland of flowers. The last compart- 
 * Rom. Sott., p. 307. f See Book II, chap, ii, p. 269. 
 
 I 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 
 ment exhibits Our Lord, or, more probably, Simon 
 the Cyrenian, bearing the cross under the guard of a 
 Roman soldier. " But there are none of the traces 
 of suffering," says Dr. Northcote, "with which later 
 artists have familiarized our imagination, and the crown 
 above points to the reward for bearing the cross after 
 our suffering Master."* In one instance the Roman 
 soldiers are shown smiting Our Lord on the head 
 with a reed ; f but no nearer approach to the con- 
 summation of the supreme sacrifice of Calvary is ever 
 attempted. 
 
 Neither are the august themes of Christ's resurrec- 
 tion and ascension historically treated in this biblical 
 cycle, but only under the Old Testament types of Jonah 
 and Elijah. One group, hypothetically interpreted as the 
 Noli me tangere, or Our Lord saying to Mary on the 
 morning of the resurrection, " Touch me not, for I am 
 not yet ascended to my Father, " more probably rep- 
 resents the gratitude of Mary for the resurrection of 
 her brother Lazarus. Numerous frescoes of seven men 
 eating a repast of bread and fish may refer to Our Lord's 
 appearing to his disciples on the sea-shore, or to the 
 celebration of the Agape. 
 
 We find only one event subsequent to the ascension 
 occasionally represented on the early Christian sarcoph- 
 agi, namely, the apprehension of Peter.J which was 
 probably regarded as a type of his being finally bound 
 for his crucifixion. He is to be discriminated from Our 
 Lord arrested by the Roman soldiers by his bearded 
 
 * Rom. Soft., p. 308. 
 
 f According to Romish tradition, the Divine Sufferer received five 
 thousand stripes during his scourging. This, as they would be in- 
 flicted by Roman soldiers, would be beyond human endurance, and 
 was far beyond what Jewish or Roman law would allow. 
 
 X Acts iv, 3. 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 I 
 
3yy 
 
 r. 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 w 
 
 ! ■ 
 
 i» 
 
 ' 
 
 face, and by the Jewish caps, which mark the satellites of 
 Herod Agrip;)a. It is remarkable that so little reference 
 is made to St. Peter in this early Christian sculpture, and 
 that little indicating no degree of superiority over the 
 other apostles ; and the fact is inexplicable on the Roman 
 theory of his primacy in the so-called Apostolic College. 
 In the still earlier frescoes of the Catacombs he is no- 
 where especially designated by name or attribute. The 
 only apostle distinguished from the rest of the twelve 
 is St. Paul, who, in a fresco in the Catacomb of St. 
 Priscilla, is seen side by side with the Good Shep- 
 herd, and indicated by the inscription — pavlvs pas- 
 tor APOsroLvs,* Indeed, this was the especial title of 
 St. Paul as being " in labors more abundant " than any 
 of the apostles.f Even on the sarcophagi St. Peter 
 is only once or twice exhibited as bearing the symbol- 
 ical rod of power, and these examples may be of the 
 fifth or sixth century. In certain of the gilt glasses 
 already mentioned he is allegorically portrayed, in- 
 stead of Moses, as smiting the rock, implying the opinion 
 that he was in some sense the representative of the lat- 
 ter in the New Testament economy. But these glasses 
 are of comparatively late date, when the notion of the 
 primacy of St. Peter was already partially developed ; 
 and even in these St. Peter and St. Paul are often found 
 side by side, without any sign of the superiority of the 
 former. 
 
 It is easy to discriminate in early Christian art be- 
 
 * Aringhi, Roma Sotterrattea, torn, ii, p. 273. 
 
 \ Hence Augustine asserts that if the name of the apostle is not 
 expressly mentioned, St. Paul is always understood by this title — 
 Apostolus cum dicetur, si non exprimatur quis apostolus non intel- 
 ligitur nisi Paulus. — Contra duas Epis. Pelag., lib. iii, c. 3. The 
 apostles were sometimes represented by twelve men, but without 
 any individual distinction. 
 
Tfu Biblical Cycle. 
 
 337 
 
 tween the two apostles so highly honoured at Rome * 
 by the strongly marked conventional types to which 
 their portraits almost invariably conform. St. Paul is 
 characterized by the nobler form of face, a high, bold 
 forehead, aquiline Jewish nose, dark hair and eyes, a 
 flowing and pointed beard, and a refined and thought- 
 ful expression of countenance as became one brought 
 up at the feet of Gamaliel and instructed in all the 
 wisdom of Greek philosopher and Hebrew sage. The 
 Galilaean fisherman is represented with strongly-knit 
 frame, broad rustic features, short gray hair, a thick 
 and closely curling beard, generally of silvery white, 
 and an expression of much force and energy of charac- 
 ter.! It is probable that these types were derived from 
 authentic tradition if not from actual portraits.| 
 Eusebius, Augustine, and others of the Fathers, claim 
 
 * O Roma felix, quae duorura Principum 
 Es consecrata glorioso sanguine ; 
 Horam cruore purpurata ceteras 
 Excellis orbis una pulcritudines. 
 — Office for the Festival of St. Peter and St. Paul. 
 
 St. Paul is designated the illustrious doctor, the vase of election, the 
 teacher of the nations, and preacher of truth throughout the world. — 
 Egregie doctor Paule,vas electionis, doctor gentium, praedicator veri- 
 tatis in universio mundo. — Jbid. 
 
 f Of these types are the portraits on a bronze medal found in the 
 Catacomb of St. Domitilla, in the so-called tomb of Sts. Peter and 
 Paul at St. Sebastian's, and in the early sculptures, mosaics, and paint- 
 ings generally. 
 
 \ The scoffing Lucian, who may have conversed with some who wit- 
 nessed the execution of St. Paul, describes him as " the bald-headed 
 and long-nosed Galiloean, who mounted through the air into the third 
 heaven " — YaKiKaloq, ava^ahxivria^^ knlp/^ivog, eg rplrov ovpavdv uepo. 
 jiarriaag.—^Philopatris. Nicephorus and the Acts of Paul and Tliecla 
 describe him as bald — ^LAog ri/v Ke<f>a?i,^v. The apocryphal Acts and 
 Malalas add the epithets yAvKig and ;j;«/jfrof nXrjpTig, sweet, and full 
 of grace. 
 
 22 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 •J 
 
338 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 1 
 
 \ 4 
 
 to have seen representations of these apostles preserved 
 in painting ; and the reputed portraits alleged to have 
 been sent by Pope Sylvester to the Emperor Constan- 
 tine are annually exhibited at St. Peter's for the venera- 
 tion of the faithful.* 
 
 Nowhere in the Catacombs do we f id the least sup- 
 port for the notion that St. Peter is in any sense the 
 founder of the church in Rome, much less the rock on 
 which the church universal is built. That honour is as- 
 signed in early Christian art, as it is by the apostle him- 
 self, to Jesus Christ, the "chief corner-stone, elect, 
 precious." f 
 
 * The cultus of Peter, the result of the growing conception of his 
 primacy, was developed to a d^;Tee second only to that of Mary. 
 Its extent and character in the ninth century are indicated by 
 a mosaic in the triclinium of San Giovanni di Laterano at Rome, 
 in which the apostle, seated on a lofty throne, with the keys 
 of heaven and hell lying in his lap, is besiowing the pallium, or 
 symbol of ecclesiastical power, on the most hcly lord, Pope Leo — so 
 he is designated — and the standard of battle oi' the Emperor Charle- 
 magne, both of whom are kneelii^ at his feet Beneath is the fol- 
 lowing prayer, addressed to Peter as to God : beate petre dona 
 VITA LEONI PPE BICTORIA CARLO REGi DONA, " Blessed Peter, give 
 life to Pope Leo, and victory to King Charies." 
 
 This religious cultus culminated in the erection of that noblest 
 of all earthly temples, raised to the honour of a lowly fisherman, and in 
 the idolatrous homage paid to the great bronze statue cast from that 
 of Jupiter Capitolinus, if it be not indeed the identical statue of the 
 heathen deity transformed into that of the Christian apostle and 
 Romish saint. 
 
 f We may here notice the precious Romish relic known as St. Peter's 
 chair. In June, 1867, the present pontiff ordered the bronze covering 
 with which this object of veneration had been concealed for two hun- 
 dred years to be removed, and the chair was found to be a solid 
 oaken structure with iron rings, by which it could be carried like the 
 idla gestatoria, in which the popes are borne in religious processions, 
 and covered in part with ivory plates on which are engraved the 
 labours of Hercules and other scenes. This chair, which is commem- 
 orated in one of the festivals of the church. Romish tradition asserts 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 339 
 
 Fiff. 105.— Painted Chamber in the Catacomb of St. Affnes.* 
 
 These biblical pictures, we may here remark, are not 
 grouped indiscriminately, but are often arranged in a 
 regular order having reference to their doctrinal signifi- 
 cation. The v^alls and ceilings of the cubicula are fre- 
 quently divided into compartments of geometrical design, 
 
 to be that in which St. Peter sat while exercising episcopal authority 
 at Rome, and in which it is presumed he was borne in state, like 
 those haughty pontiffs who claimed to be his successors. It is supposed 
 to have been preserved during the ages of persecution in the crypts 
 of the Catacombs ; indeed, tradition identifies the Catacomb of 
 Ostrianus on the Appian Way as the scene where this relic was ven- 
 erated in the early centuries. Those who regard the fact of Peter's 
 presence in Rome as exceedingly hypothetical, and who altogether re- 
 ject the notion of his episcopal authority, will regard any refutation 
 of this legend as superfluous. 
 
 An inscription is shown said to have been engraved by St. Peter 
 himself, also the font at which he baptized ! (See Fig. 131.) 
 
 * It will be observed that in this chamber the Good Shepherd 
 
 
 A 
 
 ' 
 
W i 
 
 
 h 
 
 } ! 
 
 t ! 
 
 •! 
 
 i 
 
 340 
 
 T/ie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 as shown in the preceding engraving of a chamber in the 
 Catacomb of St. Agnes. See also Figs. 82 and 89. 
 
 Sometimes the paintings of a chamber are as closely 
 related as the parts of a chapter in systematic theology. 
 Thus on account of their common reference, as he con- 
 ce'ves, to the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist, 
 De Rossi designates as liturgical paintings certain pic- 
 tures in the Catacomb of Callixtus.* An allegorizing 
 spirit, however, will often discover a meaning in a fresco 
 or relief altogether unthought of by the original artist. 
 Thus Dr. Northcote interprets as personifications of the 
 church or of the Virgin Mary, certain praying figures 
 nowise differing from the ordinary oranti. 
 
 The sarcophagi are almost exclusively occupied with 
 scenes from the biblical cycle, generally arranged in 
 two rows in a continuous series, like the figures on the 
 frieze of a Grecian temple. Frequently ten or twelve 
 groups, embracing nearly forty figures, are found on the 
 side of a sarcophagus. Sometimes the separate groups 
 occupy a rhythmical arrangement of panel-like com- 
 partments, divided by columns of more or less orna- 
 mental character. (See Figs. 102, 103, and 104.) The 
 busts of the deceased persons, man and wife, are often 
 exhibited in bold relief in a concave recess in the centre, 
 like the half of a bivalve shell. The table in the foot- 
 note on the following page exhibits the relative frequency 
 of occurrence of the different subjects already described, 
 as observed in fifty-five sarcophagi in the Lateran 
 
 occupies the position of prominence and dignity in the compartment 
 over the anosolium, balanced by Daniel in the lions' den and the 
 three Hebrews in the furnace. On the left hand is a shelf for 
 lamps, magnified in Romish imagination into a credence table for 
 supporting the elements of the eucharist. In the ceiling are oranti 
 and Iambs. 
 * Horn. Soif., p. 268. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 341 
 
 Museum by Mr. Burgon, and as shown in forty-eight 
 examples copied by Bosio.* 
 
 The massiveness of the sarcophagi would during the 
 ages of persecution prevent their use even for the wealthy, 
 as their preparation and conveyance from the city would 
 involve an amount of publicity that would imperil the 
 safety of the living. After the time of Constantine the 
 increased riches and perfect immunity of the Chris- 
 tians permitted the adoption of this costly entombment. 
 The sarcophagi were no longer hidden in the subter- 
 ranean crypts, but were exposed to view in the vestibules 
 of the stately basilicas erected above ground. f 
 
 Hence, Chrysostom speaks of Constantine being 
 buried in the fisherman's porch,t and of emperors oc- 
 cupying the place of porters at the graves of the 
 apostles. Numerous sarcophagi, however, have been 
 
 * Burgon. Bosio. 
 
 History of Jonas 28 11 
 
 The Smitten Keck 21 16 
 
 Apprehension of Peter 20 14 
 
 Miracle of the Loaves 20 14 
 
 Giving Si^ht to the Blind ... 19 11 
 
 Change of Water into Wine.. 16 8 
 
 liaising of Lazarus 16 14 
 
 Pet«»r'8 Denial 14 8 
 
 Daniel in the Lions' Den 14 T 
 
 Paralytic Healed 12 7 
 
 Creation of Eve 11 2 
 
 Sacrifice of Isaac 11 9 
 
 Adoration of the Magi 11 S 
 
 Burgon. Bosio. 
 
 Fail of Adam and Eve 14 10 
 
 Woman with Issue of Blood . . 8 9 
 
 Christ's Entry into Jerusalem S 
 
 The Good Shepherd 6 9 
 
 Nonh in the Aric fi 6 
 
 Christ before Pilate 6 6 
 
 Giving of the Law 4 6 
 
 The Three Hebrew Children.. 4 8 
 
 MoHcs Taking Off bis Shoes . . 2 8 
 
 Elias Taken Up to Heaven... 2 8 
 
 Nativity, with Ox and Ass. ... I 4 
 
 Christ Crowned with Thorns . 1 1 
 
 It will be seen that there is only one example of Christ crowned 
 with thorns, and in that the harshness is removed by the substitution 
 of a garland of flowers. How different from modem Roman Catho- 
 lic art, in which the scenes of the passion are endlessly repeated ! 
 In pagan sarcophagi we find, instead of these sacred themes, crowded 
 battle-pieces, with processions of warriors, chariots, horses, maskers, 
 mythological groups, vintage scenes, etc. See the sarcophagi of the 
 Empress Helena and of Constantia in the Vatican Museum, and 
 before described. 
 
 f In ecclesia nuUatenus sepeliantur, sed in atrio, aut porticu, aut in 
 exedris ecclesiae. — Council of Nantes^c&w. 6. 
 
 :f Chrys., Hom, 26, in 2 Cor. 
 
342 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 found in the Catacombs, some even reputed to be of 
 the first century. These were generally of simpler de- 
 sign, and adorned only with the series of doubly curving 
 lines known as wave ornaments. They were frequently 
 buried in the floor of the cubicula* 
 
 The reader, in examining the foregoing representa- 
 tions of the person of Our Lord,t must have been struck 
 with their remarkably youthful and joyous character in 
 this primitive cycle, as contrasted with the older aspect 
 and more severe expression of the prevalent types of 
 later art. This difference is indicative of a correspond- 
 ing change of religious feeling, from the genial cheer- 
 fulness of the early centuries to the gloomy asceticism 
 of the Middle Ages. In the art of the Catacombs Our 
 Lord is represented, for the most part, in an ideal man- 
 ner, and not in an historical sense ; or, to use the lan- 
 guage of Lord Lindsay, " as an abstraction, as the 
 genius, so to speak, of Christianity." J He is almost 
 invariably exhibited as a youthful, beardless figure, to 
 signify — say the ancient writers — " the everlasting prime 
 of eternity ; " with, where any definite expression is at- 
 tempted, a countenance of sv/eet and tender grace, full 
 of mildness and benignity. 
 
 That there was in these primitive types no attempt at 
 realistic portraiture is evident from the opinion of many 
 
 * Numerous Christian sarcophagi have also been found at Aries, 
 Saragossa, Ravenna, Milan, and elsewhere. 
 
 The name sarcophagus, yf^j-^-^a/m^, from (Ttipf and ^dyu, it is well 
 known, was derived from the supposed quality of the Lapis Assius, 
 a stone of Assos in Asia Minor of which tliey were originally 
 made, of corroding and consuming dead bodi&i, as ascribed to it by 
 Theophrastus and Pliny. 
 
 fSee especially Figs. 47, 48, 63, 91, gsi, 96, 97, and postea 
 106. 
 
 \ Christian Art, vol. i, p. 42. . 
 
 :m&^ 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 343 
 
 of the early Fathers as to the personal appearance of 
 Our Lord. This opinion was founded upon an erro- 
 neous interpretation of certain passages of Scripture, 
 expressive of Christ's voluntary humiliation and abase- 
 ment. Thus Justin Martyr speaks of his appearance 
 as ignoble and uncomely.* Tertullian, with his usual 
 vehemence, asserts Christ to have been devoid, not 
 only of divine majesty, but even of human beauty, f to 
 have lacked grace and dignity beyond all men. J " But 
 however mean his aspect, however vulgar and dishon- 
 oured," he exclaims, " he shall be still my Christ whom I 
 adore." § Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Basil agree 
 in this opinion as to the outward appearance of Our 
 Lord; and Cyril of Alexandria audaciously declares that 
 he was the most ugly of the sons of men.|| 
 
 But a juster interpretation of Scripture, and a more 
 worthy conception of the person of Christ, at length 
 prevailed. The glowing imagery of the Song of Songs 
 and of the prophetic Psalms was applied by several of 
 the Fathers of the fourth century to the person, as well as 
 to the character, of Our Lord. Jerome conjectures that 
 there must have been something celestial in his counte- 
 nance and look, or the apostles would not immediately 
 have followed him ;** and that the effulgence and majesty 
 
 ♦Tdv atiii) KfCi ari^tov ^avivra. — Dla/. cum Tryph., 85. 
 
 f Adeo nee humanse honestatis corpus fuit, nedum coelestis elar- 
 itatis. — Dt Carn. Christi., c. 9. 
 
 \ Sed species ejus inhonorata, deficiens ultra omnes homines. — 
 Contra Marc, iii, 17. 
 
 § Si inglorius, si ignobilis, si inhonorabilis ; meus erit Christus.— 
 Ibid. 
 
 I 'AXXa TO eldog avTov irifiov iK^Lnov napa Trdvrof rovf vlov( tuv 
 &vdpuTruv. — De Nudatione Noe., lib. ii, vol. i, p. 13. 
 
 * * Nisi enim habuisset et in vultu quiddam et in oculis sidereum, 
 nunquam eum statim secuti fuissent npostoli. — Epis. ad Princip. 
 Virginem, 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 
 344 
 
 The Catacombs ^f Rome. 
 
 of the divinity within, which i>l. jne forth even in the 
 human countenance, could not but attract at first sight all 
 beholders.* Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa in the 
 East adopted this nobler conception, as also did Am- 
 brose and Augustine in the West. The latter exclaims, 
 *' He was beautiful on his mother's bosom, beautiful in 
 the arms of his parents, beautiful upon the cross, and 
 beautiful in the sepulchre ; " although he admits that 
 the countenance of Christ was entirely unknown, and 
 was painted with innumerable diversities of expression, f 
 There was therefore, as M. Rochette remarks,} and 
 as Dr. Northcote admits,§ no authentic portrait of 
 Christ recognized by the early church ; nor was any 
 strictly uniform type adopted. Eusebius, indeed, men- 
 tions reputed portraits of Our Lord associated with those 
 of St. Peter and St. Paul ; | but they were apparently 
 objects of mere local superstition, as was also the 
 alleged statue of Christ at Caesarea Philippi, in which 
 he was supposed to be represented as healing the 
 woman with the issue of blood.** The earliest acknowl- 
 
 * Certe fulgor ipsa et majestas dmnitatis occultae, quae etiam in 
 humanil facie relucebat, ex primo ad se venientes trahere poterat as- 
 pectu. — Hieronym. in Matth.. ix, g. 
 
 f Qua fuerit ille facie nos penitus ignoramus : nam et ipsius Domin- 
 ic£e facies camis innumerabilium cogitationum diversitate variatur 
 et fingitur, quae tamen una erat, quaecunque erat. — De Trin., lib. 
 vii, c. 4, 5. 
 
 X Tableau des Catacombes, p. 164. %Rom. Sott., p. 252. 
 
 \ Hist. Eccl.y vii, 18. , From this frequent association St. Paul as 
 well as St. Peter was frequently regarded as being both among the 
 original disciples. " Justly do they deserve to err," says Augustine, 
 speaking of this mistake, " who seek Cluist and his apostles, not in the 
 holy volumes, but on painted walls." — De Consens^ Evang.^ lib, i.fx. 
 
 * ♦ This statue , it has been suggested, probably represente(^ ^he phi- 
 losopher Apollonius or the Emperor Vespasian, and the suppliant 
 female figure a personified city or province. Gibbon thinks it in^- 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 345 
 
 edged images of Christ were attributed to the Gnostic 
 heretics, and were honoured with those of Homer, Py- 
 thagoras, Orpheus, and other heroes and sages by the 
 eclectic philosophers of Rome.* 
 
 The silence of early tradition,as well as of Scripture, 
 concerning the outward form of the Saviour of man- 
 kind, seems providentially designed to turn the mind 
 from a sensuous regard for his person to a spiritual ap- 
 prehension of his saving grace. The spurious epist' 
 of Publius Lentulus, an imaginary contemporary of 
 Christ, which is of uncertain and probably late date, 
 contains the first written portraiture of Our Lord, which 
 already indicates a departure from the generally youth- 
 ful type of the Catacombs. " His countenarice," says 
 this account, " is severe and expressive, so as to inspire 
 beholders at once with love and fear. ... In reproving 
 or censuring, he is awe-inspiring; in exhoriing and 
 teaching, his speech is gentle and caressing. His ex- 
 pression is of wonderful sweetness and gravity. No 
 one ever saw him laugh, though he has been often seen 
 to weep." f 
 
 possible that it could be intended for the poor woman mentioned in 
 the gospel. Eusebius mentions the belief as a mere popular tradi> 
 tion. *• They say that this statue bears the likeness of Jesus" — 
 TovTov St Tov &vdpidvTa etxova rdi'lrjaov <^epeiv i}.eyov. — Mis/. Eccl.^ 
 viii, 1 8. 
 
 *Iren.,rt</r. /f(rrr^j.,i, 25. Aug., Z?^/^<?r/j«^.,c. viii. The Emperor 
 Alex. Severus, we have seen, had one of these images of Christ in his 
 Lararium, with those of Abraham and Orpheus. — MX. Lamprid. in 
 Vit.Alex. Sev., c. 29. 
 
 f Conspectus vultus ejus cum severitate et plenus efficacia, ut specta- 
 tores amare eum possint et rursus timere. ... In reprehendendo et , 
 objui^ando formidabilis ; in docendo et exhortando blandse linguae et 
 amabilis. Gratia miranda vultus cum gravitate. Vel serael eum 
 ridentem nemo vidit sed flentem imo. — Fabricius, Codex. Apoc, 
 Nov. Teste., le., pars. 301. 
 
 i! 
 
346 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 fi 
 
 
 The oldest extant picture of the head of Christ 
 treated separately is a profile brouj^ht from the Catacomb 
 of Callixtus, now in the Christian Museum of the V^atican, 
 and figured in the engraving on the following page. It 
 is in imitation of mosaic, about life-size, and of a dif- 
 
 Pere Mahillon teltsus that one of Christ's tears has been preserved 
 and peculiarly honoured at Vend6me. 
 
 John Daniascenus, in the eighth century, records the legend of a 
 miraculous contemporary portrait of Christ which healed Agbarus, 
 King of Edessa, of a mortal disease. It was till recently honoured 
 in the church of St. Silvester at Rome. 
 
 The miraculous image known as the Veronica is claimed to be 
 the actual impression of the Saviour's features made on the veil or 
 handkerchief of a tlevout Jewess, who piously wiped his brow as he 
 toiled along the way to Calvary. This image she brought to Rome, 
 where it cured Tiberius Caesar of the leprosy, and was afterwards 
 presented to the Emperor Charlemagne. It is now publicly 
 worshipped in St. Peter's with the utmost devotion and splendor. 
 The name is probably derived from the label vera icon or icona — a 
 true image — commonly attached to pictures of Our Lord. It was 
 also given to the pious Jewess, who is identified as the niece of 
 Herod. A colossal statue of St. Veronica adorns St. Peter's fane, 
 and the event is celebrated in sacred art and pious verse. The fol- 
 lowing, from a MS. in St. George's Library, Windsor, is a favourable 
 specimen of the latter : 
 
 Salve, Sancta iacies 
 Mei Redemptoris, 
 In qua nitet species 
 Divini splendoris. 
 Impressa panniculo 
 Nivei candoris, 
 Dataque Veronicae, 
 Signum ob Amoris. 
 
 Of equally apocryphal character are the Volto Santo, exhibited 
 during Holy Week at St. Peter's, and the portraits attributed to 
 Nicodemus, Pilate, St. Luke, or to celestial artists. One of the 
 Achciropoietes, or pictures made without hands, almost blackened 
 with age, and of the Hyzantine type, is thrice a year exhibited at the 
 Lateran palace at Rome. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 l'\7 
 
 «! 
 
 ferent type from the figure of Our Lord in composition 
 in the frescoes and sculptures of the Catacombs. He 
 is portrayed as of adult age, his calm, smooth brow 
 shaded by long brown hair which is parted in the middle 
 and falls in masses on the shoulders. The eyes are 
 large and thoughtful, the nose long and narrow, the 
 beard soft and flowing, and the general expression of 
 countenance serene and mild. This became the 
 hieratic type of many of the noblest pictures of later 
 Italian art, and, according to the Abbe Brivati, inspired 
 the genius of Da Vinci, Raphael, and Caracci. 
 
 In the Catacomb oi' 
 Sts. Nereusand Achil- 
 les the head and bust 
 of Christ form a me- 
 dallion in the centre 
 of a vaulted ceiling. 
 The face is of a noble 
 and dignified expres- 
 sion, mingled with be- 
 nevolence ; but it is 
 older in aspect, and 
 probably of consider- 
 ably later date, than 
 that here given. 
 K u g 1 e r , however, pijf. i06.-The Oldest Extant Picture 
 claims for it priority °' O^*" ^°^^- 
 
 of origin. Both of these were probably of the latter 
 part of the fourth century, and were executed not by 
 the Christians of the purest ages of the church, but by 
 those who had begun to walk by sight and not by faith. 
 The primitive Christians, we have seen, had no pro- 
 fessed portraits of Christ, but only allegorical represen- 
 tations of the Good Shepherd, or a youthful figure re- 
 
 A 
 
 w 
 
 K M 
 
 sill 
 
348 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 I ^ 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ii 
 
 ■ ! 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 garded as the abstractions or genius of Christianity. 
 " We must not," says a Father of the second century, 
 " cling to the sensuous, but rise to the spiritual. The 
 familiarity of daily sight lowers the dignity of the divine, 
 and to pretend to worship a spiritual essence through 
 earthly matter is to degrade that essence to the world 
 of sense."* 
 
 On a terra cotta medallion, found not in the Cata- 
 combs themselves, but in the rubbish near the moutL 
 of the cemetery of St. Agnes, is a head of Our Lord 
 of the same general type as Fig. io6, but of much 
 superior execution. The face is of exquisite beauty, 
 and is characterized by a sweet and tender grace of 
 expression. But with the decline of art and the cor- 
 ruption of Christianity chis beaut ful type disappeared, 
 and a more austere and solemn aspect was given to 
 pictures of Christ. Although the technical means 
 of execution were diminished, and the rendering of 
 form became more and more incorrect, yet for pow- 
 erful effect, strength of charac»^er, and depth of feeling, 
 Christian an exhibited resources beyond any thing to 
 be found in the Catacombs. It burst the narrow 
 limits in which it was there confined, and found ample 
 scope in the frescoes and mosaics of the stately basilicas 
 which were everywhere rising. In those vast and 
 shadowy interiors the principal figure wis that of Christ, 
 surrounded by saints and angels, looking down upon 
 the worshippers with awe-inspiring power, holding in 
 his left hand the book of life, and raising his right in 
 solemn menace or warning. 
 
 rhe first example of the art-presentation of Christ 
 under this stern and sullen aspect, according to that 
 
 ♦Clem. Alex., 5'/r(p»/., V. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 349 
 
 accomplished critic, Mr. Hemans, is a large mosaic com- 
 position of the fifth century in the Ostian basilica of 
 St. Paul. The colossal figure of the Saviour dominates 
 over every other object, with an effect at once startling 
 and repulsive. " Nor can we help," says Mr. Hemans, 
 " seeing in this strangely unworthy conception the evi- 
 dence of deterioration in the religious ideal, even more 
 than of decline in the technical treatment peculiar to 
 the age." * Of this character is the head of Our Lord 
 in the crypt of St. Cecilia. The expression is grave, 
 the eyes large and solemn ; the book of the gospels is in 
 his hand, and his head is surrounded by a nimbus in the 
 form of a Greek cross. 
 
 This type became more and more rigid and austere 
 as the gathering shadows of the Dark Ages mantled on 
 the minds of men. The gloomy asceticism of the mo- 
 nastic orders also left its impress on the art of the 
 period, especially in the East, where the Basilian monks 
 too faithfully illustrated the stern, austere judgments of 
 their founder concerning the person of Christ. The 
 rudeness of execution of this Byzantine school was only 
 
 * Sacred Art in Italy, p. 212. The Mosaics of this centmy in the 
 adoration of the Magi at S. Maria Maggiore, before mentioned, is 
 the earliest example of the appearance in art of the figures of angels, 
 those sublime creations that glorify the canvas of the artists of the 
 Renaissance. The winged genii in the Catacombs are rather an imi- 
 tation of classic types than of a Christian significance. 
 
 The symbols of the four evangelists — the angel, lion, ox, and 
 eagle — are unknown in the Catacombs, and first appear in the fourth 
 century. Sometimes these symbols have reference to the four historic 
 aspects of redemption through Christ — the Incarnation, Passion, Res- 
 urrection, and Ascension, as explained in the following monkish 
 rhy.ne : 
 
 Quatuor haec Dominum signant animalia Christum : 
 Est homo nascendo, Vitulusque sacer moriendo, 
 Et Leo surgendo, coelos Aquilaque petendo. 
 
350 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 equalled by the meanness of conception of the harsh, 
 stiff and blackened portraits of Our Lord, in which he 
 was exhibited as emphatically "a man of sorrcivs and 
 acquainted with grief." 
 
 Toward the close of the tenth century art sank into 
 its deepest degradation as the long night of the Dark 
 Ages reached its densest gloom. The year one thou- 
 sand was regarded in popular apprehension as the date 
 of the end of time, and of the final conflagration of the 
 world so intensely realized in the sublime hymn, 
 
 Dies irae, dies ilia, 
 Solvet sseclum in favilla. 
 
 \ 
 
 The excited imagination of mankind, brooding upon the 
 approaching terrors of the Last Day, found expression 
 in the sombre character of the art of the period. The 
 tender grace of the Good Shepherd of the Catacombs 
 gave place to 4he stern inexorable Judge, blasting the 
 wicked with a glance and treading down the nations in 
 his fury. Christ was no longer the Divine Orpheus, 
 charming with the music of his lyre the souls of men, 
 and breathing peace and benediction from his lips, but 
 the " Rex tremendae majestatis," a dread Avenger 
 striking the imagination with awe, and awakening alarm 
 and remorse in the soul. All the stern denunci- 
 ations of the Hebrew prophets and the weird imagery 
 of the Apocalypse found intensely realistic treatment in 
 art. Christ smites the earth with a curse, and consumes 
 the wicked like stubble. " A fire goeth before him, and 
 burneth up his enemies round about." * The great white 
 throne is set, and from beneath it a flame bursts forth 
 devouring the guilty objects of his wrath. Like an 
 
 * Psa. xcvii, 3. 
 
Ttu Biblical Cycle. 
 
 351 
 
 angry Jove,* he hurls the thunderbolts of his fury and 
 blasts with the lightning of his power. The angels 
 tremble in terror at his frown, and even the intercession 
 of the Virgin Mother avails not to mitigate the dread 
 displeasure of her Divir^* Son. Down to the period 
 of tiie Renaissance the tragic scenes of the last judg- 
 ment continue to be favourite su»^;ccts of art treatment, ' 
 and exhibit some of its most remc^rkable achievements ; 
 but not all the genius of Orcagna cr of Michael Angelo 
 can reconcile our minds to the ravage sternness and 
 ferocity of the frescoes of the Car.^po Santo and the 
 Sistine Chapel. 
 
 Christ is also frequently depicted in Mediaeval art 
 with his staff and scrip, his " scallop hat and shoon," 
 setting out upon his weary, mortal pilgrimage ; re- 
 turning to heaven as a toil-worn man leaning heavily 
 upon his staff, f or showing to the Father sitting on 
 his throne his wounded hands and side. He is also 
 seen, as in the sublime vision of St. John, riding in 
 
 * In the austere drama of Dante Christ receives the title of 
 
 Sovereign Jove : 
 
 O summo Giove, 
 
 Che fosti 'n terra per noi crocifisso. — Purgat., canto vi. 
 
 In Mediaeval art Christ is frequently modeled after the pagan yupiter 
 Tonans. 
 
 f In some quaint French verses accompanying one of these pictures 
 Our Lord, in giving an account of his journey, in characteristic ac- 
 cord with the erroneous theology of the times, is made to intimate 
 that he would fain have avoided the unwelcome task : 
 
 " P^re," dist Jhesus, '* retourne 
 Suis a toy, et ai consumm^ 
 Ce que faire me commandos 
 Quant jusou monde m'envoyas, 
 Dont bien Je m' en feusse passe." 
 
 — Romant des Trois Pelerinages, \. D. 1358. 
 
 I'il 
 
 I 
 
352 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 •1 
 
 ^ ' 1 
 
 i 
 
 JlJ 
 
 majesty on his white horse, accompanied by the armies 
 of the sky ; as trampling beneath his feet the lion and 
 dragon, and as chaining death and hell. In Greek art, 
 especially, he is exhibited as a throned archbishop, ar- 
 rayed in gorgeous vestments, receiving the homage 
 of saints and angels, or offering the sacrifice of the 
 mass as the great High Priest entered into the holiest 
 of all. 
 
 One of the most striking contrasts between the art 
 of the Catacombs and that of later times is the entire 
 absence in the former of those gross anthropomorphic 
 images of the persons of the Holy Trinity, either to- 
 gether or separately — except Our Lord under his prop- 
 er human form — of which the latter, in striking offence 
 against piety and good taste, exhibits so many painful 
 examples. In the earlier ages a solemn reverence for- 
 bade the attempt to depict the Eternal Father or the 
 Holy Spirit except by means of symbolical types. The 
 universal testimony of Christian antiquity is opposed to 
 this practice so common in Mediaeval art. Origen, Am- 
 brose, and Augustine unite in prohibiting the represen- 
 tation of the Deity by any material object. The latter 
 declares it to be impious for any Christian to set up such 
 an image in the church, and much more to do it in his 
 heart,* or to conceive it possible that the Divine Being 
 may be circumscribed by the limits of the human frame. f 
 Paulinus of Nola, in his account of the symbolism of 
 the Holy Trinity in the church of St. Felix, describes 
 Christ as represented by a Iamb, the Holy Spirit by a 
 
 ♦Tale simulacrum nefas est Christiano in templo collocare, 
 multo magis is corde nefarium est. — De Fide et Symbolo, c. 7. 
 
 f Nefas habent docti ejus (ecclesi^e Catholicae) credere Deum 
 figunX humani corporis terminatum. — Confess.^ vi, II. See also Orig., 
 Conl. Cels., 6, and Ambr. in Psa. cxviii. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 353 
 
 dove, but for the Father nothing but a voice from 
 heaven.* Gregory II., the champion of image-worship, 
 denies that it is lawful to make any representation of the 
 Divine nature, but only of Our Lord, his mother, and 
 the saints. f Such figures were also condemned by the 
 second Council of Nice. J John Damascenus, a zealous 
 defender of the images of Christ and the saints, yet 
 declares it is as great impiety as it is folly to make any 
 image of the Divine nature, which is incorporeal, invisi- 
 ble, without material or form, incomprehensible, not to be 
 circumscribed, noi to be figured by the art of man.§ 
 Urban VIII. ordered all representations of the Trinity to 
 be burnt, and Benedict XIV. forbade the depicting of 
 the Holy Ghost in human form. Dupin asserts that the 
 most zealous defenders of images have condemned 
 these ; || and the learned and judicious Bingham de- 
 clares that " in all ancient history we never meet with 
 any one instance of picturing God the Father, because 
 it was supposed that he never appeared in any visible 
 shape, but only by a voice from heaven."** 
 
 Some recent Roman Catholic writers, however, assert 
 
 * Pleno coruscat Trinitas mysterio ; 
 Stat Christus in agno ; vox Patris coelo tonat ; 
 £t per columbam Spiritus Sanctus fluit. 
 See a valuable note on the doctrine of a Trinity in Classic and 
 Hindoo mythology in Whedon's Commentary, vol. ii, p. 77. 
 
 f Greg. XL, Ep. I, ad Leon. if Act 4. Concil. Nicen., 2. 
 
 § IlapaijtffoavvTir uKpag Kal aaefSeia^ to oxv/^^i^'^iv to Oeiov. k. t. A. 
 — Dg Fide Orthodox, liv. c. 17. 
 
 Dei qui est incorporeus, invisibilis, a materia remotissimus, figurtC 
 expers, incircumscriptus, et incomprehensibilis, imago nulla fieri 
 potest. ... In errore quidem versaremur . . . impie rursum ager- 
 emus. ... si vel invisibilis Dei conficeremus imaginem. — Orat. i et 
 2 de Imaginibus. 
 
 \ Les defenseurs les plus zeles des images ayant condamn^ celles-ci : 
 /. ^., de la Trinit6 ou de la Divinit6. — Dupin : Bibli. EccUs., t. vi, p. 154. 
 ** Orig. Eccles., bk. vi, chap, viii, § 10. 
 
 23 
 
 
 t< f 
 
 A 
 
i 
 
 
 ' > 
 
 l! 
 
 
 3S4 
 
 77ie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 the contrary of this to be the case, and refer for proof 
 of the assertion to one or two sarcophagal bas reliefs 
 of the fourth or fifth century. One of these represents 
 Cain and Abel bringing their gifts to an aged and 
 bearded figure sitting on a stone, who is interpreted by 
 the Romanists as the Omnipotent Jehovah. But that 
 distinguished archaeologist, Raoul Rochette, himself a 
 Romanist, opposes this view. "I doubt," he says, "the 
 reality of this explanation, contrary to all that we know 
 of the Christian monuments of the first ages, where the 
 intervention of the Eternal Father is only indicated in 
 the abridged and symbolic manner proper to antiquity, 
 by the image of a hand." 
 
 The other alleged sculpture of the Godhead requires 
 more careful examination. " The Holy Trinity," says 
 Dr. Northcote, " is nowhere represented, as far as I 
 know, in the paintings of the Catacombs."* But he 
 asserts that a sculptured example occurs on a sarcopha- 
 gus of the fifth century, from the Ostian basilica of St. 
 Paul's, now in the Lateran Museum. The group re- 
 ferred to consists of three bearded figures of advanced 
 age, and of grave and strongly-marked features. One of 
 these, whom Dr. Northcote designates " the Eternal 
 Father, the source and fountain of Deity, "f is seated 
 in a raised chair or sort of throne. Behind the chair 
 stands another described as representing the Holy 
 Ghost, and in front of it the third, identified as the 
 " Eternal Word."| At the feet of the latter are two 
 diminutive figures, one standing, the other prostrate, 
 said to represent the creation of Eve from the side of 
 the sleeping Adam. Padre Garrucci, who has published 
 a monograph on this subject, identifies none of the 
 
 * Northcote's Catacombs, p, ii6. 
 f Jiom. Sott., p. 300. 
 
 % Ibid., 301. 
 
 11 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 355 
 
 adult figures in the same manner as Dr. Northcote, but 
 describes the one seated as the Son, the one behind 
 him as the Father, and the third as the Holy Ghost.* 
 
 We can accept neither of these explanations, both of 
 which are so strongly opposed to the entire spirit and 
 character of early Christian art. The formulization of 
 the doctrine of the Trinity by the Council of Nice, in 
 that noble creed which still expresses the faith of Chris- 
 tendom, left, it is true, its impress on Christian art and 
 literature. Both in pictorial representation, and, as we 
 shall hearafter see, in inscriptions, is there a recorded 
 protest against the Arian heresy which at this period 
 convulsed and rent the church. De Rossi cites eight 
 examples in early Christian art which he conceives to 
 have reference to this doctrine ; but in seven of these it 
 is indicated by the association of the sacred monogram 
 with the triangle, the symbol of tri-unity, and the 
 eighth is the unique and anomalous bas relief under 
 discussion. 
 
 We have seen that Christ is uniformly exhibited in 
 this primitive art as youthful and beardless; and on 
 this very sarcophagus, side by side with this so-called 
 sculpture of the Trinity, he is thus seen as the rep- 
 resentative of the Deity giving the wheat-sheaf to 
 Adam and the lamb to Eve. Yet we are asked to be- 
 lieve that in the very next group he is shown, in defi- 
 ance of the uniform practice, as heavily bearded and of 
 advanced age ; and that the Almighty Father, who is 
 substitutionally represented' by the Son in the adjoining 
 scene, is here exhibited, as well as the Eternai Spirit, in 
 human form. Another remarkable discrepancy also 
 occurs. The so-called figures of Adam and Eve are of 
 
 * Dif^ttrtazioni Archeologiche di Raffaelle Garrucci, (Roma, 4to., 
 1865,) vol.ii, p. I. 
 
 1 
 
 .'i< 
 
 m I 
 
356 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I . 
 
 most diminutive size, and not nearly as large as the in- 
 fant Christ in his mother's arms in the scene of the 
 adoration of the Magi immediately below;* and of 
 these the prostrate figure supposed to represent the 
 sleeping Adam is considerably the smaller of the two, 
 and of the i tore feminine aspect. This incongruity is 
 the m s'j-'Ving from the immediate proximity of the 
 adult fi^ res c*' Adam and Eve, to which the smaller 
 ones bear no rcZv-mblance. The whole group seems to 
 correspond better to Solomon's celebrated judgment 
 concerning the living and the dead child than to the 
 creation of Eve. 
 
 So careful, indeed, were the early Christian artists to 
 
 avoid any representation of 
 " the King eternal, immortal, 
 invisible," that in the scenes 
 where God spake from heav- 
 en to Abraham and to Moses 
 he is only symbolically in- 
 dicated by a hand stretched 
 out to stay the knife of the 
 patriarch, or surrounded by 
 clouds, as if to show more 
 strongly its figurative char- 
 acter, giving the tables of 
 the law to the leader of Is- 
 rael. The annexed suggest- 
 ive example of this treat- 
 Pi?. 107.-Ck)d Symbolized by ^^^^ ^f ^^ich many others 
 a Hand appearlngr to Abra- . ' , , , , . r 
 ham. might be adduced, is from a 
 
 sarcophagus in the Lateran. See also Fig. 71, p. 290. 
 
 * Dr. Northcote describes a bearded figure standing behind the 
 chair of Mary as a representation of the Holy Ghost. Surely the 
 more natural interpretation is that it is intended for Joseph. 
 
 [S2H11I1IN." «, 
 
 IIIMHIIIV . If 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 357 
 
 Throughout the whole range of sacred mosaics at 
 Rome from the fourth to the fourteenth century, accord- 
 ing to Mr. Hemans, the Supreme Being is never reprt 
 sented except symbolically by means of a hand, usually 
 holding a crown over the head of Christ, the Virgin, or 
 the saints. In later art the hand is sometimes sur- 
 rounded by a cruciform nimbus, to indicate more clearly 
 its divine character. It is also seen stretched out from 
 heaven in pictures of Christ's baptism and transfigura- 
 tion, of the agony in the garden, the passion, and 
 ascension.* 
 
 It was long before the most ?nda...ous hand dared to 
 represent in painting or sculpture the omnipotent Jehovah 
 or the infinite Spirit, who sustain a: d pervade the universe. 
 M. Emeric David says that th French artists of the ninth 
 century had first the " happy boldness " —heureuse har- 
 diesse — to depict the Eternal Father under human form.f 
 M. Didron asserts that it was not till the twelfth cen- 
 tury that the Divine Being was personally represented,}; 
 being previously invariably indicated by the symbol of 
 a hand, or by the divine name written in a triangle sur- 
 rounded by a circle. Previous at least to the earlier of 
 these dates, the work of creation and other acts popu- 
 larly regarded as proper to the Father are always repre- 
 sented as performed by the Son, "who is the image of 
 
 * Ezekiel speaks of the manifestation of God by a " hand sent 
 unto him." Ezek. ii, 9. The inspiration of Isaiah, and the divine 
 judgments inflicted on Ananias and Sapphira, are thus indicated. 
 In a Greek painting at Salamis, executed as late as the eighteenth 
 century, the souls of the righteous in a state of beatitude are repre- 
 sented by five infant figures held in a gigantic hand projecting from 
 the clouds. 
 
 \ Discours Sur les Anciens Monumens, pp. 43, 46. The instance 
 he refers to occurs in a Latin Bible presented to Charles the Bold 
 in A. D. 850. The interpretation, however, is not certain. 
 
 \ Iconog., Chret., pp. 55, 205. 
 
1 
 
 
 358 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 the invisible God," "by whom also he made the 
 worlds."* Christ is also painted as commanding Noah 
 to build the ark, as conversing with Abraham, and as 
 speaking to Moses out of the burning bush. He is fre- 
 ([uently represented also in the gigantic frescoes of the 
 Byzantine cupolas clothed with awful majesty and bear- 
 ing the title O nANTOKPATQP, the Almighty; but the 
 addition of the letters ic XC, the contraction for Jesus 
 Christ, assure us that it is not the Father but the Son 
 who is meant. 
 
 But the literal conception of the age was not content 
 with a symbolical indication of the Deity. By degrees 
 the arm as well as the hand was portrayed, and art, 
 gradually grov^ing bolder, attempted the representation 
 of that face which inspiration declares no man can see 
 and live. But at first it is the face alone that is shown. f 
 Then, with progressive daring, the bust and upper part 
 of the body are painted as reaching forth from the 
 clouds, and finally the entire figure appears under vari- 
 ous aspects and in different characters. The Almighty 
 is represented armed with sword and bow, as the God 
 of battles ; as crowned, like a king or emperor ; J and 
 finally, as Pope, wearing the pontifical tiara and vest- 
 ments. In the following example from a stained-glass 
 window of the sixteenth century, at Troyes, in France, 
 the everlasting Father, throned in glory, crowned with 
 
 * In a Greek painting of as late date as the twelfth or thirteenth 
 century, Christ, indicated by the letters ic XC, is represented as 
 stretching out his hand over a prostrate figure labeled AAAM O IIPQ. 
 TOriAACTOC— " Adam, the first-born," or rather" the first-formed." 
 
 \ In one of these a winged head with cruciform nimbus, surrounded 
 by a chaos of stars and planets, utters the word FIAT, and the earth 
 with its inhabitants are called into being. 
 
 % In France the Supreme Being was generally represented as King, 
 in Germany as Emperor, and in Italy as Pope. 
 
The Biblical Cycle. 
 
 359 
 
 a quir tuple tiara and robed in alb and tunic, supports a 
 cross on which hangs the lifeless body of the Divine 
 Son. 
 
 Fiff. 108.— God the Father as Pope. 
 
 The omnipotent Jehovah is sometimes portrayed as 
 " the Ancient of Days," under the form of a feeble old 
 man bowed down by the weight of years, and fain to 
 seek support by leaning heavily on a staff, or reposing 
 on a couch after the labours of creation.* Tiie treat- 
 
 * As in an example at the Madeleine at Paris. 
 
 in 
 
SOo 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 ment becomes more and more rude, even to the borders 
 of the grotesque,* and the conception becomes mean, 
 coarse, and vulgar, till all the Divine departs and only 
 human feebleness and imbecility remain, indicating at 
 once the degradation of taste, decline of piety, and cor- 
 ruption of doctrine. 
 
 But this grossness of treatment reaches its most of- 
 fensive development in the impious attempt to symbolize 
 the sublime mystery of the Holy Trinity by a grotesque 
 figure with three heads, or a head with three faces 
 joined together, somewhat after the manner of the 
 three-headed image of Brahma in the Hindoo mythol- 
 ogy. f In other examples the Trinity is represented by 
 three harsh stiff and aged figures,| identified by the at- 
 tributes of the tiara, cross, and dove, enveloped in one 
 common mantle, and jointly crowning the Virgin Mary 
 in heaven, whose flowing train the angels humbly bear. 
 By this degradation of Deity and exaltation of Mary 
 
 ♦ We have seen a picture of the creation in which the Almighty 
 was represented as a feeble old man dressed in ecclesiastical robes, 
 with a lantern in his hand. 
 
 f See a fresco by Andrea del Sarto at St. Salvi, Florence, two of the 
 fifteenth century at Penigia, and an engraving in a copy of Dante 
 printed at Florence in A. D. 1491. In an example given in Ames' 
 Typography, a triangular jewel is appended to the three-faced head, the 
 inscription on which attempts to explain mathematically the mysterious 
 doctrine of the unity in trinity. This mystery was also symbolized 
 by the shape of some of the ancient monasteries, by the number of 
 their cloistered inmates, by the genuflections of the service and the 
 parts of the liturgy ; and even the bell and 
 
 " The rope with its twisted cordage three 
 Denoted the scriptural Trinity." 
 
 Sometimes the Holy Spirit is represented by a dove proceeding from 
 the mouths of the Father and the Son, or even nailed to the cross 
 with Christ. 
 
 X See on the carved stalls of the Amiens Cathedral, and at Vier- 
 rieres in the Department de I'Aube, both of the sixteenth century. 
 
The Biblical Cycle, 
 
 3<Ji 
 
 we may mark the infinite divergence in faith and prac- 
 tice of the modern church of Rome from the simplicity, 
 purity, and orthodoxy of the ancient church of the 
 Catacombs, as evidenced by that primitive art and 
 symbolism whose priceless monuments we have been 
 
 examining. 
 
 • •• 
 
 J • 
 
 •»..;. . 
 
 • »• 
 
 ■ «.• .• • 
 
 '!| 
 
 '• . • • * 
 
J} 
 
 if ' 
 
 \C2 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 i 
 
 ' \ 
 
 II' 
 
 U i) 
 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GIL.T GLASSES AND OTHER OBJECTS FOUND IN THE 
 
 CAIACOMBS. 
 
 Ever since the re-discovery and exploration of the 
 Cataconbs in the sixteenth century they have been a 
 vast treasury from which, as from an inexhaustible mine, 
 have been derived iinunierable relics of Christian an- 
 tiquity, many of them of inestimable value. Among 
 these are a number of gilt glasses of curious design and 
 remarkable interest, limps, vises, rings, seals, toys, 
 trinkets, and various objects of domestic use or orna- 
 ment. Collections of these relics are found in most of 
 the great museums of Europe, especially in those of the 
 city of Rome. An account of ,the more important of 
 them will be given in the present chapter. 
 
 Reference has alreadv been made to the numerous 
 fragments of gilt glass found in the Catacombs, which 
 so remarkably illustrate Christian life in the primitive 
 ages. In the last century, Buonarotti described all the 
 specimens then known. The distinguished archaeolo- 
 gist. Padre Garrucci, has recently exhaustively treated 
 these remains of ancient art in his elaborate mono- 
 graph on this subject.* Tl ey are also profusely illus- 
 trated in the magnificent pages of Perret.f 
 
 These glasses are generally mutilated fragments, ap- 
 
 * Vetri orttati di figure in oro trovati ttti cimiteri dei Cristiani 
 primitivi di Roma raccolti e spiegati da Raffaele Garrucri. — Roma, 
 1858. 
 
 \ Osservazioni sopra alcuni fra cmenti di vasi antichi di vetro 
 ornati di figure trovati nn ci>niteri di Roma. — Firenze, 1716. 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 l^l 
 
 parently the bottoms of drinking-cups, and occasionally 
 of the dish-iike shape of the classic patera. They vary 
 in size from about one to four or five inches in diameter. 
 The design is executed in gold leaf on the bottom of the 
 cup, so as to appear through the glass on the inside, and 
 is occasionally beautifully relieved by a dark purple back- 
 ground. It is protected by a plate of glass, fused upon 
 the lower surface so as to become a solid mass, like the 
 glass paper-weights with enclosed ornamental designs 
 which are so common. The pictures thus hermetically 
 sealed are indestructible so long as the glass is not frac- 
 tured. These vessels were apparently affixed at the 
 time of burial to the soft plaster of the grave ; but the 
 thinner portion, standing out from the cement, has almost 
 invariably been broken, while the thick part, imbedded 
 in the plaster, has been preserved. Sometimes even the 
 solid bottoms of these vessels were fractured in the effort 
 to detach them from the walls, and frequently impres- 
 sions in the cement indicate where they were affixed. 
 They are rarely found in situ^ having been destroyed or 
 carried off by successive generations of explorers or 
 plunderers. The most important collection is in the 
 v''atican Library. In the British Museum are some 
 thirty specimens ; in the museums of Paris, Florence, 
 and Naples, a less number ; and a few others in vari- 
 ous private collections. The entire number extant 
 is only three hundred and forty. In the course of a 
 quarter of a century De Rossi discovered but two 
 fragments of these glasses. This extreme rarity is 
 doubtless owing to their excessive fragility, and prob- 
 ably also to their being destroyed in large quantities to 
 procure the gold they contain. In some of the extant 
 examples portions of this gold has been removed by 
 inserting a knife between the plates of glass. Perhaps 
 
 :i 
 
3^4 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 if 
 
 the ingenious avarice of the Jewish " dealers in broken 
 glass," notorious even in the days of Martial,* may have 
 largely contributed to the destruction of these curious 
 remains of Christian antiquity. 
 
 It was thought that the manufacture of these glasses 
 was known only at Rome; but in the year, 1864 a frag- 
 ment of a glass plate, with a number of small gilt me- 
 dallions bearing scriptural representations imbedded in 
 it, was discovered beneath the surface of the ground 
 near the church of St. Severin at Cologne ; and in 1866 
 another of similar character was found, accompanied 
 by some charred bones, in a stone chest near the same 
 place. 
 
 Buonarotti regarded these fragments as having all 
 formed part of sacramental vessc !s ; but the character 
 of the designs seems frequently to preclude that idea. 
 Several of these are derived from the fables of pagan 
 mythology, and seem to indicate, if not heathen origin, 
 at least the influence of pagan types. Among them 
 are found the figures of Achilles, Hercules, Daedalus, 
 Minerva, Mercury, the Three Graces, Cupid and 
 Pysche, and other groups still less congruous with 
 Christian thought. Other scenes represent various in- 
 dustries, as men sawing, planing, and carving wood ; a 
 ship-builder with his men at work ; a tailor, druggist, 
 and money-coiner, in their respective shops. Hunting 
 scenes, men boxing, and charioteers encouraging their 
 horses, also occur, A more numerous series represent 
 domestic groups, portraits of husband and wife, fre- 
 quently accompanied by their children, groups of chil- 
 dren playing, or sometimes a lady in rich costume, with 
 
 * Tran<.tyberinus ambulator, 
 Qui pallentia sulphurata fractis 
 Permutat vitreis. — Epig., i, 42. 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 36s 
 
 cupids holding her mirror and other toilet adjuncts. 
 P'requently occurs what seems to be a marriage scene, 
 with the bride and bridegroom joining hands over an 
 altar, above which Christ is often depicted as plac- 
 ing crowns on their heads. Sometimes is expressed in 
 gilt letters the beautiful wish vivatis in deo — " May 
 you live in God." In one instance it is a winged cupid 
 that bestows the crown. 
 
 The majority of the scenes, however, are of a dis- 
 tinctively Christian character, comprising most of the 
 subjects in the symbolical and biblical eyeries already 
 described ; but from the conditions of space, which 
 are often exceedingly limited, the design is frequently 
 of a very rudimentary type. In the large patera of 
 Cologne the medallions contain the separate parts 
 of different groups, which are only intelligible as a 
 whole. Besides the ordinary scenes from Old and 
 New Testament history there is a unique example of 
 the triumph of Christ, in which he appears in fulness of 
 glory holding the globe of sovereignty ; while opposite 
 to him stands a figure, interpreted by Garrucci as Isaiah 
 prophesying the advent of the Light of the World. Per- 
 let also figures one example of Christ on the cross, with 
 Mary and John beside it, which he thinks is later than 
 the sixth century. 
 
