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The church in the catacombs

THE

CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

London :
Si-OTTiswooDE and Shaw,
New-street- Square.

THE

CHUECH IN THE CATACOMBS:

A DESCRIPTION OF THE

PRIMITIVE CHURCH OF ROME

ILLUSTRATED BY ITS

CHARLES MAITLAND, M.D.

'H vavQ ovpavo^pojxovoa. Clemens Alex. paed. lib. iii.

See p. 216.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1847.

Digitized by

the Internet Archive

in 2015

https://archive.org/details/churchincatacomb00nnait_1

THE REV. EDWARD CRAVEN HAWTREY, D.D.

HEAD MASTER OF ETON COLLEGE,
AS A. SMALL TOKEN OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM,

THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

Page

Introduction ------ 1

The Origin of the Catacombs - - - - 24

The Catacombs as a Christian Cemetery - - 42

The Martyrs of the Catacombs - - - 84

The Symbols used in the Catacombs - - - 196

The Offices and Customs of the Ancient Church - 229

The Origin of Christian Ai-t - - - - 297

Conclusion - - - - - - 361

Index - 383

THE

CHURCH m THE CATACOMBS.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.
" Sub Roma Romam quserito." — Armghi.

The subterranean galleries wliich penetrate the
soil surrounding the city of Rome, after having for
four centuries served as a refuge and a sanctuary
to the ancient Church, were nearly lost sight of
during the disorder occasioned by barbarian inva-
sions. As the knowledf^e of their windino^s could
be preserved only by constant use, the principal
entrances alone remained accessible ; and even these
were gradually neglected and blocked up by rub-
bish, with tlie exception of two or three, which
Avere still resorted to, and decorated afresh from
time to time. In the sixteenth century, the whole
range of catacombs was re-opened, and the entire
contents, which had remained absolutely untouched
during more than a thousand years, were restored

THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

to the world at a time when the recent revival of
letters enabled the learned to profit by the disco-
very. From that time to the present, Romanist
writers have been suffered to claim identity in dis-
cipline and doctrine with the church that occupied
the catacombs ; while an attempt has scarcely been
made to show from these remains the more striking
resemblance existing between our Reformed Church
and that of primitive Rome.

It is difficult now to realise the impression which
must have been made upon the first explorers of
this subterranean city. A vast necropolis, rich in
the bones of saints and martyrs ; a stupendous
testimony to the truth of Christian history, and,
consequently, to that of Christianity itself ; a faith-
ful record of the trials of a persecuted Church ; —
such were the objects presented to their view : and
so great was 4he enthusiasm with which they de-
voted themselves to the research, that two of the
earliest writers on the Catacombs of Rome, Bosio
and Boldetti, occupied thirty years each in col-
lecting materials for their respective works, which
in both instances remained to be edited by their
survivors.

When we consider the importance attached to relics
by the Church of Rome, we shall not be surprised to
find that the heads of her antiquarians were fairly
turned by their discoveries. In the first transports
of joy, Rome boasted that her cemeteries contained
as many trophies as epitaphs, as many martyrs as
sepulchres : —

INTRODUCTION.

" Tot ibi trophcea, quot ossa ;
Quot martyres, tot triumphi :
Immo, tot palmse, tot coronae,
Quot tituli, quot tumuli."*

And, without departing from historical truth, there
was enough to excite enthusiasm. Scattered
throughout the gloomy corridors, countless martyrs
"lay in glory, every one in his own house." Here
had stood Stephen, when the sword of the impious
abruptly cut short his episcopal benediction ; here
had crouched Liberius, content to worship the
Trinity in darkness and privation; and here had
mingled the blood of bishop and deacon, when
Xystus and Quartus fell side by side.

We must now have recourse to the museums of
Kome and the works of antiquarians, to under-
stand the appearance of the Catacombs at that
time. From the removal of every thing portable
to a place of greater security and more easy access,
as well as from the difficulty of personally ex-
amining these dangerous galleries, beyond the mere
entrance left open to general inspection, we are no
longer able to share the feelings of those who beheld
the cemeteries and chapels of a past age completely
furnished with their proper contents.

St. Jerome has left us a lively picture of their
state during the early part of his lifetime, that is,
about the middle of the fourth century. " When
I was at Rome," says the monk of Bethlehem, " still
a youth, and employed in literary pursuits, I was

* Aringhi, epitaph of Roma Subterranea.

B 2

THE CHUliCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

accustomed, in company with others of my own
age, and actuated by the same feelings, to visit on
Sundays the sepulchres of the apostles and martyrs ;
and often to go down into the crypts dug in the
heart of the earth, where the walls on either side
are lined with the dead ; and so intense is the
darkness, that we almost realise the words of the
prophet, ' They go down alive into hell' (or Hades),
and here and there a scanty aperture, ill deserving
the name of window, admits scarcely light enough
to mitigate the gloom which reigns below : and as
we advance through the shades with cautious steps,
we are forcibly reminded of the words of Yirgil,
^ Horror on all sides ; even the silence terrifies the
mind.'"*

The history of the catacombs, since their recovery
from the oblivion in which they had remained dur-
ing the middle ages, consists principally in a succes-
sion of controversies, provoked by the indiscrimi-
nate veneration paid to every object found in
them. During the pontificate of Sixtus the Fifth,
that is, about the year 1590, some discussion having
occurred respecting relics, the attention of anti-
quarians was strongly directed to the subject, and
a diligent examination of the catacombs, then
recently discovered, was undertaken. Foremost in
this investigation was Bosio, whose posthumous
work appeared in 1632, under the title of Roma
Sotterranea. The same w^ork translated into Latin

* Hieronymus in Ezechiel, c. xl.

INTRODUCTION.

and much enlarged, was afterwards republished
by Aringhi. *

A number of epitaphs were published by Fabretti,
who was invested with the office of Curator of the
Catacombs ; and eighteen years afterwards another
folio issued from the hands of his successor, Boldetti,
intitled " Osservazioni sopra i cimiterii dei Santi
Martiri." This work abounds in theological and
antiquarian information, while the next that ap-
peared, the " Sculture e Pitture" of Bottari, was de-
voted more especially to the Christian arts. The
subject now became almost exhausted, not from the
completeness of the knowledge obtained, but from
the condition of the catacombs themselves, which
by that time had been robbed of their most valuable
contents to adorn the museums of Europe. Yet
the great Mabillon still found enough to examine
below ground : and D'Agincourt, whose visit to
Rome, intended to occupy a few months, expanded
into fifty years, spent a large proportion of that
time in the catacombs, and left his unfinished work
to be published by his friends. And an immense
collection of inscriptions, brought to light since the
days of Bottari and Mabillon, still invites the pen
and pencil of the antiquarian : the most remarkable

* Aringhi happens to be better known in this country than
Bosio, Boldetti, or Bottari. This may be attributed to his
having published the first Latin work on the subject : for he has
neither the originality of Bosio, nor the scientific accuracy of
the later antiquarians, who have from time to time discovered
fresh branches of the catacombs, with innumerable inscriptions
and remains unknown to Aringhi.

B 3

THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

of these, now published for the first time, form a
large portion of the original matter contained in
this volume.

But another line of research, not less interesting,
was still prosecuted with continued success. The
extensive stores of information belonging to early
church history were now brought to bear upon the
surviving monuments of ancient times : and an in-
creased knowledge of pagan manners allowed of a
finer distinction between what was purely Christian
and what was merely adopted from Gentilism;
the result has become apparent, in the disappear-
ance of the angry controversial spirit which marked
tlie discussions of the last two centuries. The
Roman antiquarians, better informed in the history
of the city, and less alarmed by bold attempts to
deprive the martyrs and saints of the honours to
which they had been thought entitled, no longer
felt a pious horror of those who would have

taken away their gods;" while Protestant tra-
vellers, perhaps softened by the concessions of
their adversaries, began in a more catholic spirit to
honour the ground consecrated by the death or
burial of those who had suffered for the common
faith : so that the subject of debate is now not so
much the Christianity or Heathenism of monuments
and customs, as the age to which they belonged.
Caution is still requisite, in order to steer a safe
course between the credulity of the Roman anti-
quarian, who would see a saint or a martyr in
every skeleton, and consecrate every cemetery by a

INTRODUCTION.

miracle ; and the scepticism of others, who, under
the mask of candid inquiry, would reject all evi-
dence short of absolute demonstration, in favour of
the sufferings and triumphs of primitive believers.

The principal controversy concerning the Chris-
tian cemeteries arose from the zeal of two travel-
lers, Burnet and Misson, who attempted to prove
that there was no real distinction between the
burial-places of Pagans and Christians in ancient
times. The arguments of Burnet are ingenious,
but founded upon data which a better acquaintance
with the Roman cemeteries would have shown to
be incorrect. He reasons, that the Christians,
never averaging above forty-five thousand at one
time in Rome, w^ere quite inadequate to the execu-
tlon of such works : that they would have been
observed and molested by their enemies : and that
the catacombs themselves would have been insup-
portable as a residence, from the putrefying bodies
contained in them. That the Pagans buried as
well as burned their dead : that the Christian ceme-
teries contain no dates older than the fourth and
fifth centuries : in short, that a few monks, finding
the trade in relics growing profitable, forged
some tens of thousands of marble inscriptions,
placed them in Pagan cemeteries below ground,
and being driven away by persecution, were forced
to abandon their fictitious monuments, which re-
mained undiscovered till after the middle ages.*

* Letters from Switzerland, Italy, &c.
B 4

THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

Happily, a remarkable agreement on this point
prevails among all modern writers ; and, while it is
stedfastly maintained that the Christian cemeteries
are free from all admixture of Pagan bodies, it is
allowed that the Christians did not beghi the exca-
vation of the catacombs, but that they appro-
priated to their own use the subterranean galleries,
originally dug to provide the materials for building
Kome. The complete occupation of them by
Christian sepulchres, the absence of Pagan monu-
ments, and the entire concurrence of all contem-
porary writers on the subject, speak so decisively
in favour of their exclusively Christian character,
that it is difficult to imagine how any further evi-
dence could be adduced concerning a question
never agitated till the seventeenth century. Tlfe
testimony of Prudentius, a writer of the fourth
century, is of great weight : he alludes to the cata-
combs continually, without seeming to conceive
the possibility of their having been defiled by a
single Pagan corpse. About the year 314, the
catacombs were formally inade over to the Chris-
tians by Constantine, as church property, on the
ground that they had been already consecrated by
the use to which they had been applied. Eusebius,
who gives us this information, expressly calls them
the burial-place of the martyrs.*

The chief sources of information regarding the
catacombs lie in the various collections of remains

* De vita Constantini, lib. ii. c. xl.

INTRODUCTION.

in and near Rome. A few interesting Christian
epitaphs are to be found on the walls of the Capi-
toline Museum, in the entrance to the catacombs
of St. Sebastian, and in some private houses, basi-
licas, and villas. But all these collections are
insignificant, when compared with the treasures of
the Vatican, of which a short description must be
given, as frequent reference will be made to them
throughout this volume. First, there is the Chris-
tian Museum, properly so called, containing a
number of sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, inscriptions, and
medals, mostly published in the works of Roman
antiquarians. Through the kindness of a friend,
the author was allowed to copy some of the epi-
taphs lately added. Besides this, at the entrance
to the Vatican Museum is a long corridor, the sides
of which are completely lined with inscriptions
plastered into the wall. On the right hand are
arranged the epitaphs of Pagans, votive tablets,
dedications of altars, fragments of edicts and
public documents, collected from the neighbour-
hood of the city; and opposite to them, classed
under the heads of Greek, Latin, and Consular
monuments, appear the inscriptions of the ancient
Christians. These are taken from the catacombs
round Rome, and have hitherto remained unpub-
lished.* To this gallery, from the circumstance of

* In the year 1841, the writer applied for permission "to
copy some of the inscriptions contained in the Lapidarian Gal-
lery," and a licence "to make some memoranda in drawing, in
that part of the Museum " was granted. About that time, a

THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

its containing little more than sepulchral stones,
the name of Lapidarian, or delle Lapidi^ has been
given. The inscriptions, amounting to more than
three thousand, were arranged in their present
order by Gaetano Marini.

Notwithstanding the indifference manifested by
the hundreds of visitors who daily traverse this
corridor, there needs but a little attention to invest
its walls with a degree of interest scarcely to be
exceeded by any other remains of past ages. " I
have spent," says Raoul Rochette, " many entire
days in this sanctuary of antiquity, where the
sacred and profane stand facing each other, 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.
* * * And were it only the treasure of im-
pressions which we receive from this immense
collection of Christian epitaphs, taken from the

misunderstanding is reported to have arisen between the Jesuits
and the officers of the Vatican ; in consequence of which the former
were refused permission to copy the inscriptions in question for
their forthcoming work on the Christian Arts. An application
was also made by them to the Custode of the Gallery, in order to
prevent the use of its contents by a foreigner, perhaps a Pro-
testant. On the last day of the month for which the author's
licence was available, he was officially informed that his per-
mission did not extend to the inscriptions, but only to a few
blocks of sculpture scattered up and down the gallery. This
communication was accompanied by a demand that the copies
already made should be given up, with which the author refused
to comply ; and with the understanding that no more inscriptions
should be copied, and that they should not be published in Borne,
the matter was allowed to drop.

INTRODUCTION.

graves of the catacombs, and now affixed to the
walls of the Vatican, this alone would be an inex-
haustible fund of recollections and enjoyment for a
whole life."*

The Consular epitaphs, principally comprised in
a compartment at the further end of the corridor,
are those containing the names of the consuls who
governed during the years in which they were
erected. Their value as chronological data is ob-
vious ; and their authenticity is the more to be
relied upon, from their rude execution and imper-
fect orthography, sometimes leaving us in doubt as
to the very names of the consuls intended to be
expressed. No one could suspect the genuineness
of such an inscription as the following :

ANlCI5HER,M0(lNrA

ONBUQETPROBINOVC

XVCllKAipCTOBme

CAlXAAMoBWATAfi ^

Read — Anicio Hermogiano Olibrione et Probino V.C. xvii.
Kal. Octobris, Qavovcra Galla Anobii, nata ei quarta, quiescit
in pace.

In the Consulate of Anicius Hermogianus Olibrio, and of
Probinus, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of October,
died Galla, daughter of Anobius, the fourth born to him. She
rests in peace. (Lap. Gallery.)

* Tableau des Catacombes, p. x.

THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

These consuls fix the date to be a. d. 395. 0 is
the usual contraction for Savoua-a.

It would appear that the better class of Christians,
especially those of the third and fourth centuries,
were more in the habit of adding dates to their
epitaphs, than those of lower condition, or an
earlier period.

On the walls, thus loaded with inscriptions be-
longing to professors of the rival religions, may be
traced a contrast between the state of Pagan and
that of Christian society in the ancient metropolis.
The funereal lamentation expressed in neatly en-
graved hexameters, the tersely worded sentiments
of stoicism, and the proud titles of Roman citizen-
ship, attest the security and resources of the old
religion. Further on, the whole heaven of Pa-
ganism is glorified by innumerable altars, where
the epithets, unconquered, greatest, and best, are
lavished upon the worthless shadows that peopled
Olympus. Here and there are traces of complicated
political orders ; tablets containing the names of
individuals composing a legion or cohort ; legal
documents relating to property, and whatever
belongs to a state, such as the Roman Empire in
its best times is known to have been. The first
glance at the opposite wall is enough to show,
that, " not many mighty, not many noble," were
numbered among those whose epitaphs are there
displayed : that these records, in almost every
instance, are " annals of the poor," — the poor to
wliom the Gospel was preached. A few of these

INTRODUCTION.

inscriptions are scarcely to be distinguished from
those of the Pagans, but the. greater part betray
by their execution haste and ignorance. An inco-
herent sentence, or a straggling mis-spelt scrawl,
such as

ro77 o c . ^ i\Ha\oNj c

The place of Philemon,

inscribed upon a rough slab destined to close a niche
in caverns where daylight could never penetrate, tells
of a persecuted or at least oppressed community.
There is a simplicity in many of these slight records
not without its charm :

BIRGINIVS PARVM
STETIT AP. N.

Virginius remained but a short time with us.

In no particular do the two classes contrast more

strongly than in the expressions of resignation or

resentment which occasionally find vent in their

inscriptions. Mabillon gives this Pagan epitaph

found in Rome : *

PROCOPE • MANVS • LEBO • CONTRA
DEVM • QVI • ME • INNOCENTEM • SVS •
TVLIT • QVAE • VIXIT • ANNOS • XX
POS • PROCLVS

I, Procope, lift up my hands against God, who snatched away
me, innocent. She lived twenty years. Proclus set up this.

A Christian fragment found by Sponius speaks
a different language : f

* Iter Italicum, p. 79.

I Miscellanea Eruditse Antiquitatis, sect. ix.

14 THE CHURCH IN THE CxVTACOMBS.

QYl DEBIT ET ABSTVLIT
OMINI BENEDIC
QVI BIXIT ANN
PACE CONS

The remainder of this inscription has been des-
troyed, as far as mere perishable marble is con-
cerned ; but the immortal sentiment Avhich pervades
the sentence supplies the loss. Like a voice from
among the graves, broken by sobs yet distinctly
intelligible, fall the few remaining words upon the
listening ear: " — Avho gave and hath taken —
blessed — of the Lord — who lived — years — in
peace — in the consulate of — ."

The slabs of stone used for closing Christian
graves average from one to three feet in length.
In this they differ remarkably from the sepulchral
tablets of the Pagans, who, being accustomed to
burn their dead, required a much smaller covering
for the cinerary urn. The letters on Christian
monuments are from half an inch to four inches in
height, and generally coloured in the incision with
a pigment resembling Venetian red. The custom
of chiselling the letters in the stone is alluded to
by Prudentius, who calls upon his fellow Christians
to wash with tears the furrows in those marble
tablets :

" Nos pio fletu, date, perluamus
Marmorum sulcos — "*

The orthography of these epitaphs is generally
faulty, the letters irregular, and the sense not

* Peristephanon, Hymn VII.

INTRODUCTION.

always obvious. These characteristics the author
has been anxious to preserve, and has therefore
spared no pains in executing copies in exact fac-
simile, though much reduced in size.

There is another point of difference between the
Pagan and Christian inscriptions, which must not
be allowed to pass unnoticed. The Christian
convert no longer displays upon his sepulchral
tablet the proud array of pra^nomen, nomen, and
cognomen, which distinguished him as a Roman
citizen, but deems it sufficient to be recognised by
that name which belongs to him as a subject of the
heavenly kingdom. Till the number of Christians
increased, so as to render a further distinction
necessary, the baptismal name alone was recorded in
the cemetery : it was enough to say
SEVI LOCV

The place of Sevus.

MARTYRIA IX PACE

ISIartvria in peace.

BIB • BEOVENE
3IERENTI
To Bibbeus the well-deserving : or
Tu) MAKAPIw nAYAw
HAYAAAOC AAEA^)OC
To the blessed Paul his brother Hedulalos.
Occasionally we meet with a second name : as

CO LORINATIVS BAR
Ni BEXTIYS LARGIA
TGI EAGAPENI BENE

MEREXTI IX PACE A xxx.

Lorinatius Barbentius to Largia Agape, the well-deservino-.
In peace. (Aged) thirty years. His wife.

16 THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

Owing to this custom of omitting surnames, we
are not able to recognise the individuals mentioned
in ancient Church history, in more than two or
three instances among the 70,000 epitaphs sup-
posed to be contained in the catacombs.

The frequent occurrence of Greek epitaphs in
these cemeteries needs explanation ; for, although
the higher class of Romans used Greek and
Latin in conversation, almost indifferently, this
does not account for the employment of Greek
by the lower order of Christians. An idea was
probably entertained, that Greek would be the
language of the new dispensation, as Hebrew had
been of the old : the New Testament being written
in Greek, as the Law and the Prophets had been in
Hebrew. Both to Hebrews and to Romans, St.
Paul, a Roman Jew, wrote in Greek. Nor was
there anything unreasonable in the supposition,
that the Greek dress, in which Christianity first
appeared in the world, should be specially con-
secrated to her service ; and if any were to be
chosen as the general language of the Church, no
doubt could rest upon the propriety of selecting
that in which had been dictated the Gospels and
Catholic epistles. That Greek was used by the
Roman Christians, rather from feeling than from
convenience, appears from some epitaphs composed
of Latin words written in Greek characters, — a poor
apology for the favourite language, but equally
gratifying to some of the survivors, who were

INTRODUCTION.

satisfied by finding the inscription perfectly un-
intelligible.

Without being too severe upon the scholarship
of our humble mourners, we may suppose that
many whose acquaintance with Greek was confined
to the alphabet, found gratification in recording
their loss in a manner bearing some resemblance to
the epitaphs of their more learned neighbours. A
curious specimen of Graeco-Latin is found in the
epitaph of Theodora :

BENE MEPENTI $IAIE
GEOA^PE KYE BUIT
MHCIC XI AIHS XVIII

To our well-deserving daughter Theodora, who lived eleven
months and eighteen days.

So also the epitaph of Libera :

AEIBEPE MA;HriMIAAAE
KOIOYFE
AMANTICCIMAE «I>IKIT EN HAKE

To Libera Maximilla, a most loving wife. She lived in peace.
(Aringhi.)

The mode of spelling, under these circumstances,
is not always what we might expect to find :

ANNOYC TPiriNTA
IN HAKE

— thirty years. In peace. (Vat. Library wall.)

This pronunciation of pace is preserved in the
following, in Latin :

VIDAUO INTACHE ^

Vidalio, in the peace of Christ.
C

THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

Some of the Roman Christians, though suffi-
ciently versed in Greek to dictate to the stone-
cutter, were not able to supply a copy in that
character ; such persons made shift to express
themselves thus :

PRBIA IRENE
SOE

Prima, peace be to thee. (Boldetti.)

The merely classical student, unless in search of
the vernacular language of ancient Rome, will find
little in these inscriptions to repay the trouble of
perusal. Some obsolete and barbarous expressions,
the gradual origin of the cursive character, and the
uncertain pronunciation of some consonants, indi-
cated by the varied modes of writing the same
word, will indeed gratify his curiosity ; but these
are not the most interesting points of investigation
suggested. Higher purposes are served by the
examination of these monuments, inasmuch as they
express the feelings of a body of Christians, whose
leaders alone are known to us in history. The
Fathers of the Church live in their voluminous
works ; the lower orders are only represented by
these simple records, from which, with scarcely an
exception, sorrow and complaint are banished; the
boast of suffering, or an appeal to the revengeful
passions, is nowhere to be found. One expresses
faith, another hope, a third charity. The genius
of primitive Christianity, " to believe, to love, and
to suffer," has never been better illustrated. These
" sermons in stones " are addressed to the heart,

INTRODUCTION.

and not to the head — to the feelings rather than
to the taste; and possess additional value from
being the work of the purest and most influential
portion of the " catholic and apostolic Church "
then in existence.

With the churches of antiquity our own Church
claims resemblance ; for, from a professed imitation
of their constitution has resulted the structure of
the Anglican Reformation.* With what learning
and moderation the authors of that work proceeded,
with what steadfastness they clung to the ordinances
of apostolic times, we, without sharing the labours
of their toilsome research, may gather from this
comparatively recent discovery of the picture of
a primitive Church. Had we to choose among the
communities founded by the Apostles, where
should we hope to find more distinct traces of
pristine purity than in that Church whose faith,
as St. Paul thankfully acknowledged, was " spoken
of throughout the whole world ? " In which, as re-
marked by Tertullian, ^'the Apostles poured out
their whole doctrine with their blood ; where Peter
was conformed to his Lord in suiFering ; where
Paul was crowned with the death of John ; and
where the Apostle John, after being put into heated
oil without sustaining injury, received sentence of
banishment to the island." f With the humblest
members of a Church so illustrious in its origin, so

* Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical, Canon 30. sect. 3.
t Tertullian, De Praescriptione Haereticorum, cap. 36.

c '2

20 THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

forward in conflict with the powers of Paganism,
w^e would gladly maintain some intercourse ; but
what communion can we hold with the more obscure
defenders of the faith, whose names, pronounced at
the font, were heard but once again, perhaps with
the addition of " Martyr " ? can any greeting be
wafted from them to us across the gulf, not so
much of centuries as of superstitions, which ya^vns
between ? In these remains, " the Church which "
was " in Babylon, saluteth " us.

The student of Christian archseology must never
lose sight of the distinction between the actual relics
of a persecuted Church, and the subsequent produc-
tions of a superstitious age. When Christianity, on
the cessation of its troubles, emerged from those
recesses, and walked boldly on the soil beneath
which it had been glad to seek concealment, the
humble cradle of its infancy became a principal
object of veneration, almost of wwship. To de-
corate the chapels, adorn by monuments the laby-
rinths of sepulchres, and pay an excessive regard to
all that belonged to martyrs and martyrdom, was
the constant labour of succeeding centuries. Hence
arise some chronological difficulties, which, until
they are solved, affect the value of certain in-
ferences that may be drawn from these remains.
But the Lapidarian Gallery affords us a valuable
rule forjudging in doubtful cases; for throughout
its contents, selected and arranged under Papal
superintendence, there are no prayers for the dead

INTRODUCTION.

(unless the frequently recorded wish, " May you
live," ^'May God refresh you," be so construed);
no addresses to the Virgin Mary, nor to the
Apostles or earlier Saints ; and, with the exception
of such relics of paganism as " eternal sleep,"
"eternal home," &c., no expressions contrary to
the plain sense of Scripture.*

The freedom from admixture with later remains
which characterises this collection, is owing to the
comparatively late period at which it was made ;
the more accessible parts of the catacombs having
been previously rifled of their contents. From the
difficulty of reaching the farther branches, they
were not only the first to be abandoned by the
Christians after the pressure of persecution was
relaxed, but also the last to attract the attention of
modern discoverers. Thus the chronological order
has been inverted: the comparatively modernised
entrances were soonest brought to light by anti-
quarians, while the distant recesses, into which
persecution had forced the primitive Christians,
were only revealed after many years' diligent in-
vestigation. From such remoter crypts were taken
the marbles which cover the Lapidarian wall; and

* There is in tins collection one inscription containing the
phrase Roges pro nobis, " pray for us." Fabretti has published
an epitaph concluding with TVP ET TVPE PRO EOS, pro-
bably, tu pete pro eis. The extreme rarity of such inscriptions
becomes the more remarkable when it is known that the cata-
combs remained open during half the fifth century.

0 3

22 THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

thanks to the honesty of Marini and his assistants,
we possess, in this unadulterated form, the relics
of a primitive Church.

Perhaps it may safely be asserted, that the ancient
Church appears in the Lapidarian Gallery in a more
favourable light than in the writings of Fathers and
historians. It may be that the sepulchral tablet is
more congenial to the display of pious feeling than
the controversial epistle, or even the much-needed
episcopal rebuke. Besides the gentle and amiable
spirit every where breathed, the distinctive cha-
racter of these remains is essentially Christian : the
name of Christ is repeated in an endless variety of
forms, and the actions of His life are figured with
every degree of rudeness of execution. The second
Person of the Trinity is neither viewed in the light
of a temporal Messiah, nor degraded to the estimate
of a mere example, but is invested with all the
honours of a Redeemer. On this subject there is
no reserve, no heathenish suppression of the distin-
guishing feature of our religion: on stones innu-
merable appears the Good Shepherd, bearing on his
shoulders the recovered sheep, by which many an
illiterate believer expressed his sense of personal
salvation. One, according to his epitaph, sleeps
in Christ ; " another is buried with a prayer that
" she may live in the Lord Jesus." One has his
sepulchre sealed with the inscription, Christ is
God ; " happy in not having to learn that truth
when his sepulchre shall be rent asunder. But

INTRODUCTION.

most of all, the cross in its simplest form is em-
ployed to testify the faith of the deceased ; and
whatever ignorance may have prevailed regarding
the letter of Holy Writ, or the more mysterious
doctrines contained in it, there was no want of
apprehension of that sacrifice, " whereby alone we
obtain remission of our sins, and are made par-
takers of the kingdom of Heaven/'

c 4

CHAP. IL

THE ORIGIN OF THE CATACOMBS.

The great increase which took place in the magni-
ficence of ancient Rome, during the latter times of
the republic, naturally led to the formation of
quarries in the immediate neighbourhood. In this
respect, the city of the Caesars resembles many
others, as Paris, Naples, Syracuse, and Alexandria,
all more or less surrounded or undermined by
tortuous excavations. The size and shape of these
differ according to the firmness of the substratum :
at Naples they are large and lofty ; but at Rome,
from the crumbling nature of the soil, narrow and
low. Several of these catacombs^ as they are called,
are represented in the work of D' Agincourt*, where
it is easy to trace a connection between the solidity
of the ground and the regularity of the galleries.
The materials quarried in the Campagna of Rome
consisted of tufa and puzzolana, a volcanic sandy
rock which from its texture was well adapted to
the excavation of long galleries.

These subterranean works attracted general no-
tice during the time of Augustus, when their
extent rendered them dangerous. They first ob-

* Histoire de I'Art, vol. iv. pi. ix.

THE ORIGIN OF THE CATACOMBS.

tained celebrity as the scene of the domestic tragedy
referred to by Cicero in his oration for Cluentius.
The riches of Asinius, a young Koman citizen, had
excited the avarice of Oppianicus, who employed an
accomplice to personate Asinius, and to execute a
will in his name. The pretended Asinius having
bequeathed the property to Oppianicus, and ob-
tained the signatures of some strangers, the true
Asinius was inveigled to the gardens of the Esqui-
line, and precipitated into one of the sandpits (in
arenarias quasdam extra Portam Esquilinam). It
was in these caverns that Xero was advised to
conceal himself, when terrified by the sentence of
an enraged senate ; on which occasion he made
answer to his freedman Phaon, that he would not go
under ground while living.

The sand obtained from the Esquiline pits was
used for making cement ; it was recommended for
this purpose by the architect Yitruvius, as prefer-
able to all other.

The custom of digging sand from these crypts
or galleries being established, the whole subsoil on
one side of Rome was in course of time perforated
by a network of excavations, spreading ultimately
to a distance of fifteen miles. In the mean time
the original quarries, exhausted of their stores,
were appropriated to other uses. We must bear in
mind that at this date, that is, about the close of
the republic, the Romans were accustomed to burn
their dead, excepting a few families of distinction,
who preferred burying them, and the lowest orders

THE ORIGIN OF

of the people, who were not able to procure the
honours of a funeral pile. Certain classes of persons,
as those who had made away with themselves, or
had perished by the hand of the law, were forbidden
to receive the rites of cremation. The prohibition
was also extended to such as had been struck by
lightning ; a circumstance seized upon by Tertul-
lian, as illustrative of the Christian's salvation from
hell, " He who has been touched by heavenly fire
is safe from being consumed by any other flame.'*

For these persons the pits left by the sand dig-
gers on the Esquiline hill afforded a convenient
burial place ; and their bodies were thrown in to
putrefy, much to the annoyance of the inhabitants
of that part of Rome. The puticulce^ puticuli, or
culince^ as these pits were called, took their name
either from their resemblance to a well, in Latin
puteus^ or from the verb putesco, to putrefy.*

The Esquiline hill, infested by banditti, and ren-
dered almost impassable by the pestilential atmo-
sphere generated in the common receptacles for the
dead, remained in that loathsome condition till it
was reclaimed by Maecenas, and converted into gar-
dens. This fact, of great importance to our history,
is alluded to by Horace, who compliments his pa-

* Both derivations are supported by Festus, a grammarian
of the sixth century; whereas Varro, who lived nearer the
time, having served as a lieutenant under Pompey, mentions
only the verb, and limits the designation puticulce to the pits
without the Esquiline gate. CulmcB is said to be a further
diminutive of puticuUncB.

THE CATACOMBS.

tron upon the benefit thus conferred on the public.
The scarecrow deity set up in the garden is repre-
sented as congratulating himself upon the change :
" A reed stuck upon the top of my head keeps off
the troublesome birds, and prevents them from
settling in the newly made gardens. Before, the
cast-out bodies of slaves were brought hither by
their fellow-servants, to be deposited in ill-made
coffins, in narrow cells. This place was a com-
mon sepulchre for the dregs of the people ; for the
buffoon Pantolabus, and the spendthrift Nomenta-
nus. . . . ^s^ow, it is possible to live on the whole-
some Esquiline, and to bask on its sunny banks ;
where lately the ground covered with whitening
bones was enough to produce melancholy." *

From these notices it appears that the place of
burial was common^ that is, not appropriated to a
family or tribe, the only community of sepulture
known to the Romans in general ; and also, that
the unburnt bodies, not their ashes, were thrown
into those receptacles.

When it was maintained by some modern tra-
vellers, that the pits in the garden of Maecenas were

* Horatii Serm. i. 8. The sclioliast, commenting upon this
passage, remarks, " Here were formerly brought the bodies
(cadavera) of plebeians or of slaves, for public sepulchres then
existed there." Slaves, however, were not always buried, but
occasionally burnt in heaps on a large pile :

" Quatuor inscripti portabant vile cadaver,
Accipit infelix qualia mille rogus."

Martial, lib. viii. epig. 75.

THE ORIGIN OF

no other than a part of the catacombs, occupied by
the Christians in common with the Pagans, the
statement was made in defiance of all probability.
The death of Maecenas preceded the introduction of
Christianity into Rome, so that none but heathen
could have been buried on the ground enclosed by
him ; and no signs of Christian occupation occur
near the spot. The most cursory examination of
the Christian catacombs and Pagan sepulchres will
prove that both classes of Romans carefully pre-
served a separation between their respective dead.
Cyprian accused Martial of burying his sons in
profane sepulchres, and thus exposing them to the
contact of heathen bodies.*

Besides the persons forced by poverty or by law
to bury their dead unburnt, the higher ranks par-
tially adopted the same custom. We are told by
historians that the Cornelia family, followed by a
few others, introduced the practice, and the tomb
of the Scipiones (a branch of that family) confirms
their statement. This mausoleum is contained in
an excavated gallery, in a vineyard on the Appian
way, within the gate of St. Sebastian. Over the
entrance is inscribed Sepulchra Scipionum; and on
the sarcophagi formerly found within, but now de-
posited in the Vatican Museum, are the names of
individuals belonging to that house.

This description of the Pagan sepulchres, though
aj^parently foreign to the purpose of the present

Ep. 67.

THE CATACOMBS.

work, has been rendered necessary by the attempts
formerly made to confound them with the Christian
cemeteries. But a distinction can easily be drawn :
the heathen occupied the Esquiline hill, and a few
pits about that part of Rome ; while the catacombs
proper, that is, the branching subterranean passages,
are the exclusive property of the ancient Church.

The caves near the present Basilica of St. Sebas-
tian are considered to have been the first occupied
by the Christians. To these in particular were ap-
plied the expressions ad arenas^ cryptce arenarice^
and cryptce^ to which was added the Greek form
ad catacumbas. The term catacombs, therefore,
signified originally the pits about that part of the
Appian way ; and we find the phrases in catecumpas^
of the seventh century, and juxta catacumbas of the
thirteenth, limited to a space extending from the
church of St. Sebastian to the circus of Romulus,
and the tomb of Cecilia Metella.* The phrase,
locus qui dicitur catacumbas^ was used by Gregory
the Great, about 595 (this is the earliest mention
of the word catacombs now extant) : he describes
the place as two miles distant from Rome, that is,
the Sebastian catacombs. This is all that we know
of the origin of the word, though its Greek form
seems to indicate a much higher antiquity. It never
occurs in the cemeteries themselves, nor was it ap-
plied to the subterranean passages in general, till
about the thirteenth century ; while, in our own

* See Roesteirs learned article in the Chevalier Bunsen's
Roms Beschreibung, vol. i. p. 374.

THE ORIGIN OF

times, it has become a generic term for all ex-
cavations of a certain length and tortuosity,
whether they lie beneath the pyramids of the
desert, or undermine the site of a modern metro-
polis.

In the great work of D'Agincourt, '^The History
of Art, drawn from its Monuments," is the descrip-
tion of a subterranean labyrinth in France, which
strongly resembles the Roman catacombs. The in-
habitants of Quesnel, driven from their homes by
an invasion of the Xormans, sought refuge in the
quarries from which the materials of their houses
had been extracted. Finding the caves narrow and
incommodious, they enlarged them to the width
and height of ten or twelve feet, and vaulted them
above like an oven. Here they concealed them-
selves, their furniture, and their cattle ; and even
at the present time these retreats serve for the
meetings of the young people of the district, who
work there together during the winter evenings.

It being proved by historical evidence that the
catacombs were originally dug by the pagans for
sandpits and quarries, it remains to be shown in
what manner the Christians became connected with
them. The arenarii, or sand-diggers, were persons
of the lowest grade, and from the nature of their
occupation probably formed a distinct class. There
is reason to suppose that Christianity spread very
early among them ; for, in time of persecution, the
converts employed in the subterranean passages
not only took refuge there themselves, but also put

THE CATACOMBS.

the whole Church in possession of these otherwise
inaccessible retreats. When we reflect upon the
trials which awaited the Church, and the combined
powers of earth and hell which menaced its earliest
years, it is impossible not to recognise the fostering
care of a heavenly Hand, in thus providing a cradle
for the infant community. Perhaps, to the protec-
tion afforded by the catacombs, as an impregnable
fortress from which persecution always failed to
dislodge it, the Church of Rome owed much of the
rapidity of its triumph ; and, to the preservation of
its earliest sanctuaries, its ancient superiority in
discipline and manners. The customs of the first
ages, stamped indelibly on the walls of the cata-
combs, must have contributed to check the spirit
of innovation soon observable throughout Christen-
dom. The elements of a pure faith were written
" with an iron pen, in the rock, for ever ; " and, if
the Church of after-times had looked back to her
subterranean home, " to the hole of the pit whence
she was digged," she would there have sought in
vain for traces of forced celibacy, the invocation of
saints, and the representation of the Deity in paint-
ing or sculpture. Whatever dates may be attributed
to other remains, this is certain, that the Lapi-
darian Gallery contains no support whatever for
the dogmas of the Council of Trent. With this
fact to guide us in distinguishing between what
belongs to a pure age, and what to the times of
innovation, we may safely refer to the latter a
number of inscriptions preserved in the vaults

THE ORIGIN OF

of St. Peter's, which contain prayers to the Virgin
Mary, and other peculiarities of Roman theology.

The history of Christianity is sufficient to fix the
age of many monuments. The time in which some
bishops, moved by the representations of Yigilantius,
went so far as to refuse ordination to unmarried
deacons, cannot be confounded with an age in
which the celibacy of the clergy became compul-
sory; nor can we possibly attribute to a century
that knew only the sign of the cross in the simplest
form of two straight lines, a crucifix of the size of
life, smeared with the imitation of blood, and sur-
mounted by a crown of actual thorns.

The Vatican Museum affords excellent illustra-
tions of the connection between Christianity and
art, in respect of the changes which both have
undergone. To read aright the great lesson con-
tained in those wondrous halls, to interpret the
response that issues from that mount of Vaticination,
requires a knowledge either of Church history, or
of the history of art, but not both ; given the
one, the other may be dispensed with. Thus the
era of Michael Angelo is in some measure fixed by
the frescoes of the Sistine, where appears a visible
representation of the Eternal Father. In the gallery
of easel-pictures, that tomb of the Virgin deserted
by its occupant, and filled with springing flowers,
intelligibly records the fact, that Raphael lived and
painted after the invention of the legend of the
Assumption. And we need not look so suspiciously
on that " miracle of the bleeding wafer," or that

THE CATACOMBS.

descent of the Virgin to purgatory," as if the
canvas recorded only a lie ; for it declares the in-
disputable truth, that the painter flourished after
the invention of purgatory and transubstantiation.
If from thence we pass through the Vatican library,
turn to the left hand, and follow the suite of Byzan-
tine cabinets, we find ourselves in a world of art,
where the churchman is a better guide than the
artist, in matters of chronology. There is, in this
collection of paintings, neither purgatory nor tran-
substantiation ; but there are crucifixions and un-
speakable flagellations, everywhere drapery stained
with blood, and the heart-rending sorrows of the
Mater Dolorosa. Evidently we are among the
works of the early middle ages. Another turn
brings us to the Lapidarian Hall, where, instead of
tortures and streaming blood, are displayed the
symbols of peace and hope. These simple and
cheerful emblems tell of apostolic times^ the days
in which Christianity built her nest among man-
kind. If persecution and martyrdom were then
knoAvn, they were straightway forgottten and for-
given ; and, for once in the world's history, the
storm of earthly passions is not heard. The peace
which pervades these remains, is by no means
accounted for by the circumstances of a martyr
Church ; it passes our understanding, and thereby
reveals its heavenly origin.

It appears from a number of testimonies, not
of any great value individually, though of some

THE ORIGIN OF

weight when combined, that the primitive con-
fessors were at times sentenced to work in the
sand-pits. This punishment is referred to in
many Acts of the Martyrs, especially in those of
Marcellus, where we are told that the Emperor
Maximian " condemned all the Roman soldiers
who were Christians to hard labour ; and in various
places set them to work, some to dig stones, others
sand." He also ordered Giriacus and Sisinnus to
be strictly guarded, condemning them to dig sand
and to carry it on their shoulders. Marius and
his companions were sentenced to the same em-
ployment. There is also a tradition that the baths
of Diocletian were built with the materials pro-
cured by the Christians.

The fact that the catacombs were employed
as a refuge from persecution, rests upon good evi-
dence, notwithstanding objections founded upon
the narrowness of the passages, the difficulty of
supporting life, and the risk of discovery in-
curred by seeking concealment in an asylum
so well known to the Pagans. These objections
do not apply to a temporary residence below
ground in time of danger ; and it is not pre-
tended that the catacombs were inhabited under
other circumstances. The recourse to such an
asylum was no novelty in history, for long before
that time, many of whom the world was not
worthy," took refuge in dens and caves of the
earth. In the excavations at Quesnel, not only
persons, but cattle, contrived to support existence :

THE CATACOMBS.

added to which, we have, as will be seen presently,
the direct testimony of several writers. Had the
intricacies of the catacombs been known to the
heathen authorities, or the entrances few in num-
ber, they would doubtless have afforded an insecure
asylum. But the entrances were numberless, scat-
tered over the Campagna for miles ; and the laby-
rinth below was so occupied by the Christians,
and so blocked up in various places by them, that
pursuit must have been almost useless. The Acts
of the Martyrs relate some attempts made to ob-
struct the galleries with earth, in order to destroy
those who were concealed within ; but setting
aside these legends, we are credibly informed that
not only did the Christians take refuge there, but
that they were also occasionally overtaken by their
pursuers. The catacombs have become illustrious
by the actual martyrdom of some noble witnesses
to the truth. Xystus, bishop of Kome, together
with Quartus, one of his clergy, suffered below
ground in the time of Cyprian. Stephen, also
bishop of Rome, was traced by heathen soldiers
to his subterranean chapel : on the conclusion of
divine service, he was thrust back into his episcopal
chair, and beheaded. The letters of Christians
then living refer to such scenes with a simplicity
that dispels all idea of exaggeration ; while their
expectation of sharing the same fate affords a vivid
picture of those dreadful times.

An authentic history of Stephen during his long
residence in the catacombs, would be surpassed in

D 2

THE ORIGIN OF

interest by few narratives in the ecclesiastical
archives. Some incidents have been handed down
to us.* From time to time he was consulted by
his clergy, who resorted to him for advice and
exhortation. On one occasion, a layman named
Hippolytus, himself a refugee, sought the bishop's
cell to receive instruction regarding a circumstance
that preyed upon his mind. Paulina, his heathen
sister, together with her husband Adrian, were
in the habit of sending provisions by their two
children to Hippolytus and his companions. The
unconverted state of these relations, by whom his
bodily life was supported, weighed heavily upon
him, and by the advice of Stephen a plan was laid
for detaining the children, so that the parents were
forced to seek them in the cavern. Every argument
was used by Stephen and Hippolytus to induce
their benefactors to embrace the faith, and though
for the time ineffectual, the desired end was at length
accomplished. Tradition adds that they all suffered
martyrdom, and were buried in the catacombs.

In the time of Diocletian, Caius is said to have
lived eight years in the catacombs, and to have
terminated this long period of confession by under-
going martyrdom. Even as late as the year 352,
Liberius, bishop of Rome, took up his abode in the
cemetery of St. Agnes during the Arian persecution.

The discovery of wells and springs in various
parts assists us in understanding how life could be

* This story, with several others, will be found in the better
class of Acts of the Martyrs.

THE CATACOMBS.

supported in those dismal regions ; although there
is no evidence to prove that the wells were sunk
for that j)urpose. One of them has been named
the font of St. Peter ; and however apocryphal the
tradition which refers it to apostolic times, the fact
of its having been long used for baptism is not to
be disputed. Some of the wells were probably dug
with the intention of draining the catacombs.

St. Chrysostom, who lived not long after the
days of persecution, alludes to the concealment of
a noble lady under ground. In an indignant re-
monstrance against the festivities held over the
graves of martyrs in his dissipated city, he com-
pares with the luxurious revels into which the
Agape had degenerated, the actual condition of
those whose sufferings were celebrated in so un-
befitting a manner. AVhat connection," he asks,
is there between your feasts, and the hardships
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 ? "

These circumstances sufficiently prove the habit
of taking refuge in the cemeteries on any sudden
emergency ; and it is not difficult to understand
how the concealment was efi'ected. On the out-
break of a persecution, the clergy, heads of families,
and others particularly obnoxious to the Pagans,
were the first to suffer ; perhaps the only indi-
viduals whose death or exile was intended by the
imperial officers. Aware of their danger, and well
versed in the signs of impending persecution, they

D 3

THE ORIGIN OF

betook themselves to the catacombs, there to be
supported by those whose obscure condition left
them at liberty.

So well was this mode of escaping their ven-
geance known to the heathen, that several Roman
edicts made it a capital offence to enter the ceme-
teries. The rescript of Valerian and Gallienus
begins with this prohibition ; and at the close of
their persecution, Gallienus gave the Christians a
formal license to return to the catacombs. * This
permission was repealed by Maximian, on the re-
newal of the Diocletian persecution.

The limitation applied to a residence in the ca-
tacombs, must be extended in nearly an equal
degree to the custom of worshipping in them. It
is well known, that before the time of Constantine
there were in Rome many rooms or halls employed
for divine worship, though perhaps no edifices built
expressly for that purpose. Besides this, the ex-
treme smallness of the catacomb chapels, and their
distance from the usual dwellings of the Christians,
oppose serious objections to the supposition that
they were used for regular services. Yet nothing in
history is better attested than the fact that, through-
out the fourth century, the Church met there for
the celebration of the eucharist, for prayer at the
graves of the martyrs, and for the love-feasts, or
Agapa3. Prudentiusf tells us that he had often
prayed before the tomb of Hippolytus, and gives a

• Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. c. 13.
•f Peristephanou, hymn iv.

THE CATACOMBS.

minute description of the catacomb in which it was
placed : — Among the cultivated grounds, not far
outside the walls, lies a deep cavern 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, ad-
mitting light from above. . .. . There have I prayed
prostrate, sick with the corruptions of soul and
body, and each time obtained relief." The dis-
covery of chapels, altars, episcopal chairs, and
fonts, indicates the existence of a subterranean
service at some time or other ; but it is difficult to
prove that all the religious ceremonies were per-
formed in the catacombs at a very early period.

The following incription, which was found over
one of the graves in the cemetery of Callistus, shows
that prayers were offered below ground. The
monument is of somewhat later date than the death
of the martyr to whose memory it is raised ; but
being affixed to his actual tomb, bears strong marks
of authenticity. The author of this volume has
ventured to render the concluding letters, lY. X.
TEM. by in Christianis temporibus."

ALEXANDER MORTVVS NON EST SED VIVIT
SVPER ASTRA ET CORPVS IN HOC TVMVLO
QVIESCIT VITAM EXPLEVIT SYB ANTONINO
IMP° QYIVBI MVLTYM BENE FITII ANTEVENIRE
PRAEYIDERET PRO GRATIA ODR^M REDDIDIT

D 4

THE ORIGIN OF

. -n;.GENVA ENIM FLECTENS VERO DEO SA-
)K CRIFICATVRVS AD SVPPLICIA DVCITVRO

/iNTEMPORA INFAYSTA QVIBVS INTER SA-
CRA ET VOTA NE IN CAVERNIS QVIDEM
SALYARI POSSIMVS QVID MISERIVS

VITA SED QVID MISERIVS IN MORTE W

CVM AB AMICIS ET PARENTIBVS SE- A//

PELIRI NEQVEANT TANDEM IN COELO )^
CORVSCANT PARVM VIXIT QVI VIXIT

IV. X. TEM. JN/Vk

In Christ. Alexander is not dead, but lives above the stars,
and his body rests in this tomb. He ended his life under
the Emperor Antonine, who, foreseeing that 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 are 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 — at length they sparkle in heaven. He has
scarcely lived, who has lived in Christian times.

" He lives above the stars, and his body rests in
this tomb : " there is faith in this joining together,
as things equally tangible and matter of fact, the
place of his spiritual abode and the resting-place of
his body. There are also other points in the
inscription worthy of notice — the beginning, in
which the first words (Alexander mortuus), after
leading us to expect a lamentation, break out into
an assurance of glory and immortality— the de-
scription of the temporal insecurity in which the
believers of that time lived, the difficulty of pro-
curing Chi^istian burial for the martyrs, with the

THE CATACOMBS.

certainty of their heavenly reward ; and the con-
cluding sentence forcibly recalling the words of St.
Paul, "as dying, yet behold we live." The epitaph
does not state that Alexander was put to death only
on account of his religion, but would imply that
the private hatred of the emperor found in it a
pretext for his destruction. This backwardness to
claim the full merit of matyrdom for Alexander, is
highly characteristic of the first three centuries.
The Antonine persecution began about the year 160.

After this general history of the catacombs, from
their origin as sand-pits to the time of their employ-
ment as an asylum and a cemetery by the Chris-
tians, it is proposed to examine them in detail, and
to set before the reader the customs, sufi*erings, and
works of those by whom they were occupied.

CHAP. III.

THE CATACOMBS AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

The annexed inscription (copied from the Lapi-
darian Gallery) shows the term cemetery to have
been anciently applied to the catacombs :

SAhW) BlSO

" Sabini bisomum : se vivo fecit sibi in cemeterio Balbinse, in
crypta nova."

"The bisomum of Sabinus. He made it for himself during
his lifetime, in the cemetery of Balbina, in the new crypt." *

Besides the older galleries dug for the purpose
of extracting sand and puzzolana, the Christians
continued to excavate fresh passages for their own

* Balbina was a virgin of some celebrity ; she was buried on
the Via Ardeatina, and the catacomb was named after her.
Aringhi, torn. i. p. 479.

THE CATACOMBS AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY. 43

convenience. These additions, distinguished by
their superior height and regularity, were called
new crypts. The earth taken out was thrown
into old branches of the galleries, some of them
filled with graves ; a circumstance which has
given rise to many conjectures. Boldetti, having
found part of a catacomb blocked up with earth
at its entrance, but empty further back, and lined
with what he took for the graves of martyrs,
supposed that the Christians had adopted this
means of preserving their most valued relics during
the Diocletian persecution. Roestell thinks this
improbable, because they would not have willingly
cut off their own access to the graves of the mar-
tyrs. May not the fugitives have cast up these
mounds as obstacles to the pursuit of their enemies ?
since, by blocking up the principal passages, and
leaving open only those known to themselves, they
might render the galleries beyond quite inaccessible
to their persecutors.

The ramifications of the catacombs may be
classed in two di^dsions : those originally dug for
the purpose of procuring sand, known by their
irregularity, as well as by their smaller dimensions ;
and the additions made by the Christians, when
want of space obliged them either to dig fresh
galleries, or to square and enlarge those already ex-
isting. These new crypts, mentioned in several
inscriptions, belong to the more peaceful times of
Christianity, when the custom of burying in the
catacombs had become so completely established,

THE CATACOMBS

that even after it was no longer a necessary pre-
caution, subterranean sepulture was preferred.
Vicinity to the tombs of saints and martyrs was an
inducement to the continuance of the practice, and
is often alluded to in inscriptions. The following
was found in the cemetery of St. Cyriaca :

IN CRVPTA NOBA RETRO SAN
CTVS EMERYMSE YIVAS BALER
RA ET SABINA MERUM LOG
VBISONIA BAPRONE ET A
BIATORE.

Read: — In crypta nova retro sanctos emerunt se vivis Valeria
et Sabina. Emerunt locum bisomum ab Aprone et a Yiatore.

In the new crypt, behind the saints, Valeria and Sabina bought
(it) for themselves while living. They bought a bisomum
from Apro and Viator.

The two inscriptions just quoted agree in several
particulars : the barbarism of the Latinity, and the
want of grammatical construction in the sentences,
indicate either a time of extreme corruption of the
vernacular lano^uao;e, or io^norance amono^ Christian
sculptors. The word bisomum occurs in both ; a
term compounded of Greek and Latin, signifying a
place for two bodies. The words trisomum and
quadrisomum^ applied to graves capable of con-
taining three or four bodies, are of less frequent
occurrence. Aringhi once found the word trisomum :
the inscription appears never to have been finished :

SE BIBA EMET DOMNINA
LOCVM A SVCESSVM
TRISO]VIVM VBI POSITI
ET

Domnina, while living, bought of Successus a trisomum ; in
which are placed — and — .

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

The word quadrisomum (a four-body tomb)
occurs in the Lapidarian Gallery ;

SVLATV NICOMACI FLABIANI LOCV MARMARARI
QYADRISOMVM.

Read — Consulatu Nicomaci Flaviani locum marmorario qua-
drisomum. (A quadrisomum, bought of the stone-cutter.)

We may attribute this fragment to the year
272, in which Nicomacus and Falsonius were con-
suls.

"In cemeterio Balbin^e " — in the sleeping-place
of Balbina. In this short phrase are implied two im-
portant circumstances, entirely at variance with the
customs and feeling of pagan Rome. First, we learn
from it the existence of common cemeteries, which
we find to have contained persons of every class,
as well as families connected with each other only
by their profession of Christianity. The heathen Ro-
mans had sepulchres appropriated either to a single
body, or to all the members of one tribe; as the tomb
of the Scipiones, the tomb of the Nasones, and others.
The " common sepulchre " of the dregs of the
people is spoken of by Horace with contempt ; and
if we look back through the history of the world,
we find everywhere the disposition to build tombs,
for the exclusive use of individual families. The
mummy-pits of Egpyt, as the author has learnt
from personal inspection, are constructed upon this
principle. " He was buried with his fathers " is a
common conclusion to the history of a Jewish pa-
triarch. It was reserved for Christianity first to
deposit side by side the bodies of persons uncon-

THE CATACOMBS

nected with each other, — an arrangement which
prevails throughout the whole of Christendom,
from the catacombs of ancient Rome to the mo-
dern churchyards of our own country.

From the words in the last inscription ^' behind
the saints," as well as from those in the next, —
" in the place of the blessed," it would appear that
proximity to the graves of more ancient Christians
was thought worthy of being recorded in an epi-
taph : —

ENGAAE HAYAEINA
KEITAIMAKAPON
ENIXOP^l
HNKHAEY2E HAKATA
EHNGPEnXEIPAN
TAYKEPHN
AriANENXPO

This inscription, copied from a sarcophagus of
the fourth or fifth century, may be read ; — " Here
lies Paulina in the place of the blessed ; — Pacata,
to whom she was nurse, buried her, an amiable and
holy person. — In Christ."

The second circumstance of note connected with
the phrase " in cemeterio Balbinse," is the use
of the term cemetery^ derived from the Greek
xoi[/,r}Tripiovj a sleeping-place. In this auspicious
word, now for the first time applied to the tomb,
there is manifest a sense of hope and immortality,
the result of a new religion. A star had risen on
the borders of the grave, dispelling the horror of
darkness which had hitherto reigned there : the
prospect beyond was now cleared up, and so daz-

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY. 47

zling was the view of an eternal city " sculptured
in the sky," that numbers were found eager to rush
through the gate of martyrdom, for the hope of
entering its starry portals.

St. Paul speaks of the Christian as one not in»
tended to sorrow as others who had no hope. How
literally their sorrow was described by him, may
be judged from the following Pagan inscription,
copied from the right hand wall of the Lapidarian
Gallery ; —

C. IVLIVS. MAXIMYS
ANN. II. M. V.
ATROX O FORTVNA TRVCI QVAE FVNERE GAVDES

QVID MIHI TAM SVBITO MAXIMYS ERIPITYR
QYI MODO lYCYNDUS GREMIO SYPERESSE SO-

LEBAT

HIC LAPIS IN TYMYLO NUNC lACET ECCE MATER.
Caius Julius Maximus

(aged)
2 years and 5 months.
O relentless Fortune, who delightest in cruel Death,
Why is Maximus so suddenly snatched from me ?
He, who lately used to lie joyful on my bosom.
This stone now marks his tomb — behold his mother.

But the Christian, not content with styling his
burial-ground a sleeping-place, pushes the notion
of a slumber to its full extent. We find the term
in a Latin dress, as —

DORMITIO ELPIDIS
The sleeping-place (dormitory) of Elpis." (Fabretti, lib. 8.)

Elsewhere it i^ said, that —

VICTORINA DORMIT.
Yietorina sleeps. (Boldetti.)

THE CATACOMBS

ZOTICYS HIC AD DORMIENDVM.
Zoticus here laid to sleep. (Boldetti. )

Of another we read —

Gemella sleeps in peace. (Lapidarian Gallery.)

And, lastly, we iind the certainty of a resurrection,
and other sentiments equally befitting a Christian,
expressed in the following (copied literatim from
the Lapidarian Gallery) :

HIC MIHI SEMPER DOLOR ERIT IN AEVO
ET TVVM BENERABLLEM BVLTYM LICEAT YIDERE
SO — ORE

CONIYNX ALBANAQYE MIHI SEMPER CASTA
PYDICA

RELICTYM ME TYO GREMIO QYEROR
QYOD MIHI SANCTYM TE DEDERAT DIYINITYS
AYTOR

RELICTIS TYIS lACES IN PACE SOPORE
MERITA RESYRGIS y TEMPORALIS TIBI DATA
REQYETIO

QYE YIXIT ANNIS XLY MENY- DIES XIII
DEPOSITA IN PACE FECIT PLACYS y MARITYS

PEACE.

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:

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

for our Divine Author gave you to me as a sacred (boon). You,
well-deserving one, having left your (relations), lie in peace —
in sleep — you will arise — a temporary rest is granted you.
She lived forty-five years, five months, and thirteen days :
buried in peace. Placus, her husband, set up this.

Nor was the hope of the Christians confined to
their own bosoms. They published it abroad to the
world, in a manner which, while it provoked the
scorn and malice of many, proved also a powerful
inducement to others to join their community.
The dismal annihilation taught by the Pagans, or
the uncertain Elysium, which, though received by
the uneducated, was looked upon as matter of
superstition by the learned, had in it something so
utterly unsuited to the wants and longings of man-
kind, that the spectacle of a Christian, thoroughly
assured of a future state, so blessed and so certain
as to have power to draw him irresistibly towards
it through the extremest tortures, must have
awakened in the heart of many a wishing doubting
Pagan, a feeling in favour of Christianity not
easily suppressed. But in the more infuriated
persecutors the martyr's triumphant exit only
stirred up a desperate desire to deprive him of his
last expectation ; and connecting the interment of
the body with the prospect of its being restored to
life, they thought by preventing the one, to cut off
all hope of the other. In the well-known epistle of
the churches of Lyons and Vienne, descriptive of
their sufferings during the persecution of Antonine
in the second century, this last effort of malice on
the part of their enemies is noticed.

50 THE CATACOjMBS

" The bodies of the martyrs having been contumeliously treated
and exposed for six days, were burnt and reduced to ashes, and
scattered by the wicked into the Rhone, that no part of them
might appear on the earth any more. And they did these things,
as if they could prevail against God, and prevent the resurrection
of the saints : and that they might, as they expressed it, destroy
the hope of a future life, — 'on which relying they introduce a
new and strange religion, despise the most excruciating tortures,
and die with joy. Now let us see if they will rise again, and if
their God can help them and deliver them out of our hands.'" *

The custom of burying was brought to Rome
from the East, where the Jewish converts had in-
herited it. According to Prudentius, the prospect
of a resurrection was the motive of the honours
paid to the departed ; ^' There will soon come an
age when genial warmth shall revisit these bones,
and the soul will resume its former tabernacle, ani-
mated with living blood. The inert corpses, long
since corrupted in the tomb, shall be borne through
the ' thin airf in company with the souls. For
this reason is such care bestowed upon the sepul-
chre; such honour paid to the motionless limbs —
such luxury displayed in funerals. We spread
the linen cloth of spotless white — myrrh and frank-
incense embalm the body. What mean these exca-
vated rocks ? what these fair monuments ? What,
but that the object intrusted to them is sleeping,
and not dead. ****** will adorn the
hidden bones with violets and many a bough ; and

* Eusebii Hist. Eccles. lib. v. cap. 1. This event is noticed
by Tertullian, some years later. " To this day the Gauls do not
bathe in their own Rhone." Ad Nationes, lib. i. c. 17.

I " Volucres rapientur in auras." Cathemerinon, Hymn x.

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

on the epitaph and the cold stones, we will sprinkle
liquid odours."

The ceremonies performed on these occasions are
alluded to by authors of the time. So Paulinus of
Nola says, Let them carefully sprinkle the tomb
of the martyr with spikenard, and bring medicated
ointments to the holy grave." The " Acts" of
Tarachus represent the Prefect Maximus as saying,
" You fancy, wickedest of men, that those women
of yours will obtain your body after your death, in
order to preserve it with spices and ointments.
But I will find some way of exterminating your
very dust."^ Boldetti perceived an odour of spices
on opening some of the graves. Tertullian, in
answer to the objection made by the political
economists of his day, that the new religion was
unfavourable to commerce, exclaims, " Is not in-
cense brought from a distance ? If Arabia should
complain, tell the Sabeans that more of their mer-
chandise, and that of a more expensive quality, is
employed in burying Christians than in fumigating
the gods."f

It is now time to set before the reader the present
appearance of the subterranean cemeteries. In the
greater number of galleries, the height is about
eight or ten feet, and the width from four to six : in
the annexed drawing the author has attempted
express their usual appearance.

* Ruinart, Acta Tarachi, Probi, &c.
t Apologeticus, cap. 42.

E 2

THI<: CATACOMBS

The graves are cut in the walls, either in a strag-
gling line, or in tiers, represented by D'Agincourt

INTERIOR OF A CATACOMB.

as occasionally amounting to six. The large grave
at the bottom of the clravvnug is a bisomum, cut
cloAvn wards as well as inwards in the tufa. Further
back is seen a branch of the gallery, walled off
with stones to prevent accidents, which still occa-

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

sionally happen to those who penetrate much be-
yond the entrance. The daylight finding its way
into the mouth of the cavern, as described by Pru-
dentius, serves to render visible the rifled sepul-
chres. There is seen in the more distant part of
the gallery, a small square hole, in which was
originally deposited a cup.

Antiquarians have not succeeded in explaining
the fact, that most of the graves near the entrance
of the catacombs are so small as scarcely to allow
room for the body of a child. The want of soli-
dity in the material prevented the excavators from
completing the graves before they were required,
since the falling in of the soil would have destroyed
their form ; it is therefore possible that these small
cells may have been the commencement of large
graves, from various causes left unfinished. Bol-
detti found some branches of the catacombs with
the intended sepulchres merely sketched upon the
walls.

The galleries often run in stories two or three
deep, communicating with each other by flights of
steps. The plan of such a catacomb is here copied
from D'Agincourt, vol. iv. pi. ix.

At the top is seen the entrance, an oblique
gallery with steps: on reaching a certain depth,
this passage takes a horizontal direction, giving off
a lateral branch. Below it are seen the sections of
two corridors running towards the spectator; and
still lower, communicating with each other by a
staircase, are two others parallel with the upper-

E 3

54 THE CATACOMBS

most. All these appear completely filled with
graves, to the number of five and even six tiers.

The steps leading downwards are mentioned by
Prudentius in a passage already quoted ; and both
he and Jerome describe the numerous perpendicular
shafts by which the subterranean ways were lighted.
Many of these communications with the upper air
are of a date more recent than the times of per-
secution, and would have been fatal to the safety
of the refugees. Boldetti supposes them to have
been made by sinking pits for the extraction of
sand ; but Roestell, adducing the fact that they are
found in Christian additions, thinks them made to
admit light. * At the present time, many such
holes are found in the Campagna near Eome, prov-
ing dangerous to the incautious rider. D' Agincourt

* Bunsen's Rome, vol. i. p. 365.

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY. 55

availed himself of them on several occasions to
enter the catacombs. Some of those examined by
the writer seem to have been produced by the fall-
ing in of the roof of a gallery carried too near the
surface. On the other hand, it is probable, that
some of the light holes, called in the Acts of the
Martyrs, luminaria cryptce^ were in existence during
the persecutions. In one version of the Acts of
Marcellinus and Peter, it is said that " Candida, a
saint and a virgin, having been thrown down the
precipice, (that is, the ligh thole of the crypt), was
overwhelmed with stones." Chapels lighted by
shafts are now termed cuhicula clara.

In the subjoined view copied from Boldetti, are

seen two graves ; one still closed by three slabs of
terra cotta, cemented to the rock; and the other

£ 4

THE CATACOMBS

partially opened, so as to display the skeleton Ipng
within. It must not be supposed that in all cases
the slabs were of terra cotta, or that their usual
number was three ; pieces of marble of the most
irregular figure were often employed. The palm
branch is merely scratched upon the plaster.

The number of graves contained in the catacombs
is very great. In order to form an estimate of it,
we must remember that, from the first century to
some time after the year 400, the whole Christian
population of Rome was buried there: this time
includes nearly a century after the establishment
of Christianity under Constantine. The number of
Christians in Rome, even in the time of Decius,
may be estimated at about thirty or forty thousand ;
and the horror of violating sepulchres, inherited
from the Pagans, would efi'ectually prevent the
custom, common in our own country, of employing
the same ground for fresh interments after the
lapse of a few years. But although the tombs once
occupied were left untouched by after generations,
the multitude of bodies thrown into one sepulchre
in times of danger, must have diminished the
number of separate graves. Prudentius, in his
hymn on the martyrdom of Hippolitus, describes
the appearance of the cemeteries in his own time :
— We have seen in the city of Romulus innume-
rable remains of saints : you ask. Valerian, what
epitaphs are chiselled upon the tombs, and what are
the names of those buried ? a question difficult for
me to answer. So great a host of the just did the

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

impious rage of the heathen sweep away, when
Trojan Rome worshipped her country's gods.
Many sepulchres marked ^sath letters display the
name of the martyr, or some anagram. There are
also dumb stones closing silent tombs, which tell
only the number buried within. So that we know
how many human bodies lie in the heap, though
we read no names belonoino- to them. I remember
finding that sixty were buried under one mound,
whose names Christ alone preserves, as those of his
pecuHar friends."* Tombs of this sort are called
Polyandria : they are mostly found in the cemetery
of Marcellinus, and appear to be an imitation of
the Pagan puticuli. They furnished to some tra-
vellers an argument against the Christian character
of the catacombs ; but the testimony of Prudentius
living in the fourth century, effectually silences
such reasoning.

An inscription, sometimes considered to belong
to a Polyandrium, is the following : —

MARCELLA ET CHRISTI
MARTYRES
CCCCCL.

Marcella and five hundred and fifty martyrs of Christ.
The apparent impossibility of collecting such an
^' army of martyrs " into one grave, makes it pro-
bable that the epitaph is a votive tablet, raised in
later times to the victims of a persecution collec-
tively. Eoestell is inclined to consider such epitaphs
as commemorative of the martyrs of a past age.f

* Peristephanon, Hymn iv.

f Bunsen's Rome, vol. i. p. 372.

THE CATACOMBS

He gives another, found in the cemetery of St.
Lucina : —

N • XXX • SYRRA • ET SENEC • COSS :

which has furnished matter of debate to the learned.
It was first supposed that this fragment was part
of a numerical arrangement of the graves ; but
since Yisconti has shown that no such system ex-
isted, it is absurd to imagine one grave numbered
alone. But Visconti endeavoured to prove that it
referred to some thirty martyrs who suffered during
the consultate of Syrra and Senecio. The same
view is taken by Roestell and Eaoul Rochette. The
author is inclined to adopt a more simple method
of explaining the N'XXX; reading the words as
the fragment of

QVI VIXIT ANN. XXX SYRRA ET SENEC • COSS.

Who lived thirty years. In the consulate of Syrra and
Senecio ; that is, a. d. 102.

This form of inscription is common, and may be
seen in the following : —

AVRELIA DVLCISSIMA FILIA QUAE

DE SAECVLO RECESSIT VIXIT ANN • XV • M • nn-

SEVERO ET QUINTIN COSS •

Aurelia, our sweetest daughter, who departed from the world,
Severus and Quintinus being consuls. She lived fifteen years
and four months, (a. d. 23o.)

The consular epitaphs are our principal means
of fixing the dates of graves and cemeteries. That
belonging to a. d. 102 is the earliest that we pos-
sess, with the exception of one of doubtful character
found by Boldetti.

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

D. M.

P. LTBERIO VICXIT
ANI N. II. MENSES N. III.
DIES N. VIII. R. ANICIO
FAUSTO ET VIRIO GALLO

coss.

To the Divine Manes. Publius Liberias lived two years, three
months, and eight days. Anicius Faustus and Virius Gallus
being consuls. That is, a. d. 98.

But this inscription is almost certainly pagan,
and may be classed among tliose that are found
upon the reverse of tablets afterwards used by the
Christians.

After these comes one of a. d. 111.

SERVILIA ANNORVM • XIII
PIS • ET BOL • COSS •

Servilia, aged thirteen. In the consulate of Piso and
Bolanus.

Subsequently to this time, the consular epitaphs
become more common.

The following consulates have been copied, with-
out selection, from the Christian inscriptions con-
tained in the Vatican Library and Lapidarian
Gallery ; they show the usual dates of the consular

epitaphs :

A. D.

Cassarius and Atticus - - - - 397

Victor and Valentinianus - - - 369

CI. Julianus Aug. and Sallustius - - 363

Marcellinus and Probinus ' - - - 341

Datianus and Cerealis - - - . 353

Valentinianus and Valens Aug. III. - - 370

In the inscription to Liberius, the letters D.M.
have been commonly rendered Deo Maximo, be-

THE CATACOMBS

cause found in a Christain cemetery. They are
also a contraction of the first words of a Pagan
epitaph, Diis manibus — to the Divine manes — or
souls of the dead. An argument has been drawn
from these letters, against the assertion that no
heathen graves are contained in the catacombs.
But many inscriptions beginning with D. M., are
undoubtedly Christian ; and, besides the probability
of these letters being here put for Deo Maximo, it
is possible that the ignorance of the sculptor led
him to continue the old heathen formula, neither
understanding its meaning, nor reflecting upon its
unsuitableness to a Christian grave. A decisive
specimen of this sort of inscription is found in a
wall of the Vatican Library.

viTAUS DEPOSITA D)h£SABATV KLAVCT 0
QVi X 1 TA NN^^XX'iM iS'illim rCVM M AR1TWI5 X Dl ESXU

Sacred to Christ, the Supreme God.
Vitalis, buried on Saturday, kalends of August, aged twenty-
five years and eight months. She lived with her husband ten
years and thirty days. In Christ, the First and the Last.*

There is a Christian epitaph quoted by Roestell,

which runs as follows :

Diis manibus
Principio filio dulcissimo suo posuit,
Quae vixit ann. vj. dies xx.
In pace.

* By the ancient church, Saturday was styled the Sabbath, and
Sunday, the Lord's day.

AS A CIIllISTIAN CEMETERY.

On this lie remarks, " It is possible that the words
Diis manibus are attributable to a careless imitation
of heathen customs in the fifth or sixth century ; or
that the inscription, originally pagan, was after-
wards affixed to a Christian grave with the altera-
tion of the numbers and of the proper name." *
There is still an alternative, that a Pagan borrowed
from Christianity the consolatory phrase, in pace.

The employment of old Pagan tombstones was
common after the time of Constantine ; but the
usual custom in such cases was to reverse the mar-
ble, and to engrave the Christian epitaph upon the
opposite side. According to antiquarians, many
stones have been discovered with unequivocal marks
of Paganism on one side, and of Christianity on the
other ; but of this there is now no opportunity of
judging, as the catacomb tablets are all plastered
upon walls or pillars.

It is not to be expected, that persons so unedu-
cated as many of those whose monuments have
come down to us, should have always avoided the
heathen usages, in the practice of which they had
grown up. Besides the D. M., such expressions as
the following are occasionally found: —

DOMVS ETERNALIS
AVRCHSI ET AVRILAR
ITATIS CONPARIM
EES FECIMVS NOBIS

An eternal home, &c. (Lap. Gall.)

* Raoul Rochette thinks the last suggestion of very little
value: the Christian sculptor should have erased the objec-
tionable letters with the rest. - Mem. de I'Acad. de Belles
Lettres, torn. xiii.

THE CATACOMBS

The form of expression is somewhat varied in
the next, which is copied from a wall of the Vatican
Library.

Sin pa %

aveelio felici qvi bixit cum coivce •

AN NOS-X-VIII DULCIS • IN COIVGIO •
BONE IMEMORIE BIXIT • ANNOS • L • V •
RAPTVS ETERNE DOMYS • XII KAL . lENY ARIAS

-a p

In peace. To Aurelius Felix, who lived with his wife
eighteen years in sweetest wedlock. Of good memory. He
lived fifty -five years. Snatched home eternally on the twelfth
day before the kalends of January.

These inscriptions do not imply any want of be-
lief in the resurrection on the part of those who
erected them. The word ho7ne is thus used in Ec-
clesiastes — "Man goeth to his long home:" and
both Job and David employ similar expressions —
"I shall go the way whence I shall not return;"
and, "Before I go hence, and be no more." The
phrase " seterna quies " is found in heathen inscrip-
tions.

The leaf often seen on gravestones is employed
by way of punctuation, or merely as an ornament.
It has been mistaken for the symbol of an afflicted
heart, pierced with an arrow ; but it is simply bor-
rowed from the Pagans, who used it as a comma.

Other terms were applied to the grave by Christ-
ians ; as

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

DEPOSSIO CAMPANI • X
FLAVIO STELICONE YIRO INC
The burial place of Campanus. Flavius Stelico being Consul,
(viro incljto), i. e, either in the year 400 or 405. (Lap. Gall.)

Susanna bought herself a metnoria : she rested on the seventh
day before the kalends of August ; Cassarius and Atticus
being consuls (i. e. 397.). (Aringhi.)

The sepulchre of Theodulus and Projecta. (Lap. Gall.)
B • M

CVBICVLVM • AVRELIAE • MAETINAE CASTISSI-

MAEADQVE • PUDI
CISSIMAE FEMINAE QUE FECIT • IN COIVGIO ANN.

XXIII D XIIII
BENE MERENTI • QYE • VIXIT • ANN • XL • M . XI - D •

XIII • DEPOSITIO EIS
DIE • III • NONAS • OCT • NEPOTIANO • ET FACVNDO

CONSS • IN PACE

[For B. M. read Bene Merenti.] — To the well-deserving.
The chamber of Aurelia Martina, my wife most chaste and
modest, who lived in wedlock twenty-three years and fourteen
days. To the well-deserving one, who lived forty years, eleven
months, and thirteen days. Her burial was on the third
before the nones of October. Nepotianus and Facundus being
consuls (i. e. 336). In peace. (Lap. Gall.)

This inscription nearly approaches the usual
Pagan form.

SVSANNA COMPARA

VIT MEMORIAM QVIE

VIT DIE VII KAL AVGVSTAR

CONSS CAESARIO ET ATTICO

THE CATACOMBS

Occasionally, the proper name alone was ex-
pressed ; as

ACAn

(Lap. Gall.)

The next drawing, displaying a tomb closed by
a single slab, is copied from D'Agincourt.

Dust is seen lying on the lower wall of the cell,
resembling the shadow of a skeleton. " Pulvis et
umbra sumus."

It has excited surprise among some, that a per-
secuted sect should have had the facilities of burial
which the Christians seem to have enjoyed ; and
should have succeeded in obtaining the bodies of the
martyrs, in order to honour them with a decent
funeral. These facts are accounted for by the
great attention paid by the early Christians to the
subject of interment. During the Decian per-
secution, the Roman presbyters exhorted their
brethren at Carthage to beware lest the bodies of
the martyrs should remain unburied. In the perse-
cution under Antonine, Praxedes and Pudentiana

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY. 65

spent their whole patrimony in relieving the poor,
and burying the martyrs. A manuscript, found by
Aringhi, confirms this statement; as well as an in-
scription discovered in the catacombs, probably be-
longing to the fifth century : —

HOC EST COEMETERIVM
PRISCILLAE
IN QVO EXISTVNT CORPORA
TRIVM raLLIVM MARTYRVM
MARTYRIO
PER ANTONINYM EMPERATOREM
AFFECTORVM QVOS S • PVDENTIANA
FECIT IN HOC SVO VENERABILI
TEI^IPLO SEPELIRI &c.

This is the cemetery of Priscilla, in which are the bodies of
three thousand martyrs, who suffered under the Emperor An-
tonine. Whom St. Pudentiana caused to be buried in this her
own place of worship. (Aicher, Hortus Inscriptionum.)

It must be confessed, that this inscription is of
no great value as an accurate record of the Anto-
nine persecution, being set up about three hundred
years later. Nor can we attach much importance
to the story of Hiero, related by Metaphrastes. The
Christians, he tells us, were allowed to bury
the body of the martyr, but were forced to buy
the head for its weight in gold.

The Jews, as in the case of our Lord, of Stephen,
and of Paul when stoned, left the body to the
disposal of friends. At times, when the patient
endurance of the sufferer had exasperated his Pagan
persecutors, the body was refused in revenge for
the defeat they had sustained. Prudentius, in de-
scribing the martyrdom of St. Vincent, represents

THE CATACOMBS

the judge as hearing of his peaceful death with a
degree of disappointed malice, which he (the poet)
can scarcely find words to describe.* " You would
suppose that the dragon was raging disarmed, with
his teeth broken, — 'he has gone off triumphant,' he
exclaims, ' and as a rebel has carried away the palm.
But a last resource remains : to punish his lifeless
body ; to deliver his carcase to the beasts, to give
it to be devoured by dogs. I will extirpate his
very bones, lest a sepulchre be granted them : lest
the congregation should honour it, and raise a mar-
tyr's epitaph.' "

Not only the importance attached to burial, but
also the feeling of reverence for the dead, afterwards
became excessive. Sepulchres and remains, even
in the fourth century, formed an object of veneration,
and were almost considered a means of grace. " It
is scarcely known," observes Prudentius about the
year 390, " how full Rome is of buried saints : how
richly the metropolitan soil abounds in holy se-
pulchres. But we who are not so blessed, and can-
not behold around us the traces of blood, neverthe-
less look up from afar unto heaven." f It had been
well for Christendom, if the ashes of the martyrs
had been always left in that obscurity, to which the
primitive Church thought proper to consign them.

* Peristephanon, Hymn II.

" At Christiani nominis

Hostem coquebant inrita

Fellis venena, et lividum

Cor efFerata exusserant."
t Hymn III. 541.

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY. 67

During the long period of tranquillity which
occurred between the sixth and seventh persecutions,
Callistus greatly enlarged and improved the Sebas-
tian catacombs, from which circumstance they were
called the cemetery of Callistus. The entrance to
them is through the Basilica of St. Sebastian on the
Appian way, about two miles beyond the gate of
the city. Notwithstanding the little credence
usually given to the story of Sebastian, there seems
no reason for doubting that part of it which relates
to the manner of his death. It is important in
such cases to distinguish between the legend of
antiquity, and the story as embellished by the fervid
imagination of the painters' age. Artists have vied
with one another in representing the youthful
martyr in a state of seraphic abstraction : the half-
draped figure pierced with arrows, the closing
eyes already fixed on heavenly glories, and the face
lighted up with unearthly smiles, or darkening with
the shadow of death, offered capabilities which
Guido and the Caracci cannot be accused of having
neglected. From the habit of adding to the picture
angels with croA\ais and palms, and of introducing
some glaring anachronism, such as the presence
of the Virgin Mary, or John the Baptist, we are
often led to consider the whole as a fable ; yet, on
inspecting the catacombs, the existence of Sebastian
is found to rest on good evidence. A small cell
has been preserved as the chapel built over the
grave of the martyr; and above this have been
accumulated all the honours which can be paid to

r 2

THE CATACOMBS

a saint and a hero. Perpendicularly above the grave
stands the high altar of the Basilica, with a marble
representation of the dead saint, the size of life.
Below ground is a beautiful bust by Bernini ; and
the tine church over the entrance, as well as the
catacomb itself, perpetuate the name of Sebastian.
According to the Acts of his martyrdom, this
young officer was shot to death by arrows, but was
miraculously restored to life and health. Xot
content with the glory of one martyrdom, he pre-
sented himself to the authorities ; and after a second
execution, his body was concealed in a sewer and
hung upon a hook that it might not escape again.
He contrived, however, to reveal the secret to a
woman by a dream, in consequence of which he
was buried in the catacomb now called after him.*

The internal management of the cemeteries now
demands our attention.

" The first order among the clergy," says Jerome,
" is that of the Fossors, who, after the manner of
holy Tobit, are employed in burying the dead."
Besides the epitaphs proper to fossors, there are
many other inscriptions which allude to them as
having sold the tomb to the deceased or his friends.
Their importance, as well as the nature of the
duties entrusted to them, will be more obvious

* From lying in a sewer, painters have promoted their favour-
ite to the place formerly occupied by the Bacchus and Adonis,
the Ganymede and Endymion of Pagan art. In like manner
the Magdalen has supplanted the Venus, while St. Cecilia has
taken a place among the Muses.

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

when we have compared the funeral regulations of
the Pagans with those of the Christians.

Let us take, as an illustration of the former, this
inscription (copied from a MS. collection in Rome).

D <o M (t}
Q (J) MEDIOVS © AVG ^) LIB
ASOLO SIBI 0 FECIT Cj)

HOC CEPOTAFIV QYI
NTA YITALIS FILIA MEA
POSSIDEBIT SINE CONTRO
C^o VERSIA Cp

To the Divine Maues. Quintus Meiolus, treed-man of Au-
gustus, made this cepotaph for himself alone. Quinta Vitalis,
my daughter, shall possess it without controversy.

The word cepotaph is derived from the Greek
xrjTTOTacpiov^ a tomb in a garden. As cinerary urns
occupied little space, and were productive of no
inconvenience to the neighbourhood, the ashes of
the dead were generally deposited in the garden
or court-yard of the house, in a small chamber built
for that purpose. The columbaria, now existing in
Rome, show this custom on a larger scale. One of
them, very lately discovered, is capable of containing
three hundred urns. The niches for these, disposed
round the walls in horizontal rows, give the cham-
ber the ajDpearance of a dove-cote, whence the
name columbarium. In the sepulchre of the Abucci,
described by Sponius, the urns are numbered. One
of the inscriptions is here copied :

L • ABVCCIVS HERMES IN HOC
ORDINE AB IMO AD SVMMVM
COLVMBARIA IX OLLAE XIIX
SIBI POSTERIS QYE SVIS

r 3

THE CATACOMBS

Lucius Abuccius Hermes, in this row, No. 9 from the bottom
of the columbarium upwards; urn No. 18. For himself and
his descendants. (Sponii Miscellanea Erud. Antiquitatis).

A few forms of inscription were recognised as re-
gular bequests of this sort of property: among
them are ; et posteris suis " — " haeredes hoc mo-
numentum sequitur " — " liberis libertabusque suis"
— as well as their initials e. p. s. — h. h. m. s. —
1. 1. q. s., and others. But with the Christians, who
required larger space and a more secluded situation
for the decomposition of an entire body, a different
system was necessarily adopted. The catacombs
were placed under the management of a number of
fossors, probably sand-diggers by trade, who, besides
excavating graves and squaring the galleries, served
also as guides. Their power of disposing of the
graves is well exemplified in the following Christian
inscription, which the author copied literatim from
a small collection on the walls of the Capitol.

EMPTVM LOCUM A BARTEMISTVM
VISOMVM HOC EST ET PRETIVM
DATVM A FOSSORI HILARO ID EST

PRESENTIA SEVERI

FOSS ET LAYRENT

The place bought by Bartemistus, that is, a bisomum ; and the
price paid to the fossor Hilarus, the sum of fourteen hundred
folles (amounting to 1/. 2^. 7d.), in the presence of the fossors
Severus and Law^rence.*

* The folis, or foUis, here specified, is a small Roman coin,
seldom mentioned in history. Hotraan professes himself unable
to decide upon its value, and merely states that it was a very

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

To estimate better the value of sucli a sum as
1/. 25. Id. in those times, we may compare with
this epitaph one contained in Wordsworth's Pom-
peian Inscriptions, in which the sum of H.S.LXY,
nine shillings and sixpence, is offered for the re-
covery of a lost wine vessel. The thirty pieces of
silver received by Judas amounted to 3/. IO5. ^d.

The author has not met with any other inscrip-
tion, recording the price of a tomb : what makes
this epitaph of Bartemistus the more valuable on
the score of authenticity, is the circumstance that
though the transaction is clearly stated, the sum is
expressed in a very unusual manner, the follu
being a Latin version of the Greek i^o\Xsic^ probably
introduced in the time of the later Csesars.

Gruter has published a Pagan inscription, which,
though not setting a price upon the tomb, imposes
a fine upon the violator of it. " If any one shall wish
to sell or give away this sepulchre or monument
with the house (attached), after my death, or to lay
therein another body, he shall pay to the Pontifex

thin lamina of metal, probably the lowest coin used. Facciolati
defines it as synonymous with the quadrans or teruntius ; of
which, according to Ainsworth, forty make a denarius, value
sevenpence three farthings of our money. The numerals at-
tached are not quite correctly written : the first of them is
meant either for the two co put for 1000, or the elongated
>^ of the same signification. Between these the sculptor
seems to have hesitated, and the reader may indulge in the
same uncertainty, without affecting the value of the figure.
After 1000, the number of hundreds naturally follows : and the
sign used most nearly corresponds to the Vq, a variety of G, the
abbreviation for 400.

r 4

THE CATACOMBS

Maximus the fine of twenty sesterces : " about
three shillings.*

The use of the preposition a before the dative
case, in some of the preceding epitaphs, is remark-
able : it seems to indicate an approximation to the
Italian language, of which it is an established
element.

lOVINVS • SIBICOM
PARAVIT • ABICTORI
NO • BISOMV • LOCVET
EXVPERV COLLEGAIPSI
Jovinus bought himself a bisomum from Victorinus and Exu-
perus his colleague. In Christ. (Lap. Gall.)

To this inscription, the term epitaph can scarcely
be applied ; it is rather a legal conveyance of a por-
tion of the cemetery.

Some inscriptions appear to have been executed
in part at the time of the purchase, and concluded
after the burial. There is one of this character in
the Lapidarian Gallery.

HIC REQIECET
SAMSO IN BISO
MVM ET VCTORV
SE VIVA VXOREIVS

Here rests Samso in a bisomum, and Victoria his wife, she
being alive.

We may infer from this some such family his-
tory as the following : — Samso, the husband of

* Inscriptions, p. 672. " Si quis hoc sepulchrum vel monu-
mentum cum sedificio universo post obitum meum vendere vel
donare voluerit, vel corpus alienum invehere vellit, dabit poenae
nomine, ark. pontif. H. S. xx."

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

Victoria, not having provided himself with a tomb,
was left to the care of his widow for burial. She
then purchased a bisomum, and having interred her
husband, set up a stone to record that there rested
Samso ; adding in a hisomum^ to reserve a place
for herself. After her death the inscription was
completed ; the insertion of the words herself being
alive, showing that as a respectable woman she had,
during her lifetime, provided for her burial.

In the annexed, a Koman Christian is exhibited
as selecting the site of his future sepulchre.

UIXLTA/VL/D/V

XqiEUXlTD
OWMUIUSINPACE

Read — In Christo. Martyrius vixit annos plus minus xci.

elexit domum vivus, in pace. (Lap. Gallery.)
In Christ. Martyrius lived ninety-one years, more or less. He
chose a home during his life-time. In peace.

There existed formerly on the walls of the cata-
combs many paintings, representing individuals
of the lowest class, employed in excavating an over-
hanging rock, with a lamp suspended from the
summit. One of these paintings, copied in the
Boma Sotteranea, has the words Fossor Trofimus

74 THE CATACOMBS

added. A better executed drawing was found by
Boldetti, in the cemetery of Callistus.

The inscription is — "Diogenes the Fossor, buried
in peace on the eighth before the kalends of
October."

On either side is seen a dove with an olive branch,
the common emblem of Christian peace. The pick-
axe and lamp together plainly designate the sub-
terranean excavator ; while the spike by which the
lamp is suspended from the rock, the cutting in-
struments and compasses used for marking out the
graves, and the chapel lined with tombs among
which the fossor stands, mark as distinctly the

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

whole routine of his occupation, as the cross on
his dress, his Christian profession. The painting
is on a retiring part of the wall, and beneath it is
the opening of a grave.

From the instruments represented in this valuable
painting, as well as from the testimony of authors,
we conclude that the fossors were employed to
excavate and adorn parts of the catacombs. A
great portion of their work must have been con-
nected with the chapels, which were very nume-
rous, and afterwards became elaborate in their
details. This rude attempt of a contemporary
artist to represent the occupation of a poor Chris-
tian, employed in burying in secret the deceased
members of a community, to whom no place on the
face of the earth was granted for their long home,
suo^o-ests some serious reflections on the chano-e
which Christendom has since undergone. Could
we imagine the humble Diogenes, whom we see
engaged in his melancholy task, to look out from
the entrance to the crypt, and behold, in their pre-
sent splendour, the domes and palaces of Christian
Eome ; to see the cross which he could only wear in
secret on his coarse woollen tunic, glittering from
every pinnacle of the eternal city ; how would he
hail the arrival of a promised millennium, and
confidently infer the abolition of idolatrous service !
Glowing with the zeal of the Cyprianic age, he
hastes to the nearest temple, to give thanks for the
marvellous change : he stops short at the threshold,
for by a strange mistake he has encountered incense

THE CATACOMBS

and images and the purple-bearing train of the
Pontifex Maximus. What remains for him, but
to wander solitary beside the desolate Tiber, by
those " waters of Babylon to sit down and weep,"
while he remembers his ancient Sion ?

Besides the cemetery of Callistus, those of SS.
Agnes, Lawrence, Saturninus and Thraso, Marcel-
linus and Peter, and several others, have obtained
celebrity. There is also a cemetery underneath
the Basilica of St. Peter, on the Vatican hill;
but it has been so overloaded with the productions
of after ages, that little trace of the earlier centuries
is left. Most of its present contents were deposited
there when the new church of St. Peter's was built.

In addition to the Christian cemeteries, there was
another appropriated to the Jews. It was dis-
covered by Bosio, on the Via Portuense : he could
find in it no signs of Christianity, and but one in-
scription, the word

SYNArar

" Synagogue together with a lamp (of which a copy
is annexed), having upon it a figure of the golden
candlestick brought from Jerusalem by Titus.

Other representations of this candlestick have
been found. Bosio says that they were commonly em-
ployed by the Jews, and occasionally by Christians :
he quotes the observation of Josephus, that the
figure represented heaven, the seven lamps standing
for the sun and six planets. Lamps of terra cotta
are found abundantly in the catacombs ; they are

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

generally marked with the cross, with the likenesses
of Peter and Paul, or with some other Christian

symbol. There is another of these golden candle-
sticks figured by Buonarotti, with the addition
of this mark, which probably represents a
horn for oil. * Lastly, in a MS. collection
lent to the author by a young Italian,
who had compiled it from the Jesuits' College in
Eome, there is an inscription of which the annexed
is a fac-simile.

ENGAAE KEI
TAI ^)AYCTINA

Here lies Faustina. In peace.

* Perhaps one of the vessels carried about with lamps, when
intended to be replenished from time to time. See Matth. xxv.
" The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps."

THE CATACOMBS

This curious epitaph, written " in Hebrew, Greek
and Latin," probably belonged to a Christian Jewess.
The horn for oil is seen beside the golden candle
stick. On the supposition of the woman having
been a Hebrew, we must consider the Latin Faustina
to be her Christian name : the palm branch added,
is also a Christian symbol of victory and a well-
spent life. * According to Aringhi, the Jews of
Rome generally wrote in Greek. The Hebrew
word added to the inscription cannot be inter-
preted without making some slight alteration in
the form of the letters. The last seems intended
for mem ; and the first, by the addition of a small
central line, would become schin. In reading the en-
tire word as diVil' Shalom^ or Peace, we are supported
by the custom of the early Christians, who were in
the habit of adding to their epitaphs in pace : as in
this fragment from the Lapidarian Gallery.

NPACE
t

In the peace of Christ.

The Greek version of this expression is also
common, as in this :

EYTPOnOC EN IPHNH.
Eutropus in peace. (Fabretti.)

* The palm-branch may have been equally used by a Jew ;
the author of the second book of Esdras having copied from the
Apocalypse the description of the palm-bearing multitude.
" So I asked the angel, and said, Sir, what are these ? He
answered and said unto me, These be they that have put off the
mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed
the name of God ; now are they crowned, and receive palms."
2 Esdras, ii. 44, 45. '

AS A CHRISTIAN CE^klETERY.

These figures of the golden candlestick were
copied from the " Triumph of Titus," which re-
presents the spolia opima taken from Jerusalem, on
the way to the Capitol, to be deposited in the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. On that arch of
triumph, as if in everlasting scorn, the laurelled
conquerors are still seen to bear away the golden
candlestick, the table of shewbread, and the trumpets
of the jubilee. How accurately the heathen sculp-
tor has imitated his models, may be seen by a
comparison of the work with the description left
by Moses. The annexed cut is copied from the
candlestick upon the arch.

This triumphal monument, considered as a testi-
mony to the truth of the Mosaic mission, is of the
highest value. The question on which it bears, is
not one of yesterday, but of 3300 years ago ; a
time when the fields of Marathon were yet bloodless,

80 THE CATACOMBS

and long before the golden fleece hung in the garden
of Colchis. That the Jews constructed the ex-
pensive works which Moses required, that they
preserved them in their sanctuary, and accurately
reproduced them in a copy when destroyed, was in-
deed proved to the ancient Church by the discovery
of the very objects in the temple. But this im-
portant fact might have been left to the pen of some
legendary historian, to be mixed up with frauds and
fables, or to moulder in illegible manuscripts, had
not a heathen emperor, more zealous indeed for his
own fame than for that of Moses, perpetuated in
marble the sacred designs ; and thus recorded in a
language that needs no interpreter, that the Jews did
believe in Moses, and ever preserved a memorial
of the obedience which he exacted from them.

If the doctrines of Christianity are but sparingly
expressed in the epitaphs of the catacombs, they are
at least free from the Anacreontic language that
characterises many Pagan tablets, a curious speci-
men of which is given by Gruter :

V • A • N • L^T3
D • M

TI • CLAVDI • SECVNDI
HIC • SECVM • HABET • OM]N^A
BALNEA • VINYM • YENl^S
CORRYjMPYNT • CORPORA •
NOSTRA • SED • YITAM FACIYNT
B • Y • Y •
KARO C0NT\T5ERNALI

EEC • MEROPE CAES
ET SIBI ET SYIS P • E •

To the Divine Manes of Titus Claudius Secundus, who lived

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

57 years. Here he enjoys every thing. Baths, wine, and
love, ruin our constitution, but they make life. Farewell ;
farewell. To her dear companion, Merope Caesarea has
erected this. For themselves and their descendants.

Among the heathen customs which the ancient

church forbore to imitate, is that of recording an

imprecation upon the violator of a sepulchre.

Sponius gives a specimen of the Pagan curse, in an

epitaph found near the Aurelian gate of Rome.

C . rS^LIYS . C . L
BARNAEVS
OLLA EIYS SI QVI
OVYIOLAVIT AD
(sic) IFEROS NON RECIPIATUR
Caius Julius Barnaeus, freed-man of Caius ; if any one violate
his urn, let him not be received by the infernal gods. (Spo-
nius, Miscell. sectio ix.)

Other Pagan imprecations are embodied in the
phrases "ultimus suorum moriatur " — habeat
deos superos et inferos iratos." *

Nothing of this sort is to be found in the inscrip-
tions of the ancient church, though towards the
middle ages, even this remnant of paganism found its
way into Christianity. The worst epitaph of the
kind which has been preserved is the following,
given by Aringhi :

MALE • PEREAT • INSEPVLTVS
lACEAT • NON • RESYRGAT
CVM • IVDA • PARTEM • HABEAT
SI • QVIS • SEPVLCHRVM • HVNC VIOLAVERIT.

* Mabillon gives one of each kind; (Iter Italicum, 148.)
QVI HIC MIXERIT AVT CACARIT
HABEAT DEOS
SVPEROS ET INFEROS
IRATOS.
G

82 THE CATACOMBS

If any one violate this sepulchre, let him perish miserably,
lie unburied, and not arise, but have his lot with Judas.

Another, less sulphureous, is preserved by Fabretti:

* * * GRAYIT AD XPM
* * * SEPVLCRYM VIOLARE
* ET SIT ALIENVS A REGNO DEI.

u * # • j^^g gQj^Q dwell with Christ. If any one dare
to violate this grave, let him * * * and be far from
the kingdom of God."

It would appear that these horrid imprecations
were dictated by a fear lest the resurrection should
be impeded by the dispersion of the remains; or that
difficulties might be thrown in the way, by the
superposition of a second body. Such feehngs
were not known to the ancient Christians, with
whom the practice of burying husband and wife in
the same bisomum was general. Ignatius hoped to
be so completely devoured by the beasts that no
fragment should remain to tempt his friends into
danger. A curious epitaph found at Verona, pro-
bably not older than the seventh century, states
why Felicianus wished a tomb reserved for himself
alone: (Gruter.)

D. M.

FELICIAJs^I • A^RONEN
MIHBIET • FELICIANYS • A^RONEN -
SACRVM • CONST •
QYI INQUIETYS VIXI
NVNC TANDEM MORTWS
NON LYBENS QYIESCO
SOLYS CYR SIM QUAESERIS
YT • IN • DIE • CENSORIO • SINE
IMPEDIMENTO • FACILIYS
RESYRGAM

AS A CHRISTIAN CEMETERY.

To the Divine Manes of Felicianus of Verona. I, Felicianus,
of Verona, have consecrated this tomb for myself. 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 arise, without impediment.

Thus it is seen that the practice of defending
property by imprecations originated with the Pagans,
and was not, for several hundred years, suffered in
the Church. During the middle ages, similar ana-
themas were occasionally inscribed in books : three
instances, given in Maitland's Dark Ages, belong to
the ninth and eleventh centuries : one of them re-
sembles the epitaph "Male pereat" in containing an
allusion to Judas: "If any one remove from the
monastery this book, with the intention of not re-
storing it, let him receive the portion of everlasting
damnation, mth Judas the traitor, Annas, and Caia-
phas." Truly, as Mr. Maitland has observed, " it
was enough to frighten the possessor of a book,
however honestly he might have come by it."

The phrase "insepultus jaceat" has been retained,
or rather amplified, by the Church of Rome, in her
usual form of cursing with bell, book, and candle :
" Let them be buried with the burial of an ass, and
be as dung on the face of the earth."

<3 2

CHAP. IV.

THE MARTYRS OF THE CATACOMBS.
" Ad astra doloribus itur." Prudentius.

The noble army of martyrs praise thee : the holy
church throughout all the world doth acknowledge
thee." In accordance with the spirit of these words
the Church has ever shown a disposition to dis-
tinguish in a peculiar manner those who have shed
their blood in defence of the faith. The honour
paid to them in different times and places has
varied, according to the genius of the age, and
the amount of enthusiasm inherent in national
character; but while truth is valued among
men, it is impossible that they should be lightly
esteemed, who, facing torments and death with
resolution, purchased, not for themselves, but for
others, the blessings of religious freedom. Not-
withstanding the calumnies of enemies, and the in-
ventions of mistaken friends, between which truth
has materially suffered, it is certain that these
soldiers of God have from time to time achieved the
most glorious and permanent triumphs : in the
great assaults made upon heathenism or superstition
they have led the attack as the forlorn hope, and
fallen victorious :

THE MARTYRS OF THE CATACOMBS.

" Strange conquest, where the conqueror must die,
And he is slain that wins the victory ; "

but in this they only shared the fate of their
Master, a fate which might naturally be expected to
await all His followers. What gratitude do we not
owe to those who fought such fearful battles, to
leave us in unhoped-for liberty and ease ?

The merits of the martyrs can be appreciated by
all mankind. The natural love of life, and the in-
stinctive shrinking from pain belonging to our
species, stamp a plain and intelligible value upon
their tried courage. The consentient voice of the
whole Church, registered in the canons of an cecu-
menical council, may be consigned to comparative
oblivion : the arguments employed, or the ground
of controversy itself, may be beyond the compre-
hension of nine-tenths of the world ; but torture
and death speak a language universally understood.
Accordingly, we find that martyrs have been distin-
guished by posterity in a manner that casts into the
shade the honours awarded to the heroes of secular
history. What has been done for Leonidas or Ca-
millus, for Regulus or for Julius Caesar, in com-
parison with the monuments erected to St. Peter ?
Standing beside the high altar of his Basilica in
Rome, we find it hard to believe that the stupen-
dous object of our admiration is the mausoleum of
a fisherman. Of the magnificent inscriptions raised
to the great and the fortunate of this world, the
proudest must yield to that which encircles the
dome of St. Peter's. A conqueror of the habitable

G 3

THE MARTYRS OF

globe once wept at having reached the limits of his
sway : for, vast as was his ambition, it conceived of
no such trophy as the golden letters that stud the
horizon of that sky-suspended vault, consigning the
keys of heaven to one who ruled, at least by his suc-
cessors, the empire of earth.*

But honours of a more substantial nature, and
more after the desires of their own hearts, have
been awarded to the martyrs : the approving testi-
mony of conscience, and the profound esteem of all
good men ; their blood has been considered the seed
of the Church ; and the value of truth has been
often estimated by the sufferings of those who have
defended it. Yet all this honour, the dome and the
column, the applause and the inward peace, is but
the faint image of their coming glory : "To each
victor is promised," says Tertullian, " now the tree
of life and exemption from the second death, now
the hidden manna with the white stone, and an un-
known name : now the power of the iron rod and
the brightness of the morning star: now to be
clothed in white, not to be blotted out of the book
of life, and to be made a pillar in the temple of
God, inscribed with the name of his God and Lord
and of the heavenly J erusalem : and now to sit
down with the Lord on his throne, once refused to
the sons of Zebedee."f

* Thou art Peter ; and on this rock will I build my church ;
and I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." The
length of the inscription is 440 feet ; its elevation above the
ground 200 : the height of the letters is six feet.

f Scorpiace, cap. 12.

THE CATACOMBS.

Some confusion has arisen from the ancient
practice of applying the term martyrs to those,
who, though imprisoned or even tortured, were not
called upon to give up their lives for the faith.
To these properly belongs the appellation of con-
fessors. The sufferers of Lyons and Yienne re-
fused to be called martyrs during their lifetime,
^' even though they had been tortured not once,
nor twice, but often ; and had been taken from
the wild beasts, and committed again to prison ;
although they had the marks of fire and the scars
of stripes and wounds all over their bodies." The
epistle from which this account is taken, adds, that
they restricted the appellation to " Christ the faith-
ful and true witness " (or martyr), and to such
as had sealed their testimony with their blood.
" We," said they, " are mean and humble con-
fessors." The modesty of the Gallic martyrs in
tbe second century is the more to be commended,
as an opposite feeling was afterwards visible in
some of those who were imprisoned for their reli-
gion : perhaps we may attribute this weakness to
the honours paid to them.*

It is a question not easy of solution, what first
induced the Romans to persecute so violently the
Christian sect. The conflagration of Rome, falsely
attributed to their agency, was first made the pre-
text for punishing them : but the accusation was

* Such confessors as had shed blood in their tortures were
called jioridi and ruhri (florid, and red, confessors).

G 4

THE MARTYRS OF

not generally believed at the time, and the extreme
severity of their tortures produced a strong feeling in
their favour. When we review the small portion
of the history of the Church contained in the New
Testament, from the time when Pilate washed his
hands of our Saviour's blood, to the rescue of St. Paul
from the J ews by the chief captain Ly sias, we find
in almost every instance in which the Christians
came in contact with the Romans, that the latter
appeared as their just, though often lukewarm, pro-
tectors. The Roman deputy Gallio seems to have
been actuated by secret favour towards the Chris-
tians ; for when St. Paul was brought before him
by the Jews, Gallio refused to listen to their accu-
sations, and cleared the court of the tumultuous
informers. In revenge for the interference of the
Hebrews, the Greeks, many of whom had been con-
verted by the Apostle's preaching, took Sosthenes,
the newly-elected ruler of the synagogue, and beat
him publicly before the tribunal ; meeting with no
opposition from Gallio, who, not content with pro-
tecting a Christian, connived at the ill-usage of a
Jew.*

When Festus left Paul bound, it was to do the
Jews a pleasure : when Paul appealed to Caesar, it
was to escape their malignity. It was a Roman
who thought it unreasonable to send a Christian

* The motives of Gallio are not quite obvious : perhaps the
punishment inflicted on Sosthenes was usual in the case of an
accusation judged to be frivolous and vexatious: or the Jews
may have been unpopular at Corinth.

THE CATACOMBS. 89

prisoner without a crime imputed to him : a Ro-
man, who, appreciating the eloquence and truth of
the Apostle, trembled at his preaching. It may,
therefore, excite our surprise to find this equitable
policy exchanged for the spirit of extermination
which afterwards appeared among the Heathen :
nor can we accuse the genius of Christianity of any
change for the worse, which could render it an
object of reasonable aversion to its enemies. A
probable cause of this hatred is found by Milman
in the behaviour of the Christians during the burn-
ing of Rome, as their expectation of Christ's
coming might lead them to rejoice in the flaming
scenes which appeared to be its precursors. But,
allowing all possible weight to this supposition, it
does not explain the subsequent ill-treatment of the
Church, after the repeated injunctions to the con-
trary contained in the Imperial rescripts.

What seems to have excited the anger of the Ro-
man authorities was the proselytising disposition of
the new sect, and their aggressions upon the Pagan
religion. The principles of toleration which induced
the Romans to allow the free use of hereditary rites
and creeds to the nations which they conquered,
afforded no protection to persons who had apos-
tatised from the polytheism in which they were
born. To quit this with disgust, and to turn
round upon its supporters with indignation, was to
commit an offence very different from that of the
Jew, who, continuing in quiet adherence to the
religion of his fathers, in no way disturbed the tran-

THE MARTYRS OF

quillity of the state. The aggressive character of
Christianity was soon found to be incompatible with
the safety of the Empire, which was intimately con-
nected with a firm belief in the invincible character
of Rome itself, and a stedfast faith, worthy of a
better object, in the omnipotent protection of Jupi-
ter. With the Christian, Rome was neither Ourano-
polis nor (dsa Po>/x7] ; even " Eternal City " was
a "name of blasphemy;"* and faster than the
heathen could raise monuments to the " semper in-
victi," did the church multiply copies of the Apo-
calypse. By the introduction of a new creed the
very foundations of the Empire were threatened;
" and the nations were angry."