 Another class exhibits representations of the Virgin 
 Mary, generally in the attitude of prayer, either alone, 
 or standing between St. Peter and St. Paul, which posi- 
 tion is also often occupied by St. Agnes or some other 
 female saint. More frequently recurring than any 
 other figures are those of St. Peter and St. Paul. They 
 are found on eighty out of three hundred and forty 
 specimens figured by Garrucci, or nearly one fourth of 
 the whole. They appear generally as busts side by side, 
 
 yi 
 
 n«:i 
 
 m 
 
r^'\ 
 
 i 
 
 yjij 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome 
 
 
 f .f'i 
 
 without the slightest indication of the superiority ot* 
 one over the other, Peter being often on the left instead 
 of the nght, which, according to the Romish theory of 
 his primacy, he should always occupy. Indeed, thei- 
 perfect parity in dignity and honour is implied in ^\\q 
 single crown sometimes suspended over their heads, or 
 by their simultaneous crowning by Christ, who appears 
 between or above them. Other saints are also repre- 
 sented, who are discriminated by labels bearing their 
 names, as Lawrence, Vincent, Sixtus, Callixtus, Hip- 
 polytus, etc. There are also five or six specimens ex- 
 hibiting Jewish symbols, the ark of the covenant and 
 the rolls of the law. From the technical difficulties in 
 the employment of a rather intractable materia', ;.s well 
 as from the general decline of art, the execution is often 
 uncouth and stiff. " The faithful," says Buonarotti, 
 
 "desiring to 
 adorn these va- 
 ses with pious 
 symbols, were 
 forced to avail 
 themselves of in- 
 expert workmen, 
 or even those 
 who pursued 
 other trades."* 
 The accompa- 
 nying is a char- 
 acteristic exam- 
 ple, from this 
 author, of the 
 
 Piff. 100. -Domestic Group in Qilt Qlass. 
 
 * Sicche v^olendo i fedeli adornar con simboli devoti i loro vasi, 
 erano forzati per lo piii r. valersi di artefici inesperti, e che professa- 
 VA.no altre mestieri. — I'e V'firi CeineUriaU. 
 
Viinous Objects found Therciv. 
 
 '67 
 
 domestic class. It exhibits a husband, wife, and child, 
 with the motto in Latin characters, pie zeses — " Drink 
 and live." Between the faces is an object like an an- 
 cient lachrymatory. 
 
 It is probable that these vessels were designed not 
 for sacramental solemnities, but for occasions of domes- 
 tic and social rejoicing, as nuptial, baptismal, and anni- 
 versary festivals ; and for the celebration of the Agape, 
 or love 'feast, after it had lost the religious character it 
 possessed in early times. Hence the selection of a 
 comparatively gay and mundane class of subjects ; some 
 derived from pagan art, and others implying a conform- 
 ity to the fashionable follies and amusements of the 
 world, and indicating a decline of piety and corruption 
 of manners. 
 
 Garrucci thinks, from the large proportion of glasses 
 bearing the effigies of St. Peter and St. Paul, that thos*^^ 
 at least were used in connexion with the feast in honoui 
 of these saints, which in the fourth and fifth centuries 
 was celebrated in Rome as a public holiday, wir.V much 
 of the vulgar merriment with which the peasa'^ of ti^e 
 Campagna keep their festa\o-^2cs . ivlr. Urowntow hints 
 the possibility that the "idea of restraining tiic p;»ta- 
 tions of the Roman Christians by depicting figures 
 which could only be seen to advantage when the ^lass 
 was empty, suggested the use of these gilded cups."* 
 
 The festive purpose for which many of these vessels 
 was designed is indicated by the convivial chararter of 
 the inscriptions they bear. Mr. Brownlow haa trans- 
 lated the following examples in this sense : \ dignitas 
 
 AMICORVM PIE ZESES CVM TVIS OMNIBVS BIBE ET PRO- 
 
 PINA— -" A mark of friendship ; drink, and (long) life to 
 
 thee, with all thine ; drirk, and propose a toast ; " cvM 
 
 * Rom. Sott., p. 283. f Ibid. 
 
 
 'ifk." tsvii 
 
 \ 
 
 Ull-Hl 
 
 1 i...L 
 
 ■.fit \\ 
 
it 
 
 I 
 
 368 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Tvis FELiciTER ZESES — " Maycst tliou Hve happily with 
 thine own ; " or, more freely, " Life and happiness to 
 thee and thine; " HIE ZESES EN AFAeOIS—" Drink 
 and live among the good." 
 
 Sometimes these inscriptions breathe a spirit of pious 
 congratulation and good-will, as the following from Fer- 
 ret : HILARIS VIVAS CVM TVIS OMNIBVS FEMCITER SEM- 
 PER IN PACE DEI ZESES — " Joyfully mayest thou live with 
 all thine ; happily mayest thou live forever in the peace 
 of God." Augustine, describing in his Confessions the 
 devout celebration of the anniversaries of the saints by 
 his mother, Monica, says she used to bring to the fes- 
 tivals " a small cup of wine diluted according to her 
 own abstemious habits, which for courtesy she would 
 ta3te."* 
 
 Although it is impossible that all these vessels were 
 des'gned for sacramental purposes, yet it is not improb- 
 able that some of them were used as patens and chalices 
 in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. TertuUian 
 speaks of the representation of the Good Shepherd on 
 the sacred cup in a manner which seems to imply sim- 
 ilarity of material and ornamentation. f The Liber 
 Pontificalis states that glass patens were in use in the 
 third century. When these were superseded by gold 
 and -iilver vessels they would not improbably be placed 
 as meiAorials on the tombs of departed saints. { 
 
 M 
 
 * " 'Jnilc dignationem sumeret." — Con/., v\, 2. Compare with the 
 expression uignitas in the previous inscription. 
 
 f Pastor quern in calice depingis. — De Pudicit., c. 7, Ipsse picturae 
 calicuii vestrorum, si vel in illis perlucebit interpretatio, . . . et ego 
 ejus pastoris scripturam haurio qui non potest frangi. — Ibid,, 10. 
 
 X Glass chalices are common, indeed it is said universal, at the 
 present day in the Coptic churches of Egypt. The San Great, or re- 
 put'°-d vessel of the institution of the I^ord's Supper, preserv'ed in the 
 Cathedral o^ Genoa, is, curiously enough, of glass, of a hexagonal form„ 
 
:-«^ 
 
 Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 369 
 
 !l 
 
 It is difficult to determine even the proximate date 
 of these glasses. From the degraded character of their 
 art they are evidently of a comparatively late period. 
 Garrucci and some other writers, indeed, assign them to 
 the third or fourth century; but from the occurrence of 
 the nimbus, and for other technical reasons, Marriott 
 attributes many of them to the fifth or sixth century.* 
 Other peculiarities of execution are characteristic of 
 Byzantine art, and a writer in the Revue Chrktienne 
 asserts that there is not a single example of this mode 
 of treatment knov.n to belong to the Roman period. 
 The striking corruption of doctrine and practice indi- 
 cated is also an evidence of late orii^in. 
 
 Numerous small cups or flasks, known as ampulUcy have 
 been found affixed to the walls or imbedded in the 
 plaster of the tombs, frequently containing in the bot- 
 tom a reddish deposit. This Bosio concluded was 
 dried blood, and therefore asserted that these cups were 
 irrefragable proofs of the martyrdom of the persons to 
 whose graves they were attached. The Roman eccle- 
 siastical authorities received this theory with enthusi- 
 asm, and in the year 1688 issued a decree that, "The 
 Holy Congregation of Relics, having carefully examined 
 the matter, decides that the palm and vessel tinged with 
 blood are to be considered most certain signs of mar- 
 tyrdom." Eminent Romanist writers have unflinch- 
 ingly asserted, without the least corroboration of their 
 theory from contemporary evidence, that these cups 
 were filled with the martyr's blood and affixed to his 
 grav* f — another example of the fatal mistake of Rome 
 
 * P. r6, first foot note. Both Christ and Mary have the nimbus. 
 The legend Christus et Istafanus on one example, indicating a tran 
 sition into modern Italian, implies a late dat*;. 
 
 f Rock's Hierur^ia, p. 269. 
 
 24 
 
 ( 
 
 
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370 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 in fortifying truth with the bulwark of falsehood, and 
 thus shaking our confidence even in that which is real. 
 The Acts of the Martyrs, indeed, mention the collect- 
 ing of their blood in napkins, sponges, or veils, to keep 
 as a talisman and heirloom at home ; but never of its 
 preservation in a cup, or burial beside their graves. 
 This symbol does not occur on the tombs of some who 
 were unquestionably martyrs ; * and some who have it, 
 from their extreme youth, or from some other reason 
 indicated by the inscription, cannot have belonged to 
 that honoured class, f Moreover, as Mr. Seymour re- 
 marks, some of these alleged martyr blood-cups are of 
 a form and exhibit designs unknown till long after the 
 age of persecution,! In the example on the following 
 page, given by Aringhi, the inscription is unwarrantably 
 translated by Romanist epigraphists, " the blood of Sat- 
 urnius;" instead of, in analogy with numerous other 
 inscriptions, " the place [locits\ of holy Saturnius." 
 
 The chemist Leibnitz analyzed the red deposit in 
 these vessels, and found that it was composed of organic 
 matter, but does not hazard the assertion that it is 
 blood. It has been suggested by P.ostell, with whom 
 
 
 wi 
 
 * See the epitaphs of Lannus and Gordianus, p. 98. 
 
 f Muratori gives the epitaph of a girl of the age of two years and 
 twenty days, on whose tombstone this cup was found, and feeling the 
 absurdity of this theory, but unwilling to controvert the decree of the 
 Congregation of Relics, he adds ironically, " In these sacred cemete- 
 ries you especially wonder at two things, namely, that when so many 
 glass or figured vases occur no mention is made in the inscriptions 
 of martyrdom ; and especially that infants suffered death on account 
 of faith in Christ " — In sacris lis coemeteriis duo potissimum mireris, 
 Nempe quum tot Vasa vitrea aut figulina occurrant, nullam tamen 
 in ipsis inscriptionibus mortis pro Christo toleratae mentionemhaberi, 
 et praeterea Infantes ob Fidem Christi morti datos fuisse, — Nov, 
 Thesaur., Vet. Iitscrip., p, I958, No. 8. 
 
 \ Mornings ivith the yesuits, p. 222. 
 
 I' r a 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 371 
 
 I! 
 
 Fiff. 110. Reputed Martyr Belie ft:om the Catacombs. 
 
 Rochette agrees, that these cups were sacramental ves- 
 sels, and that the sediment was the lees of wine, which 
 would yield a similar organic residuum. The desire to 
 express fellowship with the departed in the celebration 
 of the Agape, or the Eucharist, which often took place 
 beside their graves, may have led to the custom of affix- 
 ing these vessels to the tombs and replenishing them 
 with wine. We know that this yearning of the human 
 heart led in course of time to the offering of the sacra- 
 ment to the dead, and the burying it in their graves.* 
 
 !■ !!! 
 
 * The Third Council of Carthage in the year 397 forbade this 
 practice, because Christ said, " Take and eat," whereas a dead body 
 can neither take nor eat — Placuit ut corporibus defunctorum eucha- 
 ristia non detur. Dictum est enim a Domino Accipite et edite : ca- 
 davera autem nee accipere possunt, nee edere. — Cone. Cath., 3, can. 
 6. Chrysostom also denounces the practice because the words were 
 spoken to the living- and not to the dead. — Horn., 40, in I Cor. Greg- 
 ory the Great speaks of the burial of the Eucharist with the dead, 
 " Jussit communionem Dominici corporis in pectus dcfuncti reponi 
 atque sic tumulari." — Greg. Dial., lib. ii. c. 24. Maitland thinks that 
 these cups were probably depositories for aromatic gums much used 
 in the interment of the dead. 
 
 
11 
 
 
 I f f I 
 
 372 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The occurrence of the palm branch engraved or 
 painted on the tomb was also, as we have seen, de- 
 clared by the Congregation of Relics to be a certain sign 
 of a martyr's tomb. But this was a common symbol of 
 victory both among the pagans and Jews, and therelo»V! 
 was naturally adopted by the Christians in token of 
 their being "more than conquerors " through Christ, 
 without any reference to martyrdom. It is found, more- 
 over, on graves posterior to the times of persecution, on 
 those of children, and even on a tomb which a man had 
 prepared for himself while yet alive. Muratori, who 
 gives this example, though a devout Romanist, says the 
 palm was by no means a sign of martyrdom.* Other 
 criteria of martyrdom were also adopted, as the occur- 
 rence of the laurel and the olive crown, and the appear- 
 ance of oranti on the tombs; but the former are also 
 common to paganism, and in Christian epigraphy adorn 
 the graves of very young children, and the latter fre- 
 quently occur on the sarcophagi after the age of perse- 
 cution had passed. 
 
 It is remarkable that so few allusions to martyrr" nri 
 occur in the Catacombs. In the whole range of the in- 
 scriptions, as before observed, only five, some of which 
 may be spurious, commemorate martyrs, or less than 
 one in two thousand. The pictorial representations of 
 this event are less frequent still. In the cemetery of 
 St. Priscilla was discovered a terra cotta bas relief of the 
 martyrdom of St. Sebastian, but evidently of late date : 
 the soldiers are armed with cross-bows, and are clad 
 apparently in mediaeval plate armour. This subject has 
 at all times been a favourite theme of Italian art, and 
 this relief may have been left at the shrine of the 
 
 * " Ergo palma indicium minime Martyri fuit." — The inscription, 
 which bears two palms, reads thus — leopardvs se bibv fecit. 
 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 373 
 
 saints by some pious pilgrim of the Middle Ages. In 
 the Catacomb of Callixtus is a painting of two Chris- 
 tian$ standing before the tribunal of a Roman magistrate. 
 This is probably of the early centuries, but how differ- 
 ent from the gross and bloody martyr-pictures in the 
 church of S. Steffa*w in Rotondo in Rome. On one of 
 the gilt glasses, executed long after the days of persecu- 
 tion, is a group supposed to represent Isaiah sawn 
 asunder, and in one of the Catacombs is a scene thought 
 to indicate the martyrdom of Hippolytus. The pit iures 
 of Daniel and the three Hd^rews indicate rathor Hie 
 triumph than the trial of God's saints. 
 
 The martyrs left no outward memorial of their suffer- 
 ings, nor was any needed, for their intrepid spirit ani- 
 mated the whole Christian community. D'Agincourt 
 says he found in thirty years* exploration only one pic- 
 ture, and that of late and barbarian design, portraying 
 martyrdom.* Those who themselves stood in jeopardy 
 every hour did not magnify the merit of the faithful 
 confession of Christ, whom they considered alone de- 
 serving of the title of " Faithful and True Witness." No 
 sacred litany entreated St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, St. 
 Vincent, and all holy martyrs, to pray for them ; nor 
 is any such inscription found in the whole range of the 
 epigraphy of the Catacombs, f 
 
 In the following rude representation, from a slab in 
 the Lapidarian Gallery, Romish imagination has dis- 
 covered the outline of a furnace, or of a caldron of 
 
 
 n 
 
 f" 
 
 * II n'a rencontre lu. meme dans ces souterrains aucun trace de mil 
 autre tableau representant une martyre. — Hist, de PArt. 
 
 f A fresco of the martyrdom of Felicitas and her seven sons, in an 
 ancient chapel within the Baths of Titus, is not later, according to M. 
 Rochette, {Mem,, de FAcad. des Inscr., torn, xiii, p. 165,) than the 
 seventh century. 
 
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 WItSTIR.N.Y. MSSO 
 
 (716) •73-4503 
 

 
 
374 
 
 The Catacofnbs of Rome, 
 
 boiling oil in which Victorina was immersed. A com- 
 parison with other similar figures indicates that it is 
 intended for a corn measure filled with grain, the sign 
 of the trade of an ancient meal merchant. 
 
 NA(N 
 EIT/Ni: 
 
 " Victorina in peace and in Christ." 
 Fig. 1 1 1.— A Beputed Symbol of Martyrdom. 
 
 In the Vatican Museum are certain truculent-looking 
 objects, said by the Roman custodians to be instruments 
 of torture taken from the graves of the martyrs.* But 
 the locality in which they were found is seldom recorded, 
 which deprives them of much of their historic value ; 
 and many of them are probably fictitious. Dr. North- 
 cote admits that they are often " of doubtful authentic- 
 ity," and that " many look more like domestic utensils, 
 and seem to be of Etruscan workmanship." " These," he 
 adds, " were probably never taken from the Catacombs 
 at all." t Others have too modern an appearance to 
 admit such a supposition, and look rather, as Maitland 
 suggests, as if " taken from the chambers of the Holy 
 Inquisition."! Among the most formidable of these 
 alleged instruments of martyrdom, as well as the most 
 probably genuine, are the terrible plumbatce and ungulce. 
 The former were scourges of small chains loaded with 
 
 * Aringhi has given an entire chapter on this subject, entitled 
 " Martyriorum instrumenta un4 cum martyrum corporibus tumulo re- 
 ponuntur." — Rom Sott., i, 29. 
 
 f Catacombs of Rome, pp. iii, ii£. \ Ibid., p. 187. 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 375 
 
 [itled 
 lo re- 
 
 bronze or lead, with which, it is recorded, the martyrs 
 were often beaten to death.* Aringhi and others have 
 affected to discover on the mouldering skeletons of the 
 early Christians, after the lapse of fifteen hundred years, 
 the marks made by these plumbata. In one exceptional 
 instance given by Bosio,f an orante is represented with 
 this dreadful instrument of torture lying b-^side her. 
 The unguice, as the name implies, are iron claws or 
 hooks, desv'-.ribed in the Acts of the Martyrs as em- 
 ployed for lacerating their flesh. The dreadful wounds 
 they inflict are referred to by Prudentius in his account 
 of the martyrdom of St. Vincent : " One covers with 
 kisses the double furrows of the ungula ^ another is 
 glad to wipe the purple stream from the body." 
 
 In the Catacomb of Calepodius was discovered an iron- 
 toothed comb considered to have been similarly employed 
 in torturing the martyrs ; in the crypts of St. Alexander, 
 among other iron instruments, was found a long narrow 
 ladle, which it is thought was used in pouring molten lead 
 down their throats ; and in the cemetery of St. Agnes an 
 iron hook, designed, as Aringhi conceived, for dragging 
 their bodies after death. In the Vatican Museum is 
 also a pair of iron forceps, with horrid trenchant teeth 
 and the remains of wooden handles, probably employed 
 in pinching and tearing the flesh of the helpless victims 
 of heathen rage. A similar forceps is sometimes en- 
 graved on a funeral slab, where, in accordance with 
 analogous examples, it probably indicated the trade ot 
 the deceased as a smith. The genius of primitive 
 Christianity was averse to recording the circumstances 
 of the believer's death, and made slight allusion to the 
 
 * " Flagellum quoddain ad corpus excruciandum," is the phrasQ 
 of Aringhi. 
 
 f /iam. Soft., p. 387. 
 
 a 
 
 ^^ 
 
n(^ 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 sufferings of the martyrs. Although it is possible that 
 some of these relics of persecution may be genuine, 
 yet it is difficult to conceive how the Christians could 
 obtain from the pagan authorities these instruments of 
 torture, or why they should bury them with the martyred 
 dead ; and these considerations will account for the ex- 
 treme rarity of their authentic occurrence. 
 
 Vast numbers of lamps have been found in the Cata- 
 combs, and specimens abound in almost every antiqua- 
 rian museum. They must have been absolutely neces- 
 sary to dispel the darkness of these gloomy crypts, so 
 as to render them safe for the solemnizing of funeral 
 rites, for wcyrship, or for sanctuary from oppression. 
 They are of varj'ing material and design, but are for 
 the most part of terra cotta of the ordmary antique 
 pattern and of common workmanship. Many, however, 
 were executed in bronze or iron, often with considerable 
 taste and skill. Some of these had bronze chains by 
 which to suspend them from the ceiling of the cham- 
 bers or corridors. Those in terra cotta had frequently 
 handles by which they could be carried ; most, how- 
 ever, were without either, and were placed in niches in 
 the tufa near the stairways, at the entrances of the prin- 
 cipal galleries, at the angles of the corridors, and in 
 the cubicula used for purposes of worship. 
 
 These lamps generally bore some Christian symbol, 
 as the sacred monogram, the Good Shepherd, the palm, 
 fish, or dove, and not unfrequently the heads of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul. Sometimes the lamp itself was 
 made in the shape of a boat, the emblem of the church 
 voyaging through a stormy sea to the shores of eternity ; 
 of the mystic fish, whose representation entered so 
 largely into primitive art ; of a dove, the symbol of th^ 
 believer's guilelessness and purity ; or of a cqcH, th? 
 
Vanous Objects Found Tlurein. 
 
 177 
 
 eniblem of vigilance, a monition that he should watch 
 and be sober. They frequently bear inscriptions refer- 
 ring to the five virgins, or to the source of true spiritual 
 illumination, the divine word, which is a lamp unto the 
 feet and a light unto the path. On one example occurs 
 the legend, qvasi lvcernae lvcenti in caliginoso 
 LOCO — " As a light shining in a dark place," a senti- 
 ment peculiarly appropriate to those gloomy cham- 
 bers of death, which 
 were nevertheless il- 
 lumined by the glori- 
 ous hope of a blissful 
 immortality. 
 
 The accompanying 
 example of a symbol- 
 ical lamp in the form 
 of a boat, furnished 
 with chains and ring 
 for suspension, is a 
 characteristic type.* 
 The figures in the 
 little bark are inter- 
 preted by Roman 
 archaeologists as Pe- 
 ter and Paul — the 
 pilot of the Galilean 
 lake as the chief of Flar. I12.-Barly Christian Symlx>l- 
 the apostles holding ^' 
 
 ♦ Perret, torn, iv, planche 2. The ship was a favourite type of 
 the church during the Middle Ages. In the church of St. Etienne- 
 du-Mont, at Paris, is a representation of a vessel crowded with pas- 
 sengers, among whom the portrait of Francis I. has been recognized. 
 In an ancient Merovingian MS. missal the same idea is repeated, 
 only the Holy Spirit is substituted as pilot — Bene gubematus est 
 Spiritus Sanctus. 
 
 -*k 
 
378 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 the rudder and guiding the fortunes of the church. The 
 tablet on the mast bears the inscription — dominvs 
 
 LEGEM DAT. VALERIO SEVERO EVTROPIO. VIVAS — "The 
 
 Lord gives the word. To Valerius Severus Eutropius. 
 May you live." 
 
 lig. 113 exhibits a lamp from the Catacombs, on the 
 upper part of which the ever-recurring ichthyic symbol 
 is repeated, and on the handle the sacred monogram of 
 the name of Our Lord. The lamp is replenished at the 
 central opening. They soi^etimes burn with two or 
 three lights. See also the terra cotta lamp with handle 
 and medallion in Fig. 114, and the hanging lamps 
 shown in Figs. 23 and 24. 
 
 ! 
 
 Fiff. 1 13.— Symbolical Lamp from the Catacombs. 
 
 A lamp figured by Perret has the sacred monogram 
 surrounded by the heads of the twelve apostles. On 
 another found in the Jewish Catacomb is a representa- 
 tion of the seven-branched candlestick. This also 
 occurs in Christian symbolism, and probably is emblem- 
 atic, as has been suggested by Dr. McCaul, of the 
 sevenfold gifts of the Spirit of divine illumination. 
 
 The necessary use of lights in the funeral solemnities 
 of the church in the Catacombs was probably the origin 
 of the Romish usage of burying the dead with the 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 379 
 
 accompaniment of burning tapers even amid the blaze 
 of day. It was also a heathen custom, in the adoption 
 of which, as in so many other things, the Catholic be- 
 came the pagan's heir.* Jerome mentions its observ- 
 ance in his day at the funeral of the famous Lady 
 Paula.f Several others of the later Fathers mention 
 the same practice. 
 
 From the illumination of the subterranean chapels 
 was also derived the custom of burning altar lights, 
 which early became prevalent, and which is so striking 
 a feature of modern Romanism. | The first step in this 
 direction seems to have been the practice of burning 
 tapers before the shrines of the martyrs in the Catacombs, 
 probably for the convenience of pilgrims to their tombs, 
 which practice was continued in the churches erected 
 over their remains. The Council of Elvira forbade the 
 custom, § which Vigilantius vehemently denounced as 
 an imitation of the pagan superstition of lighting lamps 
 at the graves of the dead.] "We almost see," he says, 
 
 * La Corinne. 
 
 f Translata episcopoium manibus, cum alii pontifices lampadas 
 cereosque prseferrent. — Hieron., Ep. 27, ad Eustach., in Epitaph. 
 Paula:. 
 
 X Sometimes a single candelabrum bears three hundred and sixty- 
 five lights, emblematic of the days of the year. More impressive is 
 a solitary lamp ever burning at some lowly shrine, the ty-pe of the 
 flame of love burning in perpetual adoration on the altar of the hearU 
 
 § Canon., 34. 
 
 I The following inscription from Gruter indicates this practice : 
 
 QVISQVE • HVIC • TVMVLO 
 
 POSVIT • ARDENTEM • LVCERNAM 
 
 ILLIVS • CINERES • AVREA • TERRA • TEGAT. 
 
 "Who ever places a burning lamp before this tomb, may a golden 
 soil cover his ashes." 
 
 Lactantius accuses the pagans of burning lights to God as to one 
 living in darkness, {Institut. Divin., lib. vi, cap. 2,) and the Theo- 
 co. tan Code forbids the custom. 
 
 i 
 
 « i; 
 
 f 
 
 if 
 
 J 
 

 
 
 ' 
 
 
 ; : I 
 
 380 
 
 7Vie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 " the ceremonial of the heathen introduced into the 
 churches under the guise of religion — piles of candles 
 lighted while the sun is shining. . . . Great honour do 
 such persons as do this," he adds, " render to the 
 blessed martyrs, thinking with miserable tapers to illu- 
 mine those whom the Lamo in the midst of the throne 
 shines upon with the splendour of his glory."* In the 
 fifth century, however, the custom of thus striving to do 
 " vain honour to the Father of lights " had become 
 established. 
 
 Numerous terra cotta vases of varying size and shape 
 have been found in the Catacombs. Some of these 
 were (juite large, and were probably used for holding 
 water or wine for the fossors, or perhaps for the refugees 
 from persecution. The first vase in the engraving on the 
 following page, which is exactly the shape oi the classic 
 amphora,! is over three feet high. The acute termination 
 at the bottom was set in a stand or stuck in the ground, 
 so that the vessel stood upright. Many amphorae have 
 been found in this position in the cellars of Pompeii. 
 The upper right hand object is furnished with a spout, 
 and an opening for replenishing the vessel. Thr.t in 
 the lower right hand corner is a lamp with a handle for 
 carrying it, ornamented by medallion heads of St. Pe- 
 ter and St. Paul. The small flasks in the centre of the 
 engraving are of enamel and purple glass, about an 
 inch high, probably for holding precious unguents. 
 These miniature vases were sometimes made of agate, 
 and were occasionally in the shape of a bee-hive,. 
 
 * Prope ritum gentilium videmus sub prsetextu religionis intro- 
 ductum in ecclesias, sole adhuc fulgente moles cereorum accendi, 
 etc. — Adv. Vigil., ii. 
 
 f From ofi^l aud ^fp<j- -on account of the handles on each side of 
 the neck. They were also called diota, or two-eared, from dtuTti. 
 
Various Objects Found Therein, 
 
 8i 
 
 probably emblematic of the milk and honey given at 
 baptism, to signify the sincere milk of the word and 
 the sweets of salvation imparted to new-born babes of 
 Christ* 
 
 Fiff. 1 14.— Earthen Vesitels from the Oataoombs. 
 
 Some of these vessels are shallow basins rather than 
 vases, (see above, and also Fig. ii6,) which have been 
 interpreted by Roman Catholic writers as benttiers, or 
 holy-water vessels employed in the services of the 
 
 * Lac signiBcat innocentiam parvulorum. — Hieron., in Esai. Iv, i. 
 Deinde egressos lactis et mollis prsegustare concordiam ad infantine 
 significationem.— Ibid., Contr. Litcif., c. 4. See also Tertul., de 
 Coron. Mil., c. 3 ; Clem. Alex., Padagog., lib. i, c. 6. 
 
382 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 Romish ritual. They were more |)robably ablutionary 
 basins for the use of the fossors, summoned from their 
 grimy labour to assist in the funeral solemnities; or, 
 possibly, for the symbolical washing of the hands by the 
 primitive bishops and presbyters before the consecra- 
 tion of the eucharist, which is mentioned by several of 
 the Fathers as a fulfilment of that Scripture, " I will 
 wash mine hands in innocency ; so will I compasi thine 
 altar, O Lord,"* They have also been regarded as 
 baptismal vases. 
 
 Generally this primitive pottery, ex- 
 cept the fictile lamps, bears no distinc- 
 tive Christian symbol ; yet sometimes it 
 does, as the accompanying amphora, 
 the bottom of which has been broken 
 ^^^ off. Around the vessel runs the inscrip- 
 
 /•ilTiliPi^B '*°"' viNCENTi PIE ZESE — " Vinccnt, 
 ' ^^^ drink and live." On the lower part 
 
 are three conquering horses, probably 
 in allusion to the name Vincent. Above 
 the horses is the inscription, aegis 
 oiKOYMENE ZEP, written backwards. 
 
 The tall vessels shown in Fig. ii6, 
 which are of silver with gold coating, 
 are described by Perret as designed for 
 holding the holy chrism,* or sacred 
 anointing oil. They were more proba- 
 bly used for containing the wine for the eucharist, for 
 which they were of sufficient size, as the subterranean 
 assemblies could not be very numerous. On the large 
 
 * Nam otique et altare portarent et vasa ejus, et aquam in manus 
 fanderent sarcerdoti, sicut videmus per omnes ecclesias. — Aug., Quast. 
 Vet. et Nov. Test., qu. loi. See also Cyril, Catech. Afyst., 5, n. i. 
 
 f •• Renfermer le Saint-chrime" Tom. i, p. 266. 
 
 Piff. 115.— An 
 Amphora. 
 
Various Objects Found Thtrein. 
 
 i^i 
 
 msdallion is a bust of St. Paul, and on the reverse that 
 of St. Peter. On the other vessel, besides the busts of 
 these saints, is that of Our Lord wearing a nimbus, to- 
 gether with the sacred symbols of the cross, doves, and 
 lambs. The nimbus, the form of the r:ross, the material, 
 and the style of execution, indicate a comparatively late 
 date. Some of the vessels we have described were 
 doubtless employed also in the celebration of the Agape. 
 
 Flff. 1 Id.— Metal and Barthen Vesaels from the Catacombs. 
 
 Among the most interesting objects found in the Cat- 
 acombs are the rings and seals of the early Christians, 
 which are frequently combined in one. Tertullian speaks 
 of the annulus pronubus^ or ring of espousal, the wearing 
 of which was the only use of gold known to the Roman 
 women in the days of primitive simplicity ; * and St. 
 
 * Cum .lurum nulla norat praeter unico digito, quern spunsus op- 
 pigiicrasset annulo pronuho. — Apol., c. 6. 
 
 I ij 
 
384 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \{ 
 
 m -9 
 
 
 ; 
 
 Agnes declares her betrothal to Christ by the ring of 
 his faith.* A signet ring was also considered an essen- 
 tial part of the bridal outfit of a newly wedded wife, and 
 that not for ostentation, says Clement of Alexandria, 
 but that, being entrusted with the care of domestic con- 
 cerns, she may seal up those household treasures which 
 might otherwise be insecure. f But these rings must be 
 freed from every trace of idolatrous superstition, and 
 becir only Christian symbols. " On our signet rings," 
 says the writer just mentioned,^ " let there be seen only 
 a dove, or a fish, or a ship sailing toward heaven, or a 
 lyre, or an anchor; for those men ought not to engrave 
 idolatrous forms to whom the use of them is forbidden ; 
 these can engrave no sword and bow who seek for 
 peace ; the friends of temperance cannot engrave drink- 
 ing cups." 
 
 Signet rings, being ancient symbols of authority, § 
 were also worn by bishops as a sort of badge of office, 
 and as a pledge of their spiritual espousal to the church 
 of Christ. A curious episcopal ring worn by St. Arnulf, 
 bishop of Metz, in the sixth century, exhibits the well- 
 known ichthyic symbol. | 
 
 The ring shown in Fig. 117 bears the sacred mono- 
 gram accompanied by the significant Alpha and Omega. 
 In the seal, or intaglio, copied in Fig. 118, the ship of the 
 church is represented as borne by the symbolical fish, 
 while doves, the emblem of the faithful, perch upon the 
 mast and stern. In naive blending of the literal with 
 the figurative, Our Lord in bodily presence is seen ap- 
 
 * Et annulo fidei suae subarravit me. — In Ambr. Ep. 31. 
 f Clem. Alex., Padagog., iii, 2. \ Ibid. 
 
 % See the example of Pharaoh, Gen. xli, 42 ; and Ahasuenis, EsLhei 
 iii, 10, and viii, 2. 
 I Pitra, Spicil. Solesm., tom. iii, tab. iii, n. 4. 
 
 nol 
 
 an 
 Ot 
 
Viirious Objects Found "'*frein. 
 
 385 
 
 proaching the vessel and supporting Peter by the hand, 
 doubtless in allusion to the trial of his faith on the Sea 
 of Galilee. The identity of both figures is indicated 
 by the names written overhead. Two other apostles 
 row the vessel, and a third lifts up his hands in prayer. 
 It was doubtless a seal of this character to which Clement 
 of Alexandria alludes as bearing the vat;^ ovf^vodga- 
 fiovna — *tho ship in full sail for heaven." 
 
 Flff. 1 17.— A Ring from the Oat- 
 aoombs. 
 
 Flff. 1 18.— A Seal from the 
 Oataoombs. 
 
 On some signet rings in the Museum of Naples, found 
 in the ruins of Pompeii, are the Christian symbols of 
 the mystical fish, palms, and the ahchor of hope, or 
 the synonymous word EAlttC. These are almost the 
 sole indications of the existence of any Christian ele- 
 ment in that gay, luxurious city. Other Pompeian rings 
 bear light Epicurean mottoes, as: EYTTXl HANOIKI O 
 ♦EPQN — " Good luck to thee, O wearer, and to all 
 thine ; *' AEFOTCIN A GEAOTCIN AEFETQCAN OT MEAIMOl 
 — "They say what they will; let them say, I co.vz 
 not." Another has an engraving of a finger holdii>r 
 an ear, with the word, MNHMONETE—" Remember." 
 Other Ron^ah rings bear such mottoes as, amo te ama 
 ME — " I love thee, love thou me ; " pignvs amoris — 
 " A pledge of love ; " vni ambrosia venenvm CAEtERis 
 
 — ** To one nectar, to others poison." 
 
 25 
 
 » 
 
 .'I 
 
386 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 
 ! 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 1 
 
 y 
 
 
 More frequently than the seal itself occurs its im- 
 pression in the plaster of the graves, either to express 
 some Christian sentiment, or as a means of recognizing 
 a tomb which bore no other mark. The stamp of 
 coins, or even shells, stuck into the plaster, were used 
 apparently for the same purpose. In the following en- 
 graving are represented impressions of two of these 
 seals. In the first is the confession of faith in the divin- 
 ity of Our Lord by some orthodox Christian, probably 
 in the time of the Arian heresy. In the second a de- 
 vout believer declares his hope in Christ. 
 
 CHRISTVS EST DEVS. SPES IN EO. 
 
 Christ is God. Hope in Him, i. e.^ in Christ. 
 
 Pier. 1 19.— Impressions of Early Ohristian, Seals. 
 
 Other seals bear such ^ !Ous mottoes as devs dedit — 
 "God gave ; " vivas in deo — " May you live in God ; " 
 SPES IN DEO — " Hope in God ; " pede secvndo — " May 
 you succeed happily." Vast numbers of tiles bearing 
 impressions of the die upon them are found, but these 
 are merely the stamps of the imperial brick kilns, with 
 the names of the reigning ftovereigns. 
 
 Affecting memorials of domestic affection are found 
 in the toys and trinkets of little children enclosed in 
 their graves or affixed to the plaster without. The dolls 
 in the following engraving strikingly resemble those with 
 which children amuse themselves to-day. They are 
 made of ivory, and some are furnished with wires, by 
 
 ei 
 P 
 
If 
 
 |se 
 1th 
 
 id 
 in 
 klls 
 feth 
 ire 
 Iby 
 
 Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 l?>7 
 
 which the joints can be worked after the manner of the 
 
 modern marionettes, 
 corner is a terra 
 cotta vase with a 
 narrow slit for 
 receiving money, 
 like the common 
 children's sav- 
 ings banks. Be- 
 neath it is an 
 ivory ring. The 
 other objects are 
 small bronze 
 bells, forming 
 
 The object in the upper left hand 
 
 FifT. 120.— Children's Toys found in the 
 Catacombs. 
 
 part of a child's 
 
 rattle. In the 
 
 Catacomb of St. Sebastian was also found a small 
 
 terra cotta horse of rude design, dappled with coloured 
 
 spots. 
 
 The human affections are the same in every age. 
 These simphi objects speak more directly ; » the heart 
 than " storied urn or animated bust." As we gaze upon 
 these childish toys in the Vatican Museum the centuries 
 vanish, and busy fancy pictures the weeping Roman 
 mother placing these cherished relics of her dead babe 
 in its waxen hands or by its side, as it is laid from her 
 loving arms in the cold embrace of the rocky grave, and 
 then, with tear-dimmed eyes, taking a last, long, linger- 
 ing farewell of the loved form about to be closed from 
 her sight forever. 
 
 Numerous toilet articles have also been found in the 
 Catacombs, generally in the graves of the dead or cement- 
 ed by the plaster to the tombs. Many of theye have been 
 plundered and lost ; but still a very interesting coUec- 
 
 ••; ( 
 
 \\ 
 
 
 I 
 
 k 
 
 \ 
 
3S8 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I if 
 
 tion exists in the Vatican Library, Among its contents 
 are long silver or ivory bodkins for the hair, combs of 
 box or ivory, scent-bottJes and boxes of perfume, 
 broaches, earrings, bracelets, sometimes with keys to 
 unlock the clasps, and other ornaments in bronze, sil- 
 ver, or gold,* The simpler manners of the Christian 
 women, as compared with those of pagan faith around 
 them, is indicated by the conspicuous absence of the 
 rouge pots and jars of cosmetics, and many other arti- 
 cles of luxury, which formed so important a part of the 
 toilet requisites of Rome's proud dames, and which are 
 so frequently found in the ruins of Pompeii, The 
 Christian ornaments, moreover, even after the departure 
 from the primitive simplicity of manners, were of a very 
 different character from those of the corrupt civilization 
 of paganism. Instead of the abominable representa- 
 tions of heathen art, suggesting every evil thought and 
 stimulating every vile passion, of which so many exam- 
 pler-- occur in the Museum of Naples, only chaste and 
 modest figures are found ; and even the articles of the 
 toilet are frequently adorned with pious mottoes. Thus, 
 on a bodkin for a lady's hair, probably a love-gift to a 
 wife or betrothed bride, is engraved the beautiful senti- 
 ment, ROMVLA SEMPER VIVAS IN DEO — " Romula, may you 
 ever live in God." Such a religious art seems an antici- 
 pation of the day when " Holiness to the Lord " shall 
 be written upon the bells of the horses. 
 
 Small caskets of gold or other metal for containing a 
 
 * When the tomb of the Empress Maria, v/ife of Honorius, was 
 opened in 1544, a profusion of ornaments and trinkets were found, 
 from which, it is said, not less than thirty-six pounds of gold were 
 taken. The Empress Placidi;; was also interred in similar gorgeous 
 funeral pomp, which was, however, consumed in 1577 by the acci- 
 dental ignition of her gold-embroidered robes. 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 389 
 
 portion of the gospels, generally part of the first chap- 
 ter of John, which were worn on the neck, have also 
 been found. They seem to have been introduced in 
 the decline of primitive piety in imitation of the Jewish 
 phylactery or pagan amulet, and were probably worn 
 for the same superstitious purpose, to avert danger or 
 to cure disease. They were condemned by Irenaeus, 
 Augustine, Chrysostom, and by the Council of Laodicea, 
 as a relic of heathenism.* On a carved figure of a fish, 
 with a hole drilled through it for suspending it from the 
 neck, and probably intended for an amalet, is engraved 
 the word, CQCAIC — " Mayest thou save us." Medals, 
 coins, and what are described as tessarie of hospitality, 
 by which the early Christians recognized travelling 
 members of distant churches as sharers of the same 
 faith, and admitted them to their assemblies and their 
 homes, have likewise been found. So also have articles 
 of domestic economy, as spoons, knives, keys, drinking- 
 cups and shells used as such, and even a metallic kettle 
 for cooking. Certain articles employed in religious ser- 
 vice, as a baptismal font, altars, chairs, etc., will be 
 hereafter described. 
 
 This practice of burying with the dead the objects 
 which they had employed in life was common to the 
 pagans from the earliest Etruscan times to the most re- 
 cent heathen sepulture. They interred in the tombs 
 of the departed every kind of utensil and implement 
 of trade, and even articles of food. M. Rochette per- 
 ceives herein a notion, confused and gross though it 
 may be, of the immortality of the soul, and a proof of 
 that instinct of man which recoils from the thought of 
 
 * Iren., lib. ii, c, 57. Aug., tract 7, in yoan ; serm. 215, 
 de Tempore. Chr)'sos., hom. vi, Cnntr, jfuJaos. Cone. Laodic, 
 can. 36. 
 
 ' 
 
 tt 
 
 11 
 
 i\ 
 
 \ % 
 
 I' 
 
 \ ii 
 
 
390 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 If 
 
 if 
 
 It 
 
 ( 
 ) 
 
 annihilation.* In like manner, the Christians, although 
 animated by a loftier hope, and inspired with an assur- 
 ance of eternal deathlessness, long followed this ancient 
 custom, even to the extent sometimes of putting the 
 piece of money in the mouth of the deceased, intended 
 by the heathen for the payment of Charon. f This was 
 most probably, in many instances a mere unthinking 
 
 conformity to ancient use and 
 wont. Milman asserts that the 
 practice of burying money, 
 often large sums, with the dead, 
 l) was the cause of the very se~ 
 vere Roman laws against the 
 violations of the tombs, in- 
 asmuch as the government 
 wished to reserve to itself that 
 source of revenue. J 
 
 In the Christian Museum of 
 the Vatican is a marble statue 
 of the Good Shepherd, figured 
 in the accompanying engraving, 
 which is believed to be from 
 the Catacombs. Although the 
 execution is coarse, yet from 
 the general style Rumohr 
 thinks it probably the oldest 
 
 Fifir. 121.— statue of the 
 Oood Shepherd. 
 
 * II y avait B une notion confuse et grossiere sans doute de I'im- 
 mortalite de Time, mais il s'y trouvait aussi la preuve sensible et 
 palpable de cet instinct de rhomme, qui repugne 4 I'idee de la de- 
 struction de son 6tre. — Me/n. de PAcad. des Inscr., torn, xiii, p. 689. 
 
 f Rochette says that this practice continued down to the time of 
 Thomas Aquinas, who wrote against it. 
 
 X " Gold may justly be taken from the sepulture which no longer 
 contains its original owner," says the minister of Theodoric to a pro- 
 vincial governor ; " indeed, it is a sort of fault to leave idly hidden 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 39 » 
 
 extant specimen of Christian statuary.* Sculpture 
 seems to have bowed less willingly than painting to the 
 new religion, and was much more tardy in laying its 
 offerings on the altar of Christianity. It retained also 
 much of the spirit of paganism, and never became thor- 
 oughly imbued with Christian sentiment. The colossal 
 figure of the Galilean fisherman beneath the mighty 
 dome of his oroud mausoleum — that stateliest fane in 
 Christendom — if not indeed the identical statue of the 
 Capitoline Jove, is copied from a heathen model. 
 The majestic Moses of Michael Angelo seems rather 
 the embodied conception of the cloud-compelling 
 Phidian Zeus than of the Hebrew patriarch, de- 
 scribed as the meekest of men. Even Thorwald- 
 sen's sublime figures of Christ and the apostles 
 exhibit more of the majesty of antique pagan art 
 than of the meek and tender grace of Christianity. 
 Sculpture, as M. Rochette well remarks, struck its roots 
 deeply into the soil of heathenism, and was with the ut- 
 most difficulty transplanted therefrom. It is essentially 
 pagan in its character, and is especially adapted for the 
 expression of the severer virtues. Painting is r«.ore in- 
 stinct with Christian spirit, and is the better fitted for 
 the representation of the softer graces. 
 
 Moreover, the profession of the sculptor was held in 
 abhorrence on account of its connexion with idolatry. 
 Tertullian stigmatizes the makers of images as the fos- 
 
 with the dead that which might support the living." — Aurum enim 
 justd.sepulcro detrahitur, ubi dominus non habetur ; imo cuipse genus 
 est inutiliter abdita relinquere xnortuorum, unde se vita potest susten- 
 tare viventium. — Cassiod., Var.^ iv, 34. 
 
 * Italienische Forschungen, vol. i, p. 168. — The subject of early 
 Christian sculpture is fully treated in a recent work by Dr. Wilhelm 
 Liibke, entitled Geschichte der Plastik. Two vols. Leipzig: See- 
 man, 1870. 
 
 \ t 
 
 : U 
 
392 
 
 The Catacombs of Pome. 
 
 ter-fathers of devils and the procurer; of idols.* Pru- 
 dentius calls Mentor and Phidias the m?.kers and parents 
 of the heathen gods.f All who were in any wise con- 
 nected with this unhallowed craft were rejected from 
 the ordinance of baptism and denied the holy eucharist.J 
 " The ancient Christians," Buonarotti truly remarks, 
 "always kept aloof from these arts, by which tiiey might 
 have run a risk of polluting themselves with idolatry ; 
 and hence it arose that few or none of them devoted 
 themselves to painting or to sculpture, which had 
 as their principal object the representations of the 
 gods or the myths of the heathen." § Hence the 
 almost entire absence of Christian statuary from the 
 Catacombs. Even the sculptured bas reliefs of the 
 sarcophagi before described were for the most part the 
 product of that later period, when Christianity, coming 
 forth from these subterranean crypts, walked in the light 
 of day and basked in the favour of princes. 
 
 This brief notice of early Christian sculpture would 
 be incomplete without some reference to the statue of 
 the celebrated Hippolytus, bishop of Portus, the most 
 remarkable known specimen of that class. It was dis- 
 covered by some workmen digging near the church of 
 San Lorenzo fuori le mm a in the year 155 1, and proba- 
 bly originally stood in the adjacent Catacomb of Hip- 
 
 * Qua constantia cxorcizabit alumnos suos, quibus domum suam 
 cellariam prsestat . . . quid aliud quam procurator idolorum demon- 
 straris? — De Idol., c. ii.- 
 
 f Fabri deorum, vel parentes numinum. — Peristepk., x, 293j» 
 
 X Constit. Apostol., lib. viii, c. 32. 
 
 § Stettero sempre lontane di quelle arti, coUe quali avessero potuto 
 correr pericolo di contain inarsi colla idolatria, e da cio avvenne, che 
 pochi, o niuno di essi si diede alia pittura e alia scultura, le quali 
 aveano per oggetto principale di rappresentare le deitil, e le favole de' 
 gentili. — Buonarotti, D^ Vetri Cemeteriali. 
 
 I I . 
 
 I ; 
 1 
 
Various Objects Found Therein. 
 
 39.? 
 
 polytus. The rnirtyr bishop is represented as seated 
 in a sort of episcopal chair. The figure is modelled 
 with a classic grace and dignity superior to any exam- 
 ples of the Constaiitinian period. Indeed, the distin- 
 guished art critic, Winckelmann, declares it to be the 
 finest specimen of early Christian sculpture extant. It 
 was considerably mutilated, but has been skilfully re- 
 stored, and now stands in the Lateran Museum. On 
 the base of the chair is engraved a list of the published 
 vritings of Hippolytus,*and also the table which he con- 
 structed for determining the true period of the Easter 
 festival. The discovery of an error in this taole de- 
 prived it of much of its value ; and the date of this 
 monument is probably prior to that discovery, or the 
 early part of the third century. 
 
 Passing allusion should also be here made to the early 
 Christian diptychs, specimens of which are found in al- 
 most every antiquarian museum. These were formed 
 after the model of the imperial and consular diptychs, 
 or registers of the public officers of Rome. They con- 
 
 * These were exceedingly voluminous, and although several of them 
 have perished, those which remain throw great light on one of the 
 most obscure periods in the history of the church, and vindicate the 
 title of Origen of the West, bestowed on Hippolytus by Pressense. 
 Among his most important works v/ere a commentary on the greater 
 part ot the Old and New Testament, treatises on Antichrist, on the 
 Gifts of the Holy Spirit, on Good and the Origin of Evil, on God 
 and the Resurrection. He was especially noted, moreover, as a vig- 
 orous and skilful polemic, and wrote against Platonism and Juda- 
 ism, and, Si we have seen, (page 173,) against Callixtus, bishop of 
 Rome, for his pantheistic heresy. His great work, however, is that 
 entitled the Philosophoiimena. "It is a vast repertory," says Prcs- 
 sens6, " reviewing all the doctrinal controversies of the church from 
 the earliest ages and most obscure beginnings of Gnosticism. Chris- 
 tian antiquity has left us no more valuable monument than the treat- 
 ise "On all the Heresies" of Hippolytus, discovered a few years 
 since among the dusty treasures of a convent of Mount Athos." 
 
394 
 
 The Catacomb^ of Rnmc. 
 
 i 
 
 '' 
 
 sisted of tablets of ivory, wood, or metal, folded to- 
 gether,* and bore the names of the bish>^ps, officers, 
 or distinguished patrons of the church, and memorials 
 of the martyrs and holy dead. These memorials were 
 frequently read in the religious assemblies of the primi- 
 tive church, especially on the anniversaries of the mar- 
 tyrs' death. This practice led in course of time to the 
 invocation of their aid in the Litany of the Saints, and 
 to other errors of Romanism. The diptychs had also 
 frequently elaborate bas reliefs of scenes from the 
 biblical cycle, and in the age of image-worship bore the 
 figures of the saints to whom a corrupt Christianity had 
 begun to pay an idolatrous veneration. They became 
 thus the prototype of the illuminated missal of the 
 Middle Ages. 
 
 * Whence the name, from dinrvxov, twofold ; when several tab- 
 lets were used they were called ttoXvtttvxov, or manifold. 
 
 1i 
 
BOOK TFIIRD. 
 
 11 
 
 THE INSCRIPTIONS OP THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 . GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 Few places in Rome are more attractive to the student 
 of Christian archaeology than the Lapidarian Gallery in 
 the palace of the Vatican. In this long corridor* are 
 preserved a multitude of epigraphic remains of the ven- 
 erable past, shattered wrecks of antiquity, which have 
 floated down the stream of time, and have here, as in 
 a quiet haven, at length found shelter. The walls on 
 either side arc completely covered with inscribed slabs 
 affixed to their surface. On the right hand are arranged 
 the pagan monuments collected from the neighbourhood 
 of the city — sepulchral and votive tablets, altar dedica- 
 tions, fragments of imperial rescripts and edicts, and 
 other evidences of the power and splendour of the 
 palmy days of Rome. On the left are the humble epi- 
 taphs of the early Christians, rudely carved in stone or 
 scratched in plaster, and brought hither chiefly from 
 the crypts of the Catacombs. Of greater interest to 
 him who would rehabilitate the early ages of the church, 
 
 and 
 
 To the sessions of sweet silent thought 
 Would summon up remembrance of things past,f 
 
 * It is eight hundred feet in extent, and contains about three thou- 
 sand inscriptions. 
 
 f Shakspeare's Sonnets, No. XXX. 
 
 I 
 
 ?' 
 
 I 
 
 I 1 1 
 
396 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 is this long corridor of inscriptions than any of the fcir 
 thouf lartments of that vast palace of the popes, 
 
 with mcii priceless bronzes, marbles, gems, frescoes, and 
 other remains of classic art. He will turn away from 
 the noble galleries where the Laocoon forever writhes 
 in stone, and Apollo — lord of the unerring bow — watches 
 his arrow hurtling toward its mark, to the plain marble 
 slabs that line these walls. In the rude iiiscriptions 
 here recorded he will discover some of the strongest 
 evidences of revealed religion and most striking proofs 
 of the purity of the faith, simplicity of worship, and 
 uncorrupted doctrines of the early church. Thus prim- 
 itive Christianity lifts its solemn protest in these halls 
 of wealth and power, in the very palace of the popes, 
 against the anti-Christian system of which they are the 
 representatives. 
 
 Here the monuments of pagan and of Christian 
 Rome confront each other. The spectator stands be- 
 tween two worlds of widest divergence, and cannot but 
 be struck with the immense contrast between them. 
 "I have spent," says M. Rochette, "many entire days 
 in this sanctuary of antiquity, where the sacred and 
 profane stand face to face in the written monuments 
 preserved to us, as in the days when paganism and 
 Christianity, striving with all their powers, were engaged 
 in mortal conflict."* On the one side are recorded the 
 pride and pomp of worldly rank, the lofty titles and 
 manifold distinctions of every class, from divinities to 
 slaves. The undying historic names of Rome's mighty 
 conquerors, the leaders of her cohorts and legions, 
 mingle with those of the proud patrician citizens, and 
 alike display on their sepulchral slabs the august array 
 of praenomen, nomen, and cognomen, which attest their 
 * Tableau des Catacombes, p. x. 
 
 I' 
 
Character of the Inscriptions. 
 
 397 
 
 lofty social position or civil power.* The costly carving 
 and elaborate has reliefs of many of these monuments 
 indicate the wealth of him whom they commemorate. 
 The elegantly turned classic epitaph — with its elegiac 
 hexameters breathing the stern and cold philosophy of 
 the Stoa, or an utter blankness of despair concerning 
 the future, or, perchance, a ((uerulous .nnd passionate 
 complaining against the gods — shows how the races 
 without the knowledge of the true God met the awful 
 mystery of death. The 'numerous altars to all the 
 fabled deities of the Pa theon, the vaunting inscriptions 
 and lofty attributes ascribed to the shadowy brood of 
 Olympus — " unconquered, greatest, and best " — read, 
 hy the light of to-day, like an unconscious satire on 
 the high pretensions of those vanished powers. The 
 fragmentary edicts of the emperors, the numerous mili- 
 tary trophies, and the records of complicated political 
 orders, indi .te the might and majesty of the Empire in 
 the days of its utmost power and splendour. 
 
 On the other side of the corridor are the humble 
 epitaphs of the despised and persecuted Christians, 
 many of which, by their rudeness, their brevity, and 
 often their marks of ignorance and haste, confirm the 
 truth of the Scripture, that " not many mighty, not many 
 noble, are called." Yet these " short and simple annals 
 of the poor " speak to the heart with a power and pa- 
 thos compared with which the loftiest classic eloquence 
 seems cold and empty. It is a fascinating task to spell 
 out the sculptured legends of the Catacombs — the vast 
 graveyard of the primitive church, which seems to give 
 up its dead at our questioning, to bear witness concern- 
 ing the faith and hope of the Golden Age of Christian- 
 
 * Cf. Juv., " Gaudent praenomine molles auriculae." These are 
 very rare in Christian inscriptions. See postea. 
 
398 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ity. As we muse upon these half-eflfaced inscrip- 
 tions — 
 
 Rudely written, but each letter 
 
 Full of hope, and yet of heart-break, 
 
 Full of all the tender pathos 
 
 Of the Here and the Hereafter— 
 
 we are brought face to face with the church of the early 
 centuries, and are enabled to comprehend its spirit bet- 
 ter than by means of any other evidence extan*^. These 
 simple epitaphs speak no conventional language like the 
 edicts of the emperors, the monuments of the mighty, 
 or even the writings of the Fathers; they utter the cry 
 of the human heart in the hours of its deepest emotion ; 
 they bridge the gulf of time, and make us feel ourselves 
 akin with the suffering, sorrowing, yet triumphant Chris- 
 tians of the primitive ages. 
 