A distinction must be made between the penalties
legally inflicted on the Christians, and the irregular
outbreaks of popular violence by which they suf-
fered ; as well as between the general tenor of the
laws, and the particular edicts authorising per-
secutions. It would appear that Pliny, when
promoted to the governorship of Bithynia, could
find no laws or precedents concerning the treatment
of the Christians!; so that up to the year 106, no
edicts against them were in force : from which we
may infer that the laws of Nero and Domitian had
been repealed, a good office which history ascribes
to the humane Nerva. The edicts generally re-

* " On the forehead of the purple-bearing harlot is written a
name of blasphemy, that is, Rome the Eternal." Hieronymus
in Algasiae Qusest.

•f Pliny's Epistles, book x. 97.

THE CATACOMBS.

quired a fair and open accusation of the supposed
Christian, which would subject the informer, if
unsuccessful, to the penalties provided for such
cases. On this point history is clear: and we
possess decisive proofs of the just intentions of
some emperors. " If the people of your province
(writes Adrian to Minucius Fundanus) think that
they can accuse the Christians in a court of law,
let them do so according to law ; but let there be
no place for clamours and tumults. It is your
part to take cognizance of the affair ; and if the
Christians appear to have done anything illegal,
punish that, and suit the penalty to the offence.
And, by Hercules, if any one descends to accusation
for mere calumny, let him also feel the full weight
of your displeasure."

Later historians, as might naturally be expected,
have in general expatiated upon the times of trouble
to the Church, and passed over lightly those of
tranquillity. With the name of Diocletian, we
associate the recollection of the most fearful scenes,
the barbarities of the Thebaid, and the horrors of
the Peristephanon ; yet for nineteen years of his
reign, (from A. d. 284 to 303,) the peace of the
Church was unbroken ; and so much was discipline
relaxed, that Eusebius considered the persecution
necessary to restore purity, and a spirit of self-
denial. Nor did all the heathen emperors manifest
a positive aversion to Christianity: the Pagan
historian, Lampridius, has recorded a remarkable
example of moderation in Alexander Severus :

THE MARTYRS OF

When the Christians had taken possession of a
certain place which had till then been open to the
public, and the Popinarii (tavern keepers) laid
claim to it, the Emperor decreed that it was better
that God should be worshipped there in any man-
ner, than that it should be given up to such occu-
pants.* Another instance may be given : Aurelian,
when consulted by the Oriental bishops concerning
the ejection of Paul of Samosata, referred the
cause to the Italian clergy, and finally enforced the
execution of their sentence against the dissolute
prelate of Antioch.f

The actual extent and severity of the Pagan per-
secutions, a point much debated among writers, is
best ascertained by examining the testimony of
authors not professing to treat specially of martyrs,
such as Pagan historians, the fathers, and, after the
time of Constantine, ecclesiastical historians. It is
worthy of remark, that in all the inspired records
of martyrdom the mode of execution is described as
that usually employed at the time : the scourge and
cross were a common punishment with the Romans :
and the stoning of Stephen was an act of supposed
obedience to the law of Moses. In this circum-
stance, as Ave shall presently see, they contrast
strongly with some of the later histories, which

* In Vita Alexandri Severi, cap. 49.

t Eusebii Hist. Eccles. vii. 29. This interference of the
Pagan authority, which gave great satisfaction to the Church,
afforded no just ground of complaint to the friends of Paul,
since the emperor only adjudged the possession of the episcopal
residence to the rightful bishop. This event happened about 270.

THE CATACOMBS.

represent magistrates, otherwise humane, as invent-
ing every refinement of cruelty expressly for the
torture of the Christians.

Pagan writers, while they generally pass by
the Christians with contempt, have not omitted to
notice the dreadful calamities inflicted by Nero.
According to Tacitus, a vast multitude were sacri-
ficed in that first persecution ; and both Juvenal
and Martial refer to the particular mode of de-
stroying them adopted by the sanguinary Emperor.
Succeeding writers allude to the persecutions that
followed; and their observations, collected and
compared, furnished materials for a controversy on
the number of martyrs, warmly agitated in the
last two centuries. Up to that time all parties
had agreed in receiving the Roman martyrologies
as genuine : the first who ventured to oppose the
established opinion being the learned Henry Dod-
well, author of a treatise entitled, " On the Paucity
of Martyrs." He argues that Origen acknowledged
very few martyrs before his own time ; that is, the
middle of the third century, and long before the
Diocletian persecution : that few of the emperors
persecuted the Church : that their rescripts pre-
vented as much as possible, both the popular tumults
and the injustice of the provincial governors : that
some emperors were friends and protectors of the
Christians, and that others, though not friendly,
were far from being violently opposed to them.
He does not omit to notice the saying of Ambrose,
" I know that many of the Gentiles are accustomed

THE MARTYRS OF

to boast, that they have brought back the axe
bloodless from their provincial administration."
" It is also," continues Dodwell, " scarcely credible
that princes and their officers, who, though per-
secutors, were in other respects good men, should
have been so inhuman, so athirst for the blood of
the innocent, as some fable-mongers have repre-
sented."*

The " Cyprianic Dissertations " of Dodwell pro-
duced for a time a considerable effect on the learned
world ; but the voice of history, which abundantly at-
tests the sufferings of the ancient Church, was not to
be silenced by an ingenious essayist. It was, there-
fore, quite unnecessary for the translator of Mosheim
to inform us, that in the second century, " a horrid
custom prevailed, of persecuting the Christians, and
even of putting them to death." f

The treatment of the martyrs appears to have
depended in great measure upon the individual
character of their judge. In the case of Cyprian,
suitable respect was paid to his rank, and a direct
act of disobedience proved, before the capital sen-
tence was reluctantly pronounced. In the matter
of those accused under Trajan, the imperial edict
contained the inconsistency of directing Pliny to
put to death the Christians brought to him, but in
no case to seek for them ; whereas in the massacres
under Diocletian, no attempt was made to justify
their punishment by convicting them of crime.

* De Paucitate Martyrum.

t Maclaine's Mosheim, cent. ii. chap. 2.

THE CATACOMBS.

The injustice and cruelty of some persecutors,
as well as the character of the proceedings insti-
tuted by them, are vividly described in the Apology
of TertuUian. But after making allowance for the
declamatory style of that author, it is obvious,
that notwithstanding the unfair methods of convic-
tion resorted to by the Pagans, there existed among
them some sense of justice towards the Christians,
to which the appeal of the African Father was di-
rected. The followers of Jesus, he complains, were
not placed upon the same footing as other criminals
with regard to the means of defending themselves.
They were not permitted to answer for themselves,
a privilege allowed to every other class of offenders.
Nor was their crime properly investigated, but their
religion alone, when confessed, was reckoned suffi-
cient ground of condemnation. " In other cases,"
he complains in a long and eloquent harangue, from
which the following sentences are taken, ^' you ex-
pect full evidence and proof of the details, you must
be put in possession of the time and place, the ac-
complices and manner of the deed. With us no
such forms are observed : whereas you should exa-
mine your prisoner as to the number of infants of
which he has partaken*, the CEdipodean banquets
in which he has joined: what cooks, what dogs
were present. In the case of a murderer, you
torture him to make him confess ; we, on the other
hand, are tortured to force us to deny our crime,

* TertuUian here alludes to the usual charges brought against
the Christians.

THE MAETYRS OF

that is, our name. A man says, * I am a Christian
still he is tortured ; you wish him to tell you a lie :
I confess and am tortured ; what would you do if
I denied ? You suppose a Christian to be a man
guilty of every crime : the enemy of gods, emperors,
laws, morals, and of all nature ; yet in order to
pardon him you force him to deny, for you cannot
forgive him without his denying. This is trifling
with the laws. Is it then a mere contention about a
name ? It would seem so, for you forgive us when
we deny it. " (cap. 2.)

The apologist, having thus exposed the injustice
of the Pagans, proceeds to draw, from their custo-
mary way of speaking, an argument in favour of
the moral character of the Christians. " ^ A good
man that Caius Seius,' says one, ^ except that he is a
Christian' — and ^ / wonder so wise a man as Lucius
has suddenly joined them,' says another : but no one
reflects that Caius is so good, and Lucius so wise be-
cause Christians, or Christians because so good and
wise. Another is thus spoken of ; ^ That woman,
once so wanton, so agreeable (quam lasciva, quam
festiva),' or 'that youth, so seductive, so gallant —
but now they have become Christians ; ' identifying
the name with reformation. But reformation of cha-
racter under that name ofl*ends you.

" Consult your chronicles : you will find that Nero
was the first to turn against us the imperial sword.
Of such an accuser we boast, for whoever knows
Nero, knows that a thing must be very good to
have been condemned by him. Domitian too, a
jimb of him for cruelty. Such have ever been our

THE CATACOMBS.

accusers: but these you yourself condemn, and
are accustomed to right those whom they have
wronged. But no Adrian or Vespasian, no Pius or
Yerus, has issued edicts against us. (Cap. 5.)

You think us traitors for refusing to sacrifice
to the emperors, yet in devotion to them we far
exceed you. For them we supplicate the true, the
living, the eternal God, in whose power they are ;
to whom they are second, after whom first. With
hands extended because harmless, with heads un-
covered because not ashamed, without a prompter
because from the heart we ask long life and every
other blessing for him : these things 1 can ask only
Avhere I know they may be obtained. \Ye do not
oiFer, like you, a pennyworth of incense, the tears
of the Arabian tree, two drops of wine, or the blood
of some superannuated bullock awaiting its death
and, to crown all other shortcomings, a conscience
so defiled, that when I think what blundering
priests are called upon to approve the sacrifice, I
wonder they do not think it more necessary to

* This statement sadly dispels the charm of the heathen
ceremonial. Tlie libations and sacrifices of the ancients might
be supposed, from the account of classic authors, to have been
costly, if not magnificent. The victims, by law, should have
been unblemished, and never yoked to the plough : but the
" ancient piety" had considerably declined in the second century.
So Juvenal :

Et ruit ante aram Summi Jovis, ut vetulus bos
Qui domini cultris tenue et miserabile coUum
Praebet, ab ingrato jam fastiditus aratro.

Sat. X. 268.

THE MARTYRS OF

inspect the hearts of the offerers than of the victims.
Then, while we stand praying before God, let the
ungula3 tear us, the crosses bear our weight ; let
the flames envelope us, the sword divide our throats,
the beasts spring upon us ; the very posture of a
praying Christian is a j^reparation for every punish-
ment. * Do this, excellent judges, torture the
person that prays to God for the emperor ; this will
be a crime, when truth and piety are illegal. (Cap.
30.)

You take it for granted that the Christians are
the cause of all the evils that befal the nation. If
the Tiber overflows, or the Nile does not ; if there
be drought or earthquakes, famine or pestilence,
then — 'The Christians to the lion.' But I pray
you, were misfortunes unknown in the world before
Tiberius ? The true God was not worshipped in
Kome when Hannibal measured by the bushel the
rings taken at Cannee, or when the Senonian Gauls
filled the Capitol itself. (Cap. 40.)

" What testimony do you not bear us in this,
that you rather condemn a Christian woman ad
lenonem than ad leonem ; you suppose that we fear
sin more than death. Crucify, torture, condemn us :
when you mow us down, we increase as in harvest ;
the blood of Christians is their seed.^f

* The apologist refers to the custom of praying standing,
with hands outstretched in the form of a cross. Criminals were
bound in the same position before undergoing punishment.

t Apologeticus c. 50. The preceding sentences are not
quoted continuously, the entire passages being long.

THE CATACOMBS.

In such indignant and scornful terms does the
champion of Christianity defend his cause, not fear-
ing to attack the religion of the state. Yet we
find him escaping with impunity, as well as most
of his contemporaries : indeed it has been often
remarked, that many of the provincial bishops,
exposed as their situation was, held office during
the reign of several successive emperors. The
deacon Pontius declares that Cyprian was the first
Carthaginian bishop who had obtained the crown
of martyrdom. In his epistle to the governor
Scapula, TertuUian quotes instances in which the
Pagans had protected the Christians : he specifies
Cincius, Severus, Candidus, and Asper, who had
favoured their escape ; Pudens, who had refused to
try one of them without an accuser ; and Severus,
father of Antonine, who understanding that cer-
tain illustrious men and women were of that sect,
not only dismissed them unhurt, but bore honour-
able testimony to them, and restored them safely
to their friends in the face of a raging populace."

The writings of Tertullian were composed about
the year 200, when the space of time over which
the Pagan persecutions extended was only half
elapsed : it is possible that at that period the Roman
government, less corrupt and enfeebled than after-
wards, maintained the principles of justice against
the mob, with more firmness than towards the time
of the Diocletian persecution : certainly, that last
desperate attempt to eradicate Christianity was the

H 2

100

THE MARTYRS OF

most vigorous, perhaps in exact proportion to the
alarm of the Heathen regarding its final triumph.

It is not difficult for us to enter into the feelings
of the Pagans, so far as to miagine the apprehen-
sions with which they must have looked forward to
the ultimate issue of the conflict. At the close of
the second century, the members of the new sect
were not more formidable from their numbers and
station, than from their irresistible valour. Carry-
ing in their hand the life they valued so cheaply,
the martyrs lavishly exchanged it for the treasures
of eternal glory ; but besides this, in itself an
abundant recompence, they bought over the
hearts of men. With such a price, they seduced
the world into imitation of their virtues : the same
violence that took heaven by force, prevailed over
earth and vanquished hell. Nothing could have
been devised better adapted to display the power of
the new faith, than submitting its professors to
martyrdom : not proof against the generous enthu-
siasm of his victim, the executioner often caught the
flame ; gazed upon the dangerous spectacle of the
power of true religion, till his heart burnt within
him ; and, fairly overwhelmed by the triumph of
faith and hope, hastened to undergo the death which
his hands had inflicted on another. It was perhaps
the frequent experience of this which led many
of the Pagan officers to avoid capital punishment,
and to employ the more efficacious method of bribes
and entreaties.

There was, moreover, a spirit of combination

THE CATACOMBS.

101

among the Christians, an earnest energy, and a
desire to extend their Master's kingdom at any risk
to themselves, that must have suggested gloomy
forebodings to the more thoughtful worshippers of
Jupiter. There was undoubtedly a falling-otF in
the devotion of the Pagans, independent of the
injuries inflicted on their religion by Christianity ;
a deistical philosophy was gradually taking the
place of polytheism ; yet the vigour of the perse-
cutions shows that the " new dogma" was by no
means looked upon with indifl'erence, nor did the
world tamely allow itself to be surprised into
Christianity. Because a rationalist emperor placed
together in his palace the statues of Orpheus,
Abraham, Christ, and Apollonius, and because a
few of the more learned heathen delighted in the
same eclectic worship ; we are not to infer with
Gibbon, that indifference gave the death-blow to
Paganism, and that Christianity only stepped in to
enjoy the triumph. For one martyr to the unity
of God among the Pagans, — for one Socrates, how
many might be numbered among the followers of
Jesus : to those who bled in the cause, let us
ascribe the honours of the victory. So also Ter-
tullian, " Theirs is the victory, whose was the fight :
theirs the fight, whose was the bloodshed." *

It is told of one of the Antonines by Euna-
pius, that he was in the habit of declaring publicly,
that before long all the temples would be converted

* Scorpiace, cap. 12.

H 3

102

THE MARTYRS OF

into sepulchres. * From the well-known connection
between cemeteries and places of worship among
the Christians, it is clear that the imperial states-
man foresaw the future ascendency of our religion.

The number of lapsed persons existing in the
Church during the later persecutions, while it marks
a declension from primitive constancy, shows also
the severity of the trial to which they had been sub-
jected. In these times we can scarcely realise the
miserable condition of those, who having apostatised
under persecution, were waiting to be restored to
the Church. Such persons were forced to do penance
under the open sky for years, or even for life : with
some sects, as the Novatians, no sufferings could
expiate the insult, and no sacrifice remained in
heaven to wash away the boundless guilt. The
Church indeed, with a better sense of the Divine
mercy, argued the point with the inflexible
sectaries. " What shall we do, Novatian," asks
Arnobius, " shall we condemn the apostle Peter, or
shall we receive him on his return to Christ ? See,
Christ has received him, and do you reject him ?
Paul also exclaims against you, ' It is God that
justifieth, who is he that condemneth ? f But
though not presuming to close the door against
return, the Church regarded the apostate as a
moral suicide, a wretched shadow of himself, who
survived his own decease, and existed but to
perform the funeral solemnities for his defunct soul.

* In vita ^desii. f Arnobius in Psalm cxxxviii.

THE CATACOMBS.

103

" If you had lost a friend," asks Cyprian of such a
one, " a friend who was dear to you, you would
lament the sad misfortune ; you have now lost your
soul, and are to all spiritual purpose dead. * * *
You went to the altar, yourself the victim, — your-
self the sacrifice : there did you offer uj) your salva-
tion, your hope, your faith ; consuming them in
those fatal fires." * So hard was the lot of the
repentant lapsed, that even in a temporal point of
view it would have been better for them to have
ended their lives by glorious death, than to endure
the years of shame and misery which awaited them :
how great then must have been the horrors which
could outweigh both that disgrace and the prospect
of eternal ruin !

From the works of Church historians we are able
to form but a faint idea of the actual character of
a general persecution. We may ascertain how many
persons in a city were tortured or put to death ;
and how the bishop or most distinguished martyr
acquitted himself before the judge: but historians
do not stay to inform us how the mass of the
Church behaved during the weeks or months of
danger. We still desire the sort of minute informa-
tion to be derived from the letters of persons living
at the time : the secret history of a persecution, em-
bracing matters deemed unworthy the notice of
the systematic historian. And in some instances,
time has preserved records, which, though not

• De Lapsis, cap. 5.
H 4

104

THE MARTYRS OF

professedly descriptive of persecution, nevertheless
present us with a faithful picture of the events
connected with it ; which take us behind the
scenes, and exhibit to our peaceful times, not the
heroism of spiritual demigods, but the trembling
faith of weak mortals like ourselves, now fainting,
now triumphing, and still oftener evading the trial
from which flesh and blood have always shrunk.

The correspondence of Cyprian, including the let-
ters addressed to him by the Roman clergy, contains
materials for a minute history of the Decian perse-
cution at Carthage. In this collection of authentic
documents, there is seen a mixture of weakness
with the courage of the martyrs, that may indeed
sometimes diminish the lustre of their exploits,
while the nature of their sufferings, better brought
home to our feelings, excites increased sympathy.
In almost the only piece of martyr-autobiography
contained in it, we read — "I confessed the name
of God with fear among the more timid;" ^ and
throughout, there is an entire absence of the usual
incidents generally foisted into their narratives by
the later Martyrologists.

Early in the year 250 the Decian persecution
broke out in Eome ; and on the news arriving at
Carthage, the people rose in a body, and demanded
by name Cyprian archbishop of that city, to be
thrown to the lions. On the repetition of the cry,
Cyprian, with the concurrence of his clergy, retired

* Lucian's answer to Celerinus. Cyprian, Epist. xxii.

THE CATACOMBS.

105

to a place of safety, whence lie continued by letter
to superintend the affairs of his church, having
lodged the emoluments of his office in the hands of
Eogatian for the relief of the poor during his absence.
His first care was to regulate the pubhc services, so
as to expose the believers as little as possible to
popular rage. He advised that the clergy who
administered the communion to confessors in prison*
should be constantly changed, and that no crowd
should attend on the occasion, for fear of attracting
notice. In this particular, he acted for others on
the same principles of prudence and moderation
which has dictated his own flight.

Wherever Cyprian may have taken refuge, the
quick correspondence maintained between him and
his clergy during the summer, shows that he was
not very far distant. The propriety of his flight
has been debated : that it was the means of pre-
serving to the Church of Africa a primate wdiose
counsel and example proved of inestimable value,
appears to justify the step on the score of usefulness ;
and the readiness with which he presented himself
for Martyrdom, as soon as he considered that his
work was accomplished, fully clears him from the
imputation of any unworthy motive in concealing
himself. His flight has proved of service not only

♦ The practice of administering the communion to confessors
almost every day of their imprisonment, was intended to
strengthen their faith and courage against the time of their
final suffering, which was unknown to them until they were
called out to execution.

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THE MARTYRS OF

to the African Church of the third century, but to
Christians of all countries and times, who have
gathered instruction from the correspondence there-
by occasioned. And unless the final persecution
under a future Antichrist should differ altogether
from all previous troubles, there can be little doubt
but that the letters of Cyprian will rank first among
uninspired writings as a guide to the practical diffi-
culties which must arise on such an occasion.

When the news of Cyprian's retirement reached
Rome, that is, soon after the martyrdom of the
bishop Fabian, the Roman clergy took upon them-
selves, during the vacancy of their see, to write an
anonymous letter of advice to the clergy of Carthage,
whom they affected to consider deserted, and much
needing their brotherly counsel. In this letter
they made some very plain allusions to the flight
of " the blessed Pope Cyprian," such as a reference
to Peter following our Lord afar off ; introducing
the passage, " He that is an hireling and not the
shepherd, seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth." The
Roman clergy, as it happened, were in no better
circumstances than their Southern brethren, for
finding that their episcopal chair was but a stepping
stone to the scaffold, they prudently deferred the
election of a successor to Fabian. In their letter
they inclosed another, to be forwarded to Cyprian,
but of this no copy is extant. Tve can however
guess its contents by the dissatisfaction which it
gave to Cyprian, who finding it to be without
signatures and address, and not even written on

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107

the usual description of paper, returned it to them,
in order that if they wished to own it, they might
subscribe their names. Of this answer they took
no notice, though they continued on friendly terms
with their correspondent.

The proconsul's arrival at Carthage in the month
of April altered the character of the persecution.
The inferior local magistrates had no power to
inflict any punishment beyond imprisonment :
torture and death were decreed by the proconsul
alone. The first company of confessors called
before the tribunal acquitted themselves gloriously :
some, covered with wounds, were remanded till the
following day ; others, exhausted by loss of blood,
breathed their last, and obtained at once the croT\Ti.
" To-morrow," exclaimed Mappalicus from the rack,
" to-morrow you shall see a struggle." He was
as good as his word, for the next day he resisted
to death, before many witnesses. Fortunata and
twelve others were starved to death, and some
were long confined in close dungeons. Paulus lived
through the torture, but died immediately after.

But the proconsul's arrival did not bring triumph
to all. Some who had confessed boldly before the
ordinary officers, were not able to make good their
profession under torture. They had, as it would
appear, calculated upon a speedy release from
suffering, and indulged a spirit of boasting, which,
as Cyprian remarks, drew down upon them the just
judgment of God. Their tormentors took care to
prolong their pangs Avithout endangering life: so

108

THE MARTYRS OF

that a few, overcome by the continued anguish,
denied their faith. For such persons Cyprian
composed an eloquent apology * ; and some of them
soon retrieved their loss. JEmilius and Castus
returned to the conflict, and, though fallen, rose
again: they confessed anew, and were burned to
death. Surely there is some special strength vouch-
safed to those who enter upon the martyr-conflict :
tens of thousands have lapsed at the sight of the
tribunal: one or two have begged a respite from
torture, and gained strength to confess afresh ;
but of those who have been suffered to fall away
after entering upon the trial, the number is small
indeed.

After a few weeks the proconsul quitted Carthage,
leaving in prison a number of confessors, several of
whom died there, and were admitted to the honours
of martyrdom. Many also remained in banishment,
and of these some returned before their time, for
which they were reproved by Cyprian, as they
were now liable to be brought before the courts,
not as Christians, but as criminals. Others gave
occasion for scandal, in a manner deeply lamented
by their bishop, and cast upon the manners of
the primitive Church a reproach not yet forgotten
by the infldel. All this time the number of the
lapsed had been increasing, and now amounted to
thousands. This immense body flxed upon the
remaining confessors as their intercessors with the

* De Lapsis, c. 9.

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109

Church ; and if the office was undertaken with less
humility than was becoming, the case, it must be
allowed, was one of difficidty. It seemed not un-
suitable, that they who had fought successfully, far
from priding themselves upon their advantage,
should be foremost in promoting the restoration of
their weaker brethren. The Church scarcely knew
how to refuse the petition of her much-honoured
martyrs; and God himself, it was argued — God
who hears the prayer of faith, will not turn a deaf
ear to that of his faithful witnesses. On the other
hand, it was felt to be in the last degree dangerous
to speak peace where God had not spoken it ; and
to admit to the cup of the Lord him who had just
before drunk that of demons. AVhat security, it
was urged, have we for the constancy of our
members, if their denial of faith is to be lightly
passed over? who will find it worth his while to
resist the torture, if his backsliding brother is to be
presently restored, and put upon the same footing
as he who has endured? Nor let it be said, that
peace with God and peace with the Church were
matters altogether distinct, and improperly con-
nected in the discussions of that time. It was the
business of the Church to comprise among her
restored members those, and those only, whom
God reckoned among the true penitents ; and an
error on either side of this narrow line was duly
feared. By too great severity the lapsed might be
hardened in his denial, or driven to despair : while
between his crime and his restoration stood as a

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THE MARTYIIS OF

flaming sword the awful declaration, " He tlial
denieth me before men shall be denied also before
my Father which is in heaven." It was therefore
judged advisable to sentence the apostate to a
course of penance, unless in danger of death, when
a clinical or death-bed reconciliation was per-
mitted.

But the lapsed, impatient of their disgrace, be-
thought themselves of a shorter road to restoration.
They beset the prisons, and begged tickets recom-
mending their admission to the sacrament in the
name of the confessors. To such an extent was
this spiritual mendicity carried, that Cyprian com-
plains that thousands of tickets were daily dis-
tributed ; but in this estimate some allowance must
be made for manner of speaking.

And now began a struggle between clerical au-
thority and the new power suddenly brought into
existence. Some of the confessors abstained alto-
gether from using the irregular privilege conferred
by popular acclamation, while others abused it to
a dangerous extent. Saturninus, after his torture,
declined giving any commendatory letters, while
Mappalicus interceded for his mother and sister
alone. Aurelius, who could not write, employed
Lucian to issue tickets in his name ; and Paulus,
not content with making Lucian his secretary,
added a commission to distribute letters " in the
name of the martyr Paulus " after his death. This
power suited well the wishes of Lucian, who was
not backward in dispensing his favours. Celerinus,

THE CATACOMBS.

Ill

a Roman confessor, soon wrote to hint for tickets
in behalf of Xumeria and Candida, women wlio had
acknowledged the heathen divinities in order to
escaj)e torture. The guilt of Candida was somewhat
extenuated, as she had, by bribing the officer,
bought off the necessity for sacrificing ; so that on
arriving at Tria Fata in the Forum, she was
allowed to return without going up to the Capitol.
Lucian, who was now in the eighth day of slow
starvation, with the prospect of living but a few
days longer, took upon himself, in the name of
Paulus and seventeen other martyrs, to salute
Xumeria aud Candida, thereby declaring them
restored to the Church.

Both Lucian and Celerinus ultimately escaped
with life, and Lucian, after some further irregula-
rities, returned to his place in the Church as a
humble lay-member. Their letters attracted notice,
and copies were sent to Cyprian, who forwarded
them to Rome. Thus by accident have come down
to us the letters of two illiterate Christians of the
third century, one a Roman, the other a Cartha-
ginian. If for no other reason, these letters would
be an object of curiosity : but passing between con-
fessor and confessor, the one covered with wounds,
the other dying of hunger, they possess a high degree
of interest.

AYe have been too much in the habit of idealizing
the heroes of the Church : every martyr is not a Poly-
carp or a Perpetua : still less a Cyprian, who sacri-
ficing all thought of personal honour to the more

112

THE MARTYRS OF

comprehensive duties of a commander, awaits tlie
moment of secure victory to rush into the thickest
fight and win his own crown. Besides these generals
of the martyr-army, there are the many in the ranks,
with little knowledge but strong foith — men of a
rough sort of Christianity, with religion enough to
support them on the rack, but neither able to do
themselves credit in writing about it, nor to main-
tain an even frame of mind when their triumph
becomes the subject of general congratulation. Of
such persons let us learn what we can.

To understand the little weaknesses of Lucian and
Celerinus we should remember that they were
persons of scanty education, and scarcely known in
the Church till their fortitude was brought to light
by persecution. Fully sensible of the importance
which they have suddenly acquired, they address
each other with ceremony, using the title Dominus^
which Augustus had not long before declined as too
lofty for an Emperor. Each endeavours to magnify
the honour due to them in common, and at the
same time to vindicate his claim to a full share of
it ; a feeling imperfectly disguised by awkward com-
pliments and mutual professions of excessive regard.
In expecting Lucian to write punctually during his
sulFerings, Celerinus is certainly unreasonable, know-
ins: well the dreadful circumstances in which he was
placed. Celerinus writes from a prison in Rome.

"While writing these things to you, my lord and brother, I am
both glad and sorry : glad, because I hear that you have suffered
for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, and have

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113

confessed his name before the magistrates of this world ; and
sorry because I have received no letter from you by a recent
opportunity. And this often happens to the servants of God,
especially to those who are engaged in confessing Christ, for he
who expects a heavenly crown, does not always attend to earthly
things. I said therefore, that perhaps you had forgotten to write
to me. Yet on such an occasion, I may say it of the least of your
brethren, if I am worthy of the title, Celerinus would have been
heard of. For when I was in the midst of my florid confession,
I remembered my old friends. * * *

" I believe that though we see each other no more in this world,
we shall yet meet in another, when crowned in Christ. Pray
that I also may be deemed worthy to be crowned among your
number. Know that I am now in great tribulation : how much
you are present with me, and how by day and by night I re-
call our former friendship, God only knows. Happy are you,
realizing your long-cherished wishes : for when sleeping on the
ground, you desired that you might be cast into prison for His
name's sake : which thing has now happened to you, as it is
written. The Lord grant thee the desire of thy heart. * * *

" Macarius salutes you, together with his sisters Cornelia and
Emerita, who rejoice in your florid confession, also all the brethren;
Saturninus also, who has himself wrestled with the devil, and has
confessed the name of Christ, and has confessed bravely while
tortured with the ungulae, seconds but too earnestly my request "
(for Numeria and Candida). " Take notice also, that I have
written another letter to my lords your brethren, which I beg
you will have the goodness to read for them."

The Carthaginian, still in prison and under great
privation, thus answers :

" To the lord Celerinus, Lucian his colleague, if worthy to be
called so, in Christ, health.

" I received your letter, my lord and brother most beloved, by
which you have so grieved me, that I had almost fallen from that
joy which I experienced on receiving a letter from you after so
long a silence. I was rejoiced by your manner of making men-
tion of me, arising from your great humility ; for you write ' If
I am worthy to be called a brother ;' of a man who confessed the
name of God with fear among the more timid. For you, by God's

114

THE MARTVRS OF

will, did not only confess boldly, but even intimidate that greater
serpent, the pioneer of Antichrist, by that voice and those godly
words by which you conquered him : such as, ' lovers of faith' —
'zealous of the profession of Christ' — and so forth: in which
smart style of speaking I am happy to think that you excel.
But my dear friend, already to be reckoned among the martyrs,
you have thought fit to grieve me by your letter, in which you
speak of our sisters. I wish it were possible, that they could be
mentioned without the recollection of so great a crime, in which
case we should have fewer tears to shed than at present. * * *

" We were sentenced, in obedience to the Emperor's edict, to
be starved to death. We were therefore shut up in two cells,
to be consumed by hunger and thirst. There were fire and va-
pour, and our tribulation was intolerable, such as none could
support, but now we have reached brightness itself, -j- * * *

" By God's will, Fortuna, Victorinus, and their brethren, have
died of hunger in the prison : in a few days you will hear that
we have joined them. For since we were shut up the second
time, it is now, on the day on which I write, eight days : before
those eight we had, during five days, a small piece of bread, and
water by measure, given to us. We salute Saturus, Bassianus,
Colonica, and all the rest, whose names I do not write, as I am
now exhausted : they must therefore excuse me. I bid you
farewell." J

From the concluding request of Celerinus, Lucian
appears to be the only prisoner at Carthage who
could read and write. He soon found further em-
ployment for his pen, and acting as secretary to the
confessors, wrote to Cyprian, informing him that
they had thought fit to grant peace to all whose
conduct since their lapse had been inoffensive : they

f The meaning of Lucian is obscure : he probably means to
quote the passage, We went through fire and water, and thou
brouglitest us out into a wealthy place." Or perhaps the opening
of the fifth seal, from the ante-Hieronymian version. See Apoe.
vii. 14.

J Numbered 21 and 22 in most editions of Cyprian's epistles.

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115

also cautioned Cyprian against refusing their re-
quest, on peril of tlieir displeasure.

The disapprobation of Cyprian was strongly ex-
pressed : " It is not martyrs that make the gospel,"
he exclaimed, "but the gospel that makes mar-
tyrs." ^ While the confessors took upon themselves
to proclaim peace almost indiscriminately, they
threw upon Cyprian the odium of refusing it to
individuals ; and by their loose manner of wording
the letters, left a wide opening for the return of
doubtful persons. " Let such a one with his friends
be admitted to communion," was an unreasonable
demand upon the leniency of the Church. The
lapsed were reminded by Cyprian, that there was
still a direct way to restoration, by confessing
Christ before a heathen tribunal. Some adopted
this nobler course : a woman named Bona, when
dragged to sacrifice a second time, refused ; her
hands were held by her husband, while she invo-
luntarily performed the act, crying out incessantly,
" It is you, not I, that do it." She was banished,
together with four others who had also previously
lapsed; all these were admitted to communion.
The case of the rest was deferred till Cyprian
should be able to consult with his colleagues.

The great principle Avliich guided the archbishop
in this matter was the importance of not suffering
the lapsed to appear to " serve two masters." Those

* The confessors, by declaring peace to those whose anostacy
was so recent, were in effect making a new gospel.

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116

THE :maktyks of

who sacrificed at the beginning of a persecution,
obtained a certificate, which commonly freed them
from further molestation. Others bought the cer-
tificate without sacrificing: these were termed
Ubellatics, a less flagrant class of lapsed. If, under
such circumstances, persons are received back by the
Church during persecution, there is obviously no
need for confessing at all : the Church contradicts
the Gospel, the first demand of which is successfully
evaded. Mappalicus and Paulus may die in their
beds, but the world will remain heathen.

The laj)sed, still clamorous for admission, conti-
nued to trouble Cyprian; but he received unex-
pected support from some of the confessors, who saw
with regret the irregular proceedings of their bre-
thren. Moyses, Maximus, ^^icostratus, and Kufinus
addressed a letter to their bishop, thanking him for
his exhortations, and attributing to him part of
their success in the conflict. At the same time
they begged him, by all that was noble in the con-
fession of Christ, and fearful in the state of those
who should deny Him, not to break down the
hedge between the faithful and the apostate, or to
allow room for the supposition that the difference
between them was a slight one. But the lapsed,
now grown outrageous, began to prescribe terms as
if with the authority of the Church. Cyprian,
surprised, inquired how they came to constitute
the Church, seeing that God had declared himself
to be " not the God of the dead, but of the living."
Besides refusing their request, he confirmed the

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117

excommunication of Gains, presbyter of Didda, who
had persisted in communicating with them.

On the decline of persecution, some of the sur-
viving sufferers received ordination. Aurelius, a
youth, was made reader, though he deserved higher
honours, having been banished, and afterwards tor-
tured. Celerinus, who had passed nineteen days
with his feet most painfully distended, was also made
a reader. Xumidicus, an older believer, was made
presbyter, in consideration of his peculiar sufferings.
He had exhorted many to endure martyrdom,
and had sustained their courage at the last : he had
seen his wife burnt to death by his side, and was
himself half roasted by the flames, covered with
stones, and left for dead. His daughter, who sought
his body with the intention of burying it, found
life not quite extinct, and succeeded in restoring
animation. In the prospect of such a presbyter,
Cyprian exulted, and looked forward to the time
when Xumidicus should be made a bishop. It was
but natural, he thought, that all these should be
promoted from the rack to the desk ; that, having
confessed Christ in torture, they should now declare
His words in the Church. It is pleasing to find
that they were especially noted for their modesty
and humility ; qualities which forbid the supposition
that any but the purest motives sustained them
in their sufferings. *

* Cypriani Epistolae, et de Lapsis. These letters bring before
us the principles and conduct of one of the most perfect characters
of history. It may be doubted, whether any uninspired person

I 3

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THE MARTYRS OF

We have now examined a few of the authentic
records of antiquity, best calculated to give us in-
direct information concerning martyrdom: but
besides these, there is a large class of writings
professedly devoted to the subject. Of the rise and
progress of martyrology, as the medium through
which the primitive martyrs generally appear to us,
it is important that we should have some knowledge.

There has ever existed throughout the Church an
earnest desire to learn in what frame of mind her
faithful members encountered martyrdom ; how they
felt and acted in that solemn hour, from the mere
contemplation of which our nature shrinks. We
long to know, all at least who desire to share the
spirit of the martyrs, how faith fared when so hardly
beset by sense, and what measure of infirmity
adhered to the soul already standing at the gate of
heaven. The inspired writings, though containing
a slight record of the earliest martyrdoms, can
scarcely be said to have satisfied this wish, but
rather to have supplied a test by which to judge of
the authenticity of other narratives. With the pro-
fessed intention of reporting the last words and
actions of an innumerable host of the faithful, have
been composed the detached treatises entitled " Acts

has ever better realized the conception of apostolic unity, or
more largely sacrificed personal feeling to maintain it : "I be-
seech you, brethren," seems to be his motto, " that ye all speak
the same thing, and there be no divisions among you ; but that
ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the
same judgment." (1 Cor. i. 10.)

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119

of the Martyrs," as well as the voluminous works
known by the name of Marty rologies. To collect
and illustrate the biographies of saints has been
with some writers the business of an entire life 5
yet amidst this profusion of materials there is little
of a nature to satisfy the cautious inquirer : in this
interminable banquet we cry famine. In times of
persecution few sat down to write histories of
passing events, and the fury of Diocletian exter-
minated many records of earlier times. The scanty
remains still extant have been in some instances
corrupted by transcribers ; and to complete the
confusion, the world has been so inundated with
apocryphal stories, containing prodigies and horrors
the most astounding, that the constancy of real
suiFerers is cast into the shade, eclipsed by the
grandiloquence and stoicism of fabulous heroes.

To separate from this mass of rubbish a few facts
relative to the Eoman martyrs, is the present
design of the writer. Among the most inviting
anecdotes of the first century, is that of " Domine
quo vadis?"

During the Xeronian persecution, (we are told by
Ambrose*,) St. Peter, in compliance with the wishes
of his friends, resolved to flee from Rome, and had
already reached the gate of the city, when our
Saviour met him. The apostle quickly recognized
his Divine Master, and inquired with some surprise,
" Lord, whither goest thou ? " "I go to Rome to

* Oratio ad Auxentium.
I 4

120

THE MARTYRS OF

be crucified again," the Saviour answered, and dis-
appeared. St. Peter, left to himself, was not long
in interpreting these words as referring to Christ's
suffering in his servants ; for, as he reasoned, " in
that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he
liveth, he liveth unto God." With these reflections
he retraced his steps, and explained to his friends
the cause of his return. The following morning he
suffered death by crucifixion.

There is strong reason for believing that this
story can be traced back not only to the crucifixion
of Peter, but to the conversion of Paul : that for
Domine quo vadis f should be read Domine quis es ?
and for the gate of Rome, the way to Damascus.

The earliest version of this story now extant
occurs in the works of Origen, who quotes, though
with some hesitation, a still older, but apocryphal
work, " The Acts of Paul ; " in which was an account
of the Lord's appearing to St. Paul, and saying, " I
must be crucified again."* In this story we recog-
nize the vision seen by persecuting Saul, so told as
not to lose the point of the Saviour's answer, that
He suffered in His afflicted servants. For this
doubtless was understood to be the meaning of the
declaration, "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest."

The acts of Processus and Martinianus, a docu-
ment to w^hich nobody has been rash enough
to assign a datef, improve upon the incident by
joining St. Peter with St. Paul, and shifting the

* Origen in Johannem, torn. xxi.

f Published by Surius, in his Yitae Sanctorum.

THE CATACOMBS.

121

scene to Rome. Ambrose, as we have seen, omits
St. Paul, and makes his fellow-apostle sole hero of
the narrative.

This story is repeated without material alteration
by the Pseudo-Hegisippus in the fifth century,
Luitprandus in the tenth, Rupert in the twelfth,
and Innocent III. in the thirteenth. The precise
spot on which the event happened was not fixed till
the fifteenth, when some person selected a part of
the Appian way, about a mile from the gate of
Rome, and built close beside it a chapel, named
" Domine quo vadis ? "

In the sixteenth we find a regular service ap-
pointed for this chapel, which Onuphrius Panvinus
reckons among the most hallowed localities of
Rome. *

The chapel soon feU into decay, and was rebuilt
by Cardinal Pole, some time before the year 1584,
in which Panvinus wrote. The very appropriate

* De praecipuis Urbis Romae. This little work, a devotional
guide-book to the churches of Rome, has always been highly es-
teemed for learning and accuracy. In the service for that chapel
occur these sentences :

Antiphon. Thou art the shepherd of the sheep, the first of
the apostles: to thee are given the keys of the kingdom of
heaven.

Versicle. Thou art Peter.

Response. And on this rock will I build my Church.

Prayer' O God, who to thy blessed apostle Peter hast given
the Pontificate of binding and loosing souls, by conferring the
keys of the kingdom of Heaven : grant that by the heljD of his
intercession, we may be freed from the bands of our sins, through
Christ our Lord.

122

THE MARTYRS OF

name before given to it was soon changed for that
of S. Maria in palmis, or more correctly, according
to some, S. Maria ad passus. The meaning of this
change will soon appear.

So striking an incident as that recorded in the
legend would have been sufficient to secure the re-
putation of any chapel, but for the want of some
visible proof of its truth. To obtain this, at sq
great a distance of time, was not easy ; nor was it
much less difficult to imagine the sort of proof that
could be taken as evidence of the momentary ap-
pearance of a glorified body. But the proprietors
of the little chapel overcame all difficulties : they
added to the legend an incident omitted by the
writers of fifteen centuries, that our Lord had left
the print of his footsteps in the Appian way : and
to silence all objections, they produced the identical
stone which had retained the impression. This
was the work of the seventeenth century, for
Aringhi is the first writer who describes "that
stone most worthy, more valuable than any pre-
cious jewel."*

Vainly does the traveller hope to test the authen-
ticity of this relic by a previous examination of the
hexagonal Appian pavement, or the dark grey por-
phyry which composes it. In the floor of the
chapel is inserted a square mass of whitish semi-

* Roma Subterranea, lib. iii. c. 22. ; Rupertus Tuitensis,
De Gloria Trinitatis, lib. viii. c. 5. ; Luitpraudus de Rebus gestis
in Europa, lib. iv. c. 3. ; Innocentius III., Sermo II. in festo
SS. Petri et Pauli ; Hegisippus de Excidio Judaico.

THE CATACOMBS.

123

vitreous rock, displaying two irregular depressions,
which bear too faint a resemblance to the human
footstep to provoke a conjecture whether they were
executed by the chisel, or cast in some soft material.
If the block be compared with the Appian pavement,
the very stones cry out against the resemblance ;
but criticism is wasted ; a cautious inscription
informs us that the original relic is now preserved
elsewhere ; the stone before us professes to be a
copy.*

By the adoption of this and other legends equally
fabulous, the Church of Rome has done itself in-
justice, casting discredit upon the truly authentic
remains in which the city abounds. Although the
frequent detection of fraud has too often given rise
to the impression that a story is probably false if
adopted by the Church of Rome, we must not suffer
ourselves to overlook the illustrious trophies which
she undoubtedly possesses. For there was main-
tained the fiercest of the fight ; and there fell
two, dignified with the most honourable of titles,
"Apostle and martyr " : in one day suffered Peter and
Paul, whom the rage of Nero joined in martyrdom,
though the rights of Roman citizenship separated
them in the hour of death, and the Tiber now
divides their sepulchres. The citizen of Tarsus

* The pretended original has never been exhibited in the chapel
of Domine quo vadis ; for Aringhi, writing in 1651, tells us that
it had been shown in the old chapel, but had been replaced by a
copy in the new: unfortunately for this story, Panvinus, who
wrote after the rebuilding, and was not likely to omit the small-
est relic, mentions neither stone nor copy.

124

THE MARTYRS OF

was beheaded : the Galilean J ew underwent the
servile punishment of crucifixion.

To return to the history of martyrdom. Among
the earliest sufferers in Rome after the completion
' of the inspired canon, was Ignatius, who was
devoured by beasts in the Coliseum, A. d. 107.
Of his martyrdom we have a short narrative,
expressed in language sufficiently inelegant and
obscure to stamp it as the work of uneducated
persons ; and professing to be the production
of the martyr's personal friends. In addition to
these " acts," published by Usher and Ruinart,
we have the epistles of Ignatius written to seven
Churches while on his way to Rome ; in this
respect he imitated his apostolic friend, who had
departed this life a few years earlier. These
epistles have happily come down to us un cor-
rupted.

From these " acts" and epistles we learn all that is
known of the last days of Ignatius. While the
Emperor Trajan was passing through Antioch on
his way to Armenia, he observed that a portion of
his subjects rendered him imperfect homage, so
that the lustre of his recent victories seemed to
suffer some diminution. His indignation being
roused, he issued an edict commanding the Chris-
tians to sacrifice to the gods, under pain of instant
death. Ignatius, fearing for the Church over which
he was bishop, presented himself before Trajan,
and after a short conversation, too well known to
need repetition, was sentenced to death. He was

THE CATACOMBS.

125

placed under the care of soldiers, to be conducted
to Rome; during the journey he contrived to visit
Poly carp, his fellow-disciple in the school of St.
John. He also wrote to the church of Rome, re-
questing them to make no attempt to save his life.
Among the latest recorded sayings of this Christian
hero, " now ready to be offered " and near the time of
his departure, are these words : —

" I fear your love for me, lest it should do me an injury : your
object is easy of attainment, but for me it is hard to attain to
God, if under the pretext of carnal friendship you spare me.

" Pray to the Lord for me, that through these instruments I
may become a sacrifice to God. I tell you these things, not with
the authority of Peter and Paul, for they were apostles of Jesus
Christ ; I am but a little one. They were free, though God's
servants : I am still a servant ; but if I suffer, I shall be made
Christ's freedman, and shall arise free in Him. Now bound in
Him, I learn to desire nothing vain or worldly. From Syria to
Rome, by land and by sea, I fight with beasts, bound day and
night to ten leopards *, my military guards — who in return for
kindness display more harshness.

" Now I begin to be a disciple, desiring nothing seen or
unseen, that I may attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire and cross,
beasts and wounds, rending of joint from limbs, dissolution of the
whole body, yea, let the malice of the devil come upon me, only
let me win Christ. The ends of the earth can now do nothing
for me, neither the kingdoms of this world. It is better for me
to die for Jesus Christ, than to rule to the limits of the globe."

The voyage of Ignatius and his friends was pro-
tracted by a storm which overtook them near the port
of Ostia ; the martyr afterwards wished to land at

* This passage throws light upon an expression used by St.
Paul, "After the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesu^ :"
Kara ardpuiwop eOrfpiofxa^rjaa. ] Cor. XV. 32.

126

THE MARTYRS OF

Puteoli, that lie might go over the ground formerly-
traversed by St. Paul, but was prevented by the
soldiers, who for this strict performance of their duty
have been sometimes unnecessarily blamed. There
was indeed no time to be lost, for the passage had
been so much delayed by the wind, that the soldiers
began to fear being too late for the sports in
which their prisoner was to sustain so terrible a
part. But the martyr's impatience at least equalled
theirs ; and they reached Rome on the 13th day before
the Kalends of January, during the celebration of
a great fair (the Sigillarian festival), which had
brought together an unusual concourse of people.
Ignatius, now so near to the fulfilment of his wishes,
was led to the Coliseum, already crowded with
spectators. Before an eager multitude, drawn
together to see an old man wearied and defenceless,
unresistingly torn to pieces by beasts, the martyr
received his crown : a few fragments of bone strewed
the soil of the Flavian amphitheatre, all that re-
mained on earth of one who had received an in-
heritance in heaven. Ignatius, knowing the danger
often incurred in obtaining the remains of the
martyrs, had expressed a wish to be so entirely
devoured by beasts, that no fragment of his body
should be found : he could not have expressed more
strongly his confidence in the resurrection, or more
energetically have subscribed to the declaration,
if our earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have a
building of God." So insupportable has the idea
of this apparent annihilation seemed to some later

THE CATACOMBS.

127

inartyrologists, that they have had recourse to a
fiction to avoid it, asserting with little faith and less
veracity, that Ignatius was strangled by tw^o lions
who left the body untouched. *

The catacombs do not afford that full information
on the subject of the Roman martyrs, that might
be expected ; the epitaphs of five martyrs only
havinoj been discovered in them. Of these, one
suffered under Adrian, one under Antonine, one or
two under Diocletian, and one under Julian. This
computation excludes votive tablets : such as

VLVASIO MARTYRI

" To the martyr Ulvasius " ( Aringhi) ; to which
no value can be attached, as they may have been
raised in commemoration of distant or even ima-
ginary martyrs. The few here cited as genuine
possess the strongest marks of authenticity : the
first, belonging to about the year 130, is given by
all the Roman antiquarians :

TEMPORE ADRIANI IMPERATORIS ]MA-
RIVS ADOLESCENS DVX MILITVM QVI
IfJ SATIS VIXIT DYM YITAM PRO CHO .p.
(r) CVM SANGUINE CONSUNSIT IX PACE ^ ^
iT/ TANDEM QVIEYIT BEXEMEREXTES
\/ CVM LACRIMIS ET ISIETV POSVERVXT
/ 1. D. VL

In Christ. In the time of the Emperor Adrian, Marius, a
young military officer, who had lived long enough, when with
blood he gave up his life for Christ. At length he rested in

* Even Ruinart complains of their emendation : "the Latins,
especially the more modern, tell the story rather differently, &c."
— Note to Acts of Ignatius.

128

TflE MARTYRS OF

peace. The well-deserving set up this with tears and in
fear. On the 6th before the Ides of .

This monument was probably erected some years
later than the death of Marius, though in a time of
actual persecution : the meaning of the word hene-
merentes^ unless added by a later hand, is not
obvious.

Next in chronological order comes the epitaph
of Alexander, given in the second chapter of this
work; it belongs to about the year 160, in the
Antonine persecution.

About the beginning of the third century arose
a discussion between the Pagans and Christians,
which throws some light upon the state of martyro-
logy at that time. Celsus, on the part of the
heathen, reproached his opponents with the fortitude
of Anaxarchus, who, when pounded in a mortar,
exclaimed, " Pound the shell of Anaxarchus, him-
self you touch not." " What," he asks, " did your
Deity say in his sufferings, comparable to this?"*
Had the martyrologies of later times been then in
existence, Origen might have matched the speeches
of Epictetus and Anaxarchus by such sayings as
that attributed to St. Laurence, " It is cooked : turn
and eat." The answer of Origen must therefore de-
cide the question whether or not similar stories were
in his time current. It decides in the negative, for
he returns answer that a pious submission to God's
will, or even a prayer, such as "if it be possible

* Origen in Celsum, lib. 7.

THE CATACOMBS.

129

lot this cup 2)as5 from me/' is more truly magna-
nimous than the affectation of insensibility, so
lauded in the Pagan sufferers. From this we may
conclude that the Divine example was still followed
as the model of a Christian's behaviour in the
dreadful scene, and that the abusive and vain-
glorious retorts of later writers were not yet
invented.

Another subject discussed between Origen and
Celsus was the authenticitv of the Sibvlline oracles :
a question too nearly connected with that of the
genuineness of some acts " to be passed by in
this place. From having quoted these fictitious
works in proof of their religion, the Christians
early obtained the name of Sihyllists, You have
daringly," said Celsus, " inserted many abusive
passages among her verses." Origen complains that
Celsus did not specify the interpolations, nor pro-
duce old copies of the original writings. It is
certain that Celsus might have supported his charge.
The name of Orpheus had also been borrowed : his
writings, evidently fictitious, were circulated in the
Church. The first converts long retained a pre-
possession in favour of Orpheus, whom they con-
sidered a type of our Lord, by the sweetness of
His preaching, drawing all men after Him.

The existence of the Pseudo- Sibylline oracles
shows but too plainly that there were in the ancient
Church persons capable of forging documents of a
Christian character, and others credulous enough
to be deceived by them. Besides such treatises as

130

THE MAKTYRS OF

the Clementine recognitions, the Apocalypse of St.
Peter, and the Gospel of Nicodemus, it is certain
that apocryphal acts of Martyrs were propagated
from time to time, fragments of which, carelessly
transferred to their own pages by writers of ap-
proved veracity, have introduced confusion and
contradiction into some of the best works on
Ecclesiastical History.

Of the ninth and last persecution under Diocle-
tian, the most severe that the ancient church ex-
perienced, the catacombs contain but one known
monument, the epitaph of Lannus. This martyr is
not mentioned in history, and but for the rude in-
scription which has been preserved in the catacombs,
his name would have been forgotten on earth, until,
in the language of an African Martyr, it had been
heard at the day of judgment. The inscription
was discovered and published by Boldetti.

Lannus, Christ's Martyr, rests here. He suffered under
Diocletian. (The sepulchre is) also for his successors.

THE CATACOMBS.

131

This fac-simile represents one of the very few
epitaphs actually inscribed on the grave of a mar-
tyr, specifying him to be such. Its value is in-
creased by the letters E. P. S., showing that the
tomb had been legally appropriated to Lannus and
his family after him — et posteris suis.

Aringhi contributes another, which probably
belongs to the same date.