 These inscriptions were found in situ in the explora- 
 tions of the Caacombs, or were dug up in vineyards in 
 the vicinity of the city. They have been diligently 
 collected by antiquarians for the last three hundred 
 years. Before the year 1578 there were not a thousand 
 Christian inscriptions extant in all Italy. Of these not 
 one was derived from the Catacombs, and the earliest 
 date was the year 533. With all its boasted veneration 
 for the past, and professed devotion to the antiquities 
 of primitive Christianity, the Church of Rome al- 
 lowed the memory of the Catacombs, the shrine and 
 sanctuary of the faith in the early centuries, to be as 
 completely forgotten as the site of Troy; and even 
 after their rediscovery many of their principal records 
 of the past were wantonly destroyed or recklessly lost 
 through the ignorance or carelessness of their self-con- 
 stituted guardians and preservers. Numerous invalua- 
 ble inscriptions have perished from the effects of time ; 
 
 I 
 
Character of the Ittscriptions, 
 
 399 
 
 many have been scattered throughout the public and 
 private collections of P^urope; and many more have been 
 defaced or ruined by the feet of generations of wor- 
 shippers in the churches of whose pavements they 
 form a part. Bosio describes many monuments ex- 
 tant in his day of which De Rossi saw only the frag- 
 ments, and the latter pathetically deplores the destruc- 
 tion and devastation of those precious relics of Chris- 
 tian antiquity.* 
 
 Christian epigraphy, however, was not altogether ne- 
 glected during the Middle Ages. A manuscript col- 
 lection of epitaphs found at F^insiedlen, ai;d attributed 
 to the ninth century, is partly Christian ; and another, 
 found at Kloster Newburg, is exclusively so. A man- 
 uscript in St. Mark's Library at Venice contains about 
 a hundred and fifty early Christian epitaphs. The 
 first collection after the revival of letters was m?de by 
 Pietro Sabini, and another was published by Onofrio Pan- 
 vini. Leo X. commanded Raphael, the capo architetto 
 of St. Peter's, to preserve from injury the inscriptions 
 — res lapidaria — of the older structure ; but no syste- 
 matic attempt at their preservation was made till Bene- 
 dict XIV. appointed Francesco Brambini to that task. 
 He collected a large number in the long gallery of the 
 Vatican ; but they were not arranged till the close of 
 the last century, when they were classified by the dis- 
 
 * Demolita et horrendum in modum vastata. — Prolegomena to 
 Jnscr. Christ. He has often to complain that he is unable to read 
 part of the inscription : — Reliqua legere haud potui. Marangoni tells 
 us that thousands of epigraphs were taken from the Catacombs to the 
 church of St. Maria in Trastevere ; seven cartloads to St. Giovanni 
 de Fiorentini ; two cartloads to another church of St. Giovanni in 
 Rome ; yet there are at present only about twenty in the portico of 
 the former and not one in either of the two latter churches. See He- 
 man's Sac. Art, in Italy ^ pp. 58, 59. 
 
 ! 
 
 I 
 
/>po 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 t'ng lished archaeologist Geatano Marini, at the com- 
 mand of Pius VI. A new collection was begun in the 
 Lateran Museum by Padre Marchi, which has been 
 greatly enlarged and admirably classified and arranged 
 by Cavaliere De Rossi. There are also other collections 
 in the Collegio Romano, and in the Kircherian and other 
 Museums. Many sepulchral slabs are also affixed to 
 the walls or inserted in the pavement of the churches 
 of St. Paul, St. Gregory, St. Laurence, St. Mark, St. 
 Maria in Trastevere, and in a few others in Rome.* 
 
 That distinguished scholar and epigraphibi, Dp Rossi, 
 has passed through the crucible of his critical examina- 
 tion ^11 the extant inscriptions of the first six centuries 
 found in the neighbourhood of Rome. In the first 
 volume of his Inscriptiones Christians he gives all 
 those with consular dates, thirteen hundred and sev- 
 enty-four in number. He designs giving in future 
 volumes the remainder of the series, classified accord- 
 ing to their doctrinal, historical, or other character- 
 istics. He treats the subject with the utmost candour 
 and moderation, and illustrates these frequently ob- 
 scure topics with exhaustive and various scholarship. 
 There are now over eleven thousand of these epitaphs 
 extant, which number is being continually increased 
 by the progressive exploration of the Catacombs. 
 From an analysis of their general characteristics and 
 appearance the following results are derived. 
 
 The inscriptions are generally engraved on marble 
 slabs from one to three feet long and one foot high, 
 which are used to close the graves of the dead ; many, 
 however, are mere scratches on the soft surface of 
 
 * The latter works of Fabretti, Muratori, Orelli, Martigny, Cardinal 
 Mai, and Perret contain numerous examples. These have all been 
 laid under tribute in preparing these pages. 
 
Character of the Inscriptions, 
 
 401 
 
 the plaster, hardened in drying ; and some are written 
 with red or black paint, or, more rarely, with char- 
 coal. The letters vary from half an inch to four inches 
 in height, and the incised surface is frequently coloured 
 with a reddish pigment. Prudentius, alluding to this 
 practice of chiseling the letters in stone, calls upon the 
 faithful to " wash with their tears the furrows of those 
 marble slabs."* 
 
 The epitaphs are for the most part written in uncial 
 characters, frequently without any separation of the 
 words,f although sometimes they are divided by spaces, 
 points, or leaves. They frequently abound also in con- 
 tractions and monogrammatic abbreviations, imposed by 
 limit of space or economy of labour, as in the following 
 
 Fisr. 122.—" Gemella sleeps in peace.'* 
 
 * Nos pio fletu, date, perluamus 
 Marmorum sulcos. — Peristeph., hymn vii. 
 f We append the following exampld^ by way of illustration r 
 CALEVIVSBENDIDITAVINTRISOMVVBIPOSITIERANT 
 VINIETCALVILIVSETLVCIVSINPA. 
 Calevius sold to Avinius a place for three bodies, where both Cavilius 
 and Lucius had (already) been placed in peace. — De Rossi, Inscr, 
 Christ., No. 489. 
 
 TPIAKONTAnENTAETHCENGAAEKITETnATIA 
 eTrATHPANTi2NIOYKQCTANTINOnOAITlCCA. 
 Here lies Hypatia, thirty-five years of age, daughter of Antonius, 
 a native of Constantinople. — De Rossi, No. 583. 
 
 The originals are more difficult to decipher, but with a little prac- 
 tice it becomes comparatively easy. Sometimes the letters are of 
 greatly varying sizes, as in the following : 
 
 LocvSavgvStileCToRis. 
 
 The pkce of Augustus, the Reader. 
 
 26 
 
 *■ t: 
 
 I 
 
 \k 
 
402 
 
 The Cutacombs of Rome. 
 
 Although sometimes well cut, the inscriptions are 
 often wretchedly executed, presenting a straggling and 
 scarce legible scrawl, as in the following examples, the 
 second of which indicates a transition into the later 
 cursive character. 
 
 Vi'^Ts\QS\C$SO\HMl ■ 
 
 Fifif. 123.—" Lijrui'ius Successus, in peace.' 
 
 
 DOMITI 
 
 IN PACE 
 
 LEA FECIT. 
 
 Fler. 124.— "Domitius in peace. Lea erected this."* 
 
 This ancient epigraphy often betrays extreme igno- 
 rance, and sets at defiance all the laws of grammatical 
 construction. The spelling is frequently atrocious, and 
 the general style and chzfracter utterly barbarous, ren- 
 dering the meaning extremely obscure or altogether 
 undecipherable. The language was much corrupted 
 by the foreigners and slaves who formed so large a por- 
 tion of the population. The later examples are often 
 marked by the absence of termmal inflexions and the 
 use of prepositions instead, and by other indications 
 of the falling to pieces of the stately Latin tongue, 
 which had been the vehicle of such a noble literature 
 and such lofty eloquence, and of its degeneracy from 
 
 * See, also, the uncouthness of the epitaph of Martyrus, Fig. 19, 
 and of Tesaris, Fig. 58. 
 
Character of the Inscriptions. 
 
 403 
 
 the purity of the Augustan era into the mixed dialect 
 of the Middle Ages, from which the modern Italian has 
 sprung.* 
 
 The barbarous Latinity of the following indicates the 
 degradation into which the language had fallen : 
 
 IIBER QVI VIXl QVAI QVO 
 PARE IVA ANOIVE I ANORV 
 M PLVI MINVI XXX I PACE. 
 
 Read : Liber, qui vixit cum compare sua annum I. Annorum 
 plus minus XXX. In pace. 
 
 Liber, who lived with his wife one year. He lived thirty years, 
 more or less. In peace. 
 
 Sometimes the inscription is found upside down, 
 being probably thus placed by one unable to read. In 
 the following example, from the Catacomb of St. Priscilla, 
 a dove was afterward added, to correct in part the mis- 
 take of the ignorant fossor. Probably the epitaph may 
 
 * The distinctions of case gradually disappear, the accusative and 
 genitive are often used indiscriminately, and the former is frequently 
 substituted for the ablative, as in the following phrases, cum uxorem, 
 cum fratrem, sine aliquam, pro caritatem, decessit de seculum, etc. 
 The transition into Italian is indicated by the prefixing the letter 1, 
 as in the words ispifitus, iscribet ; by affixing ^, zs, posuete ior posuit^ 
 and by the general softening of the pronunciation, as santa for sanc- 
 ta, meses for menses, and sesies for sexies. The names Stefano and 
 Filipo have also a very modem appearance. 
 
 The misplacing of the aspirate is seen to be by no means a cock- 
 ney peculiarity, as in the following examples : — Hossa, hording, Hosi- 
 ris, hekphantus, post hobitum, Hoctobris, heterna, etc. In the follow- 
 ing the h is omitted : Onorius, . t, wio, itaris, ospitium, onestus^ 
 oc, and ic. The permutation of the letters / and d, and v and b, is 
 also common, as adque for atque, and bibit for vivit. We also find 
 such forms as vicxit, visit, bis sit, or visse, (or vixit y micki for mi hi ; 
 pake or pache for pace; opsequia for obsequia ; quisquenti for quies- 
 centi ; depossio for depositio ; vocitus for vocatus j pulla for puella ; 
 omniorum for omnium ; restutus for re stitutus ; pride ior pridie ; 
 que or qae for quce, and the like. Many of these peculiarities, how- 
 ever, are common to later pagan as well as to Christian inscriptions. 
 
404 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 have been scratched on the stone by the dim light 
 struggling through a luminare^ but when brought to the 
 grave it was too dark to see which side was uppermost. 
 
 3WCiO\cl3lDi'^ 
 
 FifiT. liJ5.— Inscription upside down. 
 
 In one example in the Lapidarian Gallery, repre- 
 sented in Fig. 126, the inscription is actually written 
 backwards, like Hebrew text. Probably, as Maitland 
 suggests, the stonecutter took the impression on marble 
 from a written copy, and was too ignorant to perceive 
 that it was, of course, reversed. 
 
 NATIXl\nvpMTN3^NIVAJJ3 
 
 21HipW/WD1/2\2JMl3 
 M3favHHATlXIWVi) 
 
 FiGr> 126.— Reversed Inscription. 
 
 Read : Elia Vincentia. qui vixit an . . . et inesis II, cum Virgin- 
 is rue v'xit annu diem. 
 
 £lia Vincentia, who lived . . . years and two munths, and lived 
 with Virginius a year and a day. 
 
 Most of the early epitaphs are of touching brevity 
 and simplicity. Frequently only a single word, the 
 name given in baptism, is recorded on the tomb, as in 
 Fig. 127, which exhibits also the Christian symbols of 
 the monogram, cross, and palm. 
 
Character of the Inscriptions. 
 
 405 
 
 Ci^i^TA 
 
 Pifir. 1 27.—' ' Oassta." («.f.) 
 
 In Fig. 128 the names of three individuals appear on 
 the same slab, which is recogn- - ible as Christian only 
 by the symbol of the Good Shepherd : 
 
 Figr. 128— "Septlmina, Aurelius. Oalymedes." 
 
 Frequently the phrase in pace, or dormit in pace, 
 is added, in attestation of the Christian faith of the de- 
 ceased, (see Figs. 122-124;) or, more briefly still, the 
 word Locvs is prefixed, as Locvr primi — " The place of 
 Primus,"* as if descriptive of the last long home, the 
 house appointed for all living. 
 
 The later inscriptions are frequently far removed 
 from this naive simplicity, being inflated in style and 
 elaborate in execution, attesting the increased wealth 
 and growing pride of the Christian community. Of 
 these we shall hereafter ha^e frequent examples. One 
 very remarkable series is that executed, under the direc- 
 
 * See Fig. 45. 
 
 ■I. 
 
4o6 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 tion of Pope Damasus, in the latter part of the fourth 
 century. He composed numerous metrical epitaphs in 
 honour of the martyrs, which were engraved in marble 
 in a singularly elegant decorated character, designed by 
 his secretary, Furius Dionysius Filocalus, who was also 
 an accomplished artist. Hence the letters of these 
 Damasine inscriptiors are as distinct a characteristic 
 in early Christian epigraphy as the celebrated Aldine 
 type in the bibliography of the revival of learning. 
 There are few of the Catacombs where these inscrip- 
 tions have not been found ; and De Rossi has been 
 enabled thereby to reconstruct some valuable historical 
 monuments from a few fragments, just as a skilful 
 anatomist will reconstruct a skeleton from a portion of 
 the vertebrae. Some of the most important of these have 
 already been given ; others will hereafter occur. The 
 Latinity is often of a school-boy mediocrity ; but they 
 are of great value as determining the identity and eluci- 
 dating the history of many important Christian tombs. 
 
 Most of the epitaphs, as we might naturally ex- 
 pect,, were written in Latin. Nevertheless, a consider- 
 able proportion are in Greek, to which circumstance 
 several causer conduced. Although Latin was the lan- 
 guage of the mass of the Roman population, yet Greek 
 was also spoken largely by the educated classes. We 
 know, too, from the pages of Juvenal* and contennporary 
 writers, that Rome swarmed with numbers of slaves and- 
 others from Greece and Asia Minor, who, although they 
 might be able to speak Latin, would find it very diffi- 
 cult to write it. Moreover, Greek seems to have been 
 in the early centuries a sort of ecclesiastical language 
 at Rome, just as Latin is now throughout Roman Cath- 
 
 * See his " Gneculus esuriens," (5WA, iii, 78,) and the expression, 
 *' In Tiberem defluxit Orontes." — //>., 62. 
 
Character of the Inscriptions, 
 
 407 
 
 olic Christendom. It was in this language that the glad 
 tidings of the new evangel were frst declared, and in it 
 St. Paul wrote his epistle to the Roman church. The 
 new wine of the gospel flowed from that classic chalice 
 which so long had poured libations to the gods. Prob- 
 ably a religious sentiment led to the adoption, even by 
 those to whom it was unfamiliar,of the language in which 
 their holiest teachings and highest hopes had been 
 originally conveyed, and in which the Apostolic Fathers 
 and the greatest apologists, theologians, and historians 
 of the early church had fought the battles of the faith. 
 The responses of the Roman liturgy long continued to 
 be uttered in this tongue, and traces of this practice 
 still remain in the Kyrie, eleeson ! Christe^ eleeson ! of the 
 Order of the Mass. This primitive Greek influence 
 has also left its indelible impression on our language in 
 such words as church, bishop, presbyter, eucharist, bap- 
 tism, catechism, liturgy, psalm, and hymn. 
 
 Sometimes the humble mourner had to be content 
 with recording the Latin words in Greek characters, 
 as in the following examples : AEIBEPE MASlMIAAE. 
 KOlOTrE AMANTICCIMAE ♦IKIT EN HAKE. Read : Libera 
 Maximilla conjugi amantissimce, vixit in pace — " To 
 Libera Maximilla, a most loving wife. She lived in 
 peace." BENE MEPENTI *1AIE 0EOAOPE KYE BIEIT 
 MHCIC XI AIES XVIII. Read : Bene merenii filice Theo- 
 dorce, qui vixit menses XI ^ dies XVIII — " To our well- 
 deserving daughter Theodora, who lived eleven months 
 and eighteen days." * 
 
 In copying Latin inscriptions many errors arose from 
 
 * Sometimes the two languages are strangely blended in the same 
 epitaph ; and occasionally we find a Greek inscription in Latin char- 
 acters, as in the following : prima irene soi. Read : Ilpf/za 
 eipijvri aoi — *' Prima, peace to thee." 
 
 * :? 
 
 
408 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 the mason mistaking the Roman characters for similar 
 Greek ones, as A for A, T for T, and the Latin H and P 
 for the Greek £ta and RAo. The Greek influence is also 
 seen in the altered inflexion of Latin words, as maritous 
 for maritoSf filies for filiaSy and the like. The proportion 
 of Greek inscriptions among those before the time of 
 Constantine is estimated at one eighth.* After that 
 period it is less, indicating the gradual decline of Greek 
 influence. In Gaul and the western provinces the pro- 
 portion is not so great. At Autun there is only one 
 Greek epitaph. 
 
 Of the eleven thousand extant inscriptions only thir- 
 teen hundred and seventy-four bear dates. The 
 period of the others can be only approximately de- 
 termined by a comparison with those whose ages are 
 known ; by a careful examination of the execution, lan- 
 guage, and general sentiment, those of earlier date be- 
 ing less florid and more classical in style ; by the pres- 
 ence or absence of certain symbols, as the sacred mon- 
 ogram, of which no example is known before the period 
 of Constantine ; and by the position in the Catacombs, 
 those in the lower //aw being of later date. 
 
 Judging by these criteria, De Rossi has arrived at 
 the following conclusions: About six thousand of the 
 epitaphs belong to the first four centuries, and are 
 from the Catacombs ; the rest were found above ground. 
 Of these six thousand, about four thousand are before 
 the year 324 A. D., when Constantine became sole em- 
 peror. 
 
 Only on^ of the dated inscriptions belongs to the first 
 century, (A. D. 71,) two are of the second, (A. D. 107 and 
 
 * In the dated inscriptions the proportion is less, as the I^atin- 
 speaking Christians would be the more likely to employ the consular 
 dates as indications of time. 
 
Character of the Inset iptions. 
 
 409 
 
 III,) and twenty-three of the third; the fourth century 
 is represented by over five hundred ; the fifth by nearly 
 as many ; the sixth by about three hundred, principally 
 in its earlier half; and the seventh by only seven. 
 
 Of these dated inscriptions, all before the year 313 
 A. D., when the edict of Milan gave peace to the church, 
 are from the Catacombs. After that event subterranean 
 sepulture rapidly decreased. Of the epitaphs bear- 
 ing dates between the years 313 A. D. and 337 A. D., 
 two thirds are from the Catacombs, and one third from 
 the basilicas and other places of burial above ground. 
 From A. D. 337 to the time of Julian the proportion of 
 each was about equal. Of the dated inscriptions of 
 the last quarter of this century, about one fourth are 
 subterranean. Of those between the years A. D. 400 
 and A. D. 410, not one in ten is from the Catacombs, 
 and after that period not one subterranean example 
 occurs.* Sometimes, in epitaphs of late date, the name 
 of the church and the position of the tomb are men- 
 tioned, as in the following : depositvs in basilica 
 
 SANCTORVM NASARI ET NABORIS SECVNDV ARCV IVXTA 
 
 FENESTRA, (A. D. 404,) — " Buried in the basilica of Sts. 
 Nasarius and Nabor, in the second arch near the win- 
 dow; " DEPOSITA IN CONTRA COLONNA VII, (A. D. 452,) 
 
 — " Buried in the space opposite the seventh column." 
 The Christian era was not adopted as a note of time 
 till after the sixth century. The dates of the Roman 
 inscriptions were therefore indicated by the names of 
 the consuls for the year, generally written in an abbre- 
 
 hf 
 
 
 * Of the four hundred Gaulish inscriptions in Le Blant few bear 
 dates, and of these none are earlier than the time of Constantine. 
 The first is of the year A. D. 334 ; the next, at Autun, of the year 
 A. D. 374. They are also more artificial and rhetorical in style than 
 those of Rome. 
 
 I il 
 
4IO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 viated form.* Frequently the addition VC, for Vir 
 Ciarissimus — " An illustrious man " — or, in the case of 
 imperial consuls, DN., for Dominus Noster — ** Our Lord " 
 — also occurs.f In one instance the epithet divvs — " Di- 
 vine " — assumed by the emperors, is employed in a Chris- 
 tian epitaph, in unthinking imitation of a heathen formula. 
 
 This mode of indicating dates, to which the name 
 hypatic (from vnaro^, consul) has been applied, con- 
 tinued in vogue till the latter part of the sixth century, 
 and is the last recognition of that venerable institution, 
 the Roman consulate. The year of the emperor, which 
 was enjoined by Justinian, A. D. 537, for the dating of 
 all public acts, appears after that time. 
 
 Towards the close of the fourth century th'^ date is 
 sometimes indicated by the name of the presiding bishop 
 of the church at Rome, as svb liberio episcopo, svb 
 
 DAMASO EPISCOPO, Or TEMPORIBVS SANCTl INNOCENTII, 
 
 the last expression used probably after the death of the 
 pope named. The names of the bishops of other dio- 
 ceses than that of Rome are also used, an indication of 
 the parity of episcopal rank in the primitive ages. Thus 
 we have in the year A. D. 397 the name pascasio epis- 
 copo, according to De Rossi, probably the bishop of an 
 ancient diocese in the immediate vicinity of the city. 
 In the sixth century the names of certain priests, and 
 even deacons, were used as local marks of time. 
 
 In a large number of inscriptions the day of the 
 month is mentioned, although the year is not. Cardinal 
 
 * For example • POL • II • ET • APR • II • COS, which, expanded, reads 
 thus: Pollione iterum et Apro iterum Consuiidus, that is, 176 A. D. 
 LFABCILMANN-LIB COS— Lucto Fabio Ciloru, Marco 
 Annio Libone Consulibus, that is, 204 A. D. To save space we have 
 generally omitted the names of the consuls, giving merely the date, 
 f Sometimes we have the forms VVCC, Viri Clarissimi ; DD. 
 NX.. Domini Nostri ; and AVGG., or AAVVGG., Auguiti. 
 
Character of the Inscriptions. 
 
 411 
 
 Wi'^eman attributes this to the custom of commemorating 
 the anniversary of the death of the departed as that of 
 his birth into a higher life.* Hut a similar usage is ob- 
 served also in pagan epitaphs; and Dr. McCaul has 
 well remarkedf that it is the day of burial that is men- 
 tioned more frecjuently than that of death. The date 
 of birth is seldom given,! ^'"^ ^^^ length of life is almost 
 invariably indicated, frequently with great minuteness. 
 Not only are the number of years, months, and days 
 mentioned, but often, with loving exactness, the hours, 
 half-hours, and even the " scruples " or twenty-fourths 
 of an hour, as in the following example : bene me- 
 
 RENTI IN PACE SILVANA QVAE HlC DORMIT VIXIT ANN. 
 
 XXI. MENS. III. HOR. IV. scRVPLOs VI. — " To the well- 
 deserving Silvana, who sleeps here in peace. She lived 
 twenty-one years, three months, four hours, and six 
 scruples." Six scruples are a quarter of an hour. 
 
 When the exact number of years was unknown, the ex- 
 pressions PLV;s MINVS, nAEON EAATTON— "more or less " 
 — were used.|| Frequently the duration of married life 
 
 * Fabiola, p. 146. 
 
 \ Christian Epitaphs, Introd., p. xxii, note f . We are indebted to 
 this masterly prolegomena for several of the illustrations cited. 
 
 \ In one example it is minutely indicated thus : Ora noctis- IIII. 
 • • • VIII Idus Madias die Saturnis luna vigesima Slqno Apiorno, — 
 " In the fourth hour of the night, the eighth day before the Ides of 
 May, the twentieth day of the Moon, in the sign of Capricorn." 
 De Rossi regards this as an astrological horoscope — a relic of heathen 
 superstition. 
 
 I The greatest age we have observed in Christian epitaphs is nine- 
 ty-one years. See Fig. 19. The youngest is three months — Mens. 
 III. We have noticed in Muratori (p. 382, No. 5) the following re- 
 markable instance of longevity : M. Flavius Secundus filius feci* 
 Flavio Secundo patri q. vixit ann. CXI I, et Flavia Urbana matri 
 pia vixit ann. CV. — " M. Flavius Secundus, the son, made this to Fla- 
 vius Secundus, his father, who lived one hundred and twelve years, 
 and to his pious mother, (who) lived one hundred and five years." 
 
 i 
 
 If 
 
 
 I ■ ' 
 
 ■>■ I 
 
 : 
 
412 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 is also mentioned with extreme definiteness, as in the 
 following:* silvana niciati marito bene merenti 
 
 CVM QVO VIXIT ANNIS TRIBVS MANSIBVS DVABVS HORIS 
 
 UNDECIM, — ** Silvana to her well-deserving husband 
 Niciatis, with whom she lived three years, two months, 
 eleven hours. 
 
 The day of the month is generally indicated in the 
 ordinary way with reference to the divisions of Calends, 
 Nones, and Ides.f The days of the week are men- 
 tioned by their usual classical names, as Dies SoliSy 
 Sunday ; VUs Lunie^ Monday ; Dies Mariis, I'uesday ; 
 Z>/>j if/^rr///-//, Wednesday ; Dies Jovis^ Thursday; Dies 
 Veneris^ Friday ; and Dies Saturni^ Saturday. Some- 
 times, however, the first and last days of the week are in- 
 dicated by the Christian designations Dies Dominica^ the 
 day of the Lord, and Dies Sabbati^ the day of rest. 
 
 The Christian inscriptions also habitually ignore all 
 mention of the birth-place or country of the deceased, 
 as if in recognition that the Christian's true country is 
 beyond the grave.J As if, also, in obedience to the in- 
 junction to forsake father and mother in order to follow 
 after Christ, details of family or descent, which are so 
 
 Kenrick quotes an epitaph of a child of three and his mother 
 {mammula) of eighty ; and another of a man of one hundred and 
 two years, ninety of which were passed without disease. The aver- 
 age duration of life, according to Ulpian, was thirty years. 
 
 * The relationship is generally expressed by such phrases as vixit 
 mecum, duravit mecum, vixit in conjugio, fecit mecum, fecit cum 
 compare. McCaul, Christ. Epitaphs, Introd. xv. 
 
 f lb., xxvii. 
 
 \ Of 5,000 epitaphs in Squier's Index, only forty-five mention the 
 country of the deceased. See one example, page 401, second foot- 
 note, and also the following, of date A. D. 388 : Rapetiga, medicus, 
 civis Hispanus, qui vixit in pace annos plus minus XXV, — " Rapc- 
 tiga, a physician, a citizen of Spain, who lived in peace twenty-five 
 years, more or less." 
 
Character of the Inscriptions, 
 
 413 
 
 conspicuous in somo heathen inscriptions, almost never 
 occur. 
 
 Mr. Burgon has briefly expressed the principal points 
 of contrast between modern epitaphs and those of the 
 early Christians, as follows : " They never mention the 
 date of birth,* we seldom omit it. They constantly 
 record the day of burial, we never. They seldom men- 
 tion the year of death, we never omit it. We tiever 
 allude to burial, they always. They frequently record 
 the years of married life, we never. In theirs the sur- 
 vivors appear prominently, even by name, and are some- 
 times mentioned exclusively. With us the dead are 
 always named, the living seldom." f 
 
 There are among these inscriptions several examples 
 of opisthographa^ as they are called,t that is, Christian 
 epitaphs written on slabs that had originally borne one 
 of pagan character. The latter are generally defaced or 
 obliterated, filled with cement or turned to the wall, or 
 placed upside down or sideways, so as to indicate their 
 rejection by the Christian artist. Sometimes, however, 
 they are still legible, but they have manifestly no con- 
 nection with Christian sepulture whatever. Some are not 
 funeral epitaphs at all, and some which are commemo- 
 rate an entire family, though affixed to a single Christian 
 grave. The appropriation of heathen monuments for 
 the reception of Christian inscriptions will appear less 
 strange when we reflect that the very temples of the 
 gods have been the quarries from which many of the 
 churches and palaces of later times were built. 
 
 Sometimes, as in the example given in Fig. 59, the 
 heathen formula of consecration to the " Divine Spirits " 
 
 ♦ This is not quite correct. 
 
 f Letters from Rome, pp. 202, 203. 
 
 \ From 6^10610^ and }fM(piJ, to write again. 
 
 ' 
 
 w 
 
• f 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 n 
 
 
 — D. M., for Dis Manibus — is obliterated, and the sacred 
 monogram gives the slab a Christian character. Occa- 
 sionally, however, these letters appear in manifestly Chris- 
 tian inscriptions, in which case Fabretti and others have 
 maintained that they were capable of the interpretation 
 Deo Magno or Deo Maximo — " To the Supreme God." 
 With still less probability M. Rochette renders them 
 Divis' Marty ribus — " To the divine martyrs," for which 
 expression no countenance is to be found in the entire 
 range of the Catacombs. Both interpretations are en- 
 entirely gratuitous suppositions, for which Christian 
 epigraphy furnishes absolutely no warrant. It is 
 more probable that they were careless or conventional 
 imitations of a common heathen formula, which was 
 occasionally adopted by the Christians without thought, 
 or perhaps in ignorance of its meaning, just as they also 
 imi^^ated the winged genii and other classic accessories 
 of pagan art in the ornamentation of the Catacombs. 
 Dr. McCaul has suggested that the Roman mortuary 
 sculptors probably kept sepulchral slabs on sale, as is 
 often done now, with the common formulae already en- 
 graved, which were purchased without regard to their ap- 
 propriateness, and that in filling up the inscription the 
 Christians sometimes neglected to obliterate the letters 
 of pagan significance. Possibly, also, some lingering 
 remnants of heathen superstition may sometimes be in- 
 dicated by their use. 
 
 The letters BM., which frequently occur in these 
 inscriptions, have been erroneously interpreted as stand- 
 ing for Beatus or Beata Martyr^ for which there is no 
 authority whatever. They unquestionably indicate the 
 ever-recurring phrase, both in pagan and Christian 
 epigraphy. Bene Merenti — "To the well-deserving," or 
 Boncd Memoricc — " Of happy memory." 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 41S 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE DOCTRINAL TEACHINGS OF THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 " What insight into the familiar feelings and thoughts 
 of the primitive ages of the church," remarks the learned 
 and eloquent Dean Stanley,* " can be compared with 
 that afforded by the Roman Catacombs ! Hardly no- 
 ticed by Gibbon or Mosheim, they yet give us a likeness 
 of those early times beyond that derived from any of 
 the written authorities on which Gibbon and Mosheim 
 repose. . . . The subjects of the painting and sculpture 
 place before us the exact ideas with which the first 
 Christians were familiar ; they remind us, by what they 
 do not contain, of the ideas with which the first Chris- 
 tians were not familiar. . . . He who is thoroughly 
 steeped in the imagery of the Catacombs will be nearer 
 to the thought of the early church than he who has 
 learned by heart the most elaborate treatise even of 
 Tertullian or of Origen." 
 
 By the study of the inscriptions, paintings, and sculp- 
 ture of this subterranean city of the dead, we may fol- 
 low the development of Christian thought from century 
 to century ; we may trace the successive changes of doc- 
 trine and discipline ; we may read the irrefragable tes- 
 timony, written with a pen of iron in the rock forever, 
 of the purity of the primitive faith, and of the gradual 
 corruption which it has undergone. 
 
 In this era of critical investigation of the very founda- 
 tions of the faith it will be well to examine this vast body 
 
 ♦ Eastern Churches. 
 
 i 
 
 'V-:.I 
 
 m 
 
4i5 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 of Christian evidences as to the doctrinal teachings of 
 the primitive times, which has been handed down from 
 the believers living in or near the apostolic age, and 
 thus providentially preserved in these subterranean 
 excavations, as a perpetual memorial of the faith and 
 practice of the golden prime of Christianity. 
 
 While we should not expect to find in these inscrip- 
 tions a complete system of theology, we would certainly 
 look for some definite expression regarding the religious 
 belief of those who wrote these memorials of the dead. 
 We would expect some reference to the lives of the 
 departed, to the virtues of their character, and to the 
 hopes of the survivors as to their future condition in 
 the spirit-world. In this expectation we are not disap- 
 pointed. We find in these epitaphs a body of evi- 
 dence on the doctrines and discipline of the primitive 
 church, whose value it is scarcely possible to over- 
 estimate. We are struck with the infinite contrast of 
 their sentiment to that of the pagan sepulchral mon- 
 uments, and also by the conspicuous absence, in those 
 of the early centuries' and purer period of Christianity, 
 of the doctrines by which the church of Rome is char- 
 acterized. We shall also find references to some of the 
 heresies, which, like plague spots, alas ! so soon began 
 to infect the church,* and some of which even found 
 distinguished ecclesiastical patronage. f 
 
 The Church of Rome lays especial claim to the tradi- 
 tions of the early ages and the antiquities of the Cat- 
 acombs as proofs of the apostolic character of her 
 
 * Tertullian says they destroy the soul as fevers do the body. — De 
 Prcexcrip. Htereticorum, c. 2. 
 
 f The Gnostic Marcion sought admission to the Romar presbyter)', 
 and Valentine even aspired to the •^f iscopal chair. " Speraverat epis* 
 copatum Valentinus." — Tertull., Adv. Valent.y c. iv. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teiuhings. 
 
 417 
 
 peculiar dogmas and usages. But these ancient records 
 are a palimpsest which she has written all over with her 
 own glosses and interpretations; and when the ordeal 
 of modern criticism revives the real documents and re- 
 moves the accumulation of error, the testimony of the 
 past is strikingly opposed to the pretensions of the Ro- 
 man See and the teachings of Romish doctrine. Th% 
 distinguished scholarship, laborious research, and ar- 
 chaeological skill of such eminent authorities as De 
 Rossi, Pitra, Garrucci, and other Roman savants^ only 
 furnish the weapons for the refutation of many of Rome's 
 most cherished beliefs. There are those, indeed, who 
 carry to these investigations the faculty of seeing what 
 they wish to see, and what no others can perceive. It not 
 unfrequently happens, also, that extreme credulity and 
 superstition are found united with great learning and high 
 scientific attainments. The effect, however, of the honest 
 examination of this testimony by a candid mind is seen 
 in the case of Mr, Hemans, the learned author of " An- 
 cient Christianity and Sacred Art in Italy." This gen- 
 tleman, although a pervert from the Anglican communion 
 to that of Rome, and in strong sympathy with many of its 
 institutions, as is apparent from his interesting volume, 
 felt compelled by the historical and monumental testi- 
 mony of the Catacombs, and of early Christian art and 
 literature, to retrace his steps, and, however reluctantly, 
 to condemn and abandon «.he faith he had espoused. 
 
 Protestantism, therefore, has nothing to fear from the 
 closest investigation of these evidences of primitive 
 Christianity. They offer no warrant whatever for the 
 characteristic doctrines and practice of the modern 
 Church of Rome. There is not a single inscription, nor 
 painting, nor sculpture, before the middle of the fourth 
 
 century, that lends the least countenance to her arrogant 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 I! 
 
 Ji 
 
4i8 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 assumptions and erroneous dogmas. All previous to this 
 date are remarkable for their evangelical character; and 
 it is only after that period that the distinctive peculiarities 
 of Romanism begin to appear. The wholesome breath 
 of persecution and the " sweet uses of adversity " in the 
 early ages tended to preserve the moral purity of the 
 church ; but the enervating influence of imperial favour, 
 and the influx of wealth and luxury, led to corruptions 
 of practice and errors of doctrine. Her trappings of 
 worldly pomp and power were a Nessus garment which 
 empoisoned her spiritual life. Hence the Catacombs, 
 the rude cradle of the early faith, became also the 
 grave of much of its simplicity and purity. 
 
 In the investigation of early Christian epigraphy, 
 therefore, the determination of dates is of the utmost 
 importance, as it is only inscriptions of the earlier and 
 acknowledged purer period of the church which can 
 bear authoritative testimony as to primitive doctrine. 
 We shall, therefore, first examine in chronological order 
 all those bearing dates earlier than the fourth century 
 which have any doctrinal significance, and then glean 
 the evidence of later examples as to the antiquity of 
 Romanist teachings. We will take the inscriptions as 
 given in his great work,* by De Rossi, the most eminent 
 authority on this subject ; but while accepting his facts, 
 and acknowledging his candour and honesty of research, 
 which qualities we will seek to imitate, we cannot in all 
 cases accept his conclusions. 
 
 The first dated inscription possessing any doctrinal 
 character occurs in the year 2i7.f It is taken from a 
 large sarcophagus found in the Via Labicana, and is of 
 
 * Inscriptiones Christiana Urbis Romce Septimo Saculo Antiquiores. 
 f The earlier inscriptions express merely the consular dates, and in 
 one instance only, the name and age of the deceased. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 419 
 
 great interest as indicating the lofty social position and 
 honourable offices of the deceased as a member of the 
 imperial household, as wel^ as the devout confidence of 
 his pious freedmen in his spiritual beatification. The 
 upper portion of the following inscription, that in larger 
 type, is engraved on the front of the sarcophagus, and 
 that in smaller characters on the back. The use of a 
 sarcophagus '^ an indication of the wealth of the 
 decease J. 
 
 M- AVRELIO* AVGG 'LIB- PROSENETI 
 
 A CVBICVLO'AVG* 
 PROC'THESAVRORV M 
 PROC'PATRIMONI. PROC* 
 MVNERVM. PROC'VINORVM 
 ORDINATOADIVO COMMODO 
 IN KASTREN8E PATRONO PlISSIMO 
 LIBERT I • B ENEMERENTI 
 SARCOPHAGVM DE SVO» 
 ADORNAVERVNT' 
 
 FROSENES RECEPTVS ADDEVM • V • NGN SSA NIA 
 
 [PRAESENTE • ET • EXTRICATO • II 
 REGREDIENS IN VRBE AB EXPEDITI ONIBVS SCRIPSIT AM 
 
 [PELIVS LIB. 
 
 — Inscrip. Christ., No. 5. 
 
 To Marcus Aurelius Prosenes, freedman of the two Augusti, of the 
 bed-chamber of Augustus, Procurator of the Treasures, Procurator 
 of the Patrimony, Procurator of the Presents, Procurator of the 
 Wines, appointed by the deified Commodus to duty in the camp, a 
 most affectionate Patron. For him, well-deserving, his freedmen pro- 
 vided (this) sarcophagus at their own cost. 
 
 Prosenes received to God, on the fifth day before the Nones 
 of — Proesens and Extricatus (being consuls) for the second tim 
 
 Ampclius his freedman, returning to the city from the wars, wrote 
 (this inscription.) 
 
420 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 We have here the earliest indication of doctrinal be- 
 lief as to the condition of the departed. It is not, how- 
 ever, a dark and gloomy apprehension of purgatorial 
 fires, but, on the contrary, the joyous confidence of im- 
 mediate reception into the presence of God.* The 
 retention of the pagan title of the emperor, " the dei- 
 fied Commodus," is an anomalous feature in a Christian 
 monument, although doubtless it is merely the unthink- 
 ing imitation of a common epigraphic formula. 
 
 Accompanying an inscription of date A. D. 234, is 
 the first example of the symbols, afterward so common, 
 the fish and the anchor, but no other distinctively Chris- 
 tian feature. In the next year, A. D. 235, occurs the fol- 
 lowing epitaph, in which there is possibly an intimation 
 of immortality in the expression de saculo recessit — " re- 
 tired from the world," or "from the age."f avrelia 
 
 DVLCISSIMA FILIA QVAE DE SAECVLO RfiCESSIT VIXIT 
 ANN • XV • M • nil • SEVERO ET QVINTIN COSS, " Aure- 
 
 lia, our very sweet daughter, who retired from the world, 
 Severus and Quintinus being consuls. She lived fifteen 
 years and four months." The epithet "very sweet 
 daughter " is peculiarly appropriate to the Christian 
 character, although common also on pagan tombs. 
 
 In the year A. D. 238, on a sarcophagus which bears 
 the first dated representation of the Good Shepherd, 
 we find the following touching inscription. It conveys 
 nothing doctrinal beyond the phrase " most devout," or 
 " God-loving," expressive of the youthful piety of the 
 
 * Dr. McCaul remarks the occurrence of a simiiar expression in 
 a pagan inscription given by Muratori, (978, 979,) as follows : D. M. in 
 hoc tumulo jacet corpus exanimis (sic) cujus spiritus inter deos re- 
 ceptus est ; sicenim meruit, — " In this tomb lies a lifeless body whose 
 spirit is received among the gods, for so it deserved." 
 
 f The use of recedo in the sense of " to die " is classical ; but in 
 the above form it is unknown in pagan epigraphy. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 421 
 
 deceased. hpakaitoc o eKO*iAECTATOC ezhcen 
 
 ET(j?)H HAPA H(/ifpaf) IT* ENOCHCEN HM(OP(«i) IB ... . 
 SAN0IAC DATHP TEKNQ TATKYTEPfl *i2rOC KAl ZQHC 
 — "The very devout Heraclitus lived eight years and 
 thirteen days. He was ill twelve days . . . Xanthias 
 his father, to his son, sweeter than light and life." 
 The mention of the duration of the illness is very 
 rare in these epitaphs. The yearning affection of the 
 bereaved father is beautifully expressed in the last 
 clause. 
 
 The next example merely gives the consular date, 
 A. D. 249, and the assurance that the deceased sleeps, 
 DORMiT — a distinctively Christian synonym for death. 
 In the year A. D. 268 occurs a fragment on which one 
 may with difficulty decipher the inscription by the pa- 
 rents " to their well-deserving son, who lived twelve 
 years and elev^en months." The chief interest attaches 
 to the last line : vibas inter Sanctis (j/V) iha — " May 
 you live among the holy ones." 
 
 The meaning of the last three letters is unknown. 
 They have been interpreted as standing for in pace or 
 et have J but the last rarely, if ever, occurs in Christian 
 epigraphy. Dr. McCaul ingeniously conjectures that 
 the last word is intended for sanetissimas, or " most holy 
 ones," the h being an ill cut m. This natural ejaculation 
 of the sorrowing friends, of which we shall find occasional 
 examples, is certainly no indication of the later Romish 
 practice of prayers for the dead, or of the intercession of 
 the saints. On this slab are also the first known exam- 
 ples of the dove, olive branch, and vase. 
 
 The next dated inscription, of the year 269, A. D., is 
 of a very barbarous character — Latin words in Greek 
 letters, not engraved, but merely painted on the slab. 
 It is evidently, as is indicated by its wretched grammar 
 
 I 
 
 ' i 
 
 ii 
 
:i 
 
 422 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 and orthography, the production of extreme ignorance. 
 It requires a strong dogmatic prepossession to detect in 
 its incoherent language any meaning beyond the attes- 
 tation of the sanctity of character of the deceased. 
 
 After giving the date, it reads thus : AETKEC . WAEIE . 
 CEBHPE . KAPECCEME • noCOTETE . EA • ElCnEIPEHa . 
 
 CANKTO • TOTQ • Read, Leuces filia Severa carissima 
 posuit et spiritui sancto tuo^ — " Leuces erected this (me- 
 morial) to her very dear daughter, and to thy {sic) 
 holy spirit." 
 
 Nothing further of a doctrinal character occurs till 
 th6 year 291, when we find the following barbarous ex- 
 ample. The grammar and spelling are atrocious, and 
 the division of the words quite arbitrary : ex virgineo 
 
 TVO BENE MECO VIXISTI LIB ENIC ONIVGA INNOCENTISSE 
 MACERVONIA SILVANA REFRIGERA CVM SPIRITA SANCTA. 
 
 Read, Ex Virginia tuo bene mecum vixisti libens in conjuga 
 innocentissima Macervonia Silvana. Refrigera cum spir- 
 itis Sanctis — " Macervonia Silvana, thou didst live well 
 with me from thy maidenhood, rejoicing in most 
 innocent wedlock. Refresh (thyself) among the holy 
 spirits." 
 
 No candid interpretation can discover in the closing 
 acclamation any thing beyond the natural expression 
 of a desire for the happiness of the departed among the 
 sanctified. 
 
 There is nothing, therefore, in any of the inscriptions 
 of the first three centuries — the ages of the purity of the 
 faith — which can in the least degree support the assump- 
 tions of Roman controversialists as to the antiquity of 
 Romish dogmas. Nor is there any indication of those 
 dogmas till the latter part of the fourth century, as will 
 be evident from a brief examination of the principal 
 inscriptions having any reference to doctrine before 
 
Their Doctrinal 1 cachings. 
 
 423 
 
 that period. In the year A. D. 302 we find the follow- 
 ing beautiful tribute of conjugal and filial affection, 
 which only, however, attests the high Christian char- 
 acter of the deceased : domino patri piissimo ac dvl- 
 
 CISSIMO SECVNDO VXOR ET FILII PRO PIETATE POSVE- 
 
 RVNT — " To the highly venerable, most devout, and very 
 sweet father, Secundus. His wife and sons in expres- 
 sion of their dutifulness have placed this slab." 
 
 In the year A. D. 310, in the epitaph of a youth 
 twenty-two years of age, we find the beautiful euphe- 
 mism for death, AccESiirvs ab angelis — " Called away 
 (literally, sent for) by angels." There is no doctrine of 
 purgatory here. The Christian soul, like Lazarus, is 
 borne by angels to Abraham's bosom, and not, like Dives, 
 to tormenting flames, albeit called of purgatorial efficacy 
 to supplement the work of Christ. In A. D. 329 oc- 
 curs the still nobler expression, natvs est lavrentivs 
 
 IN ETERNVM ANN XX • DORMIT IN PACE — " Laurentius 
 
 was born into eternity in the twentieth year of his age. 
 He sleeps in peace." 
 
 Sometimes the word natus refers to the new birth of 
 spiritual regeneration, and admission to the church by 
 the rite of baptism. Thus, in an example of date A. D. 
 338, a youth of twenty-four years of age is said to 
 have been born and died in the same year, though at the 
 interval of a few months. In A. D. 377 we find the 
 expression coelesti renatvs aqva — " Born again of 
 heavenly water." 
 
 In the year A. D. 335 the chaste and modest charac- 
 ter of a Christian matron is commended, without any 
 suggestion of the Romish notion of the superior merit 
 of virginity, as follows : 
 
 B • M • CVBICVLVM • AVRELIAE • MARTINAE • CASTISSIMAE • ADQKE • 
 PVDICISSIMAE • FEMINAE • QVI • FECIT • IN • CONIVGIO • ANN • XXIU • 
 
 « 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
424 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 n • XIIII — " To one well-dcserving. The sleeping-place of Aurelio 
 Martina, a most chaste and modest woman, who passed in wedlock 
 twenty-three years, fourteen days." 
 
 The primitive Christians had no doubt of the immedi- 
 ate happiness of those who died in the faith. They were 
 incapable of the blasphemous thought that the atoning 
 blood of Christ was insufficient to wash away their guilt, 
 and that therefore they were doomed to penal fires, 
 
 Till the foul crimes done in their days of nature 
 Were burned and purged away. 
 
 All the expressions applied to the death of the right- 
 eous indicate the assurance of their spirits* peace and 
 happiness. Thus, in addition to the examples already 
 given, we have, A. D. 339, bene qvesqventi (j/r) in pace 
 — " Resting well in peace ; " A. D, 339, in pace decessit, 
 A. D. 349, and A. D. 360, ibit and exibit in pace — " De- 
 parted in peace ; " A. D. 348, reqvievit — " Entered 
 into rest ; " A. D. 353, pavsabit— " Will repose ; " A. D. 
 355, QviESCiT — "He rests," not reqviescat — "May he 
 rest," as the Romanists write, but the joyful assurance 
 of present repose in the peace of God; A. D. 359, 
 iviT AD DEVM — " He went to God ; " A. D. 363, sem- 
 per QViESCis SECVRA — " Thou dost repose forever free 
 from care ; " A. D. 368, qviencis (j/V) in pace conivx 
 iNCOMPARABiLis — " Thou rcstest in peace, incomparable 
 wife ; " A. D. 369, vocitvs {sic) iit in pace — " Called 
 away, he went in peace ; " in A. D. 380, we find aeterna 
 REQViES FELiciTATis — "Everlasting rest of happiness." 
 The Christians, as is asserted in the following, sor- 
 rowed not as those without hope: ivliae innocen- 
 
 TISSIMAE ET DVLCISSIMAE, MATER SVA SPERANS^="To 
 
 the most sweet and innocent Julia, her mother hoping." 
 Tiie loved ones were " not lost, but gone before : " 
 PRAECESSiT NOS IN PACE — " He went before us in peace j" 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 425 
 
 nPOAnEAOQN TOT KAO HMAC BIOT — " Having gone be- 
 fore from our life." Sometimes the body seems to be 
 regardeu as the clog and fetter of the soul, binding it to 
 earth, as in the following : absolv rvs de corpore — " oet 
 free from the body ; " corpor^os rvmpens nexvs gav- 
 DET IN ASTRis — " Breaking the bonds of the body, he re- 
 joices in the stars," that is, in heaven. 
 
 The entire inscriptions from which extracts are thus 
 given may be found in De Rossi's Inscriptiones Chris- 
 tiancdy under the respective dates. 
 
 The following, of date A. D. 381, rises to loftier poet- 
 ical flights, though ignoring the metrical divisions, 
 which are indicated in the copy by parallels : 
 
 THEODORA QVAE VIXIT ANNOS XXI M. VII D. XXIII IN PACE. . . . AM- 
 PLIFICAM SEQVITVR VITAM DVM CASTA AFRODITE | FECIT AD ASTRA 
 VIAM CHRIST! MODO GAVDET IN AVLA | RESTITIT HAEC MVNDO 
 SEMPER CAELESTIA QVAERENS | OPTIMA SERVATRIX LEGIS FIDEIQVE 
 MAGISTRA I DEDIT EGREGIAM SANCTIS PER SECVLA MENTEM | INDE 
 EXIMIOS P\RADISI REGNAT ODORES | TEMPORE CONTINVO VERNANT 
 VBI GRAMINA RIVIS | EXPECTATQVE DEVM SVPERAS QVO SVRGAT 
 AD AVRAS I HOC POSVIT CORPVS TVMVLO MORTALIA LINQVENS | 
 FVNDAVITQVE LOCVM CONIVNX EVACRIVS INSTANS. 
 
 Theodora, who lived twenty-one years, seven months, twenty-three 
 days. In peace. Whilst following an exalted life, a chaste Venus, 
 she pursued her way to the stars. Now she rejoices in the court of 
 Christ. She resisted the world, ever following heavenly things. A 
 devout observer of the law, and mistress of honour, she applied an 
 illustrious mind to holy things while here in this world. Hence she 
 reigns (amid) the choice odours of paradise, where the herbage is for- 
 ever green beside the streams of heaven,* and awaits God, in order 
 that she may rise to the upper air. She laid her body in this tomb, 
 forsaking mortal things, and Evacrius, her husband, built the monu- 
 ment, superintending the work. 
 
 The first inscription at all favourable to Romish doc- 
 trine is the following barbarous example, (A. D. 380 :) 
 
 ♦ Compare Wesley — 
 
 " There everlasting spring abides. 
 And never-withering flowers." 
 
42(3 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 HIC QVIESCIT ANCILLA DEI OVKDE 
 
 SVA OMNIA I'KPENDir DOMVM ISTA 
 
 QVVM AMICI DEFI.ENT SOLACIVM (^ REQVIRVNT 
 
 I»RO IIVNC VNVM ORA SVUOLEM QVKM SVPERIS 
 
 TITKM REQVKSTI ETERNA REfjVIEM FELICITAS CAVSA MANEIilS. 
 
 Read : Uic quiescit ancilia Dei qua de suis omnibus pcpendit 
 domum is tarn, quant amicic dfjlcnt solaciumque requirunt. Pro hac 
 una ora snbole quain superstitem reliquisti. EUnia requie felici- 
 tdtis causa manebis. 
 
 Here rests a handmaid of God ♦ who, of all her riches, possesses 
 but this one house : whom her friends bewail, and seek for conso< 
 lation. O pray for this thine only child whom thou hast left behind. 
 Thou wilt remain in the eternal repose of happiness. 
 
 1 ne yearning cry of an orphaned heart for the prayers 
 of a departed mother is, however, a slight foundation 
 for the Romish practice of the invocation of the saints. 
 
 Previous to this date we have found not the slightest 
 indication of Romish doctrine; and if those doctrines 
 have been transmitted, as their advocates assert, from 
 the very earliest ages, it is incredible that they should 
 have left no trace in the dated inscriptions for nearly 
 four centuries. After this time, it is true, we find 
 occasional epitaphs which, rigidly interpreted accord- 
 ing to the canons of theological criticism, contain 
 sentiments unwarranted by Scripture ; but these may 
 be the result of carelessness of expression, or of the 
 corruptions of doctrine which had already taken place 
 in the church. 
 
 If then those inscriptions which apparently favour Ro- 
 mish dogmas, of which we know the date, are all of a late 
 period, we may assume that those of a similar character 
 which are undated are of the same relative age, and 
 therefore valueless as evidence of the antiquity of such 
 dogmas. Dr. Northcote admits the fact, but objects to 
 this conclusion as founded upon negative evidence ; 
 * De Rossi thinks Ancilia Dei a proper name. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings, 
 
 427 
 
 I 
 
 yet he himself adopts the same line of argument con- 
 cerning the absence of military rank among the primi- 
 tive Christians. But we are not left to negative evi- 
 dence. We have the amplest testimony of a positive 
 character, which we shall j)roceed to examine, showing 
 that even in the fifth and sixth century the vast pro- 
 portion of the inscriptions are of a iiighly evangelical 
 character, and are entirely antagonistic to the most 
 cherished doctrines of the Church of Rome. 
 
 The Christian's view of death is always, in striking 
 contrast to the sullen resignation or blank despair of 
 paganism, full of cheerfulness and hope. Its rugged 
 front is veiled under softest synonyms. The grave was 
 considered merely as the temporary resting place of the 
 body, while the freed spirit was regarded as already 
 rejoicing in the presence of God in a broader day, and 
 brighter light, and fairer fields than those of earth. 
 The following examples will illustrate the pious ortho 
 doxy of these early Christian epitaphs. 
 
 4BIIT ETHERIAM CVPIENS CAELI CONSCENDERE LVCEM. (a. D. 383.) 
 
 She departed, desiring to ascend to the ethereal light of heaven. 
 
 I.IMINA MORTIS ADIIT 
 EVTVCHIVS SAPIENS PIVS ADQ BENIGNVS 
 IN CHRISTVM CREDENS PREMIA LVCIS ABET. (jtV.) A. D. 393. 
 
 Eutuchius, wise, pious, and kind, believing in Christ, entered the 
 portals of death, (and) has the rewards of the light (of heaven). 
 
 DVLCIS ET INNOCEIi (jiV) HIC DORMIT SEVERIANVS SOMNO PACIS. . . 
 CVIVS KPIPITVS IN LVCE DOMINI SVSCEPTVS EST. (A. D. 393.) 
 
 Here sleeps in the sleep of peace the sweet and innocent Severi- 
 anus, whose spirit is received into the light of the Lord. 
 
 HIC IACET VRBICA SVABIS {sic) SEMPERO. FVDICA 
 VIXIT VERBORVM VERA LOQVVTA {sic) IN SEMPITERNALE 
 AEVVM QVIESCIT SECVKA. (a. D. 397.) 
 
 Here lies Urbica, agreeable and ever modest. She lived a speaker 
 of truth. She rests free from care throujrliout endless time. 
 
428 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 NEC REOR HVNC LACRIMIS FAS SIT DEFLERE 
 
 CORPORIS EXVTVS VINCLIS QVI GAVDET IN ASTRIS 
 
 NEC MALA TERRENI SENTIT CONTAGIA SENSVS. (A. D. 399.) 
 
 Nor do I think it right to lament with tears him, who, freed from 
 the fetters of the body, rejoices among the stars, nor feels the evil 
 contagion of earthly sense. 
 
 pavsabet (sic) praetiosa annorvm 
 
 PVLLA {sic) VIRGO XII. TANTVM ANCILLA DEI ET XPI. 
 
 Pretiosa wen*^ to her rest, a maiden of only twelve years of age, 
 a handmaid of God and of Christ. (A. D. 401.) 
 
 NON TAMEN HAEC TRISTES HABITAT POST LIMINA SEDES 
 PROXIMA SED CHRISTO SIDERA CELSA TENET. (A. D. 406.) 
 
 Nevertheless she occupies not the doleful seats behind the thresh- 
 old, but inhabits the lofty stars, next to Christ. 
 
 HIC REQVIESCET {sic) IN SOMNO PACIS MALA. . . . 
 ACCiJPTA APVT {sic) DEVM. (A. D. 432.) 
 
 Here rests in the sleep of peace Mala. . . Received into the presence 
 of God. 
 