PRIMITIVS IN PACE QYI POST
M\T.TAS ANGVSTIAS FORTISSIMYS MARTYR
ET YIXIT ANNOSP.M.XXXVIII CONIA^G. SVO
PERDVLCISSIMO BENEMERENTI FECIT

It was not usual in the ancient church to record
in an epitaph the circumstance of martyrdom : all
the exceptions known are in the case of men. It
was the martyr's widow who broke the customary
silence, and in her bereavement sought consolation
in perpetuating the triumph which had cost her so
dear. " Primitius in peace, after many torments
a most valiant martyr. He lived 38 years, more
or less. His wife raised this to her dearest hus-
band, the well deserving."

Although the church took but little care to
record her sufferings under Diocletian, we have
a proof of their sweeping severity in the inscrip-
tions raised by that Emperor and his colleague.
According to Gruter, they were found on two
columns in Spain.

DIOCLETIAN . CAES .
AVG . GALERIO . IN . ORI
ENTE . ADOPT . SVPERS
TITIONE . CHRIST .

K 2

132

THE MARTYRS OF

VBIQ . DELETA . ET . CVL
TV . DEOR . PROPAGATO

DIOCLETIANVS lOYIVS ET
MAXIMIAN : HERCVLEVS
CJES : AVGG .
AMPLIFICATO PER ORIENTEM ET OCCIDENTEM
IMP : ROM :
ET

NOMINE : CHRISTIANORVM
DELETO QVI
REMP : EVER
TEBANT.

The first of these celebrates the universal ex-
tinction of the Christian superstition in the East,
and the propagation of polytheism under Diocle-
tian and Galerius. The second extols Diocletian
and Maximian for having extended the Roman
empire, and extinguished the name of the Chris-
tians, who were overturning the republic.

We have here a monument raised by Paganism
over the grave of its vanquished foe. But in this
"the people imagined a vain thing so far from
being deceased, Christianity was on the eve of final
and permanent triumph, and the stone guarded a
sepulchre empty as the urn which Electra washed
with her tears. Neither in Spain nor elsewhere
can be pointed out the burial-place of Christianity :
" it is not ; for the living hath no tomb.''

The final establishment of our religion was
effected almost without a struggle: the edicts of
Constantine were received with acquiescence, and
the nation appears to have been more than half

THE CATACOMBS.

133

Christianised before Paganism was rejected by the
state. A powerful reaction followed the last per-
secution, greatly increased by the divine judgments
inflicted on some of its principal abettors : these
were so remarkable as to give occasion to a special
work of Lactantius, entitled, " The Deaths of the
Persecutors." The return of the exiled confessors
was triumphant, and the Pagans themselves ac-
knowledged the interference of God in behalf of his
worshippers.

The short persecution which occurred during the
reign of Julian gave rise to few martyrdoms, it
being the policy of that emperor to discountenance,
rather than to crush by force, the hostile faith.
The taste for martyrological fiction already be-
ginning to find its way into the church, deeply
affects the value of most pretended records of that
persecution, but among these, the legend of Gordi-
anus has recently been verified by evidence of
so remarkable a character, as to encourage a hope
that other documents, at present unauthenticated,
may yet receive confirmation from equally remote
sources. His epitaph was discovered by Aringhi
in the cemetery of St. Agnes, and published, together
with an interpretation, in 1650. So strangely was
the inscription expressed, that the persons who,
some centuries before, had transported the body
of Gordianus to Gaul, had left the epitaph, not
knowing to whom it belonged. It is written in
a barbarous Greek character, of which no other
specimen has been discovered in the catacombs :

K 3

134

THE MARTYRS OF

Read — Hie Gordianus GalHae nuncius, jugulatus pro fide.
Cum familia tota ; quiescunt 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. Theo-
phila, a handmaid, set up this.

We are not to infer from these words that the
whole family was martyred, or that they all rest in
the same grave ; but simply that Gordianus was
martyred, and that the rest had died before Theo-
phila set up the monument. But why Gordianus,
sent to Gaul as legate, should bring back a maid-
servant who wrote Latin words in Greek characters,
and why these characters should be unlike all others
found in the Roman cemeteries, requires explanation.

About thirty years after the time of Aringhi,
Mabillon drcAv attention to an observation made by
Julius Caesar, that the GalKc Druids were accus-
tomed to use Greek letters in their secular trans-
actions, and that they had the management of the
education of youth.* This accounts for Theophila's
Greek, some letters of which can scarcely be
admitted within the pale of the standard alphabet.
She afterwards learns Latin, but only by ear : this

* De Bello Gallico, lib. vi.

THE CATACOMBS.

135

ill-assorted learning does not enable her both to
write and speak any one language. Were it
sufficient for her to dictate the epitaph, this
would create no difficulty ; but the stone-cutter
to whom she entrusts its execution, is probably
ignorant of letters, and must have an exact copy
of the inscription laid before him. Theophila
has one resource, to express Latin words in
Druidical Greek letters : in this way she contrives
to record the martyrdom of her Master.

We are here met by a difficulty : we have made
out, upon the strength of an obscure inscription, the
story of a Roman legate, a man high in office, mar-
tyred for the faith. We have placed the incident
in Rome, and fixed upon the catacombs as his
burial place : we have given him a household, and,
in particular, a faithful Christian handmaid, who
raises a monument to his memory. But does history
contain no notice of so remarkable an occurrence ?
Aringhi, who discovered the epitaph, knew of
none : and so strongly did he feel the want of
some historical confirmation of his interpretation,
that he endeavoured to explain the words Galliee
Nuncius," as " ecclesiastical nuncio from Gaul."

About ninety years before Aringhi wrote, Surius
published a manuscript, entitled ^' The Martyrdom
of St. Gordianus." In this tract is described the
conversion of a Roman nobleman named Gordianus,
through the preaching of Januarius the presbyter
who sufi*ered in the time of Julian : also the baptism
of Gordianus and his wife Marina, together with a

K 4

136

THE MARTYES OF

large part of his household, amounting to fifty-
three persons. Gordianus was martyred, and hisbody
exposed before the temple of Minerva, from which in-
dignity it was soon rescued by one of the household?
who buried it in the catacombs on the Latin way.

A coincidence more complete can scarcely be de-
sired: the passage in Caesar's Commentaries not
brought to bear upon the subject till 16S0; the
epitaph itself first discovered and interpreted in 1650;
and the martyrology of Surius, published in 1560,
and not quoted in illustration of the epitaph by either
Mabillon or Aringhi, compose a strong body of eyi-
dence : and when we consider that this evidence is
noAV brought together in its entire form, perhaps
for the first time, the impossibility of any collusion
between the witnesses will be obvious.

AVe have now passed through the reign of Julian :
from this time downward we must be content to
find the authentic records of martyrdom but
sparingly scattered throughout voluminous col-
lections of " Acts," and often to receive in their
stead a series of novels extravagant in style, and
in many cases discreditable to their authors. If
chronological order be strictly adhered to, the list
of those who have dabbled in martyrological fiction
must begin with the great name of Ambrose.

To the practice of building chapels over the graves
of martyrs, had succeeded that of transporting their
remains : for martyr-gmves could not always be
found in situations suitable for building, and relics
were, in course of time, thought almost necessary to

THE CATACOMBS.

137

the consecration of a church. For some time the
catacombs of Rome furnished bodies for this pur-
pose ; but at Milan, the congregation of Ambrose
found trophies nearer home. This transaction, which
leaves but a narrow loophole for the escape of the
bishop's personal character, is best told in his own
words :

" To a sister more dear than life or eyesight, her brother
Ambrose. As I omit to tell you nothing that is done
here in your absence^ know also that we have found holy
martyrs. For when I was about to consecrate the Basilica,
many of the people exclaimed, as with one Toice, ' TVill you
thus consecrate the Basilica Romana ? ' 'I will do it,' said I,
" if I can find martyrs : " and immediately there came over me,
as it were the glow of a lucky omen. To shorten the story:
the Lord vouchsafed his favour, for while the clergy were in
alarm, I gave orders that the ground should be dug up in front
of the chancel of Sts. Felix and Nabor. I found encourao^ino;
signs ; for after I had sent for some of those on whom we were
soon to lay hands, the holy martyrs so began to betray them-
selves, that an urn was seized and overturned before the sepul-
chre, while we stood still beside it. We found two men of
wonderful size, such as the ancient age produced — the bones
all entire — abundance of blood."*

"I cast it into the fire, and there came out this
calf," once said Aaron, in circumstances not alto-
gether dissimilar. The fresh corpses received the
names of Gervasius and Protasius, and were in due
time enrolled as saints and martyrs. In the Roman
Ritual of Paul the Fifth, as well as in numerous
breviaries and pontificals, occurs the petition,
" Holy Gervasius and Protasius, pray for us."f

* Ambrosii lib. x. Ep. 85.

t The Eoman Missal, A. d. 1657, has a service for their fes-
tival. The post communion is in these words : —

138

THE MARTYRS OF

During the life of Ambrose, though, perhaps, not
under his superintendence, other discoveries were
made, which throw some light upon the invention
of the last-mentioned saints. In the life of Ambrose,
written by Paulinus, is described the discovery of
Nazarius martyr: the simplicity of the narrator
disarms criticism.

" At that time," says the worthy bishop of Nola, " was
brought to the basilica of the Apostles, that is, the Basilica
Romana, the body of St. Nazarius the martyr, which had been
buried in a garden outside the town. In the sepulchre which
had contained the body of tlie martyr (who, when he suffered,
we have not to this day been able to discover), we saw the
martyr's blood as fresh as if it had been shed that very day.
So entire and undecayed was the head, together with the hair
and beard, that it seemed to us as if washed and laid in the
sepulchre, at the time that it was taken up. And what marvel ?
since the Lord aforetime promised in the gospel that not a hair
of their heads should perish." *

After a few years, the discovery of imaginary
martyrs became a source of profit to unprincipled
persons, who, in defiance of the Theodosian law,
hawked their worthless wares about the distant
villages. Let no one," enjoined the edict of
386, "let no one carry away or sell a martyr." f
The Church was soon forced to interfere, and at
a council held in Carthage, a. d. 401, it was ordered

" May this communion, O Lord, cleanse us from sin, and,
through the intercession of thy holy martyrs Gervasius and
Protasius, make us to be partakers of the heavenly remedy,
through the Lord."

* Paulinus in Vita Ambrosii.

t Codex Theodos. lib. ix. titulus 17.

THE CATACOMBS.

139

that all false martyr churches and unauthenticated
relics should be destroyed: that none should be
enrolled as martyrs without sufficient proof : and
that all altars consecrated upon the authority of
dreams, and on other superstitious grounds, should
be disavowed.

This decree was more easily passed than carried
into execution : it was not always possible to decide
upon the authenticity of a shrine, and popular ac-
clamation often settled the question in the way
most favourable to the taste of the ao;e. The de-
monological skill of Martin of Tours was now
brought to bear upon the subject : a certain
martyr-altar, though duly consecrated by bishops,
and honoured by the people, had long excited his
suspicions ; for, in answer to repeated inquiries, no
satisfactory account of the martyr could be obtained.
At length Martin, resolving to seek information
from the best authority, proceeded ^\dth his friends
to the tomb, and invoked the spirit of its occu-
pant. The event justified his caution : a dirty and
savage-looking ghost, altogether unlike that of a
martyr, appeared on the left hand of the shrine,
and candidly confessed that he was but a common
thief, executed for his crimes, and honoured through
a vulgar error. He had, he said, no connection with
the martyrs. The friends of Martin, though not
sufficiently clear-sighted to see the ghost, received
from him an accurate description of its appearance,
and concurred in the propriety of removing the

140

THE ]\IABTYRS OF

altar.* By such exploits, the saint earned the
title of " Beatus Martinus."

Martyrology, when viewed as a branch of litera-
ture, is found to pass through the same stages as
the fine arts in general. The acts of Ignatius may
be taken as a specimen of the early or pure style :
with the works of Ambrose we enter upon the
florid: a sure sign that the debased is not many
centuries distant.

Among the most elaborately finished productions
of Ambrose, is the story of Theodora, a young
woman of remarkable beauty, who had attracted
the notice of the governor of Antioch. Vainly was
she urged to renounce Christianity ; threats of
torture failed to shake her constancy ; and when
finally told that she must either sacrifice, or be
publicly disgraced, she calmly answered, " The will
alone is what God regards." Being at length con-
demned by the reluctant governor, she was led to
the place of confinement, where she ofi'ered up a
prayer for deliverance. A ferocious-looking soldier
forcing his way through the crowd, immediately
entered the cell : Shut your ears," exclaims
Ambrose at this juncture, " Christ's faithful wit-
ness suffers ; nay, but listen once more, for deliver-
ance is at hand." That wolfs clothing disguises a
sheep ; the man of arms is a soldier of the cross,
bent on saving his fellow believer at the cost of
his own life. He quiets her apprehensions, and

* Sulpitii Severi, vita Martini, cap. viii.

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141

proposes to exchange dresses with her, so that she
may pass out in his stead. " Take the dress which
hides your sex, and give me that which makes me
a martyr ; believe that for Christ's sake you wear
this heathen habit. Be this," he continues, putting
upon her his armour, " be this your breastplate of
righteousness, this your shield of faith, and this
your helmet of salvation. But, above all, as you
go out, hide your face, and let no thought of my
fate cause you to turn your head ; if tempted to
look back, remember Lot's wife." Theodora es-
caped in safety, leaving the generous Didymus
within. The next who entered, discovered the
change of the prisoner ; but, unable to explain the
mystery, attributed it to a miracle. The cir-
cumstance was soon reported to the governor, and
Didymus sentenced to execution.

But Theodora, hearing of his apprehension, ran
to the place of punishment, and hastened to dispute
with him the crown of martyrdom. " I will not be
guilty of your death," she exclaimed ; " I consented
that you should preserve my honour, but not my
life. If you deprive me of the crown of martyrdom,
you will have deceived me." Two contended, both
triumphed : the crown was not divided, but con-
ferred on each. *

Whether in the Diocletian persecution married
women suddenly failed in that constancy which they
had exhibited in the times of Perpetua and Feli-

* Ambrosius de Virginibus, lib. ii.

142

THE MARTYRS OF

citas, or whether later martyrologists thought their
sufferings not sufficiently interesting to deserve
commemoration, the reader must decide : from
whatever cause, the virgin martyrs begin after this
time to engross exclusive attention. Between the
desire to magnify the indignities offered to them,
and at the same time to exhibit them as coming off
with undiminished honour, writers are sorely per-
plexed. The usual custom is to introduce a miracle
by which they are rescued from impending fate,
which on some very rare occasions is admitted to
have befallen them. This remark, however, applies
more particularly to the writers of the middle ages.

The fame of the Catacombs as a repository of
martyrs' ashes now spread throughout Christen-
dom, and attracted to Rome many admirers of relics.
Among these was Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, a
native of Saragossa, who, about 380, travelled from
Spain to Rome for the express purpose of visiting
the Catacombs ; and whose enthusiasm, kindled by
the countless sepulchres of the martyr Church, found
expression in a collection of Hymns, entitled Peri-
stephanon, or " Concerning the Crowns his merits
as a poet will come before us afterwards, at present
we have to consider him as the first writer who
attempted to reduce to a pleasing form the incidents
of martyrdom. The habit of supplying from ima-
gination, deficiencies in the interest or continuity
of a story, though excusable in a poet, has had the
worst effect upon this branch of history : for prose
authors, following Prudentius literally, have copied

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143

the exaggerated expressions which disfigure his
verses. An illustration of this occurs in the history
of Laurence: Ambrose, who first describes his
martyrdom, tells us that while burnt on a gridiron
over a slow fire, he exclaimed " It is cooked, turn
and eat." * In the hands of Prudentius, these words
expand into a speech of several lines ;

Converte partem corporis

Satis crematum jugiter :

Et fac periclum, quid tuus

Vulcanus ardens egerit.
Praefectus inverti jubet.

Tunc ille : Coctum est, devora,

Et experimentum cape,

Sit crudum an assum suavius.
Haec ludibundus dixerat.t

This amplification, however questionable in point
of taste, may be allowed in a florid poem, and
should be received as a mere flourish of the writer.
But Foxe has understood it differently, having mis-
taken the versification of the poet for that of the
martyr : for he represents Laurence, while lying
on the gridiron, as addressing the judge in a
stanza of four lines, of which he gives a metrical
translation. This mistake is the sole foundation of
the popular story of St. Laurence's verses on the
gridiron. J

The last and longest of the hymns in the Peri-

* Ambrosii Officiorum, lib. i. c. 41.

t Prudentii Peristephanon, Hymn III. 401.

J See Foxe's Acts and Monuments, vol. i.

144

THE MARTYRS OF

stephanon, describes the martyrdom of Romanus,
who suffered under Diocletian, in the year 303.
After the execution of the sentence —

Tundatur, inquit, tergum, crebris ictibus
Plumboque cervix verberata extuberet ;

the martyr, nothing overwhehned by the hailstorm
of the leaden scourges (pulsatus ilia grandine), but
retaining both sense and speech, addresses Ascle-
piades in an oration, in which he enumerates the
crimes attributed to the heathen deities. The
judge, roused at length by the oft-repeated ques-
tion, " Would you have me worship such a god ? "
attempts a reply ; he argues that Rome had obtained
her present glory under the patronage of Jupiter
Stator; and that it would be ungrateful to leave
the worship of the eternal gods who presided over
the building of the city, for a novelty just called
into existence ; and after a thousand consulates
had rolled away, to embrace this new Christian
dogma. The flesh is now cut from the bones of
Romanus, while he carries on a comparison between
the pains he endures, and those attendant upon
sickness. " The ungulae tearing the sides," he
observes, " give no pang so sharp as those of
pleurisy : the red-hot plates are less scorching than
the heat of fever ; nor are my swelled and tortured
limbs more painful than those of persons suffering
from gout." His constancy is next put to the
proof by fearful mutilations, after which he delivers
an harangue on the cross and the plan of redemp-

THE CATACOMBS.

145

tion ; then adducing the command not to cast
pearls before swine, he professes his intention of
remaining silent for the future. He adds, however,
that if the judge will fix upon any child of seven
years old or under, he will pledge himself to follow
whatever that infant may declare to be the truth.
Acting upon this suggestion, the president seizes
an infant in the crowd, and, after obtaining from
it a confession of Christianity, orders it to be
scourged.

In this scene, the severity of the punishment, its
effect upon the bystanders, the weeping execu-
tioners, but, most of all, the inhuman conduct of
the mother of the child, in reproving it for begging
of her a cup of water, and referring it to a long
list of Jewish martyrs by way of consolation, have
afforded Prudentius abundant scope for the horrible
descriptions in which he delights : —

" Vix haec profatus, pusionem praecipit
Sublime toUant, et manu pulsent nates ;
Mox et remota veste virgis verberent,
Tenerumque ductis ictibus tergum secent,
Plus unde lactis, quam cruoris defluat.
Impacta quotiens corpus attigerat salix,
Tenui rubebant sanguine uda vimina,

Quern plaga flerat roscidis livoribus.
* * * *

At sola mater liisce lamentis caret,
Soli sereno frons renidet gaudio."

The child, though exhausted by loss of blood, re-
vives and smiles ; and during its decapitation, the
mother sings the versicle, " Precious in the sight

146

THE MARTYRS OF

of the Lord is the death of His saints." * The
torturing of Romanus now proceeds with redoubled
vigour, and after several miracles, only serving to
provoke Asclepiades and to prolong the sufferings
of the martyr, he is despatched by strangling.

The writers who flourished soon after the time
of Julian vied with one another in elaborating
highly- coloured descriptions of the horrors of mar-
tyrdom. Prudentius being the first who wrote in
metre, we cannot always say in poetry, brought
out the whole subject with fresh embellishments,
and was greatly admired by his contemporaries and
successors. " The torments which Prudentius ad-
mirably describes," remarks Euinart, in reference
to the sufferings of Eomanus. But the hymn just
quoted is sufficient to shake our belief in him as a
martyrologist ; without reckoning the miracles, the
whole story is a string of improbabilities : the mar-
tyr is represented as betraying an infant to certain
destruction : the mother displays a want of feeling
scarcely credible, and altogether odious : and the
infant itself, though lately weaned, exhibits the
understanding and resolution of mature age. The
profusion of miracles answers no end, and is sup-
ported by no evidence : indeed, the existence of
miraculous adjuncts to martyrdom must often

* The poet has found a worthy commentator in Fabricius,
who has this note : " The mother is tempted by the complaining
of her child, but persists in her exalted resolution. * * *
She refuses a little water to his thirst, and directs him to Christ
as a fountain." Foxe takes the same view of her conduct.

THE CATACOMBS.

147

be doubtful, from the difficulty of obtaining dis-
passionate testimony. There are, moreover, strong
objections in the nature of these miracles : that
God should deliver His servants from their enemies,
or support them miraculously under torments, is
perfectly in accordance with the tenor of the in-
spired records : but, if we are to believe Prudentius,
Eomanus having had his face completely cut to
pieces, and being still enabled to speak distinctly,
derives no relief from the supernatural aid : he is
delivered to another executioner, who cuts out his
tongue. After the second mutilation, the martyr,
having no voice to send heavenward, no words
with which to proclaim his Master's triumph, draws
from his inmost heart a long sigh, and supplicating
with a groan, breaks forth : '* Who speaks of Christ
never yet wanted a tongue : and ask not by what
organ words are formed, when the Giver of words
is the subject of speech." Yet no conversion of
the bystanders ensues ; nor does any effect follow
the miracles, excepting that of exasperating the
judge. The same want of result is observable in
most of the prodigies related by Prudentius.

Perhaps we shall not be wrong in ascribing the
character of these stories to the excited state of
feeling which prevailed when they were written.
Their general tendency is to make us believe that
the martyrs suffered no pain, and had therefore
less merit in facing the torments prepared for them :
while they exhibit the victim and his executioner
as two combatants, hinc martyr, illinc carnifex,"

L 2

148

THE MARTYRS OF

the one backed by miracles, and supported by
insensibility to pain ; tlie other armed with the
most fearful implements that human or diabolical
cruelty could invent. In this novel species of sin-
gle combat, in which high words were not wanting
on either side, the pagan was invariably worsted.
For in his own dissolving powers the martyr saw
the pledge of victory ; and the failure of pain to
shake his constancy was a deep disgrace to his foe.
Unfettered by the " nec Deus intersit " of the pro-
fane, the poet liberally introduced the agents of
heavenly or hellish power : if there was no group
of Oceanides to console the Christian Prometheus,
there was a chorus of angels to sing in his dungeon,
to strike off the galling fetters, and to fill the air
with odours. The spiritual support promised to
martyrs is realised in the most material form : the
sharp edges of the flints are sheathed in flowers,
and a ray of light, escaping beneath the door, re-
veals to those without, the presence of celestial
visitants. The jailer listens in amazement : at one
moment the clear voice of the martyr fills the
cavern ; at another the invisible Coryphoeus invites
him to heaven, and promises an eternal crown : —
^' Arise, illustrious martyr, secure of thy reward :
arise, and join our company. — 0 warrior most in-
vincible, braver than the bravest, thy tortures, cruel
as they are, fear thee their conqueror." *

The humble Felicitas, when asked by a soldier

* Peristeplianon, Hymn 2.

THE CATACOMBS, 149

how she would endure the pangs of martyrdom,
made answer in the memorable words, " Another
will suffer in me." The martyrologists seldom
imitate this speech, but prefer to represent their
heroes as endowed with a species of insensibility.
In what might be a Christianised version of the
speech of Anaxarchus, Prudentius makes his hero
explain the principle of his fortitude : —

" Tear as you will this mangled frame,

Prone to mortality ;
But think not, man of blood, to tame

Or take revenge on me.
You overlook, in thus supposing,
The nobler self that dwells within ;
Throughout these cruel scenes reposing,
Where nought that injures enters in.
This, which you labour to destroy
With so much madness, so much rage,

Is but a vessel form'd of clay.

Brittle, and hasting to decay.

Let nobler foes your arms employ ;

Subdue the indomitable soul ;
Which, when fierce whirlwinds rend the sky,
Looks on in calm security.
And only bows to God's control."*

* " Erras cruente, si meam

Te rere poenam sumere,
Quum membra morti obnoxia
Dilancinata interficis.

Est alter, est intrinsecus,

Violare quem nuUus potest.
Liber, quietus, integer,
Exsors dolor um tristium.

Hoc, quod laboras perdere
Tantis furoris viribus,

L 3

150

THE MARTYRS OF

If we cannot allow as a genuine offspring of
Christianity tlie spirit that attributed fierce words
and a proud stoicism to the martyrs, neither can
we admit to that honour the rage for martyrdom
that is said to have possessed some of the younger
believers. In the year 372 the Council of Elvira
found it necessary to refuse the honours of mar-
tyrdom to those who were killed in breaking idols,
on the ground that such a proceeding was neither
commanded in the Bible, nor sanctioned by Apos-
tolic example. In telling the history of Eulalia,
Prudentius highly approves of her bold and in-
sulting bearing towards the Pagan authorities.
That young lady had from the cradle given promise
of a fierce and unsociable disposition, calculated, if
we are to believe the descriptions of the poet, to
distinguish her in the religious world then existing.
On the outbreak of persecution, she was removed
to the country by her heathen parents, and even
shut up to prevent any collision vnth the au-
thorities. On a dark and silent night she escaped
from her home, and, guided by angelic torch-
bearers, made her way into the city. Early in
the morning she presents herself at the tribunal
and vehemently abuses the emperor and his
gods. She requests that her bodily frame may be
torn to pieces, as a thing useless in itself, and

Vas est solutum ac fictile,
Quocumque frangendum modo." &c.

The entire passage is imitated from Cyprian's tract to Deme-
trian, cap. 8.

THE CATACOMBS.

151

unworthy the trouble of preserving. Provoked by
her language, the praetor orders the lictors to bind
her ; but, before inflicting punishment, he sets
before her the miseries which she draws upon
herself and her parents, the prospects of happiness
which her home offers, and the speedy marriage
which awaits her. A grain of incense cast upon
the coals is to be the sign of her recantation. To
this she vouchsafes no verbal answer ; but spits in
the face of the praetor, throws down the images,
and kicks over the thurible. The two executioners
immediately perform their office by tearing with
the ungula her sides and bosom. In the gashes
inflicted by the instrument, her excited imagination
traces the letters of her ]\Iaster's name ; and her
voice, unshaken by sob or sigh, joyfully proclaims
His triumph.* Torches are afterwards placed
under her face ; and this gives her an ojDportunity
of ending her life by inhaling the flames of her
burning hair.

To return to the prose writers. " The acts of

* " Nec mora, carnifices gemini
Juncea pectora dilaceraiit ;
Et latus ungula virgiueum
Pulsat utrimque, et ad ossa secat,
Eulalia numerante notas.
Scriberis ecce ! milii Domine ;
Quam juvat hos apices legere."

Peristephanon, Hymn 9.

The various " acts of Eulalia" differ so much from each
other, and contain such revolting improbabilities, that the
original story appears to have been completely lost.

I. 4

152

THE MARTYRS OF

Tarachus and Probus," says Ruinart, who pub-
lished them in the seventeenth century, " rank
among the most precious and genuine monuments
of antiquity." This treatise, professing to relate
the martyrdom of three Christians, reported by eye-
witnesses, begins by placing the event in the first
consulate of Diocletian, that is, in the year 284, in
the middle of the fifty years' peace enjoyed by the
church. Hence we cannot suppose the acts to be
older than the fifth century, as the date of the
persecution could not easily have been forgotten
earlier. These Acts profess to be a transcript of
the proconsular records, procured for the Christians
by Sabastus, an archer on duty at the trial: to
this is subjoined an account of the death and burial
of the sufi'erers, added by a Christian. In such a
document there should be no difiiculty in ascer-
taining where the martyrs sufi'ered ; for it has never
been doubted that Cyprian was beheaded at Car-
thage, nor did those, who in the sixteenth century
denied that St. Peter was crucified in Rome, sug-
gest any other scene of his martyrdom. But
whether Tarachus and his companions witnessed
for the faith in Tarsus, Sciscia, Sicily, Cilicia,
Mopsueste, or Anaxarbus, remains doubtful amidst
the contradictory assertions of two Greek manu-
scripts.

The most remarkable feature of these acts is
their highly unnatural and improbable character.
A condensed enumeration of tortures, varied only
by the repartees of the sufferer, may for a few

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153

lines excite horror; but when continued through
many pages, imagination refuses to grant such
powers of endurance to our frail nature. A diffi-
culty meets us at the outset : these " Acts," though
given as an official report of the trials, betray a
Christian author, for they contain abundance of
speeches attributed to the martyrs, related in
Christian language. Indeed, the chief point of the
narrative is made to lie in these speeches, generally
highly figurative, and the mistakes of the Pagans
arising from a too literal interpretation of them.
Happily for the reader, his attention is continually
diverted from the mutilation of the martyrs, to
their successful wit-combats with their judge.
" Rub him with salt," exclaims the governor ;
" Salt me more, that I may be incorruptible,"
replies Tarachus. When taunted by Maximus
with his blindness, he returns the reproach, and
boasts of inward vision. He professes to be armed
from head to foot, clothed in divine panoply :
Maximus, who sees his naked body one undistin-
guishable wound, is necessarily puzzled by the
assertion, and has recourse to fresh barbarities to
maintain his credit. Lastly, Maximus dismisses
him, promising to think over some fresh tortures
for their next meeting.

In such narratives, the language put into the
mouths of martyrs is not always to be justified on
Christian principles. Nor should the degree of
provocation received by them be admitted as an
excuse, for they are represented as perfectly un-

154

THE MARTYRS OF

moved, capable of arguing with precision, and
annoying their tormentors with well-directed sar-
casm. Unsuitably enough occurs the following
passage in the Acts of Boniface. " The holy martyr
said to him, ' Be dumb, wretch ; and open not thy
mouth against my Lord Jesus Christ. 0 serpent
of darkest mind, ancient of evil days, a curse
upon thee." In the second hymn of the Peri-
stephanon, St. Vincent is made to remind Datianus
of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrha, and to assure
him of the certainty of his obtaining the same
sulphureous portion in the lowest hell : —

" Vides favillas indices

Gomorreorum criminum ;
Sodomita nec latet cinis,
Testis perennis funeris.
Exemplar hoc. Serpens, tuum est,
Fuligo quern mox sulphuris
Bitumen et mixtum pice
Imo implicabunt Tartaro."

In these ill- concocted tales, every principle of
probability is violated ; between them and the au-
thentic records of martyrdom there exists not the
slightest analogy. Are we to suppose that God,
who gave the martyrs grace to suffer gloriously in
His cause, should have left them to disgrace that
cause by a vain bravado, or abusive retorts ? And
if the appearance of insensibility to pain be con-
sidered a test, these stoical confessors must be
allowed infinitely to exceed St. Paul in fortitude :
compared with his plea of citizenship, adduced to
escape torture, their demand for more horrible

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155

inflictions must indicate vastly higher attainments
in faith and piety. The physical effects of
the tortures are never taken into account in the
later " Acts : " there is no collapse or prostration
of strength, no swooning from profuse bloodshed.
Either a miraculous agency, not specified in the
Acts, has throughout averted the usual effects of
mutilation, or the entire narrative is grossly exag-
gerated. The only sufferer is the judge : he it is
who roUs his eyes in frenzy, and gnashes his teeth
with vexation*; while the martyr finds vinegar
mild, and salt without pungency ; mistakes mustard
for honey, and claps his blood-stained hands as the
ungula rends his limbs.

In order that the believers of peaceful times
should not remain ignorant of what had passed in
the days of persecution, it became customary to
read in churches, on the saints' days, appropriate
portions of the martyrology. This habit prevailed
during the seventh century. That stories like those
of Tarachus and Eulalia were highly popular, and
drew large congregations, there can belittle doubt ;
but in 706, the Quinisextan divines found it neces-
sary to interfere. The martyrologists, emboldened
by the expression of public taste, which they them-
selves had helped to form, had proceeded to horrors

* " His persecutor saucius
Pallet, rubescit, aestuat,
Insana torquens lumina
Spumasque frendens egerit."

Peristephanon, Hymn 2.

156

THE MARTYRS OF

and impossibilities, wliicli provoked this judicious
censure from the fathers assembled " in Trullo —
" Whereas certain false stories of martyrdom have
been circulated by the enemies of truth, calculated
to bring the martyrs into discredit, and to drive
the hearers of such things into infidelity : we decree
that they be not read in the churches, but be com-
mitted to the flames."*

In the middle of the ninth century lived the
famous Greek martyrologist, Simeon Metaphrastes,
one of the most pleasing writers of fiction that the
middle ages have produced. " One thing is to be
observed in reading him," remarks Cardinal Bella-
mine, " that much is added from his own imagina-
tion, not as things were, but as they might have
been." f

A new incident, dexterously introduced by Meta-
phrastes, is the judge's hopeless love for his victim.
In the history of Marina, a virgin martyr of Antioch
in Pisidia, the interest thus created is supported
throughout the narrative. Olybrius, president of
the city, beholds the maiden, and, struck by her
resplendent beauty, seeks her hand in marriage.
Unsuccessful in his suit, he orders her to be seized
as a Christian, and resolves, as a last resource, to
torture her into compliance. Having refused to
sacrifice, she is stripped, stretched upon the
ground, and whipped with rods : but, through mira-
culous support, enjoys perfect freedom from sufier-

* Concilium Quinisextum, sive in Trullo, canon 63.
f Bellarmine, de Script. Ecclesiast.

THE CATACOMBS.

157

ing. The judge, yet hoping to move her, orders her
to be scourged with iron wires ; she still shows
no sign of pain. But the tender frame of the
martyr, though enjoying immunity from suffering,
is amenable to the law of mortality. Olybrius
beholds with horror her ghastly and quivering
limbs ; and traces the signs of impending disso-
lution, where once had shone the beauty that still
torments his soul. He buries his face in his mantle,
and with difficulty gives the order for suspending
the torture. But here Metaphrastes relapses into
the incredible : miracles and fresh tortures follow
in quick succession ; and, as a passing incident, he
notices the conversion of 15,000 men and many
women, all of whom are martyred.

The Greek historian Nicephorus, a writer of the
fourteenth century, gives an entirely new collection
of stories relative to the Diocletian persecution.
Among the least improbable is the history of
Euphrasia, a young woman of remarkable beauty,
who received the sentence described as common in
the Diocletian persecution. To the first person
who gained access to her, she represented herself
as an enchantress, skilled in the knowledge of
poisons and their antidotes: on condition of re-
ceiving no insult, she proposed to render him
invulnerable to steel, by a preparation which she
had discovered. " But you will of course," she
added, " wish to see its efficacy proved, before
concluding the agreement." Immediately pro-
ducing an ointment, she applied it to her neck,

158

THE MARTYRS OF

directing the youth to draw his sword, and use his
utmost endeavours to inflict a wound. Deceived
by her manner, he obeyed, and beheld with horror
the head of his victim rolling at his feet.

Among the stories circulated in the fourteenth
century is that of St. Yeronica, whose existence is
still pertinaciously maintained by the church of
Rome, in opposition to the learned of her own
communion. Early in the middle ages prevailed a
custom of painting upon pieces of cloth the portrait,
of our Saviour : the accuracy of the likeness or
icon^ being, it is supposed, attested by inscribing
beneath it the words Yera icon, or more probably
icona^^ afterwards corrupted into Yeronica. This
history of the name is gathered from the cir-
cumstances under which many writers describe
these veronicce : examples have been cited by Ma-
billon, from Romanus, Petrus Casinensis, and
Augustinus Patricius : he also mentions the peti-
tion of a Cistercian abbess to the Pope's chaplain
(dated 1249), begging a copy of the picture con-
tained in St. Peter's. De Trecis complied with
her request, and begged her to receive the copy as
" a holy Yeronica, Christ's true image or likeness." f
Ordinary copies were sold cheap: Ducange's editors
quote a document relating the expenditure of 3^

* Icona was a common word for picture. So the Chronicon
Casinense : " quinque suspendit iconas * * * alteram iconam
rotundam." lib. iii. c. 31.

f Iter Italicum, p. 88.

THE CATACOMBS.

159

tareni (about half a florin), for three large and
six small Yeronicse." The next stage in the growth
of the legend, was the discovery that the original
Veronica was an actual impression of our Saviour's
features, miraculously taken at some time or other :
according to Mabillon, during the Agony in the
garden ; to Ducange, on the way to Calvary ; and
by another class of persons noticed by Baronius,
supposed to have been left upon the head-dress in
the sepulchre.*

In the fourteenth century it appeared high time
to reduce these floating elements to a more con-
sistent form: Kome therefore availed herself of a
tale invented 300 years before by Marianus Scotus,
who had attempted by a bold stroke to fix the
legend upon antiquity. In 1083 this writer in-
formed the world that Tiberius, when afflicted with
leprosy, sent for Christ to heal him: to his dis-
appointment Christ had been some time dead.
But the messengers brought back a woman named
Veronica, who displayed a portrait, presented to
her by Christ as a reward for her attachment : the
sight of this cured Tiberius. Marianus pretends

* Ducange, Glossary, sub voce " Veronica ; " Baronii Annales
Eccles. Anno 34. This sudarium or head-wrapper is quite
distinct from the handkerchief, and is first mentioned by Bede
as having been " stolen from the sepulchre by a most Chris-
tian Jew." De Locis Sanctis, cap. 5. We hear of it again in
803, when it was presented to Charlemagne, along with a nail
of the cross, the chemise of the Virgin Mary, &c. Martinus
Polonus, Supputationes. Anno 803.

160

THE MARTYRS OF

to quote from Methodius, in whose works the
passage cannot be found.*

Putting all this together, the Eoman authorities
decided that Veronica was the name of a holy
woman who followed our Lord to Calvary ; and
who, while piously wiping the Redeemer's brow with
a cloth, received as a reward the miraculous im-
pression of His countenance. Of this woman,
whom Baronius calls Berenice, there is a colossal
statue in St. Peter's at Rome ; and, what is worse,
her image occupies a prominent place in the hearts
of an ignorant people. f

About the year 1320, John XXII. issued a

prayer, " by repeating which devoutly, looking

meanwhile upon the face of Christ, an indulgence

of 10,000 days may be obtained." In this hymn

the latest version of the story was maintained by

the Pontifical poet :

" Salve, sancta facies
Mei redemptoris,
In qua nitet species
Divini splendoris.

* Marianus Scotus, Chronicum, anno 39.
■f See the inscription set up by Urban VIII., in the seven-
teenth century :

SALVATORIS IMAGINEM YERONICAE
SVDARIO EXCEPTAM
VT LOCI MAIESTAS DECENTER
CVSTODIRET . VRBANVS . VIII .
PONT . MAX .
MARMOREVM SIGNVM
ET ALTARE ADDIDIT CONDITORIVM
EXTRVXIT ET ORNAVIT

THE CATACOMBS.

161

Impressa paniiiculo
Nivei candoris,
Dataque Veronicae
Signum ob amoris.
Salve, decus seculi
Speculum sanctorum,
Quod videre cupiunt
Spiritus coelorum.
Nos ab omni macula
Purga vitiorum,
Atque nos consortio
Junge beatorum," &c.*

The handkerchief of St. Veronica is publicly
worshipped in Rome on stated occasions, and the
ceremony is performed with the utmost splendour :
no part of the Romish ritual is more calculated to
strike the imagination. The prostrate multitude,
the dome of St. Peter's dimly lighted by the torches
in the nave, and the shadow}^ baldacchino, hanging
to all appearance in mid air, form a spectacle not
easily forgotten.

The re\dval of learning, while it checked the
further fabrication of martyr legends, procured a
more extended circulation for those already existing.
The press now groaned with Lives of Saints, Acts

* This prayer is copied from an illuminated MS. in St.
George's Library, Windsor. The end of the preface must not
be omitted ; " At si quis eam (orationem) ignoraverit, dicat v
pr. nr. inspiciendo Veronicam." Does this mean that five re-
petitions of the Lord's Prayer would do as well as one of Pope
John's ?

This Veronica must not be confounded with the other saint
of that name commemorated by Bolland, (torn. i. Jan. 13.) Avhose
eyes were occasionally black from the blows inflicted by demons.

She lived in 1497.

162

THE MARTYRS OF

of Martyrs, Flower of Saints, Golden Legend, and
other collections of detached treatises, which had
hitherto been unknown beyond their parent monas-
teries. Had the compilers studied to represent
monasticism in its worst light, they could not have
done so more effectually: nothing is too puerile,
too strongly opposed to the gospel precepts, to
find its way into their volumes. Some collections,
as that of Bolland, contain stories altogether im-
moral in their tendency, interspersed with mi-
racles, which, when attributed to the Holy Spirit,
come very near to blasphemy.* It is through the
medium of such writers that the Church of Rome
desires us to behold the primitive martyrs.

We have now reached the debased style of
martyrology : marked by the trifling productions
of ignorant fable-mongers, not thoroughly in
earnest, if we may judge from the conceits inter-
woven with their tales. The Golden Legend
suggests that Cecilia was so named, quia ccecitate
carens : Ribadeneira informs us, that Christina was
so baptized on account of her future devotion to
Christ, and that Hortulana, a little garden, pro-
duced the illustrious plant, her daughter Clara. An
infant, according to Surius, receives the name of
Ursula, in token that she shall one day fight
with that great bear, the devil. Nor is this want
of seriousness confined to the comments of the
narrator : the history of St. Ursula is a collection

* Acta Sanctorum Bollandi, an unfinished work in fifty-two
volumes folio.

THE CATACOMBS.

163

of ridiculous incidents, given in the usual style of
Surius, " from a very old MS., the language of
which has been a little polished by Surius for the
sake of the reader." No authorities are cited,
nor is there any thing to contravene the supposition
that the whole story is founded upon a mistaken
rendering of the inscription,

VRSVLA • ET • XI • MM • W

interpreted " Ursula and eleven thousand virgins,"
instead of " eleven virgin martyrs."* Nothing
more childish than this legend ever followed the
prefatory announcement, " Religiosissimus mona-
chus dixit." f

* Bearing upon the origin of this legend, is the story of Cy-
riacus, told by Martin Polonus. " Cyriacus was not reckoned
among the popes, because he quitted the papacy against the
wishes of the clergy : substituting Antheros, and setting out for
Cologne with eleven thousand virgins, whom he had baptized in
Rome. For the cardinals thought that he had abandoned the
papacy, not from devotion, but on account of the charms of the
virgins : they were, nevertheless, all martyred together." — Sup-
putationes, anno 238. The insertion of Cyriacus in the papal
list appears to be a practical joke. Anteros was a real pope of
the third century, as well as the god of mutual affection. In
1117, Rodolph mentions, among the relics in his church, "some
of the Virgin Mary's hair, of James the Apostle's clothes, and of
the remains of the eleven virgins." — Spicilegium, vol. vii. 475.
The Salisbury Breviary of looo, gives the prayer for the feast
of the eleven thousand virgins : " O God, who, by the glorious
passion of the blessed virgins, thy martyrs, hast made this day
a holy solemnity to us, hear the prayers of thy family : and
grant that we may be freed by the merits and intercession of
those whose feast we this day celebrate. Through," &c.

f The usual form of reporting monks' speeches in the seoond
Nieene council.

M 2

1G4

THE MARTYRS OF

We now see what the monks had been doing for
three hundred years : though quiet, they had been
in mischief. With what feelings a " religiosis-
simus " monk sat down to invent a martyrdom, in
his cell, or under his garden hedge, he has left us
little room to doubt ; for his animated descriptions
of " the holy and delicate body of the saint," " the
form which Apelles could not justly represent," and
"the virgin limbs, whiter than snow or privet
blossoms," show that his meditations were by no
means strictly confined to Church history. *

Lest the fictions of Roman martyrologists should
bring the subject altogether into discredit, let us
once more hear an ancient martyr speak for himself.
We possess the last prayer of Polycarp, uttered
while he stood among the faggots ; reported by eye-

* A specimen of the most exaggerated style occurs in the
martyrdom of Christina, told by the Jesuit Ribadeneira, (Flos
Sanctorum).

" • • • Exarsit ea re Yirginis pater adeo, ut ipsemet crudelibus
eam verberibus exceperit : ad haec vestibusnudatam jussit earn dire
suis a famulis, donee viribus deficerent, vapulari. Sed nec hac
crudelitate contentus, patrem exutus, hostemque et ferociam lic-
toris indutus, postera die ferreis eam jussit ungulis adeo violente
lancinari, ut non tantummodo ubertim rivi sanguinis virgineo a
corpore manarent, sed tenerrimce quoque carnis frusta defluerent,
nudaque ossa paterent. Martyr autem, hinc admiranda patientia
illinc invicta stupendaque fortitudine armata, sese submisit,
suaeque carnis frusta humo sustulit, eaque patri carnifici obtulit,
hisce verbis : Accipe, crudelis tyranne^, sanguinem tuum ; vescere
carnibus quas genuisti. Pater indignatus filiam mox in ferream
jussit agi rotam, nonnihil a terra elevatam, sub qua prunas oleo
aspersas curavit apponi. Non tulit banc crudelitatem Deus, qui
machinam contrivit, et mille paganos spectaculo prassentes impiis
illis ignibus involutos occidit."

THE CATACOMBS.

165

witnesses of his martyrdom, and circulated through-
out Asia Minor immediately afterwards. An unusual
interest attaches to Polycarp, from the prophetic
reference to his death which occurs in the Apoca-
lypse ; for he was made bishop of Smyrna by the
apostles *, and was therefore personally addressed
in the promise, " Be thou faithful unto death, and I
will give thee a crown of life."

"O Father of Thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ,
through whom we have received the knowledge of Thee, God of
angels and powers, yea of every creature, and of all the just who
live in Thy sight ; I give Thee thanks, that Thou hast judged
me worthy of tliis day and hour, worthy of receiving part in the
number of martyrs, and of sharing the cup of Christ ; unto the
resurrection of life eternal, of soul and body, in the incorruption
of the Holy Spirit. Among whom, may I be received before
Thee this day, as a well-pleasing and acceptable sacrifice, as
Thou hast prepared, who hast foreshown and also hast fulfilled,
a God of truth who cannot lie. Therefore for all things I praise
Thee, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, through the eternal high
priest Jesus Chi-ist Thy beloved Son, through whom to Thee
with Him, and the Holy Spirit, be glory, now and for ever.
Amen."t

This Amen, pronounced mth a clear voice,
was the signal for lighting the pile : the song of
praise was for a few moments interrupted by the
flames, to be resumed in that land whose language
his ardent faith had anticipated on earth.

Martyrology passed through one more phase
before the re-opening of the catacombs. Soon after
the revival of learning, arose a school of scientific

* Irenaeus adv. Haereses, lib. iii. c. 3.
t Eusebii Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. c. 15.

M 3

166

THE ^lARTYRS OF

martyrologists, who, had they confined their re-
searches to authentic records, might have arrived
at important and valuable results ; but assuming
as the groundwork of their speculations the truth
of the most extravagant acts, they did but encumber
the subject with fresh refinements of horror and
cruelty. A fair specimen of this class is Gallonius,
author of the work entitled, " De Cruciatibus Mar-
tyrum."

This writer greatly exaggerates the power of the
human frame to support mutilation : he represents
one sufibrer with a row of large nails driven into his
back, another sitting up, alive, with the four limbs
amputated and left to bleed. This idea of driving
nails into the body, excepting for the purpose of
crucifixion, is founded on mistake. Metaphrastes
tells us, that a certain virgin martyr was fastened to
nails : Ribadeneira, in a new version of the narra-
tive, assures us that the nails were driven into her.
The tortures represented by Gallonius are some-
times multiplied : a martyr is painfully suspended
by the feet ; a slow fire is placed under him, to
produce sufibcation ; and he is, meanwhile, beaten
on the head with clubs or mallets. The work
would be nothing without the plates : as if to state
simply that the martyrs were suspended in various
painful attitudes would be insufficient, sixteen
varieties of hanging have been specified; and, to
the dismay of the reader, the whole sixteen appear
in engravings. Lest we should think lightly of the

THE CATACOMBS.

167

pains of being burnt alive, if conveyed by mere
verbal description, not less than nineteen modifica-
tions of this torture are figured, and explained in
the margin.

All that lies between a slight historical mention
of the details of martyrdom, and the drawings of
these martyrologists, is mere invention. We are
told by ancient writers, that the plumbatoe were
scourges loaded with lead ; beyond that, we know
nothing of them: also, that the scorpion was a
knotted stick, as opposed to the virgce Iceves : when,
therefore, we are shown an engraving, fixing the
size and shape of these instruments, we are im-
posed upon by the invention of the artist. To
justify these engravings, there should be in exist-
ence authentic relics of the objects, or descrip-
tions by contemporary writers : no such relics or
descriptions can be found.

Let the fate of the catomus be a warning to the
scientific martyrologist. To fix the precise nature
of this instrument had for some time taxed the inge-
nuity of antiquarians ; from merely signifying a rod,
it had passed through the stages of a leathern whip,
a scourge loaded with lead, and lastly, a scourge made
of iron wires. It might have grown yet more for-
midable, had it not been discovered to owe its
existence to a misapprehension of the adverbial
phrase, xar^ wixoug^ " upon the shoulders." *

* Ducange, sub voce. Medieval writers copied the word
from one another, without appearing to attach to it any distinct
meaning : having invented the substantive, a catomus, they soon

M 4

168

THE MARTYRS OF

On copper as well as on paper, martyrologists are
incorrigible in their love of magnifying : a frag-
ment of iron found in a cemetery, and rashly pre-
sumed to be the claw of an ungula, is published
and illustrated by its discoverer : another writer,
who has not seen the original, but nevertheless ap-
pears to know much more about it, adds a handle :
a third, puts it in its complete form into the hands
of a ferocious executioner, and buries the points in
the side of a Christian. ^

Happily for the credit of human nature, the tor-
tures described by these writers are often altogether
imaginary. When Gallonius accuses the pagans of
tearing out and devouring the livers of Christians,

added the verb, to catomise. Nothing more certainly betrays
the lateness of acts, than the use of such words as catomare, ca-
tomidiare, and catomizare, which could not have been invented
as long as any recollection of the phrase kut ojfxovg remained.
Ducange quotes from a certain breviary a passage descriptive
of Eulalia's martyrdom: "Tunc Calpurnianus, turbido furore
succensus, putans pudicam virginem more infantum a tergo cor-
poris emendari, jubet per officium curatoris eam catomari. • • •
C unique catomaretur corpus ejus delicatum et sanctum, &c."
These sentences, being found in a breviary, appear to have been
read in church.

* Stories about martyrdom seem never to lose by repetition :
Ruinart tells us that Domitius collected seven books of edicts
against the Christians : — Lactantius, from whom he professes to
quote, mentions the edicts of the persecutors as contained in the
seventh book of the laws collected by Domitius. (Institutiones,
lib. 5. cap. 11.) Prudentius says that Agnes was exposed in
a vault at the corner of a street ; Foxe, quoting directly from
him, that she was exposed naked ; and Surius adds, that the
moment she was stripped, her hair grew down to her feet. But
in this instance, " Prudentius prudentius loquitur."

THE CATACOMBS.

169

there should be well authenticated instances to jus-
tify the charge ; especially when that charge is
backed by an engraving, in which is seen a mere
boy engaged in tearing out a Christian's liver, while
an assistant is ready with the fire and frying-pan
in the foreground. Nicephorus, indeed, tells a story
in point : at Heliopolis the pagans, under Julian,
" killed Cyril a deacon, and tasted his liver. But
they who had dared such things were immediately
pursued by divine vengeance ; for all who had
shared in the crime lost, through a horrible morti-
fication, their tongues, teeth, and palates, and even
their eyes. By which wounds," adds the monkish
translator, " was displayed the power and efficacy of
the true religion." Theodoret had told the story
seven centuries before, merely omitting the palates;
but Sozomen, who about the same time described
all the other martyrdoms that occurred at Helio-
polis, entirely omits the story of Cyril. *

We have now followed the progress of martyr-
ology from the time in which the catacombs re-
ceived the fresh bodies of slaughtered believers, to
the close of that long period of abandonment which
followed the barbarian invasions. Knowing to
what state martyrology had sunk when the cata-
combs were re-opened (for Bosio and Aringhi were
contemporaries of Bolland and Gallonius), we are
prepared to receive with caution the wondrous tales
of the early explorers.

* Nicephorus, lib. x. c. 9 ; Sozomen, lib. v. c. 9 ; Theodoreti,
Hist. Eccles., lib. iii. c. 3.

170

THE MARTYRS OF

At first, all the sepulchres were entitled graves
of martyrs. But this was too extravagant to last
long : it could not fail to occur to the learned, that
but a small proportion of any church suffer martyr-
dom, even in the severest persecution ; that the
catacombs were the burial-place of all the faithful
who died in the fifty years' peace between the times
of Valerian and Diocletian, as well as during the
century that followed the conversion of Constantine ;
and that during that century, thousands of Arians
and Semi-arians had been laid beside the orthodox.
It was, therefore, of the utmost importance to dis-
cover some method of distinguishing the graves ;
no assistance was to be derived from epitaphs, for
out of about 70,000 graves, only five displayed in-
scriptions to martyrs : it followed, therefore, that if
the ancients did in any manner record martyrdom,
they did so by some symbol yet to be discovered.
An appeal to history was equally unsatisfactory :
no previous writer had mentioned a single mark or
symbol used for the purpose. But, though foiled
in their hopes of discovery, the Romans succeeded
better in invention.

To appreciate the result of their labours, we
must enter upon a slight digression. With most
ancient nations, prevailed the custom of enclosing
in the tomb a small cup or vase. This was used
by the Romans to contain the tears shed by hired
mourners, mixed with the gums or spices depo-
sited in the sepulchre: hence, the phrase, "cum
lacrymis posuerunt.'^ Gutherius, noticing this

THE CATACOMBS.

171

custom, quotes a pagan epitaph, concluding with
the words

^ ^ ^ ^

FVSCA MATER
AD LYCTVM ET GEMITVM RELICTA
EVM LACRIMIS ET OPOBALSAMO
VDVM

HOC SEPVLCHRO CONDIDIT

" His mother Fusca, left to sorrow and groaning, buried him,
moist with tears and balsam, in this sepulchre."