 REDDITVR HAEC MERITIS QUAE SINE FINE MANET. 
 
 This (life) without end which remains is bestowed for his pious 
 desert. 
 
 I the following epitaph of date A. D. i;.72, the de- 
 parted is represented as comforting the survivors with 
 the thciighi of the felicity of the blest : 
 
 LEVITAE CONIVNX PETRONIA FORMA PVDORIS 
 
 HIS MEA DEPONENS SEDIBVS OSSA LOCO 
 PARCITE VOS LACRIMIS DVLCES CVM CONIVGE NATAE 
 
 VIVENTEMQVE DEO CREDITE FLERE NEFAS. 
 
 I, Petronia, the wife of a deacon, the type of modesty, lay down my 
 bones in this resting place. Refrain from tears, my sweet daughters 
 and husband, and believe that it is forbidden to weep for one who 
 lives in God. 
 
 The early Christians confessed that they were stran- 
 gers and pilgrims in the earth, and that they desired a 
 better country, even a heavenly. They felt that, in the 
 language of Cyprian, the soul's true Fatherland is on 
 high. This sentiment is expressed as follows, in an 
 
Their Doctrimil Teachings. 
 
 429 
 
 epitaph of date A. D. 493, migravit de hoc saecvlo — 
 " He migrated from this world." Similar is the idea in 
 the following : felix vita fvit felix et transitvs 
 IPSE — " Happy was the life, and happy also the death," lit- 
 erally, " the transit ; " hic reqiescit . . qvae a deo inter 
 
 EXORDIA VIVENDI DE HAC LVCE SVBLATA ZST VT IN 
 MELIORE LVMINE VIVERE MERERETVR — " Here reStS . . . 
 
 who was snatched away by God in the very beginning 
 of life from the light of earth, that she might be worthy 
 to live in the more glorious light (of heaven)." 
 
 The following is a striking protest against the heathen 
 notions of the future state. 
 
 SI MENTIS VIRTVS LVCISQVE SERENIOR VSVS 
 DEFVNCTO IN XPO REVENIT NGN TARTARA SENTIT 
 CYMERIOSQVE LACOS MERITIS POST FATA SVPERSTES 
 FVNERIS ET LEGEM PERIMENS TERRAEQVE SEPVLCRIS 
 ASTRA TENET NESCITQVE MORI SIC LVCE RELICTA. 
 
 Since vigour of mind and more serene enjoyment of the light re- 
 turn to the dead in Christ, she feels not (the pains of) Tartans, nor 
 the Cimmerian lakes, by her deserts surviving after death and de- 
 stroying that law of the grave, (which is) imposed on the sep ilchres 
 of earth, she occupies the stars, and knows not death, having '.n this 
 manner left the light. 
 
 We find also such expressions as follow : depostvs(j/V) 
 IN pace fidei catholice, {sic) — " Buried in the neare 
 of the Catholic faith," A. D. 462 ; hic. req. in pace 
 devs, {sic) — " Here rests in the peace of God," A. D. 
 500; in pace ecclesiae — "In the peace of the church," 
 A. D. 523; in pace et benedictione — "In peace and 
 benediction ; " semper fidelis manebit apvd devm — 
 " Ever faithful, he shall remain with God," {circ. 590) ; 
 FATVM fecit — "She fulfilled her destiny;"* reddidi 
 
 * The following is the brief biography of some unknown saint at 
 Naples: servvs dei . . . et ad vita {sic) perbenit, {sic^ — *'A 
 servant of God . . i and attained unto life." 
 
 I 
 
430 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 V 
 
 NVNCDIVORERVM DEBIT VM COMMVNE OMNIBVS "I havC 
 
 rendered now to the Lord of the universe the debt com- 
 mon to all," A. D. 483 ; zoticvs hic ad dormiendvm — 
 " Zoticus here laid to sleep ; " dormitio elpidis — " The 
 sleeping place of Elpis ; '* dormivit et reqviescit — 
 " He has slept and is at rest ; " dormit sed vivit — " He 
 sleeps but lives ; " qviescit in domino iesv — " He re- 
 poses in the Lord Jesus ; " ivit ad devm — " He went to 
 God ; " Evoc ATVS a domino — " Called by God ; " accepta 
 APVD DEVM — " Accepted with God ; " ETEAEIQGH — " He 
 finished his life ; " EKOIMHGH — " He fell asleep ; " dama- 
 Lis HIC sic • v • D — " Here lies Damalis, for so God wills." 
 Many of these undated inscriptions are full of Chris- 
 tian thought, and breathe the strongest assurance of the 
 happiness of the departed, as the following from the 
 Late ran Museum : 
 
 MACVS PVER INNOCENS 
 ESSE lAM INTER INNOCENTES COEPISTX 
 QVAM STAVILIS TIBI HAEC vita EST 
 QVAM TE LAETVM EXCIPET MATER ECCLESIA 
 MVNDO REVERTENTEM COMPREMATVR PECTORVM 
 GEMITUS STRVATVR FLETVS OCVLORVM. 
 
 Macua, innocent boy, thou hast already begun to be among the in- 
 nocent. Unto thee how sure is thy present life. Thee how gladly 
 thy mother, the church, (on high,) received returning from this world. 
 Hushed be this bosom's groaning, dried be these weeping eyes.* 
 
 Of similar character are also the following : salonice 
 ISPIRITVS Tvvs IN BONIS — " Salonicc, thy spirit is among 
 the good;" refrigeras spiritvs tvvs in bonis — "Thou 
 refreshest thy spirit among the good ; " nPQTOC EN AFIQ 
 HNETMATl GEOT EN0AAE KEiTAI— " Here in the Holy 
 Spirit of God lieth Protus ; " corpvs habet tellvs 
 animam caelestia regna — "The earth has the body, 
 celestial realms the soul;" TAYKEPON *AOC OT KATE- 
 
 * Button. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 43' 
 
 AEtAS {sic) E2XE2 TAP META COT RANAeANATON— " Thou 
 didst not leave the sweet light, for thou hadst with thee 
 Him who knows not death," literally, "the all-deathless 
 one ; " agape vibis in eternvm — " Agape, thou livest for- 
 ever ; " DORMIT ET viviT IN PACE xo, i^sic) — " He sleeps 
 and lives in the peace of Christ ; " mens nescia mortis 
 
 VIVIT ET ASPECTV FRVITVR BENE CONSCIA CHRISTI — 
 
 ** The soul lives unknowing of death, and consciously re- 
 joices in the vision of Christ ; " prima vivis in gloria dei 
 ET IN pace DOMINI NOSTRi XR. — " Prima, thou livest in 
 the glory of God, and in the peace of Christ, Our Lord." * 
 The glorious doctrine of the resurrection, which is 
 peculiarly the characteristic of our holy religion as dis- 
 tinguished from all the faiths of antiquity, was every- 
 where recorded throughout the Catacombs. It was 
 symbolized in the ever-recurring representations of the 
 story of Jonah and of the raising of Lazarus, and was 
 strongly asserted in numerous inscriptions. As the 
 early Christians laid the remains of the departed 
 saint in their last long rest, the sacred words of the 
 Gospel, " I am the Resurrection and the Life," must 
 have echoed with a strange power through the long cor- 
 ridors of that silent city of the dead, and have filled 
 the hearts of the believers, though surrounded by the 
 evidences of their mortality, with an exultant thrill of 
 triumph over death and the grave. This was a recom- 
 pense for all their pains. Of this not even the malig- 
 nant ingenuity of persecution could deprive them. Al- 
 though the body were consumed and its ashes strewn 
 upon the waters, or sown upon the wandering winds, 
 still, still the Lord knoweth them that are his, and 
 
 * Of the Antiochene Christians Chrysostom writes: " They say not 
 of the departed 'he is dead,' but, 'he is perfected.'" — Horn. \\\ 
 Matt., 68. 
 
432 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 keeps the dust of his chosen. Tertullian ridicules the 
 heathen for believing the doctrine of metempsychosis 
 and rejecting that of the resurrection.* " God forbid 
 that he should abandon to everlasting destruction," he 
 exclaims, " the labour of his hands, the care of his own 
 thoughts, the receptacle of his own Spirit ! " \ 
 
 The hope of t e resurrection is often strongly ex- 
 pressed, as in the following examples : 
 
 HIC REQVIESCIT CARD MEA NOVISSIMO VERO DIE 
 
 PER XPM CREDO RESVSCITABITVR A MORTVIS. (a. D. 544.) 
 
 Here rests my flesh ; but at the last day, through Christ, I believe it 
 will be raised from the dead. 
 
 RELICTIS TVIS lACES IN PACE SOPORE 
 
 MERITA RESVRGES TEMPORALIS TIB! DATA REQVIETIO. 
 
 You, well-deserving one, having left your (relations), lie asleep in 
 peace —you will arise — a temporary rest is granted you. 
 
 In an epitaph of the year 449 we read, recepta 
 
 CAELO MERVIT OCCVRRERE XPO AD RESVRRECTIONEM 
 
 PRAEMivM AETER i^vM svsciPERE DiGNA — " Received 
 into heaven, she deserved to meet Christ at the resur- 
 rection, worthy to receive an everlasting reward." In the 
 following example from the Catacomb of Naples, Chris- 
 tian confidence adopts the sublime language of Job : 
 
 CREDO QVIA REDEMPTOR MEVS BIBIT {sic) ET NOBISSIMO DIE 
 DE TERRA SVSCITABIT ME IN CARNE MEA VIDEBO DOM. 
 
 I believe, because that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day 
 shall raise me from the earth, that in my flesh I shall see the Lord. 
 
 More briefly is this cardinal doctrine asserted in the 
 following : ivstvs cvm scis xpo mediante resvrget 
 — " Justus, who will arise with the saints through Christ." 
 
 * Apol.y c. 48. 
 
 \ De Resur. Carn., c. 9. He mentions the long duration of the 
 bones and teeth, and quotes the story of the phoenix as an argument 
 in favour of the doctrine, c. 13. 
 
Their Doctrinal Tcic/iings. 
 
 433 
 
 ttIC IN PACE REQVIESCIT LAVRENTIA QVAE CREDIDIT 
 
 RESVRRECTiONEM — " Here reposes in peace Laurentia, 
 who believed in the resurrection."* 
 
 The very idea of death seems to have been repu- 
 diated by the primitive Christians. " Non tnortua sed 
 data somno" sings Prudentius in paraphrase of the 
 words of Our Lord, "She is not dead but sleepeth."f 
 Hence the Catacomb was designated the cctmeteriumX 
 or place of sleeping, and the funeral vault the cubiculum, 
 or sleeping chamber. The dead were not " buried," as 
 the pagan expressions londitus^ compositus^ situs, indicate ; 
 but depositus, " laid down " in their lowly beds till the 
 everlasting morn should come, and the angel's trump 
 awake them ; consigned as a precious trust to the ten- 
 der keeping of mother earth, and " lying in wait for the 
 resurrection." § The saints were " fallen asleep " in 
 Jesus, and on the bridal morning of the soul they should 
 awake with his likeness and be satisfied. The primitive 
 Christians believed that the power which called a Laz- 
 arus from the tomb could wake to life again the slum- 
 bering millions of this valley of dry bones, vaster far 
 
 * A spurious epitaph of the fourteenth century, given by Maitland, 
 p. 82, as genuine, thus fantastically refers to this august theme : QVI 
 
 INQVIETVS VIXI NVNC TANDEM MORTVVS NON LVBENS QVIESCO, 
 SOLVS CVR SIM QVAESERIS {sic) VT IN DIE CENSORIO SINE IMPEDI- 
 
 MENTO FACiLivs RESVRGAM — *' I who lived restless, being now 
 at length dead, rest unwillingly. Do you ask why I am alone? 
 That in the day of Judgment I may more readily rise without 
 impediment." 
 
 f See also the epitaph given in Book I, chap. iii. — ALEXANDER 
 MORTVVS NON EST SED viviT svpER ASTRA — " Alexander is not dead, 
 but lives above the stars." 
 
 \ Similarly the African Christians called their burial places accu- 
 bitoria — " sleeping places." 
 
 § Wiseman, Fabiola, p. 145. Dr. McCaul, however, regards the 
 expression as simply equivalent to buried. 
 
 28 
 
 •\ 
 
434 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 than that of Ezekiel's vision, till they should stand up 
 upon their feet an exceeding great army. 
 
 But this sleep was a sleep of the body only, not of 
 the soul. The ancient Christians were assured, as we 
 have seen, of the immediate happiness of those that 
 died in the faith. They believed that being absent 
 from the body they were present with the Lord ; that 
 as soon as they passed from earth's living death they 
 entered into the undying life and unfading bliss of 
 heaven. Though surrounded by the mouldering bodies 
 of the saints in Christ, the eye of faith beheld their glo- 
 rified spirits, starry-crowned and palm-bearing, among 
 the white-robed multitude before the throne of God. 
 They admitted no thought of a long and dreary period 
 of forgetfulness, nor probation of purgatorial fires, be- 
 fore the soul could enter into joy and peace. 
 
 The sublime reflections with which Cyprian con- 
 cludes his treatise De Mortalitate nobly express the 
 grand consoling thoughts which sustamed the primitive 
 Chrictians, and which sustain God's saints in every age. 
 " We are but pilgrims and strangers here below," he 
 exclaims, " let us then welcome the day that gives to us 
 the joys of heaven. What exile longs not for his native 
 land t Our true native land is paradise. A large and 
 loving company expects us there. O the bliss of those 
 celestial realms where no fear of dying enters ! There 
 the glorious choir of the apostles, the exulting com- 
 pany of the prophets, the countless army of the mar- 
 tyrs, await us. To them let us eagerly hasten. Let us 
 long to be with them the sooner, that we may the sooner 
 be with Christ." 
 
 What a striking contrast to these holy hopes is the 
 pagans' blankness of despair concerning the future. 
 Compared with this assurance of a blissful immortality, 
 
Tlieir Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 4 "» * 
 
 how cold and cheerless is their shadowy elysium, their 
 unsubstantial visions of the spirit-world ; how terrible 
 the gloomy Acherontian lake, dark Lethe's stream, and 
 Styx, and fiery Phlegethon. Like a gleam of heaven's 
 sunshine in a benighted age are these rude inscriptions 
 of the early Christians. Sublimer is their lofty hope, 
 reaching forward beyond this world, and laying hands 
 of faith upon the eternal verities of the world to corne, 
 than the imperishable renow^n of classic sages, or the 
 Roman poet's vaunting boast of earthly immortality — 
 Non omnis mortar. 
 
 Even the high philosophy of Greece and the noble 
 stoicism of the Roman mind afford no consolation to 
 the soul brought face to face with the solemn mystery 
 of death. A forced and sullen submission to the in- 
 evitable is all that they can teach. They shed no light 
 upon the world beyond the grave, domvs aeterna — 
 "An eternal home,"* and somno aeternali — "In 
 eternal sleep," are written on their tombs, frequently ac- 
 companied by an inverted torch, the emblem of despair. 
 To them death is an unsolved and insoluble problem. 
 Their loftiest reasonings lack authority to satisfy the 
 mind. It is the gospel of Christ alone which dispels 
 the awful shadows of the tomb, plants the flower of 
 hope in the very ashes of the grave, and brings life and 
 immortality to light; which appeases the soul-hunger of 
 mankind, and meets the yearning cry of the human 
 heart. 
 
 f 
 
 * This phrase is sometimes, though very rarely, inadvertently used 
 in Christian epitaphs, as also the expression, Tbv uyp^yopov Citvov 
 Kodevdei — " Sleeps the sleep that knows no waking." Of somewhat 
 pagan form is the following epitaph of Cardinal Porto-Carero at To- 
 ledo, ffic jacet pulvis cinis et nihil — " Here lies dust and ashes, and 
 nothing more." 
 
436 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Even the thoughtful mind of Pliny could extract no 
 comfort from the various theories concerning the future 
 state, but looked forward to annihilation as the universal 
 doom. " To all," he says, " from the last day of life is 
 there the same lot that there was before the first ; nor is 
 there any more consciousness after death than there was 
 before birth." * Of Agricola, the wise and good, the 
 philosophic Tacitus could only say. with an incredulous 
 sigh, " Doubtless if there be a place for the departed 
 spirits of the just, if great souls perish not with the 
 body, thou dost calmly repose. "t " That the manes are 
 any thing," says Juvenal, " or that the nether world is 
 any thing, not even boys believe, unless those still in the 
 nursery." X In sullen submission to fate, the pagan sub- 
 mits to the inevitable doom. When the name has issued 
 from the fatal urn he leaves forever his woods, his villa, 
 his pleasant home, and enters the bark which is to bear 
 him into eternal exile.§ The wisest sages can only fan 
 the embers of their hopes into a flickering flame, and 
 cry, *' Ha ! we have seen the fire." 
 
 The following are examples of the melancholy and 
 despairing spirit often breathed by pagan epitaphs : 
 
 PRAEVENERE DIEM VITAE CRVDELIA FATA 
 ET RAPTAM INTERNA ME POSVERE RATE 
 
 HOC LECTO ELOGIO IVVENIS MISERERE lACENTIS 
 ET Die DISCEDENS SIT TIBI TERRA LEVIS. 
 
 I: 
 
 * Omnibus a suprema die eadem quae ante primum, nee magis a 
 morte sensus ullus aut corporis aut animae, quam ante natalem. 
 
 f Si quis piorum manibus locus, si non cum corpore extinguuntur 
 magnse animse.placide quiescas. — Vit. Agric. 
 
 \ Esse aliquid manes et '>ubterranea regna, 
 
 Nee pueri credunt,ni<i qui nondum acre lavantur. — Sat., ii, 149. 
 
 § See that saddest but most beautiful of the odes of Horace — To 
 Delium, II, 3. 
 
 . . . Et nos in aeternum 
 Exilium impositura cymbw. 
 
Their^ Doctrinal Teachings, 
 
 437 
 
 The cruel fates have anticipated the term of life, and placed me, 
 snatched away, in the infernal bark. Having read this elegy pity the 
 fallen youth and say departing. May the earth be light upon thee. 
 
 INFANTI DVLCISSIMO QVEM DII IRATI AETERNO SOMNO 
 
 DEDERVNT — " To a Very sweet child, whom the angry 
 gods gave to eternal sleep." svscipe nvnc conivnx 
 
 SI QVIS POST FVNERA SENSVS DEBITA MANIBVS OFFICIA — 
 
 " Receive now, O husband, if after death is any con- 
 sciousness, the rites due to departed spirits." The 
 hopeless parting of a dying wife is thus expressed : care* 
 
 MARITE MIHI DVLCISSIMA NATA VALETE — " O husband, 
 
 dear to me, and dearest daughter, farewell." Or more 
 briefly we read, ave atqve vale — " Hail and farewell." 
 Sometimes the desponding view of life is like the bit- 
 ter experience of the Hebrew moralist, " Vanity of 
 vanities, all is vanity ! " One such example reads thus ; 
 
 DECIPIMVR VOTIS ET TEMPORE FALLIMVR ET MORS 
 DERIDET CVRAS ANXIA VITA NIHIL. 
 
 • We are deceived by our vows, misled by time, and death derides 
 our cares ; anxious life is naught. 
 
 Of similar character is the following recalling the 
 complaint of Job, " He cometh forth as a flower and is, 
 cut down : " vive laetvs qvicvnqve vivis vita par- 
 
 VVM MVNVS EST MOX EXORTA EST SENSIM VIGESCIT 
 
 DEINDE SENSIM DEFICIT — " Live joyful who ever thou 
 art that livest. Life is a small gift. It is scarcely sprung 
 up when it imperceptibly flourishes and then impercep- 
 tibly declines." The succeeding example is remarkable 
 for its misanthropy : animal ingrativs homine nvllvm 
 EST — " No animal is more ungrateful than man." The 
 inspired apothegm, " We brought nothing into this world, 
 and it is certain we can carry nothing out," is illustrated 
 in the following: ex omnibvs bonis svis hoc sibi svmp- 
 SERVNT — " Of all their wealth they possess only this 
 
 i ii 
 
438 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 tomb." > .. find also the expression, mater genvit me 
 MATER RECiPiT — '* Mother (earth) nourished me, she 
 receives me again," analogous to the declaration of 
 Scripture, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou 
 return." Spon gives also the following example : vixi 
 VT vivis MORiERis VT SVM MORTVvs — "I have Hved as 
 thou livest, thou shalt die as I have died." Some- 
 times the cold consolation is offered that others are 
 also the subjects of sorrow and death, as dolor talis 
 NGN TiBi coNTiGir VNi — " Such grief affects not thee 
 alone;" NEC tibi nec nobis aeternvm vivere cessit 
 — " Neither to you nor to us was it granted to live 
 forever." Similar to this is a Christian inscription, 
 
 ETtTXE! CEKOTNAE OTAElC AGANOTOC — " Be of good 
 
 cheer, Secundus; no one is immortal." 
 
 More painful even than the gloomy stoicism of many 
 pagan inscriptions is the light Epicurean tone which 
 frequently occurs, as in the instance which follows, where 
 life is compared to a play : 
 
 VIXI • DVM • VIXI • BENE • lAM • MEA 
 PERACTA • MOX • VESTRA • AGETVR 
 FABVLA • VALETE • ET • PLAVDITE . 
 
 While I lived, I lived well. My play is now ended, soon yours 
 will be. Farewell and applaud me.* 
 
 ' In the succeeding example the sentiment is still more 
 Anacreontic. It breathes the true pagan spirit, Carpe 
 diem — " Seize the day. Pluck each flower of pleasure as 
 you pass. Press all life's nectar into one frenzied 
 draught and drain it to the dregs. Let us eat and drink. 
 
 * In a similar spirit the dying emperor Augustus inquired if he had 
 played his part well in the farce of life, and asked the applause of his 
 courtiers. 
 
 t^brt KpoTov 
 Kai Trdvrcf vfitl^ ftera x^P^^ KTv-'^aare. 
 
 i 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings 
 
 439 
 
 »•> 
 
 A 
 
 for to-morrow we die." Even in the solemn j)resence 
 of death, the sonl, unawed by the dread shadow of the 
 future, turns regretfully to the vanished pleasures of 
 earth, and finds its only consolation in the thought of 
 their enjoyment. 
 
 n • M • TI : CLAVDI • SECVNDI 
 
 HIC • SKCVM • HABET • OMNIA 
 
 BALNEA • VINVM • VENVS • CORRVMPVNT • CORPORA 
 
 NOSTRA • BED • VITAM • FACIVNT B • V • V • 
 
 To the Divine Manes of Tiberius *" .a idius Secundm. Here he en- 
 joys every thing. Bath^, wine, and lust ruin our constituiiouo, bul^* 
 they make life what it is. Farewell, farewell.* 
 
 The following expresses the very essence of coarse 
 sensualism : qvod edi et bibi mecvm habeo qvod 
 RELiQvi perdidi — " What I ate and drank I have 
 with me; what I left I have lost." Compare the 
 moral antithesis of the sentiment expressed by John 
 Wesley : " What I gave away I have still ; what I kept 1 
 have lost." 
 
 Frequently the pagan epitaphs contain an outburst 
 of scorn or defiance of the unjust gods that sit aloft 
 and make their sport of human woe, as is seen in the 
 accompanying examples : 
 
 PROCOPE • MANVS • LEBO • CONTRA • DEVM 
 QVI ■ ME • INNOCENTEM • SVSTVLIT. 
 
 I, Procope, lift up my hands against the god who snatched away 
 me innocent. 
 
 In an epitaph in the Lapidarian Gallery a bereaved 
 mother in the bitterness of her soul cries out : 
 
 ATROX O FORTVNA TRVCI QVAE FVNERE GAVDES 
 QVID MIHI TAM SVBITO MAXIMVS ERIPITVR 
 QVI MODO IVCVNDVS GREMIO SVPERESSE SOLEBAT 
 HIC LAPIS IN TVMVLO NVNC lACET ECCE MATER. 
 
 * The Swedish poet Georg St. Jernhjelm ordered to be written on 
 his tomb the pagan sentiment, VixiT DVM vixiT LAETVS— " While he 
 lived he lived merrily." 
 
 If 
 
44'> y/'<' CittiKombs of Rome. 
 
 O relentless Fortune, who delightcst in cruel deatli, 
 Why is MaximuH so suddenly snatched from me? 
 He who lately used to be joyful in my bosom, 
 This stone now marks his tomb. — iJchold his mother. 
 
 Compare also the following : invida lihitina filiis 
 ABSTVLiT PATREM — " Envious Libitina snatched away 
 a father from his children ; " vie r a est ivsticia non 
 AEQVO IVDICE FATo — " Justice is ovcrcomc by that unjust 
 judge, Fate; " Diis iniqvis animvlam tvam rapvervnt 
 — "To the unjust gods, (who) snatched away thy soul." 
 
 But the holy teachings of Christianity revealed to the 
 weary and heavy laden souls of men, aching with a 
 sense of orphanage, the loving Fatherhood of God,* 
 and produced a spirit of meekness and resignation alto- 
 gether foreign to the pagan mind. Of pathetic interest, 
 as illustrating this fact, is a Christian fragment of date 
 circ. A. D. 600, on which we may still read the in- 
 scription 
 
 QVI • DEDIT • ET • ABSTVLIT 
 .... OMINI • BENEUIC 
 
 • • • • 
 
 The familiar words suggest the imperishable thought, 
 which has been a source of consolation to bereaved 
 ones in every age. " Like a voice from among the 
 graves," says Dr. Maitland, " broken by sobs, yet dis- 
 tinctly intelligible, fall these words on the listening ear, 
 ' who gave, and hath taken away — blessed [be the 
 name] of the Lord.' " 
 
 We occasionally find pagan inscriptions breathing a 
 sense of spiritual existence and hope of future life.f 
 The yearning of the human heart that 
 
 Longs for the touch of a vanished hand 
 And the sound of a voice that is still, 
 
 * •* God counts even the bristles of the swine," says X^r^ullian, 
 *' much more the hairs of his children." 
 f The following proposes a practical test of the existence of spirits : 
 
 TVI.EGIS KT DVBITAS MANES ESSE SI'DNSIGNE FACTA INVOCA NQ5 E-T 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings, 
 
 441 
 
 and the hunger of the soul for communion with the 
 dear departed in the loving tryst of the silent land are 
 pathetically ex|)ressed in the following prayer of Furia 
 Spes : PETo vos manks sanctissimak {sic) . . . mevm 
 
 CONIVOEM HORIS NOCTVRNIS VT VIDEAM ET ETIAM VT 
 EGO DVLCIVS ET CELERIVS APVU EVM PERVENIRE POS- 
 
 siM — " I beseech you, most holy spirits, that I may 
 behold my husband in the midnight hours ; and also that 
 I may more sweetly and swiftly go to him." 
 
 More common, however, is the feeling of hopeless 
 severance expressed by the fre(|uent valediction, vale 
 VALE LONGVM VALE — " Farewell, farewell, a long fare- 
 well ; " CT, sadder still, vale aeternvm — "Farewell 
 forever." 
 
 There occur in the Catacombs frequent examples of 
 acclamations addressed to the departed, expressive of a 
 desire for their happiness and peace. These acclama- 
 tions have been quoted' by Romanist writers as indicat- 
 ing a belief in the doctrine of purgatory, and in the 
 efticacy of prayers on behalf of the dead. The im- 
 portance of this subject will justify its careful ex- 
 amination. Many of the examples quoted by Roman 
 controversialists are not precatory at all, but simply 
 declarative.* But there are others in which the ex- 
 pression assumes a distinctively optative form. Some 
 
 \- 
 
 
 INTELLIGES — " You who read this epitaph and doubt whether spirits 
 exist, invoke us, and by our answer you will know." 
 
 ♦ Thus in Rock's Hierurgia, a standard Romanist authority, such 
 expressions as req in pace are explained sometimes in defiance of 
 the grammatical construction of the context, as signifying " Mayest thou 
 rest," as if reqviescas, instead of, in analogy with numerous other 
 examples, " he rests," — reqviescit. Sometimes the cardinal word is 
 entirely omitted, as in the expression, in pace et ue.nedictione, 
 which is quite unwarrantably translated, *' May you rest in peace 
 and benediction." ' 
 
 ^Wfci. 
 
442 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 of these may be of comparatively late date, as the graf- 
 fiii^ or inscriptions of pilgrims near the more celebrated 
 shrines, of which we have seen examples at the so-called 
 "papal crypt." But others are unquestionably part of 
 the original epitaphs. We find, for instance, such ex- 
 pressions as VIVAS — " May you live ; " vivas in deo, ZHC 
 EN 0Ei2 — " May you live in God; " vivas in eternvm — 
 " May you live forever; " eterna tibi lvx — " Eternal 
 light to thee ; " estote in pace- •" Pe in peace ; " vivas 
 INTER sanctos — " May you live among the holy ones ; " 
 vivas in nomine xti — " May you live, in the name of 
 Christ ; " ZHCHC {sic) IN AEO XPICTO— " May you live in 
 God Christ;" vivas in domino zezv — "May you live 
 in the Lord Jesus;" vlvas vincas— " May you live, 
 may vou conquer;" dormitio tva . ^ter dicaeis, 
 (AIKAIOIC) — "May your sleep be among the just;" 
 
 DEVS TIBI REFRIGERET — SPIRIT VM TVVM REFRIGERET 
 
 — "God refresh thee, refresh thy spirit;" EIPHNH COI 
 — " Peace to thee ; " EN EIPHNH sor TO hneyma — 
 "In peace be thy spirit;" O eEOC anaHAYCH THN 
 *YXHN EN CKHNAIC afiqn — " God give thy soul 
 rest in the tents of the holy." These, it will be per- 
 ceived, are not intercessions for the dead, but mere 
 apostrophes addressed to them, as is apparent in 
 the following : ZQTiKE ZHCAICEN {sic) KYPIQ 0APP1, {sic)— 
 " Zoticus, mayest thou live in the Lord. Be of good 
 cheer." They were no more prayers for the souls of 
 the departed than is Byron's verse, " Bright be the place 
 of thy rest." 
 
 But the wish sometimes takes the form of a prayer 
 for the beloved one, as MNHCGHC IHCOYC O KYPIOC 
 TEKNON EM . . . — " Remember, O Lord Jesus, our 
 child ; " AEOYC XPICTOYC OMNIHOTEC CHIPIT . . . 
 TOY PE* . IFEPE IN )^ , (Latin in Greek characters,) 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 443 
 
 |i 
 
 
 — " May the Almighty God Christ refresh thy spirit in 
 Christ." NHMNHBH EATTOT Q GEOC ICTOTC AFiNAC {sic) 
 — " Remember him, O God, among thy lambs ; " 
 MNHCeHTl KTPIE THC KOIMHCEGC THC AOYAHC COT AN- 
 AHATCON THN i'YXHN TOT AOYAOT COT EN TO *QTlNSi 
 
 EN Ti2 ANAi-TSEilC EIC KOAHON ABPAAM,— " Remember, 
 O God, the sleep of thy servant ; give rest to the 
 soul of thy servant in the light, in the refreshment in 
 Abraham's bosom : " domine ne advmbretvr spiritvs 
 — " O Lord ! let not (this) soul be brought into dark- 
 ness ; " MNHC0H ATTOT O GEOC EIC TOTC Ali2NAC— " May 
 God remember him forever."* 
 
 These intense expressions of affection of the ardent 
 Italian nature f that would fain follow the loved object 
 — " though lost to sight to memory dear " — beyond the 
 barrier of the tomb, are surely a slight foundation on 
 which to build the vast system of mercenary masses for 
 the dead. And yet they are the only evidences that 
 keen Roman controversialists can adduce from these 
 Christian inscriptions of the first six centuries.! And, 
 be it remembered, these inscriptions were not a for- 
 mulated and authoritative creed framed by learned the- 
 ologians, but the untutored utterances of humble peas- 
 ants, many of whom were recent converts from pagan- 
 
 * Sometimes the modernized form of the language indicates the 
 late origin of graffiti found on ancient monuments, as in the follow- 
 ing, PREGA ILA PER SILVINA, VIVI ILA NEL DIO CRISTO. 
 
 f The adoring love of Cicero for his daughter found expression in 
 the building of a temple to her memory. 
 
 \ Rock quotes them as "proof" that the primitive Christians be- 
 lieved that the soul of the deceased might be in an intermediate 
 state, where the efficacy of such aspirations could reach him, and his 
 spirit could be refreshed and benefitted by the supplications of his 
 sui^viving brethren. — Hierurgia, p. 322. He givjs several examples 
 similar to the above ; but no accumulation of such evidence affords the 
 slightest warrant for the corrupt practice of the Church of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
444 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ism or Judaism, in which religions such expressions 
 were a customary sepulchral formula. The accompanying 
 examples indicate the prevalei\ce of this practice in pagan 
 epigraphy: ave or have vale — " Hail, farewell ; " di tibi 
 BENEFACiANT — " May the gods be good to thee; " ossa 
 TVA BENE QviESCANT — " May thy bones rest well ; " sit 
 TIBI TERRA LEVIS — " May the earth be light upon thee ; " 
 XAIPE ETnAOEl— EYAPOMEl — " Rejoice, a safe voyage, 
 a prosperous journey ; " ErtTXEl KTPIA KAl AQH COI 
 OCIPIC TO i'TXPON TAS2P— " Be of good cheer, O 
 lady, and to thee Osiris give to quaff the cooling 
 water;"* EN MTPOIC COI TEKNON H i-YXH — "In 
 precious odours be thy soul, my child ; " hic manes 
 
 PLACIDA NOCTE QVIESCANT ET SVPER IN NIDO MARA- 
 
 thonia cantet aedon — *' Here may the manes rest 
 throughout the placid night, and above thee in her nest 
 may the Marathonian nightingale sing ; " bene valeas 
 
 MATER ROGAT TE VT ME AD TE RECIPIAS VALE " Fare- 
 well, thy mother prays, O take me to thyself again, 
 farewell." f In the Jewish epitaphs these acclama- 
 tions are much more common than in the Christian in- 
 scriptions. The following is an example : marcia bona 
 IVDEA DORMiTio IN BONIS — " Marcia, a good Jewess, 
 thy sleep be among the good." On many modern He- 
 brew tombstones are the words, " Let his soul be bound 
 up in the bundle of life." 
 
 Small wonder, therefore, that those Christian converts 
 who had been brought up in pagan or Jewish supersti- 
 tion should retain traces of this ancient custom so con- 
 genial to the sympathies of the human heart, unpre- 
 scient as they were of the baneful results to which it 
 would lead. Their freedom of language had not yet 
 been restricted, as Bishop Kip remarks, to the cold 
 ♦ Bui^on. f Ibid. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings, 
 
 445 
 
 rules of ordinary logic by the fear of deadly heresy. 
 We know, indeed, from the testimony of the Fathers, 
 that mention of the dead was frequently made in the 
 prayers of the church. These prayers, however, were 
 oficr thanksgivings — ^X^ evxapLori^pio^ — for those who 
 were asleep in Christ, or commemorations of their vir- 
 tues for ti^e improvement of the living.* Many of the 
 Fathers vigorously protest against the idea that the 
 dead can bf. benefitted by any prayers on their behalf, 
 and strongl) assert their changeless state in the other 
 world.f The notion, however, of the efficacy of these 
 prayers gradually crept into the church ; but that they 
 were not conceived to procure remission from purgato- 
 rial flames is evident from the fact that, even at a com- 
 paratively late period, they were offered on behalf of the 
 patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and saints, and 
 even of the Virgin Mary herself, who were all believed 
 to be in the immediate presence of God. At length 
 even this tremendous error found entrance into the 
 church, and gave into the hands of a mercenary hie- 
 rarchy the keys of heaven and hell. 
 
 But in the testimony of the Catacombs is no trace 
 of that torturing doctrine which hangs the heart on 
 tenter-hooks of dread suspense, and wrings from the 
 lacerated affections a dole to a hireling priesthood for 
 
 * Ut ex recordatione eorum proBciamus. — Orig. in Rom., xii. 
 These commemorations of the d^^parted were generally celebrated on 
 the anniversaries of their death — their birthday as it x/as called — Ob- 
 lationes pro defunctis pro natalitiis, annua die facimus — Tertul., De 
 Coron. Mil., c. 3 ; of. De Afonogam., c. 10. 
 
 f Quando isthnc excessum fuerit, nullus jam locus poenitentiae est, 
 nullus satisfactionis effectus. — Cypr. aJ Demet., g 16; cf. Greg. Naz., 
 de Rebus suis, and Hieron. in Galat., c. 6. The modern Greek church 
 offers prayers for the dead without believing in the doctrine of 
 purgatory. 
 
446 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 the exercise of their ghostly functions in delivering the 
 souls of the departed from burning flame. There is no 
 hint in their cheerful art and pious epitaphs of the 
 Dantean horrors, the worse than Sisyphean toil, and 
 torments more dire than those of Tantalus, under the 
 intense conception of which for centuries the heart of 
 Christendom was wrung. No ; the early church believed 
 the pious dead already to enjoy the ampler life, the 
 more ethereal air, and sweet beatitude of paradise.* 
 
 Associated with the Romish practic^ of praying for 
 the dead is that of praying to them. For this there is 
 still less authority in the testimony of the Catacombs 
 than for the former. There are, indeed, indications that 
 this custom was not unknown, but they are very rare 
 and exceptional. In all the dated inscriptions of the 
 first six centuries, thirteen hundred and seventy- 
 four in number, there is only one invocation of the 
 departed. It is that of the year 380, already given, in 
 which from the neart of an orphaned and ignorant f girl, 
 in the hour of her bitter sorrow and bereavement, is 
 wrung the cry, pro hvnc vnvm ora svbolem — " O pray 
 for this, thine only child." The few undated inscrip- 
 tions of a similar character are probably of as late, or 
 it may be of a much later, date than this ; and the in- 
 vocation is almost invariably uttered by some relative 
 of the deceased, as if prompted by natural affection 
 rather than by religious feeling. Thus we have such 
 examples as the following : pete pro filiis tvis — " Pray 
 for thy children; " pete et roga pro fratres et so- 
 BOLES Tvos, (j/V) — " Entreat and pray for your brothers 
 
 * The doctrine of purgatory was first preached by Gregory the 
 Great ; and this fiery realm, so rich in revenue of tears and blood, 
 was afterward formally annexed to the papal dominions by a bull. 
 
 f See the barbarous Latinity of the inscription, p. 426. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 447 
 
 and children ; " ora pro parentibvs tvis — " Pray for 
 thy parents ; " vibas in pace et pete pro nobis — " May 
 you live in peace and pray for us ; " vibas in deo et 
 roga — " May you live in God and pray ; " in oration- 
 
 IBV3 TVIS ROGES PRO NOBIS QVIA SCIMVS TE IN ^ — "In 
 
 your prayers, pray for us, for we know you (to be) in 
 
 Christ." AIONTCIOC NHHIOC AKAKOC ENGAAE KEITE 
 META TfiN ArinN MNHCKECeE AE KAI HMQN EN TAIC 
 AriAIC YMBN nPEYXAC KAI TOY TAYi-ATOC KAI TPA- 
 
 tANTOC — " Dionysius a spotless infant, lies here with 
 the saints. O remember us also in thy holy prayers; 
 aye, and the sculptor and writer as well." The last 
 clause is in smaller characters as if an afterthought.* 
 
 These few examples among eleven thousand inscrip- 
 tions, of which the greater number are of post-Constan- 
 tinian date, are a slight foundation for the vast Roman 
 system of the invocation of saints. " If this doctrine," 
 says Bishop Kip, " so much in unison with many of the 
 deepest feelings of our nature, had been held by the 
 primitive church, we should have found it written 
 broadly and clearly every-where through these epitaphs. 
 Its proof would not be left to half a dozen inscriptions 
 among thousands which plainly declare the reverse." 
 How different from these lowly crypts is a modern 
 Romish sepulchral chapel, with its ceaseless appeals by 
 
 * Some of the examples of alleged invocation of saints given by 
 Romanist writers are altogether gratuitous assumptions. Thus the 
 letters P. T. PR. N. S. have been, without the slightest warrant, expanded 
 thus, Pete pro nobis, "Pray for us." Others are merely requests to 
 be remembered by the dear departed, as AlONYCIN EIC MNIAN 
 EXETE — " Have ye in remembrance Dionysius. " 'Wi^ graffiti of 
 the pilgrims at the shrines of the more celebrated martyrs, in which 
 are occasional invocations of the dead, are no criteria of primitive 
 belief and practice, for these are of every age down to comparatively 
 late mediaeval times. The example in the text is from Burgon. 
 
(f 
 
 44S 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 the dead for the prayers of the living, and by the living 
 for the prayers of the dead ; with its ever-recurring Orate 
 pro anima^ and Maria sanctissima^ or a pro nobis. We 
 search in vain through all the corridors of those an- 
 cient sanctuaries of the Christian faith for a single ex- 
 ample of these now universal Romish formulae. 
 
 The invocation of saints probably sprang from the 
 superstitious reverence paid to the martyrs after the 
 age of persecution had passed. Miserere nostrarum pre- 
 cum^ " Pitying, hear our prayer," sings Prudentius at the 
 close of the fourth century in his hymn to St. Vincent. 
 
 VT DAMASI PRECIBVS FAVEAS PRECOR INCLVTA MARTYR 
 
 " Illustrious martyr, I beseech thee to aid my prayers," 
 writes Damasus about the same period in his epitaph, on 
 St. Agnes ; and in an epitaph on his sister Irene he ex- 
 claims, NOSTRI REMINISCERE VIRGO VT TVA PER DOM- 
 
 INVM PRAESTET MiHi FACVLA LVMEN — " Remember me, 
 O virgin, that by God's help your torch may give me 
 light." 
 
 Thus was developed in course of time a vast celestial 
 hierarchy endowed with the attributes of Deity,* usurp- 
 ing the intercessory office of Christ, and rivalling the 
 polytheism of paganism. The primitive Fathers repu- 
 diated the worship of any saint or angel, or the inter- 
 vention of any mediator with God but Christ. " We 
 worship the Son of God," write the elders of Smyrna, 
 "but the martyrs we only love." f "We sacrifice not 
 to martyrs," says Augustine, " but to the one God, both 
 
 * Qui lumine Christi 
 Cuncta et operta vides, longeque absentia cernis. 
 
 — Paulin., Nat, \i. 
 
 See also the Litany of the Saints in Romish Missal. 
 Tlov rov Oeov TtpooKWovfitv Tovg de fiupTvpag ayanC>/iev. — Euseb., 
 iv, 35. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 449 
 
 theirs and ours; "* "nor is our religion," he indignantly 
 adds, " the worship of dead men."f "It is the devil 
 who has introduced this homage of angels," says Chry- 
 sostom ; J and the Council of Laodicea, (A. D. 361 ,) 
 forbade their invocation as idolatrous and a forsaking 
 of Christ. § 
 
 We now turn from these polemical subjects to the 
 consideration of the doctrines, common to Christendom, 
 of the trinity of the Godhead and the divinity of Jesus 
 Christ. We know from ecclesiastical history that nu- 
 merous heresies sprang up in the early centuries with 
 reference to these august themes ; but no evidence ac- 
 cuses the church in the Catacombs of departure from 
 the primitive and orthodox faith in these important 
 respects. Frequently, indeed, the belief in these car- 
 dinal doctrines is so strongly asserted as to sugj^tjst, that 
 it is in designed and vigorous protest against the con- 
 temporary heretical notions. 
 
 The doctrine of the essential divinity of the Son of 
 God is repeatedly and strikingly affirmed. Not only are 
 the symbolical letters Alpha and Omega often associated 
 with the sacred monogram, in allusion to the sublime 
 passage in the Revelation descriptive of the eternity of 
 
 * Nee . . . sacrificemus martyribus, sed uni Deo et martyruin et 
 nostro. — De Civ. Dei., 22, 10. 
 
 f Non sic nobis religio cultus hominum mdrtuonim. — De Ver. 
 Relig., c. 55. 
 
 \ 'O iia&oKo^ TO. Tuv uyyiTiCiv iTTeicrriyaye. — ffo//l:<, 9. 
 
 § Oi» ^e? XpioTiavov^ uyyehw^ QVOfiiil^Eiv. — Can., ^S- The "saints" 
 of the primitive church, says Schaff, were the whole body of believers, 
 and not a narrow spiritual aristocracy, as in the Romish church. The 
 Council of Constantinople, A. D. 712, decreed that " Whosoever will 
 not avail himself of the intercession of the Virgin Mary, let him be 
 accursed." " May God Almighty forgive your sin by the merits of 
 Our Lady," said Gregory VII. to Beatrice and Matilda.— /ra«/r««, 
 
 vJ, 1235. 
 
 29 
 
4SO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Christ, but his name and Messianic title are variously 
 combined with that of the Deity so as to indicate their 
 identity. Thus we have the expressions zhchc in deo 
 XPICTO, {sic) — EN GEO KYPEIO XEICTQ, {sic) — VIBAS 
 IN CHRiSTO DEO — IN DOMINO lEsv — " May you live in 
 God Christ — in God. the Lord Christ — in Christ God — 
 in the Lord Jesus." Or the divine attributes are still 
 more strongly expressed as follows : AEOYC XPICTOTC 
 OMNinOTEC, {sic) — "God Christ Almighty;" deo sanc 
 XRO VN Lvc, {sic) — " God, holy Christ, only light ; " deo 
 SANC ]^ VNi, {sic) — "To Christ, the one holy God." 
 We have seen the impression in the plaster of a grave 
 whereby some orthodox believer, probably in protest 
 against the Arian heresy, has *' set to his seal " that 
 "Christ is God." Fig. 119, page 386.* 
 
 Mention is made of the three persons of the Trinity 
 separately in several epitaphs in which the deceased is 
 
 * We have frequent evidence of the zeal of the early Christians in 
 the study of the Scriptures. The Bible v^as not the sealed book that 
 it is in modern Rome. Jerome counsels that it be frequently read 
 and scarcely ever laid aside, that it be studied not as a task but for 
 delight and instruction, and that some of it be learned by heart every 
 day. — Divinas Scripturas scepius lege, imo nunquam de manibus tuis 
 sacra lectio deponatur. — Ep. ad Nepotian., 7. Non ad laborem, sed 
 ad delectationem et irstmctionem anima;. — Ep. ad Demetriad, \^. 
 Nee licebat cuiquam sororum ignorare psalmos, et non de Scripturis 
 Sanctis quotidie aliquid discere. — Ep. ad Eustoch, ig. 
 
 We find no traces in the early period of the church of tlie fierce 
 intolerance and dreadful anathemas that mark modern Romanism. 
 TertuUian in golden words asserts that liberty of conscience which 
 a Dominic and Torquemada afterward so nithlessly trampled under 
 foot. " It is a fundamental human right," he exclaims, " that every 
 man should worship according to his own conviction. It is no part of 
 religion to compel religion." — Ad Scap., 2. Compare also the wise 
 words of Cassiodorus: "Cum divinitas patiatur multas religiones 
 esse, nos unam non audemus imponere. Retinemus enim legisse, 
 voluntarie sacrificandum esse domino, non cujusquam cogentis im- 
 perio." . ,. 
 
Their Doctrinal Teachings. 
 
 451 
 
 said to sleep in deo — in christo — in spiritv sancto, 
 and collectively in the following of date 403, qvin- 
 
 TILIANVS homo DEI CONFIR ANS TRINITATEM AMANS 
 
 CASTiTATEM RESPVENS MVND\ M — " Quintilianus, a man 
 of God, holding fast the doctrine of the Trinity, lov- 
 ing chastity, contemning the world." In later exam- 
 ples from Aqueilia and other places we find the formulae, 
 
 in nomine SANCTAE TRINITATIS — PATRIS ET FILII ET 
 
 SPiRiTVS SANCTi — " In the name of the Holy Trinity — 
 of the Father, Son, and Holy Spiri^ "* 
 
 Patris X -idence informs us that both these doc- 
 trin.es ' ere ."irmly held by the primitive Christians. 
 The doxologies, benedictions, and baptismal formulae, 
 of the ar :ient liturgies are all in the name of the triune 
 God. The divinity of the three persons and at the 
 same time the unity of the Godhead are distinctly and 
 
 ♦ The pagan Lucian satirizes the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, 
 " one in three and three in one " — "Ev Ik TpiCw, koI i^kvhq -pla. — P/ii- 
 lopatr.y ad fine. Pliny mentions the Christian worship of Christ as 
 God, " Carmenque Christo quasi Deo." — Ep. ad Had. In response to 
 the heathen accusation of worshipping a mere man, a crucified im- 
 postor — iLvinKokoTTia^rvTriv an<l)iaTT/v, (Luc, de Alort. Pereg.,) the 
 Christians reply that he is also God : T/of koX narrip elg ufKjtu KVTriog 
 — Clem., Paed., iii, 12 ; " Deus est et Dei Filius, et unus ambo." — Ter- 
 iw\., Apol., 30. In contrast to Christian monotheism, Tertullian ridi- 
 cules the polytheism of the heathen, and compares the contests of the 
 gods in Homer to those of gladiators. — Ad. Nat., 10. Im'tating the 
 keen irony of Isaiah, he exclaims, " You make a cooking pot of Saturn, 
 a frying pan of Minerva. Even tlfe mice gnaw, the spiders defoul 
 your gods." — Ibid., ii, 12. The trinity of Plato and the Hindoo sages 
 was a mere speculative subtlety. Tertullian spumed the fusion of 
 philosophy and Christian doctrine. " Away with such mottled Chris- 
 tianity," he exclaims. — De Prcescrip. Hceret., c. 7. Compare his 
 noble confession of faith in God, the eternal Spirit, an incorporeal 
 essence, the true Prometheus who gave order to the world, conclud- 
 ing with the noble words, " We say, and before all men we say, and 
 torn and bleeding under your tortures we cry out, ' We worship God 
 through Christ.'" — Apol, 17-22. 
 
452 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 often asserted. This is also affirmed in frequent Chris- 
 tian inscriptions "to the one (iod" — i>ko vno. 
 
 Such, then, is the testimony of the Catacombs con- 
 cerning the doctrines of the earlv believers — a testimony 
 i:iore favourable to the general character of ancient 
 Christianity than the writings of the P'athers and eccle- 
 siastical historians of the times ; probably, as Dr. Maitland 
 remarks, because " the sepulchral tal)let is more con- 
 genial to the expression of pious feeling than the con- 
 troversial epistle, or even the much needed episcopal 
 rebuke." We know, indeed, from these latter sources, 
 that heresy, strife, recrimination, and mutual anathemas 
 early disgraced the religion of peace and love. But no 
 sounds of this profane controversy disturbed those quiet 
 resting-places of the Christian dead. The expression 
 of faith and hope and joy and peace — the peace of God 
 that passeth all understanding — every-where appears. 
 The stricken and sorrowing believ^er burst not forth like 
 the heathen in passionate complainings and impotent 
 rage against the gods, but bowed in meek submission to 
 His will who doeth all things well. With devout and 
 chastened spirit he bore the ills of life, and with calm 
 confidence and holy joy he met the doom of death, 
 
 Not like the quarry slave, at night 
 Scourged to his dungeon ; but, sustained and soothed 
 By an unfaltering tnist, approached his grave, 
 Like one who wrapped the drapery of his couch 
 About him, and lay down to pleasant dreams.* 
 
 • Biyant's Thanatopsis, 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 453 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHRISTIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER AS READ IN THE 
 
 CATACOMBS. 
 
 The inscriptions of the Catacombs give us many inter- 
 esting indications of the social position, domestic rela- 
 tions, and general character of the priniitive Christians, 
 as well as of their religious belief. They lift the veil 
 of ages from the buried past and cause it to live again, lit 
 up with a thousand natural touches which we seek in 
 vain from books. They bridge the gulf of time, and 
 make us in a sense contemporaries of the early church. 
 They give us an insight into the daily life and occupa- 
 tions of the ancient believers, of which no mention is 
 made in the crowded page of history. The winding 
 Catacombs are the whispering gallery of the bygone 
 ages. Their humble epitaphs are echoes thrilling with 
 a deep and tender meaning, too low and gentle to be 
 heard across the strife of intervening years. In their 
 touching pathos we seem to hear the sob of natural sorrow 
 for the loved and lost, " the fall of kisses on unanswer- 
 ing clay," the throbbings of the human heart in the 
 hour of its deepest emotion, when the parting pang un- 
 seals the founts of feeling in the soul. We read of the 
 yearnings of an affection that reaches beyond the grave, 
 and hungers for reunion with the dear depa»ted above 
 the skies; the expression of an inextinguishable love that 
 death itself cannot destroy. We see the emblematic 
 palm and crown rudely scratched upon the grave 
 wherein the Christian athlete, having fought the fight 
 
454 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 and kept the faith, has entered into dreamless rest. We 
 read, too, the records of the worldly rank of the de- 
 ceased — sometimes exalted, more often lowly and ob- 
 scure — frequently accompanied by the emblems of 
 their humble toil. 
 
 The very names written on these marble slabs are 
 often beautifully and designedly expressive of Christian 
 sentiment or character. Sometimes the correspondence 
 of name and character is indicated, as in the following : 
 SIMHAIKIA H KAI KAAQNYM02 — " Sin plicia who was 
 also rightly so-called;" hic vervs qvi semper vera 
 LOCVTvs — *' Here lies Verus, who ever spoke verity." 
 These names were frequently assumed in adult age, 
 when the convert from paganism laid aside his former 
 designation, often of an idolatrous meaning, in order to 
 adopt one more consistent with the Christian profession. 
 Thus we have such beautifully significant names as 
 INNOCENTIA, " Inuoceuce ; " constanti a, " Constancy ; " 
 PRVDENTiA, " Prudence ; " dignitas, " Dignity ;" decen- 
 TiA, "Comeliness;" peregrinVs, "A pilgrim;" sab- 
 BATA, " Rest; " ANASTASIA, " The resurrection ; " ni2TIS 
 " Faith ; " EAHIS and spes, " Hope ; " AFAnH, " Love ; ' 
 EIPHNH, " Peace ; " AFAeH, " Good ; " EYSEBI02 
 " Pious ; " ETKAPniA, " Good fruit ; " probvs, " Just ; ' 
 FELIX, " Happy ;" fidelis, "Faithful;" fortvnata 
 " Fortunate ; " vervs, " True; " dignvs, " Worthv ; ' 
 CASTA, " Pure ; " benigkvs, " Kind ; " nobilis, " No- 
 ble ; " AMABiLis, " Amiable ; " ingenva, " Sincere ; * 
 VENEROSA, "Venerable;" gavdiosa, "Rejoicing;' 
 grata, "Pleasing; " candidvs, " Frank; " dvlcis and 
 TATKYS, " Sweet ; " severa, " Grave ; " with the com- 
 paratives, felicior, nobilior, etc., and the superla- 
 tives, felicissima, " Most happy; " nobilissima, " Most 
 noble;" fidelissima, "Most faithful;" dignissima, 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 455 
 
 "Most worthy;" dvlcissima, "Most sweet;" and the 
 like* 
 
 Sometimes, too, a pious word or phrase was used as a 
 proper name, as among the ancient Hebrews and the 
 English Puritans. Thus we have such examples as, 
 QvoD vvLT DEVs, "What God wills;" devs dedit, 
 "God gave;" adeodatvs f and adeodata, "Given 
 by God ; " GEOTOKOI, ' God-born ; " GE0Ai2PA. " God- 
 given ; " DEO ORATIA, "Thanks to God; " UK0<MA02, 
 " God-beloved ; "{ renatvs, " Dorn again ; " redemp- 
 Tvs, "Redeemed;" acceptissima, "Very well pleas- 
 ing; " noNiFACivs, " Well-doer; " KYriPOlAKK'lOS, " Ac- 
 cepted " or " Acceptable; " and ZiZZOMENH, " Saved. "§ 
 De Rossi thinks that the CKpressions, ancilla dei, 
 "Handmaid of God;" and servvs dei, "Servant of 
 God," are sometimes proper names. 
 