In the urns, Gutherius tells us, were enclosed
the bones and ashes, together with a glass vessel
filled with tears and spices.* The Christians,
though rejecting the name lacrymatory^ retained
the cup, probably to hold spices only, for tears
were not a part of their public funeral solemnity.
Whatever sorrow was indulged in private, the ex-
pression " buried with tears''^ occurs very seldom on
Christian grave-stones. Of these spices, myrrh
was the most usually employed : " that myrrh is a
symbol of death," says Gregory of Nyssa, " none
who are versed in sacred Scripture can doubt." f
And long afterwards, Jacopone da Todi describes
the offerings of the eastern sages :

" Gold to the kingly.
Incense to the priestly.
Myrrh to the mortal." J

The cup used in the catacombs varies in shape
from the tall, thin lacrymatory of the heathen, to

* Gutherius de Jure Manium, in Gronovio, t. xii. p. 1 247. 1 1 55.
I In Cantic. Canticorum, homil. xii.

X Hymn, beginning " Verbum Caro factum est," ed. 1497.

172 THE MARTYRS OF

the open saucer of painted glass employed in the

fifth century. A fragment here copied from Buo-
narotti, bears the usual festive inscription. PIE
ZESE, " Drink and live," apparently referring to
the sacramental cup.

Buonarotti* has also represented
vessels that nearly approach the la-
chrymatory form ; the annexed has
the inscription.

VESXENTI PIE ZESE — " Vincent, drink
and live."

Three conquering horses are seen
upon the lower part of the frag-
ment. They are common symbols
of a course well finished : and pro-
bably in this instance contain an
allusion to the name of Vincent.

* Buonarotti, Vetri Anticlii.

THE CATACOMBS.

173

The inscription round the lower part is AEGIS
OIKOYMEXE ZEP, reversed.

The cup, so often enclosed in the tomb, or ce-
mented to the rock outside, is sometimes merely
drawm upon the gravestone, as in the accompanying
fac-simile. (Lap. Gall.)

Read — Brenzeino patri benemerenti. " To Brenzeinus, my well-
deserving father."

The expedient of representing in this manner,
objects which the poverty of friends prevented them
from depositing beside the corpse, is one to which
continued recourse was had by the early Christians.
This observation may be verified in its most ex-
tended sense : whatever is found enclosed in graves
is also seen figured on tombstones.

In the epitaph of Vernaclus Carpitanus, the cup
is of a difi*erent shape. (Lap. Gall.)

vernaCIV^

CAKPITANVS

174

THE MARTYRS OF

The objects found in the catacombs, as well as
the lower part of the graves themselves, are often
tinged with a red matter produced by decomposi-
tion of either the bodies, the spices, or the super-
incumbent soil. Bosio, while excavating and ex-
ploring graves, imagined that this red matter was
dried blood, and, by a strange confusion of ideas,
the blood of martyrs. As the cups were generally
tinged with the same colour, he pushed his theory
a step further ; boldly asserting that these vessels
had been originally filled with the blood of martyrs,
and that none but martyrs' graves displayed them.

This hypothesis of Bosio possessed one great
advantage ; being entirely founded upon fancy, it
required no proof: moreover, it was extremely
convenient. The Church of Rome received it with
enthusiasm, and the " Congregation of Relics," held
in 1668, issued a decree in confirmation: "The
holy congregation, having carefully examined the
matter, decides that the palm and vessel tinged with
blood are to be considered most certain signs of
martyrdom : the investigation of other symbols is
deferred for the present."

The more ancient of these cups appear to have
contained no inscription ; and those which bear
inscriptions in honour of saints, cannot be placed
earlier than the end of the fourth century. Of the
names of saints found on them, that of Agnes is the
most usual, generally written
ANNES :

next in frequency occur the names and portraits of

THE CATACOMBS.

175

Peter and Paul. We have already seen a vase

marked with the name of Yincent. Aringhi gives

a broken cup vnili the words :

VIVAS IN CR
LAVRENTIO

Another, also dedicated to St. Laurence, has been

found :

VITO IVAS IN NOMINE LAVRETI

" Victoria, may you live. In the name of Laurence."

Bosio discovered two of these vessels which ap-
peared to confirm his theory ; they are published in
the Roma Sotteranea, as well as in the works of
Aringhi, Boldetti, &c. But the plates are so little
like each other, as to leave room for doubting the
precise form of the letters inscribed :

In this case, Bosio departed from the usual
meaning of the inscriptions found on cups, and
read SA^sGVIS, and SANGYIS SATYRNIXI—
" the blood of Saturninus." Whatever weight may
be attached to the small stroke which distinguishes
G from C, when found upon the rough surface of a

176

THE MARTYRS OF

mass of cement, partially corroded by the damp of
thirteen centuries, it does not warrant us in read-

ing the inscriptions otherwise than Sancti — , and
Sancti Saturnini.

The chemist Leibnitz was requested to report
upon the red matter contained in the cups. This
substance, proving soluble in muriate of ammonia,
was rightly inferred to be of organic origin, and
not the result of mineral impregnation. Leibnitz,
however, took care not to commit himself by any
positive assertion.

The Roman antiquarians have shown great dili-
gence in collecting from the Acts of the Martyrs
every passage in which blood is mentioned: but
among these there is not one that describes its pre-
servation in a cup, or the burial of it beside a mar-
tyr's grave. St. Praxedes, having with great care
collected on a sponge the blood of some martyrs,
buried it beside the tomb of her own father. Not
more to the purpose is the quotation from Pru-
dentius, describing the death of Vincent, and the

'IIIE CATACOMBS.

177

anxiety of the Christians to obtain his blood. " One
covers with kisses the double furrows of the ungula ;
another is glad to wipe the purple stream from his
body : many dip a cloth in the dripping blood, that
they may keep it at home, as a sacred palladium
for their posterity." The same care was employed
to collect the blood of Hippolytus, who had been
dragged to pieces by a wild horse. Before the ex-
ecution of Theodora, her friends covered the floor
with their garments, that none of her blood might
fall to the ground. Lysimachus is represented as
saying to his officers, " Gather up all his limbs
which are cut otF, and carefully scrape up the blood,
lest any remain." It is generally said that the blood
of Cyprian was preserved, though the circumstance
is not mentioned by his biographer Pontius.

With as little success do the Roman writers quote
the poet's reflection on the martyrdom of Quirinus.
The bishop had been drowned ; and Prudentius,
lamenting his fate, takes comfort from the con-
sideration that he was equally a martyr, though
without bloodshed.

Nil refert, vitreo oequore,
An de flumine sanguinis
Tinguat passio Martyrem ;
-^que gloria provenit,
Fluctu quolibet uvida.

The deep cold waters close o'er one ;
Another sheds a crimson river :
No matter ; either stream returns
A life to the Eternal Giver :
Each tinges with a glorious dye
The martyr's robe of victory.

178

THE MAIiTYRS OF

The blood-cup theory fails when practically
applied to distinguish the graves in the catacombs ;
the tomb of Gordianus martyr had no cup, and
that of a certain Constantia was provided with
one : but this young person cannot be considered a
martyr, since her epitaph contravenes all that we
know of the martyr spirit in the ancient church :

NIMIVM CITO DECIDISTI

CONSTANTIA MIRVM
PVLCHRITVDINIS ATQUE
IDONITATI QV^ VIXIT ANNIS
XVIIII MEN • VI • DIE XVI
CONSTANTIA IN PACE

Too soon hast thou fallen, Constantia, of wonderful beauty
and goodness. Who lived 19 years, 6 months, and 16 days.
Constantia in peace. (Aringhi.)

History affords us no proof that symbols were
employed to distinguish a martyr's grave : the ex-
pression " a martyr's epitaph " occurs once in the
Peristephanon, and Prudentius describes some
tablets in the catacombs displaying " a martyr's
name, or some anagram."

It is suggested by Poestell, and Raoul Rochette
seems disposed to agree with him, that the vessels
in question were intended as sacramental cups, in-
scribed with the word bloody a figurative expression
for wine, the dry lees of which furnished the organic
matter of the analysis. In support of this conjecture
he adduces the custom, at one time known, though
always condemned by the Church, of administering
the sacrament to the dead. " Let no one," says the
Quinisextan Council, offer the Eucharist to the

THE CATACOMBS.

179

dead : for it is written, ' Take and eat.' Now the
dead can neither take nor eat." But this heterodox
custom of the seventh century will scarcely account
for the more ancient cups and vases : an easier ex-
planation may be found in the Agape held over the
grave ; or in the wish to express the deceased to
have been a communicant.

In justice to the theory of Bosio, it must be told
that all antiquarians of the Eoman communion, ex«
cepting the two last named, have been unanimous
in receiving it. A glance at some of those authors
will show to what conclusions it has led them.

The much esteemed and ingenious Lupi, a priest,
published in 1753 some dissertations on ancient
church subjects ; among others there is one on In-
nocentius. Boy and Martyr ; or to speak more ac-
curately, a small skeleton found in a grave, well
preserved, accompanied by a cup. " Possessing,"
says Lupi, neither the acts of his martyrdom
nor his epitaph, we cannot easily decide upon the
manner of his death. An examination of his bones
makes it probable that he died under the plumbatae,
because one of the shoulder blades of the glorious
little saint (Santino) was found broken, as if by
the force of the leaden blows: besides which, several
of the vertebra3 and ribs are broken, as if by
violence. The bone called by anatomists sacrum
is also crumbled and separated from its great
ischiatic processes."

The bones of this martyr must have lain in the
grave upwards of fourteen centuries, supposing him

N 2

180

THE IMARTYRS OF

to have suffered in the last persecution. It can-
not but surprise us to find the skeleton of a child,
imperfectly ossified, and buried in a damp rocky-
cell, j)i'eserving any vestige of its original form;
nor is the ignorance of the discoverer less astonish-
ing, in arguing, from a slight decay which it had
undergone, violence inflicted during life. Had the
sacrum been still attached to the ischiatic processes,
and had its spongy structure preserved its shape,
the grave antiquarian might with greater justice
have boasted the miraculous preservation of the
relics. The reader may remember a drawing in
the third chapter of this work, representing a little
dust as the sole residue of a full-grown skeleton :
there is, therefore, nothing remarkable in the fact,
that the shoulder blade and ribs of Innocentius
have fallen into pieces. The sex of a skeleton of
that age must always be doubtful : we are, there-
fore, unable to ascertain a single circumstance re-
garding this supposed martyr, — whether boy or
girl, what his name, and whether or not he died a
violent death: all is matter of conjecture: the
blood cup theory supports the whole weight of his
saintship and martyr glory.

Lupi, though confessing his entire ignorance of
the saint's history, confidently publishes his name.
At first sight he may appear to have drawn his
information from some other source, not formally
alluded to ; but Mabillon spares us the trouble of
searching further. In the catacombs, he tells us,
" there are dug up two sorts of bodies ; the one
with neither name nor inscription, the other with

THE CATACOMBS.

181

one or both. Saints of the first kind have names
given them by the cardinal vicar, or by the bishop
who presides over the pontifical chapel. Saints of
this description are said to be baptized." *

Aringhi's manner of speculating upon the mode
of martyrdom of the catacomb saints is not better
than that of Lupi. " Many of the heads of Christ's
martyrs stiU exhibited marks of the plumbatae, that
is, scourges loaded with lead, with which they were
formerly bruised by the cruel hand of the execu-
tioner." f

The mistakes made in consequence of this theory,
have, at times, disgusted the more learned members
of the Roman communion. Raoul Rochette tells
us of Benerus, a new saint transported from Rome
to Perugia in 1803, on whose epitaph is the figure
of a forceps accompanied by the words, —

D • M • S •

BENERVS • YIXIT • ANNOS
XXIII • MESES VII •

On this he observes, " In the absence of any certain
signs of Christianity, this instrument may be con-

* In making this admission, Mabillon takes his revenge for
the impostures which were i^almed upon him in Rome : he
adds part of the service for proving relics :

" O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth
thy praise.

Psalm. Let God arise ; to, O sing unto the Lord.
Hymn. Veni Creator.

Prayer. O God, to whom the hearts of the faithful," &c.

Mabillon' s posthumous works, vol. ii. 251. 287.
t Lib. iii. c. 22.

N 3

182

THE MAKTYES OF

sidered as belonging to his profession. Benerus,
therefore, may have been a poor blacksmith, Chris-
tian if you will, or Pagan, which supposition accords
better Avith the character of his epitaph, excepting
for the vessel of blood found in his grave, which
is considered an indubitable sign of Christian sane-
tity." * The real name is probably Yenerius.

A remarkable instance of carelessness in the ma-
nufacture of saints, is mentioned by Mabillon, as
having occurred at Tolosa very shortly before he
wrote. An inscription was found in the Eoman
catacombs, running thus : —

D • M

JVLIA • EVODIA • FILIA • FECIT
CASTAE • MATRI • ET • BENEMERENTI
QVAE • VIXIT • ANNIS • LXX

Upon the strength of this epitaph, raised by
Julia Euodia to her chaste and well-deserving
mother, containing no signs of Christianity, but
rather the reverse, the bones found in that grave
were esteemed holy, and were attributed to St.
Julia Euodia, instead of her " chaste mother."
From the number of Pagan tombstones applied to
Christian purposes in the later times of the empe-
rors, we require some specific evidence to assure us
of the Christian origin of any tablet found in the
catacombs.

As if to make amends for his attack upon the

* Memoires de I'Academie des Belles Lettres et d'Inscriptions,
torn. xiii. This memoir must place M. R. Rochette in the
highest rank of modern antiquarians.

THE CATACOMBS.

183

relics of the catacombs, Mabillon published a story
intended to reflect credit upon the sagacity of the
pontifical authorities. While engaged in turning
over the papers in the Barberini library, he met
with the correspondence relative to a pseudo-saint
discovered in Spain. Some well-meaning persons
having met with an ancient stone, inscribed with
the letters " S" YIAR." concluded it to be the
epitaph of a Saint Yiar. Xothing daunted by
the singularity of the name, or the total want
of evidence in support of his sanctity, they boldly
established his worship. But the zeal of his
admirers, though it had conferred the honours of
saintship, was unable to secure his immortality ;
for, on their application to Urban for indulgences,
the Roman antiquarians required some proof of his
existence. Tlie stone was, therefore, forwarded to
Rome, where it was immediately seen to be the
fragment of an inscription to a PrsefectuS* YIARum,
or Curator of the Ways.

Besides the cup, some other appendages to the
grave have been brought forward as evidences of
martyrdom. But all these are destitute of proof,
although one, the praying figure sculptured on the
gravestone, enlists our sympathy in its favour.
That a martyr, in imitation of Stephen praying for
his murderers, should be known on the sepulchral
tablet, only by prayer, is what every Christian
would be ready to believe, and hope to be true.
But the absence of all evidence leads us to reject
the praying figure as a sign of martyrdom, and to

N 4

184

THE MARTYRS OF

refer it to the class of symbols expressive of Chris-
tian sentiments. Moreover, these figures often
occur on handsome marble sarcophagi of the fourth
and fifth centuries, in which case they cannot be
considered as indicative of martyrdom.

Although at one time appearing to support the
symbols of martyrdom, Raoul Rochette betrays a
different opinion in the following striking passage :
— "The bones of the martyrs are the sole re-
mains of those heroes of the faith, even in their se-
pulchres: cups and fragments of glass, instruments
of their trades, or symbols of their faith, are the
only monuments left of their life or of their death.
. . . Perhaps I may be allowed to add," he
continues, " that a series of paintings, like those of
S. Stefano in Rotondo (a church in Rome), filled
with all the scenes of barbarity which the rage of
executioners could devise, or the constancy of
martyrs support, honours less the faith which in-
spires such images, or which resisted such trials,
than the paintings of the catacombs, generally so
pure, so peaceful in their object and intention,
where it seems that the Gos]3el ought to have met
with no enemies, appearing so gentle, so ready to
forgive : where the martyr is known only by prayer,
and where Christianity reveals itself only by sym-
bols of peace, of innocence, and of charity."* The
work from which these lines are quoted is inter-
dicted in Rome.

The implements marked upon the gravestones,

* Tableaux des Catacombs, p. 190.

THE CATACOMBS.

185

or inclosed in the tombs of ancient Christians, have
furnished much matter of discussion. The suppo-
sition that they were the instruments by which the
deceased had suiFered martyrdom, is urged by
Aringhi * with considerable learning : for, unlike
the blood-cup theory, this opinion boasts a shadow
of support in history. Symeon Stylites, according
to the legend, was buried with his iron bed : but
Symeon Stylites was not a martyr, except to his
own self-righteousness. Babylas, having died in
chains, was buried in them : but this was at his
own request, and the circumstance was thought so
unusual as to claim the notice of many writers from
Chrysostom downwards. The holy cross, if we are
to believe the legend, was found entire beside the
Saviour's grave : but to this we have to oppose the
testimony of St. Luke, who tells us that the body
was hastily taken down from the cross on the
Friday evening, and buried without even the usual
ceremonies. Nor was there afterwards an oppor-
tunity of adding the cross to the contents of the
sepulchre, for its Occupant rose before the early
dawn, anticipating the pious care of those who came
to embalm the Incorruptible. For once, and once
only, they who sought him early, found him not.f
Lastly, Aringhi gathers from Rabbinical writers,

* Roma Subterranea, p. 685.

■f The transaction called in our calendar the " Invention of
the Cross " will have little weight with most English readers.
From the general tenor of the Homily against peril of Idolatry,
there is no reason for supposing that the Church of England
intended to support this legend, any more than that of the

186

THE MAllTYRS OF

that Jews who had been stoned or beheaded, were
buried with the swords or stones employed in their
execution.

On the other hand, we have no evidence what-
ever that the Christians adopted the custom of bury-
ing instruments of death with the martyrs. The
habit of designing the emblems of a trade or pro-
fession upon the tombstone, was extremely common,
as will be seen in the chapter treating of symbols :
and to inclose in the tomb itself objects of the
toilette, children's playthings, &c., was a heathen
custom, almost universally adopted by the Christians.

AYithout anticipating what will be said in the
following chapter, it may be remarked here, that
these objects, if merely an imitation of the instru-
ments of torture, are of no value as actual relics of
the martyrs : and if it is pretended that they were
really employed in the execution of those with
whose bodies they were interred, we may answer,
that it is incredible that the Christians should have
obtained from the Pagan authorities their instru-

" Conception of the Virgin Mary," which, together with the
" Name of Jesus," and " O Sapientia," still appear in the ca-
lendar. The circumstance most unfavourable to our belief in
the miraculous preservation of the cross, is the existence of
" pious frauds," such as the suspicious " inventions" in the
time of Ambrose. The discovery of the true cross was firmly
believed in at the time : Paulinus forwarded to his brother a
splinter of the wood, as a fragment of that cross, " on account
of which, with a trembling world, a fugitive sun, and the up-
rising of the dead from their shivered monuments, nature was
shaken to her centre." The apostles saw no cross when they
looked into the sepulchre.

THE CATACOMBS.

187

ments of punishment, in order to add to the honours
of the martyr's funeral.

The extreme fewness of the implements found in
the catacombs, compared with the number of mar-
tyrs known to have been buried there, is enough to
disprove the opinion that they belong to martyrdom.
The whole stock discovered consists of three hooks
and a comb : and although the Vatican museum
contains several specimens of torturing weapons,
they are too new-looking to have deceived even the
Roman antiquarians. There is nothing in their
appearance to forbid the supposition that they are
taken from the chambers of the Holy Inquisition.

Of the four fragments discovered in the cata-
combs, the first is part of an iron forceps with
which were found the remains of wooden handles.

From what we can learn from history, this instru-
ment may be supposed to resemble the ungula^ with
which malefactors were torn on the sides. Almost
all authentic records of martyrdom after the year
150, assure us that this punishment was generally
inflicted on the Christians. The wounds thus pro-
duced were termed bisulca, — consisting of two

188 THE MARTYRS OF

furrows. Another instrument of the same kind is
given by Aringhi.

With this may be compared a hook engraved
ujDon a pagan tombstone, and published by Gruter.
(p. 810.)

Q . NAYICVLARIS
VICTORINYS VAL .
SEVERAE CONIVG.
SAN .

It cannot be pretended that the instrument of
execution was displayed upon the gravestone of a
pagan, as there was no credit in having suffered as
an ordinary malefactor. The point is so turned in-
wards, as to make this instrument useless for cutting.

The third was discovered in the cemetery of
Calepodius ; the annexed sketch is copied from Bol-
detti. It has been considered a comb for tearing
the flesh of the martyrs.

THE CATACOMBS. 189

The fourth, we are told by Aringhi,
was found in the cemetery of Agnes ;
he thinks it may have been used for
dragging the bodies of martyrs after
death.

From this slight history of Eoman
martyrology, it appears that for the
first three hundred years the Church
left no record of persecution, beyond
a few epistles, epitaphs, and acts, which contain
nearly all that is known of the details of ancient
martyrdom. However deeply we may regret the
absence of further information, we shall not find
the want supplied by later, writers, who, having
sunk low in the fifth century, continued to sink
still lower till the seventeenth : up to which time
their productions were calculated, in the words of
the Quinisextan canon, ^'to bring the martyrs
into discredit and to drive the reader into infi-
delity." The seventeenth century witnessed an
endeavour to place the subject upon a better
footing, and by scientific refinements to throw an
air of accuracy over the exaggerated fictions of
earlier times. But the attempt was eminently
unsuccessful : and the signs fixed upon as decisive
of martyrdom have been since abandoned, with the
exception of one, which, though still supported
beyond the Alps, is already given up by Raoul
Rochette and Roestell, both among the first of
living antiquarians. In consequence of the Roman
decrees, half Europe is now supplied with the

190

THE iMAllTYRS OF

relics of ordinary persons, lapsed, heterodox, or
otherwise unworthy of distinction, enshrined in
gold and silver as the remains of faithful martyrs.
Less modest in their ignorance than the men of
Athens, the worshippers of catacomb saints allowed
of no anonymous divinity, but instituted a form of
baptism for the unknown gods. * Little thought the
ancient retailer of second-hand gravestones, that,
thanks to his carelessness in not erasing the name
of Benerus, the heathen blacksmith should, in the
19 th century, attain to the honours of a Christian
martyr. Let no one say that the days of super-
stition have passed away, when even our own age
contributes to swell that order of saints of which
the first members were Gervasius and Protasius,
and the too well preserved Nazarius.

The origin of martyr-worship belongs to the
middle of the fourth century ; for martyrs and
martyr- worship did not exist in the Church at the
same time. During persecution, the merit of mar-
tyrs may have been at times over rated : but even
this is quite distinct from any form of worship
afterwards paid to them. Eusebius well argues,
that, if Stephen interceded for the forgiveness of his
murderers, in the case of one at least, with signal
success, the confessor might well pray for the re-

* See in Mabillon's posthumous works, vol. ii., a treatise " On
the worship of unknown Saints." The illustrious Gallican
could perceive that his transalpine brethren were too super-
stitious, but " whom they ignorantly worshipped" he was not
able to tell them.

THE CATACOMBS.

191

storation of his lapsed brethren ; but here Eusebius
stops, nor ventures to set up the departed spirit
as a mediator between God and man. From the
first petition addressed to the imprisoned confessor,
as to a friend of approved faith, the full grown su-
perstition was reached by natural and easy steps.
The martyr next appears as a being of superior
sanctity, as one who has conferred an obligation
upon his Master, and is entitled to the worth of it
in favour of others : his intercession with the
Church in behalf of the lapsed, is confounded with
mediation between God and man : in after times
the historian exaggerates the power attributed to
him in his lifetime : and when at last he is de-
scribed as ascending to heaven, charged with peti-
tions to be presented before the throne, and fol-
lowed thither by fresh prayers and praises, — a
little more, and the historian might be celebrating
the Protomartyr Himself again incarnate — again
challenging the exclamation, Who is this that
forgive th sins also ? "

The prayers addressed to martyrs even as-
sumed the form of those used in divine worship.
Of such a character is the prayer of Prudentius to
Vincent, in the form of a litany : —

Per te, per ilium carcerem,
Honoris augmentum tui,
Per vincla, flammas, ungulas,
Per carceralem stipitem :
Per fragmen illud testeum,
Quo parta crevit gloria ;
Et quern trementes posteri

192

THE MARTYRS OF

Exosculamur lectulum,
Miserere nostrarum precura.

By thyself, renowned in story,
By that prison, scene of glory,

By those chains and fires :
By the stake, the harrowing prong ;
By each flint whose edge inspires

Higher ra23tures to my song :
By that couch of bitterness
Which with trembling lips we press,

Pitying, aid our prayer.

The power at first given to martyrs was entirely
limited to the relaxation of ecclesiastical penance.
It was also customary to restore to favour, open
offenders who had given proof of sincere repentance
by undergoing suffering for the sake of religion.
This ground of reconciliation was doubtless liable
to be abused. Tertullian, when far gone in Mon-
tanism, accused the Church of receiving persons
supposed to have compounded with the heathen
governor for a short imprisonment or exile. What
especially provoked his invective, was the case of
some, who, by this subterfuge, had not only cleared
their own character, but had been allowed to in-
tercede with the church in behalf of others.

" You have granted such power to your martyrs, that who-
ever puts on by agreement the easy chains now first called im-
prisonment, is immediately surrounded by the impure : now
resound the prayers, now overflow the tears, of every one that
is defiled ; nor do any bribe their way to the prison, more than
they who have lost access to the church. • • • Some fly
to the mines, and return communicants, whereas they need
another martyrdom for the offences committed since their first.
For who while on earth and in the flesh is without sin ? espe-
cially a confessor living in the world, a suppliant to the un-

THE CATACOMBS.

193

godly, under obligations to the profligate and unclean ?
Imagine his head already under the impending sword : grant
that his body is now stretched upon the cross ; allow that he is
actually at the stake, with the lion let loose — or on the wheel,
with the fire lighted — even in the very security and possession
of martyrdom : who can suffer him, a mere man, to grant what
is the prerogative of God alone ? — God, who has condemned
such an assumption beyond excuse, for, as far as I know, the
Apostles, though martyrs themselves, never pretended to it."*

Tertullian, though appealing to the example of
the Apostles, appears to forget that St. Paul not
only greatly exceeded the power supposed to be
claimed by martyrs, but recommended to the Corin-
thians that line of conduct, with which Tertulhan
now reproaches the church — " Ye ought to forgive
him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one
should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow."
It was for having shown this lenity that Tertullian
designated the Catholics by the epithet Psychici or
Carnal ; and the restoration of offenders less
heinous than the Corinthian drew forth the tract
" De Pudicitia," from which the preceding sen-
tences are quoted.

Cyprian, writing in 251, lays down this rule for
the guidance of his people, many of whom were
ready to overrate the interest which the martyrs
possessed in the court of heaven : " Let no man
delude or deceive himself ; the Lord alone can
show mercy. The sins committed against Himself

* De Pudicitia, cap. 22.
O

194

THE MARTYRS OF

can be forgiven only by Him who bore our sins
and suffered for us, and whom God delivered for
our offences." With this statement, it is difficult
to reconcile an expression which follows, allowing
the possible efficacy of martyr-merit at the day
of judgment, though this concession is carefully
guarded by a caution against building upon it;
"lest the offignder should add to his other mis-
fortune the curse denounced by God against such
as trust in man. The Lord is the object of prayer,
He alone is to be pacified by our humiliation." *

The martyr's surrender of his body to the exe-
cutioner was esteemed an act of faith : the believer
entered into a fresh covenant, giving up his life
for Christ, and claiming eternal life with Him.
" Martyrdom," observes Tertullian, " is a baptism :
' I have a baptism to be baptized with.' " Thus
martyrdom came to be regarded as a sacrament,
and one of certain efficacy, seeing that no subse-
quent fall could annul its power. " Be thou faith-
ful unto death," was evermore whispered in the ear
of the confessor, " and I will give thee a crown of
life." Was the promise claimed too absolutely, and
without sufficient regard to the motives which led
to martyrdom ? Or was too exclusive importance
attached to the declaration, that, " With the mouth
confession is made unto salvation ? " In an age so
beset with terrors, was it presumptuous to take as
the motto of the confessor, " He that loseth his life

* Cyprian, de Lapsis, c. xi.

THE CATACOMBS.

195

for my sake, the same shall find it ? " Be this as it
may, primitive martyrdom appears to have con-
tributed largely to the conversion of the world;
for the rapid extension of Christianity almost
ceased within a few years after the last persecu-
tion.

106

CHAP. V.

THE SYMBOLS USED IN THE CATACOMBS.

The sudden falling off in Roman art during its
transition from Pagan to Christian hands, is partly
to be explained by the inferior station in society
occupied by the first converts. It cannot be said
that Christianity sufi'ered the arts to decline merely
from want of patronage, for all the talent available
was dedicated to her service, as soon as she was
enabled to assert her dominion. But, up to that
time, the assistance which she sought from art was
of a character altogether unfavourable to the dis-
play of its power. In works executed by Christians
before the fourth century, truth of representation
was a matter of indifference. A cross, however
rudely expressed, perfectly symbolised their faith :
the most elaborate bas-relief of the figure, crowned
and jewelled, told no more.

This levelling all distinction between degrees of
skill, proved fatal to the knowledge of proportion
and design. The symbolic meaning, since it claimed
exclusive consideration, superseded all necessity of
pleasing the eye, and even of satisfying the judg-
ment: the escape of Jonah from the whale did not
the less comfortably typify the resurrection of the

THE SYMBOLS USED IN THE CATACOMBS. 197

dead, because the fish was chimera-like, tlie ship a
mere boat, and the sea a rivulet : nor did faith
stumble at the anachronism of Noah receiving the
dove, in the background of the scene.*

The peculiarities of this style of art, if so digni-
fied a name may be given to it, will claim notice in
another place ; at present we have to do with the
tendency to reduce to a hieroglyphic form the re-
presentation of the elements of our religion. By
hieroglyphic is meant the appropriation of some one
figure to the expression of a particular idea ; thus
the raising of Lazarus was used as a symbol of the
resurrection ; and the dove, as an emblem of peace
with God.

It is not to the taste and imagination that such
works were addressed ; the only qualification ne-
cessary for their comprehension was faith, which
supplied the life and beauty wanting to the mis-
shapen forms. In these, till understood, there was
nothing attractive : but when interpreted, and
viewed by the believing eye, they told of a rest

* From a sarcophagus in the Vatican Library, engraved by
Aringhi, Bottari, &c.

o .3

198

THE SYMBOLS USED

from trouble, compared to which, "the golden
slumber on a bed of heaped Elysian flowers " was
but an unquiet dream.

So entirely had the fine arts been appropriated
to the use of polytheism, that it was only under the
severest restrictions that they could be admitted
to the service of the Church. With the monoga-
mist Tertullian, to paint was a crime to be classed
with second marriages: he says of Hermogenes,
" He paints unlawfully, he marries repeatedly : the
law of God, when in favour of his passions, he
approves ; when against his art, he despises."
Most narrowly watched of all, sculpture had to
surrender many of its characteristics, before it
could pass for an auxiliary to Christianity : how
effectuallj its fair proportions were disguised may
be seen by comparing with the bas-reliefs of the
Vatican Library the contents of the adjoining
museums.

Perhaps the cause which most powerfully con-
tributed to the adoption of Christian symbols, was
the ignorance of reading and writing then prevalent.
Books, and even inscriptions, were for the learned :
unlettered survivors were in no way consoled by
the epitaph of the deceased, or enlightened by the
figures expressing his age and the day of his death.
In some instances the most absurd mistakes of the
stone-cutter have passed unaltered. The annexed
inscription (from the Lapidarian Gallery) is en-
tirely reversed : and the husband of Elia seems to
have had no friend to point out to him the error,

IN THE CATACOMBS.

199

and put him upon obtaining a more intelligible
record of his wife.

HATIX1V1VPAITN]^HIVAJ]3
,21HpWM/3lf2\?JMT3
[M3favHHATlXlv3Vp

This epitaph may be read by the help of a mirror,
and then exhibits only the N reversed. The stone-
cutter has probably endeavoured to take off upon
the marble the impression of a written inscription :
— Elia Yincentia, who lived — years and 2 months.
She lived with Yirginius a year and a day.

Even when the stone-cutter has performed his
task unexceptionably, the orthography of some
epitaphs is so faulty as almost to frustrate their
intention. Since the invention of printing, spelling
has become comparatively fixed, even to the lowest
class of writers ; and we can imagine no modern
inscription so miserably conceived as the annexed ;

IIBER QVI VIXI QYAI QYO
PARE IVA ANOIVE I ANORV
M PL VI MINYI XXX I PACE.

Read — Liber, qui vixit cum compare sua annum L Annorum
plus minus xxx. in pace. In Cliristo.

For unlettered persons, another method of re-
presentation was necessary; and the symbols,
though they imperfectly supplied the deficiency,
were the only substitutes known. This view is

o 4

200

THE SYMBOLS USED

forced upon us by the existence of phonetic signs :
such as the ass on the tomb of Onager, and the lion
on that of Leo : an idea so strange, and to our taste
so bordering upon caricature, that it can only be
explained by the necessity for some characteristic
mark of the deceased, intelligible to his non-reading
relations. The friends of Leo searching for his
tomb, discover the sculptured lion : the most ig-
norant knows enough to read " Leo."

In the difficulty of distinguishing a tomb, the
most trifling object was often adopted as a charac-
teristic mark. Mabillon, when taken through the
catacombs by Fabretti, noticed a broken Egyptian
idol set up beside a grave. Fabretti maintained
that it was no mark of idolatrous feeling, but
merely an abridged representation of the raising of
Lazarus, who always appears as a mummy in ca-
tacomb paintings.*

The symbols employed in the Catacombs are of
three kinds : the larger proportion refer to the pro-
fession of Christianity, its doctrines, and its graces :
a second class, of a purely secular description, indi-
cate the trade of the deceased : and the remainder
represent proper names. Of the first class, the
cross, adopted by almost universal consent as " the
sign of the Son of Man," claims our earliest con-
sideration.

It would be difficult to find among mankind a
more complete revolution of feeling, than that which

* Mabillon, Museum Italicum, vol. i. p. 137.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

201

has taken place concerning tlie instrument of cru-
cifixion : once the object of horror and a symbol of
disgrace, it is now the blessed emblem of our faith ;
the sign of admission, by baptism, to the benefits
of Christian fellowship. No effort of the imagi-
nation," says Milman*, " can dissipate the illusion
of dignity which has gathered round it : it has
been so long dissevered from all its coarse and
humiliating associations, that it cannot be cast
back and desecrated into its state of opprobrium and

* Bampton Lectures, p. 279.

202

THE SYMBOLS USED

contempt." How soon it began to be used as a
symbol of Christianity, it is difficult to say : the
gradual change to a crucifix is more easily traced.

But in undergoing this change, its original in-
tention was lost: from being a token of joy, an
object to be croAvned with flowers, a sign in which
to conquer, — it became a thing of tears and agony
— a stock-subject with the artist anxious to display
his power of representing anguish.

The above sketch, from a bas-relief in the Vatican
library, shows the feeling connected with the cross
by the ancient Church. The fragment of that em-
blem is surmounted by a garland of flowers enclosing
the monogram of our Saviour's name : and upon it
sits the dove, symbol of the peace with God pur-
chased by the Kedeemer's death. Such represen-
tations were common about the fourth century.
Paulinus, who wrote inscriptions for the difi*erent
parts of his basilica, placed beneath the crowned
cross the words, " Bear the cross, you who wish to
receive the crown." Elsewhere he says, in allusion
to the same —

" The labour and reward of the saints justly go together ;
The arduous cross, and the crown, its noble recompence."

The symbol of our religion was fancifully traced
by the Fathers throughout the universe : the four
points of the compass, the " height, breadth, length,
and depth " of the Apostle, expressed, or were ex-
pressed by, the cross. A bird flying expanded its
wings into the mystic figure. The cross explained

IN THE CATACOMBS.

203

everything : if Moses routed the Amalekites, it was
by means of the outstretched arms which resembled
the sign of redemption ;

" Et manibus tensis hostilia castra fugavit,
Unus homo, crucis in formam pia bracliia fingens."*

Prudentius, also :

" Sublimis Amalech premit
Crucis quod instar tunc fuit."

" He on high overcomes Amalech, because of his
resemblance to a cross." The same posture in
prayer was general among the Christians, and is
mentioned by Tertullian. The very material of
the cross did not escape application by Cyprian :
" Their bodies should not shrink from clubs, who
have all their hopes depending upon wood."

The cross was occasionally added to the Trisa-
gion, a custom which scandalised some persons in
the fifth century. The heathen, it was said, Avould
believe from it, that God had been crucified. A
few heterodox Christians found in it a pretext for
the opinion, that the second person of the Trinity
was divided. The sculptor was accused of making
a Quaternity, by introducing a sufi'ering Son in
addition to the Three Persons of the Trisao^ion.
The correspondence relative to the Council of

* Gregory of Nazianzen, Carmina LXI. Gregory of Nyssa
interprets it differently, " the raised hands signified the exal-
tation of the law." But about 150 Justin Martyr had written,
*'By his hands raised to heaven he signified the cross." — Dial,
cum Try phone Judceo. An argument well suited to the trifling
character of the Jewish mind.

204

THE SYMBOLS USED

Chalcedon displays in a remarkable manner the
jealousy with which the doctrine of the Church on
these points was guarded.

In order to appreciate the simplicity of the
ancient emblems, we must glance for a moment at
the grosser representations resorted to in later
times. The same doctrine of an atonement is de-
clared by all, but each age selects in turn the
triumph, the condescension, the humiliation, and
the agony, of the Son of God. The symbolism of
the first four centuries is uniformly joyful and tri-
umphant ; Pilate may set a seal upon the sepulchre,
and the soldiers may repeat their idle tale : but the
Church knows better: her Christ is living, and,
thinking rather of His resurrection than of His death,
she crowns the cross with flowers. The primitive
symbols were also as rudimentary as they were cheer-
ful : two crossed lines recorded the whole story of
the passion. In course of time, faith begins to cool :
the sculptor finds it necessary to suggest rather
more strongly the meaning of the symbol. About
the year 400, there appears at the foot of the cross
a white lamb ; by the help of this sacrificial emblem
mankind contrives to remember the atonement for
three hundred years longer. In the year 706, the
Quinisextan council took away the lamb and
painted in its place a living man ; at first seen

* Canon 82. We ordain that the representation in human
form of Christ our God, who takes away the sin of the world, be
henceforward set up, and painted, in the place of the ancient
lamb."

IN THE CATACOMBS.

205

standing beneath the cross, with arms extended, as
if in prayer. This affecting representation seems
to have lasted out that century : in the ninth, the
painter raised his Christ to the level of the trans-
verse beam : the darkened sun and moon now
appear above the cross ; but He still lives and prays
with hands unconfined. In the tenth century,
Christ is first represented as dead, the nails being
driven into the hands and feet: about the thirteenth,
the head droops on one side.

Some slight alterations still take place : the dress,
at first extending from the neck to the feet, is re-
duced to a short wrapper reaching from the waist
to the knees ; this is the form most characteristic of
the pure mediasval style. The narrowest drapery
indicates the approach of the revival.

We have thus traced to its most mournful phase
the transformation of Christian symbolism ; a
change which forms part of the great problem of
the dark ages: whatever may be the cause, the
cheerful conceptions of the early Church, itself
nursed in scenes of horrible realities, became too
simple and refined for after times. The Byzantine
paintings contained in the cabinets of the Vatican
library forcibly display this taste. In that small
museum, deserving of much more attention than it
receives, every subject, from the treatment of the
artist, becomes more or less distressing : the Divine
Infant, with a countenance destitute of youthful
expression, excites no sympathy for the helpless
offspring of the Virgin : and the " man of sorrows,"

206

THE SYMBOLS USED

a more usual object of representation, covered with
triangular splashes of blood, with a face indicative
of hopeless anguish, intense in expression, and not
deficient in execution, illustrates less the Redeemer's
life than a dark page in the history of Christendom.
To this school of art, which comes down to the
twelfth century, the western world added sculpture,
forbidden by the iconoclast zeal of the East : but
both divisions of Christendom underwent the same
fate : the sky of sacred art darkened, as the Saviour's
countenance, its proper sun, shed a more disastrous
light over its scenes of woe ; till the last glimmer-
ing of Divine majesty suffered total eclipse from
the exclusive display of agonised humanity.

Abuses generally enter the church as imperfect
methods of remedying opposite evils. Better to
paint the crucifixion in our own blood, than to allow
it to slip from our creed. With all the grossness of
mediaeval art, it possessed this redeeming charac-
teristic, that it struggled hard to counteract the
n\ischief done by the schoolmen. While these last
were employed in throwing up cloud after cloud
between man and his Redeemer, the painter did his
utmost to fix the vanishing object, if only on
canvas — to paint a Saviour while works and saint-
merit left a Saviour to be painted. Passing by the
cradle of Bethlehem, in which, as his successors
delight to prove to us, the " ox knew his Owner,
and the ass his Master's crib," he fastened upon
Golgotha. The Passion seemed to include the
whole life of Christ : then was He most a king.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

207

when croT^nied with tliorns; tlien most honoured,
when soldiers bowed the knee in derision. Plung-
ing into the subject with that earnestness in which
lay his only strength, the artist painted with all the
expression, that is with all the horror, he could
command. The hymn-writers seconded his efforts;
unable to invent, they repeated with enthusiasm
the details of the Passion :

Hail I when bufleted with palms :
Hail I when crowned with thorns :
Hail I when fastened to the cross :
Hail I when pierced at eventide :

See, I adore Thee in spirit and in truth ; have mercy upon
me. Amen.*

The painter having developed the symbol of the
Passion from the simple cross to the complete
painting, was followed by the sculptor, who, begin-
ning in the eleventh century with a mere bas-relief,
in the fourteenth arrived at the portable crucifix.
This was material enough : faith had been super-
seded by sight, and sight by touch : but the crucifix
was still imperfect, it could neither speak nor
move. How could this defect be remedied?

The living crucifix was first produced in the

* From a MS. jMissal in St. George's Library, "Windsor.

Ave ; palmis alapatus :
Ave ; spinis coronatus :
Ave ; cruci mancipatus :
Ave ; sero lanceatus :

Ecce, te adoro in spiritu et veritate ; miserere mei : Amen.

208

THE SYMBOLS USED

person of St. Francis of Assisi, in the year 1223.
In what manner his " five wounds " were produced,
we do not know; the jesting accounts of the
Dominicans are not to be trusted. The Franciscan
stigmata, however, are not to be regarded merely as
the work of a superstitious monk, but rather as of
an age, ready to give up as hopeless the attempt to
walk any longer by faith. There is a melancholy
reality in the expression " frigerante mundo " oc-
curring in the prayer which the Roman church
orders for St. Francis' day : " 0 Lord Jesus Christ,
who, when the world was growing cold, didst, in the
flesh of our most blessed Father Francis, renew the
holy marks of thy passion, to the inflaming of
our hearts with the fire of thy love: mercifully
grant that by his merits and prayers we may daily
bear the cross, and bring forth fruits worthy of
repentance." "From henceforth," concludes the
proper lesson for the day, throwing a halo round
the imposture, " from henceforth let no man trouble
me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus." ^

* Breviarium Romanum, A. D. 1661. Stigmata S. P. N.
Francisci. The trick of the stigmata aftenvards grew common ;
Gertrude had five wounds that bled at the canonical hours.
(Bolland's Saints, vol. i., January 6.) Ludvina had the five
wounds imprinted by Christ, but being of a retiring disposition,
she begged that they might be replaced by internal suffering.
(Ribadeneira, April 14.) Catherine of Sienna found the wound in
the side so painful, that she prayed for mitigation of the anguish,
lest she should die forthwith. This was about 1370. (Riba-
deneira, April 29.)

IN THE CATACOMBS.

209

To return to the ancient symbols : the monogram
of our Saviour's name, rudely expressed in the an-
nexed fac-simile, (Lap. Gall.) is composed of x

p, the first letters of Xpio-ro^. We preserve a vestige
of this figure by writing Xmas, and Xtian, in which
the first letter stands for the Greek dii. This in-
scription is to be read — Tasaris, in Christ the
First and the Last.

The alpha and omega, reversed in this epitaph,
refer to the well-known passage in the Apocalypse :
their continual use proves the general reception of
that book as a part of the inspired canon.

The a and ft) are mentioned by Tertullian, as well
as by Prude Qtius. From the ignorance of the

I - 1 DVS,

210

THE SYMBOLS USED

sculptor, the entire symbol was soinetimes inverted,
as in the above. The circle is supposed to imply
the eternity of Christ. (Lap. Gall.)

A change was afterwards made by the decussation
of the X, by which the hgure of a cross was pro-
duced. Having arrived at this happy coincidence,
the monogram remained stationary. Its simple
outline, thus chiselled on a grave-stone,*

or accompanied by the misplaced letters*

or even converted into Psr, as if for Psristos,
D • M • N

SORICIO.

To our great God. Eliasa to Soricius, in Christ,

* Lap. Gall.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

211

was, in course of time, ornamented with jewels; and
the monogramma gemmatum took its place as a work
of art among Christian bas-reliefs of the fourth cen-
tury. The best specimen contained in the Lapida-
rian Gallery is here given : the jewels are only in
marble, but they represent the real gems often
lavished upon the ancient cross.

It has been said that the monogram was not
invented before the time of Constantine, and was
first seen in his miraculous vision. An epitaph,
$uch as the subjoined, discovered by Bosioj may

p 2

212

THE SYMBOLS USED

well be assigned to that time, when the motto " In
hoc vinces " might have become common :
IN HOC vmCES

sons — She lived fortj-eiglit years, five months, and four days.

Or the next, from Oderici :

IN ^ VICTRIX
which probably signified,

Victrix (a woman's name), victorious in Christ.

But the epitaphs of Alexander and Marius^
martyrs under Adrian and Antonine, also exhibit
the monogram : and though they do not appear to
have been executed at the time, they contain marks
of belonging to a period of violent persecution.
The author does not possess any more decisive
means of disproving the assertion made by Gaetano
Marini, that the earliest monogram belongs to the
year 331, that is, six years after the Council of Nice.

Boldetti found upon the plaster of a grave, the
impression of a stamp an inch and a half in diameter:

SINFONIA ET FILIIS
V • AN • XL VIII M • V • D IIII

In this thou shalt conquer — In Christ. Sinfonia, also for her

Christus est Deus.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

213

some zealous adherent to the true faith, probably in
Arian times, had " set to his seal," that " Christ is God."

The only resemblance to the monogram used by
the heathen, was the ceraunium ^ or symbol of
lightning. The Egyptian cross appears to be an
abbreviation of the Nilometer.

There is no authority for the statement that the
monogram was a symbol of martyrdom, and signi-
fied for Christ." In many inscriptions, we read in
as

IN ASELVS D
Aselus sleeps (or, is buried,) in Christ. (Lap. Gall.)

Or,

SIGNV

CELIX • ET CEREALIS • PATRI • BENEM •
QVI • VIXIT • ANNIS • LXXXV • M • VIII • D • V
DORmX IN PACEM.

The mark of Christ. Celix and Cerealis to their well-
deserving father, &c.

Other symbols were employed to express the
name of Christ : among these the most remarkable
was the fish, which afforded a combination of every
thing desirable in a tessera, or mystic sign. The
Greek for fish, contained the initials of Ivjo-ou^

Xp/o-Toy 0£oo Tios '^(orrip ; Jesus Christ, Son of God,
the Saviour. Moreover, the phonetic sign of this
word, the actual fish, was not intelligible to the un-
initiated: an important point with tliose who
were surrounded by foes ready to ridicule and
blaspheme whatever signs of Christianity they could

p 3

214

THE SYMBOLS USED

detect. Nor did the appropriateness of the symbol
stop here. The fish, Tertullian thought, was a fit
emblem of Him whose children are " born of water "
in baptism.

Sometimes the word ix^og was expressed at
length, as in the two following: (Lap. Gall.)

IK0YC

BONO ET INOCENTI FILIO
PASTORI • QV • X • A • N • IIII

NNIS • X
IXGYC .

The first contains the mistake of k for

From an observation made by Clement of Alex-
andria early in the third century, it appears that
the monogram was not then in general use : " Let
our signets be a dove or a fish, or the heavenward
sailing ship : the lyre employed by Polycrates, or
the anchor engraved by Seleucus."* The Lapi-
darian Gallery contains specimens of nearly all
these symbols \ as the fish :

* Paedagogus, lib. iii.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

215

The olive branch which it bears is borrowed
from the history of Noah : it was sometimes carried
in the claws of the bird, as in the accompanying,
copied from the Vatican library.

lENYARIE BIRGINI
BENEMERENTI IN
PACE BOTIS DEPOSITA

To Jenuaria, a virgin, well-deserving. Buried in peace, with
good wishes.

DECEMBER S EVIVO FECIT SIBI
BISOMVJNI.

In Christ. December, while living, made himself a Bisomum,
(Lap. Gall.)

Also the anchor, understood to signify the close
of a welbspent life, the conclusion of a successful
voyage, when the anchor is cast. (Lap. Gall.)

r 4

216

THE SYMBOLS USED

The Church was represented by a ship sailing
heavenward, varjg oupavo^pofjt,oij(ra of Clement ; in
later times steered by Peter and Paul. One of
the figures is here copied ; (Lap. Gall.)

This symbol may help to explain the words " so
shall an entrance be ministered unto you abund-
antly:" generally referred to the prosperous en-
trance of a vessel into port. The ignorance dis-
played by the sculptor is scarcely to be accounted
for, excepting by the circumstance, that the traffic
on the Tiber was confined to barges, unprovided
with masts and sails, and towed by horses.

A number of sarcophagi exhibit at each corner
the mask used by actors : this refers to an idea
sometimes implied, but seldom expressed by the
writers of ancient times. " All the world's a stage,"
is a sentiment likely to occur only to a nation well
accustomed to the drama : though sometimes attri-
buted to the prophet David, in the sentence trans-
lated. Every man walketh in a vain show :" (or
image, margin, ref.) Ps. 39. It is elegantly ex-
pressed in a Pagan inscription preserved by Gruter :

IN THE CATACOMBS.

217

VIXI • DVM • VIXI • BENE • JAIVI • MEA
PERACTA • ]\IOX • VESTRA • AGETVR
FABLVA • VALETE • ET • PLAVDITE.

While I lived, I lived well. My di-ama is now ended, soon
yours will be : farewell, and applaud me.

The peacock is said to have been used as an em-
blem of immortality. This idea was borrowed from
the Pagans, who employed it to represent the
apotheosis of an empress : for this purpose it was
let fly from her funeral pile.

The supposed emblems of martyrdom, a figure
praying, a crown, and a palm-branch, belong to
this class. The praying figure sometimes occurs
on sarcophagi of costly workmanship, as in the

218 THE SYMBOLS USED

accompanying instance* ; also scratched with a
chisel, and afterwards filled in with red, as in the
specimen here copied from D'Agincourt, by whom

Bellicia, a most faithful virgin, who lived 18 years. In peace,
on the 14th before the Kalends of September.

it was discovered. This carefully -finished produc-
tion exhibits the dress of unmarried women at

* From the Vatican Library : the author not having per-
mission to copy the bas-reliefs, availed himself of some drawings
recently made by an Italian artist.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

219

the time. Notwithstanding Tertullian's vehement
treatise on the Veiling of Virgins, and the restric-
tions concerning their dress laid down by Cyprian,
little attention seems to have been paid to either
by the friends of Bellicia.

The dress consists of the stola instita, or fringed
cloak, ornamented shoes, and an arrangement of
the hair marking the times of the later Emperors.
The posture is that described by Tertullian as
proper to prayer : in this particular the Christians
copied the Pagans, who prayed to the Dii superi
(celestial gods) with their hands turned upwards :
but addressed the infernal deities with the palms
downwards. So Virgil rej)resents his hero as
prapng with his hands stretched out to heaven :
" Duplices tendens ad sidera palmas," a position
which must have limited the length of their prayers.
The praying figure is always of the same sex as
the person buried beneath it.

Both the crown and palm-branch are borrowed
from Paganism : but they received additional signi-
ficance to the Christian from the mention made of
them in the Apocalypse. On the strength of some
expressions there used, antiquarians of the last
three centuries have taken it for granted that the
early Church employed both croAvn and palm, or
either separately, as emblems of martyrdom. This
supposition, though apparently reasonable, has
been abandoned from want of proof: and sucli a
fragment as the following is now supposed to
belong to the epitaph of an ordinary Christian :

220

THE SYMBOLS USED

* * *

NA VIBAS
DOMINO
ESV

na, may you live in the Lord Jesus. (Lap. Gall.)

The crown and palm conjoined are also met
with : in the following example, from the wall of
the Vatican library, they encircle the monogram ;

• FL • 10 VINA • QVAE • VIX

• ANNIS • TRIBVS • D • XXX
• NEOFITA • IN PACE • XI • K

Flavia Jovina, who lived three years, and thirty days — a
neophyte — in peace. (She died) the eleventh before the
Kalends

The extreme youth of the neophyte, while it
proves the custom of infant baptism, makes the
martyrdom of Jovina improbable.

The inscription to Horia, contained in some
antiquarian works, exhibits an altar burning.

BENEMCPCNTI IN PACE
VIT XX MCSIS VI DIAE C XVIII
FELIX FCCIT HORIAE QVAE ANNOS.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

221

This must be read from below upwards :

Felix made this to Horia, who lived 20 years, 6 months, and
18 days. To the well-deserving, in peace.

The symbols of trade figured upon grave-stones
have been regarded by antiquarians as indicating
the instruments by which the deceased had suffered
martyrdom. Yet the entire absence of proof,
added to the mass of horrors entailed upon history
by the strange nature of the torments thus called
into existence, might have staggered their credulity :
and the combination of objects belonging to the
same trade should have suggested a better expla-
nation. The dates of some contradict the suppo-
sition, as in the epitaph of Constantia, copied from
the walls of the Capitoline Museum :

DEPOSITA COSTANTIA VI KAL IVLIAS •
HONORIO AVa • V • CONSVLE DIE DOMINI

AQVAE VIXIT ANNOS P • M • SEXAGINTA
BENEMERENTI IN PACE.

Constantia, buried in peace, on the Lord's day, the 6th before
the Kalends of July, in the 5th Consulate of Honorius Au-
gustus, &c.

Honorius was Consul several times ; his fifth
consulate was in 402, long after the persecutions
had ceased. The knife and mallets do not quite fix
the trade : women might have been then employed
in beating flax, as well as in combing wool. The
inscription to Bauto and his wife (Lap. Gall.) is

222 THE SYMBOLS USED

more decisive, the adze and saw being of the form
now employed :

BAYTO ET MAXIMASI VIVI
FECERVNT

Bauto and Maxima made this during their lifetime.

The Pagans were also in the habit of using signs
to indicate a trade or profession. There is a bag
sculptured upon a stone on the right-hand wall of
the Lapidarian Gallery, with the inscription —

VIATOR • AD • AERARIVM
Serjeant to the Exchequer.*

Raoul Kochette describes the monument of Atime-
tus, a pullarius^ or poulterer, which exhibits a cage
of chickens. The sphere and cylinder on the tomb
of Archimedes, by which Cicero discovered the
resting-place of the mathematician, furnish a well-
known instance of the practice.

The tombstone of Adeodatus (Lap. Gall.) ex-
presses tolerably well the implements of a wool-
comber.

They consist of a pair of shears, a comb, and a
plate of metal with a rounded handle. The spe-

* Several epitaphs in Gruter contain the same title : also,
" Viator qnestoris ad aerarium."

IN THE CATACOMBS.

223

VPCVJ
AD to,
ATI

M M n I I It 1 1 1 I 1

"11 immiiiii

Gulum, generally used to indicate the trade, is here
omitted, though inserted in the epitaph of Yeneria.*

To Veneria. In peace.

The Lapidarian Gallery contains the epitaph of
the wife of Marcianus, a shoemaker; the first line
has been broken off or erased :

* The author found this inscription in the wall of a passage,
No. 22. Piazza di Spagna, Rome.

224

THE SYMBOLS USED

ANIS XXVII MESES VI
DIES XI HORAS VIII MARCIANVS
COIVCI DICNISSEMF IN PACE

(Aged) 27 years, six months, eleven days, and eight

hours. Marcianus to his most worthy wife. In peace.

The picture of Diogenes, already explained, and
that of Eutropus which follows, contain a number
of implements relating to the occupation of the
deceased :

The holy worshipper of God, Eutropus, in peace. His son
made this. He died on the 10th Kalends of September.
(Fabretti.)

The honours of a martyr have been conferred
upon Eutropus, from the cup in his hand, and the
praying position : but neither evidence is satis-
factory. The process of drilling a hole in the sar-
cophagus is well expressed in the rude drawing ;
the instruments, masks of lions, and strigiles upon
the sarcophagus, are given with some accuracy.

IN THE ^CATACOMBS.

225

The following has found its way into Boldetti's
great work, where the figure upon the stone is in-
terpreted as a furnace used in the martyrdom of
Victorina. It is here copied from the Lapidarian
collection, in which it is preserved.

BICTORl
FACE

Victorina in peace and in Christ.

There can be now no question as to the true
meaning of the figure ; — an ancient bushel measure
filled with corn.

Most of the remaining figures used by the
Christians of ancient Rome were employed to dis-
tinguish the tomb of a friend or relation. The
phonetic intention of these figures is expressed in
the well-known epitaph of Navira :

NABIRA IN PACE ANIMA DYLCIS
QVI BIXIT ANOS n XVI M V
ANIMA MELEIEA
TITVLV FACTV
APARENTES SIGNVM NABE

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.

The tomb of Dracontius exhibits a drao^on : that
of Onager, an ass.* The author has great pleasure

* Boldetti, Bottari, &c.
Q

226

THE SYMBOLS USED

in being able to add, to the small number of pho-
netics published, the annexed, from the Lapidarian
Gallery ;

PONTIVS • LEO • S • EBIVO • FECIT • SIBI
ET • PONTIA • MAZA • COZVS • VZVS
FECERVNT • FILIO • SVO • APOLLINARI • BEN
MERENTI

Pontius Leo made this for himself while living. He and his
wife Pontia Maxima made this for their well-deserving son,
Apollinaris.

Two well-known instances are those of Doliens
and Porcella : the first is not decisive, as the cask
occasionally appears elsewhere :

IVLIO FILIO PATER DOLIENS

— Doliens the father, to Julius his son —

Dolium is the Latin for cask ; Porcella signifies a
little pig, as in the next ;

PORCELLA HIC DORMIT
IN P • QVIXIT ANN III M X
D • XIII

Here sleeps Porcella in peace. She lived three years, ten
months, and thirteen days.

IN THE CATACOMBS.

227

These animals would have considerably embar-
rassed the older writers : Leo, indeed, would have
been a victim to the lions of the Coliseum ; but the
pig and cask, the ass and the dragon, must have
puzzled all but Gallonius, whose love of the horrible
would doubtless have invented unheard-of tortures
to explain the symbols, and embodied them in en-
gravings of fearful aspect.

Besides the signs employed by the orthodox, there
were others, of Gnostic origin : some of these, by
their glaring inconsistency with the pure spirit of
Christianity, exemplify the doctrines condemned
by the apostles, as introduced by depraved teachers.

If it be true that the ancient Christians, with
the intention of disguising their religion from the
Pagans, adapted to the new creed many of the
symbols belonging to the old, — if, as asserted by
Hope*, they sought out such signs as should seem
Gentile to the Gentiles, though Christian to their
fellow-believers, — they so far succeeded as to have
deceived many antiquarians of later times. By
being " all things to all men " in this respect, they
have furnished an argument against the Christian
character of their places of worship, dwellings, and
sepulchres. " Diana's Stag," says Hope, "became
the Christian soul thirsting for the living waters :
Juno's Peacock, under the name of the Phoenix,
that soul after the resurrection." It may be that
disguise did not furnish the principal motive for

* Essay on Architecture.
Q 2

228 SYMBOLS USED IN THE CATACOMBS.

clioosing those equivocal emblems : perhaps more
may be attributed to poverty of invention. This,
however, is certain, that the symbols became more
and more tangible, — more adapted to a gross con-
ception, as Christianity became more established
and secure from insult. The desecration of eucha-
ristic vessels, attributed to Julian the Apostate,
justifies the caution of the earlier believers in the
concealment of their sacred rites.

229

CHAP. VI.

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT
CHURCH.

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves j
for they watch for your souls. — Hebr. xiii. 17.

The highest office in the primitive Church of Rome
was that of bishop — the episcopus, or papa. The
last title, literally signifying Father, though since
limited in its use, was originally applied to bishops
in general. In the epistles addressed to Cyprian by
the Roman clergy, the bishop of Carthage is styled
" the blessed pope Cyprian." The form is pre-
served by our Church in the words " Most Reve-
rend Father in God." Jerome applies the word
Papa to the superior of a monastery, and several
times to Augustine, bishop of Hippo. It occurs in
one epitaph in the Lapidarian Gallery.

PERPETVAM SEDEM NYTRITOR POSSIDES IPSE
HIC MERITYS FINEM MAGNIS DEFYNCTE PERICLIS
HIC REQYIEM FELIX SYMIS COGENTIBUS ANNIS
HIC POSITYS PAPA SANTIMIOO YIXIT ANNIS LXX
DEPOSITYS DOMINO NOSTRO ARCADIO II ET FL

RYFIXO
YYCCSS NONAS NOBEMB.

You, our nursing-father, occupy a perpetual seat, here de-
serving an end, having passed through great dangers. Here
happy, you find rest, bowed down with years. Here lies the

Q 3

230

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

most holy Pope, who lived 70 years. Buried on the nones
of November, our Lords Arcadius for the second time, and
Flavius Rufinus, being Cousuls.

The date of this consulate is 392, in which year
no bishop of Rome died. Siricius was made pope
in 385, and lived to 396. Yet the reference to a
perpetual seat^ added to the title papa sanetissimusj
strongly indicates episcopal rank. This Papa may
have been an antipope, there being a schism at that
time in Rome.

The body of St. Peter was buried in a crypt on
the Vatican hill. This circumstance, which might
be expected to give a special interest to that branch
of the catacombs, has had the contrary effect ; for,
in the ceaseless attempts which have been made to
decorate and modernize the cemetery, all trace of
antiquity has been lost. According to Gregory the
Great, the bodies of Peter and Paul were first
hidden in the Sebastian catacombs, and afterwards
removed to their present burial places ; but the
late date of this assertion (a. d. 600) destroys its
credit.

The history of the ancient bishops of Rome is
intimately connected with that of the catacombs, in
which not a few were martyred, and all, till the
middle of the fifth century, were buried. From
the time of Leo I., who in 462 was interred in the
vestibule of the sacristy of St. Peter's, we may date
the decline of the subterranean cemeteries. During
the troubles which followed, the knowledge of their
entrances was lost, and only a few short passages

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

231

of easy access remained open, which were still em-
bellished with the ornaments suggested by a de-
based taste.

Who was the first bishop of Rome? Linus,
answers the ancient church ; St. Peter, the modern
Romanist. From the entire historical evidence
belonging to the period between a. d. 60, and 380,
the reader will be able to judge how rapidly the
primitive tradition on this subject was corrupted.

To begin with the earliest :

A. D. 66. St. Peter dates an epistle from Baby-
lon, unanimously understood to be Rome by the
ancient Church. * *'

A. D. 90. Clement, third bishop of Rome, only
states that the Apostle suffered martyrdom.

A. D. 110. Papias. The usual quotation from
this author is founded on a mistake.f

A. D. 180. Hegisippus, de excidio Judaico. A
notorious forgery, allowed to be such by Bellar-
mine.

A. D. 180. Irenseus: nothing can be more con-
clusive than the testimony of this writer, whose in-
tercourse mth Poly carp, a disciple of St. John,
gave him the best possible means of obtaining in-

* Asiatic Babylon was then in ruins, and the small village of
the same name in Egypt has no claim to the honour. The iden-
tity of Babylon and Rome in this passage was first denied in the
fifteenth century.

f The supposed quotation is by Eusebius, who says (patny,
they say, not referring to Papias and Clement : moreover, the
observation (about the name Babylon) is not contained in Cle-
ment's Institutions.

Q 4

232

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

formation. He says of Rome, " The blessed Apostles
Peter and Paul having there founded a church,
delivered the administration of its bishoprick to
Linus, the same that is mentioned in Paul's epistle
to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus ; after
him, in the third place from the Apostles, did
Clement, who had seen and known them, obtain
the episcopate." (Adv. HaBreses, lib. v.)

A. D. 190. Tertullian, speaking of Rome : " where
Peter was conformed to his Lord in suffering.
(De Praescrip. Hseret. c. xxxvi.)

He tmce calls Rome Babylon, and says in the
Scorpiace, " Nero first persecufed us in Rome ;
then was Peter girded by another, when he was
bound to the cross. " Elsewhere he tells us that
Clement received ordination from St. Peter.

A. D. 200. (about). The Apostolic Constitutions,
a work notoriously spurious, though very ancient,
tell us that St. Peter vanquished Simon Magus in
Rome.

A. D. 230. Origen. The passage which Eusebius
is generally supposed to quote from tom. 3. in Ge-
nesin, cannot be found there, nor in any other of
Origen 's extant works.

A. D. 252. Cyprian styles Rome the "chair of
Peter. "

A. D. 256. Firmilian, speaking of the bishop of
Rome, expresses himself as "justly indignant at the
manifest folly of Stephen, who, while he piques
himself on the site of his see, and eagerly claims
the succession of Peter, does introduce &c. " (Cyp.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

233

Epist. 75.) These African bishops were the first to
attribute to St. Peter alone the foundation of the
Roman see.

A. D. 290. Lactantius. " Peter and Paul preached
in Rome — ^sTero put them to death." (Lib. iv.
c. 21.)

A. D. 320. Eusebius. This accurate historian
thrice assigns to Linus the post of honour as first
bishop of Rome.

" After the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, Linus
first received the bishopric of the Roman church."
(H. E. iii. 2.)

" At that time Clement still presided over the
church of Rome, being reckoned the third in suc-
cession from the Apostles among the bishops of
that city. For the first was Linus, the second
Anencletus." (C. 19.)

" The church being now founded and settled,
the blessed Apostles delivered the bishopric to
Linus." (Lib. v. c. 6.)

" Peter is said to have made mention of Mark in
that epistle which he is supposed to have written
from Rome, in which he is understood to have
figuratively alluded to Rome in the words, * The
church which is in Babylon, elect together with
you, saluteth you, as also Marcus my son.'"
(Lib. ii. c. 15.)

Peter is supposed to have preached to the Jews
who were scattered abroad throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia. At last,
coming to Rome, he was crucified with his head

234: THE OFFICES AND CtTSTOMS OF

downwards, for so he liad requested to be placed
upon the cross." (Lib. iii. c. 1.)

A. D. 367. Damasus. His extant works are
reckoned apocryphal by Bellarmine.

A. D. 370. Optatus, an African bishop, for the
first time styles St. Peter " bishop of Kome." (Ad-
versus Parmenianum, lib. ii.)

A. D. 374. Ambrose relates the crucifixion of
St. Peter in Kome, but does not mention the posi-
tion on the cross. (Oratio ad Auxentium.)

A. D. 380. Epiphanius. " There were in Rome
first of all Peter and Paul, apostles as well as
bishops: then Linus, next Cletus." (Ha3resi 27.)

A. D. 390. Chrysostom and Prudentius repeat
the history of St. Peter's crucifixion in Rome,
together with the incident of his being inverted
upon the cross.

From this time we hear no more of Linus as
first bishop of Rome ; but the statement of Optatus,
notwithstanding its injustice to the memory of
St. Paul, continues to be repeated with as much
confidence as if it had been handed down from the
earliest times.

The result of our examination may be thus
summed up. The whole mass of ancient testimony,
with a single exception, declares that the Apostles
ordained Linus first bishop of Rome. The excep-
tion is an African fable, founded upon an equivocal
expression of Cyprian, and worked into form by
two other Africans : according to this fable St.
Peter was first bishop of Rome. The Africans

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

235

may be excused a mistake on the subject of the
Roman see : enough for our purpose to know that
the primitive church of Rome never pretended to
claim St. Peter as its bishop.

We have now followed the fortunes of the Apostle
to his instalment in the episcopal chair of Rome :
this is but the first budding of his posthumous
honours. In following his farther career, we find
him in the year

400, bishop of Antioch, and afterwards, for
twenty-five years, of Rome. (Jerome.)

484, he appoints the Pope his vicar. (Gelasius.)

600, is seven years bishop of Antioch, then of
Alexandria, and, lastly, of Rome. (Gregory I. ;
thus making Antioch senior.)

860, travels from Jerusalem to Rome, touching
incidentally at Antioch. (Simeon Metaphrastes ;
thus striking a blow at the seniority of Antioch.)

1083, succeeds Christ in the papacy of Rome.
(Marianus Scotus, followed by M. Polonus, Platina,
&c.*)

1560, his daughter Petronilla refuses the hand
of Flaccus, a noble Roman. (Surius.)

1566, he founds the see of Rome before visiting

* Mariani Scoti Chronicum.

" Romanorum Pontificum series :

1. Christus,

2. Petrus,

3. Linus," &c.

Bellarmine objects to the expression that the Pope is Christ's
successor, as implying that Christ is no longer living. (De
Summo Pont. cap. xxiv.)

236 THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

Antioch, thus securing the Roman seniority. (Onu
phrius Panvinus.)

1670, Petronilla is disowned, her youth re-
flecting upon the apostolic celibacy. (Baronius.)

1670, ends his episcopal career, having filled the
chair of Eome during 24 years, 9 months, and 11
days. (Baronius.)

There is in the Roman calendar a festival, en-
titled " St. Peter's chair at Antioch," which has
existed from the sixth century. There is also a
feast of " St. Peter's chair in Rome," appointed by
Paul lY., about the year 1550. The Antioch
festival, which cannot now be expunged from the
calendar, has deeply exercised the ingenuity of
Romish writers. The seniority of Antioch was
evident ; Rome, as the younger sister, must forego
her claim to the inheritance of the " regalia Petri."
Gregory the Great, however, ventures to claim, on
the part of Rome, an equality with Antioch and
Alexandria ; balancing the chronological precedence
of those sees, by the fact that the Apostle remained
in Rome till his death. " Although there are
many apostles, yet, as regards the actual primacy,
the seat of the first of the apostles alone claims
precedence; and this, though of one ];)erson, is in
three places. For he elevated that see in which
he thought fit to remain stationary, and to finish
his life. He graced that see in which he placed
his disciple the Evangelist. He confirmed that see
which he filled for seven years, though about to
depart. Since then that see, over which by divine

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

237

appointment three bishops now preside, is one and
of one ; whatever good I hear of you I take to
myself, and, if you believe any good of me, set that
down to your own account. For we are one in
Him who said, ^ that they all may be one.'"* This
letter was written to Eulogius, bishop of Alex-
andria, in 597.

As Eome proceeded in her career, the chain that
bound her up with Antioch and Alexandria became
insupportably galling, threatening to hold her back
from the spiritual government of Europe. An
oracle had promised the empire of Asia to him
who could untie the Gordian knot : Rome needed
no other oracle than the prompting of her own am-
bition to set her upon seeking to sever these links.
The first attempt to evade the difficulty was made
by Simeon Metaphrastes, a writer of undoubted
genius and fertile invention. He entirely re-
modelled the life of the Apostle, and arranged its
incidents in a more judicious manner; interweaving

* Gregorii Maximi, Epist. lib. vii. ep. 39. In this dex-
terously worded statement, Gregory begins St. Peter's career
with his death, and goes backward to his first see. He also takes
for granted these two points : that the Apostle intended to leave
Antioch, (quamvis discessurus), and that he intended to die in
Rome, (vitam finire dignatus est). The popes have never been
fastidious in the choice of arguments in favour of their claims :
thus Innocent the Third : " The Lord said to Peter, launch out
into the deep, as if he would say, * Go to Rome ; take thyself and
thine to the city, and there let down thy net for a draught.*
Whence it plainly appears how much God loved that city."
Innoc. III., sermo 2, in Petri et Pauli festo. Written about
1200.

238

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

some anticipatory remarks, so contrived as to throw
the order of events into confusion. The Apostle is
made to start for Rome in search of Simon Magus,
a pursuit which leads him through Asia Minor,
where, among other places, he twice visits Antioch.
After accomplishing his mission in Rome he under-
takes a fresh tour, consecrating many bishops,
twenty-eight of whom are specified by name ; but
while residing in Britain, he is ordered to return
to Rome, that his martyrdom may take place there.
Baronius simply dismisses this statement as "im-
prudent.'"*

A bolder champion of Rome's seniority was
Onuphrius Panvinus, who endeavoured to prove
the impossibility of St. Peter's having visited An-
tioch before going to Rome.f His arguments were
refuted by Baronius and Ballarmine.

Rome's armoury was not yet exhausted : from
the Vatican library was produced a manuscript,
from which was printed an edition of Gregory's
works : in this edition, by a bold anachronism of
ten centuries, the ancient Antioch festival was me-
tamorphosed into the festival of " St. Peter's chair
in Roraey The fraud was discovered, though not
till after its end had been answered: "I consider
the passage false," observes the Benedictine anno-
tator, ^' through the fault of the librarians." J

* Surius, Vitae Sanctorum. Baronius, Annal. Eccles. torn. i.
t Additions to Platina, Vitae Pontificum Romanorum.
J Locum, vitio librariorum, mendosum esse reor, ciim Roma
pro Antiochia ponatur." Ed. Benedict, t. iii. p. 604

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

239

The Church which occupied the catacombs, as
may be gathered from the universal voice of anti-
quity, not less than from the modest position as-
sumed by Gregory in the sixth century, claimed no
authority over distant Churches : and what is of
equal importance, no such authority was ceded by
them. So deeply does this question affect the
character of the ancient church of Rome, that it
can scarcely be evaded in a work treating expressly
of the condition of that Church.

To the safety of the Papal theory several assump-
tions are necessary : that St. Peter was made head
of the Apostles : that he should afterwards become
bishop of Rome : that he was addressed as such
when surnamed Rock : and that his power should
be transmitted to his successors in one line only :
all these are essential parts of the chain of argu-
ment. In so wide a range, we are saved from the
temptation to deny any portion of the truth, while
resisting the usurpation of the Italian primate.
In no way does it weaken our cause to allow, (and
may we never refuse due honour to one whom
Christ has delighted to honour,) that the power of
loosing and binding was conferred upon Peter some
days or even weeks earlier than upon the eleven :
that the commission to " strengthen his brethren "
after his repentance, qualified him to administer
the same reproof to the others, that he afterwards
received from St. Paul : and we may safely grant,
to those who delight in such interpretations, that
when addressing the multitude from the boat of

240

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

Peter, Christ may have prefigured the future em-
ployment of its owner as first herald of the Gospel
to the world at large. And among the twelve, we
may attribute to " the first, Simon, who is also
called Peter," all the preeminence that St. Paul
could discover to belong to him when "James,
Cephas, and John seemed to be pillars,'' without
infringing the spirit of the declaration, " their
great ones exercise authority upon them, but it
shall not be so among you." But when we have
granted this, and have laboured in the cause of
Kome as far as the most lax interpretation will
permit, to what extent have we satisfied her claims ?

To the declaration, " Thou art Peter, and on
this rock will I build my church," have been at-
tached at various times different interpretations.
For more than 300 years the words were uniformly
understood in what must ever be considered their
most natural sense, for as long as the Greek lan-
guage was spoken, the difierence of gender sug-
gested loy some modern commentators was not
noticed: St. Peter and the Rock were therefore
identified. Late in the fourth century another
rendering was proposed: the rock was by many
taken to signify the true faith. The question has
ever since remained open, though the Romans have
supported the interpretation which they imagine
most favourable to their own pretensions. The
Church of England has expressed no opinion on
this point, simply inserting in the service for St.
Peter's day the entire passage, containing the most

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

241

stupendous announcement ever made to mortal
man.

It is instructive to observe, how little the force
of circumstances has influenced the interpretations
attached to this passage. Cyprian, though en-
gaged in controversy with the overbearing bishop
of Rome, maintained the identity of Peter and the
rock. Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa, in no
way connected with Rome, started the counter-
interpretation ; and Leo the First, a pope of the
fifth century, expounds the Petra as " the rock of
catholic faith, the surname of which the apostle
received." Augustine twice changed his mind
upon the subject, at different times expounding it
as the Lord, the church, and the apostle. Thomas
Aquinas considered Christ to be the rock ; and
Jerome, allowing that Peter, though a married
man, was called the rock, consoles himself with the
reflection that Peter did not write the Apocalypse.*

During the fifth and sixth centuries the bishop
of Rome possessed an extensive jurisdiction in
Southern Italy : he was patriarch of 240 dioceses,
and metro j)olitan of 1 lOf ; and was, moreover, uni-
versally respected, as the most influential prelate
of the West. Unsatisfied with this, the successors
of Gregory grasped at the forbidden fruit of

* See Cyprian's Epistles ; Chiysostom's exposition of St.
Matthew ; Leo the First's Epistles ; Gregory of Nyssa, De
Adventu Domini ; — Hieron. adv. Jovinian. lib. i. ; Thomas
Aquinas, in loco ; Augustini Retractationes.

f Palmer on the Church, part vii. chap. 7.

242

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

supreme dominion ; the fatal consequences of which
were fully revealed in apostolic times : " She saith
in her heart, I sit a queen : therefore shall her
plagues come in one day."

The project of combining in a single individual
the power of the whole apostolic college, did not
originate in the Roman see, for John, archbishop
of Constantinople about the end of the sixth cen-
tury, first laid claim to the title of CEcumenical
bishop. So little had the bishops of Rome then
thought of pretending to that honour, that they
only opposed the eastern usurper on the ground of
his want of humility. After some correspondence
on the subject, John died, and was succeeded by
Cyriacus, who imitated the vanity of his prede-
cessor, for, on the day of his nomination to the
patriarchate, the congregation Avas persuaded to
exclaim, " This is the day which the Lord hath
made." On the news reaching Rome, Gregory
congratulated the Constantinopolitans on the ac-
cession of their bishop, but mildly reproved them
for the misapplication of a prophecy only referring
to our Lord.

Cyriacus having made this beginning, was not
backward to claim the title of universal bishop, a
step to which Gregory objected, as likely to give
general offence, and to cause schism ; besides
incurring the risk of a dangerous fall, since " he
that exalteth himself shall be abased." The friends
of Cyriacus complained of these expressions as
harsh, and pressed the obnoxious claim ; Gregory

THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 243

vainly entreating that it might be relinquished,
lest Antichrist, not far distant, should find any
thing in the Church, if only in name." His exhor-
tations still proving ineffectual, the Roman bishop
refused to allow his deacon to communicate with
Cyriacus ; though he partook of the Eucharist
with the messengers of Cyriacus, not wishing to
involve any part of the Church in the offence of
one man. His final protest deserves to be per-
petuated : " I tell you confidently, that whoever
styles himself, or wishes to be styled, universal
priest, does in his self-exaltation anticipate Anti-
christ, because he sets up himself in pride above
his fellows." *

The character of Gregory in this matter has
been variously represented ; some persons, unable
to reconcile his truly episcoj)al conduct with the
character of a pope of the sixth century, have not
scrupled to charge him with the wish to secure for
himself the contested title. History enables us to
refute the charge, for on one occasion Eulogius of
Alexandria addressed him by the title of universal
bishop ; Gregory answers in these words : ''In

* "Ego autem fidenter dico quia quisque se universalem sa-
cerdotem vocat, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione sua Antichris-
tum praicurrit, quia superbiendo se ceteris pra^ponit." — Gregorii
Maximi Epist. lib. vii. ep. vii. to xxxiii. It should be observed
that Gregory does not say that the title was a mark of Anti-
christ, or that the " man of sin " would be a pretender to uni-
versal priesthood. Compare the inspired words, " Not a novice,
lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of
the devil."

R 2

244 THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

the heading of your epistle, you have inserted a
word of proud appellation, styling me universal
pope. * * * When you call me universal pope,
you deny the existence of that which confesses me
universal. But no more of this : far from us be
words that inflate pride and wound charity."*

The extent of the Roman church during the
reign of Decius may be gathered from a letter
written by its bishop Cornelius, about 255. He
charges the schismatic Novatus with not knowing
" that there can be but one bishop in a catholic
church. Yet he is not ignorant (for how can he
be ?) that we have forty-four presbyters, seven
deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolyths,
and fifty-two exorcists, lectors, and door-keepers.
The widows and infirm persons amount to more
than fifteen hundred. "f Perhaps the entire
Christian community of Rome may have numbered
at that time thirty or forty thousand persons.

The officers of the Christian church, in addition
to the names by which they were usually known,
were sometimes distinguished by titles derived
from the Jewish ritual. The bishop was figura-
tively styled an angel, the presbyter a priest, and
the deacon a Levite. So the ostiarius may be
traced to the 84th Psalm, as " a door-keeper in the
house of God." This custom received a certain
sanction from the titles given to the Asiatic

* Gregorii Max. Ep. lib. viii., ep. 30. Written in the year
598.

1 Preserved by Eusebius, lib. vi. c. 42.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

245

bishops in the Apocalypse, where an allusion is
made to those who kept the holy scriptures in the
synagogue, and who were called angels. This
statement is made upon the authority of Light -
foot.*

The apostolic and episcopal offices were, from the
first appointment of bishops, kept distinct. It is
against the spirit of the apostles' commission, to
suppose them localised in any part of the church ;
they were directed to ''go into all the world, and
to preach the gospel to every creature ; " and upon
this injunction they acted, journeying assiduously
in every direction. The twelve shared among
them the duties of universal episcopacy : a mode of
government apparently not intended to continue
after their death, and soon rendered impracticable
by the increasing extent of the church. Accord-
ingly we find their immediate successors settled in
large cities and districts, with the authority and
title of bishop : Mark in Alexandria, Titus in
Crete, and Timothy at Ephesus. The few sees
established by the apostles soon rose into archie-
piscopal importance : even Crete, at first consigned
to the care of Titus, is now divided into eleven or
twelve bishoprics. But we seek in vain for the
dioceses of James and John, Paul and Bartholomew,
who, though they sometimes resided for years in
the same city, recognised no geographical limits to
their sphere of labour.

* Harmony of the Gospels.
R 3

246

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

The custom of addressing letters to bishops, in
preference to the churches over which they presided,
was introduced thirty years earher than the date
of the Apocalypse. In the year 64, Ephesus being
unprovided with a bishop, St. Paul continued his
episcopal superintendence of the city, and addressed
a letter to the church in general. Timothy was
at that time living in Rome with St. Paul, as may
be gathered from the Epistle to the Philippians.
In the course of that year or the following,
Timothy was sent to Ephesus with the authority
of bishop, and from that time we have no more
" epistles to the Ephesians," but two written to
Timothy, as bishop of Ephesus. The most super-
ficial examination of the epistles to Timothy and
Titus will shew that the functions of those persons
were not confined to the duties of a presbyter, but
embraced the control over preachers and elders.
The title of bishop was not strictly fimited to the
episcopal office till the second century.

Of the bishops of Rome late in the fourth cen-
tury, and in the beginning of the fifth, there are
some epitaphs contained in the Vatican library ;
being mostly votive tablets, they possess little
historical interest. There are others published by
Gruter, taken from the basilicae of Sts. Peter and
Paul. Gruter did not see those inscriptions him-
self, but copied them from a parchment MS.
Among them is the following :

Hunc mihi composuit tumulum Laurentia conjux,
Moribus apta meis, semper veneranda, fidelis.

THE ANCIENT CHUKCH. 247

Invidia infelix tandem compressa quiescit,
Octaginta Leo transcendit episcopus annos.
My wife Laurentia made me this tomb ; slie was ever suited
to my disposition, venerable and faithful. At length disap-
pointed envy lies crushed : the bishop Leo survived his 80th
year. (Gruter, p. 1173.)

The bishop was buried by his wife ; but the
epitaph was evidently composed, either by the
bishop before her death, or by a third person.
Who this Leo Avas, is not clear: Leo 1. did not
live more than 65 years. Putting together the
circumstances of the epitaph and the history of
Liberius, the author is inclined to conjecture that
this bisho23 is none other than Liberius, bishop of
Kome, who is called Leo in the folloAving tra-
ditionary story. Leo was an Arian, and treated
the Trinitarian Hilary with great contempt. " Do
you know, rustic Gaul," he once asked of Hilary,
" who I am ? I am Leo, bishop of Rome." " I
know that you are Leo," answered the other, " but
not of the tribe of Judah." This story (if true)
may be fixed upon Liberius, who was the only Arian
bishop of Rome, and who was constantly opposed
by L[ilary. Leo I. was not bishop till a hundred
years later. *

* The history of Liberius requires explanation : having bold-
ly confessed the orthodox faith, and suffered exile for some years,
he afterwards signed the Arian creed : during three years and
a half the church of Rome was outwardly Arian, through the
force employed by Constantius. The accession of Jovian in 363
righted the Trinitarian cause. Liberius repented of his lapse.

The point of Hilary's answer seems to be this : Leo, if not of

R 4

248

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OE

Of presbyters very few epitaphs remain : Aringhi
gives the following :

LOCVS BASILI PRESB ET FELICITATI EIVS
SIBI FECERVNT

The place of Basil the presbyter, and his Felicitas. They
made it for themselves.

Aringhi was accused by Reinesius of having sup-
pressed the word ivife in this epitaph. Fabretti, in
defence of the Eoman antiquarian, observes, that
there would be no advantage in suppressing the
word, as Basil could style none other than his wife
" his Felicitas."

The epitaph of a priest's daughter is also given
by Aringhi (lib. i v. c. 29).

OLIM PRESBYTERI GABINI FILIA FELIX
HIC SVSANNA JACET IN PACE PATRI

SOCIATA.

Once the happy daughter of the presbyter Gabinus, here lies
Susanna, joined with her father in peace.

The two following are from Boldetti :
ACATIVS PASTOR

LOCUS EXVPERANTI
DIACON

The place of Exuperantius the deacon.

Aringhi has preserved a remarkable inscription
to the wife of a deacon :

the tribe of Judah, must be the lion of the tribe of Dan, supposed
to refer to Antichrist. Liberius, being an Arian, and thus "de-
nying the Father and the Son," seemed to deserve this title.

THE ANCIENT CHUKCH.

249

LEVITAE CONIUNX PETRONIA FORMA PVDORIS

HIS MEA DEPONENS SEDIBVS OSSA LOCO
PARCITE VOS LACRIMIS DVLCES CVM CONIVGE

NATAE

yiVENTEMQVE DEO CREDITE FLERE NEFAS
DP IN PACE III NON OCTOBRIS FESTO VC CONSS

Petronia, a deacon's wife, the type of modesty. — In this place
I lay my bones ; spare your tears^ dear husband and daughters,
and believe that it is forbidden to weep for one who lives in
God. Buried in peace, on the 3rd before the Nones of October,
in the consulate of Festus (i. e. in 472).

The Eastern consul is omitted: yet, from the
carelessness of the sculptor, the abbreviation
CONSS is left plural. YC also stands for vir con-
sularis.

The next is from Gruter :

D • M •

VALERIVS • QVI
VIXIT • IN • SAECVLO
ANN • XI • M • X • D • V •
lANVARIVS • EXORCISTA
SIBI • ET • CONIVGI • FECIT •

This is an instance of the appropriation of a
heathen tombstone by a Christian. The latter half
of the inscription tells us that " Januarius the ex-
orcist made this for himself and his wife."

The exorcists are one of the orders not re-
tained by the English Keformers. It appears to
have been taken not from Apostolic, but from
Jewish custom ; we first read of " certain vagabond
Jews, exorcists." There seems little reason for
instituting a separate order of exorcists, as the
power of casting out devils was among the miracu-
lous signs that should "follow them that believe."

250 THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

The epitaph of a lector, or reader, is given by
Fabretti :

CLAVDIVS • ATTICIA
^ NVS • LECTOR ($)

ET CLAVDIA
FELICISSIMA
COIVX

Claudius Atticiaiius a lector, and Claudia Felicissima, his
wife.

The lectors were ordained very young, and pro-
moted to other offices in course of time. They
were a class somcAvhat resembling our choristers,
and Avere employed to read the Scriptures aloud in
the Church. Cyprian mentions making trial of the
reading of Saturus- on Easter-day, before his ordi-
nation. Even our boy-lectors," says Augustine,
" laugh at the ignorance of those, who imagine
that Christ Avrote epistles to Peter and Paul."
Gruter gives the epitaph of one Atticus Proculus,
aged 18. E. Rochette mentions one of 13, in
France. The Lapidarian Gallery has an inscrip-
tion to one of uncertain age :

LOCVS AVGYSTI
LECTORIS DEBELA
BRV

DEPSYRICA • XGKALy

AVGy
QVE VIXIT ANNOS
PMXIICONS
SEBERINI

This tablet contains two epitaphs : the first de-
scribes the grave as the place of Augustus, lector
in the Yelabrum." These lines are composed of

THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 251

larger and ruder letters than the rest, and the A is
replaced by A. Afterwards is added " Surica,
buried on the fifteenth before the calends of August :
she lived 12 years, more or less. In the consulate
of Severinus" (that is, A. d. 461).

Another epitaph of a member of the clerical
order, though of lower rank, is that of Terentius,
in the Lapidarian Gallery :

TERENTIVS • FOSOR
PRIMITIVE • COIVGI
ET • SIVI .

Terentius the fossor, for Primitiva his wife, nnd himself.

The title fossor is here mis-spelt ; it should have
been as in the following fragment. (Lap. Gall.)

SFELIX FOSSOR
IXIT ANNIS LXIII
TVS XII KAL lANVARIAS
The fossor, Felix, lived 63 jears ; buried on the twelfth before
the kalends of January.

The fossors, whose office has been already de-
scribed, were also called Copiata3, and Lecticarii.
They are noticed in history from time to time, and
their office was retained among the loAver clerical
grades till a late period.

During the first and second centuries, women
were commissioned to instruct young persons of
their own sex, under preparation for baptism. Of
this class were probably Tryphena and Try-
phosa. Pliny in his letter to Trajan, mentions
having put to the torture, two deaconesses : this
Avas in the year 110. The employment of female

252 THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

teachers, though extremely advantageous while
paganism lasted, was discontinued as soon as
Christian education became general in families. In
churches, women were universally forbidden to take
part in public teaching : an opposite custom seems
to have prevailed in Corinth till the year 59, when
it was prohibited by St. Paul. *

Private individuals were honoured with various
titles expressive of their Christian profession ; as,
servant of God, friend of all men :

CVRRENTIO
SERVO DEI
DEP • DXVI
KAL • ISOU •

To Currentius, servant of God, buried on the 16th before the
kalends of November. (Lap. Gall.)

MAXIMINVSQV
IVIXIT ANNOS XXIII
AMICVS OMNIVM
Maximinus, who lived 23 years ; friend of all men. (Lap.
Gall.)

This eulogy is sometimes found in Greek.

E KALAN NOENB.
EKOIMHGH rOPlONIC
nACI^IAOC KAI OYAENI
EXePOC

In Christ. On the 5th before the Kalends of November,
slept Gorgonius, friend of all, and enemy of none.

The title " handmaid of God," used by Tertullian
in opposition to " handmaid of the devil," occurs in
the epitaph of Aurelia Agapetilla.

* Compare 1 Cor. xi. 5. with 1 Cor. xiv. 34.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 253

AVRELIA AGAPETILLA ANCILLA
DEI QVAE DORMIT IN PACE YIXIT ANN
XXI • M • III • Dim • PATER FECIT

Aurelia Agapetilla, the handmaid of God : who sleeps in
peace. She lived twenty-one years, three months, and four
days. Her father set up this.

Among Christian women of the third and fourth
centuries, widows and virgins formed separate
bodies, subject to different laws. These appel-
lations, however, were strictly applied only to
persons who had voluntarily fixed upon celibacy
or widowhood ; and not to such as left themselves
at liberty to change their condition. A few of
their epitaphs remain :

FVRIA HELPIS
VIRGO DEVOTA
Furia Elpis, a consecrated virgin.^

AESTONIA VIRGO PEREGRI
NA QVE VIXIT ANIS XL • I • ET • DS •
VIII • mi • KAL • MAR • DECESSIT
DE CORPORE
In Christ. Aestonia, a travelling virgin, who lived forty-one
years and eight days. She departed from the body on the
4th before the Kalends of March. (Lap. Gall.)

The term peregrinus was applied to such persons
as were received by distant Churches while journey-
ing. This mode of admitting them to communion
did not amount to an absolute recognition of their
orthodoxy, and consequently could not be abused
by heretics.

The order of widows strictly so called, was
either instituted or confirmed by St. Paul, who ad-
mitted none under the age of sixty. He required

254

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

them to have been but once married, and to be
^'well reported of for good works." The epitaph of
one of this order is cemented into the wall of the
Yatican library.

OC TA VI AE • MA TRO NAE
VI DV AE • DE I

To the matron Octavia, a widow : of God.

Yery few epitaphs of persons devoted to celibacy
are to be found in the Lapidarian gallery, the
monastic spirit having made slower progress in
Rome than in the East. It was not till late in the
fourth century, when the romantic exploits of
Athanasius had become the theme of general ad-
miration, that a taste for deserts and solitary ad-
ventures was first infused into the inhabitants of
the western metropolis. " At that time," remarks
Jerome, ^'none of the noble women in Rome knew
anything about monasticism ; nor did they venture,
on account of the novelty of the thing, to assume
a name then reckoned base and ignominious." *
From the year 360 we may date the introduction
of monasticism into Rome : the few who first em-
braced it found a plausible excuse in the interrup-
tions to which their devotions were liable, from* the
metropolitan habits of visiting and dissipation.

The monuments described in this chapter, se-
lected from the mass of remains either published
or exhibited in the Yatican, illustrate two subjects :
the existence of a regular clergy, filling a variety

* Epistle 96. Epitaphium Marcellee.

THE ANCIENT CHURCIT.

255

of offices, of all ages, married and single ; and the
introduction of an aristocracy of female virtue,
professing to rise above the profanum vulgus of
married life. In itself, there is perhaps nothing
more calculated to raise our estimation of the
ancient Church than the fact, that thousands of
persons were found ready to devote themselves to
the service of God in singleness of life and volun-
tary poverty. Too earnest in seeking the kingdom
of heaven, to allow the comforts of domestic life to
impede their progress, they seem to stand by them-
selves, a mighty monument of piety : something to
be looked up to, to be honoured ; more easily ad-
mired than imitated. These persons were boasted
of by the Church of the fourth century, as her
jewels, her peculiar treasure :

Cernis sacratas virgines,
Miraris intactas anus
Primique post damnum tliori
Ignis secundi nescias.
Hoc est monile Ecclesiaj !
His ilia gemmis comitur ! -
Dotata sic Cliristo placet !
Sic ornat altum verticem.*

^ She compared her thousands of virgins with the
half-dozen vestals, the only parallel which pa-
ganism could display.f But, unfortunately, the
great patrons of this system, the Fathers them-
selves, reluctantly display it in another light. On
this subject it is difficult to hold any middle

* Prudentius, Peristephanon. Hymn 3.
t Prud. cont. Symmaclium, lib. 2.

256

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

opinion : Ave may look to tlie brighter side alone,
and admire ; but if we once inquire into the prac-
tical working of the institution, "to be once in
doubt, is — once to be resolved." Open Chry-
sostom, Jerome, or Basil, and the halo fades from
the brow of ecclesiastical celibacy : like the soil of
a decayed sepulchre, it bears some fair flowers, but
not enough to conceal the remains that nourish
their unnatural bloom.

Whatever purity of intention belonged to the
earliest votaries of monasticism, it is to be feared
that the end proposed by the monks and nuns of
later times, was to purchase, by its means, the
highest rewards that Heaven could bestow. To be
saved by the blood of Christ was humbling, when
salvation could be bought by a species of self-
sacrifice. A new passport to eternal glory, and one
which conferred upon its possessor great earthly
honour, was the premium upon a single life. In
examining into the merits of this system, we must
distinguish between the forced celibacy of the
clergy, and the voluntary self-dedication of lay
persons to the service of God. The one is almost
forbidden by St. Paul (" Let the bishop be the hus-
band of one mfe") ; the other receives a certain
amount of encouragement : " There is this dif-
ference between a wife and a virgin ; the unmar-
ried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that
she may be holy, both in body and in spirit ; but
she that is married careth for the things of the
world, how she may please her husband." As long,

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

257

then, as the time and means redeemed from secular
matters were suitably employed in the service of
the Lord, the pious devotee came under the sanction
of the apostolic declaration. Still farther, the
Apostle, when speaking not from inspiration, but
from his own judgment, encouraged the practice
of deferring the nuptials of betrothed persons:

he that giveth her not in marriage, doeth better."
And this direction was given, not in time of dis-
tress, as our translators have rendered avayxri^ but
when the Corinthian Christians were living in se-
curity, eating in idols' temples, and appealing to
heathen judges as arbiters of their dissensions.

For the first two hundred years we hear almost
nothing of the profession of celibacy. Probably
women, rather than men, availed themselves of the
leisure thus obtained : their intentions Avere ful-
filled without scandal to the Church, and remained
with themselves, as a matter between God and
their own souls. Whether the honour afterwards
paid to these persons induced others, not possessing
the requisite qualifications, to follow their example,
or whether the notion of absolute merit attached to
a sino^le life w^as an error too serious to be indulfjed
with impunity, the institution of celibacy, once
reduced to a distinct form, degenerated beyond all
hope of recovery. The first serious blow to its
character was given by the nuns of Carthage, in
the middle of the third century : their manners
disgraced the community, and reflected discredit
on the whole African Church. To reform this

258

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

disorderly body was the difficult task of Cyprian,
who spared neither threats nor entreaties to bring
them to a sense of their short comings. With the
loftiness of their calling, exaggerated, it must be
confessed, by the application of some irrelevant
passages of Scripture, he contrasts their inordinate
love of paint and jewellery, habit of frequenting
the public baths, and general anxiety to render
attractive to the world the persons devoted to
Heaven : " You presumptuously dye your hair,
and with an ill omen to your future condition,
labour to make it flame coloured. ^ ^ * If you lay
a bait for catching others, — if you put in their way
occasions of sin, — however sober your professions,
your mind is polluted, and you cannot be accounted
guiltless." *

A distinct parallel may be traced between the
merit attributed to celibacy at different periods,
and the mischief practically resulting from it.
For two centuries it was neither magnified into a
virtue, nor did it become a cloak for vice ; in the
third, it occupies a doubtful position ; in the fourth
and fifth, the deplorable state of its votaries keeps
pace with the dangerous language uttered in its
praise.

" It were endless," says Jerome, "to expound the
parable of the ten virgins, five wise, and five foolish :
this only will I say, that whereas "wdthout other
good works, virginity alone does not save (vir-

* For an exposure of greater enormities enacted by the nuns,
may be consulted the Epistle to Pomponius.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

259

ginitas sola non salvat), so all good works, without
virginity, purity, continence, and chastity, are im-
perfect."*

" What others will hereafter be in heaven, that
virofins beo^in to be on earth. * * * Peter
was an apostle, John an apostle ; one married,
the other single : but Peter was only an apostle ;
John, an apostle, evangelist, and prophet. ^ * *
For this reason John, the single, expounds what
the married could not ; ' In the beo;innino^ was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.' * * * For this reason Christ consigns
to John's charge the Virgin mother (a Domino vir-
gine, mater virgo virgini discipulo commendatur)."

With such opinions to influence the laity, it can-
not surprise us to find this royal road to heaven
crowded with pilgrims, who found their account
partly in the honour paid to them in this world,
and partly, as they fondly hoped, in the privileges
ensured to them in the next. Perhaps no tenet
mixed up with Christianity has more tended to
obscure the doctrine of the Cross than that of
celibacy: the gospel, preached to the poor, the
profligate, and the married, scarcely finds its way
into the patristic addresses to more exalted pro-
fessors of sanctity. These had passed the broad
line between the sinner and the saint, and while
living inherited the honours of their predecessors,
the martyrs and confessors of a former age. That

* Jerome, Adv. Jovinianum, lib. i.
s 2

260

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

illustrious body, extinct with the spirit of persecu-
tion necessary to its continuance, left a blank in
the church of the fourth century, only to be filled
by some new order of spiritual knighthood. Celi-
bacy supplied the vacancy ; and despite the dif-
ference between the two methods of self-sacrifice,
their glory was equal, and the rank conferred by
both, in a remarkable degree identical. Of this a
proof is found in the successive explanations of
the parable of the sower, which was pushed beyond
the meaning attached to it by our Saviour, and
made to register degrees of virtue upon an artificial
scale. The hundred-bearing seed, no longer merely
representing the obedient hearer of the word, per-
sonified the fervid aspirant to martyrdom or celi-
bacy, whose zeal had reached the boiling-point in
pursuit of heavenly honour. The sixty-fold pro-
duce was that of the less ardent ; the thirty-fold
included the temperate, perhaps the luke-warm,
professor. While persecution lasted, martyrdom
occupied the highest place on the scale : " The first
or hundred-fold," says Cyprian to the nuns of Car-
thage, " is the increase of martyrs : the second,
sixty-fold, is yours." * After the time of Julian,
some alteration was necessary, in order to preserve
the highest order of sanctity in the Church : the
bold invention of Jerome supplied the want, The

* De habitu virginum, c. 11. The accumulated fruitfulness
of virgin-martyrs thus exceeded the gospel maximum : In them
the hundred-fold is added to the fruit of sixty-fold." — Cyp.
Ep. 76.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

261

thirty-fold," he decided, " refers to marriage ; the
sixty-fold, to widowhood; but the hundred-fold
expresses the crown of virginity." *

But we are not yet entitled to disallow the merits
of ecclesiastical celibacy, having hitherto only ex-
amined one side of it. We have, indeed, seen Scrip-
ture misapplied on its behalf, the doctrine of the
Atonement obscured, and the Church scandalised
by the ruin of some unworthy aspirants to its
honours ; but we have not yet glanced at the many
who profited by it : in the state of those whom
it raised to the highest pinnacle of the temple, we
must look for a set-off to these inconveniences. It
is true, some may argue, mischief was done to in-
dividuals : there was much meaning in Jerome's
caution — "It were better to have Avalked in lowly
paths — to have submitted to marriage, than, at-
tempting a higher ascent, to fall into the depths of
hell." f But if the introduction of anew and more
exalted mode of holiness has proved fatal to some,
whose faith was unequal to the trial, what blame
shall their failure cast upon the inventor ? — A mill-
stone and the depths of the sea are declared to be
preferable to the portion of liim who offends the
little ones.

Let us scrutinise a little the character of those
favoured ones, at the shrine of whose perfection
the souls and bodies of their fellow Christians
were offered; then shall Ave judge better how far
their gain was worth the sacrifice. Of all the

* Ad Ageruchiam. f Ad Eustochium.

s 3

262

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

Fathers none can be found more strongly devoted to
celibacy than Jerome: " I love to praise marriage,"
he exclaims in one of his milder moments, " be-
cause it supplies us with virgins ; of those thorns
we gather roses." It T^ill therefore be doing no
injustice to the system, if we take as tolerably
accurate his description of its votaries. Let us
hear him, in the confidence of friendship, setting
forth their characters :

Their weak point is the love of praise : there
are very few free from this. * * * Some
of them, women, go about disfigured, that they may
appear to men to fast : when they see any one ap-
proaching, they begin to sigh and look down ; then
they cover the face, leaving only a peep hole for
one eye : their clothes indeed are ragged, their
girdle is of sackcloth, their hands and feet are
dirty." Still, in spite of these promising appear-
ances, their religion is but skin-deep, " for within,
where man sees not, they are surfeited with food."

" Some exchange their dresses for male attire,
blush to be the women they were born, cut off their
locks, and impudently greet you ^Yith. an equivocal
stare." *

"As for the men," he cautions Eustochium,
" when you see any with hair like women, beards
like goats, a black cloak, and feet exposed to the
cold, — avoid them : all these things are marks of

* The cutting off the hair of nuns was for some centuries
forbidden by the councils ; the apostolic precept being still ob-
served.

THE A^'CIENT CHURCH.

263

the devil. Of that description were Aiitimus and
Sophronius, who entered noble houses, and there
deceived silly women laden witli sins," &c. ^ * *
" Others there are, who have entered orders with the
view of enjoying more at their ease female society.
Their only care is dress, perfume, and the neatness
of their feet : their hair waves from the impression
of the curling-iron ; their fingers sparkle with rings ;
for fear of contracting mud. they step on tiptoe :
if you saw them, you would take them for bride-
grooms, rather than priests.''

" But there is one/' pursues Jerome, warming
with his subject, " there is one, a proficient in his
art. whom I must sketch, that knowing the master,
you may recognise the scholars. He rises early,
and hastens to his work ; visits people scarcely
awake, and intrudes himself almost into their
chambers. If he sees a cushion, a handsome table-
cover, or other piece of furniture, he approves it ;
is struck by it, handles it, and laments that he does
not possess such a thing himself ; and so rather
extorts than fairly obtains it, for the women all
fear to offend the great man of the city." *

AVe derive no better impression of the nuns from
the works of Chrysostom.f Forbidden, as he tells

* Ep. ad Eustocbium. Jerome was siirpriseil to find that
this letter, which was handed about very generally, gave great
offence. " Every body," he complains, " took it as a personal
attack, instead of a general lesson of morality." Ep. ad De-
metriadem.

t Especially from the tract entitled, Quod regulares femina?
viris cohabitare nou debent."

s 4

264

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

US, to imitate the zeal of Pliineas, to snatch up a
sword and to execute summary vengeance, he takes
refuge in sighs and tears. For his attack upon the
nuns, which is not fitted for quotation, he excuses
himself on two grounds : that they injured their
character more deeply by their own conversation,
and that the world spoke worse things of them
than he had done.

But what impression does the earnest and uncom-
promising Jerome convey, of his best specimens of
the class ? His letters to some of those women
remain : a fearful monument of the social effects of
the system. Amidst minute, and far from spiri-
tual, interpretations of Solomon's Song, — amidst
fulsome eulogies of the nuns, and dissertations upon
their peculiar relationship to the Bridegroom, —
the religion and the Christ of the New Testament
seem missing : the Lord of life is departed ; the
grave-clothes alone remain to show the place where
He lay.

To the enormous evils arising from celibacy the
Church applied two partial remedies : virgins who
could not maintain their profession with credit were
sometimes recommended to marry : and none were
allowed to take a vow of celibacy under the age of
forty. For a long time the marriages of monks
and nuns were reckoned valid, though censured as
a departure from first professions : the council of
Trent declared them null and void.

Single women, under the title of suhintroductce^
were at times permitted to live in the houses of un-

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

265

married priests. The councils very early interfered
with this custom, and generally limited the per-
mission to a daughter, aunt, or sister. The daugh-
ter was omitted in course of time, as celibacy
previous to ordination became binding. " I observe
with grief of heart," says Cyprian, "that this un-
lawful and dangerous intercourse has corrupted the
purity of numbers." * So Jerome : " Whence arose
the pest of the Agapetse ? " f — a name given to
them in conformity with the expression of St. Paul,
Us^a-ig 7} ayaTTTjTTj, "the beloved Persis."

The rules laid down for the observance of those
who professed celibacy were extremely strict : "I
desire," says Jerome to Rusticus, " that you will
not live in your mother's house, chiefly, lest when
she offers you delicate food, you should grieve her
by refusal ; or by receiving it, should add oil to
the flame. * * L^t your hands and eyes
be never without a book. Learn the Psalter word
for word. Pray incessantly. * * * Under-
take some labour, that the devil may always find
you occupied."