 Some of the names in these inscriptions were proba- 
 bly given by the heathen in reproach and contempt, 
 and were afterward adopted by the Christians in humd- 
 ity and self-abasement. It is difficult to account other- 
 wise for such names as, contvmeliosvs, " Injurious ; " 
 
 * Some of these occur also on pagan tombs. • ° 
 
 f This, it will be remembered, was the name of Augustine's son, 
 whose early death he so pathetically laments. * - 
 
 X Compare also the classic names Diodorus, Herodotus, Athena- 
 dorus, Heliodorus, ApoUodorus, Isidorus — the gift of Zeus, of Mere, 
 of Athene, of the Sun, of Apollo, of Isis ; and Diogenes, Hcrmog- a 
 enes — born of Zeus, of Hermes ; also the beautiful German names 
 Gottlieb, Gottlob — Beloved of God, Praise God, etc, 
 
 § Compare the Puritan names : Accepted, Redeemed, Called, 
 More Fruit, Kill Sin, Fly Debate, and even lengthy texts of Scrip- 
 ture. See Neal's Puritanr ii, 133, third foot note. In New England 
 graveyards may still be fo ! such names as Assurance, Faith, Hope, 
 Charity, Patience, Persev., ice, and all the cardmal virtues, together 
 with Tribulation, and others still more ominous. Mr. Wellbeloved is 
 the name of a living person. See also the French Bien Ai//ie, etc. " 
 
 
456 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ffl ^ [ j 
 
 ■f ■ i 
 
 1 ■ ' 
 
 
 . J, y .«' 
 
 til 
 
 ij 
 
 '■ If 1 
 
 ^' J i i' 
 
 !!'' 
 
 i 
 
 CALAMITOSA, " Destructive ; " proiectvs, " Cast out ; " 
 SERViLis, " Servile ; " and especially such opprobrious ep- 
 ithets as FiMUsandsTERCORiA," Dung "and "Filth." In 
 the last there may be an allusion to the words of St. Paul, 
 (i Cor. iv, 13,) "We are made as the filth of the world, 
 and are the oifscouring of all things unto this day." 
 Thus the primitive believers bound persecution as a 
 wreath about their brows, exulted in the glorious infamy, 
 arid made the brand of shame the badge of honour. 
 
 A few Scripture names occur, and have a strangely 
 foreign look amid those of Greek or Latin origin by 
 which they are surrounded. Thus we have Petrus, 
 Joannes, Paulus, Stephanus, Rebecca, Elizabeth, 
 Susanna, and Maria. The extreme rarity of the last, 
 however, since so popular throughout Christendom, is an 
 indication that the homage of the Virgin Mary is the 
 growth of later times. 
 
 The names of animals were oftep applied to both 
 Christians and pagans, as Aper, Leo, Leopardus, Por- 
 cella, Muscula, Tigris, Ursus, and Ursa ; and some of 
 these we have seen pictorially represented on the 
 tombs.* Other names were derived from the months, as 
 Januarius, Aprilis, December, etc. ; and even from the 
 appellations of the pagan deities, as Mercurius, Apolli- 
 naris, etc. Sometimes the pet name by which the de- 
 ceased was familiarly known in life is recorded, as 
 Agnella, " Little Lamb ; " Lepusculus and Leporilla, 
 " Little Hare ; " Rosula, " Little Rose ; " Jocundilla, 
 " Merry Little Thing," etc.f 
 
 * Compare the funeral totems, the beaver, the bear, or eagle, c f 
 the American Indians. The Greeks also had similar names: Lycos, 
 a wolf; Moschos, a calf; Corax, a raven ; Sauros, a lizard, etc. 
 
 f Sometimes a sort of pun or play upon words occurs, as the ibl- 
 lowing: Hic iacet glyconis dvlcis nomine erat anima qvo- 
 QVE DVLCIOR vsQVE — " Here lies Glyconis. She was sweet by 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 457 
 
 Most of the names, as might be expected, were of 
 classic origin, sometimes indicating alliance with fami- 
 lies of senatorial, consular, or even imperial rank. We 
 find also indications of the custom of adopting tlie 
 names of the reigning dynasty. The modern Victorias 
 and Alberts find their analogues in the Aurelias and 
 Constantias of the Aurelian and Constantinian periods. 
 The lofty praenomen, nomen, and cognomen of the pa- 
 gan epitaphs rarely appear in this Christian series. Only 
 two or three examples of these triple names occur. 
 Even two names become uncommon, and persons un- 
 doubtedly entitled to these distinctions of rank were 
 recorded only by a single name. Having renounced 
 the pride of birth, and place, and power, they laid aside 
 their worldly titles for the new name given in Christian 
 baptism. Sometimes the names of the deceased are 
 not recorded in the epitaphs at all, perhaps, as Fabretti 
 suggests, because they wish them to be written only in 
 the Book of Life.* For the same reason probably, or 
 from poverty or ignorance, most of the funeral tiles and 
 slabs bear no inscription whatever. 
 
 These inscriptions frequently give intimations of the 
 social rank and occupations of the deceased. Some- 
 times the enumeration of titles indicates exalted posi- 
 
 
 l.i 
 
 ■• I- 
 
 '> 
 
 le, r f 
 .ycos, 
 
 name, her disposition also was even sweeter." hf.ic est sepvlchrvm 
 PVLCRVM PVI.CR.\F. FEMINAE — " Here is the beautiful tomb of a beau- 
 tiful woman." Much of the paronomasia is lost in translation. 
 Another conceit is giving the name of the deceased acrostically in 
 the initial letters of the lines, an invariable symbol of degraded taste. 
 See De Rossi, No. 677, A. D. 432. 
 
 A few examples of Gothic names occur, as Bringa, Uviliaric, Erida, 
 (is it Freda?) Ildel^rand. In Gaul these are more striking, as Ingo- 
 mir, Hagen, and the like. 
 
 * Quia sohmi in libro vitro describi avebant. — Inscrip. Antiq., 
 
 P- 545- 
 
 ? : iil 
 
458 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 tion and the holding of important offices of trust. 
 Especially was this the case after the public establish- 
 ment of Christianity. Many of the later inscriptions 
 recount in pompous and inflated terms, strongly contrast- 
 ing with the brevity and simplicity of the earlier exam- 
 ples, the civil dignities and distinctions of the departed. 
 We have already seen the epitaph of an Imperial Proc- 
 urator.* The following are examples of later date. 
 
 IVN BASSVS • V- C • QVI VIXIT ANNIS XLII MEN • II IN IPSA PRAE- 
 
 FECTVRA VRUi NEOFITVS IIT AD DEVM — "Junius Bassus, a most dis- 
 tinguished man, who lived forty-two years, two months. Whilst 
 holding the office of Prcefect of the City, he, a neophyte, went to God." 
 
 (A. D. 359.) ADVENIT HOSPES ROMANVS PRINCEPS IN VUl I'.M CVI 
 
 FVIT iiic PRIMVM IVRISCONSVLTOR AMicvs — " The Koman Empe- 
 ror (Constantine) came a stranger to the City, whose first friend was 
 this lawyer. Hic reqviescint {sic) IN pace praetextatvs vT • 
 EXQVESTOR iCP ET Fii.iA Eivs PRAETEXTATA CF — " Here rest in 
 peace Prsetextatus, an iUustrious man, ex-quaestor of the Sacred Pal- 
 ace, and his daughter Prretextata, a most distinguished woman." 
 (A. D. 486.) IVLIVSFELIX VAl.ENTINIANVS • VC • ET (SP) EX SILEN- 
 TIARIO SACRI PALATII liX COM • CONSISTORII • COM • DOM — " Julius 
 
 Felix Valentinianus, a man of the highest distinction and considera- 
 tion,-)- ex-Silentiary of the Sacred Palace, ex-Count of the Consistoiy, 
 Count of the Household Troops." (A. D. 519.) 
 
 MAIORVM LONGA VENIENS DE STIRPE SENATOR 
 
 AVXISTI MENTIS NOUILITATE GENVS 
 IVDICIS IMPERIVM SERVANS BONITATE MAGISTRA 
 
 CVM TIBI SVBIECTIS TV QVOQVE MILES ERAS 
 VRBANOS FASCES GAVDENS TIBI ROMA PARABAT. (a. D. 533.) 
 
 A Senator, coming f'om a long line of ancestors, thou didst dignify 
 thy family by nobility of mind, preserving the authority of the judge 
 by the power of goodness. Thou wast also a soldier with those sub- 
 ject to thee, and Rome rejoicing, was preparing for thee the fasces of 
 the city, 
 
 * See chap, ii, p. 419. 
 
 f Various titles of honour occur in these epitaphs, generally applied 
 to the Consuls, occasionally to the deceased, and indicated by initial 
 letters as above, and as follows : VI., Vir Illustris, " An Illustrious 
 Man ; " VD., Vir Devotus, or Devotissimtis, " A Devout, or Very De- 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 459 
 
 We have also such examples as scrinarivs patri- 
 ciAESEDis, "Secrctaryof the Patrician order; " primice- 
 Rivs MONETARiORVM, " Chief of the bankers;" argen- 
 TARivs, "A. money dealer;" viator ad aerarivm, 
 "Sergeant to the Exchequer; " praefectvs annonae, 
 " Prefect of the market ; " vestitor imperatoris, 
 " Master of the imperial wardrobe;" magister scolae 
 tertiae, " Master of the Third School ; " medicvs, " A 
 physician," etc. 
 
 The great body of the Christians, however, were of 
 lowly rank, many of them probably slaves, as most of 
 the arts of life were carried on by that oppressed class. 
 It was the sneer of Celsus that '* wool-workers, leather- 
 dressers, cobblers, the most illiterate of mankind, were 
 zealous preachers of the Gospel ; " but Tertullian re- 
 torts that every Christian craftsman can teach truths 
 loftier than Plato ever knew.* The inscriptions of the 
 Catacombs indicate that not many wise, not many 
 mighty, joined that phalanx of heroic souls; but they 
 teach, too, that the lowliest toil may be dignified and 
 ennobled by being done to the glory of God. We have 
 seen represented on the tombs emblems of the occupa- 
 tion of the carpenter, mason, currier, wool-comber, shoe- 
 maker, vine-dresser, and fossor. We find also such 
 records of trade as pistor regionis xii, "A baker of 
 the Twelfth District ; " ortvlanvs, for hortulanus^ 
 "A gardener;" patronvs corporis pastillariorvm, 
 " Patron of the Corporation of Confectioners ; " primi- 
 
 vout Man;" VC, Vir Clarissimus, FC, Feinina C/artssima, " A. 
 
 Most Distinguished Man or Woman;" VH., Vir Honestus, FH., 
 
 Femina Honesta, *^ An Honourable Man or Woman;" VSP., Vtp 
 
 Spcctabilis, "A Very Notable Man ;" VP., Vir Perfectissimus, "A 
 
 Most Eminent Man;" VD., Vir Doctissimus, "A Most Learned 
 
 Man." 
 
 • ♦ Apol,, 46. 
 
 * ' 1 
 
 Mifl 
 
 4 
 
 1 I'l 
 
 r'i 
 
 H 
 
 ■m.:. 
 
46c) 
 
 The Catacombs • Rome. 
 
 CERivs CENARiOkVM, "Chief c^ the cooks; " horrka- 
 Rivs, "A granary-keeper;" carbonarivs, " A char- 
 coal seller;" popinarivs, "A victualler;" bvbvla- 
 rivs de macello, "A flesher from the shambles;" 
 capsararivs(wV) de antoninia, "a keeper of clothes 
 at the Antonine Baths;" qvadratarivs, "A stone- 
 dresser; " POLLICLA QVI (h)oRDEVM BENDIT {sic) DE 
 
 ^lA NOBA {sic^ " Pollicla, who sells barley in the New 
 Street;" iohannes vh. olografvs (^/V), propine isi- 
 dori, " John, a respectable man, a book-keeper in the 
 tavern of Isidorus; " also, lej>s reputable still, vrbanvs 
 VH. tabernarivs, " Urban, a respectable man, a tav- 
 ern keeper." This, however, was in the year A. D. 
 584, when purity of faith ind practice had greatly 
 degenerated. These lowly records are preserved and 
 studied with interest, when many of Rome's priy idest 
 monuments have crumbled avay.* 
 
 * It may not be uninterestinc;; to notice some of the trades an<? oc- 
 cupations mentioned in pagan '.'pttaphs. They are of a much wv«6<?r 
 range than those of the Christians, indicating that the latter wer* a 
 "pe'v"-^ people," excluded from many pursuits on account of th*ir 
 imnr^'s-ri' or idolatrous character. Besides occupations like those 
 above mentioned, we find such examples as qvadrigarivs, " A 
 charioteer;" cvrsor, "The runner;" magister LVDI, "Master 
 of the Games;" MINISTER POCVLI, " Toast master ;" doctor myr- 
 MILON. " Teacher of the gladiators," derisor, or scvrra convivi- 
 ORVM, " Buffoon, or clown of the revels;" stvpidvs gregis vr- 
 banae, " Clown of the city company of mountebanks." We have 
 also official titles, as nabicvlarivs cvr. corporis maris hadria- 
 Tici, " Commissioner of the Hadriatic Company;" cvrator alvei 
 ET riparvm maris, " Curator of the river channel and sea 
 banks;" MENSOR PVBLicvs, "Public measurer;" viLicvs svpra 
 HORTOS, "Steward over gardens ; " caesari^ praesignator, " Im- 
 perial Notary;" invitator, "Agent." W* notice, too, others, 
 as NVMVLARivs, "A banker;" medicvs . /mentarivs, "Mule 
 
 doctor;"' MHDICVS OCVLARIS, " Oculist ; " i XONERATOR CALCA- 
 
 Rivs. "Lime dealer;" LANARIVS, "Wool-worker;" PECTlNARivs, 
 " Comb-seller ; " xf.gotians salsamentarivs et vinearivs 
 
 pill' 
 
Sociiii aud Vo,'i^;iiic Raiuiijus. 
 
 461 
 
 those 
 
 . "A 
 faster 
 
 IMYR- 
 
 tvivi- 
 
 VR- 
 
 liave 
 
 )RIA- 
 LVEI 
 
 sea 
 
 iVPRA 
 
 Im- 
 
 [thers. 
 Mule 
 
 LCA- 
 ,RIVS, 
 RIVS 
 
 Very often :,ome phrase ex|, .essiT e of the Christian 
 character or distinguished vtr- es ot the deceased is 
 recorded in loving rememl: ace \ty his sorrowing 
 friends. These testimonies are calculnted to inspire a 
 very high opinion of the purity., blamelessness, and no- 
 bility of life of the primitive believers ; all the more 
 striking from its contrast with the abominable corrup- 
 tions of the pagan society by which they were sur- 
 rounded. With many points of external resemblance to 
 heathen inscriptions there is in these Christian epitaphs 
 a world-wide difference of informing spirit. Instead of 
 the pomp and pride of pagan panegyric, we have the 
 celebration of the modest virtues, of lowliness, gentle- 
 ness, and truth. The Christian ideal of excellence, as 
 indicated by the nature of the praises bestowed on ht 
 departed, is shown to be utterly foreign to that of heathen 
 sentiment. The following are characteristic examples : 
 
 FELIX SANCTAE FmEI \ OCFTVS {sic) TIT IN PACK 
 
 CVIVS TANTVS AMOR ET •:; iTAS R' ENETVR AB AMICIS IN AEVO 
 
 QVI CVM ESSEX FVIT S0LA:> S MISF..UCORS OMNIBVS NOTVS. 
 
 Felix of sacred liononr, n ciiled away went in peace, ,/hose 
 love and affection are so wai .liy cherished by his friends ; who, when 
 
 "Salt and wine merchiint ; '' ^ v'KtcVLARivs, "Keeper of the 
 Couch;" I RAMMATicvs LEC OROVi:, "Grammarian and reader;" 
 COMPARATOR MERCis sVTv^RlAE, Shoemaker's furnisher;" FVNA- 
 Rivs, "Rope mak^^r; " negotiaior lentic • et castreniar 'A 
 Camp Grocer and Sutler ; " reoemptor ab aere, "Contractor in 
 Brass;" faher fkrrakivs, "Iron Worker;" negotiator lvg- 
 DVNENSIS artis, " A Dealer in Lyons wares," not silks, as the phrase 
 would now mean, but pottery; exactor tribvtor/m, "Tax gath- 
 erer;" and the fanaticvs in the temple of Isis, i. e., one hired 
 to stimulate the zeal of the votaries by wild and frantic gestures, 
 attributed to the inspiration of the deity. We find also epitaphs 
 df actors, dancers, pantomimists, of one of whom, 1 young girJ, it is 
 said, cviv"5 in octava lascivia svrgere messe coeffkat — a 
 horrible circumstance to mention on her tomb. 
 
 m 
 
 !4i 
 
 |U<! 
 
 i\ 
 
 .11- 
 
 ffi; 'i 
 
 
 j^ i! 
 
4C2 
 
 Tlie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 v'.^.h^- ";■' 
 
 
 **sig<jV; 
 
 V '* |1 
 
 he was in life was known to all for sympathy with the afflicted and 
 compassion toward the distressed. 
 
 IN SIMPLICITATE VIXIT AMICVS PAVPERVM INNOCEN- 
 TiVM MISERICORS SPECTAHILIS ET PENITENS — " He Hved 
 
 in simplicity, a friend of the poor, compassionate to the 
 innocent, a man of consideration and penitent." in- 
 
 FANTIAE AETAS VIRGINITATIS INTEGRITAS MORVM GRA- 
 VITAS FIDEI ET REVERENTIAE DISCIPLINA — " Of yOUthful 
 
 age, of spotless maidenhood, of grave manners, well 
 disciplined in faith and reverence." 
 
 More fre(iuent than any other expression was the 
 phrase, common also to pagan epitaphs, bene merenti, 
 — "To the well-deserving," generally indicated by the 
 letters b. m. But many others of a more distinctively 
 Christian character occur, as, servvs dei, famvlvs dei, 
 " Servant of God ; " AOTAOC niCTOC eEOT, " Faithful 
 Serva;it of (iod;" AHOC • UEOCEBEC, "A holy wor- 
 sliipper of God;" TAYKEPAN AHAN. "An amiable and 
 holy person;" sanctissimvs, "A most holy person; " 
 anima dvlcis et innocens, " Sweet and innocent 
 soul;" AMICVS OMNivM, "Friend of all men;" nACI- 
 ♦iaoc KAI OTAENI EXePOC, " Friend of all and enemy 
 of none ; " semper sine cvlpa, " Ever without fault ; " 
 amator pavpervm, "A lover of the poor;" homo 
 30NVS, "A good man; " stvdiosvs, " Zealous; " spir- 
 ITO sancto, " To a holy soul ; " innocentissimvs, 
 " A most innocent person ; " and the like. Others are 
 of a more general character, as honestes recorda- 
 tiones (sic) viR, " A man worthy to be remembered 
 with honour ; " AEIMNHCTOC, " Ever to be remem- 
 bered ; " eEO<l>iAECTATOC, " The most devout or God- 
 loving;" mire (sic) sapientiae, "Of wonderful 
 wisdom;" lavdabilis femina, "A praiseworthy 
 woman ; " conivx dignissima, " A most worthy wife ; " 
 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 463 
 
 CASTISSIMAE ADQVE PVDICISSIMAE FEMINAE, "To a most 
 
 chaste and modest woman;" mirae pvlchritvdinis 
 ATQVE iDONEiTATis, " Of wonderful beauty and abil- 
 ity ; " MIRAE INTEGRITATIS ET FIDEI ATQVE CONSTAN- 
 
 TiAE, " Of wonderful integrity, faith, and steadfast- 
 ness; " SAPfENS Pivs ATQVE BENIC-Nvs, "Wise, pious, 
 and kind;" homo fidei et integritatis upinionis 
 BONAE mentis integrae amicvs amicor/m, "A man 
 of sound faith and integrity, of good judgment, of a 
 sound mind, a friend of his friends ; " svabis {sie) 
 semperqve pvdica vera loqvens, "Agreeable and 
 ever modest, speaking the truth ; " bonitatis eximiae 
 et mirae verecvndiae et vltra aetatem sapi- 
 ENTIAE, " Of remarkable goodness and wonderful 
 modesty, and wise beyond her years;" anima dvlcis, 
 INNOCVA {sic) sapiens ET pvLCHRA, "A sweet spirit, 
 guileless, wise, beautiful; " amatrix pavperorvm {sic) 
 ET operaria, " A lover of the poor, and attentive to her 
 work;" fidelis in XPO eivs mandata servans mar- 
 tyrvm obseqviis devota, " Faithful in Christ, keep- 
 ing his commands, devoted in attention to the mar- 
 tyrs; " pvrvs amicitiae cvltor servator honesti 
 eloqvio miseros pietate ivvans, "a guileless pre- 
 server of friendship and observer of honour, helping 
 the wretched by words and by affectionate care ; " te 
 carvm svvoles te fixvm sensit amicvs te levitas 
 TORvvM DVLCEM COGNOVIT HONESTVS, " Thec thy son 
 felt beloved, thy friend attached, thee the frivolous 
 found stern, but the upright knew to be gentle ; " 
 ETTEPHE H TfiN MOTCQN CYNTPO^OC BIQCACA APAOC 
 0Cli2C KAI AMEMnTQC, " Euterpe, a companion ot the 
 Muses, having lived simply, piously, and irreproach- 
 ably" The last is from Sicily, the others are from 
 Rome. Otker examples will be given in treating the 
 
 
 'i, 
 
 m 
 
 ■ % 
 
4^)4 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 X I 
 
 U \ 
 
 f'-v « 
 
 
 domestic and ecclesiastical relations of the primitive 
 Christians. 
 
 In these memorials of the departed we have a strik- 
 ing portraiture of the Christian graces and domestic 
 virtues of the early believers. The existence of such a 
 pure and blameless community in a base and sensual 
 age is one of the noblest chapters in the history of the 
 race. It was also an eloquent protest, a living testi- 
 mony against the abominations of pagan society and 
 the manifold corruptions which were in the world 
 through lust. From these the Christian community 
 recoiled with utter abhorrence, and, in the early centu- 
 ries, lived unspotted amid surrounding pollution.* 
 
 Although some of the pagan epitaphs betray a light 
 and sportive epicurean vein even in the solemn presence 
 of death, yet others indicate an appreciation of the do- 
 mestic and civic virtues, as in the following example : 
 
 MIRAE BONITATIS ADQVE INIMITABILIS SANCTITATIS TO- 
 TIVSCASTITATIS RARI EXEMPLI FEMINA CASTE RONE BITE 
 ET PIETOSE (stc) IN OMNIBVS . . . VIXIT SINE LESIONE 
 ANIMI MEI MECVM ANNOS XV. FILIOS AVTEM PROCREA- 
 
 viT vii — " Of wonderful goodness and inimitable piety, 
 of entire modesty, a woman of rare example, of a 
 chaste, virtuous, and pious life in ail things. She lived 
 with me without any annoyance of my mind fifteen 
 years, and bore me seven children." 
 
 Often they are expressed with admirable brevity, as, 
 
 TANTIS VIRTVTIBVS NVLLVM PAR ELOGIVM, " Of SO great 
 
 virtue there is no equal praise ; " moribvs pariter et 
 
 * TertuUian bases his apolog r for the Christians on the blameless- 
 ness of their character, refutes the accusations against them, and 
 challenges proof. The unworthy members of the community, he 
 says, are only as moles or freckles on the body, or as a fleecy cloud 
 on a sunny sky, affecting not its general character. — Ad A'ationes,^. 
 
Si7ciai and Domestic Relations. 
 
 465 
 
 :rea- 
 ^iety, 
 of a 
 lived 
 ifteen 
 
 ty, as, 
 great 
 
 ER ET 
 
 DISCIPLINA CAETERIS FEMINIS EXEMPLVM, " She WaS 
 
 equally in manners and education an example to other 
 women;" de cvivs pvdore nemo dicere potvit, 
 " Against whose modesty no one could say aught;"* 
 and this noble testimony to a magistrate, qvid esset 
 
 MALEDICERE NESCHT NON TANQVAM, " What it WaS tO 
 
 speak evil he did not even know." 
 
 But it is especially in the domestic relations that the 
 tender and pure affections of the Christians are most 
 beautifully exhibited. His heart must be callous indeed, 
 who can read without emotion these humble records of 
 love and sorrow, which have survived so many of the 
 proudest monuments of antiquity. In the hour of tear- 
 ful parting from the dearly loved, the richest affections 
 of the soul are breathed forth, as the flower when 
 crushed e^.hales its sweetest fragrance. These rude in- 
 scriptions speak to our hearts with a power and pathos 
 all their own. Their mute eloquence sweeps down the 
 centuries, and touches chords in every soul that thrill 
 with keenest sympathy. The far severed ages are 
 linked together by the tale of death and sorrow — old as 
 humanity yet ever new. The bleaching skeletons in 
 their stony beds seem clothed again with human flesh 
 and warm with living love. The beauty and tenderness 
 of Christian family life is vividly exhibited — the hallow- 
 ing influence of religion making earthly love the type 
 of love eternal in the skies. The tie that knits fond 
 hearts together becomes the stronger as death smites at 
 it in vain. The language of affection becomes mora 
 fervent as the barrier of the grave is interposed. 
 
 * Compare, in Propertius' elegy on Cornelia, the line 
 
 Viximus insignes inter titramque facem. 
 
 '• I lived spotless from the kindling of my marriage torch to that 
 which lit my funeral pyre." 
 
 80 
 
 
 . \ 
 
466 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Especially is this \.\\2 case when sorrowing parents 
 mingle their tears at the tiny loculus of their babe, con- 
 signed to earth's cold keeping from their loving arms 
 — their bud of promise blighted, and hope's blossom 
 withered to bloom only in \.\vt skies. The warmest 
 expressions of endearment are lavished on the tombs 
 of little children. Thus we have such tender epithets 
 as DVLCIOR MELLE, " Swcetcr than honey ; " TATKYTE- 
 POC *CTOC KAl Zi2HC, " Sweetei than light and life; " 
 AGNELLVS DEI, " God's little lamb ; " palvmbvlvs sine 
 FELLE, "Little dove without gall;" parvvlvs inno- 
 CENS, "Little innocent; " meae deliciae, "My delight; " 
 DVLCissiMvs CARissiMvs, " Most swect, most dear;" 
 
 EIPHNH 201 *OPTOYNATH eYFATPI rATKTTATH, " Peace 
 
 to thee, O P'ortunata, our very sweet child; " innocen- 
 TissiMO PAVLO Qvi • vix. • M .; X • D • xiiii, " To the most 
 innocent Paul, who lived ten months, fourteen days; " 
 
 ANIMA DVLCIS INNOCVA SAPIENS ET PVLCHRA, " A SWCCt 
 
 spirit, guileless, wise, and beautiful," (a child aged three 
 years) ; mirae innocentiae ac sapientiae pvero, 
 " A boy of wonderful innocence nnd intelligence," (aged 
 four years.) Sometimes a retcrence is made to the 
 brief sojourn of the little pilgrim to life's shores, as 
 parvm stetit apvd nob, " He stayed but a short time 
 with us," 
 
 The following is from Sicily : EN0AAE KITE {sk) EN 
 EIPHNH MAPI A EZHCEN ETH MIKPON HPOC B (KAI) ETE- 
 AEIQeH, " Here lies Mary in peace : she lived a little 
 more than two years (and) finished her course." Of an- 
 other it is said, that she diea inter manvs parentvm, 
 " In the arms of her parents." In an epitaph at Naples 
 is the exquisite utterance of a sorrowing heart : in solis 
 TV MiHi tvrba locis, " In lonely places thou art crowds 
 to me." Generally, however, the grief of the parents is 
 
 ,11 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 467 
 
 speechless, and we read merely, parentes fecervni- 
 FiMAE, " The i)arents made (this tomb) for their child," 
 or perhaps, mater incomparahili filiae pecit, ** The 
 mother made this for her incomparable daughter." 
 
 Sometimes the praise of the deceased is more elabo- 
 rate, as in the following, which is probably of late date; 
 dalmatio filio dvlcissimo to'l ivs ingeniositatis ac 
 sapientiae pvero qvem plenis septem annis per 
 
 FRVI PATRI INFELICI NON LICVIT QVI STVDENS LITTERAS 
 GRAECAS NON • MONSTRATAS i Ibl LATINAS — " To Dal- 
 
 matius, a very sweet son, of tiie rtmost genius and wis- 
 dom, whose unhappy father was not permitted to enjoy 
 him for seven full years, who, while studying the Greek 
 language, acquired Latin without being taught."* 
 
 Sometimes a natural expression of sorrow occurs, as 
 PARENTES DOLENTES, " The parents grieving ; " pater 
 iNFELix, "The anhappy father;" contra votvm, 
 " Regretfully; " parentes miseri fvnebris acervitate 
 {sic) percvssi titvlvm erigi ivsservnt, " The wretched 
 parents, smitten by the bitterness of her death, com- 
 manded this tablet to be set up," (a. d. 464 ;) erepta 
 EX ocvLis genitoris, " Snatched from the eyes of her 
 parent ; " Qvis non dolvit aetati tvae piasqve la- 
 crimas fvdit in te spes fvtvra expectabatvrper 
 te per te gloria perennis celerine fili, fidelis 
 
 QVIESCIS in pace QVI VIXIT ANN. I. M. VIII — " Who did 
 
 not grieve for thy (immature) age and pour affection- 
 ate tears } In thee was future hope. Through thee, 
 through thee, O son Celerinus, perennial glory was ex- 
 pected. Faithful one, thou restest in peace, who lived 
 one year eight months," (A. D. 381). 
 
 In the following, of later date, the expressions of 
 grief are more elaborate and artificial, and indicate the 
 * The text and translation are as given by Burton. 
 
 i ;1 
 
 I:i 
 
•*. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 « 
 
 1.0 £1^ lii 
 
 ^^S Itt lU HO? 
 
 I I.I l'^ isa 
 
 1^ 114 
 
 HiotogratM: 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 33 WiST MAIN STMiT 
 
 WMSTH,N.Y. I4SM 
 
 (7l6)«7a-4S03 
 
 
468 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 influence of pagan thought and diction, especially in 
 the last line : 
 
 <^VOD DVLCES NATI QVOD CARA PICNORA PRAESTANT 
 
 AHSTVLIT ATRA DIKS ET FVNERE MERSIT ACERVO 
 
 IIAEC MATER ET GEMTOR CONSCRIBVNT CARMINA BVSTO 
 
 QVO LEGENTI SIMVL REDEAT SVU CORDE FIOVRA 
 
 ET SICCATA SAEPE MADESCANT LVMI.NA FLETV 
 
 SIC MEDICATVR AMOR NEC CVRANT CARMINA MANES. 
 
 "What sweet children, what dear pledges promise, a dire day 
 has borne away, and plunged in hitter death. The father and mother, 
 together, write these verses on the tomb, in order that to any one 
 reading, the image may at once return to the soul, and the eyes, long 
 dry, may moisten with tears. Thus love administers relief, nor do 
 the spirits care for songs." 
 
 No less fervent expressions of affection are employed 
 toward their adult offspring by surviving parents. In- 
 deed they are, if possible, still more intense, as if wrung 
 froiTi the bleeding heart by grief for the fallen column 
 of the house — the broken staff of their declining years. 
 In the following, from the I.apidarian gallery, the epi- 
 thets of endearment are lavishly heaped upon the be- 
 loved object : adsertori filio karo dvlci innoco 
 
 ET INCOMPARABILI QVI VIXIT ANNIS XVII • M • VII • DI£BVS 
 
 viii • PATER ET MATER fecer(vnt) — " To Adsertop? 
 our dear, sweet, guileless, and incomparable son, who 
 lived seventeen years, seven months, eight days. His 
 father and mother made this." 
 Of similar character are the following : pavla cla- 
 
 RISSIMA FAEMINA DVLCIS BENIGNA GRATIOSA FILIA — 
 
 " Paula, an illustrious woman, a sweet, kind, and gra- 
 cious daughter;" NIMIVM CITO DECIDISTI CONSTANTIA 
 MIRVM PVLCHRITVDINIS ATQVE IDONEITATIS — " ToO 
 
 soon hast thou fallen, Constantia, wonderful (example) 
 of beauty and ability." 
 
 Similar evidences of parental affection and grief oc- 
 cur in i^agan inscriptions, though often overshadowed 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 469 
 
 by a deep and dark despair. Thus we read such tender 
 epithets of little children as filiae dvlcissimae iam 
 GARRVLAE BiMVLAE NONDVM — " To a Very sweet daugh- 
 ter now prattling, not yet two little years of age ; " 
 OBSEQVENTissiMAE FILIAE — " To a most obedient daugh- 
 ter ; " MATER MOERENS FILIO EX QVO NIHIL VNQVAM SO- 
 LVIT NISI CVM IS NON FviT — " The grieving mother to her 
 son, from whom she never received any pain but when he 
 was not," — that is, when he died; parvaebvsta pvellae 
 
 THREPTVS PATER FECIT QVIS NON VVLTVM RIGAT LACRI- 
 MIS MAERORE COACTVS QVIS NON TRISTITIAM PECTORE 
 
 CONCIPIT — " Her foster-father made this tomb of a little 
 girl. Who does not moisten his face with tears, compelled 
 by grief? Who dees not cherish sorrow in his bosom ? * 
 
 ADOLESCENTVLAE DVLCISSIMAE PATER PIISSIMVS ET IN- 
 
 FELicissiMVS FECIT — " To a most sweet young maiden, 
 her most affectionate and unhappy father gave this 
 tomb ; " FLEViT et assidvo maestvs vterqve parens 
 — " Both the sorrowful parents wept incessantly." 
 
 We have also such examples as, mater ad lvctvm et 
 gemitvm rehcta evm lacrimis et opobalsamo vdvm 
 HOC SEPVLCHRO CONDIDIT — " His mother, left to sorrow 
 and groaning, buried him, moist with tears and balsam, 
 in this tomb;" qvae ob desiderivm fili svi piissimi 
 
 VIVERE ABOMINAVIT ET POST DIES XV FATI EIVS ANIMO 
 
 despondit — " Who, on account of her yearning for her 
 most affectionate son, hated life, and, fifteen days after 
 his death, also died." ^ 
 
 Sometimes in their passionate grief the heathen pa- 
 rents reproach themselves for surviving their children, 
 as in the following. » 
 
 oc- 
 )wed 
 
 CRVDELIS IMPIA MATKRCARIS SVIS DVLCISSIMIS . . . INPELICISSIM.V 
 MATER QVI (jiV) VI DIT FVNVS SVVM TRVDELISSIMVM QVAE SI I)EV.M 
 PROPITIVM HABVISSET HOC DEBVERA (siC) EOS PATI. 
 
470 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 The cruel, impious mother, to her dear, most sweet children. The 
 most unhapi)y mother, who saw (in theirs) her own most cruel death 
 who, if she had had a propitious deity, ought to have suffered this for 
 them — (that ii, have died in their stead.) 
 
 HIC lACET EXTINCTVS CRVDELI FVNERE NATV5 
 VLTIMA VIVENDI QVI MIHI CAVSA FVIT, 
 
 Mere lies, destroyed by cruel fate, a son, who was my only reason 
 for living. 
 
 Often the expressions in Christian epitaphs of filial 
 affection to deceased parents are exceedingly tender 
 and beautiful, as for example : patri dvlcissimo bene- 
 MERENTi IN PACE — ** To OUT swectest father, well-deserv- 
 ing, in peace," (A. D. 356) ; tigriti benemerenti. . . . 
 FiLivs Ffeci matri — '* To the well-deserving Tigris. . . . 
 I, her son, made this for my mother," (A. D. 393 •) hoc 
 
 TVMVLVM PATRIS FILIVS FIERI VOLVIT CAVSA AMORIS 
 
 PATERNi RECORDATiONis — "This tomb of his father 
 the son wished to be made on account of his remem- 
 brance of paternal affection ; " te parens soboles 
 
 CONIVNXQVE FIDELIS TE MIXTIS LACRIMIS LVGET AMA- 
 
 TA DOMVS — " Thee thy parent, thy offspring, thy faithful 
 consort, thee a loved home, with mingled tears, lament," 
 (A. D. 533.) 
 
 HEV MEMORANDE PATER LONG! M^HI CAVSA DOLORIS 
 OPTASTI IN MANi::VS FILIORVM SAEPE TVORVM 
 SVMERE ET AMPLEXV DVLCI TENVARE NEPOTVM. 
 ADFVIT HIS VOTIS EXCELS! GRATIA CHRISTI 
 FELIX VITA FVIT FELIX ET TRANSITVS IPSE. (A. D. 534.) 
 
 Alas, O father, ever to be remembered, cause of long grief to me, 
 thou didst often desire to die in the arms of thy children, to gently 
 pass away in the eweet embrace of thy offspring. These wishes the 
 grace of the exalted Christ fulfilled. Happy was thy life, and happy 
 also thy passing away. 
 
 We find also the epitaphs of foster-parents and 
 adopted children, showing the exercise, under the influ- 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 471 
 
 ence of Christian sentiment, of the beautiful charity of 
 rescuing foundlings and orphans* from poverty, infamy, 
 or death. The following example is of date A. D. 
 392: 
 
 PERPETVAM SEDEM NVTRITOR POSSIDES IPSE 
 HIC MERITVS FINEM MAGNIS DEFVNCTE PERICLIS 
 HIC REQVIEM FELIX SVMIS COGENTIBVS ANNIS 
 HIC POSITVS PAPASANTIMIO QVI VIXIT ANNIS LXX. 
 
 " You yourself who reared (us) now occupy a lasting resting-place. 
 Here you have reached the end that you deserved, of a course fraught 
 with great perils. Here, in happiness, you take the repose that age 
 compels. Here is laid footer-father Antimio, who lived seventy 
 years." f 
 
 The conjugal affections especially have their beauti- 
 ful and tender commemoration. The mutual love of 
 husband and wife hnds in these inscriptions affecting 
 record, which, attests the happiness of the marriage re- 
 lation among the primitive Christians. Frequently the 
 bereaved husband recounts with grateful recollection 
 the fact that his wedded life was one of perfect har- 
 
 and 
 
 influ- 
 
 * Dr. Northcote indeed asserts that " there are actually more in- 
 stances of alumni among the sepulchral inscriptions of the Christians 
 than among the infinitely more numerous sepulchral inscriptions of 
 the pagans." (Page 136.) The accompanying Greek examples are 
 characteristic of the class : HPOKAH ePEOTH, " To Procla, an 
 adopted daughter;" OETPOC ePEOTOC rAYKTTATOC EN GEO, 
 " Peter, a most sweet adopted son, in God." 
 
 The titles mamma and tata, someiimes in their diminutive forms 
 mamula and tatula, equivalent to our mamma and papa, occur in 
 Christian and pagan epitaphs. 
 
 \ The expression papasantimio was erroneously translated "most 
 holy Pope " by Paoll and Fea, but their mistake was long since pointed 
 out Maitland, and Bishop Kip who followed him, fell into the same 
 error. De Rossi severely criticises the former as " most ignorant of 
 the whole controversy, known even to blear-eyed and barbers." — Totius 
 controversiae, vel lippis ac tonsoribus aotse, ignarissimus. — Inscrip. 
 Antiq., p. 177. The translation above given is that of Dr. McCaul. 
 
472 
 
 The Catacombs oj Rome. 
 
 mony, unmarred by a single jar or discord — semfkr 
 
 CONCORDES SINE VLLA QVERELA. 
 
 The posthumous praise of these Christian matrons 
 recalls the inspired portraiture of the virtuous woman 
 of Scripture. The intensity of conjugal grief is shown 
 by the expressions, male fractvs conivx — " The sore 
 broken husband; " and gemii v tristi lacrimis dgflet 
 — " He bewails in tears with bitter lamentation." Often 
 occurs the phrase incomparabilis conivx — " Incom- 
 parable wife," frequently with the addition, optimae 
 MEMORIAE — "Of most excellent meniory." Sometimes 
 we find the tender expression, with such depth of mean- 
 ing in its simple words, Qvi amavit me — " Who loved 
 me; " also the phrase, carvssvis — "Dear to his friends;" 
 or, PERDVLCissiMO coNiVGi SVG — inadequately ren- 
 dered, "To her most dearest husband." The utterance 
 of a grief into the secret of which none* can enter but 
 those who have known its bitterness, is often extremely 
 pathetic. 
 
 The spirit of these inscriptions will be best seen in 
 the concrete. The following are characteristic exam- 
 ples: DEO FIDELIS DVLCIS MARITO NVTRIX FAMILIAE 
 
 HVMiLis cvnctis amatrix pavpervm — " Faithful to 
 God, endeared to her husband, the nurse of her fam- 
 ily, humble to all, a lover of the poor;" bixit mecvm 
 
 ANNIS XXII • mens • IX • dies V IN QVIBVS SEMPER MIHI 
 
 bene fvit cvm illa — " She lived with me for twenty-two 
 years, nine months, five days, during which time it ever 
 went well with me in her society; " conivge venerande 
 BONE innocva florentia digna pia amabilis pvdica 
 (wV) — " To my wife Florentia, deserving of honour, 
 good, guileless, worthy, pious, amiable, modest." 
 
 HIC REQVIESCIT IN PACE TERTVRA CF DVLCIS PETRONII CONIVX 
 DEO SERVIENS VNICAE FIDEI AMICA PACIS CASTIS MORIBVS UKNATA 
 
x^:-f^ 
 
 Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 473 
 
 rOMMVNIS FIDEI.IUVS AMICtS FAMILIAR GRATA NVTRIX NATORVM 
 FT NVMQVAM AMARA MAR, TO. 
 
 •* Here reposes in peace Tertura, an illustrious woman, the sweet 
 wife of Petronius, serving God, of matchless faith, a frienil of peace, 
 adorned with modest manners, affable toward the faithful friends of 
 her family, a loving nurse of her children, and never bitter to her 
 husband." 
 
 HlC Mini SEMPF.R DOLOR ERIT IN AEVO 
 
 ET TVVM BENF.RAHI! EM VVLTVM FVAT VIDERE SOPORE 
 
 CONIVNX ALBANAQVE MIHI SEMPER CASTA HVDICA 
 
 RELICTVM ME TVO GREMIO QVEROR 
 
 QVOD MIHI SANCTVM TE DEDERAT DIVINITVS AVCTOR. 
 
 " This grief will always weigh upon me. May it be granted me to 
 behold in sleep your revered countenance. My wife Albana, always 
 chaste and modest. I grieve over the loss of your support, whom our 
 divine author had given to me as a sacred (boon.)" 
 
 In the follo'ving a disconsolate husband mourns the 
 wife of his youth with the pleasing illusion that such love 
 as theirs the world had never known before : domni- 
 
 NAE INNOCENTISSIMAE ET DVLCISSIMAE CONIVGI QVAE 
 VIXIT ANN • XVI • M • IIII • ET FVIT MARITATA • ANN DVOBVS 
 • M>IIII*D> Villi CVM QVA NON LICVIT FVISSE PROPTER 
 CAVSAS PEREGRINATIONIS NISI • MENSIB • VI • QVO • TEM- 
 PORE • VT EGO SENSI ET EXHIBVI AMOREM MEVM MVLLIS 
 
 VALii (sic) SIC DELixERVNT — " To Domnina, my most 
 guileless and sweet wife, who lived sixteen years and 
 four months, and was married two years, four months, 
 and nine days ; with whom I was not able to live on 
 account of my travelling more than six months : during 
 this period as I felt and showed my affection no others 
 ever loved." 
 
 ♦ This example and translation are from Maitland. It will be ob- 
 served that Domnina must have been married before her fourteenth 
 birthday. Several notices of early marriages occur, as e. g. 
 
 VISCILIVS NICENI • COSTAE • SVAE QVAE FVIT* 
 ANNOR • P • M • XXXI • EX QVIBVS DVRABIT • MECVM ANNOS XV — 
 
 *' Viscilius to Nice, his rib, who was of thirty-one years (of age) more 
 
474 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i 
 
 Similar expressions of affection are applied by bereaved 
 wives to their deceased husbands. In the following a 
 widowed heart dwells with fond complacency on the 
 thought that no rankling recollection of estranged regard 
 embitters her remembrance of the lost : agrippina 
 
 FECIT • DVLCISSIMO SVO MARITO CVM QVEM VIXIT SINE 
 
 LEsiONE ANiMi • ANNOS III ET M • X. — " Agrippina made 
 this to her very sweet husband, with whom she lived, 
 without jarring, three years and ten months." Of sim- 
 ilar import is this also : digno meritoqve ivgali meo 
 
 TETTIO FILICISSIMO DIACONO • MARCIA DECENTIA DVLCIS- 
 SIMO MIHI DIEM DEPOSITIONIS LAPIDEMQVE DESCRIPSI • 
 
 MERiTO VIXIT ANNVS NON MiNvs Lxx — " To my husband, 
 Tettius Felicissimus, worthy and deserving, a deacon. 
 I, Marcia Decentia, inscribed this stone to him (who 
 was) most sweet to me, on the day of his buria' He 
 lived in honour not less than seventy years." 
 
 i 
 
 ' I 
 
 or less, of which she passed with me fifteen years." The use of casta 
 loxusor is doubtless an allusion to Genesis ii, 21. We read also of 
 Felicissima, qvae vixiT annvs i.x • qvae fecit cvm viro svo an- 
 NVS XLV — "Who lived sixty years, who passed with her husband 
 forty-five years;" and of Januaria, L« f-qvae vixiT PL-M- ANN • 
 xxviii • c • MARITY • FEC ANN XV • M • XI • D • X — " A praiseworthy worn 
 an, who lived twenty-eight years, more or less ; she passed with her 
 husband fifteen years, eleven months, ten days." She was, therefore, 
 married when about twelve years of age. The earliest date of mar- 
 riage we have noticed is the following : constantiae benemerenti 
 
 BERGINIVS CASTAE CONFARAE • CVM QVA • FECIT ANNIS VIII. QVE VICSIT 
 
 (jiV)ankisxviii MENSES Villi • DIES XVII. — " Virginius, to the we!l-de- 
 serving (3onstantia, his chaste consort, with whom he lived eight years, 
 who lived eighteen years, nine months, seventeen days." She Wiis 
 less than eleven years old when married. It must be borne in mind, 
 however, that marriage still occurs at a very early age in these south- 
 ern latitudes, as both seces attain nubile years much sooner than in 
 northern climates. Eut this precocious maturity is followed, especially 
 in females, by a premature decline. Likw the brilliant flowers of their 
 own fervid clime, they ee/ly bloom and quickly fade. 
 
Social and Domestic Rehtions. 
 
 475 
 
 Similar language of mingled love and grief occurs in 
 pagin inscriptions, but without the chastening influence 
 of Christian resignation. The domestic life of the Ro- 
 mans, especially in the days of republican simplicity, 
 seems to have been remarkably Tree fiom discord oi 
 strife. Thus we find frequent record of over half a 
 century passed in marriage, sine ivrgio, sine aemv- 
 LATiONE, SINE DissiDio, SINE QVERELA — " Without Con- 
 tention, without emulation, without dissension, with- 
 out strife." \Vi*h ceaseless iteration the virtues of 
 the deceased are lovingly recorded, as in the examples 
 which follow con:vgem fidelissimam — " Most faithful 
 wife ; " OPTIMA domina sanctissim a — " Best and most re- 
 vered lady;" MARITAE PIISSIMAE DVLCISSIMAE RARISSI 
 
 MAE — " To a most pious and sweet wife of rarest excel- 
 lence;" OPTIMA ET PVLCHERRIMA LANIFICA PIA PVDICA 
 
 CASTA DOMESEDA — " Best and most beautiful, a spinner 
 of wool, pious, modest, chaste, home-abiding ; " vxoRi 
 OBSEQVENTissiMAE-^"To a most obedient (or obsequi- 
 ous) wife ; " T. FL. CAPITO CONIVCI CASTTSSIMAE PIISSIMAE 
 ET DE SE OPTIME MERITAE DE QVA NVLLVM DOLOREM NISI 
 ACERBISSIMAE MORTIS EIVS ACCEPERAT — " TitUS Flavius 
 
 Capito, to his most chaste and pious wife, deserving 
 well of him, from whom he received no cause of grief, 
 except that of her most bitter death ; " tempivs her- 
 
 MEROS CONIVGI CARISSIMAE . . . CVIVS DESIDERIO IVRA- 
 TVS est SE POST EAM VXOREM NON HABITVRVM — " Tem- 
 
 pius Hermeros, to his most dear spouse, on account of 
 his love for whom he swore that he would have no 
 other wife." Once we meet the strange remark by a 
 husband of his wife, cvivs in die mortis gratias max- 
 IMAS EGi APVD DEOS ET APVD HOMINES — " On the day of 
 whose death I gave the greatest thanks to gods and men." 
 It was probably c.i accountof her release from suffering 
 
» 
 
 476 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 
 i !! 
 1 
 
 1 > 
 
 
 ii 
 
 1 r 
 
 
 In the accompanying epitaph a bereaved widow la- 
 ments her irreparable loss: conivgi desidkratissimo 
 
 . . . NVNC NEQVE TE VIDEO NEC AMOR SATIATVR AMAN- 
 TIS ET CONIVX MISERA FINEM DEPOSCO DOI.ORI — " To 
 
 my most deeply regretted husband . . . For neither do 
 I now see thee, nor is the affection of thy loving spouse 
 satisfied ; and I, a miserable wife, implore an end of my 
 sorrow." 
 
 Such examples of conjugal affection recall to mind 
 the immortal love of Alcestis in the Greek myth, dying 
 for her bosom's lord; and of Arria, in Roman story, re- 
 fusing to survive her husband, and having plunged the 
 dagger into her own breast, with dying smile exclaim- 
 ing, Paff^non dolet — " It hurts not, my Paetus." * 
 
 Another interesting class of Christian inscriptions 
 are those commemorating fraternal affection. The 
 following are typical examples : ioviano karissimo 
 FECIT (j/V) FRATRES piENTissiMAE (j/V) — " To dearest 
 Jovianus, his most affectionate brothers made this ; " 
 TO MAKAPIQ HATAO HATAAAOC AAEA*02— " To the 
 blessed Paul, his brother Hedulalos." 
 
 In the accompanying poetical tribute to a sister the 
 melancholy consolation of mourning the lost is beauti- 
 fully referred to : 
 
 SVME SOROR CARMEN SOLATIA TRISTA (jfV) FRATRIS 
 QVI SOLVS GEMITV HEC (jiV) TIBI VERBA DEDIT 
 
 QUAE TEGITVR TVMVLO SI VIS COGNOSCERE LECTOR 
 SVBLIMES GESSIT SANGVINIS HAEC TITVLOS 
 
 MORIBVS HEC CRISTVM SEMPER COMITATA SVPERSTES 
 QVEM POST FATA SIBI CREDIDIT ESSE DVCEM. 
 
 Sister, take these verses, the sad comfort of your brother, who, in 
 lonely lamentation, has given these words to you. Reader, if you 
 
 I* We have also illustrations of the fatal facility of divorce under 
 the Empire, and of the domestic strife and crime resulting therefrom. 
 In the following epitaph a discardefd wife laments the murder of her 
 
Social and Domestic R da t ions. 
 
 477 
 
 desire lo know who U covered by this tomb, she Iw^rc names which 
 told her high descent. She, when alive, always followed, in her con- 
 duct, Christ, who she believed would be her guide after death. 
 
 Frequently members of the same family were buried 
 in the same grave — lovely and pleasant in their lives, 
 and in their death not divided. Thus we read of a 
 brother and sister who died in one day, and were buried 
 together — vna diemortvi et pakiter tvmvi.atisvnt; 
 of a certain Antigonus who occupied the same tomb 
 with his sister — locvm haret cvm sore (sic) sva; and 
 of a mother who shared her daughter's grave — felicia 
 CVM filia in pace; also of Claudia and Julia, who had 
 secured their places by the side of their sweet friend 
 Calpurnia. The same custom sometimes obtains in 
 pagan sepulture, as indicated by the following epitaph 
 of a husband and wife who, not to be divorced even in 
 death, mingled their ashes in one urn : 
 
 PARATO HOSPITIt) CARA IVNGVNT CORFORA 
 HAEC RVRSVM NOSTRAR SKI) PERPETVAE NVPTIAE, 
 
 In a prepared rest they join their dear bodies. These are oar sec- 
 ond but our perpetual nuptials.* 
 
 Sometimes the funeral tablet was erected by the hand 
 of friendship, probably when there were none of kin to 
 
 child by the usurper of her rights : mater filio piissimo misera 
 ET IN LVCTV ETERNALi VENEFicio NOVERCAE — " To her most affec- 
 tionate son, the vrretched mother, plunged in perpetual grief by the 
 poison of his step-mother, (raised this slab.) " There is also a curious 
 inscription written jointly by two living husbands to the same de- 
 ceased wife, in which she is designated, coNivx bene merenta {sic) — 
 "A well-deserving consort." Another slab is dedicated to both the 
 wife and the concubine— VXORI et concvbinae— of a Roman lictor. 
 * In like manner, with more tender sentiment than we would have 
 expected in the stolid monarch, George II. was, in accordance with 
 his own request, laid in death beside his good and gentle consort long 
 deceased, and the partition between then removed, " that their dust 
 might blend together." 
 
478 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \ 1 
 
 
 pay this last sad tribute of afTection. I)c Rossi thinks 
 that which follows one of the most ancient in Rome : 
 
 DORMITIONI T. FLA. EVTYCHIO. HVNC LOCVM DONABIT 
 M. ORRIVS AMICVS KARISSIMVS KARF, BALE — " As a resting 
 
 place for Titus Flavius Eutychius, his dearest friend, 
 Marcus Orbius, gave this spot. Farewell, beloved." One 
 fair friend thus commemorates the loss of another: 
 
 AELIA VICTORINA POSVIT AVRELIAE PROBAE — "^liaVic- 
 
 torina erected this stone to Aurelia Proba." We find also 
 such expressions as, *' Best friend," " Dear and faithful 
 companion," " Constant in love and truth." Sometimes a 
 lowly servant or freedman records a master's virtues, as 
 in the epitaph of Gordianus, erected by his handmaid 
 Theophila— Te*HAA anchaaa ♦EC1T(«V); and that of 
 Prosenes, which Ampelius, his freedman, wrote — scrip- 
 sit AMPELivs LIB, Another was buried by her sweet 
 
 and holy nurse in Christ— BPEnTElPAN TAYKEPHN An AN 
 EN XPO. 
 
 The duration of sickness, or cause of death, is some- 
 times, though very rarely, mentioned in Christian in- 
 scriptions. Thus we have such particulars as perit in 
 DIES V — " He died in five days ; " ENOCHCEN HMEPAC IB 
 — "He was ill twelve days." A pagan epitaph com- 
 plains of the death of the deceased by magical incanta- 
 tions : carminibvs defixa iacvit per tempora mvta 
 
 VT EIVS SPIRITVS VI EXTORQVERETVR QVAM NATVRAE 
 
 redderetvr — " Overcome by charms she lay at times 
 dumb, so that her spirit was torn from her by force 
 rather than given back to nature." Another was 
 snatched away while she too sedulously nursed a sick 
 husband — dvm fovit nimia sedvlitate virvm. An- 
 ' other died of internal burnings, which medical skill 
 was powerless to cope with — ardentes intvs vin- 
 cere qvos medicae non potvere manvs. Of an- 
 
 !,i 
 
Social and Domestic Rchtiom 
 
 479 
 
 other we read that after lonj^ and various infirmitieH 
 she is freed from human thin^js — post lonc.as et 
 
 VARIAS INFIRMITATES HVMANIS RK.IIVS EXEMPTA EST.* 
 
 Like this is the expression in a ('hristian epitaph — post 
 VARIAS CVRAS POST lon(;ae mvnera vitae — " After 
 various cares, after the duties of a long life." 
 
 The same spirit which thus commemorated the de- 
 parted would lead also to the decoration of their sepul- 
 chres with pious frescoes or elaborate sculpture, limned 
 or carved often as a last offering of love by the hand 
 of affection or of friendship — now for fifteen centuries 
 kindred dust with that whose resting-place it so fondly 
 sought to beautify. 
 
 We should do scant justice, however, to the blameless 
 character, simple dignity, and moral purity of the prim- 
 itive Christians, as indicated in these posthumous 
 remains, if we forgot the thoroughly effete and corrupt 
 society by which they were surrounded. It would seem 
 almost impossible for the Christian graces to grow in 
 such a fetid atmosphere. Like the snow-white lily 
 springing in virgin purity from the muddy ooze, they are 
 more lovely by contrast with the surrounding pollutions. 
 Like flowers that deck a sepulchre, breathing their fra- 
 grance amid scenes of corruption and death, are these 
 holy characters, fragrant with the breath of heaven 
 amid the social rottenness and moral death of their foul 
 environment. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine, and impossible to portray, 
 the abominable pollutions of the times. " Society," 
 says Gibbon, " was a rotting, aimless chaos of sensuality." 
 It was a boiling Acheron of seething passions, unhal- 
 lowed lusts, and tiger thirst for blood, such as never 
 provoked the wrath of heaven since God drowned the 
 * Several of these examples are translated from Kenrick. 
 
48o 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 % 
 
 m 
 
 W \ : 
 
 ■1« 
 
 world with water, or destroyed the Cities of the Plain 
 by fire. Only those who have visited the secret muse- 
 um of Naples, or that house which no woman may 
 enter at Pompeii, and whose paintings no pen may de- 
 scribe; or who are familiar with the scathing denuncia- 
 tions of popular vices by the Roman satirists and moral- 
 ists and by the Christian Fathers, can conceive the 
 appalling depravity of the age and nation. St. Paul, in 
 his epistle to the church among this very people, hints 
 at some features of their exceeding wickedness. It 
 was a shame even to speak of the things which were 
 dors by them, but which gifted poets employed their 
 wit to celebrate. A brutalized monster was deified as 
 God, received divine homage,* and beheld all the world 
 at his feet and the nations tremble at his nod, while the 
 multitude wallowed in a sty of sensuality.f 
 
 Christianity was to be the new Hercules to cleanse 
 this worse than Augean pollution. The pure morals 
 and holy ?.ives of the believers were a perpetual testi- 
 mony against abounding iniquity, and a living proof of 
 the regenerating power and transforming grace of God. 
 For they themselves, as one of their apologists asserts, 
 " had been reclaimed from ten thor and vices." J And 
 the Apostle, describing some of the vilest characters, 
 exclaims, " Such were some of you, but ye are washed, 
 ye are sanctified." They recoiled with the utmost ab- 
 horrence from the pollutions of the age, and became 
 
 * While yet alive, Domitian was called, Our Lord and God — Dom- 
 i litis et Deus noster. 
 
 f A licentious poet, recognizing this moral corruption as the cause 
 of national decay, exclaims : 
 
 Hoc fonte derivata clades 
 
 In patriam populumque fluxit. 
 
 \ Origen, Contra Cels., i, 67. Cf, Jus. Mar., Apol., ii, 61, and Tert., 
 Apol., and Ad. iVdf/., passim. 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 481 
 
 luse 
 
 indeed " the salt of the earth," the sole moral antiseptic 
 to pre^ nt the total disintegration of society. 
 
 The Christians were daily exposed to contact with 
 idolatry. The whole public and private life of the hea- 
 then was pervaded with the spirit of polytheism. Idol- 
 atrous usages were interwoven with almost every act. 
 The courts of justice, the marts of trade, the highways 
 and gardens, the fountains and rivers, the domestic 
 hearth, and the very doors and hinges, were under 
 the protection of their respective deities. The imple- 
 ments oi" labour, the household utensils, the military 
 ensigns, the achievements of art, the adornments of 
 beauty, were all consecrated to idol worship. The daily 
 meals and rites of hospitality, the social banquets and 
 public amusements, the common language and saluta- 
 tions of friendship, had all a religious significance. 
 
 The Christians were therefore especially exhorted to 
 " keep themselves from idols." They believed that 
 their images were the abodes of daemons who delighted 
 in the reek of blood and the fetid odour of sacrificial 
 flesh.* Against image-makers the severest ecclesiasti- 
 cal censures were denounced. They were the foster 
 fathers of devils,t to whom they offered not the sacri- 
 fice of a beast, but immolated their mind, poured the 
 libation of their sweat, kindled the torch of their 
 thought, and slew the richer and more precious victim 
 of their salvation. { The believers might not wreath 
 their gates, nor illuminate their houses, nor attend 
 the public festivals, nor witness a sacrifice, nor accept 
 a heathen salutation, nor sell incense, nor eat meat pol- 
 
 * Tertul., Apol, 22. 
 
 \ Fabri deomm vel parentes numinum. — Prudentius, Peristeph.^ 
 Hymn x, 293. 
 X Tertul., De Idol., vi. 
 
 81 
 
482 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 V \ 
 
 ip: 
 
 luted with idolatrous lustration.* Thus amid pagan 
 usages and unspeakable moral degradation the Chris- 
 tians lived? a holy nation, a peculiar people. "We 
 alone are without crime," says Tertullian ; " no Christian 
 suffers but for his religion." "Your prisons are full," 
 says Minutius Felix, "but they contain not one Chris- 
 tian." And these holy lives were an arguuient which 
 even the heathen could not gainsay. The ethics of 
 paganism were the speculations of the cultivated few 
 who aspired to the character of philosophers. The 
 ethics of Christianity were a system of practical duty 
 affecting the daily life of the most lowly and unlettered. 
 "Philosophy," says Lecky, "may dignify, but is impo- 
 tent to regenerate man; it may cultivate virtue, but 
 cannot restrain vice." f But Christianity introduced a 
 new sense of sin and of holiness, of everlasting reward, 
 and of endless condemnation. It planted a sublime, 
 impassioned love of Christ in the heart, inflaming all 
 its affections. It transformed the character from icy 
 stoicism or epicurean^ selfishness to a boundless and un- 
 calculating self-abnegation and devotion. t 
 
 This divine principle developed a new instinct of 
 philanthropy in the soul. A feeling of common broth- 
 erhood knit the hearts of the believers together. To 
 love a slave, to love an enemy ! was accounted the im- 
 possible among the heathen ; yet this incredible virtue 
 they beheld every day among the Christians. " This 
 surprised them beyond measure," says Tertullian, " that 
 
 * The martyr Lucian chose to die rather than to eat things offered 
 to idols. 
 
 f Hist, of Eur. Morals^ ii, 34. 
 
 \ The Padago^^us of Clement of Alexandria was prepared as a 
 guide or "Instructor" to those who were striving to free themselves 
 from pagan customs, and to conform their lives to the Christian 
 i,naracter. 
 
Social and Domestic Relatione. 
 
 483 
 
 as a 
 Iselves 
 istian 
 
 one man should die for another."* Hence, in the 
 Christian inscriptions no word of bitterness even toward 
 their persecutors is to be found. Sweet peace, the 
 peace of God that passeth all understanding, breathes 
 on every side. 
 
 One of the most striking results of the new spirit of 
 philanthropy which Christianity introduced is seen in 
 the copious charity of the primitive church. Amid the 
 ruins of ancient palaces and temples, theatres and baths, 
 there are none of any house of mercy. Charity among the 
 pagans was, at best, a fitful and capricious fancy. Among 
 the Christians it was a vast and vigorous organization, and 
 was cultivated with noble enthusiasm. And the great 
 and wicked city of Rome, with its fierce oppressions and 
 inhuman wrongs, afforded amplest opportunity for the 
 Christ-like ministrations of love and pity. There were 
 Christian slaves to succour, exposed to unutterable in- 
 dignities and cruel punishment, even unto crucifixion 
 for conscience' sake. There were often martyrs* pangs 
 to assuage, the aching wounds inflicted by the rack or 
 by the nameless tortures of the heathen to bind up, and 
 their bruised and broken hearts to cheer with heavenly 
 consolation. There were outcast babes to pluck, from 
 death. There were a thousand forms of suffering and 
 sorrow to relieve, and the ever-present thought of Him 
 who came, not to be ministered unto but to minister, 
 and to give his life a ransom for many, was an inspira- 
 tion to heroic sacrifice and self-denial. And doubtless 
 the religion of love won its way to many a stony pagan 
 heart by the winsome spell of the saintly charities 
 and heavenly benedictions of the persecuted Chris- 
 tians. This sublime principle has since covered the 
 earth with its institutions of mercy, and with a passion- 
 
 ♦ ApoL, c. 39, 
 
484 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 i i ■> 
 
 ate zeal has sought out the woes of man in every land, 
 in order to their relief. In the primitive church volun- 
 tary collections* were regularly made for the poor, the 
 aged, the sick, the brethren in bonds, and for the burial 
 of the dead. All fraud and deceit was abhorred, and 
 all usury forbidden. Many gave all their goods to feed 
 the poor. " Our charity dispenses more in the streets," 
 says Tertullian to the heathen, " than your religion in 
 all the temples." f He upbraids them for oflfering to 
 the gods only the worn-out and useless, such as is given 
 to dogs, J " How monstrous is it," exclaims the Alex- 
 andrian Clement, " to live in luxury while so many are 
 in want. § "As you would receive, show mercy," says 
 Chrysostom ; " make God your debtor that you may 
 receive again with usury." I The church at Antioch, 
 he tells us, maintained three thousand widows and vir- 
 gins, besides the sick and poor. Under the persecut- 
 ing Decius the widows and infirm under the care of the 
 church at Rome were fifteen hundred. " Behold the 
 treasures of the church," said St. Lawrence, pointing to 
 the aged and poor, when the heathen prefect came to 
 confiscate its wealth. The church in Carthage sent a 
 sum equal to four thousand dollars to ransom Christian 
 captives in Numidia. St. Ambrose sold the sacred ves- 
 sels of the church of Milan to rescue prisoners from 
 the Goths, esteeming it their truest consecration to the 
 service of God. " Better clothe the living temples of 
 Christ," says Jerome, " than adorn the temples of 
 stone." ^ " God has no need of plates and dishes," 
 said Acacius, bishop of Amida, and he ransomed there- 
 with a number of poor captives. For a similar purpose 
 
 * Nemo compellitur, sed sponte confert. — ApoL, c. 39. 
 
 f Ibtd., 42. X Ibid., 14. § A %'., ii, 13. 
 
 [ Horn, in 2 Tim. T[ Epitaph. Paula, 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 485 
 
 •f 
 
 Paulinus of Nola sold the treasures of his beautiful 
 church, and it is said even sold himself into African 
 slavery.* The Christian traveller was hospitably enter- 
 tained by the faithful ; and before the close of the 
 fourth century asylums were provided for the sick, aged, 
 and infirm. During the Decian persecution, when the 
 streets of Carthage were strewn with the dying and the 
 dead, the Christians, With the scars of recent torture 
 and imprisonment upon them, exhibited the nobility of 
 a gospel revenge in their care for their fever-smitten 
 persecutors, and seemed to seek the martyrdom of 
 Christian charity, even more glorious than that they had 
 escaped. t In the plague of Alexandria six hundred 
 Christian parabolani periled their lives to succour the 
 dying and bury the dead.t Julian urged the pagan 
 priests to imitate the virtues of the lowly Christians. 
 
 Christianity also gave a new sanctity to human life, 
 and even denounced as murder the heathen custom of 
 destroying the unborn child. The exposure of infants 
 was a fearfully prevalent pagan practice, which even 
 Plato and Aristotle permitted. We have had evidences 
 of the tender charity of the Christians in rescuing these 
 foundlings from death, or from a fate more dreadful 
 still — a life of infamy. Christianity also emphatically 
 affirmed the Almighty's " canon ' ;ainst self-slaughter," 
 which crime the pagans had even exalted into a virtue. 
 It taught that a patient endurance of suffering, like 
 Job's, exhibited a loftier courag-. ihan Cato's renuncia- 
 tion of life. 
 
 Out of eleven thousand Christian inscriptions of the 
 first six centuries, scarce half a dozen make any ref- 
 erence to a condition of servitude, and of these, as 
 
 /<«. 
 
 * Greg., Dial.^ ill. 
 \ Euseb., H. £., ix, 8. 
 
 f Ft fa Cypr. 
 
p 
 
 486 
 
 7'/te Catacottbs of Rome. 
 
 m 
 
 ii! 
 
 Dr. Northcote remarks, two or tliree are do^'btful. Yet 
 of pagan epitaphs at least three fourths are those of slaves 
 or freedmen. The conspicuous absence of recognition 
 of this unhappy social distinction is no mere accident. 
 We know that the Christians were largely drawn from 
 the servile classes, but in the church of God there was 
 no respect of persons. The gospel of liberty smote the 
 gyves at once from the bodies and the souls of men. 
 In Christ Jesus theie was neither Jew nor Greek, bond 
 nor free. The wretched slave, in the intervals of toil 
 or torture, caught with joy the emancipating message, 
 and sprang up enfranchised by an immortalizing hope. 
 Then " trampled manhood heard and claimed his 
 crown." The victim of human oppression exulted in 
 a new-found liberty ii. Christ which no wealth could 
 purchase, no chains of slavery fetter, nor even death 
 itself destroy. To him earth's loftiest palace was but 
 a gilded prison of the soul, his lowly cot became the 
 antechamber of the skies, and his emancipated spirit 
 passed from his pallet of straw to the repose of Abra- 
 ham's bosom. 
 
 In the Christian church the distinctions of worldly 
 rank were abolished.* The highest spiritual dignities 
 were open to the lowliest slave. In the ecclesiastical 
 hierarchy were no rights of birth, and no privileges of 
 blood. In the inscriptions of the Catacombs no badges 
 of servitude, no titles of honour appear. The wealthy 
 noble — the lord of many acres — recognized in his lowly 
 servant a fellow-heir of glory. They bowed together at 
 the same table of the Lord, saluted each other with the 
 mutual kiss of charity, and side by side in their narrow 
 graves at length returned to indistinguishable dust. 
 
 * Apud nos inter pauperes et divites, servos et dominos, interest 
 nihil. — Lactant., /?.r. Inst., v. 14, 15. 
 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 487 
 
 
 The story of Oneslmus may have often been repeated, 
 and the patrician master have received his returning 
 slave, *' not now as a servant, but above a servant-— 
 a brother beloved." Nay, he may have bowed to him as 
 his ecclesiastical superior, and received from his ple- 
 beian hands the emblems of their common Lord. The 
 lowly arenarii and fossors, the rude Campagnian hus- 
 bandmen and shepherds, and they " of Caesar's house- 
 hold," met in common brotherhood, knit together by 
 stronger ties than those of kinship or of worldly rank, 
 as heirs of glory and of everlasting life. 
 
 The condition of the slave population of Rome wr.a 
 one of inconceivable wretchedness. Colossal piles built 
 by their blood and sweat attest the bitterness of their 
 bondage. The lash of the taskmaster was heard in the 
 fields, and crosses bearing aloft their quivering victims 
 polluted the public highways. Vidius PoUio fed his 
 lampreys with the bodies of his slaves. Four hundred 
 of these wretched beings deluged with their blood the 
 funeral pyre of Pedanius Secundus. A single freed- 
 man possessed over four thousand of these human chat- 
 tels. They had no rights of marriage nor any claim to 
 their children. This dumb, weltering mass of human- 
 ity, crushed by power, led by their lusts, and fed by 
 public dole, became a hot-bed of vice in which every 
 evil passion grew apace. The institution of slavery 
 cast a stigma of disgrace on labour, and prevented the 
 formation of that intelligent middle class which is the 
 true safeguard of liberty. Christianity, on the contrary, 
 dignified, ennobled, and in a sense hallowed labour by 
 the example of its Divine Founder. It consecrated the 
 lowly virtues of humility, obedience, gentleness, pa- 
 tience, and long-suffering, which paganism contemned. 
 It did not, indeed, at once subvert the political institu- 
 
488 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 lu 
 
 V 
 
 \\s 
 
 lion of slavery, but it mitigated its evils, and gradually 
 led to its abolition. 
 
 One of the noblest triumphs of Christianity was its 
 suppression of the bloody spectacles of the amphithe- 
 atre. The early Christians had good reason to regard 
 with shuddering aversion those accursed scenes within 
 that vast Coliseum which rears to-day its mighty walls, a 
 perpetual monument of the cruelty of Rome's Christless 
 creed. Many of their number had been mangied to death 
 by savage beasts or still more savage men, surrounded 
 by a sea of pitiless faces, twice eighty thousand hungry 
 eyes gloating on the mortal agony of the confessor of 
 Christ, while not a single thumb was reversed to make 
 the sign of mercy.* There the maids and matrons, the 
 patricians and the " vile plebs " of Rome, enjoyed the 
 grateful spectacle of cruelty and blood. Even woman\ 
 pitiful nature forgot its tenderness, and the honour was 
 reserved for the vestal virgin to give the signal for the 
 mortal stroke that crowned the martyr's brow with fade- 
 less amaranth. These hateful scenes, in which the 
 spectacle of human agony and death became the im- 
 passioned delight of all classes, created a ferocious 
 thirst for blood and torture throughout society.f They 
 overthrew the altar of pity, and impelled to every excess 
 and refinement of barbarity. Even children imitated 
 the cruel sport in their games, schools of gladiators were 
 trained for the work of slaughter, and women fought in 
 the arena, or lay dead and trampled in the sand. 
 
 * The arena, once crimson with human gore, is now consecrated 
 by the cross of Christ, and a Christian service is \ sekly celebrated 
 on the spot where a pagan emperor sought to crush the infant church. 
 
 \ Under Trajan, renowned for his clemency, ten thousand men 
 fought in the games which lasted one hundred and twenty-three days. 
 To stimulate the jtded minds of the spectators men were in^paled, 
 crucified, and burned to death. 
 
Social ami Domestic Rciations. 
 
 489 
 
 From the very first Christianity relentlessly opposed 
 this horrid practice, as well as all theatrical exhibitions. 
 The mingled cruelty, idolatry, and indecency of the 
 performances were obnoxious alike to the humanity, 
 the piety, and the modesty of the Christians.* They 
 were especially included in the pomps of Satan which 
 the believer abjured at his baptism. Hence their aban- 
 donment was often regarded as a proof of conversion 
 lo Christianity. The theatre was the devil's house, and 
 he had a right to all found therein. f Christianity, soon 
 after it ascended the throne of the Caesars, suppressed 
 the gladiatorial combats. The Christian city of Con< 
 stantinople was never polluted by the atrocious exhibi- 
 tion. A Christian poet eloquently denounced the bloody 
 spectacle, and a Christian monk, at the cost of his life, 
 protested, amid the very frenzy of the conflict, against 
 its cruelty. His heroic martyrdom produced a moral 
 revulsion against the practice, and the laws of Hono> 
 rius, to use the language of Gibbon, " abolished forever 
 the human sacrifices of the amphitheatre." 
 
 It is remarkable that so few references to military life 
 occur in Christian epitaphs, whereas they form a prom- 
 inent feature in those of heathen origin. In ten thou- 
 
 * The De Spectaculis of Tertullian is an elaborate argument con- 
 cerning the idolatrous origin and character of the theatre. He de- 
 scribes, in language applicable to much of the " sport " of modem 
 times, the human wild beasts, passion-blind, agitated by bets, and out 
 of themselves with excitement. " You have nobler joys," he says to 
 the Christians. " Be startled at God's signal, roused at the angel's 
 trump, glory in the palms of martyrdom. Would you have blood 
 too ? There is Christ's," (sec. 29.) He expatiates on the grandeur 
 of the spectacle when the world, hoary with age, shall be consumed ; 
 contrasts with the theatre the sight of poets, players, philosophers, and 
 kings in agonies and flames ; and exults in the triumph of Christ," 
 (sec. 30,) 
 
 f Tertul., De Spectac, sec. 26. 
 
490 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 W' 
 
 Ml 
 
 ' 1 
 
 sand pagan inscriptions analyzed by M. Le Blant, over 
 five hundred. o»- more precisely, 5-47 per cent., were of 
 military chi , .1 ; while in four thousand seven hun- 
 dred of Christian origin, most of which were after the 
 period of Constantine, only .57 per cent., were military, 
 or one tenth the proportion of those among the pagans. 
 But even if in the army, the Christians, whose higher 
 dignity was that of soldiers of Christ, would be less 
 likely than the heathen to mention it in their epitaphs. 
 Although 'I'ertullian inveighs against the military ser- 
 vice,* he yet admits that the Christians engaged in that 
 as well as in other pursuits,! and asserts that they were 
 found even in the camps. J It is probable, however, 
 that the number in the army was insignificant, and these, 
 it is most likely, were converted after their enlistment. 
 There could be little affinity between the bronzed and 
 hardened ruffians who were the instruments of the reign- 
 ing tyrant's cruelty, and the meek and gentle Christians. 
 We know that the latter had often to choose between 
 the sword and the gospel; and many resigned their 
 office, and even embraced martyrdom, rather than per- 
 jure their consciences. § They could not take the mil- 
 itary oath, nor deck their weapons with laurel, nor crown 
 the emperor's effigy, nor celebrate his birthday, nor ob- 
 
 * De Idol., c. 19. 
 
 f Navigamus . . . et niilitnmus, et nisticamus, et inercamur. — Apol., 
 c. 42. 
 
 \ Implevimus . . . castra ipsa. — Jbid., c. 37. The story of the Thun- 
 dering Legion, composed entirely of Christians, is unable to withstand 
 tne destnictive criticism of modern times. The following is the epi- 
 taph of a military commander: vitalianvs magister mimtvm, 
 QVIESCIT IN DOMINO. We have already seen that of an oflicer— 
 DVX MILITVM — who Suffered martyrdom under Adrian. 
 
 § Euseb., H. E.y viii, 4. No one in either the civil or military 
 service of the emperor was eligible for ordination even as a deacon. 
 — Bingham, Orig. Eccl., iv, 3, sec. i. 
 
Social and Domestic Riiations. 
 
 491 
 
 serve any other idolatrous festival. Hence they were 
 accused of the dreaded crime of treason, and announced 
 as the enemies of Caesar and of the Roman people.* 
 Tertullian repels the charge, and demonstrates their 
 loyalty to the emperor and to their country. f 
 
 Feeling that their citizenship was in heaven, the 
 Christians took no part in the troubled politics of earth. 
 " Nothing is more indifferent to us," says Tertullian, 
 "than public affairs." f If only their religious convic- 
 tions were unassailed they would gladly live in quiet, 
 unaffected by civic ambition or by worldly strife. 
 " Themselves half naked," sneered the heathen, " they 
 despise honours and purple robes." ^ But although ac- 
 cused of being profitless to the state, | they were never- 
 theless diligent in business while fervent in spirit. " We 
 are no Brahmins or Indian devotees," says their great 
 apologist, " living naked in the woods, and banished 
 from civilized life '1^ They were no drones in the so- 
 cial hive, but pat',erns of industry and thrift. Inspired 
 with loftier motives than their heathen neighbours, they 
 faithfully discharged life's lowly toils, sedulously culti- 
 vated the private virtues, and followed blamelessly what- 
 soever things were lovely and of good report. 
 
 In nothing, however, is the superiority of Christianity 
 over paganism so apparent as in the vast difference in 
 ths position and treatment of woman in the respective 
 systems. It is difficult to conceive the depths of degra- 
 dation into which woman had fallen when Christianity 
 
 * Hostes Caesaruro, hostes populi Romani. — Ceisus, lib. viii. 
 f Christianus nulliui; esthostis, nedum imperatoris. — Ad Scapulum, i. 
 \ Nee ulla res aliena magis quam publica. — Apol., c. 38. 
 § Honores et purpuras despiciunt ipsi seminudi. — In Munic. Fe- 
 lix, viii. 
 
 \ Infructuosi in negotiis dicimur. — Tert , Apd., 42. 
 t Ibid. 
 
H 
 
 492 
 
 y/ic Catacofnbs of Rome, 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I ' 
 
 ' \ 
 
 came to rescue her from infamy, to clothe her with the 
 domestic virtues, to enshrine her amid the sanctities of 
 home, and to employ her in the gentle ministrations of 
 charity. The Greek courtesan, says Lecky, was the 
 finest type of Greek life — the one free woman of Athens, 
 But how world-wide was the difference between the 
 Greek hctaia — a Phryne or an As|)asia, though hon- 
 oured by Socrates and Pericles — and the Christian ma- 
 trons Monica, Marcella, or Fabiola. So much does 
 woman owe to Christianity ! In Rome her condition 
 was still worse. The heathen satirists paint in strong- 
 est colours the prevailing corruptions, and the historians 
 of the times reveal abounding wickedness that shames 
 humanity. The vast wealth, the multiplication of slaves, 
 the influx of orientalism with its debasing vices, had 
 thoroughly corrupted society. The relations of the 
 sexes seemed entirely dislocated. The early Roman 
 ideas of marriage were forgotten ; it had no moral, only 
 a legal character. Woman, reckless of her "good 
 name," had lost " the most immediate jewel of her soul." 
 The Lucretias and Virginias of the old heroic days were 
 beings of tradition. A chaste woman, says Juvenal, 
 was a rara avis in terra. The Julias and Messalinas 
 flaunted their wickedness in the high places of the earth, 
 and to be Caesar's wife was not to be above suspicion. 
 Alas, that in a few short centuries Christianity should 
 sink so low that the excesses of a Theodora should rival 
 those of an Agrippina or a Julia ! Even the loftiest 
 pagan moralists and philosophers recklessly disregarded 
 the most sacred social obligation al their mere caprice. 
 Cicero, who discoursed so nobly concerning the nature 
 of the gods, divorced his wife Terentia that lie might 
 mend his broken fortunes by marrying his wealthy 
 ward. Cato ceded his wife, with the consent of 
 
 lii^ 
 
Social ami Domestic Rclatiofis. 
 
 493 
 
 her father, to his friend Hortensius, taking her bark after 
 his death. Woman was not a person, but a ////>/>:, says 
 Clibbon. Her rights and interests were lost in those of 
 her husband. She should have no friends nor gods 
 but his, says Phitarch. It was the age of reckless 
 divorce. In the early days of the Commonwealth there 
 had been no divorce in Rome in five hundred and forty 
 years. In the reign of Nero, says Seneca, the women 
 measured their years by their husbands, and not by the 
 consuls. Juvenal speaks of a woman with eight hus- 
 bands in five years;* and Martial, in extravagant hyper- 
 bole, of another who married ten husbands in a month. f 
 We must also regard as an exaggeration the account 
 given by Jerome of a woman married to her twenty- third 
 husband, being his twenty-first wife.J 
 
 Nevertheless, God did not leave himself without a 
 witness in the hearts of the people ; and we have seen 
 many illustrations of conjugal happiness in previous in- 
 scriptions. § But Christianity first taught the sanctity 
 of the marriage relation, as a type of the mystical union 
 between Christ and his church ; and enforced the recip- 
 rocal obligation of conjugal fidelity, which was previously 
 regarded as binding on woman alone. In their recoil 
 from the abominable licentiousness of the heathen, the 
 Christians regarded modesty as the crown of all the vir- 
 tues, and against its violation the heaviest ecclesiastical 
 penalties were threatened. This regard was at length 
 intensified into a superstitious reverence for celibacy. || 
 
 ♦ Sat., vi, 20. f Epig., vii, 6. X Epist,, cxi. 
 
 § The names of Penelope, Andromache, Alcestis, and Antigone 
 will be forever illustrious types of the domestic virtues. 
 
 \ The Fathers frequently contrasted the few heathen vestal virgins 
 with the multitude of Christian celibates. The Christian emperors 
 and the early councils resolutely repressed harlotry, drunkenness, 
 wanton dancing, and immodest plays and books. 
 
 f 
 
 i 
 
I .. 
 
 494 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 The absolute sinfulness of a divorce was maintained 
 by the early councils.* The Fathers admit of but one 
 cause, that which Christ himself assigns, as rendering it 
 lawful, t They also denounced second marriage, or 
 bigamy, as it was called, which excluded from the 
 clerical order, and from a share in the charities of the 
 church. X The marriage relation was regarded as the 
 union of two souls for time and for eternity. § 
 
 ♦ Cone. Nic, 8 ; Ancyra, 19 ; Laodic, I ; Neo Caes., 3. 
 
 f Tertul., Contr. Marc, iv, 34, etc. 
 
 X Tertullian wrote a special treatise on the subject — De Mono- 
 gaiiiia. The injunction that a bishop should be the husband of one 
 wife was regarded as a prohibition of a second marriage. Some of 
 the Fathers, however, dissented from this view, as Hermes, {Pastor, 
 ii, 4) ; Augustine, {De Bono Vidnitatis, 12). On many pagan tombs 
 occurs the word untvine — " Once married," There are several ex- 
 amples of wives in the prime of their youth and beauty devoting 
 themselves to retirement on the death of their husbands, as the wives 
 of Pompey, of Drusus. and of Lucan. 
 
 § The beauty and dignity of Christian wedlock are nobly expressed 
 by Tertullian in the following passage, addressed to his own wife : 
 " How can I paint the happiness," he exclaims, " of a marriage which 
 the church ratifies, the sacrament confirms, the benediction seals, an- 
 gels announce, and our heavenly Father declares valid ! What a 
 union of two believers — one hope, one vow, one discipline, one wor- 
 ship ! They are brother and sister, two fellow-servants, one spirit and 
 one flesh. They pray together, fast together, exhort and support one 
 another. They go together to the house of God, and to the table of 
 the Lord. They share each other's trials, persecutions, and joys. 
 Neither avoids nor hides any thing from the other. They delight to 
 visit the sick, sucour the needy, and daily to lay their offerings be- 
 fore the altar without scruple or constraint. They do not need to 
 keep the sign of the cross hidden, nor to express secretly their Chris- 
 tian joy, nor receive by stealth the eucharist. They join in psalms 
 and hymns, and strive who best can praise God. Christ rejoices at 
 the sight, and sends his peace upon them. Where two are in his 
 name he also is ; and where he is, their evil cannot come" — A<i Uxo- 
 rem, ii, 8. He thus describes the difficulties which a Christian wom- 
 an married to an idolater must encounter in her religious life : " At 
 the time for worship the husband will appoint the use of the bath ; 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 495 
 
 The church, following the principle laid down by 
 St. Paul, strongly opposed mixed marriages with the 
 heathen ; and the Fathers denounced them as danger- 
 ous and immoral. Cyprian regards them as a prostitu- 
 tion of the members of Christ.* Tertullian also desig- 
 nates them spiritual adultery. f Where conversion oc- 
 curred after marriage, the Christian partner was exhort- 
 ed, in the spirit of the apostolic counsel, to strive by 
 gentleness and love to win the unbelieving companion 
 to Christ. Thus Monica, the mother of Augustine, and 
 Clotildis, the wife of Clovis, both brought their heathen 
 husbands to embrace Christianity. 
 
 The rites and benedictions of the church were early 
 invoked to give sanction to Christian marriage; J and 
 doubtless in the dim recesses of the Catacombs, and 
 surrounded by the holy dead, youthful hearts must have 
 plighted their troth, and been the more firmly knit to- 
 gether by the common perils and persecutions they 
 must share. Here, too, the wedded pair may have 
 paced the silent galleries, by holy converse inspired 
 with stronger faith and more fervent love. How sweet 
 must discourse of heaven have been in those sunless 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 |f1 
 
 when a fast is to be observed he will invite company to a feast. 
 When she would bestow alms, both safe and cellar are closed against 
 her. What heathen will suffer his wife to attend the nightly meet- 
 ini;s of the church, the slandered supper of the Lord, to visit the 
 sick even in the poorest hovels, to kiss the martyr's chains in prison, 
 to rise in the night for prayer, to show hospitality to stranger breth- 
 ren ? "—/^ict. 
 
 * Jungere cum infidelibus vinculum matrimonii prostituere gentil- 
 ibus membra Christ;. 
 
 f Ad Ux.y ii, 2-g. Jerome says that women married to heathen 
 become part of that body whose ribs they are. — Cont. yovin.,\, 5. 
 
 \ Secret marriages were forbidden, nor might this union take place 
 y ithout the approbation of the earthly as well as of the heavenly pa- 
 rent. — Tert., Ad. IJx., ii, 9. 
 
496 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 •\ 
 
 f 
 
 depths of earth ! How thrilling those partings when 
 before another meeting each might win a martyr's 
 crown. 
 
 When the church emerged from the Catacombs the 
 marriage rites assumed a more festive character, and 
 were frequently attended with nuptial processions, 
 songs, music, and feasting. Some of the gilded glasses 
 previously described seem to commemorate these occa- 
 sions. Thus we occasionally find representations of the 
 man and woman standing with clasped hands before the 
 marriage altar, while Christ crowns the newly wedded 
 pair. Sometimes the glass used in the marriage rite 
 was immediately broken, as if to denote the tran- 
 sient nature of even the highest human bliss. The 
 innocent festivities of these occasions gradually degen- 
 erated into convivial excesse*' ; and, in conformity to 
 heathen usages, were contaminated by licentiousness 
 of speech and action unbecoming to Christian mod- 
 esty. These abuses called for the strong denunciations 
 of the Fathers and the early councils, and at length 
 the clergy were forbidden to attend such festivals. 
 The early Christians were required, in all their enter- 
 tainments and festivals, by temperance,* by purity, by 
 piety, to adorn the doctrines of the Gospel. Prayer 
 hallowed their daily lives, and every act was done to the 
 glory of God. 
 
 In their apparel and households the primitive be- 
 lievers were patterns of sobriety and t,odliness. The 
 pomps and vanities of the world were renounced at 
 their baptism. They eschewed all sumptuous and 
 gaudy clothing as unbecoming the gravity and sim- 
 plicity of the Christian character. Although many by 
 
 ♦ " Guard against drunkenness as against hemlock," says Clement 
 of Alexandria, " for both drag down to death." — Padag., i, 7. 
 
 i I 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 497 
 
 social rank were entitled to wear the flowing Roman 
 toga, yet by most it was regarded as too ostentatious in 
 appearance ; and, disdaining all assumption of worldly 
 honour, they wore instead the common pallium or cloak. 
 They rejected also, as the epicurean enticements of 
 a world the fashion whereof was passing away, the 
 luxurious draperies, the costly cabinets and couches, 
 the golden vessels and marble statuary that adorned the 
 abodes of the wealthy heathen. 
 
 The strong instinct of the female mind to personal 
 adornment was suppressed by religious convictions and 
 ecclesiastical discipline ; and Christian women culti- 
 vated rather the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit 
 than the meretricious attractions of the heathen. " Let 
 your comeliness be the goodly garment of the soul," says 
 Tertullian. ** Be arrayed in the ornaments of the apos- 
 tles and prophets, drawing your whiteness from sim- 
 plicity, your ruddy hue from modesty, painting your 
 eyes with bashfulness, your mouth with silence, implant- 
 ing in your ears the word of God, fitting on your neck 
 the yoke of Christ. Clothe yourself with the silk of 
 uprightness, the fine linen of holiness, the purple of 
 modesty, and you shall have God himself for your lover 
 and spouse."* 
 
 " Let woman breathe the odour of the true royal oint- 
 ment, that of Christ, and not of unguents and scented 
 powders," writes Clement of Alexandria, warning the 
 faithful against another heathen pra. ic:. "Let her be 
 anointed with the ambrosial chrism of industry, and 
 find delight in the holy unguent of the Spirit, and of- 
 fer spiritual fragrance. She may not crown the living 
 
 ♦ Df Cultu Fentinarum, ii, 3-13 : " The wife should weave her own 
 apparel," says Clement of Alexandria, referring to Prov. xxxi, 10-31. 
 This is also the etymological n.eaning of the English word wife. 
 
 32 
 
 ' I 
 
 » 
 
498 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 \m 
 
 image of God as the heathen do dead idols. Her fair 
 crown is one of amaranth, which groweth not on earth, 
 but in the skies."* The simple and modest garb of 
 the Christian matron is exhibited in many of the repre- 
 sentations of orantiy or praying figures, in the chambers 
 of the Catacombs. See one beautiful example from a 
 sarcophagus in Fig. 88. 
 
 With the corruption of the church and decay of piety 
 under the post-Constantinian emperors came the devel- 
 opment of luxury and an increased sumptuousness of 
 apparel. The refined classic taste was lost, and bar- 
 baric pomp and splendour were the only expression of 
 opulence. The mosaics in the vestibules of the more 
 ancient basilicas, and an occasional representation from 
 the Catacombs of the period of their latest occupation, 
 illustrate the increased luxury of dress. The primitive 
 simplicity has given place to many-coloured and em- 
 broidered robes. The hair, often false, was tortured 
 into unnatural forms, and raised in a towering mass on 
 the head, not unlike certain modern fashionable modes, 
 and was frequently artificially dyed. The person was 
 bedizened with jewelry — pendents in the ears, pearls 
 on the neck, bracelets and a profusion of rings on the 
 arms and fingers. St. Jerome inveighs with peculiar 
 vehemence against the attempt to beautify the com- 
 plexion with pigments. "What business have rouge 
 and paint on a Christian cheek } " he asks. " Who can 
 weep foi her sins when her tears wash bare furrows on 
 her skin } With what trust can faces be lifted to heaven 
 which the Maker cannot recognize as his workman- 
 ship ? " t The mosaic portrait of St. Agnes is richly 
 
 * Padag.i\\, 8. 
 
 f Ep. 54 : " Polire facifem pnrpurisso," he exclaims, " et cerusa ora 
 depingere, omare crinem, et alienis capillis turritam vcrticem stru- 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 499 
 
 adorned with gems, and even the earliest examples of 
 the Madonna is bedizened in Byzantine style with a 
 necklace of pearls.* The following engraving from 
 D'Agincoiirt illustrates the tasteless drapery and coif- 
 Yure which awakened such int^'nse patristic indignation. 
 The simplicity of the funeral rites of the primitive 
 Christians is indicated by the character of the sepul 
 chral monuments of the Catacombs. No "storied urn 
 or animated bust," nor costly mausolea, were employed 
 to commemorate those who slept in Christ. A narrow 
 grave, undistinguished from the multitude around save 
 by the nanje of the deceased, or by the emblem of his 
 calling, or symbol of his faith, and most frequently not 
 
 ere." Cyprian suggests that the Almighty might not recognize them at 
 the resurrection. They should not dye their hair or clothes, as violat- 
 ing the saying that " thou canst not make one hair white or black ; " and 
 God had not made sheep scarlet or purple. — De habitti Virginum, 14- 
 16. ** Nevertheless," says Clement, " they cannot with their bought and 
 painted beauty avoid wrinkles or evade death." Tertullian denounces 
 their flame-coloured heads, "built up with pads and rolls, the slough 
 perhaps of some guilty wretch now in hell." — De Velendis Virginibus, 
 ii, 17. " One delicate neck," he says, *• carries about it forests and isl- 
 ands *' — saltus et insula ; that is, their price. — Ibtd., i, 9. At the court 
 of the Eastern Empire, effeminacy and orient-.l luxury still further 
 degraded the Christian character. Clement of Alexandria denounces 
 with indignation the extravagance and vice of the so-called Chris- 
 tian community of that city. The wealth that should have been de- 
 voted to the poor was expended in gilded litters and chariots, splendid 
 banquets and baths, in costly jewelry and dress' s. Wealthy ladies, 
 instead of maintaining widows and orphans, wasted their sympathies 
 on monkeys, peacocks, and Maltese dogs. — Pa-d., iii, 4. " Riches," 
 he adds, " is like a serpent which will bite unless we know how to 
 take it by the tail." — Ibid., 6. He compares the Alexandrian women 
 to " an Egyptian temple, gorgeous without, but enshrining only a cat 
 or crocodile : so beneath their meretricious adorning were concealed 
 vile and loathsome passions." The sumptuary laws of the Theodosian 
 code prohibited the use of gold brocade or silken tissue, (x, tit, 20 ; 
 xlv, TO.) 
 
 * See Fig. 90. .See also oranti in Fig. 82. 
 
It- 1 
 
 A 
 
 } 
 
 500 
 
 
 T/ie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 even by these, sufficed, in the earlier and purer days of 
 the church, for the last resting-place of the saints. As 
 
 Fig. 1})0.— Bellicia fedelissima virgo qve vixit annos zvlil, (aio.) 
 Belioia, a most faithful virgin who lived eighteen years, 
 
 wealth increased and faith grew cold, more attention was 
 given to the external expression of grief or regard for 
 the departed ; and the chambers, at first rudely hewn 
 from the tufa, became ornamented with stucco and 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 Sor 
 
 frescoes, and lined with marble slabs, and the inscrip- 
 tions became more turgid and artificial. The super- 
 stitious veneration paid to the relics of he saints in 
 later days led to the adornment of their sepulchres ; 
 and during the period of the temporal supremacy of 
 Christianity, the posthumous ostentation of the rich 
 was manifested in their costly sarcophagi and funeral 
 monuments.* 
 
 All immoderate grief for the departed was regarded 
 as inconsistent with Christian faith and hope. " Our 
 brethren are not to be lamented who are freed fiom the 
 world by the summons of the Lord," says Cyprian, " for 
 we know they are not lost, but sent before us. We may 
 not wear the black robes of mourning while they are al- 
 ready clothed with the white raiment of joy, Nor may 
 we grieve for those as lost whom we know to be living 
 with God." t Nay, the day of their death was celebrated 
 as their Naialitia, or their true birthday — their entrance 
 into the undying life of heaven. The primitive believ- 
 ers were not, however, insensible to natural affection, as 
 many of the inscriptions already given fully prove ; but 
 they were sustained by a lofty hope and serene confi- 
 dence in God. 
 
 The early Christian burial rites were entirely differ- 
 ent from the pomp and pageantry of grief which char- 
 acterized pagan funerals. When the spirit had departed, 
 the body was washed with water and robed for the grave 
 in spotless white, to represent, Chrysostom suggests, the 
 soul's putting on the garment of incorr.iption. In later 
 
 * This lapidary extravagance was censured, as seeming to imply 
 that the sepulchres were the receptacles of the souls rather than of 
 the bodies. — Ambr., De Bono Mortis. 
 
 f Cypr., De Mortal., 20. See also Augustine's pathetic account of 
 the death of his mother, Monica — Premebam oculos ejus et conflue- 
 bat in prsecordia mcestitudo ingens, e^c. — Con/., ix, 12. 
 
 
502 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 times costly robes of silk and cloth of gold were employed 
 for the burial of the wealthy, against which practice Je- 
 rome strongly inveighs. " Why does not your ambition 
 cease," he exclaims, "in the midst oi mourning and 
 tears ? Cannot the bodies of the rich return to dust oth- 
 erwise than in silk ? " * The body was also frequently 
 embalmed, or at least plentifully enswathed with myrrh 
 and aromatic spices, after the manner of the burial of 
 Our Lord. This was especially necessary in the Cata- 
 combs on account of the frequent proximity of the liv- 
 ing to the dead. We find frequent allusions to this 
 practice in the Fathers.f It was a pagan reproach that 
 the Christians bought no odours for their persons nor 
 incense for the gods. J " It is true," says Tertullian, 
 "but the Arabs and Sabeans well know that we con- 
 sume more of these costly wares for our dead than the 
 heathen do for the gods."§ 
 
 The nearest relatives or pious friends bore the corpse to 
 the grave, and committed it as the seed of immortality to 
 thegenial bosom of the earth, often strewing the body with 
 flowers, in beautiful symbolism of the resurrection to the 
 
 * Father March! found, along with some charred bones, sup]x>sed 
 to be relics of St. Hyacinth, some threads of gold tissue, as if the 
 martyr's remains had been wrapped in this costly material. He also 
 perceived an aromatic odour on opening some graves. Occasionally 
 large lumps of lime have been found bearing the marks of the linen 
 in which they were wrapped. Its caustic nature would hasten the 
 destruction of animal tissue. 
 
 f An cadavera divitum nisi in serico putrescere nesciunt. — Vit. 
 Pauli. Arringhi has a chapter on the subject, (lib. i, c. 23,) Cadav- 
 era unguentis et aromatibus condiuntur. 
 
 \ Non corpus odoril: '^.onestatis. — Ap., Minuc, p. 35. Jerome 
 urges the substitution of the balsam of alms-deeds and charity. 
 
 § Thura plane non emimus, etc. — Apol., 42. "You expect your 
 women will bury your body with ointments and spices," said the 
 heathen judge to the martyr Tarachus j to prevent which he con- 
 demned hm to be burned. 
 
 1 fs 
 
Social and Domestic Relations. 
 
 503 
 
 fadeless summer of the skies.* In times of persecution 
 the privilege would often be purchased with money of 
 gathering the martyrs' mangled remains, and bearing 
 them by stealth, along the pagan "Street of Tombs," to 
 the silent community of the Christian dead.f Instead of 
 employing the pagan nania, or funeral dirge, and prafica^ 
 or hireling mourners, theChristiansaccompanied thedead 
 to their repose with psalms and hymns,J chanting such 
 versicles as, " Return to thy rest, O my soul ; " " I will fear 
 no evil, for thou art with me;" "Blessed are the dead 
 that die in the Lord." § Frequently, as will be hereafter 
 seen, the agape or eucharist was celebr<ited at the grave. 
 
 The heathen buried their dead by night on account 
 of the defilement the very sight of a funeral was sup- 
 posed to cause. The Christians repudiated this idola- 
 trous notion, and, except when prevented during times 
 of persecution, buried openly by day, that the living 
 might be reminded of their mortrlity and led to pre- 
 pare for death. 
 
 We have thus seen the immense superiority, in all the 
 
 li 
 
 * In later times similar rites M'ere paid to the tomb. " We >vill 
 adorn the hidden bones," sings Prudentius, " with violets and man/ a 
 bough ; and on the epitaphs and the cold stones we will sprinkle 
 liquid odours," — Cathem., x. 
 
 f See Euseb., H. E., vii, 16 and 22. They were often denied the 
 privilege. — IbiJ., v, I. Eutychianus, a Roman Christian, is said to 
 have buried three hundred and forty-two martyrs with his own hands. 
 
 \ ♦dAAovrff irpofffiTreTt: avrov^, k. t. ?.. — Constit. Apos., vi, 30. 
 Hymnos et Psalmos decantans, etc. — Hieron., Vit. Pauli. 
 
 § Chrys., Horn., 4, in Hebr. The following inscription indicates 
 that the corpse was sometimes brought to the Catacombs some time 
 before burial ; probably immediately after death, as in Italy it is now 
 taken to the church, Pecora dulcis anima benit in cimitero Martu- 
 rorum, vii, iiius yul. Dp. Postera die — " Pecora, a sweet soul, came 
 (was brought) to the cemetery of the martyrs on the 9th of July ; was 
 buried the following day." 
 
I 
 
 II 
 
 504 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 elements of true dignity and excellence, of primitive 
 Christianity to the corrupt civilization by which it was 
 surrounded. It ennobled the character and purified 
 the morals of mankind. It raised society from the in- 
 effable slough into which it had fallen, imparted ten- 
 derness and fidelity to the domestic relations of life, 
 and enshrined marriage in a sanctity before unknown. 
 Notwithstanding the corruptions by which it became 
 infected in the days of its power and pride, even the 
 worst form of Christianity was infinitely preferable to the 
 abominations of paganism. It gave a sacredness previ- 
 ously unconceived to human life It averted the sword 
 from the throat of the gladiator, and, plucking helpless 
 infancy from exposure to untimely death, nourished it 
 in Christian homes. It threw the aegis of its protectic a 
 over the slave and the oppressed, raising them from the 
 condition of beasts to the dignity of men and the fel- 
 lowship of saints. With an unwearied and passionate 
 charity it yearned over the suffering and sorrowing 
 every-where, and created a vast and comprehensive or- 
 ganization for their relief, of which the world had before 
 no example and had formed no conception. It was a 
 holy Vestal, ministering at the altar of humanity, wit- 
 nessing ever of the Divine, and keeping the sacred fire 
 burning, not for Rome, but for the world. Its winsome 
 gladness and purity, in an era of unspeakable pollution 
 and sadness, revived the sinking heart of mankind, and 
 made possible a Golden Age in the futifre transcending 
 far that which poets pictured in the past. It blotted 
 out cruel laws, like those of Draco written in blood,* 
 
 ♦ The Christian emperors prohibited the branding of felons on the 
 forehead on the ground " that the human countenance, formed after 
 the image of heavenly beauty, should not be defaced." They also 
 exempted widows and orphans from taxation, and contributed to their 
 support. 
 
Social and Domestic Rtlatious. 
 
 503 
 
 dnd led back Justirc, long banished, to the judgment 
 seat. It am liorated the rigours of the penal code, and, 
 as experience has shown, lessened the amount of crime. 
 It created an art purer and loftier than that of pagan- 
 ism; and a literature rivaling in elegance of form, and 
 surpassing in nobleness of spirit, the sublimest produc- 
 tions of the classic muse. Instead of the sensual con- 
 ceptions of heathenism, polluting the soul, it supplied 
 images of purity, tenderness, and pathos, which fasci- 
 nated the imagination and hallowed the heart. It 
 taught the sanctity of suffering and of weakness, and 
 the supreme majesty of gentleness and ruth. 
 
 
5o6 
 
 The Catacombs of Romt, 
 
 ! 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE MINISTRY, RITES, AND INSTITUTIONS OF THE 
 
 PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 We gain from the testimony of the Catacombs most 
 important information as to the organization of the 
 church during the early Christian centuries. We see 
 on every side records of an efficient ministry of differ- 
 ent grades and dignities, yet wholly unlike that vast 
 hierarchical system which claims to be its lineal de- 
 scendant. We discern also evidences of a well-ordered 
 administration of the sacraments and ordinances of re- 
 ligion, simple and unadorned, yet instinct with spiritual 
 life and power, compared with which the gorgeous rit- 
 ual and lifeless pomp of Romanism are more akin, in out- 
 ward form at least, to the pagan homage of the Bona 
 Dea, or to the mysteries of Mithras, than to Christian 
 worship. So complete is this testimony as to the min- 
 istry and rites of the primitive church, that Dr. North- 
 cote remarks that, "even if all the writings of the 
 Fathers had altogether perished, we might almost recon- 
 struct the whole fabric of the ecclesiastical polity from 
 the scattered notices of these sepulchral inscriptions."* 
 
 The somewhat complex ecclesiastical organization 
 which we discover was probably a gradual development 
 with the growth of the church, and not in its entirety 
 the creation of the earliest times ; the inscriptions re- 
 ferring to the subject, it must be remembered, being all 
 
 * Northcoti^s Catacombs, p. 140. 
 
Primitive Rites and Institution^. 
 
 507 
 
 or chiefly of post-Constantinian origin. The earlier books 
 of the Apostolical Constitutions, which are probably 
 of the second century, say almost nothing about the 
 different grades of the ministry ; but in the later ones, 
 probably of the fifth century, a full blown sacerdotalism 
 appears. Cornelius, bishop of Rome in the middle of 
 the third century, records the existence of a graduated 
 clergy like that indicated in the inscriptions of the Cata- 
 combs,* whose gradations Clen^ent of Alexandria com- 
 pares to the different ranks of the hierarchy of heaven. f 
 The highest ofifice in the church of the Catacombs 
 was that of the bishop — the chief pastor \ or overseer of 
 the flock of C'hrist. But this position was rather a pre- 
 eminence of toil and peril than of dignity and honour. 
 The supreme head of the Roman hierarchy, who lays 
 claim to the attributes of deity himself, and sits in the 
 seat of God as his vicegerent and infallible representa- 
 tive on earth, finds no precedent for his lofty assump- 
 tions in his humble predecessors of the primitive ages. 
 These were in reality what he is only in name — seri'i 
 servorum Dei. Even the title of bishop occurred but 
 seldom. Neither Bosio, Fabretti, Boldetti, nor any other 
 of the early explorers of the Catacombs, found a single 
 example of it. The tomb of the first Roman bishop 
 bore simply the name linvs. In the so-called " papal 
 
 ♦ '''useb.. Hist. EccUs., vi, 43. The hierarchical subdivisions in 
 the Greek church are vastly more elaborate. Thus we have the pa- 
 triarch, metropolitan, archbishop, bishop, proto-presbyter, super-dean, 
 dean, presbyter, proto-deacon, deacon, sub-deacon, and common 
 priest, besides a host of inferior grades. 
 
 f Strom., vi, 13. " The succession of the early Roman bishops," says 
 Stillingfleet, " is as muddy as the Tiber itself." — Irenicum, ii, 7. It 
 is an historical riddle of which it is difficult or impossible to And the 
 solution. 
 
 X Eusebius gives this very title, noi/i^v, to Cyprian, (vii, 3.) They 
 were also called npoethoi, irpoearui, attd pnesit/trs, or presidents. 
 
 fl 
 
r I 
 
 508 
 
 T/ie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 ; I' 
 
 a 
 
 
 1 '1 
 
 \ ! 
 
 H-R 
 
 crypt " the title first appears, but in the contracted 
 
 form, Eni and EITIC, and without any symbol of superior 
 
 dignity whatever. The name of a bishop was first made 
 
 a note of time in the latter part of the fourth century, 
 
 as in the epigraphic formulae Sub Liberia Episcopo — Sub 
 
 Damaso Episcopo— Dnrmg the episcopate of Liberius, 
 
 (A. D. 350-366,) of Damasus, (A. D. 366-384.) But 
 
 this distinction was also conferred on other bishops than 
 
 those of Rome. Thus, in the year A. D. 397, we find 
 
 the expression Pascasio Episcopo. Now, as there was 
 
 no Roman bishop of that name, Pascasius must have 
 
 presided over some of the adjacent sees, of which we 
 
 know that there were many independent of Rome.* 
 
 * Hippolytus, bishop of Portus, only fifteen miles from Rome, and 
 a saint of the Roman calendar, strongly opposed both Zephyrinus 
 and Callixtus, bishops of Rome. In the fifth century Milan took pre- 
 cedence ot ixome, and many other places were of equal dignUy. The 
 episcopal office was very different from what is now implied by the 
 name, and its functions varied little from those of the presbyter, save 
 in the general oversight of a comparatively limited diocese. Thus in 
 Northern Africa alone were four hundred and sixty-six bishops, be- 
 side sixty-six vacant sees. Clement, bishop of Rome, {Ep. ad Cor., 
 74,) Justin Martyr, and other early writers, seem to imply that the 
 terms bishop and presbyter were at first permutable. Cyprian, bishop 
 of Carthage, addresses his clei^ as his co-presbyters — compreshyteros. 
 Jerome, jealous for his order, asserts the original identity of the 
 offices {}dem est presbyter qui et episcopus) and the gradual develop- 
 ment of episcopal dignity, from custom rather than from primitive ap- 
 pointment, {Comment, in Titttm.) Chrysostom asserts the original 
 convertibility of the titles of bishop and presbyter — ol TrpeajSvTepoi to 
 TraAc'cw kKaMvvro iiTiaKOTrot,Kai ol kirtoKonoi Trpea^vrepoi. — Homil. i, 
 in Phil., I. Lord King compares the two to the offices of rector 
 and curate, {.Prim. Ch., c.4,)but Bingham's High Church notions led 
 him to magnify the essential difference between the two, {Orig. Eccl., 
 ii, 3.) The bishops were elected by the presbyters and the laity joint- 
 ly. Eusebius states that Fabian was inaicated for the office by the 
 divine portent of a dove descending upon him, {If. E., vi, 29.) They 
 generally attained this dignity not per saltum, but having passed 
 through the inferior grades. Cyprian, however, was but a neophyte, 
 
Primitive Rites and lustitutious. 
 
 509 
 
 The yfOT^papa, or pope, does not occur in the Cata- 
 combs till at least the latter part of the fourth century. 
 It appears first spelled pappas, and applied to Damasus, 
 in the margin of an inscription by that bishop, in honour 
 of Eusebius.* But De Rossi admits that this is a badly 
 executed reproduction, of the sixth or seventh century, 
 of a previous inscription ; so this title may very well 
 belong to that late period. This is all the more prob- 
 able 4"rom the phraseology of the very first line of this 
 inscription : damasvs episcopvs fecit evsebio episcopo 
 ET MARTVRi — " Damasus, bishop, (not pope,) to Euse- 
 bius, bishop and martyr." Hilary (461-467) calls him- 
 self bishop and servant of Christ — " Episcopus et famu- 
 lus Christiy In an epitaph of A. D. 523, Hormisdas is 
 called merely dominvs papa — that is, " honoured fa- 
 ther," or " pope," which is probably the first application 
 of this phrase in Christian epigraphy. In another, of 
 date A. D. 563, John III. is designated as the " most 
 blessed father John " — Beatissimus papa Joannes. \ 
 
 But even this title, invested with such awful dignity 
 and supreme authority in later days, was at first only an 
 expression of familiar and affectionate respect, not pe- 
 culiar to the bishop of Rome, nor indeed first applied 
 to him. Its earliest use is attributed to Dionysius, 
 
 ? 
 
 i. ul 
 
 fH'^l 
 
 «>«' 
 
 Eusebius a catechumen, and Ambrose a layman, when appointed to 
 the office of bishop. In the course of time, in the East the emper- 
 ors, in the West the kings, usurped the power of appointment, a 
 relic of which u seen in the royal conge d'elire in Great Britain, so 
 strongly satirized by Carlyle, (Latter-day Pamphlets.) 
 
 * See ante, p. 95. 
 
 f We have already seen that the inscription of date A. D. 392, re- 
 garded as the epitaph of a " most holy Pope Felix," was in reality 
 that of a foster-father. See ante, p. 471. The phrase *' Apostolic 
 See," now restricted to Rome, was originally applied to every bish- 
 op's seat. — Bingham, ii, 2, § 3. 
 