His directions to Eustochium are of the same
description : " Seldom appear in public, but suppli-
cate the Martyrs in your own chamber. You will
always find an excuse for going out, if you allow
any excuses whatever. * * * Let sleep sur-
prise you, book in hand ; and let the sacred page
support your nodding head."

* Ep. ad Pomponium, cap. 1. f Ad Eustochium, cap. 5.

266

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

In the Apostolic age, marriage combined with
the orderly government of a family appears to have
been reckoned rather a qualification for the minis-
try than otherwise, a pledge that the candidate for
orders was not deficient in those domestic and so-
cial virtues that befit a bishop and a priest. " A
bishop," enjoins St. Paul, " must be blameless, the
husband of one wife. * * * Let the deacons be
the husbands of one wife."

Early in the third century there arose an ob-
scure sect that depreciated marriage. On this
subject Eusebius makes the following remark :
" For the conviction of some who reprobated
marriage, Clement of Alexandria enumerated those
of the Apostles who are knoAvn to have lived
in wedlock, saying, ' Will they condemn the
Apostles ?' For Peter and Philip were both
fathers of families, and Philip gave his daughters
in marriage." *

The practice of after times gradually changed.
The Council of Neocesarea, a.d. 314, ordained that
a presbyter marrying after ordination should be
deposed : he was also forbidden to marry a second
time, though his having a wife did not prevent him
from entering the ministry. The Council of Xice,
held in 325, was not far from hnposing celibacy
on the clergy. Paphnutius, an old Egyptian
bishop, resisted the proposed decree, and delivered
the first ecumenical council from the stigma of

* Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. c. 30.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

2G7

having enforced this innovation.* The Council of
Elvira forbad all orders of the priesthood to marry:
at the same time it allowed the clergy to maintain
in their houses a sister, or dedicated virgin daugh-
ter : whether daughter of the Church, or of the
priest himself, is not clear.

The decrees of councils on this point would fill
a volume : it will be sufficient to quote the Quini-
sextan canon, a. d. 706, to show how slowly forced
celibacy invaded Christendom : "If any presbyter
or deacon put away his wife, under pretence of piety,
let him be excommunicated : if he persevere, be de-
posed." This canon refers to a detestable custom
of abandoning wives and families on taking orders.

Even monks were not originally always devoted
to a single life. It was remarked by Augustine,
early in the fifth century, that " the catholic Church
has very many, both of her monks and her clergy,
that are married." f This observation was directed
against a sect, who called themselves apostolic, and
decried marriage.

Among the most remarkable customs observed in
the primitive Church was the Agape, or love- feast,
a truly catholic element of ancient Christianity.
Begun in the purest spirit, it shared the fate of

* The reporter of the council betrays a grateful feeling to-
wards the aged confessor. " The divine Paphnutius said with
a great voice, * Make not the yoke of the clergy more heavy :
marriage is honourable in all.' " Harduin. Concil. Nica^n. I.

f De Hasresibus, c. 40.

268

THE OFFICES AND CUSTO.AIS OF

some other ordinances, till in the fifth century it
became a scandal to all Christendom. It is first
mentioned by St. Jude, in the passage, " These are
spots in your agapae," sv raig ayaTraig u[xa)v, trans-
lated in our version, " feasts of charity." The
feast, as held in the catacombs, is represented in a
picture found in a subterranean chapel, in the
cemetery of Marcellinus and Peter. (Aringhi.)

In this painting three guests are seen seated,
and a page supplies them with food from the small
round table in front, supporting a lamb and a cup.
The two matrons who preside, personifying Peace
and Love, have their names written above their
heads, according to the Etruscan practice.

The inscriptions should be read: Irene, dacalda(m
aquam) ; and, Agape, misce mi (vinum cum aqua).
"Peace, give hot water; Love, mix me wine."
The custom of mixing water with wine was almost
universal among the ancients : sometimes the water

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

269

was iced, sometimes warm, and occasionally of the
natural temperature :

" Caldam poscis aquam, sed nondum frigida venit."

" You ask for hot water, but the cold has not yet
come," says Martial: and again,

" Frigida non desit, non deerit calda petenti."

" Here let there be cold water, the hot will not
be wanting when called for."

The table furnished with provisions was named
cibilla, from cibus, food.

In a city rich as imperial Kome in historical
associations, where the very stones are piled in
chronological succession, among triumphal arches
and trophies, among the ruins of temples and pa-
laces, can the miserable painting of a subterranean
cell offer any thing worthy the attention of the
traveller ? Let us try.

In a dismal cavern, accessible only to the well-
provided explorer, among tombs and vaulted cham-
bers, where every thing bears marks of high anti-
quity, is found a rudely-designed picture, attributed
by the most skilful connoisseurs to the third or
fourth century ; and this on excellent grounds :
its style marks the decline of art soon after the time
of the Antonines : its subject is connected with a
religion not brought to Rome before the reign of
Claudius, and which did not employ painting till
the third century. The ceremony it represents was
almost universally discontinued in the fifth, and
the pictorial details closely correspond with the

270

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

descriptions left by the poets of the Augustan age.
The design, carefully finished in its parts, and
every where abounding in information, is generally
wrong in perspective ; in short, nothing is wanting
to prove its authenticity to any one conversant with
ancient art of an inferior class.

These facts are established by the picture : that
in the third or fourth century, certain persons,
either from choice or from necessity, selected caves
in the neighbourhood of Rome, and devoted much
attention to embellishing them. One of the sub-
jects there painted was a solemn feast, at which
Peace and Love were supposed to preside. This
is so often repeated in sculptures and paintings,
that the ceremony must have been common, and
not very recently established. Who are these
peaceful refugees, apparently too gentle for the iron
times of Decius and Diocletian ? To what system
of philosophy belong those magic words, Irene and
Agape, altogether strange to heathenism, and indi-
cating by their Greek form an Eastern origin ? But
one answer can be given to these questions. The
most obstinate sceptic must confess that the ancient
church in Rome, pacific and defenceless as it here
appears, did conquer the proud array of Pagan and
Imperial power : and the Christian, forced to admit
a Divine interposition in behalf of his religion, be-
holds a testimony from Heaven to its truth.

The Agape, at first held as a part of regular re-
ligious worship, was in course of time reserved for
marriages and deaths. At length the anniversaries

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

271

of martyrdom beccame the chief occasion of its cele-
bration. These days were called natalitia, or birth-
days, because the saints were then " born to heaven
from the world." As long as persecution was likely
to befall the Church, there was policy in commemo-
rating annually the triumphs of her heroes. To
meet by lamplight over the grave of a departed
friend, and there to animate each other's faith by
mutual exhortations ; to partake together of the
funereal meal before the tablet which inclosed his
bones ; in all this the faithful of that age found a
constant stimulus to fortitude and zeal. But the
natalitia celebrated after Constantino tended in a
lamentable degree to secularise religious worship :
the festival was thrown open in the hope of
obtaining converts ; and many of the Pagan poor,
after having been fed at the expense of the Church,
became suddenly convinced of the truth of Chris-
tianity.

The Agape was still further desecrated by a less
justifiable measure — an attempt to replace the Pagan
festivals by corresponding Christian solemnities.
Augustine gives this account of the matter ; "When
peace was made, the crowd of Gentiles who were
anxious to embrace Christianity were deterred by
this, that whereas they had been accustomed to pass
the holidays in drunkenness and feasting before
their idols, they could not easily consent to forego
these most pernicious, yet ancient pleasures. It
seemed good then to our leaders to favour this part
of their weakness, and for those festivals which

272

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

they relinquish, to substitute others, in honour
of the holy martyrs, which they might celebrate
with similar luxury, though not with the same
impiety."^

To form a just idea of a ceremony so changed
in character from age to age, we must consult the
writers of each period in succession. St. Paul and
St. Jude have spoken for the nature of the Agape
in the first century ; Tertullian, while still orthodox,
describes it in the second : " Our supper by its name
displays its character : its name is the Greek for
love. * * * We so eat as having to worship God by
night : we so talk, as knowing that the Lord hears.
After washing our hands, and bringing lights, each
is called upon to sing to God according to his power,
either from Holy Scripture, or from his own com-
position. Prayer also concludes the feast." f

The same Tertullian, when prejudiced by Mon-
tanism, deemed the Agape too carnal to be reckoned
among the bonds of Christian fellowship : " Your
love boils — in the kettle ; your faith glows — in
the kitchen; your hope is — in the dish." J It is
strange that one Avho had so nobly defended the
purity of the Agape against heathen calumnies,
should turn round upon it so bitterly. Perhaps
his accusations were, at the time, unfounded ; but
in the end of the fourth century, they would
have fallen short of the truth.

The Council of Elvira prudently forbad women

* Epist. xxix. \ \ Apologeticus, cap. 39.

J De Jejun. c. 17.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

273

to pass the night in cemeteries.* At Cassarea,
dances were held round the tomb of the martyr f:
this was an acknowledged abuse, and confined to
that city. The Pagans, with some reason, supposed
that the feast was histituted to appease the manes
of the dead. But at this time, Rome discontmued
a custom so grossly perverted. The fathers did
their utmost to suppress the abuses, if not the feast
itself. AYe have already heard Chrysostom reproving
the Constantinopolitans, by reminding them of the
perils of a persecuted church. Augustine did not
spare the Africans : " The martyrs hear your bottles,
the martyrs hear your frying-pans, the martyrs
hear your drunken revels." The council of Lao-
dicea condemned it altogether. Yet the custom
lingered till 706, when the Quinisextan divines
suppressed it entirely. " It is unlawful," they
decreed, " to hold Agapse, that is to say, feasts of
charity, in the Lord's house, or in a church : also
to eat within the building, and to place couches.'*

So popular did religious feasts become with the
lower orders, that all bounds were transgressed in
multiplying them : " These revels, and this drunken-
ness, are now thought so allowable," complained
Augustine, " as to be celebrated in honour of the
blessed martyrs, not only on festivals, which is bad
enough to all who do not look with eyes of flesh,
but every day." J Such irregularities deeply grieved

* Placuit proliiberi, ne feminas in cemeteriis pervigilent, eo
quod saepe sub obtenta orationis, latenter scelera committant.
f Basil, appendix, sermon 19. J Epistle 64. alias 22.

274

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

the pious and amiable Panlinus, bishop of Nola, who
painted Scripture subjects over the whole of his
church, to edify the ignorant people who came
together for the Agape of St. Felix. They greatly
needed some interference of the authorities, for
their bishop laments that these festivities were
carried on through the entire night. " How I
wish, " he continues, " that their joys would assume
a more sober character ; that they would not mix
their cups on holy ground. Yet I think we must
not be too severe upon the pleasures of their little
feasts ; for error creej^s into unlearned minds ; and
their simplicity, unconscious of the great fault they
commit, verges on piety, supposing that the Saints
are gratified by the wine poured on their tombs." *
The number of causes contributing to make the
Agape what it was at different times, is remark-
able. Beginning as an apostolic feast, perhaps
held in imitation of our Saviour's last meal with
his disciples (at least that part of it distinct from
the sacramental institution), it was afterwards
interwoven Avith the silicernium^ feast of Hecate, or
coena novemdialis of the ancients, a funeral feast
held nine days after a death. f Then the attempt
to convert the pagan poor by feeding them, and the
substitution of martyr festivals for heathen solem-
nities, further lowered the character of the cere-
mony : at last we find it degraded to a mere revel ;

* 9th Hymn to Felix.

f In the silicernium, part of the food was laid upon the tomb,
that the dead might seem to share the meal.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

275

an opportunity for the commission of crime, mixed
up with night-watchings, torchhglit, and wine ;
proscribed by the Church, and entirely effaced
from the ritual of Christendom.

Whether the Agape generally preceded or fol-
lowed the Lord's Supper, it is difficult to decide.
It has been gathered from expressions of Tertullian
and others, that the holy sacrament was received
fasting ; a practice at variance with the original
institution, in which the bread and wine were con-
secrated by our Saviour towards the end of, or after,
supper.

Of the origin of the word, missa or mass, writers
have given us a very clear account. The catechu-
mens and unbelievers of ancient times, who were
permitted to hear the Gospel and the sermon which
followed it, were dismissed from church before the
celebration of the Communion. This sendino- out
or 77USSIO, was announced in the Avords, Ite, missa
est — Depart, it is the dismissal. The change of
missio into missa is in accordance with expressions
of Cyprian and Tertullian, who used remissa for
remissio. The form of address was often changed:
Si quis catechumenus est, recedat : Omnes catechu-
meni recedant foras,* &c. ITposX^fTs and a7ro?vL>ro-5s
were used in the Greek church. The dismissal
afterwards gave its name to the entire service, and

* Bishop Wilberforce, in the preface to his " Eucharistica,"
has availed himself of the ancient custom of dismissing the un-
baptized, as an argument for the more regular communion of
professing Christians in our own day.

T 2

276 THE OFFICES AND CUSTOxMS OF

we read of the Mass of the catechumens, or ante-
cominunion, and the Mass of the faithful, or com-
munion. By way of analogy with this derivation,
Dr. Eock has cited the corruption of Dirige into
Dirge, and Mandatum into Maunday Thursday.
But he is less successful in proving the high anti-
quity of the word Missa, which he endeavours to
trace back to the year 166 : the letters of Popes
belonging to that age being far from unsuspected
in point of genuineness.*

It is scarcely possible to quit this subject with-
out an inquiry into the belief of the ancient church
regarding transubstantiation. We have a distinct
statement of Cyprian's opinion in his 63rd epistle,
occasioned by the practice of a sect called aquarian.
These persons contended that wine, from its in-
toxicating quality, was unfit for the celebration of
the Lord's Supper, and substituted water for it. It
must be borne in mind that the wine used by the
ancients was generally mixed with water when
placed upon the table : it is therefore to this day a
matter of doubt whether our Lord used pure wine,
or wine and water, in the institution of the Supper.
It is impossible to imagine any such opinion as that
of the Aquarians arising in a church that held the
doctrines of modern Rome : Cyprian's answer is
also remarkable, and quite unintelligible, on the
supposition that he believed in transubstantiation :

Since Christ has said, I am the true vine, His blood

* Rock's Hierurgia.

THE ANCIENT CHUllCH.

277

is not water, but wine : nor can His blood, by
which we are redeemed and quickened, seem to be
in the cup, unless that cup contain the wine by
which the blood of Christ is typified."

The dogma of transubstantiation was not dis-
tinctly broached till the ninth century: we must
not therefore expect to find it formally contra-
dicted in the fourth : nor must we be surprised
if the fathers show no endeavour to guard against
an error so unlikely to be entertained. They
generally confine themselves to a grateful recog-
nition of the declaration This is my body,"
though at times using expressions decisive against
the Tridentine doctrine. " When Christ had taken
bread," observes Tertullian, " and had distributed
it to his disciples, he made it his body, saying. This
is my body, that is, a figure of my body," (figura
corporis mei).* And Chrysostom in his epistle to
Caesarius : Before the bread is hallowed we call it
bread, but by divine grace sanctifying it through
the medium of the priest, it is freed from the appel-
lation of bread, and deemed worthy of the title.
The Lord's body : though the substance of bread
remains in it."t

The baptismal rite, as has been already remarked,
was often performed below ground ; and fonts have

* Tert. adv. Marcionem, lib. iv. cap. 40.

f This epistle, though occasionally quoted by the ancients,
was suppressed throughout the middle ages. It was republished
by Peter Martyr in the 16th century, and afterwards by Bas -
nage.

T 3

278

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

been discovered in some of the chapels. The sub-
joined fragment from the Lapidarian Gallery seems
to have belonged to a subterranean baptistery :

CORPORIS ET CORDIS MACULAS VITALI
CD PYRGAT ET OMNE SIMVL ' ABLVITVND

The meaning of the entire inscription is clear :
" The living stream cleanses the spots of body as
well as of heart, and at the same time washes away
all (sin):" a metrical paraphrase of the words,
" Arise and be baptized, and wash away th}^ sins."
(Acts, xxii. 16.) Our own church follows close in
the same track : " didst sanctify water to the mys-
tical washing away of sins."

Church history has been ransacked in vain to
find the explanation of a difficult passage in St.
Paul's writings ; " What shall they do which are
baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not ? " All
that has been discovered is the perversion of the
passage made by some ancient sects, from which,
though we cannot deduce the true intention of
the apostle, we may learn with certainty what
he did not mean. Epiphanius, writing about
390, tells us that the Cerinthians baptized the
living as proxies for catechumens who had died
unexpectedly. Chrysostom also remarks that the
Marcionites baptized a person recently dead, by
concealing under the bier a proxy who answered
for him. In both these instances a false deduction
appears to have been made from the words of
the apostle. Epiphanius prefers the reading,

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

279

" What shall they do who are baptized for dead,
(at the point of death,) if the dead rise not?"
The opinion of ancient Greek commentators must
be considered of weight in a question turning upon
the construction of a Greek sentence.*

We have already seen the epitaph of Jovina, a
neophyte, three years old : another instance of early
baptism is that of Romanus, of the year 371 :

ROMANO NEOFITO
BENE]MERENTI QVI YI
XIT • ANNOS • VIII • DXV
REQYIESCIT IN PACE DN
FL GRATIANO • AYG • II ET
PETRONIO PROBO CS

To the neophyte Romanus, the well-deserving, who lived 8
years and 15 days; he rests in peace. The Lords F. Gratian
Augustus, for the second time, and P. Probus, being consuls.

Also that of Candidus, in the Lapidarian Gallery :

TEG • CANDIDYS NEOF
Q YXT • M XXI • DP NON

SEP

The tile of Candidus the neophyte, who lived twenty-one
months : buried on the Nones of September.

Sepulchral tiles were used by the Pagans, as
noticed by Ovidf : " The manes of the dead
demand but small offerings ; to them piety is more
acceptable than gorgeous presents : no greedy gods
inhabit the Styx. A tile covered with garlands
strewed upon it, is sufficient, and fruits sprinkled

* Epiphanius, Haeresi 28. Chrysost. Homil. in loco,
f Ovid. lib. Fastorum, ii. 535.

" Tegula porrectis satis est velata coronis."

T 4

280

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

with a littlesalt." The tiles were inscribed before
baking, after which the letters became permanent.*
There is one epitaph of a catechumen in the
Lapidarian Gallery.

VCILIANVS BACIO VALERIO
QVI BISIT AN Vim-
VIII • DIES XXII CATECVM
Ucilianus, to Bacius Valerius, a Catechumen, who lived nine
years, eight months, and twenty-two days.

The earliest recorded discussion, within the
Church, upon the subject of infant baptism, is that
which occurred in the year 253, as to whether the
rite should be deferred till the eighth day of the
infant's life, or administered at an earlier period if
convenient.- The question was decided against the
restriction to the eighth day, that the spiritual rite
might not seem to be hindered by the more carnal
ordinance of the Jewish dispensation.

Persons supposed to be in danger of death were
baptized by a slight sprinkling while on their beds :
to these some discontented people gave the name
of Clinicks. Cyprian disavows all knowledge of
any distinction between washing and sprinkling,
and pretends that the authors of the appellation
must have derived it from the writings of Hippo-
crates or some other physician : the only Clinick of

* Gruter gives an inscription found outside the Porta La-
tina :

TEG • C • COSCONI •
FIG • ASINI • POLL •

■f Cyprian, Epist. 64.

THE ANCIENT CIIUKCII.

281

whom he knew any thing was the bedridden subject
of Christ's healing power.*

In an after age baptism was sometimes deferred
on superstitious grounds, till severe illness ; even
in the hope of sinning with less danger till the per-
formance of the rite. This unworthy motive was
reprobated by the church ; and persons so baptized
were reckoned in a certain degree infamous, being
excluded from the clerical order.f

The ceremonies used in baptism, at first simple,
Avere in course of time multiplied : the immersion
was required to be threefold, or trine ; and the
renunciation of the devil and his works was thrice
repeated. The catechumen was supported in the
water by a sponsor, who was of the same sex with
the person baptized.

The profession of faith made at baptism either
by the catechumen or his sponsor, gradually re-
solved itself into a definite shape ; in the third
century it attained to the form of words now
known as the apostle's creed or symholum. The
greater part of this venerable formula was com-
posed in the first century, or at least early in the
second. The origin of so important a production
could scarcely escape becoming the subject of a
legend ; accordingly we find in Baronius that, the
apostles having met together, Peter exclaimed, " I
believe in God the Father Almighty ; " " Maker of
heaven and earth," added John ; and so on till the

* Cyprian, Epist. 69.

t Council of Neocassarea, A. d. 314. Canon xii.

282

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

conclusion, when Matthias ended Avith " the life
everlasting, Amen." Baronius professes to quote
from Augustine; but Augustine says nothing
about the origin of the creed, though two apocryphal
sermons bound up with the Benedictine edition of
his works give the story. This distribution of the
articles of faith among the twelve may be conve-
nient for the compartments of a stained glass
window, but in the " Annals of Baronius" the
legend only exemplifies the deplorable credulity of
the cardinal.*

In a church whose meetings were held below
ground, artificial light w^as a necessary accompani-
ment to every service. Some persons have en-
deavoured to trace in this custom the origin of
tapers, employed in the daytime by Romanists ;
and have considered the continuance of candles in
churches as a thank-offering for liberty to worship
God in the upper air : a grateful recollection of
former privations and concealment. But history
contradicts so favourable a construction of the
original motive of " candle religion," and refers it
undeniably to a different source.

The general habit of using lamps, mostly of
terra cotta, is proved by the discovery of thou-

* Through this miserable story Valla nearly lost his life :
hearing a monk confidently repeat it while preaching, he de-
manded his authority, and was presently brought before the in-
quisitors : he was rescued by the king's troops. This happened
at Naples about 1430.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

283

sands in the catacombs. The cubicula clara, or
chapels open to the day, were rare ; perhaps they
did not exist till after the last persecution, when
the fear of discovery no longer forbad an aperture
from the campagna. But the employment of arti-
ficial light for the mere purpose of rendering objects
visible, is quite distinct from the ceremonial use of
it, whether to illuminate the shrine of a saint, or to
" do vain honour to the Father of Lights." This
ceremonial use, against which the Homily* ener-
getically declaims, appears to have been generally
connected with idolatry, excepting in the case of
the J e wish ritual ; and was unknown to Christians
until after the time of Constantine.

The burning of lights was among the idolatrous
rites forbidden by the Theodosian code : " Let no
,one, in any kind of place whatsoever, in any city,
burn lights, offer incense, or hang up garlands, to
senseless idols." Vigilantius, in reference to the
custom of using lights in divine service, remarks :
" We almost see the ceremonial of the Gentiles
introduced into the churches under pretence of
religion : piles of candles lighted while the sun is
still shining ; and every where people kissing and
worshipping I know not what ; a little dust in a
small vessel wrapped in a precious cloth. Great
honour do such persons render to the blessed mar-
tyrs, thinking with miserable tapers to illumine
those whom the Lamb, in the midst of the throne,

* Against Peril of Idolatry, 3rd Part.

284 THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

shines upon with the full splendour of His majesty."
This passage proves that Yigilantius, who must
have known well the customs of Paganism, was
struck by the resemblance between them and the
rites newly introduced into the Church.*

The habit of placing lighted lamps before tombs
was also begun by the Pagans. Gruter gives this
inscription :

HAVE • SEPTIMIA
SIT • TIBI • TERRA • LEA^IS
QVISQVE • HVIC • TVMYLO
POSYIT • ARDENTE • LVCERNAM
ILLIVS • CINERES
AVREA • TERRA • TEGAT

Farewell Septimia : may earth be light upon thee. Whoever
places a burning lamp before this tomb, may a golden soil cover
his ashes.

Not only was the use of lights an element of
Pagan worship, but it was universally reprobated

* Aclversus Vigilantium, cap. 2. The original words, re-
markable as embodying the first protest ever made against the
superstitions of Christendom, have been immortalised by
Jerome : " Prope ritum gentilium videmus sub praetextu
religionis introductum in ecclesias, sole adhuc fulgente moles
cereorum accendi, et ubicumque pulvisculum nescio quod, in
modico vasculo pretioso linteamine circumdatum, osculantes
adorare. Magnum honorem praebent hujusmodi homines bea-
tissimis martyribus, quos putant de vilissimis cereolis illustran-
dos : quos Agnus, qui est in medio throni, cum omni fulgore
majestatis suae illustrat. " Jerome denies the imputation : " O
mad head, w ho ever worshipped the martyrs ? * * * Do you
dare to say that they worship you don't know wdiat ? What do
you mean by you don't know what ? I should like to know.
Tell us plainly, and blaspheme with more freedom. "

THE ANCIENT CllUllCir.

285

by tlie Church during the first three centuries.
TertuUian instances the lighting of mid-day candles
as a ceremony from which all wise men are ex-
empt : " Who forces a philosopher to lavish vain
lights upon the noonday ? " * Besides being
" wasteful and ridiculous excess," the custom was
considered disreputable by association : " If a Chris-
tian woman marries a Pagan," he observes, " she
must go in and out by a gate laurelled and lan-
terned, ut de novo consistorio libidinum publica-
rum." f He urges the same objection to the usual
illumination in honour of the emperors : " Why do
we not shadow our doors with laurels, or break in
upon the day with lamps : is it desirable that our
houses should bear a disgraceful appearance on a
festival day ? " However weak Tertullian's argu-
ment may have been, from his choosing to misun-
derstand the common and harmless custom of illu-
mination, it proves the non-existence of the usage
in Christian worship. The same conclusion may
be dra^vn from the words of Lactantius, who died
in 325. He says of the pagans : " They slay rich
and fat victims to God, as if He were hungry ;
pour libations of wine to Him, as if thirsty ; and
burn lights as to one living in darkness." J " Do
your gods,' asks Arnobius, in allusion to the story
of Ceres, " do your gods go about the world with
lamps and torches in full sunshine ? " § No Chris-

* Apologeticus, cap. 46. | Ad Uxorem, lib. ii. cap. 6.
J Institut. Divin. lib. vi. cap. 2. § Contra Gentes, lib. v.

286 THE oiTicES and customs of

tian writer could have employed these expressions,
if the ceremonial use of lights had been then esta-
blished in the church.

The fourth century witnessed an almost entire
revolution in forms of worship. Prudentius, it is
true, represents the candles as employed only at
night: for, the Praefect (Hymn to St. Laurence)
calls upon the martyr to give up those golden can-
dlesticks in which the tapers are placed for • the
nocturnal rites. * But Paulinus of Nola, a.d. 396,
glories in the splendour of his noonday illumina-
tions : ''The bright altars," he tells us, "are
croAvned with thickly-clustered lamps ; the fragrant
lights smell of the waxed papyri ; day and night
they burn ; so that night glitters with the splen-
dour of the day ; and day itself, glorious with
heavenly honours, shines the more, its lustre being
doubled by innumerable lamps." f The episcopal
poet has somewhat exaggerated the etFect of his
lights, if we may judge from the smoky appearance
of tapers in open day : though if his church was
darkened, as in the ceremony of the illuminated
Host of the Pauline Chapel, great brilliancy may
have been produced.

The statement of Jerome on this point is not
very satisfactory. After declaring that none but
ignorant and worldly persons used lights in
the daylight service, the Church only employing
them to dispel the darkness of the night, he con-

* Peristeph. 3. 71.

t Natalis, iii. 100.

THE ANCIENT CIIURCIL

287

fesses that throughout the East candles were lighted
during the reading of the Gospel, in broad day, as
a sign of joy. Jerome might also have known the
practice of his friend Paulinus, from whom he
had received a letter introducing Yigilantius to
his acquaintance. The custom was introduced
into Spain, but was condemned by the Council
of Elvira: " We decree," says the 34th Canon,
" that no tapers be lighted in the cemeteries during
the day ; for the spirits of the saints must not be
disturbed." Learned commentators have spent
much time in showing how the souls of the dead
are inconvenienced by tapers ; but the author is
disposed to render spiritus sanctorum by " the minds
of the holy Avho worship there, " which might be
disturbed thereby from serious prayer.

That the lights set up by the Pagans were con-
sidered part of the establishment of their idols,
appears from an inscription raised by Popilius and
Popilia : it records the erection of

CVPIDINES II CVM SVIS LYCHNYCHIS
ET LVCERNA LARUM.

Two Cupids, with their candlesticks, and the lamp of the
Lares. (Gruter.)

The affection of surviving friends was recorded
in the Catacombs in various ways. The epithets
applied to children are generally expressive of in-
nocence and sweetness of disposition. The first
example is from the Lapidarian Gallery :

288

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

ADitKTORlfiOo
19KRODVJLCllW)viO

BIUC\VfVt>C\T

D/R\/JV)ne\Ttll
F\T>>ATeRrECFR

To Adsertor, our son, dear, sweet, most innocent, and incom-'
parable, who lived seventeen years, six months, and eight days.
His father and mother set up this.

Sometimes the length of life was expressed with
great precision ;

DEFVNTVS K SEPT
POMPEIANO INNO
CENTIOVIVIXII
ANN VI MESES • Villi
DIES VIII ORAS nil
DORMIT IN PACE
In Christ — ■ Died on the Kalends of September, Pompeianus
the innocent, who lived six years, nine months, eight days, and
four hours. He sleeps in peace.

Other expressions of esteem were employed :

SPIRITO SANCTO
INNOCENTI QVI
VIXIT AN • PL • M • III
To the holy soul Innocens, who lived three years, more or
less (plus minus).

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

289

DOMITIANVS ANIMA SINPLEX
DORMIT IN PACE
Domitianus, a simple soul, sleeps in peace.

The names Irene and Agape were often given to

Christian women. The next four epitaphs are in

the Lapidarian Gallery :

IRENE • IN PACE
Irene in peace.

MATER AGAPE FECIT

\^
A\

Her mother Agape set up this. In Christ.

AGAPE VIBES
IN ETERNVM
Agape, may you live for ever (for vivas).

The dative case of Agape when used as a proper

name, is irregular :

AGAPENI IN PACE
To Agape in peace.

Several interesting inscriptions refer to conjugal

attachment :

CLAVDIO BENEMERENTI
STVDIOSO QVI AMABIT ME • VIX
AN • P • M • XXV IN P •
To Claudius the well-deserving and affectionate, who loved
me. He lived twenty -five years, more or less. In peace.

The next imitates a usual Pagan form :

CECILIVS • MARITVS CECILIAE PLACIDINAE
COIVGI OPTIME MEMORIAE CVM QVA
VIXI ANNIS X • BENE SE • NE VLLA
QVERELLA IXGYC
Cecilius the husband, to Cecilia Placidina, my wife, of excellent
memory, with whom I lived well ten years, without any quarrel.
In Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Saviour. (Lap. Gall.)

290

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

The next is from the same collection :
DOMNINAE

NNOCENIISSINAE • ET DVLCISSIMAE COIVGI

QVAE VIXIT ANN XVI • M IIII • ET FVIT •
IMARITATA • ANN DVOBVS • M • IIII • D • Villi-
CVM QVA NON LICVIT FVISSE • PROPTER
CAVSAS PEREGRINATIONIS
NISI • MENSIBVS • VI
OVO ■ TEMPORE • VTEGOSENSI EI EXHBVI
AMOREM MEVM
NVLLISVALII • SIC DILEXERVNT
DEPOSIT • XV KAL • IVN

To Domina,

Mj sweetest and most innocent 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 which time I
shewed her my love, as I felt it. None else so loved each other.
Buried on the 15th before the Kalends of June.

The custom of adding an ejaculatory prayer or
wish Avas derived from the Pagans : an instance is
given from a heathen columbarium on the Esquiline
Hill:

HIC RELICIAE PELOPIS
SIT TIBI TERRA LEVIS
Here are the remains of Pelops. May earth be light upon
thee.

Among others, Gruter has the following :

HAVE THAIS
DII • TIBI
BENE • FACIANT
Farewell, Thais ; may the gods be good to thee.

The Christians continued the habit, as in —
VIVAS VINCAS
May you live : may you conquer.

FAVSTINA DVLCIS . BIBAS
IN DEO

Sweet Faustina, may you live in God.

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

291

ZwTIKE
ZHCAICEN *
KYPIweAPPI

Zoticus, mayest thou live in the Lord. Be of good cheer.
(Lap. Gall.;

BOLOSA DEVS TI
BIREFRIGERET QVAE VI
XIT ANNOS XXXI RECESSIT
DIE XIII KAL OCT . B

In Christ. Bolosa, may God refresh thee. She lived thirty-
one years. She departed on the thirteenth before the Kalends
of October. (Lap. Gall.)

The expression, may God refresh thee, " is also
contained in another epitaph :

AMERIMNVS
RVFINAE • COIV
GICARIS • SIME

BENEMEREN
TI • SPIRITVM '

TV VM • DEVS
REFRI • GERET

Amerimnus to Rufina, his dearest wife, the vrell-deserving.
May God refresh thy spirit. (Lap. Gall.)

They are both explained by a third :

NICEFORVS ANIMA
DVLCIS IN REFRIGERIO

Nicephorus, a sweet soul, in refreshment.

These epitaphs prove the doctrine of the primi-
tive Church regarding the departed souls of be-
lievers : they are not said to be in heaven, nor in
purgatory, but in a state of refreshing by means of
God's presence — in God —

V 2

292

THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

ARETVSA
• IN DEO.
(Lap. Gall.)

In Christ : as in the only epitaph of the Lapi-
darian Gallery containing a prayer to the deceased :

GENTiANUS FIdELIS IN PACE qUI VIX
IT ANNIS XXI MENS VIII dIES
XVI ET IN ORATIONIS TUIS
ROGES PRoNoBIS qUIASCIMUS

TE IN >^

Gentianus a believer, in peace. Who lived twenty-one years,
eight months, and sixteen days. Also in your prayers pray for
us, for we know that you are in Christ.

The extreme rarity of such aspirations in ancient
epitaphs is remarkable : the wish to maintain by
mutual prayer some communion with the deceased
is natural to mankind, and though not positively
forbidden by Christianity, a sense of its futility
seems to have been deeply impressed upon the con-
verts of the first ages. The inscription to Genti-
anus probably belongs to the middle of the fifth
century : it indicates an approach to the modern
Romish practice. Yet the recorded wish of these
ancient mourners can scarcely be compared with
the prayers offered before the images of saints, or
the legacies left for the payment of masses for the
dead.

The expression " borne away by angels, " ap-
plied by our Lord to blessed Lazarus, can scarcely
be supposed to imply a conveyance to expiatory
flames :

THE ANCIENT CIIL'KCII.

29:3

sevp:uo filio dvl
cissimo lavrentivs
pater benemerenti qvi bi

XIT ANN • nil • ME • VIII • DIES • V
ACCERSITVS AB ANGELIS VII • IDVS lANVA

Laurence to his sweetest son Severus, the well-deserving,
borne away by angels on the seventh before the Ides of January,
kc.

MACVS PVER INNOCENS
ESSE lAMINTER INNOCNTIS COEPISTI j/
QVAM STAVILES TIVI HAEC VITA EST
QVAM TELETVM EXCIPET MATER ECLESIAE DEOC ijj
MVNDO REVERTENTEM COJilPREMATVR PEC-

TORVM \/
GEMITVS STRVATVR FLETVS OCVLORVM |

Macus (or Marcus), an innocent boy. You have already
begun to be among the innocent ones. How enduring is such
a life to you! How gladly will your mother, the Church of
God, receive you, returning to this world. Let us restrain our
groans, and cease from weeping. (Lapidarian Gallery.)

From these epitaphs, as well as from others
scattered throughout this work, it is evident that
the modern Romish notions on this subject were
entirely unknown to the ancient Christians. The
absurdity of construing such ejaculatory prayers
as we have just seen, into a support for the doctrine
of Purgatory, is the more evident, when it is known
that the ancients were accustomed in their prayers
to commemorate all the dead. Apostles, prophets,
martyrs, and even the Virgin Mary, whom no one
will suppose to have passed through purifying
flames. Prayers to this effect, much resembling
the prayer for the church mihtant in the Anglican

u 3

294 THE OFFICES AND CUSTOMS OF

service, are contained in the so-called Liturgy of
St. Chrysostom.

Sometimes, instead of the ejaculatory prayer, we
find some consolatory sentiment, as

DAMALIS HIC SIC • V • D
Here lies Damalis, so God wills. (Boldetti.)

Or one of a more Pagan character :

EY^YXI CEKOYNAOY
AICAGANATOS PHriTANA

Be of good cheer, Secunda, no one is immortal.

Mabillon* has given a sarcophagus with the
words :

OvdeiQ adajmroQ, dapcrei Euyeveta,
Be of good courage, Eugenia ; no one is immortal.

The manner of expressing death was also varied,

as in these instances :

IN PACE ET BENEDICTIONE SVFSVATI
VIXIT-ANNIS XXX • PLVS NINVS RED
DIDIT • XI • KAL • FEB •

In Peace and blessing. Suesatis lived thirty years, more or
less. He paid [the debt of nature] the eleventh Kalends of
February.

AGATE FILIA DVLCISSIMA QVE
VIXIT ANN PM • Villi ET D • LXIII
F • ATVM FECIT PRID . IDVS MART

Agate, our sweetest daughter, who lived about nine years and
sixty-three days. She fulfilled her destiny on the day before
the Ides of March. (Lap. Gall.)

* The learned Benedictine has read this epitaph, " None is
immortal by boldness or nobility." The inscription to Secunda
was first translated by Raoul Rochette : his predecessors having
read it, " twice immortal."

THE ANCIENT CHURCH.

295

The usual Greek form is seen in the next :

lOYXIA
MAPKIA
ENGAAE

REIT A I

Julia Marcia lies here. (Lap. Gall.)

The principal events which affected the Church
of the third and fourth centuries are, as might be
expected, scarcely noticed in the Christian ceme-
teries. If the persecutions have been left unmen-
tioned by the survivors of martyrs, so also has the
most striking incident of secular history, the sudden
and universal establishment of Christianity through-
out the Roman world. No record of this circum-
stance can be found in the catacombs, where the
Church appears as little elated by triumph, as
before depressed by adversity. The number of
epitaphs increases after the conversion of Constan-
tine, indicating a spread of Christianity in the
metropolis ; though the worship of the gods
lingered in the pagi or villages : hence the term
Paganism. Every means short of actual persecution
was adopted to erase the ancient superstition : and
as the character of the augurs had sunk extremely
low, they were summarily abolished by law. Div-
ination was made a capital crime, and the use of
lights, frankincense, and garlands in worsliip was
forbidden. The civil privileges of Heathen priests
were abolished, and corresponding immunities con-
ferred upon the Christian clergy.

Tt was soon discovered that Christianity meditated
no revenge for the past ; that no rod of iron was

u 4

296 officp:s and customs of the church.

yet to be swayed over the Gentiles. So excessive
was the clemency of Constantine, that it provoked
the animadversion of the provincial governors ;
even Eusebius dares not defend it.* In the
secular business of daily life, the religion of the
cross triumphantly displayed its heavenly character :
the manumission of slaves, as an act of mercy,
was the only business permitted on Sundays ; and
the crime of cursing the emperor was treated with
magnanimous indifference : " If the curse be uttered
in levity, " decreed Theodosius, ^' it is to be despised,
if in madness, to be pitied ; if in malice, to be
forgiven. "

* De Vita Constantini, lib. iv. cap. 31.

297

CHAP. VII.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

The fine arts had not long arrived at maturity in
Rome, when they were encountered by a power
before which they ^vere destined to be humbled to
the dust. Apart from their connection with idola-
try, they wer<; themselves an object of adoration to
the civilised world : sculpture had long led captive
the imagination of men : and those works which
even now tempt the Christian to " bow down and
worship " the genius, if not the productions, of their
authors, were almost universally appreciated. The
severely regular drama, the most lofty style of
sculpture, whose restoration to the world is the
day-dream of the enthusiastic lover of art, were
then living elements of society : the villa of Adrian
still displays the small theatre where Greek trage-
dies were intoned before the Emperor and his
household : and the Antinous of the same date
attests the perfection to which sculpture had at-
tained in the Roman metropolis. Before many
years, the empire of imagination passed away : and
the genius of art, with " torch extinct, and swim-
ming eyes, " had to mourn over the introduction of
the hieratic style, which, wherever it has appeared
throughout the world, has cramped and almost an-

298 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

nihilated the inventive faculty. Throughout the
works of Egypt, Hindostan, and the Byzantine
school, restrictions, similar to those which appear
in the remains of the Catacombs, confined the
artist to an unvaried round of repetition, beyond
which it was forbidden to pass. The greatest
efforts of individual genius have only displayed
most glaringly the defects of the system : the in-
taglios of Karnac, almost the best hieratic work in
existence, exhibit, perhaps the most forcibly, the
hopeless struggle. In those gigantic outlines, de-
void of perspective, anatomy, and truth, some per-
sons have thouo^ht to trace the orioinal of the Par-
thenaic friezes. And notwithstanding these capital
defects, so vigorous is their conception, so terrible
is the writhing of the captives whose entangled hair
fills the grasp of their conqueror, that it is difiicult
to refuse to the performance a high place among
works of art. With such scenes an Egyptian mo-
narch might at pleasure decorate his palace : but
the choice of subject, scale, and arrangement alone
belonged to him : the imitation of nature lay alto-
gether beyond the legitimate province of art. While
we find in the better class of obelisks, execution
absolutely perfect, and an admirable exactness in
copyism, in vain do we seek, from the time of
Moses to that of Ptolemy, the least approximation
to natural forms. The Lateran obelisk, brought
from the city of the Pharaohs, and supposed to
have stood where Moses, learned in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians, must have daily passed beneath

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

299

it, is in no way behind the Ptolemaic Denderah,
notwithstanding all that art had meanwhile achieved
in more favoured Greece. The lotus-leaf never
alters, nor do the owl and ibis borrow a single
characteristic from the models which nature has
abundantly furnished in the country of the Nile.

Not the least remarkable result of these restrictions
is the state of degradation to which they reduced
the artist. Of any individual poet, sculptor, or
painter, in Egypt, we do not possess the slightest
record : yet genius was undoubtedly known among
them. In Greece, on the contrary, the sculptor,
embodying in majestic proportions the gods of his
worship, made them what they were in public esti-
mation ; conferred immortality upon them, and
shared in the honours of his own creation. It is
to the cloud-compelling divinity of the Iliad, and
the Thunderer of the Capitoline museum, that we
are indebted for our nobler conceptions of the son
of Saturn : in them we almost learn to forget the
disgraceful exploits of the profligate Jupiter.

We are thus enabled to divide the productions of
art into two great classes : the hieratic, including
the Egyptian, Byzantine, Hindostan, Mexican, and
early Christian : and the free, executed by artists,
who, though generally drawing their inspiration
from their creed, were not under the orders of a
religious government. Of these, the Etruscan,
Greek, Roman, and later Christian, stand pre-emi-
nent ; although Etruria seems to have o^vned two
schools, — the one producing stiff and unnatural

300

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

designs ; and the other, of which little now remains,
rivalling Greece itself in 1)eanty of conception.
The two styles differ still more widely in intention :
the one appeals to the reason, conveying generally
a symbolic meaning ; while the other, requiring no
interpreter, exerts a more powerful influence, from
addressing chiefly the passions and imagination.

The stamp impressed upon Christian art in the
beginning of its career, was destined to remain
no longer than the state of the world should render
necessary. After lying torpid during twelve
hundred years, the dreary winter of Europe's his-
tory, Art awoke with the spring of the Revival,
mature in age, though marked with the charac-
teristics of extreme youth. Like the newly eman-
cipated insect, it appeared at once in its fullest
splendour, a sad presage of its brief existence : and
the days of the Transfiguration, the Moses, and the
Sistine Judgment, have passed away, — never, to all
appearance, to be restored.

The application of the arts to Christian pur-
poses was not, as we have seen, permitted without
scruple. They had been long devoted to the cause
of Polytheism ; they were its daughters : and even
when apparently converted to the service of Chris-
tianity, they remained but too faithful to their
parent. For the little that they contributed to
their new mistress, crippled and fettered as they
were, they had their revenge in this, that they
carried back the world to the days of their former
triumphs. The buildings, the statues, the drama,

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

301

and the circus, all perpetuated the Paganism of
older times, and forced the leaders of the Church to
adapt their precepts, as much as possible, to the
bias of the popular mind. So the many wives of
Solomon, each the daughter of a king, added
nothing to the glory of the Jewish monarch, while
they turned his heart from the worship of Jehovah.
The treachery of Pagan art was never more ap-
parent than when the Pantheon of Rome, originally
devoted to Jupiter and all the gods, was dedicated
to the Virgin Mary and all the Saints : the building
seemed to be Christianised, but in truth it was
Christianity that was Paganised. Provided men
are worshipped there, it matters little by what
names they are invoked.

It has been well remarked by Raoul Pochette,
that, of all the elements of Paganism admitted to
the service of Christianity, sculpture, which had
struck its roots most deeply in the old soil, was the
least capable of being transplanted into the new.
This fact cannot be better exemplified than by the
bas-reliefs of the history of Jonah, where much is
borrowed from heathen myths. In the specimen
here copied from a sarcophagus deposited in
the Vatican library*, the storm is personified by a

* The Christian bas-reliefs of the Vatican have been re-
peatedly published by the Roman antiquarians. During the
author's residence in Rome, he obtained access to some
drawings recently executed by an Italian artist, which appeared
somewhat more characteristic of the rude style than the elabo-
rate copperplates of Aringhi, &c. Of tliese drawings he has
availed himself, and from them are taken many of tlie woodcuts
contained in this chapter.

302

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

Triton blowing through a convoluted shell: and
Iris, with floating scarf, hovering over the sail.

indicates the tranquillity that followed the ejection
of the prophet. The ship is copied from the type
usually seen in Pagan frescoes, and the iish is
taken from sculptures representing Andromeda ex-
posed to a sea monster ; a story invented long after
the history of Jonah, and probably founded upon
it. The earliest writer mentioning Andromeda is
Apollodorus, who flourished about 115 years before
Christ, and 750 after Jonah.* The scene of both
narratives lies at Joppa, designated by Jerome as
" the port of the fugitive Jonah, and, if I may add
something from the fables of the poets, witness of
Andromeda bound to a rock. " It is remarkable
that strong evidence of the existence of a sea-

* Bibliotheca, lib. ii. cap. 4. He mentions Andromeda, but
not Joppa.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

303

monster long remained at Joppa. Pomponius Mela
tells us that " they still exhibit huge bones of a
marine animal, the plain traoes of Andromeda's
preservation by Perseus. " * Pliny describes Joppa
as "placed upon a hill, with a projecting rock, on
which they still show the marks of Andromeda's
chains. " Elsewhere he describes the bones of the
monster which Scaurus brought to Eome from
Joppa : the skeleton measured forty feet in length,
having a spine one foot and a half thick, and ribs
larger than those of an elephant. There is also
a tradition which describes Jason as escaping,
armed and unhurt, from the mouth of a sea-mon-
ster. Such testimonies imply a better foundation
for the story than the fable of Apollodorus.

By the ancient Church, the history of Jonah was
deemed typical of death and the resurrection, and
ranked among the most popular objects of repre-
sentation employed in the Catacombs. In subterra-
nean chapels, where the living were separated from
the dead by a mere tile or slab of stone, and some-
times liable to be mingled with them by the violence
of their enemies even before the conclusion of their
worship, the hope of a future life naturally occupied
a prominent place in their creed. The words, " I
believe in the resurrection of the dead, " must have
resounded with solemn import through those dreary
caves ; and all that could help a trembling faith to
seize the joyful reality was eagerly adopted. Jonah,

* De Situ Orbis, lib. i. cap. 11.

304

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

escaping from the whale, or reclining beneath the
gourd, may be every where seen, at first scratched
upon the walls, and afterwards sculptured on sar-
cophagi. In the emblem of a risen saint, the sins
and sorrows of the original hero were forgotten ;
and the gourd, copied from a species still sold in
the Roman market, represented less the ephemeral
protection of the complaining prophet, than the
cool foliage of the tree of life. At times, the latter
part of the history is still more condensed: the
ship, the whale, and the gourd, signifying earth,
hades, and heaven, are brought into one point of
view :

the subject of the awful adventure, but just ejected
from the ship, and scarcely extricated from the
jaws of the monster, is already overshadowed by
the ripened fruit. But there is yet a further
meaning in this often-repeated sculpture : " a
greater than Jonas is here. "

It was the divine application of this figure to
the death and resurrection of Christ that gave to
it its peculiar interest : for, by a happy inference
the church saw in the rising of her Head, the certain
resuscitation of His members. In this small frag-
ment of marble, the Christian of ancient times
traced his own career : his passage from the un-

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 305

stable element too well expressing his present life,
through the gate of death, not inaptly represented
by the terrible monster, suffered to engorge, though
not to retain, its prey : to a land beyond those
swelling floods, where the head of the tempest-
tossed wanderer rests on the root of that plant
whose fruit protects him from the angry sun.

The plant which covered Jonah's booth gave rise
to a lively discussion in the beginning of the fifth
century. The sculptors of the catacombs, adopt-
ing the reading of the Italic version, represented
it as an ordinary gourd. Jerome thought pro-
per to change it to ivy: an alteration which
eventually excluded his version from the diocese
of Hippo. The Hebrew is Kikaion^ a species
of quick-growing vine, common in Syria. Aquila
had rendered this in Greek by ivy : and J erome
thinking that plant the best Western repre-
sentative of the Syrian creeper, transferred the ivy
to the Yulgate.

The irritation produced by this change was ex-
cessive : the people of Tripoli rebelled, and raised
an uproar in the Church. The loss of the gourd,
always a favourite in that burning clime, affected
them not less than it had Jonah : and to make
things worse, the Jews maliciously assured them
that the true rendering of the Hebrew was gourd.
Augustine took part with the " Cucurbitarians,"
as Jerome called them, and stopped the reading of
the Vulgate throughout his diocese. It was not

306

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

without good reason, he believed, that the Seventy
had used the word gourd. *

The history of Noah early took a powerful hold
on Christian minds, either from its resemblance to
the myth of Deucalion, with which they were
already familiar, or from its application to the
baptismal rite by St. Peter. The first sculptures
and paintings of Noah were borrowed from Pagan-
ism, which thus repaid a debt it owed to Divine
Scripture, whence it had copied almost entire the
history of Deucalion. So little had the story been
altered, that we find Plutarch citing as a common
opinion, " that the dove sent out from the ark
brought to Deucalion a certain index of stormy
weather by its return, and of tranquillity by its
flying away."f

On examining any of the numerous sculptures
representing Noah in the ark, we are struck by the

extreme discrepancy between the work of art, and

* Inter op. Hieronyra, ep. 76.

■j- De Solertia Animalium. The substitution of Deucalion
for Noah in this passage, is so natural, that it might escape the
notice of a hasty reader.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 307

the narrative which it professes to illustrate ; nor is
it a sufficient answer to our surprise, to be informed
that this is owing to the scarcity of the Old Testa-
ment writings ; since the traditional knowledge of
the preservation of Noah's family was too general
to allow of such ignorance. If we look for expla-
nation to other paintings or sarcophagi, we find
nothing to help out the story ; the same want of
correct information is every where observable :

the ark is a mere box, provided with lid and lock ;
the family of the Patriarch is reduced to a single
figure, and the animals are altogether omitted. If
we explore the entire school of art of the fourth

century, we shall find but little variation in the
treatment of the subject : the execution progresses

X 2

308 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

from bad to worse, but the absurdities are stereo-
typed. The artist, in a desperate attempt to evade
the charge of direct copyism, resolves upon a change
of position : the Patriarch turns from side to side,

or receives the dove in a new attitude. This idea
of Noah is evidently not derived from the book of
Genesis : yet the mutual resemblance of the sculp-
tures indicates plainly some common original.

Early in the last century, the attention of anti-
quarians was roused by the discovery of certain
medals displaying two figures floating in a small
box, accompanied by two doves, one of which bears
an olive branch. The inscriptions showed them to
have been struck in Apamea, during the reign of
Septimius Severus, probably after an inundation of
that province. The explanation of these medals
was long hindered by the repeated forgery of dupli-
cates, which differed from the originals only in the
letters inscribed on the box. Falconieri read them
NI2E, the Greek name of Noah ; others made them
out NHT12N ; some could find no characters at all ;
and a fourth party deciphered the abbreviation
NEI2K. The wood-cut annexed is taken from

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

309

Falconieri's plate, omitting the rest of the subject,
which represents the same figures praying on dry

land. The third letter has also been omitted, as
an acknowledged forgery. *

If the letters themselves have been variously
read, their meaning has furnished no less room for
conjecture. The name of Noah ; the dual of 570),
in allusion to a line of Ovid ; the termination of
a7roL[xsa)v written backwards ; have all had their
advocates. But time, by exposing the forgeries,
and bringing to light fresh specimens of the authen-
tic coinage, has revealed the true meaning of the
contested inscription. The figures in the box turn
out to be those of Deucalion and Pyrrha : the box
itself is not the ark of Noah, but a chest or KiSwrog,
selected by the mint-master from the correspond-
ence between its name and that of the district
(in Greek) : and the letters are NEilK, a contrac-
tion of v£tt)xoptt)v, signifying curatores of the sacred
rites and temples. The Neocori appear on many

* Gronovii Thesaurus, torn. x. Another engraving is to be
found in Sestini's work on coins, plate x. It is even more rude
than the sketch given above.

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310 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

medals of the time ; and their functions have been
copiously illustrated by antiquarians of the last
century. *

There can be no reasonable doubt that this
preservation of Deucalion, represented in a peculiar
manner to gratify the vanity of the Apameans,
is the model from which all the bas-reliefs of
Noah have been imitated. The readiness with
which the Pagan version of the story was adopted
by the Christians, and the servile copyism by
which the type thus obtained was perpetuated,
exemplify in a striking manner the condition of
nascent Christian art. The first sculptor who at-
tempted the subject deviated widely from the in-
spired history ; reduced the family of the patriarch
to a single person, and the ark, containing beasts
and birds innumerable, to a box ; yet, rather than
hazard an original idea, his successor must repeat,
and hand down unchanged, the type so strangely
consecrated.