 1 <| 
 
 •HI 
 Pi 
 5:' I 
 
 'i 
 
5IO 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 Ej U 
 
 bishop of Alexandria, in the latter part of the third cen- 
 tury.* The Roman clergy address the bishop of Car- 
 thage in their letters as "the blessed pope Cyprian." f 
 Tertullian applies the name to any Christian bishop. J 
 Jerome addresses Augustine, bishop of the little Afri- 
 can diocese of Hippo, as the Beatissimus papa Augus- 
 tinus^ § and applies the same phrase to the superior of 
 a monastery. || 
 
 The rapid extension of Christianity in the metropolis 
 of the empire enhanced the influence and dignity of 
 the Roman bishops.lf With the increase of wealth and 
 decay of piety these dignitaries became ambitious and 
 worldly, arrogant and aspiring, and laid the founda- 
 tions of that vast system of spiritual despotism which 
 for centuries crushed the civil and religious liberties of 
 Europe. Nevertheless, as iate as the end of the sixth 
 century, Gregory the Great, although zealous for the 
 episcopal dignity, resents the claim of John of Constan- 
 
 * He speaks of his predecessor in office as " our father, (Trdn-a,) the 
 blessed Hereelas." — Eii., //. E., vii, 7. In like manner an epitaph 
 of in African bishop, of date A. D. 475, designates him " our father 
 of holy memory " — Sancta memoritv pater noster. 
 
 \ Ep. 8. Cler. Rom. ad Cler. Carth. 
 
 X De Pudicit., c. 13. 
 
 § Ep. 17, 18, 30, etc. 
 
 II The synonymous title of abbot is still used in this sense. It was 
 applied to the hermit monks of the Orkneys and Iceland, and gave 
 the name Papa Strona and Papa Westra to islands of the Orkney 
 group. 
 
 T[ Optatus says there were forty churches in Rome in the third 
 century. Ammianus describes the almost regal pomp of the bishops 
 in the latter part of the fourth century, and records the sanguinary 
 struggle for the episcopal dignity between Damasus and Ursicinus. 
 The streets were strewn with the slain, and one hundred and thirty- 
 seven corpses polluted the sacred precincts of a Christian basilica. 
 The primitive ciairch stigmatized simony as ;^f/ot(TrfjU7rop«av, or " sell 
 irg Christ." 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 Sir 
 
 tinople to the title of oecumenical bishop in the strik- 
 ing words : " This I declare with confidence, that whoso 
 designates himself universal priest, or, in the pride of 
 his heart, consents to be so named, he is the forerunner 
 of Antichrist."* His successors of Rome have not 
 shrunk from this malediction, but, in assumption of this 
 universal supremacy, have placed their feet on the neck 
 of kings, parcelled out empires, and conferred crowns 
 at their pleasure, f 
 
 The next rank in ecclesiastical dignity was that of the 
 Presbyters.J There was not that distinction in the prim- 
 
 ♦ Ego autem fidenter dico quia quisque se universalem sacerdotem 
 vocat, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione su4 Antichrisitum praecurrit. — 
 Greg. Max., Epis. vii, 7-33. 
 
 f Gregory III. (731-741) styles himself '• the most holy and blessed 
 Apostolic Pope " — Sanctissimus ac Beatissimus Apostolicus Papa. 
 Bonifare VIII. adopted the triple-crowned tiara, to indicate the 
 Pope's dominion over heaven, earth, and hell. 
 
 Dante represents the pope as an all-powerful griffin, symbolical of 
 his spiritual and temporal functions, drawing the triumphal car of the 
 church. — Purzatorio, Can. xxix. Yet in a fresco of the seventh or 
 eighth century, of Cornelius, bishop of Rome, he is in no way distin- 
 guished by costume, insignia, or title from Cyprian, bishop of Car- 
 thage, who stands beside him. 
 
 \ The name was not always indicative of age, but of office, like the 
 Jewish Q".3pt or elders, the Latin senatores, and the Saxon alder- 
 men. ^ 
 
 Rheinwal, Geisler, Neander, and other eminent German scholars, 
 agree that the term bishop originally was merely the official title of 
 the presbyter who was chosen to nile or oversee the church ; and that 
 the latter sat in consistory with the bishop, forming the eeclesiastical 
 senate, in which the bishop was simply the presiding officer — primus 
 inter pares. 
 
 It is worthy of note that the word hpevc, " priest," that is, one who 
 offers sacrifice, is nowhere applied to any ecclesiastical rank in the 
 Catacombs, or in the writings of the primitive Fathers. It has been 
 left for Romanism, and a Romanizing sacerdotalism, to apply to the 
 Christian minister this phrase, so opposed to the genius of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 4^ 
 
 "i '< \i 
 
 i •■ If 
 
 Si 
 
i^ 
 
 512 
 
 The Catacomb;^ of Rome. 
 
 itive ages between their office and that of the bishops 
 that afterward arose. Bishop Pearson represents their 
 power and dignity as greater the nearer we ascend to 
 the apostolic times. Their principal functions were the 
 administration, in association with the bishops, of the 
 sacraments, the enforcement of discipline, the preach- 
 ing of the word, and the pastorate of the church. Their 
 epitaphs in the Catacombs and basilicas are frequently 
 very brief, as the following: locvs geronti presb — 
 " The place of Gerontus, a presbyter ; " posnvs est hic 
 LEONTivs PRESBiTER (j/V) — " Here is placed Leontius, a 
 presbyter." Sometimes the title is expressed in a con- 
 tracted form, thus : hic qviescit romanvs pbb. qvi 
 SEDIT PBB • ANN • XXVIII • M • X. — " Here reposes Roman- 
 us, a presbyter, who sat a presbyter twenty-eight years 
 ten months."* Boldetti gives the epitaph of acativs 
 PASTOR, who was probably a presbyter, his title express- 
 ing his pastoral office. The following, of date A. D. 471, 
 which is more elaborate than usual, is of some histori- 
 cal interest : f 
 
 PRESBYTER HIC POSITVS FELIX IN PACE QVIESCIT 
 CVIVS PVRA FIDES PROBITAS VIGILANTIA SCALERS 
 PONTIFICVM CLARO PLACVIT SIC NOTA LEONI 
 POST LABSVM VT REFARANS VENEKANDI CVLMINA PAVLI 
 HVIC OPERIS TANTI RENOVANDAM CREDERET AVLAM. 
 
 " Felix, the presbyter, placed here, reposes in peace, whose pure 
 faith, probity, sagacious vigilance, when known, so pleased the illus- 
 
 * The letters Pbb,^ according tr De Rossi, stand iox Presbyter bent' 
 dictus. 
 
 \ Felix was probably presbyter of the basilica of St. Paul, founded 
 by Constantine A. D. 324, rebuilt by Theodosius and Honorius, 
 A. D. 388-395, restored by Leo I., A. D. 440, and again by the pres- 
 ent Pope, in its ancient dimensions, (four hundred and eleven feet 
 by two hundred and seventy-nine.) It is one of the noblest basilicas 
 of Rome. 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 513 
 
 trious Leo of the pontiffs,* that, repairing the roof of the venerable 
 St. Paul's after its fall, he trusted to him the renewal of the hall of so 
 great a work. 
 
 It appears that sometimes the primitive presbyters 
 engaged in secular callings. Thus, an inscription from 
 the Catacomb of Callixtus reads, AlCNTClOC nPECBT- 
 TEPOC lATPOC — " Dionysius, presbyter and physician." 
 Another, of date A. D. 533, commemorates a deacon, 
 who was also, perhaps before ordination, a senator and 
 soldier. One fcund in Galatia mentions eEOAQPOC 
 nPECBYTEPOC KA' ' TTPOKOnoc — " Theodorus, a pres- 
 b ftr and silversm.tn." Hyacinthus, a Roman presbyter 
 of the third century, was also an officer of the imperial 
 household. TertuUian complains that some engaged in 
 idolatrous trades were promoted to ecclesiastical offi- 
 ces.f Eusebius mentions a presbyter of Antioch who 
 was head-master of one of the principal schools of the 
 city.J Sozomen tells of bishops Zeno and Spiridion, 
 who continue^, the one to weave linen, the other to 
 keep sheep, after elevation to the episcopal office. § In- 
 deed, the fourth council of Carthage (A. D. 398) de- 
 creed that the clergy might devote their leisure to trade 
 or husbandry, that the church might have greater re- 
 sources for charity. \ 
 
 *%\ 
 
 
 ' ■'■■: 
 
 J. li- 
 
 st. :A 
 
 1 
 
 ;ii 
 
 h 
 
 * According to Bingham, Pontifex maximus was a title common 
 to all bishops in primitive times. — Orig. EccL, ii, § 6. 
 
 There is here possibly a paronomasia on the word " Leo," lion of 
 the pontiffs. There were sometimes several presbyters attached to 
 one church. See De Rossi, Inscr. Christ., No. 975. 
 
 \ Adleguntur in ordinem ecclesiasticum artifices idolorum. — De 
 Idol., vii. 
 
 \ Hist. Eccles., c. vii, 29. § Sozomen, i, 27, and vii, 28. 
 
 y Clericus quantumlibet verbo Dei eruditus, artificio victum quae- 
 rat. — Cone. Carth., 4, can. 51. The example of Paul, the tentmaker, 
 who, though asserting the right of the ministry to a support, yet 
 " wrought with labour aud travail night and day," that he might not 
 
 83 
 
 l<i<M 
 
V"- 
 
 514 
 
 TAe Catacombs of Xome. 
 
 The next grade in ecclesiastical rank was that oi the 
 deacons. They acted generally as assistants of the 
 bishops and presbyters, especially in the distribution of 
 the chanties of the church.* They also took part in the 
 administration of the eucharist, but not in its consecra- 
 tion. Before the appointment of lectors they read, and 
 occasionally expounded, the Scriptures to the congrega- 
 tion, like the modern lay preachers. They also acted as 
 instructors or catechists of the catechumens of the 
 church. They are frequently designated Leviice^ \ from 
 the fancied analogy of their functions tp those of the 
 Levitical order among the Jews. In the church at Rome 
 there were only seven deacons, in accordance with the 
 number originally appointed in the church at Jerusa- 
 lem ; but in other cities the number was not thus lim- 
 ited.J Of inferior dignity were the vnodiaKovot, or sub- 
 deacons, who assisted the deacons in the discharge of 
 their lower functions, as the care of the sacramental 
 vessels, and the like. 
 
 Several epitaphs of both these classes have been 
 found among the early Christian inscriptions. They are 
 generally very brief, as the following : ivl diaconvs — 
 
 be chargeable to the church, will occur to the reader. Chrysostoni, 
 speaking of the rural bishop>s of Antioch, says: "These men you may 
 see sometimes yoking the oxen and driving the plough, and again 
 ascending the pulpit and cultivating the souls under their care ; now 
 uprooting the thorns from the earth with a hook, and now purging 
 out the sins of the soul by the word." — //<?///. ad Pop. Antioch., xik. 
 " How glorious to see the gray-haired pastor approach, like Abraham, 
 his loins girt, digging the ground and working with his own hands." 
 — Horn in Act., xviii. 
 
 ♦A similar office obtained in the Jewish synagogue, the t3'^03"iD 
 
 f This was especially the case in verse, as the word diaconns was 
 nnsaitable for hexameters. 
 
 X In Constantinople there were more than one hundred deacons, and 
 more than ninety sub-deacons. — Justin., Nov., iii, i. 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 5«5 
 
 " Julius, the deacon; " deps • felix • diac — " Felix, the 
 deacon, buried (Mar. ii, A. D. 435);" locvs exvpe- 
 RANTI DiACON — "The placc of Exuperantus, the dea- 
 con." Beneath the church of Sts. Cosmo and Damien 
 was found the following : hic reqviescit scvs habvdt- 
 DANTivs DIAC ET MARTYR — " Here repcses holy Abun- 
 dantius, deacon and martyr."* 
 
 The following are characteristic epitaphs of sub-dea- 
 cons: HIC QVIESCIT APPIANVS SVBDIACONVS QVI VIXIT 
 
 ANNVS XXXII DIES xxviiii — " Here rests Appianus, a sub- 
 deacon, who lived thirty-two years, twenty-nine days ; ** 
 
 LOCVS MARCELLI SVBD • REG • SEXTAE CONCESSVM (j/V) SIRI 
 ET POSTERIS EIVS A BEATISSIMO PAPA lOANNE QVI VIXIT 
 
 ANN* PLM • Lxviii — " The place of Marcellus, a sub-dea- 
 con of the sixth district,! conceded to him and his pos- 
 terity by the most blessed Father John,t who lived 
 sixty-eight years, more or less." (A. D. 564.) 
 
 The first rank of the inferior officers of the church 
 was that of the lectors or readers. It was their duty 
 to read in the congregations the appointed lessons from 
 the Holy Scriptures. § The office was held in peculiar 
 honour, young men of noble family, especially, aspiring 
 to its dignity. Thus the Emperor Julian, in his youth, 
 was a reader of the church at Nicomedia, as was also 
 
 
 * This was probably a memorial of a later period than the times 
 of persecution. The epithet sanctus was not applied till compara- 
 tively late. The office of deacon, however, was particularly obnox- 
 ious to persecuting greed. Witness the martyrdom of Lawrence the 
 deacon, antea. 
 
 f Rome was divided into seven ecclesiastical districts correspond- 
 ing to its seven deacons. 
 
 \ John III., bishop of Rome. 
 
 § They are mentioned by TertuUian {De Prcesaip., c. 41) and 
 Cyprian, (Ep., 24, 33,) and by many later writers. The office was 
 possibly derived from the Synagogue. 
 
 1*1 
 
I 
 
 S«6 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 his brother Gallus.* Candidates for the office were or- 
 dained by the ceremony of delivering the Gospels into 
 their hands. According to one of the Novels of Jus- 
 tinian,! they were required to be not less than eighteen 
 years of age, but examples occur of their appointment 
 as early as seven or eight years old, J Probably the lat- 
 ter were dedicated by their parents, like Samuel, to the 
 service of God from their infancy,§ and graduated 
 through the inferior offices to those of greater dignity 
 and influence. In the Western church they soon ceased 
 as a distinct rank, but they lingered in the conventual 
 orders till a comparatively late period. 
 
 The following are epitaphs of lectors from the Cata- 
 combs and basilicas : eq heraclivs qvi fvit in saecv- 
 
 LVM ANN • XVIIII • M ■ VII • D • XX • LECTOR R • SEC • FE- 
 CERVNT • SIBI ET FILIO SVO BENEMERENTI • INP " Equi- 
 
 tius Heraclius, who was in this world nineteen years, 
 seven months, twenty days, a reader of the second 
 district. (His parents) made this for themselves and 
 their well-deserving son, in peace ; " cinnamivs opas 
 LECTOR TiTVLi FACiOLi AMicvs PAVPERVM — " Cinnamius 
 Opas, a reader of the church of Faciolus, a friend of 
 the poor; " mirae innocentiae adq • eximiae bonitatis 
 
 HIC REQVIESCIT LEOPARDVS LECTOR DE PVDENTIANA QVI 
 
 vixit ANN. xxiiii — " Here rests Leopardus, of wonderful 
 innocence and remarkable goodness, a reader of the 
 church of Pudentiana, who lived twenty-four years ; " 
 
 HIC REQVIESCIT IN SOMNO PACIS CAELIVS LAVRENTIVS 
 
 * Socrat.^ iii, i. Sozom.^ v. 2. f cxxiii, c. 54. 
 
 \ Leo X. was a priest at seven and a cardinal at ten. Among the 
 five hundred clergy destroyed by the Vandal persecution in Carthage 
 were many infant readers— quam plurimi erant lectores infantuli. — 
 Victor de Persec. Vandal^ lib. iii. 
 
 § On the tomb of a youth of fourteen occurs the words, VOTVS 
 DEO, " Dedicated to God." 
 
 '! 
 
Primitive Rites and Ittstitutions. 
 
 5»7 
 
 LECTOR SANCTAE ECCLESIAE AECLANENSIS QVI VIXIT 
 
 ANNOS PLM • XLViii— " Here rests, in the sleep of 
 peace, Caelius Laurentius, a reader of the holy church 
 of ^clanum, who lived forty-tight years, more or 
 less." 
 
 The acolytes were another class which is discontinued 
 in the protestant communion. As the name implies,* 
 . they were the servitors of the church, and had charge 
 of the lamps and other ecclesiastical furniture. They 
 were probably the offspring of the increasing pomp and 
 dignity of the bishops, to whom they acted as personal 
 attendants, especially in public orocessions and religious 
 festivals. The only dated epitaphs of acolytes extant 
 are of a comparatively late period. De Rossi thinks the 
 following of the sixth or seventh century.f The sim- 
 plicity of the primitive church had long since passed 
 away, (p)ace abvndantivs acol • reg qvartae tt 
 
 VESTINAE QVI VIXIT ANN • XXXIII DEP • INP • D NAT • SCI 
 
 MARCi — " In peace, Abundantius, an acolyte of the 
 fourth district, of the church of Vestina, who lived 
 thirty-three years. Buried in peace on the birthday of 
 St. Mark." 
 
 The office of exorcist, from the occult and mysteri- 
 ous nature of its functions, was one that from the first 
 was liable Jto abuse. It appears to have been known in 
 the synagogue, and even there to have been usurped for 
 base and venal purposes.^ A battle between supernal 
 
 ♦ 'AKoAowtfof, " A servant." 
 
 \ Cornelius, bishop of Rome in the third century, says there were 
 in that church forty-t\»ro acolytes, (Euseb., H.E., vi, 43 ;) and, accord- 
 ing to Eusebius, a great number attended the bishops at the council 
 of Nice. 
 
 % See the vagabond Jew exorcists of Acts xix, 13. They were 
 probably also magicians and soothsayers. Exorcism was common 
 also among the pagan soothsayers, with whom the Christians were 
 
 II 
 
 ► *, 
 
 •il 
 
 I i 
 
 I 
 
 iii 
 
 if! 
 
S!8 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 IM, 
 
 1!^ 
 I i 
 
 VXl 
 
 and infernal powers seems to have been coincident with 
 the conflict between Christianity and paganism. The 
 Christians believed the oracles and idols of the gods to be 
 animated by daemons, who frequently usurped possession 
 also of human beings. Tertullian,* Origen,f and others 
 of the Fathers, claim that any private Christian could 
 exorcise these daemons by faith and prayer. It was 
 probably a spiritual gift like that of " tongues," which 
 was granted for a special purpose and afterward with- 
 drawn, perhaps on account of its abuse. This mysteri- 
 ous function did not become a distinct office till the 
 latter part of the third century, when the exorcists were 
 set apart by special ordination, and furnished with spe- 
 cial forms of adjuration. This rite was then generally 
 performed with solemn ceremonial before the baptism 
 of converts from paganism. It was accompanied by 
 prayer, insufflation, imposition of hands, and the sign 
 of the cross, in order to deliver the subject from the 
 dominion of the Prince of Darkness, and to consecrate 
 him to the service of God. In later days this office 
 became subject to frightful abuse, and all the grotesque 
 and horrible adjuncts of exorcism of the Roman church 
 — the charms, conjurations, wearing of scapulars and rel- 
 ics, incensings and sprinklings, were introduced — rites 
 which find their analogues only in the magical incanta- 
 tions of the medicine-men of the Caffre Kraal or the 
 
 sometimes confounded. It is probable against them that a law of Ul- 
 pian was directed, condemning those who used incantations, impre- 
 cations, or, to use the common word of impostors, exorcisms — Si 
 incantavit, si imprecatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo impostorum utar) 
 exorcisavit. 
 
 * Apol^ 23. 
 
 f Cont. Cels., vii. Gregory Thaumatui^s, the Wonder-worker, 
 won especial fame by his exploits of this nature. — Socrates, iv, 27. 
 Antony, of Egypt, could detect diemons by the sense of smell ! 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 519 
 
 Indian lodgd.* *' The best exorcism," says Tcrtullian, 
 " is by watchfulness and prayer to resist the devil, and 
 cast out evil thoughts." The following are epitaphs of 
 exorcists : ianvarivs exorcist a — " Januarius the exor- 
 cist ; " HIC REQVIESCIT • IN • SOMNO PACIS • CAELIVS • 
 
 lOHANNis EXHORcisTA (x/V) — " Here rests, in the sleep 
 of peace, Caelius John, an exorcist." 
 
 The energumens, or possessed persons, were com- 
 mitted to the especial care of the exorcists, who cm- 
 ployed them in the secular service of the sanctuary, as 
 sweeping and cleaning the church, "lest idleness should 
 become a temptation for Satan to molest them." There 
 is no indication of the existence of this unhappy clas$ 
 of persons in the church of the Catacombs, at least so 
 far as monumental evidence is concerned. 
 
 A very numerous class in the economy of the prim- 
 itive church was that of the fossors, or grave-diggers, 
 by whose labours these vast labyrinths were exca- 
 vated. They seem to have had especial charge of the 
 subterranean cemeteries, and we have had numerous 
 examples of the transfer and sale of graves under their 
 authority.! They had also a quasi-ecclesiastical rank, 
 and were subject to ecclesiastical discipline. " The 
 first order of the clergy," says Jerome, " is that of the 
 fossors, who, after the manner of holy Tobit, are em- 
 ployed in burying the dead." J They probably also 
 
 "^^ A somewhat analogous practice to the ancient exorcism was that 
 of touching for king's evil, for which there was a recognized form in 
 the prayer-book of the time of George II. — De Strumosis Attrectan. 
 dis, Charles II. " touched " one hundred thousand persons. 
 
 \ See ante, p. 132. 
 
 \ Primus in clericis fossariorum ordo est, etc. — De Sept. Ord. Eccles. 
 They were also called lecticarii, from their carrying the corpse on a 
 lectica or bier, and copiatce, a word of uncertain origin. Constantine 
 organized the copiatce into a corporation at Constantinople, where 
 they numbered four hundred. Compare the Parabolani of Alexandria. 
 
 H 
 
 II 
 
 ■A 
 
520 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 assisted the regular clergy in the celebrati6n of the fu- 
 neral rites. The melanrholy office of this pious confra- 
 ternity, always a sad necessity of humanity, was particu- 
 larly so to the persecuted church of the Catacombs. 
 
 The excavations were evidently under one directorate, 
 so symmetrical and uniform is their character. A con- 
 siderable degree of architectural skill is exhibited in the 
 construction and adornment of the subterranean chapels, 
 many of which are of cpiite ornamental design, and in 
 the excavation of the multitude of galleries and differ- 
 ent levels of this vast city of the dead, proving that the 
 fossors we** ^ no mean civil engineers. They were also 
 probably the artists of the rude inscriptions. The office 
 seems sometimes to have been hereditary, as we find as 
 many as three generations of fossors in the same family. 
 We have seen examples of the numerous frescoes repre- 
 senting these lowly diggers at work, often like miners, 
 by the light of a lamp, or surrounded by the implements 
 of their calling.* The following are characteristic epi- 
 taphs of. this class: MAio fossori — "To Maius, the 
 fossor;" felix fossor vixit annis lxii — " Felix, the 
 fossor. He lived seventy-two years ; " diogenes • fos- 
 sor . IN • PACE • DEPOSiTvs — " Diogencs, the fossor, buried 
 in peace." 
 
 With these were probably confounded in the earlier 
 ages the ostiarii, or door-keepers. Their office was one 
 of great trust and responsibility in times of persecution, 
 when the Christian worship had often to be celebrated 
 in secret, aqd protected from the intrusion of spies or 
 of the profanely curious heathen. It was their duty to 
 distinguish between the faithful and scoffers and traitors, 
 and to give private notice of the secret assemblies 
 of the Christians. The following inscrip^iqi^ qf the 
 
 ♦ See Figs. 23, 24, 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 521 
 
 sixth century, as restored by De Rossi, commemorates a 
 similar office in the basilica : log • deci . cvbicvlari • 
 Hvivs- BASILICAE — "The place of Decius, custodian of 
 this basilica." We have also the epitaph of a /«<j//w«rj- 
 r/V/j, a similar officer.* 
 
 ♦ With the increase of wealth and the progress of learning in the 
 Christian community, the number and variety of clerical offices was 
 greatly multiplied, and all the paraphernalia of pomp and gorgeous 
 ritual were added. A multitude of inferior ecclesiastical dependants 
 hung upon the church, absorbing its strength, corrupting its virtue, 
 and degrading its character. The knowledge of their very name •> 
 and offices has become a difficult task. Thus we have sacrislarii, or 
 keepers of the sacred vestments and vessels ; cappellani, or attendants 
 on the altar; malricularii, or marshals of the public processions; 
 sfauro/Aori, or crosa bearers ; ceroferarii and thuri/erarii, the bearers 
 of tapers and incense ; and parafrenarii, or coachmen of the higher 
 ecclesiastics — the latter, according to Mabillon, being themselves reck- 
 oned among the clergy. There were also axonomi, or stewards of 
 church lands ; thesaitrii^ox treasurers of ecclesiastical funds/ notarii, 
 or secretaries ; apocrisiani, or legates ; cancfUarii, or chancellors ; 
 symiici, or syndics ; and henneneutai, or interjireters, chiefly in the 
 Syrian and African churches, where the congregation used different 
 languages — speaking to the people in an unknown tongue is a Rom- 
 ish innovation. Even the offices of highest dignity were indefinitely 
 multiplied. There were several orders of bishops; — metropolitans, 
 archbishops, patriarchs, primates, and exarchs ; bishops diocesan, 
 bishops quiescentes, that is, without charges, and titular bishops with 
 charges in partibus infidelium ; suffragan bishops and chorepiscopi ; 
 cardinals and vicars general ; and many other officers of lordly titles, 
 princely wealth, and vast political power. But of these we find no 
 examples, no prototypes in the epitaphs of the Catacombs, nor in the 
 lowly pastors of the persecuted flock of Christ in the primitive .iges 
 of the church. The r.ppUcation of the title of pope with its present 
 signification to the early bishops is a ludicrous anachronism and mis- 
 nomer, as nothing could be further from the reality than the idea 
 which it now suggests. 
 
 Like the vine, which, twining round some noble elm, scem<- to en- 
 hance its beauty, but in time completely stifles its strength in its 
 strangling embrace, so the rank growth of human institutions has 
 strangled the life of the goodly tree of Roman Christianity, and 
 
 ill 
 
 1 
 
$22 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I i i 
 
 ft 
 
 *:. \ 
 
 I •■ 
 
 ll 
 
 *.ui 
 
 An exaggerated commendation of the supposed supe- 
 rior sanctity of single life has long been a prominent 
 characteristic of Romanism. A natural corollary of 
 this notion was the enforced celibacy of the clergy.* 
 Upon the Procrustean bed of this iron rule Rome has 
 not £ .riiplcd to bind the tenderest and most sacred af- 
 fections of the human soul. This cherished, but, .as all 
 history proves, most pernicious practice, has been the 
 secret of much of the marvellous power of the priest- 
 hood and of the religious orders. The suppression of 
 the domestic affections but intensified their devotion to 
 the cause of the church, which took the place of both 
 wife and child, and engrossed all their thoughts and all 
 their energies. They became a priestly caste, ani- 
 mated by a strong esprit de corps superior to the claims 
 of kindred or of country. But, as might have been 
 anticipated, this anti-natural system led to fri^ht- 
 iul abuses and corruptions, and to the most flagrant 
 inno/ations. 
 
 The no ion of the greater sanctity of celibacy was 
 derived, not from the teachings of our Lord or the 
 apostles, who rejognized the essential purity of mar- 
 riage ; but probably, as Milman suggests, from the early 
 heresy of the Gnostics, of which this doctrine was a 
 prominent characteristic.! " There was no enforced 
 
 blighted the promise of its early years. Forms of ritual should be 
 but the trellis for the support of a spiritual worship ; else, better that, 
 like the brazen serpent, they be broken in pieces, and, like the body 
 of Moses, buried in an unknown sepulchre, than become the objects 
 of idi latrous homage or of superstitious veneration. 
 
 * It was a primitive and probably correct opinion that all the apos- 
 tles were married except Paul and John — Omnes apostoli, exceptis 
 Johanne et Paulo, uxores habuerunt. — Ambros., ad Hilar. ; Clem. 
 Alex., Strom., iii; Euseb., H. E., iii, ?o; Orig., Com. in Rom. 
 
 \ It was probably derived by them from the Essenes and other as- 
 cetic communities of the East. 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions, 
 
 523 
 
 lupe- 
 
 Inent 
 
 of 
 * 
 
 celibacy during the first three centuries," says the judi- 
 cious Bingham.* Indeed, marriage was regarded as 
 enjoined on bishops, elders, and deacons, by the coun- 
 sel of St. Paul.f The occasional passages of Scripture, 
 in which for temporary and special reasons a single life 
 is recommended, were in course of time wrested from 
 their obvious meaning to a more general application ; 
 and in the writings of some of the Fathers, marriage 
 was regarded as a necessary evil, only to be tolerated 
 for the perpetuation of the race, and on account of the 
 infirmity of the weak. It was not till the fourth cen- 
 tury that the church adopted the doctrine of devils 
 spoken of by St. Pau^ as ** forbidding to marry." The 
 earliest ecclesiastical legislation on the subject was at 
 the Spanish council of Elvira, A. D. 305, which com- 
 manded ecclesiastics who were married to separate from 
 their wives — abstinere se a conjugibus suis — thus ruth- 
 lessly putting asunder those whom God had joined. 
 The synods of Ancyra and Neo Caesarea, held ten years 
 later, and also one of the so-called apostolic canons of 
 the same date, reversed this decree, and forbade any 
 ecclesiastic to put away his wife on the plea of religion, 
 under penalty of excommunication, which action was 
 confirmed by the great council of Nice.t Successive 
 attempts to extirpate the tenderest human instincts 
 only led to their illicit gratification, and to the scandals 
 arising from the admission of mulieres subintroductcE, or, 
 
 ♦ Orig. Eccles., iv, 4. 
 
 f I Tim. ii, 2, 12 ; Titus i, 6. So the Greek Church still under- 
 stands him, requiring the marriage of its clergy. Tertullian, Cyprian, 
 Gregory of Nyssa, Hilary of Poitiers, Spyridon, Synesius, and many 
 other distinguished ecclesiastics of early times, are recorded to have 
 been married. 
 
 \ Socrat., i, li; Sozvm., i, 23. " Marriage is the true chastity," 
 exclaimed the aged bishop Paphnutius. 
 
 ii 
 
if 
 
 i': 
 
 
 524 
 
 T/ie Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 in other words, of concubines. So demoralized did the 
 clergy thereby become, that during the Middle Ages, 
 as Mr. Lea remarks, " though the ancient canons were 
 still theoretically in force, they were practically obsolete 
 every-where."* At length Luther led the great eman- 
 cipation of the clergy from this burden, so unutterably 
 grievous to many a tender conscience ; and removed the 
 stigma of disgrace from those domestic relations which 
 God, who setteth the solitary in families, so signally 
 blesses. 
 
 There is no trace of the ascetic spirit or celibate 
 clergy of the Church of Rome in the inscriptions of the 
 Catacombs. On the contrary, numerous epitaphs com- 
 memorate the honourable marriage of members of every 
 ecclesiastical grade. Thus, in the highest rank, Gruterf 
 gives the following, which is thought to be that of Libe- 
 rius, bishop of Rome, who died A. D. ^66, and who 
 was sometimes known by the name of Leo : 
 
 HVNC MIHI COMPOSVIT TVMVLVM LAVRENTIA CONIVX 
 MORIBVS APTA MEIS SEMPER VENERANDA FIDELIS 
 
 * Sacerdotal Celibacy, p. 162. The satirical songs, tales, and 
 scandalous anecdotes concerning the celibate clergy, and the denun- 
 ciations of their vice by successive councils, attest the social deprav- 
 ity caused by this system. The ascetic depreciation of woman led 
 also inevitably to her moral degradation. She was described by some 
 of the monkish writers, who thus slandered the memory of their own 
 mothers, as a noxious animal, the very essence of evil and gate of 
 hell, whose beauty was a lure of the devil and perpetual temptation 
 to sin, and her very presence a contamination. The tenderest family 
 ties were severed at the fancied call of duty. In Roman Catholic 
 countries woman is still immured with almost oriental jealousy, and 
 is denied the intellectual emancipation her sex elsewhere enjoys. She 
 may not enter the most sacred places of Rome, nor visit the pope, 
 except in mourning. There is no music for the female voice in the 
 service of the papal chapel. 
 
 f luicrip. Antiq., p. 1173. 
 
Id the 
 Lges, 
 [were 
 lolete 
 jman- 
 |rably 
 the 
 ^hich 
 [nally 
 
 Primitive Rites and I/isititutions. 525 
 
 INVIDIA INFELIX TANDEM COMPRESSA QVIESCIT 
 OCTOGINTA LEO TRANSCENDIT EPISCOPVS ANNOS. 
 
 My wife Laurentia made me this tomb ; she was ever suited to my 
 disposition, venerable and faithful. At length disappointed envy lies 
 crushed ; the bishop Leo survived his eightieth year. 
 
 De Rossi gives the following, of a bishop's son, of 
 date A. D. 404. The relationship is boldly acknowl- 
 edged, and not yet disguised under the phrase nepos or 
 nephew : victor in pace filivs episcopi victoris civ- 
 iTATis vcRENSiVM — *' Victor, in peace, son of Bishop 
 Victor, of the city of the Ucrenses." The following, 
 of date A. D. 445, was found at Narbonne : rvsticvs • 
 
 EPis • EPi • BONOSi • filivs .... " Bishop Rusticus, son 
 of Bishop Bonosus." 
 
 There are also numerous inscriptions in which pres- 
 byters and deacons lament the death of their wives, 
 " chaste, just, and holy." " Would to God," exclaims 
 a writer in the Revue Chr'etienne, " that all their succes- 
 sors had such." The following are examples : gav- 
 
 DENTIVS • PRESBYTER • SIBI ET CONIVGI SVAE SEVERAE 
 CASTAE HAC {sic) SANCTISSIMAE FEMINAE — " GaudcntiuS 
 
 the presbyter, for himself and his wife Severa,*a chaste 
 and most holy woman ; " locvs basili presb et felici- 
 TATi Eivs. ..." The place of Basil the presbyter, and 
 of Felicitas, his (wife)." Observe also the tender recog- 
 nition of family ties in the following : glim presbyteri 
 
 GABINI FiLIA FELIX HIC SVSANNA lACET IN PACE PATRI 
 
 SOCIATA — " Once the happy daughter of the presbyter Ga- 
 binus, here lies Susanna, joined to her father in peace." 
 We have already seen the epitaph of " Petronia, the 
 wife of a deacon, the type of modesty," with whom 
 were buried two of her children.* The following, of 
 
 ♦See ante, p. 428. The following is from Salonne : FL- IVLIVS 
 
 DIACONVS ET AVREHA MERIA CONIVX EIVS 'IOC SARCOFAGVM (sir) 
 
 1*1 
 
 i'ii 
 
 
526 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 similar character, is accompanied by the epitaph of a 
 deacon on the same stone, probably the husband who so 
 tenderly lamented the loss of his faithful consort 
 
 LEVITAE CONIVX SEMPER MIHI GRATA MARIA 
 EXITVS ISTE TVVS PROSTRAVIT CORDA TVORVM 
 PERPETVAS NOBIS LACRIMAS LVCTVMQVE RELINQVENS 
 CASTA GRAVIS SAPIEN SIMPLEX VENERANDA FIDELIS 
 COMPLEVIT TVA VOTA i.yEVS TE NAMQVE MARITVS 
 TE NATI DEFLENT NEC MORS TIBI SVSTVLIT VLLVM. 
 
 Maria, the wife of a deacon, ever well-pleasing to me. That de- 
 parture of thine prostrated the hearts of thy friends, leaving perpet- 
 ual tears and grief to us. Chaste, grave, wise, simple, venerable, 
 faithful. God fulfilled thy wishes ; for thee thy husband, thee thy 
 children bewail, nor did death bear any away from thee. (A. D. 451.) 
 
 Epitaphs are also found indicating the prevalence of 
 marriage in the inferior ecclesiastical ranks, as in the 
 following examples : ct.avdivs atticanvs lector et 
 CLAVDiA FELicissiMA CONIVX — " Claudius Atticanus, the 
 reader, and Claudia FeHcissiraa, his wife ; " * ianva- 
 
 RIVS EXORCISTA • SIBI • ET • CONIVGI • FECIT " Janua- 
 
 rius, the exorcist, made this for himself and his wife ; " 
 
 TERENTIVS • FOSOR • (j/V) • PRIMITIVE (j/V) • CONIVGI • 
 
 ET • SIBI*- — " Terentius, the fossor, for Primitiva, his 
 wife and himself." 
 
 The primitive church early availed itself of the ser- 
 vices of godly women, a sort of female diaconate, for 
 the administration of charity, the care of the sick, the 
 instruction of the young, and of their own sex, and to 
 carry the light and consolations of the gospel into the 
 most private and delicate relations of life, for which 
 
 SIBI vivi POSVERVNT — " Flavius Julius, a deacon, and Aurelia Me- 
 ria, his wife, while living, erected this sarcophagus for themselves." 
 See, also, the epitaph of Tettius Felicissimus, p. 474. 
 
 * The following is from the island of Salamis : OZ/cof aXdvio^ 
 ^kydduvog uvayuuaTov koI Ev<f>Tjuiag ..." The everlasting dwelling ol 
 Agatho, a reader, and Euph^mia. . . ." She was probably his wife. 
 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 527 
 
 these gentle ministrants possessed facilities denied to 
 the other sex. They are frequently mentioned in the 
 writings of the Fathers under the names of 6idKovoi* 
 deaconesses, vidiicp.^ widows, ox.ancillce Dei^ handmaids 
 of God. In apostolic times they were required to be 
 of the mature age of sixty years ;t but widows, and even 
 the unmarried, were subsequently admitted into this 
 class as early as forty,J or even twenty, § years of age. 
 The unmarried, however, assumed no vow of perpetual 
 celibacy, jj nor of conventual life, but lived privately in 
 their own homes, employed in offices of piety and mercy. 
 The growing esteem of celibacy, however, in the fourth 
 and fifth centuries, invoked ecclesiastical censure for 
 .the abandonment of the lofty vantage ground of virgin- 
 hood ; ^ but the Imperial law granted liberty of mar- 
 
 * Thus, St. Paul calls Phoebe a (Udxovof, translated " servant," of 
 the church at Cenchriu.- ^<?/;/.,xvi, i. The Christian ancilUc quit 
 viinistra (iicebantur, whom Pliny tortured, were probably of this 
 class. 
 
 f I Tim. V, 9. 
 
 \ Concil. Chalceilon, c. 14- 
 
 § Tertul., de Velaiul. Virgin., c g. Olympias, a Christian matron 
 of Corstantinople, of noble rank, widowed at eighteen, became a 
 deacone.s, and devoted her immense fortune to charity. She was 
 long the clovoted patroness of the pei-secuted Chrysostom. 
 
 II Cypr., Ep., 62. 
 
 ^ The Fathers are enthusiastic in the praise of perpetual virginity. 
 " It. has the higher dignity, as vessels of gold and silver compared to 
 earthenware," says Jerome. — Adv. Jovin. " The thirty-fold increase 
 of Scripture." he asserts. " refers to marriage, the sixty-fold to widow- 
 hood, but the hundred-fold to virginity." — Ad Ageruchiam. " Mar- 
 riage replenishes earth," he adds ; " but virginity, heaven " — Nup- 
 tiae terram replent, virginitas paradisum. " These sacred virgins are 
 the necklace of the church." says Prudentius, " and with these gems 
 she is adorned " — Hoc est monile ecclesije ! His ilia gemmis comi- 
 tur ! — Peristeph., H., 3. They became in a mystical sense the spous- 
 es of Christ, dnd Jerome blasphemously addresses the mother of 
 Eustochium as the mother-in-law of God — Socrus Dei esse coepisli. 
 
 . t 
 
f 
 
 528 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 riage, if the order had been entered before the age of 
 forty. How different the practice of Rome in binding 
 young girls, in the first outburst of religious enthusiasm, 
 or the first bitterness of disappointed hope, by irrevoca- 
 ble vows to a death-in-life, and indissolubly riveting 
 those bonds, no matter how the chafed soul may repu- 
 diate the rash vow, and writhe beneath the galling yoke. 
 The consecrated virgin of the early church, instead of 
 the ghastly robings, like the cerements of the grave, in 
 which the youthful nun is swathed, the symbol of her 
 social death, wore a sacrum velamen, or veil, differing but 
 little from that of Christian matrons, and a fillet of gold 
 around her hair. The custom, now part of the Romish 
 ritual, of despoiling the head of its natural adorning, was 
 especially denounced by some of the ancient councils. 
 
 There are several of the early Christian inscriptions il- 
 lustrative of these various classes of consecrated women, 
 of which the following are examples : oc • ta • vi • ae • 
 MA • TRO • N AE • VI . DV • AE • DE • I. — " To the matroft Octa- 
 via, a wido^y of God ; " hic qviescit ga vdiosa cf ancil- 
 LA DEI QVAE vixiT ANNOS XL ET MEN v — " Here rests 
 Gaudiosa, a most distinguished woman, a handmaid of 
 God, who lived forty years and five months," (A. D. 
 
 447) ; IN HOC SEPVLCHRO REQVIESCIT PVELLA VIRGO 
 
 SACRA B • M • ALEXANDRA — "In this tomb rests a girl, a 
 sacred virgin, Alexandra, well deserving ; " hoc est 
 
 5EPVLCRVM SANCTAE LVCINAE VIRGINIS — " This is the 
 
 sepulchre of the holy virgin Lucina" — this, however, 
 may not indicate a special class. aestonia virgo 
 
 PEREGRINA QVAE VIXIT ANNOS XLI ; ET • DS • VIII («V) — 
 
 — Ad Eustoch. Both Jerome and Chrysostom, however, acknowl- 
 edged, and unsparingly lashed, the evils to which the celibate system 
 in their time had led. " She is the true virgin," says the latter, " who 
 careth for the things that belong to the Lord." 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 5^9 
 
 "Estonia, a travelling virgin, who lived forty-one years? 
 and eight days " — she was probably a member of a dis. 
 tant church, received on a letter of recommendation ; 
 FVRIA HELPHis (j/V) VIRGO DEVOTA — " Furia Elpis, a 
 consecrated virgin." In the fifth century this consecra- 
 tion sometimes took place at an early age, as the following 
 example, of date A. D. 401 : prie {sic) ivnias pavsabet 
 
 {sic) PRAETIOSA ANNORVM PVLLA {sic) VIRGO XII tantvm 
 
 ancilla DEI ET CHRiSTi — " On the day before (the Cal- 
 ends of) June Praetiosa went to her rest, a young maiden 
 of only twelve years of age, a handmaid of God and of 
 Christ."* 
 
 There is no trace in the inscriptions of the Catacombs 
 of that ascetic spirit from which, in the fourth and fol- 
 lowing centuries, sprang the strange phenomena of 
 monachism, with its important influence for blended 
 good and evil on the future of Christendom. That 
 was rather the result of the decay and corruption of 
 primitive Christianity, and of the despair of mankind as 
 to its regenerative power upon the world. Hence, 
 multitudes fled from the immedicable evils of society 
 to the solitude of the desert or the mountain, f Prim- 
 itive Christianity, on the contrary, was eminently 
 cheerful and social in its character. It consecrated 
 the family life, and developed, to a degree before un- 
 known, the domestic virtues. 
 
 The care of the primitive church for the religious 
 teaching of the young and of heathen converts is 
 
 * In one example, of date A. D. 525, we find the phrase nonnae 
 ANCILLAE DEI, in which we see, perhaps, the origin of our word nun. 
 Jerome had previously applied the word nonnce to either widows or 
 virgins professing chastity. — Ad Eustcch., c. 6. 
 
 f See article on *' The Rise of Monachism," by the present 
 writer, in London Quarterly /^erJtew, October, 1073. 
 
 34 
 
530 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 abundantly exemplified in the inscriptions of the Cata- 
 combs. The catechumens, or learners, as the word 
 signifies — the " Cadets of Christianity " — were a dis- 
 tinctly recognized class for whose instruction especial 
 provision was made. It consisted of the children of 
 believers born in the church, and therefore peculiarly 
 under its care; and also of converts from paganism, 
 who needed to be weaned from their errors, and taught 
 the doctrines of Christianity before admission to the 
 sacraments of baptism and the holy eucharist. For 
 the latter, as a safeguard against the rash assumption 
 of the Christian vows and the danger of subsequent 
 apostacy, a certain probation was prescribed.* The 
 candidates were taught the Holy Scriptures, and a formal 
 confession of faith, probably similar to the ancient 
 cre^d in which the Christian belief of the church has 
 for so many centuries been expressed. These instruc- 
 tions were given by the bishop himself as chief cate- 
 chist ; and also by the presbyters, deacons, lectors, and 
 other members of the inferior ministry. Deaconesses 
 and aged women acted as instructresses of their own 
 sex ; and one of these was always present during the 
 questioning of the female catechumens by the male 
 catechists. 
 
 The following engraving represents a chamber in the 
 Catacomb of St. Agnes, which, it is conjectured, was 
 employed for the instruction of the female catechu- 
 mens. On either side of the doorway are seats or 
 chairs hewn out of the solid tufa, which were probably 
 occupied by the catechisl and the presiding deaconess 
 The low stone bench runiing around the remaining walls 
 
 * This was not of uniform duration. The Council of Elvira, 
 (c. 24,) indeed, prescribed two years, but the length of the period 
 varied in different places. 
 
Primitive Rites and InstitittioHS. en 
 
 of the chamber would conveniently accommodate the 
 audientes, or hearers, as they were called. 
 
 Fiflr. 130.— Chamber in the Catacomb of St. Agrnes, with seats 
 for Catechists and Catechumens. 
 
 Some Roman Catholic writers have asserted that these 
 chambers were confessionals : but the chairs are too far 
 apart if one was for the confessor and the other for the 
 penitent, especially with an open door between ; and 
 too near, from the liability of the confessions being 
 overheard, if each was a confessional; and in either 
 case the necessity for the stone bench cannot be con- 
 ceived. In some chambers, probably for the male cat- 
 echumens, there is only one tufa chair, no deaconess 
 being present. 
 
 Another curious chamber in the Catacomb of St. Ag- 
 nes communicates with the one adjacent to it by a 
 
 til 
 
 \ 
 
 i! 
 
532 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 circular opening it through the tufa wall about breist- 
 high. It is conjectured that this was for the pur|X)sc 
 of allowing the catechumens to hear the public instruc- 
 tions of the faithful without witnessing the celebration 
 of the sacraments. The zeal of the candidates would 
 thus be the more inflamed,* that they might be found 
 worthy of admission to the fulness of Christian privi- 
 lege and to the sacred mysteries hidden from the unin- 
 itiate and the unworthy. The following epitaph from 
 the Lapidarian Gallery commemorates a youthful cate- 
 chumen : VCILIANVS BACIO VALERIO QVE BISET . {sic) ANN 
 
 Villi • MEN • VIII • DIES XXII CATECVM — ** Ucilianus to Ba- 
 cius Valerius, a catechumen, who lived nine years, eight 
 months and twenty-two days.*' 
 
 The ordinance of baptism receives several illustra- 
 tions from the monumental evidences of the Catacombs. 
 There are numerous epitaphs of neophytes— a term ap- 
 plied only to newly baptized persons — which indicate 
 that this Christian rrte was administered at all ages from 
 tender infancy to adult years ; in the latter case the sub- 
 jects being probably recent converts from heathenism. 
 The following are examples of this class : teg • candidis 
 NEOF Q • vxT • M • XXI — " The tile of Candidus, a neo- 
 phyte, who lived twenty-one months;" fl-iovina. 
 
 QVAE • VIX • ANNIS • TRIBVS • D • XXX • NEOFITA • IN 
 
 PACE — " Flavia Jovina, who lived three years and thirty 
 days, a neophyte, in peace ; " mirae indvstriae adqve 
 
 BONITATIS . . . INNOCENTIA PREDITVS FL • AVR • LEONI . 
 NEOFITO QVI VIXIT ANN VI • MENS • VIII DIES XI . . . " In- 
 
 nocentia Preditus to Flavius Aurelius Leo, a neophyte 
 of wonderful industry and goodness, who lived six years, 
 eight months, eleven days; " romano neofito bene me- 
 
 * " Tanto ardentius concupiscantur, quanto honorabilius occultan* 
 tur," says Augustine, of this very practice. — In Johan.y 96. 
 
Primitive Rites ami Imtitutions. 5^3 
 
 RENTI QVI VIXIT • ANNOS • VIII • D • XV • REQVIESCIT IN 
 
 PACE — " To the well-deserving neophyte Ronianus, who 
 lived eight years and fifteen days; he rests in peace." 
 We have already seen the epitaph of Junius Bassus, who 
 died a neophyte at the age of forty-one, and shall pres- 
 ently observe other instances of adult baptism.* We 
 find also the epitaph of " two innocent brothers, one 
 a neophyte, the other, one of the faithful." 
 
 ♦ The following r^'jMwe of the principal patristi^. evidence on the 
 practice of infant baptism is corroborated by the testimony of the 
 Catacombs. We omit the passages from (.lement and Hermes Pas- 
 tor, which imply its prevalence in the first century, as being rather 
 vague. Justin Martyr, about A. D. 148, speaks of persons sixty and 
 seventy years old who had been made disciples of Christ (f/iaf/jyreixyj/oav, 
 the very word employed in Matt, xxviii, 19,) in their infancy, {Apol., 
 2,) and compares the rite of baptism to that of circumcision. — Dial, 
 c. Tryph. Irenaeus expressly speaks of " infants, little ones, children, 
 youth, and the aged, as regenerated unto God," which phrase he else- 
 where applies to baptism — Infantes et pa.-^ailos, et pueros, et ju- 
 vcnes, et seniores. — Lib. ii, c. 39. Tertullian, indeed, in the third 
 century, recommends the delay of baptism, especially in the case of 
 infants — Cunctatio baptismi utilior est, prsecipue tamen circa par- 
 vulos — an indication of the Montanist heresy, into which he fell, 
 which regarded post-baptismal sins as inexpiable. — De Baptis.,c. 18. 
 The practice, however, continued, and Origen expressly asserts that 
 little children were baptized for the remission of sins (Parvuli bap- 
 tizantur in remissionem peccatorum — Honi., 14, in Luc.^ which 
 custom, he says, the church handed down from the apostles — Ec- 
 clesia ab apostoils traditionem suscepit. — /r/., in Rom., v. 6. When 
 the question arose, in the third century, not whether baptism should 
 be administered to infants, but whether it should be administered 
 before the eighth day, Cyprian and a council of sixty-six African 
 bishops unanimously decreed that the rite should be denied to none, 
 even in earliest infancy — Universi potius judicavimus, nulli hominum 
 nato misericordiam Dei et gratiam denegandam. — Cypr. Ep. 59, ad 
 Fidum. " And this," says Augustine, " is no new doctrine, but of 
 apostolic authority " — Nee omnino credenda, nisi apostolica esse tra- 
 ditio. — De Genesi ad Literam., x. The later Fathers abound in 
 similar testimonies. The infant children of heathen converts were 
 baptized immediately, and the older ones when instructed. — Cod, 
 
 I 
 
534 
 
 The Catacombs of R>me, 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 In course of time the rite of baptism degenerated into 
 a superstitious charm, and was regarded as a mystical 
 lustration which washed away all sin and was essential 
 to salvation.* This change probably resulted from a 
 reaction against the Pelagian heresy, which denied the 
 necessity of baptism, and from the rhetorical exaggera- 
 tion by the Fathers of the spiritual efficacy of this sac- 
 rament.f The church of the Catacombs, while duly 
 administering the rite of baptism, did not, after the man- 
 ner of the Church of Rome and other modern extreme 
 sacramentalists, invest it with regenerative power, nor 
 
 yustin., i, II, Leg. lO. Orphans, foundlings, and even the children 
 of heathens, received this sacred rite. At an early period the eucha- 
 rist was administered to infants, which was of necessity preceded by 
 baptism. 
 
 ♦ Hence, when a person died unbaptized, a living substitute some- 
 times received the rite in his stead. Fulgentius indeed asserts, that 
 unbaptized children, even if they die " in uteris matrum," are pun- 
 ished with everlasting punishment in eternal fire — ignis aetemi sempi- 
 terno supplicio puniendos. — De Fide ad Petr., 27. But he alone of 
 the Fathers expresses this abominable opinion. Augustine and Am- 
 brose, though insisting on the imp>ortance of baptism, admit that the 
 faith and repentance — fidem conversionemque cordis — of those who 
 die while piously preparing therefor may suffice in its stead. — Aug., 
 de Bap., iv, 22. 
 
 f In bold and unwarrantable metaphor some of the Fathers speak 
 of the waters of baptism as changed in mystical transubstantiation 
 into the very cleansing blood of Christ. 
 
 The prevalence of the Montanist heresy, which regarded as inex- 
 piable all sins committed after baptism, led many to postpone its re- 
 ception, although this practice was strongly censured by the church. 
 Thus, Constantine remained a catechumen till his sixty-fifth year, and 
 received baptism — " k/ivT/Ori," says Sozomen, (ii, 34,) literally, "was 
 initiated," — just before his death. An inscription at St. John's Lat- 
 eran asserts his baptism by Sylvester many years previously : CON- 
 
 STANTINVS PER CRVCEM VICTOR A S. SILVESTRO BAPTIZATVS CRVCIS 
 
 GLORIAM PROPAGAVIT : but Dr. Dollinger has shown the entirely 
 mythical character of the legend. — Fables respecting the Popes, etc., 
 by Jn. G, Ign. Von Dollinger. 1872. 
 
'I 
 
 ^1 
 
 Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 535 
 
 regard its involuntary omission as excluding the body 
 from consecrated ground and the soul from heaven.* 
 
 Sometimes, by a beautiful metonyme derived from its 
 spiritual significance, baptism is indicated as the palin- 
 genesis, or new birth, of which it is the appropriate sym- 
 bol. The following is a characteristic example of this 
 usage : . . . caeleste renatvs aqva (j/V) — ..." Born 
 again of heavenly water," (A. D. 377.) f We read also 
 of a certain Mercurius, who is described as a boy born 
 and dying in the same year, aged twenty-four. The 
 allusion is to the spiritual regeneration symbolized by 
 baptism. With reference to this he was but a boy — 
 puer — at the time of his death. { This rite was also 
 called illumination, and we find in the Catacombs the 
 epitaphs of persons said to i>e thus " newly illuminated." 
 
 The testimony of the Catacombs respecting the mode 
 of baptism, as far as it extends, is strongly in favour of 
 aspersion.or affusion. All their pictured representations 
 of the rite indicate this mode, for which alone the early 
 fonts seem adapted ; nor is there any early art evidence of 
 baptismal immersion. It seems incredible, if the latter 
 were the original ?md exclusive mode, of apostolic 
 and even Divine authority, that it should have left no 
 trace in the earliest and most unconscious art-record, 
 and have been supplanted therein by a new, unscript- 
 ural, and unhistoric method. It is apparent, indeed, 
 from the writings of the fourth and fifth century, that 
 many corrupt and unwarranted usages were introduced 
 in connection with this Christian ordinance that greutly 
 
 
 * See the epitaph of an unbaptized catechumen already given. 
 
 f In a Christian epitaph from Aquileia, of date A. D. 734, we 
 find the scriptural formula — ex aqua et Spu renatus — '* born again of 
 water and the Spirit." — Muratori, Nov. Thesaur., p. 1849. 
 
 \ See McCaul, Christian Epitaphs, p. 64. 
 
 1 1 
 
536 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 
 marred its beauty and simplicity. It is unquestionable 
 that at that time baptism by immersion was practised 
 with many superstitious and unseemly rites. The sub- 
 jects, both men and women, were divested of their 
 clothing, to represent the putting off the body of sin ; 
 which, notwithstanding the greatest efforts to avoid it, 
 inevitably provoked scandal. They then received trien 
 immersion, to imitate, says Gregory Nyssen,* the three 
 days' burial of Christ ; or, according to others, as a symbol 
 of the Trinity. The rite was accompanied by exorcism, 
 insufflation, unction, confirmation, the gift of milk and 
 honey, the administration of the eucharist even to in- 
 fants, the clothing in white garments, and carrying of 
 lighted tapers, to all of which a mystical meaning was 
 attached. 
 
 But in the evidenc s of the Catacombs, which are the 
 testimony of an earlier and purer period, there is no 
 indication m this mode of baptism, nor of these dra- 
 matic accompaniments.! The marble font represented 
 in the accompanying engraving, now in the cryp.s of St. 
 Prisca within the walls, is said to have com€ from the 
 
 * De Bapt. Christ. 
 
 \ Cyprian argues for the validity of baptism by sprinkling, when 
 immersion is inconvenient, as in the case of the sick, prisoners, etc., 
 as follows : " In baptism the spots of sin are otherwise washed away 
 than is the filth of the body in u secular and carnal washing, in which 
 is need of a bath, soap, and the like. The heart of the believer is 
 otherwise washed ; the mind of man is cleansed by the merit of faith " 
 — Neque enim sic in sacramento salutari delictorum contagia, ut in 
 iavacro camali et seculari sordes cutis et coiporis abluuntur, etc.— 
 Ep. ad Magnum. 
 
 Thus, we read that St. Lawrence baptized with only a pitcher of 
 water — urceum afferens cum aqua — and by pouring water on the head 
 of the subject — fundit aquam super caput. — Acta Laurentii. Ter- 
 tullian also speaks of the "aspersion of water" in baptism — aspcr- 
 rinem aquae. — De Pixnitent., 6. 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 537 
 
 Fipr. 131. -Baptismal Font. 
 
 Catacombs, and to have been used for baptismal pur- 
 
 I)Oses by St. Petei 
 
 himself; in corrob-' 
 
 oration of which 
 
 legend it bears the 
 
 somewhat apocry- 
 
 l)hal inscription — 
 
 SCI-PET-BAPTISMV. 
 
 (j/V.) The tradition 
 at least attests its 
 extreme antiquity ; 
 and its basin is 
 quite too small for 
 even infant immer- 
 sion. Other fonts 
 have been found in 
 several of the sub- 
 terranean chapels, among which is one in the Catacomb 
 of Pontianus, hewn out of the solid tufa and fed by a 
 living stream. It is thirty-six inches long, thirty-two 
 inches wide, and forty inches deep, but is seldom near 
 full of water. It is obviously too small for immersion, 
 and was evidently designed for administering the rite as 
 shown in the fresco which accompanies it. (See Fig. 132.) 
 The following inscription, from the Lapidarian Gallery, 
 seems to have come from some such font, and perhaps 
 contains a reference to the scripture, " Arise and be 
 baptized, and wash away thy sins :" corporis et cordis 
 
 MACVLAS VITALIS PVRGAT ET OMNE SIMVL ABLVIT VNDA 
 
 — " The living stream cleanses the spots of the body as 
 well as the heart, and at the same time washes away 
 all (sins)."* 
 
 * The so-called benitiers, or holy water vessels of the Catacombs, 
 were, it i? likely, \i\ some cases at least, baptismal vases. The Koin.. 
 
538 
 
 TJic Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 Figr. 132 —The Baptism of Our Lord. 
 
 Immediately over the font in the Catacomb of Pon- 
 tianus is the elaborate fresco of the baptism of Our 
 Lord, figured above. He is represented standing in 
 
 ish " holy water " is probably copied from the aqua lustralis o*" the 
 pagans, which stood at the door of the temples, and into which the 
 worshipper on entering and leaving dipped his fingers. In striking 
 analogy to Romish usage, the pagan priest sprinkled the multitude 
 with the holy dew by means of an aspergillum, or light brush- 
 Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda 
 Spargens rore levi. 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 539 
 
 the river Jordan, while John pours water upon his head, 
 and the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. 
 An angel stands by as witness of the rite, and in the 
 foreground a stag, the emblem of a fervent Christian, 
 is drinking at Sn ' pure streara.* 
 
 In a very ancient crypt of St. Lucina is another par- 
 tially defaced baptis;.. of Christ, attributed to the sec- 
 ond century, in which St. John stands on the shore 
 and our Saviour in a ihallow stream, while the Holy 
 Spirit descends as a dov^. On the sarcophagus of Juni- 
 us Bassus Christ is also symbolically represented as bap- 
 tized by affusion. 
 The annexed 
 rude example 
 from the Cata- 
 comb of Callix- 
 tus, probably of 
 the th ird century, 
 also clearly ex- 
 hibits the ad- 
 ministration of 
 the rite by pour- 
 ing.f It is ac- 
 
 ^ON 
 
 Fifir> 133.— Baptismal Scene. 
 
 companied by a representation of Peter striking water 
 from the rock, an emblem, according to De Rossi, of 
 the waters of baptism sprinkling the sinful souls that 
 
 ♦ The nimbus and other characteristics indicate the comparatively 
 !ate date of this picture. De Rossi thinks it not earlier than the sev- 
 enth or eighth century. The ravages of time snice the above was 
 copied by Bosio have defaced part of the angel figure. In a similar 
 group in a Latin MS., of the ninth century, the river Jordan flows 
 from two vessels held by two boys. In another group at Monza, of 
 the seventh century, the baptismal water pours from a vase held in 
 the beak of the divine dove upon the head of Christ. 
 
 f The figures are a light umber, the falling water a pale blue. 
 
 t 'U 
 
i 
 
 540 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 I 
 
 i! : 
 
 
 come thereto. A similar example also occurs in the 
 cemetery of St. Praetextatus. 
 
 In ancient sarcophagal reliefs in the Vatican are 
 representations of small detached baptisteries of cir- 
 cular form, crowned with the Constantinian monogram. 
 These were necessarily of sufficient size to accommo- 
 date the number of persons who were baptized at one 
 time, generally at Easter,* and were placed outside of 
 the basilica to indicate the initiatory character of baptism 
 as the entrance to the church of Christ.f In the early 
 mosaics representing baptismal scenes, the rite is invari- 
 ably administered by affusion, as in the baptistery of 
 San Giovanni at Ravenna, in the begin.ning of the fifth 
 century, in Sta. Maria in Cosmedin, at Ravenna, in the 
 beginning, and in the ivory relief on the episcopal chair 
 of Maximinus, at the end, of the sixth century.;]; So, 
 
 * The neophytes laid aside their white baptismal robes, or albs, on 
 the Sunday after Easter, hence, called Dominica in albis. In the fol- 
 lowing inscription Pascasius, a neophyte of six years, is said to have 
 received baptism on Easter eve, and to have laid aside his albs one 
 week thereafter in the tomb : percepit xi kal. maias et aluas svas 
 
 OCTABAS {sic) PASCAE {sic) AD SEPVLCHRVM DEPOSVIT. (A. D. 463.) 
 
 Dr. McCaul notes a striking analogy to Christian forms of expres- 
 sion in an epitaph describing pagan initiation : arcanis perfvsioni- 
 BVS IN AETERNVM RENATVS — " Bom eternally by secret sprinklings," 
 The sprinkling was that of the blood of a bull or ram, dripping on 
 the bodies of the recipients of the lustration through perforations in 
 a platform beneath which they stood. — Christian Epitaphs, p. 57. 
 
 f Although these in after times became vast buildings, with ample 
 provision for baptismal immersion, in the earlier ages they were quite 
 small ; and, according to Smith's Classical Dictionary, the baptister- 
 ium was "not a bath sufficiently large to immerse the whole bodj', 
 but a vessel or labrum containing cold water for pouring on the head." 
 — Art., Baths, Eusebius speaks of baptisteries without the church 
 "for those who require yet the purification and the sprinklings 
 {■K€pi{)(}avTripLov) of water and the Holy Spirit." — E. H., x, 4. 
 
 J I am indebted for these references to the Rev. Prof. Bennett, 
 D.l)., of Syracuse University, late of Berlin, Prussia. 
 
Primitive Rites ami Institution!;. 
 
 541 
 
 the 
 
 also, a later example in the Lateran basilica represents 
 Constantine kneeling naked in a laver, and Sylvester 
 pouring water on his head.* This is also the method 
 indicated in several medals, has reliefs, frescoes, and mo- 
 saics, in almost every century from the fourth, through 
 the Middle Ages, indicating a continuous tradition, even 
 when immersion may have been practised, of a different 
 mode of baptism. 
 
 The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was the most 
 sacred and consoling rite of the primitive church. It 
 was a once the emblem of the Christian's highest hopes, 
 and the sublime commemoration of the ineffable sacri- 
 fice on which those hopes depend. It was the focus in 
 which concentrated all their holiest thoughts, kindling 
 the whole soul into a flame of adoring love.f It was the 
 central act of worship, around which all their solemn 
 devotions gathered, and to which they all looked. 
 The sublime thought of the atonement of Christ and 
 of salvation through his death, shone ever star-like over 
 their souls, illumining even the sepulchral gloom of 
 these subterranean crypts. Daily,! ^r as often as the 
 vigilance of their foes in times of persecution would 
 
 ' S\ 
 
 * Ciampini, Tab. ii, Figs. 3, 4. 
 
 f In later times the devout Bernard of Clairvaux thus eulogizes 
 the eucharst : " It is," he exclaims, " the medicine of the sick, the 
 way of the wandering ; it comforts the feeble and delights the strong ; 
 it cures disease and preserves health ; it makes man more submissive 
 to correction, stronger to labour, more ardent to love, wiser in fore- 
 sight, prompter in obedience, more devout in thanksgiving. It ab- 
 solves from sin, destroys the power of Satan, gives strength for 
 martyrdom, and, in fine, brings every good." — Costeri. Instittit. C/ir., 
 lib. i, c. 6. It was also described as " the bread of angels, spiritual food, 
 the life of the soul, the perpetual health of the mind, the antidote "of 
 sin, and pledge of future glory." 
 
 :|:Alicubiquotidiealicubicertis interval lis dierum. — Aug., 7V.,26,i« 
 Johan. It was. in a special sense, the "daily bread of the soul." 
 
542 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 permit, the faithful met in the silent halls of death, far 
 from the " madding crowd's ignoble strife," to nourish 
 and strengthen their souls for fiery trial, and often for 
 the red baptism of martyrdom, by meditation on the 
 passion of their Lord and partaking of the emblems of 
 his death. 
 
 Therefore, in ever-recurring and appropriate symbol- 
 ism, was this holy rite set forth upon the walls of the 
 Catacombs. Its direct representation, however, was 
 carefully avoided ; and its sacred meaning was hidden 
 from the profane gaze of the heathen under a veil of 
 allegory and emblem, which was, nevertheless, instinct 
 with prcfoundest significance to the initiated. Thus, 
 we find representations of seven men eating bread and 
 fish, which are interpreted as the repast of the disciples 
 by the sea-shore when Our Lord manifested himself in 
 the breaking of bread, and, indirectly, as symbols of 
 the holy eucharist.* They are not at all analogous to 
 the pictures of pagan funeral banquets, to which they 
 have been compared, but which are entirely foreign to 
 Christian thought. The miracles of turning water into 
 wine, and of the multiplication of the loaves, were also re- 
 garded as types of the eucharist, which was, doubtless, fre- 
 quently symbolized under these figures. We have seen a 
 copy of the remarkable fresco, twice repeated in the Cat- 
 acomb of St. Lucina, of a fish bearing a basket of bread 
 on its back, and in the midst what seems to be a chalice 
 of wine.f This is considered one of the most ancient 
 emblems of this sacred rite. This view derives singular 
 corroboration from a passage in Jerome, which speaks of 
 carrying the body of Christ in a basket made of twigs, 
 
 * " Christ who suffered is the fish which was broiled," says St. Au- 
 gustine — Piscis assus, Christus passus. 
 f See Fig. 54- 
 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 543 
 
 and his blood in a chalice of glass.* The cucharist is 
 also evidently symbolized in the representations of fish 
 and sheep carrying small loaves of bread in their mouths. 
 These are sometimes marked with a decussate cross, 
 as was done to facilitate fracture during administration. 
 The first Christian altars were tables of wood, which, 
 in times of persecution, could be easily removed from 
 house to house in which worship was celebrated. The 
 entire absence of any thing corresponding to the pagan 
 sacrificial altar was made the subject of heathen re- 
 proach. f In a painting found in the Catacomb of Cal- 
 lixtus, which Dr. Northcote describes as " the sacrifice 
 of the Mass, symbolically depicted," a man stands with 
 hands outstretched, as if in act of consecration, over a 
 three-legged table, on which are bread and a fish, while 
 opposite stands a female figure in the attitude of prayer. 
 In an adjoining chamber a precisely similar table is 
 represented, but without the accompanying figures.^ 
 These tables were placed, not against the wall like a 
 Romish altar, but set out from it, so that the ministrant 
 could stand behind it looking toward the congregation. 
 
 * Nihil illo ditius, qui corpus Domini canistro vimineo, sanguinem 
 portat in vitro. — Ep. 4, ad Rustic. The communion was thus con- 
 veyed to those who through sickness were absent from its public cel- 
 ebration. 
 
 f Cur nuUas aras habent ? — Minuc, Octav. Non altaria fabricemus, 
 non aras. — Amob., Contr. Gentes. The Christian altars were called in- 
 differently, Altare, ara Dei, mensa Domini. 
 
 X In the Lateran basilica, which is claimed as the head and 
 mother of all the churches of Rome — caput et mater omnium ecclesia- 
 rttm — is an altar which tradition asserts St. Peter made with his own 
 hands, and employed for the administration of the Holy Sacrament 
 The legend attests at least an ancient opinion as to primitive 
 usage. Originally only one altar was permissible in a church, but 
 under Romish influence the number increased to as many as twenty- 
 five, as at St. Peter's. 
 
544 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 III the "papal crypt" of the Callixtan Catacomb the 
 sockets for the four feet of the table thus set out from 
 the wall are distinctly visible, and Bosio and Boldetti 
 both found examples of altars standing in the middle 
 of the cubicula. This was also their position in the old- 
 est basilicas of Rome. 
 
 In the sixth century a general council decreed that 
 r*?e altars should be of stone. This transition had al- 
 rji.dy taken place in the Catacombs, and arose from the 
 empl:yment of the slab covering the grave in an area- 
 solium for the administration of the eucharist. This 
 practice led to an increased veneration for the relics 
 of the saints ; and soon the presence of these relics 
 became essential to the idea of an altar.* To this 
 custom Prudentius refers in his hymn for Hippolytus' 
 
 day. 
 
 " Ilia sacramenti donatrix mensa, eademque 
 
 Gustos fida sui martyris apposita : 
 Se'rvat ad JEterni spem Judicis ossa sepulchre 
 
 Pascit item Sanctis Tibricolas dapibus. 
 Mira loci piptas, et prompta precantibus ara." 
 
 " That slab gives the sacrament, and at the same time faithfully 
 guards the martyr's remains ; it preserves his bones in the sepulchre 
 in hope of the Eternal Judge, and feeds the dwellers by the Tiber 
 with sacred food. Great is the sanctity of the place, and it offers a 
 ready altar for those who pray." 
 
 After the consecration of the elements by the pres- 
 byter or bishop, the communion in both kinds was ad- 
 ministered to the faithful by the deacons in the formula 
 of its institution which we still use.f The consecrated 
 
 * In three or four instances bronze rings arc attached to the slab, as 
 if to r/ilow its removal fi^- a second interment, or perhaps to give a 
 view of the relics of the saint. 
 
 f Tertullian carefully guards against the literal interpretation of the 
 words of Christ, " This is my body," by the addition, " that is, a fig* 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 545 
 
 elements* were sent to any who were sick, by the hands 
 of deacons or acolytes, as is still the practice in the 
 Greek and Armenian churches. In the Act )f St. Ste- 
 phen, we read of a young martyr who chose to be beaten 
 to death by a Roman mob, rather than disclose the 
 sacred treasure entrusted to his care. This practice in 
 time degenerated into the superstitious administration 
 of the viaticum as a preparation for the soul's journey 
 to the spirit-world. Some of the gilt glasses, before 
 described, are thought to have been used as patens and 
 chalices for the celebra or of the eucharist. Witn the 
 increasing wealth an'^ rnv.-e gorgeous ritual of the 
 church, gold and silver vessels, adorned with costly 
 gems and rarest work nanship, took the place of the 
 humbler material o^ the primitive ages.f 
 
 Another beautiful mstitution generally associated with 
 the celebration of the eucharist in primitive times is 
 that of the agape^ or love-feast. In a subterranean 
 chapel in the Catacomb of Marcellinus and Peter is an 
 
 ureof my body " — figura corporis mei. — Adv. Marc, iv, 40. Augus- 
 tine and others of the Fathers also discriminate between Christ's 
 spiritual and corporeal presence. 
 
 * They were called eulogia, that is, blessing or benediction. In the 
 Jewish cemetery is a representation of sacred loaves, probably pass- 
 over cakes, marked EYAOriA. The Christian representation of a 
 cup doubtless frequently refers to the " cup of blessing " — To irori^fuov 
 T^f evXoyiag — mentioned by St. Paul. — I Cor. x, 16. 
 
 f There is not in the whole range of early Christian epigraphy the 
 slightest indication of the Romish doctrine of Transubstantiation ; 
 which, indeed, as Dr. Mailland remarks, " was not distinctly broached 
 till the ninth century." Some of the earlier poets, however, and the 
 more rhetorical of the Fathers, allude to a mystical presence of Christ 
 in the eucharist, bordering on the modern Romish conception. 
 
 The council of Elvira forbade the acceptance of any gift for the 
 administration of tlie sacraments. How different from Rome's mer- 
 cenary tariff for the celebration of masses for the dead ! 
 
 35 
 
546 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome, 
 
 exceedingly interesting representation of the observance 
 of this custom, shown in the following engraving. 
 
 FifiT. 134.— Ancient Afirape. 
 
 Three guests, it will be perceived, sit at the semicir- 
 cular table, at the ends of which preside two matrons 
 personifying peace and love, with their names written 
 above their heads. An attendant supplies them with 
 food from a small table in front, on which are a cup, 
 platters, and a lamb. The inscriptions, according to 
 Dr. Maitland, should be expanded thus : irene da cal- 
 da[m aqvam] — " Peace, give hot water ; " and agape 
 MiscE MI [viNVM cvM aqva] — " Lovc, mix me wine with 
 water ; " the allusion being to the ancient custom of 
 tempering wine with water, hot or cold. 
 
 Numerous other representations of this devout feast 
 at which Love and Peace preside attest its general ob- 
 servance. It would be a touching symbol of Christian 
 unity to the persecuted saints, and would unite still 
 closer hearts bound together by common dangers and 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 547 
 
 a common hope. All the distinctions of rank were then 
 forgotten. Gathering by stealth in these subterranean 
 crypts from the imperial palace and the lowly abode of 
 poverty, they break bread together in the solemn pres- 
 ence of the dead in token of their common brotherhood 
 in Christ. The slave of a Roman master, but the freed- 
 man of Christ, and the patrician convert, the intellec- 
 tual Greek and the once bigoted Jew, together 
 
 Celebrate the feast of love, 
 Antedate the joys above. 
 
 This beautiful institution, first mentioned by Jude as 
 the "feasts of charity,"* was usually observed in con- 
 nexion with the eucharist, though not necessarily a part 
 of it. It dates from the earliest period of the church, f 
 and its corruptions among the Corinthians called forth 
 the sharp rebuke of the Apostle Paul. J 
 
 Tertullian thus describes its character in the second 
 century: "Our supper, which you accuse of luxury, 
 shows its reason by its very name ; for it is called agape^ 
 which, among the Greeks, signifies love. It admits of 
 nothing vile or immodest. We eat and drink only as 
 much as hunger and thirst demand, mindful that the 
 evening is to be spent in the worship of God. We so 
 speak as knowing that God hears. After washing our 
 hands and bringing lights, each is asked to sing to God 
 according to his ability, either from Scripture or from 
 his own mind. Prayer also concludes the feast." § He 
 calls it also a supper of philosophy and discipline, rather 
 than a corporeal feast. At the close collections were 
 made for widows and orphans and for the poor, many 
 of whom would be thrown out of employment by their 
 
 * Ta?f uyun-atf. — ^Jude, 12. f Acts ii,46 ; vi, 2. t I Cor. xi, 16-34. 
 
 § Ita saturantur, ut qui meminerunt etiam pe toctem adorandiun 
 
 sibi esse ; ita fabulantur, ut qui sciunt Dominum audire. — ApoL, 39. 
 
548 
 
 The Catacombs of Route, 
 
 renunciation of idolatrous trades; also for prisoners and 
 for persons who had suffered shipwreck.* It is doubtless 
 the a^i^ape which IMiny describes as " the common and 
 harmless meal"f of the Christians, and at which, ac- 
 cording to I.ucian, their '* sacred conversations"! were 
 held. Clement of Alexandria calls the a^ape "the 
 banquet of reason, a celestial food, and the supper of 
 love; the pledge and proof of mutual affection." § 
 
 The primitive church carefully guarded the celebra- 
 tion of the eucharist and ai::;ape from the pryii gs of idle 
 curiosity or the perfidy of heathen malevolence, lest 
 the name of God should be blasphemed, or the goodly 
 pearls of salvation be tram|)led beneath swinish feet. 
 But this very secresy and mystery became the occasion 
 of the vilest slanders and asj)ersions. The Christians 
 were accused of celebrating these rites with the most 
 abominable orgies — feasling on human flesh and infants' 
 blood, and committing nameless crimes of still deeper 
 dye. "They charge us," say the martyrs of Lyons, 
 "with feasts of Thyestes, and the crimes of CEdipus, 
 and such abominations as are neither lawful for us to 
 speak nor think." The blameless believers were de- 
 nounced as the very dregs of society, a skulking and 
 darkness-loving race, meeting by night for profane con- 
 juration and unhallowed banquets, as despisers of the 
 gods, haters of mankind, and mockers at holy things. 
 
 ♦ Jus. Mar., Apol., ii ; Sociat., Eccl. Hist.^ v, 22 ; Orig., in Ep. ad 
 Rom.y xvi, i6. 
 
 f Cibum promiscuum et innoxium. — Ep., lib. x, ad Traj. 
 
 \ lepol Xoyoi. — Peregrinus. 
 
 % Pcedag., ii. 
 
 I Qui de ultima faece collectis imperitioribus et mulieribus credulis 
 sexus sui facilitate labentibus, plebem profanae conjurationis institu- 
 unt : quae nocturnis congregationibus et jejuniis solennibus et inhu- 
 manis cibis non sacro quodain seil piaculo foederantur, latebrosa et 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 549 
 
 and were confounded with pestilent sorcerers who 
 in midnight caves practiced their foul incantations 
 against human Hf»*.* These accusations arose partly, 
 it is probable, from distorted accounts of the holy 
 communion of the body and the blood of Christ, 
 interpreted as a literal partaking of the corporeal sub- 
 stance ; partly from the vile practices of the Carpocra- 
 tians and other heretics; but chieP.y from the malice 
 of the heathen themselves, iudging the character of the 
 Christian mysteries from the obscene orgies of Venus 
 and Bacchus. 
 
 TertuUian indignantly resents the vile calumnies, and 
 shows them to be monstrous and absurd. " We are 
 daily beset by foes," he exclaims, "we are daily be- 
 trayed, we are often surprised in our secret congrega- 
 tions; yet who ever came upon a half-consumed corpse 
 among us, or any other corroborations of the accusa- 
 tions against us."*"! He retorts upon the heathen the 
 charge of infanticide, human sacrifice, and unnatural 
 crimes, and contrasts therewith the purity of the Chris- 
 tian character. Minucius Felix also attests the mod- 
 est and sober character of the Christian feasts, which 
 they celebrated with chaste discourse and chaster 
 bodies.| 
 
 In course of time the agapce lost in great measure 
 their religious character, and were employed for the 
 anniversaries of the martyrs, and for marriage and 
 
 lucifugax natio . . . deos despuunt, rident sacra. — Minuc. Felix, Octav. 
 Odio humani generis convicti sunt. — Tac, Ann., xv. 44. 
 
 * Malifica superstitio. — Suet., Neron., 16. Comp. Hor., Sat., i,8. 
 
 f Quotidie obsidemur, quotidie prodir r, in ipsis plurimum cceti- 
 buscongregationibus nostris opprimimur. , aisunquam talitervagienti 
 infanti supervenit? — Apol., c. 7 ; comp. . Nat., i, 10-15. 
 
 X Casto sermone, corpora castiore. — Minuc, Octav. ; comp. Orig., 
 Cont. Cels., vi., Jus. Mar., Apol., i, 2. 
 
550 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 If 
 
 W 
 
 funeral occasions.* They were still further desecrated 
 by their substitution for pagan festivals, in order, as St. 
 Augustine remarks, " that the heathen might feast with 
 their former luxury, though without their former sac- 
 rilege."! These "pious hilarities" thus degenerated, 
 in the fourth .ind fifth centuries, into convivial banquets 
 and wanton revelry — a scandal and disgrace to Christen- 
 dom, and provoked the indignant censure of the Fathers. 
 "It is abs ird," says St. Jerome, "to honour with feast- 
 ing the sainti, who pleased God with their fasts." St. 
 Augustine vehemently condemns those " who inebriate 
 them ,elves in honour of the martyrs, and place even 
 their gluttony and drunkenness to the account of re- 
 ligion."! "These drunkards persecute the saints as 
 much with their cups," he says, " as the furious pagans 
 did with stones. ' § The good bishop of Nola, greatly 
 scandalized at these semi-pagan revelries, painted with 
 holy pictures the church of St. Felix, that 3s the igno- 
 rant peasants gazed more they might drink the less. It 
 has been suggested that probably the pious figures in 
 the gilt glasses of the Catacombs were designed for the 
 same purpose ; but many of their mottoes were of a 
 highly convivial character, calculated rather to promote 
 the revelry in which they were doubtlessly employed. 
 Both the natalitia and the agapce at length became so 
 obnoxious in character as to excite the taunts of the 
 
 * Agapae natalitiae, agapse connubiales, and agapoe funerales. 
 The pagans, not un laturally, regarded the latter, like their own funeral 
 banquets, as designed to appease the manes of the dead. They would 
 doubtless think the same of the modern mortuary masses. 
 
 f Non simili sacrilegio, quamvis simili luxu celebrarentur. — Aug., 
 Ep., 29. 
 
 \ Qui se in memoriis martyrum inebriant. — Aug., Cont. Faust., xx, 
 21. Voracitates ebrietatesque suas deputant religioni. — De Morib. 
 Eccl.y i, 34. § Enarr., in Psa. lix. 
 
Primitive Rites and Institutions. 
 
 551 
 
 pagans and the condemnation of the more devout and 
 thoughtful Christians. The abuse of the latter beauti- 
 ful institution became so intolerable that it became the 
 object of repressive decrees of successive councils till 
 it was finally abolished. The council of Elvira (A. D. 
 305) prudently forbade the presence of females at these 
 nocturnal meetings in the Catacombs,* That of Lao- 
 dicea (A. D. 361) enacted that the agapce should not 
 be celebrated in churches. The council of Carthage 
 (A. D. 397) forbade the clergy attending them, and 
 the council of Trullo (A, D. 706) prohibited their cel- 
 ebration at all, under penalty of excommunication. 
 
 This beautiful symbol of Christian unity was revived 
 in spirit by the founder of Methodism ; but, to guard 
 against the corruptions into which it had previously 
 fallen, the elements of its celebration were restricted 
 to bread and water. A similar custom is also observed 
 among the Moravian brethren, from whom, probably, 
 Wesley borrowed it. It has also been transmitted from 
 primitive times by the Nestorian Christians of the Mal- 
 abar coast. t 
 
 We have thus endeavoured to give a faithful tran- 
 script of the testimony of the Catacombs relative to 
 primitive Christianity. We have seen how consonant it 
 is with the teachings of Holy Scripture, how opposed to 
 all the institutions and dogmas of Rome. We have 
 only to compare the buried relics of the past with the 
 living present abov^i ground to see at a glance the in- 
 
 * Placuit prohiberi, ne foeminse in coemeteriis pervigilent, eo quod 
 ssep^ sub obtentu religionis latenter scelera committunt. 
 
 I Among other traces of primitive Christianity among the latter 
 are their married clergy and abhorrence of images. " We are Chris- 
 tians, not idolaters," they said to the Jesuit missionaries, who pre- 
 sented for their homage images of the Virgin Mary. 
 
552 
 
 The Catacombs of Rome. 
 
 finite contrast between the church of Christ and that 
 of Antichrist. Could the simple bishops of the primi- 
 t've ages behold the more than regal state and oriental 
 pomp in which, surrounded by armed halberdiers, amid 
 the blare of martial music and thunder of the guns of 
 St. Angelo, their successor of to-day rides in his golden 
 chariot from his stately palace to the majestic fane of 
 St. Peter — the grandest temple in the world — they would 
 feel it difficult to perceive therein any resemblance to 
 their own humble and often persecuted estate, or to the 
 pure and spiritual religion of the meek and lowly Naz- 
 arene. Could they witness the almost idolatrous hom- 
 age which he receives, throned in :-tate, tiaraed with a 
 triple crown, presenting his foot for the humiliating 
 osculation of bishops, cardinals, ambassadors, and pil- 
 grims from every land ; could they behold him summon- 
 ing from the ends of the earth the prelates of Roman 
 Catholic Christendom to record a decree of his per- 
 sonal infallibility and freedom from human error ; they 
 would regard as blasphemous these unhallowed assump- 
 tions, and denounce, as the prophetic Antichrist, him 
 who laid claim to these awful attributes.* 
 
 Above the lowly sleepers in the crypts of the Vatican 
 swells the mighty dome which Michael Angelo hung 
 high in air; lofty chant and pealing anthem thrill 
 through the vast expanse ; polished shafts of porphyry. 
 
 * The name of Pius is substiuited for Deus in one well-known 
 Latin hymn. Another pentecostal hymn to the Holy Spirit is ad- 
 dressed directly to the present pontift'. The growth of this dogma 
 of infallibility, the distinguished French ecclesiastic, Pere Gratry, as- 
 .serts, " was utterly gangrened with imposture." The stultification 
 of the human intellect was never more strikingly exemplified than in 
 the dictum of Bellarmine : Vera sunt vera at falsa sunt falsa ; sed si 
 ecclesia dixit vera esse falsa et falsa esse vera, falsa sunt vera et vera 
 sunt falsa. 
 
Priniitke Rites and histitutions. 
 
 553 
 
 jasper, and costliest marble gleam around ; priceless 
 paintings and raresc sculpture by the hand of genius af- 
 ford a still richer adorning ; at an altar blazing with gold 
 and gems a human priest in many-coloured vestments 
 daily repeats, as he dares assert, the ineffable sacrifice 
 of Christ; from four hundred cross-crowned camj)aniles 
 baptized and consecrated bells ring forth the hours of 
 prayer; at a thousand shrines the multitude adore, they 
 vainly think, the real presence of the Redeemer; and 
 perfumed incense evermore ascends, not to the many 
 gods of the Pantheon, but to the still more numerous 
 saints of the Roman calendar. But we feel that all the 
 kingdoms of the world, and all the glory of them, were 
 a poor compensation for the loss of the primitive sim- 
 plicity, purity, and spiritual power of the humble service 
 of the Catacombs. We turn away from the gorgeous 
 ritual and hollow pomp to those lowly crypts where the 
 Christian hymn of a persecuted remnant of the saints 
 ascended from beside the martyr's grave, as the truer 
 type of Christ's spiritual temple upon earth. In these 
 chambers of silence and gloom we find the evidences of 
 that undying life of Christianity which we seek in vain 
 amid the living death of that city of churches and of 
 priests — the Apostolic See of Christendom — the vaunted 
 seat of Christ's vicegerent upon earth. With a deeper 
 significance than that with which it was first uttered, we 
 adopt the language of TertuUian, and exclaim, id esse 
 
 VERUM, QUODCUNQUE PRIMUM ; ID ESSE ADULTERUM, 
 QUODCUNQUE POSTERIUS.* 
 
 * Adv. Praxean, 
 
:v t 
 
 ■ .i^i; '.t ity<tj\ . 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abraham, frescoes of, 289 
 
 Acclamations to the departed, 
 441-443 ; pagan do., 444. 
 
 Acolyte^, 517, 
 
 Adam, fall of, 224 ; receiving sen- 
 tence, 225. 
 
 Adornment, female, 497, 498. 
 
 Agape, the, 545 ; abuse of, 550 ; 
 suppressed, 551. 
 
 A^nes, St., Catacomb of, 192-197 ; 
 legend of, 192. 193. 
 
 Altar, 543, 544 ; altar lights, ori- 
 gin of, 378, 379. 
 
 Amphitheatre, games of, 488 ; 
 suppressed, 489. 
 
 Ampullae, or blood cups (?), 369. 
 
 Anchor, symbolical, 234. 
 
 Anthropomorphism, 352-361. 
 
 Appian Way, 164-166. 
 
 Arcosolia, 25, 30. 
 
 Anas, sepulchral, 37, 56, note f, 
 168-171, 183 ; pagan do,, 59, 60. 
 
 Arenaria, 38-44, 197, 190. 
 
 Art, early Christian, 203, et seq. ; 
 compared with pagan do., 205, 
 209-213. 391, 392, 480; first 
 employment of, 206, 208 ; 
 sprang out of pagan ''o., 206- 
 208 ; character of, 210, 211 ; 
 pagan influence in, 210-214, 
 240-243, 303, 364, 388, 391. 
 480. 505 ; becomes florid, 220 ; 
 avoidance of passion of Christ 
 or martyrs, 227, 273, 274 ; joy- 
 ous character of, 228 ; symbol- 
 ism in, 325, et seq., see " Sym- 
 bols"; Virgin Mary in, see 
 "Mary"; Christ in, see 
 '•Christ"; God and Holy 
 Ghost in, see " Anthropomor- 
 phism" ; domestic ait, 364-366. 
 
 Autun, ichthyic inscription at, 
 257-259. 
 
 Baptism, 532-541 ; subjects of, 
 532 ; patristic evidence con- 
 cerning, 533, note ; mode of, 
 535, ci seq. 
 
 Biblical Cycle, 282, et seq. ; sub- 
 jects of, see Figs. 62-103 » , 
 grouping of subjects, 283, 339, 
 340 ; relative frequency of oc- 
 currence, 341, note *. 
 
 Bishops, 507-511, 524, 525 ; com- 
 pared with presbyters, 508, note 
 *, 511, note I; sec "Martyr 
 Bishops," and " Pope." 
 
 Bosio, 152-155. 
 
 Burial clubs, pa^an, 66-68 ; Chris- 
 tian, 68-70. 
 
 Burial near martyis, supposed ef- 
 ficacy of, irj8-i;2. 
 
 Burial, subterranea;, why adopted, 
 50, 54 ; discontinued, 122 ; tem- 
 porary -tunv i'\ 122, 123. 
 
 Cain an:' .bc\. ."85. 
 
 Callixt Jatacomb 0^167-183; 
 histoi_y of, 173. 
 
 Carpent*-. implements of, 231. 
 
 Catacombs, '^■•' >•-; n of word, il, 
 note ; I'escriijtd by Prudentius, 
 II, 124 , by Jerome, 34 ; present 
 appearance of, 12, et seq., 37, 
 44, 45, 195 ; associations of, 13, 
 14, 45, 46, 201 ; extent of, 14, 
 and note, 15 ; entrances to, 15, 
 16, 170, 189, 191; 195; struc- 
 ture of, 11, et seq., 168, et seq. ; 
 galleries, 16-19 ; loculi, 19-24 ; 
 cubiciila, '24-31 ; different lev- 
 els of, 31-33 ; luminari, 34, 35 
 origin of, 37, 38, 49, an-l note* 
 55. 56, note 'S 5&, :^oo; not pa- 
 gan arenaria, 38-44 ; geology 
 of, 16, 39 ; perils of exploring, 
 46-48 ; Jewish, 49-53, 188 ; not 
 
 -^.«?:rt; 
 
4^' 
 
 S56 
 
 Index. 
 
 
 E*:i 
 
 offspring of fear, 58 ;" protected 
 by law, 62, 63 ; those of first 
 century, 73 ; reflect history of 
 the church, 99-104, 124, 136, 
 137 ; a refuge from persecu- 
 tion, 84, 87, note X, 100-104 ; 
 secret stairway in, loi, 174 ; 
 disuse and abandonment of, 
 1 50, ei seq. ; restoration and 
 adornment of, 124, 136, 137 ; 
 spoliation of, 137, 154 ; destruc- 
 tion of, 145-147 ; Medioeval 
 employment of, 146, 147 ; pil- 
 grimages to, 136, 148, 175, 176 ; 
 re-discovery and exploration of, 
 150, et seq. ; literature of, 151- 
 163 ; present control of, 16 1 ; 
 principal ones, account of, 164, 
 £t seq. ; of Callixtns, 167-183 ; 
 of Praetextatus, 1S3 ; of Sebas- 
 tian, 184 ; of Domitilla, 189 ; 
 of Nereus and Achille3, ib. ; 
 of St. Helena, 190; of St. Cy- 
 riaca, 191 ; of St. Agnes, 194- 
 197; of Ale: nder, 197; of St. 
 Priscilla, 198 ; art of, 203, et 
 seq., see Art " ; Mithraic tomb 
 in, 214-218 ; symbolism of, 225, 
 et :eq. ; Biblical Cycle of, 282. 
 '/ ^eq. ; gilt glasses, etc., of, 
 362, etseq. ; inscriptions of, 395, 
 et seq. ; doctrinal teachings of, 
 415, et seq. ; evidences concern- 
 ing Christian life and character, 
 453. ^^ •5'^^. y (for last six see iii 
 verbis) ; summary of testimony, 
 
 551-553- 
 
 Catechists, 530-532. 
 
 Catechumens, ib. 
 
 Cecilia, St., crypt of, 178 ; legend 
 of, 1 79-1 8 1. 
 
 Celibacy of clergy, not a primitive 
 practice, 522-524 ; praise of, 
 527, 528 ; practice of, 529. 
 
 Character of early Christians, 461- 
 4^^,481, 482 ; of pagans, 464, 
 479-481 : see "Persecutions." 
 
 Charity, early Christian, 483-485, 
 
 504. 
 Christ, 'outhful aspect of, in art, 
 342, and note f ; traditional ap- 
 pearance of, 343-345 ; patristic 
 
 testimony concerning, 343-345 J 
 early images of, 345, and note*, 
 346-348 ; miraculuu.-; iir.agesuf, 
 345, note f ; degradation in art- 
 representations of, 347-352. 
 Christians, early, rank of, 56, 57, 
 and note *, 89, 169, 417, 458- 
 460, 480; calumnies against, 
 
 548, 549- 
 
 Christianity, spread of, 57, 116- 
 119 ; persecutions of, 70, et seq., 
 see in verba ; triumph of, ibid., 
 496 ; purifies morals, 480 ; cul- 
 tivates charity, 483-485 ; pro- 
 tects life, 485 ; elevates slaves, 
 486, 487 ; suppresses games, 
 488, 489 ; raises woman, 491- 
 493 ; moral triumphs of, 504; 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, quoted, 
 384, 385, 497, 498, and note f . 
 
 Clergy, orders of, 507 ; in Greek 
 church, ib., note * ; bishops, 
 507-511, 524, 525 ; presbyters, 
 511-513, 525; deacons, 514; 
 subdeacons, 515 ; lectors, 515, 
 516; acolytes. 517; exorcists, 
 517-519 ; multiplication of, 521, 
 note ; non-celibate, 522-526. 
 
 Confessional, reputed, 531. 
 
 Conjugal affections, early Chris- 
 tian, 471-474 ; pagan do., 475, 
 476. 
 
 Constant! ne, 92, 120, 121. 
 
 Constantinian. monogram, 465 ; 
 genesis of, 466-468 ; various 
 forms of, 267-269 ; becomes 
 cross, 270-273, '•.ee " Cross." 
 
 Cornelius, tomb of, 169. 
 
 Cross, true, relics of, 139, note f, 
 140, noies f, X ; legend of, 271, 
 272, and note ; rare in Cata- 
 combs, 260 ; pagan abhorrence 
 of, ib. ; caricature oc, 261, and 
 note § ; recognition of in na- 
 ture, etc., 235. 262, 263 ; sup- 
 posed mysterious powt;r of, 263, 
 264 ; pre-Christian, 281, note. 
 
 Crucifixion, not represented in 
 early Christian art, 273 ; sym- 
 bolically indicaied, 274; hist 
 example of, 275 ; art develop- 
 ment of, 275-281. 
 
 ill 
 
Index. 
 
 557 
 
 Crucifix, genesis of, 279, 280. 
 Cubicula, 24-29, 339, 531. 
 Cyprian, quoted, 82, 434 ; death 
 of, 84, note X. 
 
 Damasus, 123, 175, 406, 
 
 Daniel in the lions' den, 298, 299. 
 
 Dates of Catacombs, 73 ; of in- 
 scriptions, 408-410, 416, ct seq. 
 
 David and Goliath, 394. 
 
 Deacons, 514; wives of, 474, 526. 
 
 Deaconesses, 526-530, 
 
 Deaths of persecutors, 93, note \. 
 
 Deems, persecution under, 8i. 
 
 De Rossi, 159, 160, 399,400,406. 
 
 Diocletian, persecution under, 89, 
 and note ^j, 90. 
 
 Diptychs, 393, 304. 
 
 Divinity of Christ, taught, 449, 450. 
 
 Doctrinal teachings of Catacombs, 
 415, t7 seq.; see "Purgatory," 
 " Resurrection, ' " Trinity," etc. 
 
 Dolls, etc., found in Catacombs, 
 
 Domestic relations, vidence con- 
 cerning, 465, et seq.; parental 
 relations, 466-468 ; pagan, do., 
 468-470; filial do. 470 ; conju- 
 gal do., 471-474 ; pagan do., 475, 
 476; fraternal do., 476 ; friendly 
 do., 476. 
 
 Domine Quo Vadis, legend of, 
 107, note *. 
 
 Doniitilia, Catacomb of, 55-57, 
 and 57, note, 189. 
 
 Doves, symbolical, 236-239, 404. 
 
 Elijah, 294. 
 
 Energumens, 519. 
 
 Epigraphy, Christian, literature of, 
 399, 400 ; examples of sOl, et 
 seq.; see '* Inscriptions." 
 
 Eucharist, symbols of, 250, 252, 
 542; celebration of, 541-545. 
 
 Filial affection, early Christian, 470. 
 
 Fish, syrcibolical, 252-260, 378 ; 
 the word a sacred anagram, 
 252 ; an allusion to baptism, 
 253 ; a tessara, 255, 389 ; a eu- 
 charistic symbol, 256 ; Amtun 
 icththyic inscription, 237-259. 
 
 Fonts, baptismal, 537, 538. 
 
 Fossors, 132-135, 519, 526. 
 
 Fraternal affections, early Chris- 
 tian, 476. 
 
 Funeral rites. Christian, 499-502 ; 
 pagan do., 503. 
 
 Future state, doctrine concern- 
 ing, 417-431 ; pagan do., 436- 
 
 444- 
 
 Galerius, 91. 
 
 Galleries of Catacombs, it^etseq. 
 
 Gallienus, 86. 
 
 Gaume, Abbe, on the Catacombs, 
 
 201. 
 Gilt glasses, early Christian, 362 ; 
 
 suljjects represented in, 364- 
 
 367 ; convivial inscriptions of, 
 367, 368 ; some sacramental, 
 
 368 ; dates of, 369. 
 
 God in art, 352-361 ; alleged sar- 
 
 cophagal exanii)le of, 354-356 ; 
 
 symbolized in Catacombs by 
 
 hand, 290, 356. 
 Good Shepherd, the, symbol of 
 
 Christ, 245-248 ; statue of, 390. 
 Graffiti, pagan, 59, 60 ; Christian, 
 ^ 1.30, 148, 174, 175. 
 (jraves, see " Loculi," 
 Greek language, use of at Rome, 
 
 406, 407. 
 
 Hand as symbol of God, 293, 356. 
 
 Hebrew children, the three, 298, 
 299. 
 
 Helena, vSt., Catacomb of, 196. 
 
 Heresy, growth of, 119, note. 
 
 Hippolytus, statue of, 392 ; char- 
 acter of, 393. 
 
 Horse, symbolical, 382. 
 
 Iconoclasm, early, 222. 
 
 Ichthyic inscription, 257-259; 
 
 Ichthyic .symbol, see " Fi.sh." 
 
 Ignatius, martyrdom of, 74, note 
 "*, 125. 
 
 Image worship, 222-224. 
 
 Imprecations, pagan, 61 ; Chris- 
 tian, 64, 65. 
 
 Inscriptions, early Christian, gen- 
 eral character of, 395, et seq.; 
 as.->ociatiuns of, 39S ; collection 
 
558 
 
 Index. 
 
 II' 
 
 and classification of, 3g8-4(X) ; 
 literature of, ib. ; rude exam- 
 ples of, 66, 98, 238, 267, 268, 
 401, ^/ seq. ; barbarous Latinity 
 of, 403, and note *, 407, 422, 
 426 ; inverted, 404 ; reversed, 
 iO. ; brief, 238, 401-405 ; 
 Greek, 406, 407 ; dates of, 408- 
 410, 416, et seq.; notes of time 
 in, 410-412, 508 ; doctrinal 
 teachings of, 415, et seq., see 
 " Purgatory," etc. ; concerning 
 future state, 417, et seq.; pa- 
 gan do., 436-444 ; cheerful 
 character of, 427, 430, 443,452 ; 
 concerning the doctrine of the 
 resurrection, 431 ; concerning 
 Christian life and character, 453, 
 et seq. ; names, expressive, 454- 
 457; pagan do., 455, note ^, 
 457 ; puritan do., 455, note g ; 
 evidence of early Christian char- 
 acter, 461-463 ; of pagan do., 
 464 ; of domestir; relations, 465, 
 et seq. ; of parental do., 466- 
 468 ; of pagan do., 468-470 ;.of 
 filial do., 470; of conjugal do., 
 471-474; of pagan do., 475, 
 476 ; age of marriage, 473, note 
 * ; fraternal relations, 476 ; 
 friendly do., 476 ; evidence con- 
 cerning clerical orders, 506, et 
 seq., see "Clergy" ; concerning 
 Christian rites and institutions, 
 432, et seq., see " Rites. ' 
 
 Invocation of saints, first exam- 
 ples of, 426, 446-449. 
 
 Isaac, sacrifice of, 288, 289. 
 
 Jerome, quoted, 36, 450, 498, 502. 
 Jews at Rome, 49 ; their Cata- 
 comb, 50-54, 1S8 ; epitaphs of, 
 
 53- 
 Job, fresco of, 293. 
 Jonah, story of, 299-304. 
 Joseph, 290. 
 Justin Martyr, 76. 
 
 Kip, Bishop, on the Catacombs, 
 162. 
 
 Labarum, legend of the, 268. 
 Lactantius, De Mort. Persec. 93, 
 note \. 
 
 Lamb, symbol of Christ, 249, 250. 
 Lamps, early Christian, yi^yi'^- 
 Lapidarian Gallery, 395. 
 Lawrence, St., martyrdom of, 86, 
 
 note * ; tomb of, 192. 
 Lazarus, raising of, 329-331. 
 Lectors, 515, 516, 526. 
 Literature of the Catacombs, 151"" 
 
 163. 
 Loculi, 19-21 ; number of, 21 ; 
 
 how closed, 22, 23 ; contents of, 
 
 23, 24 ; made during life, 65 ; 
 
 sale of, 132. 
 Love-feast, see " Agape." 
 Luminari, 34, 35. 
 
 MacFarlane, on the Catacombs, 
 
 45. 161. 
 Magi, adoration of, 305, 306. 
 Maitland,on the Catacombs, 161. 
 Marcus Aurelius, character of, 
 
 75. y^'^- 
 
 Mariolatry, no trace of in Cata- 
 combs, 305, 306, 310, 316, 323 ; 
 development of, 312-323. 
 
 Marriage, references to, 304, 305, 
 471-474. 494-496 ; pagan do., 
 475. 476, 492, 493 ; age of, 473, 
 note *. 
 
 Marriott, on the Catacombs, 162. 
 
 Martyr bishops of Rome, 81-87, 
 
 94-96. 
 
 Martyrdom of Ignatius, 74, note 
 * ; of Polycarp, 76 ; of Per- 
 petua, 79, note \ ; of Lawrence, 
 86, note*; (see antea and pas- 
 te a) ; the passion for, 112-115; 
 effects of, ib. ; references to, 
 372 ; symbols of, 17, 369-375- 
 
 Martyr epitaphs : — of Marius, 75 ; 
 of Alexander, 77, note * ; of 
 Sixtus, 85 ; of Marcellus, 94 ; 
 of Eusebius, 95 ; of Sebastian, 
 96 ; of Lannus, 98 ; see 106, et 
 seq, ; of St. Agnes, 193. 
 
 Martyrologies, 110-I12. 
 
 Martyrs, '"umber of, 105-108, 178 ; 
 sufferings of, 108-112 ; festivals 
 in honour of, 127 ; adornment of 
 tombs of, 123, 124 ; spoliation of 
 do., 128, 137, 145 ; reverence for, 
 123-128 ; burial near, 128--132 ; 
 
Index. 
 
 559 
 
 pilgrimages to tombs of, i.'^6, 
 148 ; veneration of martyr reUcs, 
 124-128; transl-itiuii ol, 137, 
 142, 143, note ♦, 144, notes*,}. 
 
 Mary, Virgin, legends of, 307 ; in 
 art, 305-314 ; miraculous im- 
 ages of, 317, note ^ ; assump- 
 tion of, 218, and noteg ; hymns 
 to, 320, 
 
 Maximin, persecution of, 8l. 
 
 McCaul, Dr., on early Christian 
 epigraphy, 162, note f, 163,414, 
 421, 541. 
 
 Mithraic monument in Cata- 
 combs, 2^4-2 I 8. 
 
 Mosaic, 7^3. 
 
 Moses en lloreb 290; on Sinai, 
 ib. ; striking lock, 291, 292. 
 
 Ministry, rites, and institutions of 
 primitive church, 506, et seq., 
 see •' Clergy," and " Kites." 
 
 Names, early Christian, expressive 
 character of, 454, 455 ; pagan 
 do., 455, note |, 457. 
 
 Neophytes, 322, 323, 54-^ 
 
 Nimbus iii art, 208, note f. 
 
 Noah, story of, 286-288. 
 
 Northcote, on the Catacombs, i6i. 
 
 Objects found in Catacombs, 362, 
 et seq. ; see " Gilt Glasses," etc. 
 Opisthographae, 268, 413. 
 Oranti, 308-310. 
 
 Pagan epitaphs, 59-62, 396, 397, 
 413, 414, 434-441. 460, note, 
 469, 475-478. 
 
 Pagan influence in art, see '* Art." 
 
 Paganism, decadence of, 117 ; so- 
 cial condition of, 479-481. 
 
 Paintings, see "Art," " Symbol- 
 is'ii," and different subjects of. 
 
 Palm and crown, symbolical, 230; 
 reputed sign of martyrdom, 372. 
 
 " Papal Crypt," 170-178. 
 
 Parental affection, early Christian, 
 406-468 ; pagan do., 468-470. 
 
 Paul, St., martyrdom of, 200 ; in 
 art, 336-337, and notes ; see 
 " Peter and Paul." 
 "^Pauliuusof Nola, quoted, 221. 
 
 Peacock, symlx)lical, 240. 
 Pcrpetua, martyrdom of, 79, note |. 
 I'crrct, his great work on the Cat- 
 acombs, 158, 159, 
 Persecutions, early, cause of, 70, 
 
 71 ; Neronian, 71 ; Domitian, 
 
 72 ; Aurclian, 76 ; of Commo- 
 dus. 78 ; of Severus, 79 ; of 
 Maximin, 8l ; Decian, 81, 82, 
 Valerian, 83, 84 ; Diocletian, 
 88-91 ; extent of, 105-108 ; vir- 
 ulence of, 108-113. 
 
 Peter, St., at Rome (?), 53, and 
 note ♦ ; denying Christ, 332 ; 
 apprehension of, 335 ; in art, 
 337 ; cultus of, 338, and note ♦ ; 
 lelics of, 53, note * ; font of, 
 
 537. 
 
 Peter and Paul, crypt of, 186-188 ; 
 in art, 336, 337, 365, 367. 
 
 Piani, of Catacombs, 31-33. 
 
 Pilate, 333, 334. 
 
 Polycarp, martyrdom of, 76. 
 
 Pope the, 50v), 51 1, and notes. 
 
 Prayers for dead, unknown in 
 earliest times, 421 ; first exam- 
 ple of, 442, 443 ; prayers to the 
 dead, 446-449. 
 
 Prtetextatus, Catacomb of, 183. 
 
 Presbyters, 51 1-5 13; sometimes 
 had secular employment, 513, 
 and note || ; married, 525, 
 
 Prudentius, quoted, ll, 110, 115, 
 124. 
 
 Purgator)', unknown to early 
 Christians, 420, 423, 424, 445, 
 446. 
 
 Relics, worship of, 124-126, 138- 
 143,544; traffic in, 138, 139; 
 supposed efficacy of, 140 ; gro- 
 tesque Mediaeval do., ib., notes 
 f, |, g ; reputed martyr do., 
 369 ; misinterpretation of, 141- 
 
 143. 379. 
 
 Resurrection, doctrine of, 430-433. 
 
 Rings from Catacombs, 284. 
 
 Rites and institutions of primi- 
 tive church ; — marriage, 471- 
 474 ; funeral, 499-503 ; baptism, 
 532-541 ; eucharist, 541-545 ; 
 Agape, 545-551 ; see in verbis. 
 
SCo 
 
 Index, 
 
 Knni.inism, unsupported by early 
 Christian epigraphy, 416-418, 
 422-424; first trace of, 425, 
 426, 442, 445, 44f), 521-524; 
 compared with primitive Chris- 
 tianity, 551-553- 
 
 Rome, fall of, 134, 135. 
 
 Romish misinterpretation of relics, 
 141-143 ; of leaf points, 227 ; 
 of blood cuj) (?), 370. 
 
 San (Jreal, the, 141-142, note. 
 
 Sarcophagi, 334, 340-342, and 
 342, note *. 
 
 Seals, early Christian, 266, 270, 
 384-386. 
 
 Sebastian, Catacomb and legend 
 of, 184, 185. 
 
 Sepulchral areas, 56, note *, 59,60. 
 
 Sepulchres, pagan, 13, note *, 58 ; 
 sacrcdness of, 58-63, 69 ; Chris- 
 tian, sacredncss of, 63-65, 69 ; 
 violation of, see in verbo. 
 
 Sepulture, pagan, 13, note *, 49, 
 58-61, 66-68, 169, 389, 390, 
 503 ; Jewish, 49-54 ; Christian, 
 
 499-503. 
 Ship, symbolical, 230, 235,377. 
 Slaves and slavery, 486, 487. 
 Soldiers, 489, 490. 
 Slag, symbolical, 441, 538. 
 Stanley, Dean, on the Catacombs, 
 
 415- . 
 
 Symbolism, 204, 225,/-/ j^^. / in- 
 terpretation of, 220. 
 
 Symbols, phonetic, 229, 230 ; 
 trade do., 231-23' 374; sym- 
 bolical anchor, 234, 235 ; ship, 
 235j 377 ; crown and palm, 236 ; 
 dove, 236-239 ; peacock, 240 ; 
 
 Ehcenix, cock, ib. j stag, 241 ; 
 orse, ib.y and 382 ; lion, hare, 
 
 24T ; vine, l^alancc, 242 ; Clood 
 Shepherd, 243-248, 390; lamb, 
 249-251 ; fish, 252-260, see in 
 verho ; cross, 263-28 1, see in 
 verbo; Cod symbolized by 
 hand, 290, 356. 
 
 Tertullian, qu t.:d, 70, 235,451, 
 
 489. 494, 497 .47. 
 Time, notation t,t, 410-412. 
 Thundering Legion, 78, note ♦. 
 'I'oilet articles from Catacombs, 
 
 3«5. 386. 
 Tombs, violatio;) of, see in x'crbo ; 
 
 sacredncss of, 58-63, ^9. 
 Toys from Catacombs, 387. 
 Trades, symbols of, 231-234, 274 ; 
 
 recorded in epitaphs, 459, 4C0 ; 
 
 pagan do., 460, note *. 
 Trinity, alleged representation 
 
 of, 354-360; doctrine of, 449- 
 
 452. 
 
 Valerian, persecution of, 83. 
 
 Vases, early Christian, 380; bap- 
 tismal, 382. 
 
 Veronica, the, 346, note. 
 
 Violation of tombs, 59, 61, 64, arid 
 note \, 65, and note *. 
 
 Virginity, praise of, 527, 528, and 
 notes. 
 
 Virgin Mary, see " Mary." 
 
 Virgins, epitaphs f, 528. 
 
 Wiseman, his " Fabiola," 158. 
 
 Woman, pagan de<;radation oi, 
 490-493 ; Christian elevation 
 of, 493-495, and notes ; apparel 
 of, 497. 498. 
 
 Young, the, cave of primitive 
 church for, 529, 530. 
 
 THE END.