The philosopher Celsus condescends to notice
the Christians' account of the deluge, ^^with the
ridiculous ark that held every thing inside it," f as
a piece of his mythology amplified by them. It
speaks strongly for the power of education over
the mind, that Celsus, brought up to believe the
enormous follies of heathenism, should stumble at

* There are on this subject three essays in the Archaeologia,
vol. iv. Also an excellent notice by Raoul Rochette, Memoires
de I'Academie de Belles Lettres, t. xiii.

"f Origen in Celsum, lib. iv.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

311

the just interposition of Almighty power in the case
of righteous Noah.

The preservation of God's people through diffi-
culties, more especially if effected by a miracle,
generally formed the subject of those sculptures
which were not executed for the sake of their
allegorical meaning. The perils of Daniel and the
three youths, from their resemblance to the cir-
cumstances in which the Roman Christians were
placed, enjoyed a preference. The genius of their
religion was conspicuously displayed in this choice
of subjects. Surrounded by real dangers and per-
secutions, they did not seek to celebrate their own
sufferings, still less to immortalise individual he- >
roism : but passing by the ungula^ and the stakes
with which they were most conversant in daily
life, they drew their humble measure of inspiration
from the bloodless confessions of Shadrac and
Daniel. A people revelling in luxurious ease
may find gratification in applying the resources
of art to the illustration of martyr-suffering. A
Parmegiano, himself safe from the rack and the
flames, had leisure to elaborate the well-pro-
portioned figure of his heroine, to embody in a
dark and rugged executioner all that could con-
trast with the fair and undraped form of the vic-
tim, and to array in the terrors of chiaroscuro the
instruments of torture and death : till the world,
worked up to frenzy by the sight, fancied itself
ready to die in the cause, and by acclamation voted
itself Christian. But the ancient Church never

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312 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

represented scenes of a painful character : the deli-
verance of a Jew from the lions of Babylon was
preferred to the destruction of a Christian by those
of the Colosseum ; and the three Hebrews preserved
from the rage of Nebuchadnezzar were a more
consolatory subject than the victims of Neronian
cruelty, wrapped in pitch-cloth, and used as torches
to illuminate the circus.

In this fragment of a sarcophagus, the usual
licence of early art is perceived : the mighty fur-
nace of the plains of Dura is reduced to a mere
oven in three compartments : and the fourth figure,
" like unto the Son of God," is omitted.

The figures of Daniel appear in every degree of
rudeness ; although the subject, requiring, as it was
thought, a knowledge of the nude, presented diffi-
culties equal to that of Adam and Eve. The
specimen on the opposite page is from a Catacomb
painting.

The Good Shepherd, a character appropriated
by our Saviour, was an emblem not unknown to
Paganism. The sylvan deity Pan was anciently
represented by sculptors with a goat thrown
across his shoulders, and a Pan's pipe, or syrinx, in

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 313

his hand. According to Pausanias, the people of
Tanagra worshipped Mercury under the name of
Criophorus, or the liam-bearer ; and Calamis exe-
cuted a statue of Mercury with the ram borne on
his shoulders. The yearly feast in his honour was
kept by one of the youths bearing a lamb round
the walls of the city.* The Roman poets also
make allusion to the custom of carrying a stray or
neglected lamb on the shoulders of the shepherd.
Calpurnius thus addresses a friend employed in
farming: Think it not beneath you, when visit-
ing the sheep-folds at night, to bear on your shoul-
ders the exhausted sheep, and to carry in your
bosom the trembling young." f Tibullus also:

* Pausanias, lib. ix.

t Calpurn. Eclog. v. 39.

314

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

" Be not too indolent to carry home in your
bosom the lamb or kid deserted by its forgetful
mother."* Almost the same expressions are ap-
plied by Isaiah to God's care of His people. Our
Lord, therefore, only adapted to His purpose a
figure well known both to Jews and Greeks, and
ennobled it for ever by application to Himself.

The Good Shepherd was a type much valued by
the early Church, and the character in which they
most delighted to represent our Lord. It was in
this form that the excited imagination of Perpetua
figured Him to herself : in her dream she ascended
the ladder that reached to heaven, and saw there a
man with white hair, in the dress of a shepherd,
milking his sheep. Tertullian also refers to the
Good Shepherd painted on the sacramental cups :
Pastor quem in calice depingis."f
In the tomb of the Nasones, as noticed by Kaoul
Rochette, who has greatly elucidated the early
history of Christian art, may be seen, among many
mythological paintings, the figure of a shepherd
with a sheep on his shoulders, and a crook in his
hand, surrounded by the Four Seasons. J What
was intended by this heathen painting is not clear ;
but, by a slight alteration, the same composition
was soon converted into a " Bonus Pastor " by
Christian artists. The change, however, was slow ;
the Pan's pipe remained for some time in the hand

* Eleg. ii. 11, 12.

f De Pudicitia, cap. 10.

i Bellori, Tomb of the Nasones, plate xxiL

THE OKIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 315

of the Chief Shepherd, and the Roman dress was
seldom abandoned.

This painting, found in a catacomb chapel, seems
to be an imitation of the Naso picture, or perhaps
of the statue by Calamis.

The Pan's pipe subjoined, is also found in the
hand of a " Good Shepherd," in the catacombs.

The subject is more thoroughly Christianised in
the next specimen, taken from a sarcophagus.
The shepherd, more advanced in years, with the
eyes turned towards heaven, is provided with the
belt and scrip proper to his calling.

316

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

But bas-reliefs and paintings were for the rich :
we must see how the humble piety of the poor
expressed the chosen emblem of Him, who, bearing
the world on His shoulders, bears also the wander-
ing sheep.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

317

This figure, scratched upon a tombstone, is taken
from Aringhi.

The miracles wrought by our Saviour were a
standard subject for sculpture: a series of them
was generally placed on one side of every large
sarcophagus. Among them may be particularised
the resurrection of Lazarus, the multiplication of

the loaves and fishes, the restoration of sight to
the blind, and the cure of the paralytic. In the
resurrection of Lazarus, here copied from a marble
sarcophagus in the Yatican library, the usual ar-
rangement of the figures is observed.

In most representations of this subject, the

318

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

temple-shaped tomb is hung with garlands, in the
manner of a Roman sepulchre, and altogether
unlike the gospel description of a cave and stone.
The mummy of Lazarus, and the reduced figure of
his sister Mary, are repeated in innumerable forms,
many of which would be unintelligible without
' the aid of comparison.

In all the pictures and sculptures of our Lord's
history, no reference is made to his sufferings or
death : an apparent exception is met with in the
bas-relief representing Pilate washing his hands ;
but a moment's reflection will explain the sculptor's
motive for choosing that subject. The Christians,
never forgetting the crime of treason imputed to
them, were anxious to clear themselves of the
charge ; and employed their best eloquence to
prove, that by daily praying for the Emperor,
they were rendering him greater service than the

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

319

heathen possibly could. Every acquittal of a
Christian was triumphantly adduced in their own
justification : even the slight favour shown by
Trajan was magnified into a licence. The muti-
lated bas-relief here copied, derived its value from
the declaration of Pilate, " I find no fault in this
man,'^ rather than from any reference to our
Lord's sufferings.

In this feeble composition, occupying a compart-
ment on the side of a sarcophagus, there are still
some reminiscences of the antique : the head of
Pilate's wife, seen in profile, is better sketched than
usual : and the method of washing, implied by the
empty bowl, is characteristic. In the East, the water
is still poured from the vase over the hands, and
caught by the bowl, so as not to pass over them twice.

The ancient Christians, though continually in the
habit of representing the Saviour, never designed
the First Person of the Trinity in human form.
A single piece of sculpture has been found in the
Catacombs, supposed to throw doubt upon the truth
of this assertion : it exhibits Cain and Abel bring-
ing their gifts to an aged man seated in a chair;
this figure has been interpreted by Romanists as
that of the Almighty Father. But on this subject
the opinion of Raoul Rochette, himself a Romanist,
is opposed to them. " I doubt," he says, " the reality
of this explanation, contrary to all that we know of
Christian monuments of the first ages, where the
intervention of the Eternal Father is only indicated
in the abridged and symbolic manner proper to

320 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

antiquity, by the image of a hand. In this parti-
cular instance," he continues, I should prefer un-
derstanding by this figure of an old man seated,
- Adam receiving the gifts of his sons, to offer them
to God."

There are among the Catacomb sculptures, two
well-marked instances of this indication of the
Deity by a hand : Abraham offering up Isaac, and
Moses receiving the law.

In this often-repeated subject, the Christian might
behold the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God, and
the interposition of Divine power on his own behalf.
An accurate rendering of Bible history is not often
found in these ancient works : it is often difficult
to suppose that their authors had access to the in-
spired AVord.

The hand is sometimes encircled by clouds, as if
to signify more strongly its symbolic character.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 321

This figure of Moses receiving the law, as well as
that of Abraham, occur on sarcophagi in the Vati-
can Library.

The prohibitions of the Fathers against visible
representations of God were decisive : even Pauli-
nus, who greatly promoted the employment of
sacred art in churches, stopped short of this impiety.
He speaks of the three Persons of the Trinity as
being represented by a Lamb, a Dove, and a Voice
from Heaven. According to Milman, the French
have claimed the " happy boldness " of first intro-
ducing the Father in human form. This assertion
is made upon the strength of an illuminated Bible,
attributed to the ninth century.

It has been already stated that no gloomy sub-
jects occur in the cycle of early Christian art : some
very slight and doubtful exceptions have been
found. The dismal pictures of Sebastian, St. Peter,

322

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

and St. Paul, copied by Bosio and Aringhi, evi-
dently belong to much later times, as proved by
the ecclesiastical dresses of the figures, and the
modern character of the tapers introduced. A
martyrdom of Salome, the only work of the kind
known to D'Agincourt, was referred by him to the
tenth century; and that of Felicitas, more lately
discovered, is brought down by R. Rochette at
least as late as the seventh. About the close of
the fourth century, Prudentius described pictures
of the martyrdoms of Cassianus and Hippolytus as
then existing. We must not, therefore, altogether
refuse a place to the new school of martyr-painting,
the drame horrible of the time, among the works of
the fourth century. The death of Hippolytus, if at
all resembling the poet's rapturous description,
must have been a disgusting performance :

Docta manus virides imitando effingere dumos,

Luserat et minio russeolam saniem.
Cernere erat ruptis compagibus ordine nuUo,

Membra per incertos sparsa jacere situs.*

In looking onward from the origin of Christian
sculpture, we can trace no subsequent rise of the

* In describiug the friends of Hippolytus gathering the re-
mains, Prudentius seems to be rather indulging his inveterate
habit of exaggerating, than describing faithfully the contents of
the picture : —

Implebantque sinus visceribus laceris,
Ille caput niveum complectitur, ac reverendam

Caniciem moUi confovet in gremio,
Hie humeros, truncasque, manus, et brachia, et ulnas,

Et genua, et crurum fragmina nuda legit.

Peristephanon, Hymn iv.

THE ORIGIN or CHRISTIAN ART.

323

art, as in the case of painting and architecture.
Like a tree planted in uncongenial soil, it became
permanently stunted and dwarfish : and the remark-
able branches afterwards put forth by it, were not
properly of its own growth, but grafts upon the
more fertile stock of sacred painting. Thus the
knowledge of anatomy and design necessary to the
production of Michael Angelo's Moses, was not accu-
mulated by a succession of sculptors, but developed
in the Roman and Florentine schools of painting.
The converse held good in the Pagan world ; in the
Aldobrandini marriage we find the colouring and
effect altogether subordinate to the drawing of the
figures : and the best ancient pictures display
rather a sculptor's idea of painting, than the work
of a separate school of that branch of art.

Sacred painting, in professing to preserve the
portraits of the first founders of Christianity,
proffers a strong claim upon our attention. The
representations of the Saviour, which became very
numerous in the fourth century, agree so remark-
ably with each other, that it has been supposed by
many that some authentic portrait must have been
preserved. To support this idea, numberless fables
have been invented : some writers having made St.
Luke a painter, that he might be believed to have
painted our Lord and His Mother : and by similar
authority, Nicodemus has become a sculptor. In
the fourteenth century, Nicephorus discovered that
the Virgin Mary had long hazel eyes, hands and
feet somewhat taper, and a nose slightly beyond the

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324 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

common size ; that she was of moderate stature, al-
though there had been persons Avho called her tall :
that she never smiled when addressing men, and
never betrayed in her countenance the emotions of
shame or anger. He professes to quote from Epi-
phanius, who lived nearly a thousand years earlier,
and who wrote a treatise against the Antidicoma-
rians. The author has expended some time in a
fruitless search for this passage in Epiphanius ; and
Cardinal Baronius had no better success, being
forced to quote the opinion of Epiphanius from the
writings of Nicephorus.*

Among the portraits of our Lord, pretended to
have been taken during His life time, the most
celebrated is that said to have been presented to
Abgarus. Eusebius, translating from a Syriac
manuscript found at Edessa, tells us that Abgarus
(or Agbarus), king of that city, having heard
of our Saviour's miracles, conceived an earnest
desire to see Him, and sent a messenger, requesting
Him to take up His abode at Edessa, as a shelter
from the mahgnity of the Jews. The kindness of
Abgarus was acknowledged by the divine wanderer,
who wrote a letter, commending the faith of
Abgarus, and explaining the nature of His own
mission, which forbad the proposed visit. The
entire story rests upon the authority of this manu-
script, there being no apostolic tradition on the
subject. Eusebius wrote this about 320.

But this narrative was too simple for later writers,

* Nicephori Hist. Eccles. ii. cap. 23.

THE OKIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 325

who pretended that Abgarus sent with the letter a
painter, to bring back a portrait of the Saviour ;
but this painter being too much dazzled by His
outward splendour to execute the commission,
Christ miraculously produced a likeness which was
sent to Abgarus. From the possession of this
portrait, Edessa was considered impregnable; a
promise to that effect, though not exactly con-
tained in the letter, being supplied, say the his-
torians, by the faith of the Edessenes. About the
year 450, Chosroe, king of Persia, having heard of
the boasted impregnability of the city, determined
to put it to the proof. Procopius, who wrote
about 560, informs us that Chosroe was at first
miraculously prevented from reaching the city.
His account is probably not far from the truth:
on the road which Chosroe took, was a small
village named Batne, distant one day's journey
from Edessa. Arriving there at night he took
up his quarters, and resumed his route next
morning : but after the day's march, was sur-
prised to find himself exactly where he had spent
the previous night. This fruitless travel was re-
peated the next day with no better result. A treaty
was then set on foot between the Edessenes and
their enemy, which ended by their paying two
hundred pounds of gold to induce him to retire.
Chosroe afterwards made a second attack upon
Edessa, but was repulsed with great loss : his troops
were defeated, and his machines burnt. Procopius
does not seem to be aware of the existence of the

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326

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

portrait, and attributes tlie burning of tlie machines
to the well-concerted stratagems of the Edessenes.

Evagrius, who lived about 600, as if dissatisfied
with the omission of the portrait, altered the story,
though still professing to quote from Procopius,
who was too formidable an authority to be lightly
contradicted. Chosroe, having besieged the city
with a powerful army, threw up an enormous
scaffolding of timber, and prepared to march his
troops directly over the walls. The Edessenes
now bethought themselves of the portrait, and
by the use of it imparted such miraculous quali-
ties to the water of their aqueduct, that when
sprinkled upon the hostile structure, it insured its
speedy combustion.

In the year 787, the portrait was again heard of;
at the second Nicene council, Leo, a " religiosis-
simus lector," (they were all honourable men at
that council, when they had anything idolatrous to
support,) declared that he had recently seen the
picture at Edessa, and that the inhabitants still
worshipped it. Nothing was now wanting, but a
more definite account of its origin : this was
furnished by Theodorus Studita, about 820 : " The
Saviour, having applied to His face apiece of cloth,
thereon expressed and painted the likeness of His
countenance. He afterwards sent it to Abgarus,
who had requested it. "

The picture next came to Rome. First, we hear
from Martin Polonus in 1250, that ''behind the
altar of St. Balbina in Asbeston, is kept the portrait
of the Saviour divinely executed. " In 1584, Onu-

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

327

phrius Panvinus tells us that it was in St. Lawrence's
church. And in 1685, Mabillon is taken to see it
in the Campus Martins : " On Saturday we saw in
the church of St. Silvester, the canvas painting of
Christ, which He sent to Abgarus. It was brought
here by some Greek monks. This history of the
portrait may be concluded by Aringhi's lamentation
over those who were incredulous enough to dis-
believe its miraculous powers. "Oh, that the mad
and impudent innovators, who live to despise the
sacred images, would learn that the power of the
Divinity represented, resides in them, and so draw
from them the medicine of health ! "f

All the fabulous histories of such portraits are
overturned by the testimony of Augustine, who
expressly declares that no authentic portraits of the
Holy Family, or of the Apostles, were in existence.
^' Who," he asks, "on reading or hearing what the
Apostle Paul has written, or what has been told
concerning him, does not picture to himself the
face of the Apostle, and of those whose names are
there mentioned ? Yet among so many who read,
each conceives differently of their form and features,
and it is quite uncertain whose idea is most like

* The Greek monks are not an uncommon resource in diffi-
culties of this sort ; they are about as satisfactory as the
" Greek calends."

t Eusebii lib. i. c. 14. Procopius, de bello Persico, lib. ii.
cap. 12. Evagrius, lib. iv. c. 26. Harduin's Councils, t. iv. 675.
Theodorus Studita, vita, c. 69. M. Polonus, de quatuor regnis,
p. 9. Panvinus, de pr^cipuis urbis Romce. Mabillon, Iter
Italicum. Aringhi, lib. v. cap. 4.

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328 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

the truth. * * * For even the fleshly countenance
of our Lord is varied by the diversity of innume-
rable opinions, and so painted : which, nevertheless,
was but one, Avhatever that may have been. * *
Nor do we know the face of the Virgin Mary.
Let us beware lest our faith lie in matters of fiction
(fides ne ficta) ; if we believe regarding our Lord
what is not true, faith is vain, and love not pure.
But whether or not His countenance was such as
occurs to us in thinking of Him, we are completely
ignorant."*

The Gnostics, it is well known, had portraits of
our Saviour, professing to be copies of the likeness
said to have been taken by command of Pontius
Pilate. For the Pagan honours which they paid to
these, they are reproached by Irenajus.

Epiphanius accuses the women of the Collyridian
sect, of ofi'ering bread to the Virgin Mary, and de-
claims vehemently against their idolatrous worship
of her : but he says nothing of any images pos-
sessed by them. " Let Mary be held in honour,"
he observes, sv rifXTj Mapia scrrw, " but let her not
be Avorshipped."f

Since no likenesses of our Lord were possessed by
the orthodox up to the fourth century, it becomes
a question of some difiiculty, whence they procured
the type which was almost universally received in
the fifth.

Perhaps the best answer to the question is to be
found in the fact, that the early Church preserved

* De Trinitate, lib. viii. cap. 4.
f Epiphanius adv. Haereses.

THE ORIGIN OF CHIUSTIAN ART.

329

traditional descriptions of the persons of our Saviour,
St. Peter, and St. Paul. The popular sentiment
regarding these being once embodied in painting,
nothing remained but to copy and perpetuate it;
and the first study may have served as a model to
the whole school of Christian art in Rome.

The painting, of which an engraving is here
given, is supposed to be the earliest professed
portrait of our Lord extant ; it was found in a
chapel in the cemetery of Callistus, and belongs to
about the end of the fourth century.

It has been said that the countenance usually
given to Christ is copied from that of the Jupiter
Tonans of the Vatican ^luseum : the two agree in
majesty and tranquil benevolence ; but beyond this,
a likeness can scarcely be traced. Nor do the
Gnostic gems furnish the original of this catacomb
picture, which must be regarded as a conventional
representation, invented in the fourth century.

330 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

About 330, Constantia, the sister of Constantine,
wrote to Eusebius, desiring him to procure her a
portrait of Christ. Eusebius was staggered by the
request, and evaded it by inquiring whether she
Avished a likeness of His human or of His divine
nature, neither being within the power of the
painter to represent. He has not thought fit to
preserve this letter, which is only known from the
use made of it at the second council of Nice, where
it was read by Gregory from the acts of a pre-
ceding council.* Augustine, while he denies the
existence of an authentic portrait, mentions pictures
of Christ and the Apostles on walls. The custom
of painting these personages together, gave rise to
some mistakes : the ignorant Africans began to
think that St. Paul had been one of Christ's ori-
ginal disciples. Others, who had composed works
of magic, and attributed them to Christ, went so
far as to assert that they were epistles from Him to
Peter and Paul. " I suppose," remarks Augustine,
" that this idea came into their heads from seeing
Peter and Paul painted together with Christ in
many places. * * ^ And justly do they deserve to
err, who seek Christ and His Apostles, not in the
holy volumes, but on painted walls. No wonder
that those deceivers should be in turn deceived by
the painters." f

The custom of painting the interior of churches

• Labbaeus, Concilia, t. vii.

f De Consensu Evangelistarum, lib. i. c. x.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

331

with sacred subjects made great progress in the
fourth century, when the Council of Elvira had the
boldness to condemn it. The prohibition, though
distinctly expressed, has not been understood by
Romanists in its obvious sense :

" Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse non debere, ne
quod colitur aut adoratur in parietibus depingatur."

AYe decree that there ought not to be pictures in
churches ; lest what is worshipped or adored be
painted on the walls." The Father Maimbourg at-
tributes this prohibition to the fear lest by dam^) or
Pagan violence any injury should be inflicted on
the sacred figures. Others confine the prohibition
to images of the Divine Persons, as they alone were
included in the definition, " what is worshipped or
adored." But the canon contains its own expla-
nation : it forbids the existence of any pictures
whatever in churches, lest objects of too sacred a
character should at last be painted on the walls.
The Spanish Fathers were therefore opposed to the
custom then beginning to prevail in Italy.

Christian painting, as we have seen in the repre-
sentations of Daniel, the Agape, and the fossor
Diogenes, made considerable progress in the chapels
of subterranean Rome. The best early descrip-
tion of church painting is given by Pauhnus. Sur-
rounded by a mass of illiterate and half-chris-
tianised peasants, who flocked together for the
festival of St. Felix, their bishop viewed with distress
their ignorance of Scripture history, and the carnal
nature of their devotions. Eating, drinking, and

332

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

midnight riot appeared to constitute their service ;
and to remedy this state of things, Paulinas caused
the inside of his church to be painted with Scrip-
ture subjects, which might both instruct the people,
and rival the attractions of the wine cup. " While
examining the pictures," he argued, "they may
forget the feast ; and painting may beguile hunger.
The gazer drinks in sobriety, wine is forgotten :
and as they look away the day, the cups grow fewer
in number, since less time remains for feasting."*
These sanguine expectations, there is reason to fear,
were not fulfilled.

If authentic portraits of our Lord are not to be
met with, much less can we expect to find any
likeness of the Virgin Mary ; for it is a fact noto-
rious to every one conversant with ecclesiastical
history, that she was scarcely noticed in Avritings,
paintings, or sculptures, till late in the fourth century.
Doubtless due honour was at all times paid to her
memory, and all ages witnessed the fulfilment of
her triumphant exclamation : " From henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed. " But in
primitive writings that have come down to us,
there are few notices of her besides that of Irenaeus,
who describes her as the advocate of Eve, bringiug
into the world One, who was to destroy that which
Eve had introduced, f

The silence of the heathen regarding the wor-
ship of the Virgin, is a strong argument against its

* Paulini Poem a xxiv.

"f Irenaeus adv. Hecreses, lib. iii. c. 33., and lib. v. c. 19.

THE ORIGIN OF CIIRISTI.VN ART.

333

existence in ancient times. Her name was well
known to them, and they readily adopted the ca-
lumnies invented by the Jews to blacken her cha-
racter. Yet, with all their abuse of the Christians
for worshipping Christ, a man, no accusation of
worship paid to His Mother is to be found. The
impossibility of such an omission on the part of the
Pagans, will be more evident when we have exa-
mined their minute descriptions of monasticism,
and of the adoration paid to martyr-relics.

In the earliest pictures, the Virgin appears
merely as an accessory to the Divine Infant, whom
she holds in her arms, or watches in His cradle.
She is almost always veiled ; and art was limited
in its flight, to the expression of as much grace
and modesty as could be concentrated in a figure
entirely covered. Yery few sculptures or paint-
ings of this description were executed before the
Council of Ephesus in -131, and perhaps not a
single one before the year 350.

The conventional type thus timidly developed,
aimed only at personifying the ^drtues that adorned
the character of the Yirgin Mary ; " that the face
should be the image of her mind, the model of
uprightness," as Ambrose expresses it.

In the Lapidarian Gallery (if it be not rash to
pronounce summarily upon the contents of so vast
a collection) the name of the Yirgin Mary does not
once occur. Xor is it to be found once in any truly
ancient inscription contained in the works of
Aringhi, Boldetti, or Bottari. Should any ex-

334

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

ception be discovered, it will not weaken the as-
tonishing contrast existing between the ancient and
mediasval churches in this particular. Comparing
the absolute non-existence of Mary-worship in the
primitive Church, with the inconceivable extent to
which it has since been carried, we cannot fail to
wonder, and to enquire anxiously what gave rise to
the change. To help, in some measure, to account
for it, though by no means to furnish a palliation
for the impiety, we must recollect the miserable
alteration that had then passed upon the spirit
of Christendom, and the virtual exclusion of
every thing gentle, amiable, and attractive from
the popular creed. Eival factions were employed
in levelling curses and excommunications against
one another : hell, invoked on all sides, seemed to
have risen to earth, and to have displaced the
heaven that had descended to bless mankind. The
social relations had been depreciated by the votaries
of asceticism, till all that was honourable and re-
spectable in daily life was branded with contempt :
the sacrament of love and communion was with-
drawn to an awe-inspiring distance, and half its
rites withheld from the ordinary worshipper. The
weaker sex, with the exception of that j)oi'tion
which obtained distinction by embracing celibacy,
suffered most. Woman was treated as a being of
inferior holiness, — unfit to touch with the hand
the sacramental emblem of the Saviour's body:
for the Council of Auxerre decreed that females
should receive the bread with the hand covered

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 335

with a linen cloth. A system so hard and repulsive
needed some softer element, some niche in its temple
assigned to the gentler virtues, already fast disap-
pearing from the face of society. In vain was the
remedy sought for in any branch of theology : that
science, monopolised by the schoolmen, and ren-
dered more and more abstruse by their labours, was
quite removed from the comprehension of the- vulgar.

A Bernard or a Gerson may at all times be found
able to pierce the veil, and to gaze upon the glories
hidden within : but there are the many to be
provided for ; the weary and heavy laden, who
dare not rejoice in the majesty of God, when pro-
claimed in the "gloria in excelsis" of the thunder,
till enabled to read in the aspect of a serener sky,
"et in terris pax." For these words, now grown
almost inaudible, was substituted the announcement
of a new Mediatrix: upon ears strained to catch
some re-assuring accents, her gospel, preached in
silver tones, fell with strange and sweet effect ; a
new religion was introduced, containing bound-
less promises without terrors, sentiments without
duties, and an object of adoration that would
injure none, while her power to aid was all but
infinite. In proportion as the feelings of mankind
had been outraged under the iron creed, did they
hail with enthusiasm this, which seemed all golden,
and fertile only in blessings. It was an unneces-
sary act of blasphemy on the part of the Constan-
tinopolitan Council to decree, " that whoever would
not avail himself of the intercession of the Yiro^in

336 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

Mary should be accursed ; " * and quite out of cha-
racter with the worship of one who was represented
as indulgent beyond all precedent. The homage
in which she was made to delight, was of a gentler
character : " May God Almighty forgive your sins,
for the merits of our Lady," was the absolution
given by Gregory YII. to Beatrice and Matilda, f
Nor has this error disappeared with the dark ages
which produced it, if indeed the dark ages can in
any sense be said to have passed away in Southern
Europe : for still, in spite of Scripture, and of the
unanimous consent of the ancient Church, does the
Virgin Mary usurp, or at least share, the place of
her Son, in the devotions both of priests and of
people.

The rudiments of Christian architecture are
derived from two distinct sources ; the ancient
Roman basilica, and the subterranean catacomb
chapel. That the first of these may have furnished
in some measure the elements of the second, is
possible ; though in time of persecution the Church
would feel little disposed to borrow the form of its
sacred enclosures from the structure of a heathen
court. The difficulty of deciding upon the question,
lies in our not possessing accurate dates of those
specimens of subterranean architecture that are

* A.D. 712. Harduin, iv, 430. The acts were read in tlie
second Nicene Council.

t Gregorii VII. Epistolae. Harduin, torn. vi. 1235.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

337

either extant, or known by means of paintings and
bas-reliefs.

Notwithstanding the assertions of Roman anti-
quarians concerning the high antiquity of the cata-
comb chapels, as proved by the martyrs' graves
contained in them, the argument will not bear ex-
amination ; for the bones of martyrs were in after-
times removed from their first resting-places, and
deposited in subterranean chapels. These new
sepulchres were covered by liorizontal tablets, and
correspond exactly with the martyr-graves described
by Prudentius. According to that author, the
body of St. Vincent was washed on shore, and im-
mediately interred on the spot : in time of peace it
was removed to a chapel, and buried beneath the
altar. It is therefore impossible, from the presence
of Vincent's grave, to ascertain the time at which
the chapel bearing his name was built.

The supposition that some relic was necessary
to the consecration of a church, arose in the fourth
century, and became so general, that, as we have
seen, a law was made to forbid the trade in sacred
remains. Augustine particularises the monks as
foremost in this traffic: "Some," he says, "retail
the limbs of martyrs, if martyrs they are."* Like
stock that had risen in value, the remains, so long
neglected, now conferred unexpected wealth, or at
least honour, on their possessors : the relics of a
slave were a present worthy of a king. The

* De Opere Monachorura, cap. 23.
Z

338

THE OKIGIN OF CHRISTIAN AllT.

Empress Constantina applied to Gregory I. for
some portion of St. Paul, even the head, if it could
be spared. This was asking too much: Gregory
neither dared to touch the relics, on account of the
dreadful accidents that had happened to persons
going too near them ; nor could he honestly advise
her to receive so dangerous a gift. Even the tomb
of St. Laurence had proved fatal to some workmen,
who had accidentally opened it during an excava-
tion : for although none touched the contents, all
who looked in, died within ten days.* But the
Empress, neither satisfied with the denial, nor
alarmed by the probable consequences of the
bishop's compliance with her request, pleads the
Greek custom of transporting relics. To this
Gregory replies by relating an incident which had
recently occurred in Rome : a party of Greek
monks, who had been caught in the act of opening
some ordinary graves near St. Paul's Basilica,
when questioned as to their motive, confessed that
they intended to carry the bones to Greece, and
there palm them off as sacred. " From which cir-
cumstance," argues Gregory, "I suspect that the
Greeks do not really transport sacred relics, "f

In the confusion thus created, it is impossible to
ascertain the original burial places of the martyrs,

* Some cases of this kind will be found in Chadwick's Sup-
plement to the Parliamentary Report upon Interment.

"I* Gregorii Maximi Epist. lib. iv. ep. xxx. The second
Council of Nice considered relics absolutely essential to the
sanctity of a church, and ordered that all churches unprovided
with them should be immediately supplied.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

339

excepting of a few that were never removed, but
had churches raised over their graves at the earliest
moment practicable.

It is impossible to trace to any one source the
origin of Christian architecture ; for while the la-
teral chapels of a cathedral, its confessions^ crypts,
and altar, are derived from the catacombs, the
windows, aisles, nave and transept are indispu-
tably taken from the ancient court of justice. A
short account of the two structures will vindicate
the claims of each.

The first chapels excavated in the catacombs
were of the simplest form — a mere enlargement of
the passage into an oblong or square chamber,

340

THE OIIIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

vaulted above, and lined with graves on every side.
One is here seen in section, having also tombs
sunk in the floor. (Roman Antiquarians.)

The narrow passage is seen opposite the spec-
tator. A more elevated vault was afterwards pre-
ferred, and a light-hole practised in time of security.
Although the ceiling thus produced seems to furnish
the original idea of a dome and lantern, we must

remember that the Pantheon had been previously
constructed, exhibiting the form in question fully
developed. Michael Angelo is said to have bor-
rowed the idea of St. Peter's from the Parthenon
and the Pantheon ; to have, in the hopelessness of
producing a new element of architectural grandeur,
determined to place the one upon the other, and
combine the beauties of both.

The bishops of Rome were not unmindful of
their early sanctuary, when released from the ne-
cessity of seeking refuge in it. Their subterranean
decorations have been noticed by Anastasius ; and
some are mentioned in the poems of Prudentius.
Celestinus, who lived in 421, embellished his own
cemetery with paintings ; Fabian, sitting in 251,
constructed many fresh works in the cemeteries;
the tomb of Hippolytus had been adorned with

THE OKIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

341

Parian marble and precious metals before the year
400. Our next specimen of the Catacomb chapel
is therefore considerably in advance of the last ;
the roof being more vaulted and ornamented, the
walls painted, and the monumentum arcuatum^ an
important feature in church architecture, freely in-
troduced. (Aringhi).

Tins arched monument," as it is technically
termed, consists of a vaulted niche, containing a
flat tomb projecting from the back wall; in some
instances its roof is covered with painting. In
subterranean chapels, it is not uncommon to find
a tomb occupying part of the space originally co-
vered by a fresco, in such a manner as to show
that the grave is of later date than the picture.
Occasionally these graves are accompanied by the
cup, supposed by the ultramontanes to commemo-
rate a martyr's deatli ; and these cases have been

z 3

342

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

adduced as proofs of the existence of church
painting previous to the time of Constantine.
But the doubtfuhiess of the symbols of martyrdom,
and the frequency of secondary interment, destroy
the value of the proof.

The projecting table formed by the lower part of
the arched monument, and the horizontal grave
exposed by the section on the right of the above
sketch, offer facilities for the celebration of martyr-
feasts, which remove any difficulty occasioned by
the perpendicular slabs of earlier times. We are
now able to understand that passage of Prudentius
which describes the Eucharist of the martyr-chapel :

"Ilia sacraraenti donatrix mensa, eademque
Gustos fida sui martyris apposita :
Servat ad geterni spem Judicis ossa sepulcliro,
Pascit item Sanctis Tibricolas dapibus." *

" 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 Ti-
bricolae with sacred meat. Great is the sanctity of the place,
and near at hand the altar for those who pray."

The rudiments of this custom, though perhaps
amounting to nothing more than prayer and thanks-
giving at the grave, are to be found in the second
century. In 167 wrote the church of Smyrna : "We
buried the body of Polycarp in a suitable place, and
there, when we are able, we shall meet with joy and
exultation : and may the Lord grant us to celebrate
the birthday of His martyr, both in memory of those

* Hymn for Hippolytus' day.

THE ORIGIN OF CIirJSTIAN AllT. 343

who have already fought, and for the exercise and
preparation of those who have yet to fight."*

If we can suppose a cliapel, like that represented
above, to have been brought to its actual state of
decoration under the immediate successors of
Constantine, it must be granted that the horizontal
martyr-graves may have served as a scene of mu-
tual exhortation in the persecutions under Julian
and the Arian Emperors ; that the faithful may
have been strengthened in their arduous struggle
by the sacramental elements, actually partaken of
upon the grave-stone. But as a matter of history,
this later recourse to the martyr-chapels is very
different from the same expedient resorted to by
the primitive confessors, objects of the Decian and
Aurelian proscriptions.

The vaulted monument of the last chapel, though
a great refinement upon the simple niche, was but
the embryo of the fully developed confession of the
next age. In the cancellarium here engraved, may
be traced the elements of the modern chancel,
balustrade, and communion table of our o^vn
churches : or the semicircular round-headed tri-
bune f , the barred gates of the crypt, and the altar,
of modern Italy. A sarcophagus containing bones

* Eusebii Hist. Eccles., lib. iv. cap. 14.

\ The baldacchino is not here specified, on the supposition
that it is only a substitute for the tribune, in situations where
the high altar is removed from its natural place. The confession
is so called from being the burial place of the confessor^ or
martyr.

z 4

344

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

is seen at the back of the vault, separated from the
open space in front by a cancellated slab of marble,

now broken. A cup is placed upon the pedestal on
the right. (Aringhi, Boldetti, &c.)

Having traced the development of the cata-
comb system of church building, we must go back
a few centuries to the origin of the basilica, with-
out which we cannot account for more than half
the present system of ecclesiastical architecture. A
short time before the introduction of Christianity,
the Imperial palaces of Rome had been provided
with courts for the administration of justice. These
basilicas, as they were termed, increased to the
number of eighteen, and were afterwards devoted
to general business. Their interior displayed a

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

345

central avenue, flanked by two lateral aisles, and
terminated by a transept. The male and female
candidates for justice filled the aisles, the separa-
tion of the sexes being preserved by the central
nave.* There was also a semicircular swelling of
the transept opposite to the nave, occupied by the
judge and his officers : to this recess was given the
name of Absis, in Greek, and Tribuna in Latin;
the last derived from the ancient office of Tribune,
and furnishing the original of the modern appella-
tion, Tribunal.

The transept of the imperial Basilica was raised
a few steps higher than the nave ; and the seats for
magistrates, sometimes disposed in a semicircular
form, were rather above both. It requires no
great stretch of imagination to trace in this arrange-
ment the outline of a Christian church ; the building,
originally intended for the protection of right, and
the enforcement of justice, was naturally applied to
the preaching of eternal truth and righteousness ;
and its name. Basilica, a kingly hall, was well
suited to the temple of the King of kings. " The
bishop," observes Hope, might And in the raised
absis his fit seat, called upon, as he was, to oversee
his flock, and the clergy who were ranged on either
side." But what seemed most of all to warrant the
appropriation of the building, was the discovery,
made at the time, that the transept and nave of the
heathen edifice formed a cross, and had through

* See on this subject articles in Bunsen's Rome, and Hope's
Essays on Architecture.

346

TUi: OPvIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

past ages uttered a inute prophecy of the future
triumph of the Crucified. It is said that many of
the Pagans were profoundly impressed by this co-
incidence, and disposed thereby to receive Chris-
tianity. Nor is the fact less probable than that
which is related of the Alexandrians, that on the
destruction of the Serapion, and revelation of its
mysteries, many changed their religion in conse-
quence of finding the cross among the Egyptian
symbols : such trifles have weight with supersti-
tious minds.

The building, once devoted to the purposes of
Christian worship, left little scope for the talents of
its new possessors in the way of alteration. To
transfer to the absis the hallowed associations of
the monumentum arcuatum ; to partition off part
of the nave for a choir; to roof over the central
aisle for the convenience of worshippers, and to
erect pulpits in places whence the voice could reach
every part of the audience, — taxed but lightly the
feeble invention of the fourth century. The entire
edifice, somewhat resembling a magnificent barn,
bore no manner of similitude to the Pagan temple :
bare walls without, in place of columns ; a flat
wooden roof and regular windows, in the room of
an unbroken enclosure favourable to the artifices
of divination : these peculiarities must have obvi-
ated every objection to the secular origin of the
building that the most uncompromising enemies of
idolatry could suggest.

We may safely take as a specimen of church

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

317

architecture belonging to the times of the cata-
combs, the basilica sculptured on a sarcophagus,
actually discovered in them, and now deposited
in the Vatican library.

The date of this curious Avork is decided by its
details. The beardless countenance of our Saviour
denotes a time previous to the general adoption of
the more aged type ; and the basilica, seen in the
back-ground, indicates an epoch somewhat later
than that of Constantine. The symbolic introduc-

tion of the cock, on an Ionic pillar placed between
the figures, belongs to the hieroglyphic school of
design then prevalent : while the gesture of St.
Peter, exactly resembling that of a modern Italian
peasant, displays an imitation of nature superior to
the general state of art at the time.

But what gives to this composition its great an-
tiquarian value, is the representation of a Christian
basiHca in a complete form. On the left is seen a
detached baptistery surmounted by the monogram :
the central building seems to be a repetition of that

348

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

on the right, so placed as to show, in defiance of
perspective, the terminating absis. The entrance
door beyond the figure of St. Peter is furnished
with vails, a custom of which traces are still pre-
served in Italy. According to the Council of Nar-
bonne, it was the duty of the inferior clergy to
raise these vails for the bishops or presbyters when
passing in and out. Paulinus notices the white
vails of the doors of his church ; and Epiphanius
mentions finding a sacred figure drawn upon one
at a church door. In the present day, these vails
are replaced by hanging mats lined with leather,
which materially assist in preserving the equable
temperature of Italian churches.*

The basilica here appears in the form of a large
barn, with sloping roof, gable ends, and blank walls.
All the magnificence employed was to be found
within : minute tesselation of the pavement, and
incrustation of the walls with marbles, were not
thought inconsistent Avith the most homely exterior.
By detaching the baptistery from the principal
edifice, it was signified that it was necessary to pass
through the initiatory rite, before obtaining en-
trance to the church. The cluster of secondary
buildings that gradually encircled the house of
prayer, with the bells and bell-tower afterwards
added, belong to times later than those described in
this volume.

* According to Augustine, vails were used at the entrances
of Pagan schools, serving, as he expresses it, to conceal the
ignorance that took refuge within.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

349

A plan of the ancient basilica* is subjoined: it
illustrates well the state of church discipline in the
latter part of the fourth century.

At the upper end is seen the rounded absis, con-
taining the vestries, altar, and seats for the clergy :

separated from this, by a railing, is the body of the
church, intended for the believers, that is, the com-
municants. Between the outer wall and the prin-
cipal row of columns dividing the aisles from the
nave, may be seen a second series of small pillars,
supporting the women's gallery on either side ; in

* From Bingham's Antiquities.

350

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

the centre is the pulpit. But besides the faithful,
placed above or below according to their sex, there
were four other orders of worshippers, to each of
which an appropriate situation was assigned. At
the entrance of the square court seen below, the
eye was met by a fountain, in the midst of an o]3en
space, surrounded by a colonnade raised on pillars.
In this court, exposed to the sun and rain, were
collected the hyemantes^ the lowest order of peni-
tents, who found in the hardships of a mntry sky, a
mild execution of the sentence pronounced on their
aggravated crimes. Beneath the portico running
round the court were the flentes^ a less degraded
class of penitents, who with tears besought an
entrance into the sacred building. Yet farther
inwards, in the first of two compartments before
the nave, were the audientes^ or hearers, comprising
catechumens and other unbaptized persons : in the
second were ranged the prostratores^ the third rank
of penance-doing offenders.*

Up to the middle of the fifth century, the of-
fenders sentenced to public penance were those
who had been guilty of public sins. Private con-

* The crimes for which the severer kinds of penance were
inflicted, would in our country be visited with death, or expa-
triation for life. The exclusion of such offenders was a public
vindication of the morals of the Church, especially in the eyes
of the Pagans. " With such an one, no, not to eat," was the
apostolic precept, then esteemed literally binding. The nature
of primitive excommunication is best exemplified by the case
occurring at Corinth : (1 & 2 Cor.) the offender s sentence was,
in consideration of his deep sorrow, remitted after the expiration
of a year.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 351

fession and private penance can in no way be con-
nected with the church of the catacombs, for private
penance was not permitted until the time of Leo the
Great, the first bishop of Rome not buried in the
catacombs. What was then only permitted, was in
course of time made compulsory, and by a canon
of Innocent III. in 1215, whoever omitted to confess
annually was excommunicated, and denied Christian
burial.

At one time we find the single pulpit replaced
by two, the higher of which was kept for the read-
ing of the Gospel, and the other for the Epistle.
Lights were generally burned in the Eastern
churches during the reading of the Gospel, being
probably lighted during the exclamation, " Glory
be to thee, 0 God. " The custom of standing while
the Gospel is read, is the only other part of the cere-
mony remaining with us. The galleries for women,
represented by Bingham, did not always exist ; in
that case, the sexes Avere arranged on opposite sides
of the building, and even entered by separate doors.
The nave, taken as a whole, was also divided into
two principal parts : the Narthex or pronaos, next
to the entrance porch ; and the aula, or place of the
faithful, beyond. These arrangements claim no
higher antiquity than the middle of the fourth cen-
tury.

The origin of Christian poetry, at least of that
portion which has come down to our own times, is
easily traced. The Christians examined by Pliny

352

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

about the year 110, confessed to the practice of
singing hymns : and Tertullian mentions it as part
of the Agape service. A few apocryphal poems
have been attributed to Cyprian and Tertullian ;
and Gregory of Nazianzen has left some genuine
didactic verses in Greek ; but nothing deserving
the name of Christian poetry is to be found earlier
than the end of the fourth century. To Pruden-
tius, although placed ninth on the list by Bellar-
mine, fairly belongs the honour of introducing
poetry into the literature of our religion : and
if we cannot always approve his selection of sub-
jects, we must confess that he has at times struck
into the noblest paths of his art. Whatever may
be thought of his genius, his enthusiasm must
stand unimpeached. Among the best specimens of
his manner is the address to the Innocents, occur-
ring in the Cathemerinon : (Hymn XII.)

" Salvete flores martyrum,
Quos lucis ipso in limine
Christi insecutor sustulit,
Ceu turbo nascentes rosas.
Vos prima Christi victima,
Grex immolatorum tener,
Aram ante ipsam simplices
Palma et coronis luditis."

First fruits of martyrs, hail !
"Whom in the dawning of life's day
The godless tyrant swept away,
As storms the budding roses.
But now before the altar high
Each tender victim safe reposes.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 353

Pleased, in that dread vicinity,
With branch of palm and crown to play ;
Though all unconscious of the prize.
Themselves, Christ's earliest sacrifice.

The first line may have furnished the idea of
Heber's Hymn for the Innocents' Day :

" Firstlings of faith ! the murderer's knife
Hath missed its deadliest aim, " &c.

As might have been anticipated, the full capa-
bilities of Christian poetry did not at once occur to
its first cultivators. They did indeed select a
number of subjects from among those which ofiered
themselves, and by high colouring and exaggeration
endeavour to convert them into poetical themes :
but even with the Psalms and Prophets before
them, they failed to discover that the most prac-
tical parts of religion were admirably fitted for
their purpose. The whole range of ancient Chris-
tian poetry ofi'ers nothing resembling in method the
portion of the book of Job beginning with, "Where
shall wisdom be found?" nor indeed have later
waiters succeeded in imitating the simple and
sublime style of that, perhaps the most finished
and complete of inspired poems. But Christian
poetry w^as called into existence at a time wlien
the human intellect was preparing for the long
slumber of the middle ages ; when literature was
almost extinct, and the very language of the empire
debased; and, what was of greater consequence,
when the subjects most forcibly brought before re-
ligious minds were the praises of martyrdom, and the

A A

354 THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

miraculous powers of relics and saints. In con-
nection with the former of these, there is a passage
by Prudentius by no means unworthy of a sacred
poet. After describing the Proconsular records of
the execution of Eomanus, he takes occasion to com-
pare with them the eternal records kept by Christ,
commemorative of His servants' sufferings : in these
lines he has anticipated the "recording angel" of
Sterne :

"Illas sed getas conficit diutina,
Uligo fuscat, pulvis obducit situ,
Carpit senectus, aut ruinis obruit ;
Inscripta Christo pagina immortalis est,
Nec obsolescit uUus in coelis apex.
Excepit adstans angelus coram Deo,
Et quad locutus Martyr, et quae pertulit :
Nec verba soliim disserentis condidit,
Sed ipsa pingens vulnera expressit stilo,
Laterum, genarum, pectorisque, et faucium.
Omnis notata est sanguinis dimensio,
Ut quamque plagam sulcus exaraverit,
Altam, patentem, proximam, longam, brevem,
Quag vis doloris, quive segmenti modus :
Guttam cruoris ille nullam perdidit."

But these the dust and damp consume,
And Time, in his destroying race,
Shall breathe upon the tragic scroll,
And every mouldering line efface.
There is a record traced on high,
That shall endure eternally ;
On whose everlasting page.
Nought grows obsolete by age.
The Angel standing by God's Throne
Treasures there each word and groan ;
And not the Martyr's speech alone.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

355

But every wound is there depicted,
With every circumstance of pain,
The crimson stream, the gash inflicted.
And not a drop is shed in vain.

Some of his verses describing the tortures of the
martyrs, must be left to the examination of the
Latin reader.

" Barbarus tortor latus omne carpsit.
Sanguis impensus, lacerata membra.
Pectus abscissa patuit papilla
Corde sub ipso.
*****

Cruda te longiim tenuit cicatrix,
Et diu venis dolor haesit ardens ;
Dum putrescentes tenuit medullas
Tabidus humor.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Vidimus partem jecoris revulsam,
Ungulis longe jacuisse pressis;
Mors liabet pallens aliquid tuorum

Te quoque viva."

Having had in this volume many opportunities
of observing the style of Prudentius, we may pass
on to Paulinus, bishop of Nola, almost his contem-
porary. A strange mixture of subjects is found in
his poems : at one time he is occupied in describing
some trifling decoration of his church ; at another,
glowing with gratitude for the mercies of redemp-
tion. Nothing can rise higher than these lines: —

" Ligno mea Vita pependit,
Ut staret mea vita Deo. Quid, Vita, rependam,
Pro vita tibi, Christe, mea ? nisi forte salutis
Accipiam calicem quo te mea dextra joropinat,
Ut sacro mortis preciosae proluar haustu.
Sed quid agam ? neque si proprium dem corpus in ignem,

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356

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

Vilescamque mihi, nec sanguine debita fuso
Justa tibi solvam, quia me reddam tibi pro me,
Et quicquid simili vice fecero, semper ero impar,
Christe, tibi."

My Life was slain, that I might live.
My Life did hang upon the tree :
Teach me what recompence to give
For life bestowed, my Life, by thee.
With joy salvation's cup I take, &c.

Similar thoughts occur in prose, in a letter to
Severus : " What shall I render to Him for my
sorrows borne by Him ? What for the blessings
conferred by Him upon me? What for my flesh
taken upon Himself ? What for His bufFetings,
scoffs, and scourging? What for His cross, death,
and burial ? Let us then pay love for debt, devo-
tion for price, thanks for money." Possibly Herbert
has imitated these passages in his poems entitled
the " Thanksgiving," and the Reprisal."

Wherever we find a Christian poet deserving of
the name, these ideas appear in some form or other.
So the monkish poet of the fifteenth century,
Jacopone da Todi : " Christ deserved not death, but
determined to die, that by death he might remove
death. He set Tree against Tree, and paid what he
owed not, to deliver the debtors. In Adam fell
that life which the Second restored, that life might
vanquish death. The elm bears no clusters ; why
then must Life seek to hang upon the elm the
bunches of the vine ? ' Thy fruit is none of my
bearing : when laid upon me I rejected it not, that
my pangs should end thy sin. For this mortal

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 357

received from thee, I return thee an immortal, that
death may blossom into life.' "*

To estimate justly the poems of Paulinus, we
must not confine ourselves to the best parts, but
examine some of the feebler portions. One of these,
commemorating a miracle attributed to St. Felix,
is as prosaic as any thing in metre can possibly be.
The story is this : a poor man, who had put him-
self under the protection of St. Felix, is robbed of
two favourite bullocks, which constituted all his
wealth, and which he treated like children. He
prays vigorously to the saint, through whose care-
lessness the misfortune has occurred : blames his

* In the edition of 1497. Venice.

Christus mortem non meruit,

Etsi mori disposuit

Ut morte mortem tolleret.

Ligno lignum opposuit,
Et solvit quae non meruit,
Ut debitores liberet.

In Adam vita corruit,
Quam Secundus restituit,
Ut vita mortem superet.

Ulmus uvam non peperit,
Quid tamen vita deperit
Quod ulmus uvam sustinet ?

Fructum tuum non genui,
Et oblatum non respui,
Ut pcena culpam terminet.

A te mortalem habui,

Immortalem restitui,

Ut mors in vitam germinet,

A A 3

358

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

Avant of foresight in leaving no trace of their foot-
steps, or clue to the place of their concealment:
and demands them as of a responsible guardian,
from whom he is determined to accept no shuffling
excuse. He even declines the trouble of searching
for his cattle, as a step unworthy of himself and his
patron ; they must be restored to him on the very
spot. The saint still forbears to interfere, and is
reproached as a party to the theft ; he certainly
knows where they are, and yet refuses to produce
them.

" Te teneo ; tu scis ubi sunt, qui lumine Christi
Cuncta et aperta vides, longeque absentia cernis :
Non tibi celantur."

Still no answer; the suppliant, maddened by
despair, threatens to die on the spot, to lay down
his life on the threshold of the church, and deprive
the saint of the opportunity of restoring the bullocks
at all.

" Ni properes, isto deponam in limine vitam,
Nee jam comperies cui reddas sero juvencos."

In the night a knocking is heard at the poor
man's door : he rises in alarm ; but the horns of
the beloved animals appearing in the doorway, dis-
pel at once his terror and his grief.

We must not regard this poem as the natural
offspring of the muse of Paulinus, but rather as a
result of the system of superstition then beginning
to invade Christendom. When left to his own
better feelings, Paulinus would meditate upon the
paintings in his church, and draw his inspiration

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART. 359

from the subjects of the sacred narrative : as he
lingered in the twilight before the fading scenes,
such thoughts as these passed through his mind :

Sim profugus mundi, tanquam benedictus lacob
Fratris Edom fugitivus erat, fessoque sacrandum
Supponam capiti lapidem^ Christoque quiescam.
Sit mihi castus amor, sit et horror amoris iniqui,
Carnis et illecebras velut inviolatus Joseph
EfFugiam, vinclis exuto corpore, liber
Criminis, et spolium mundi carnale relinquam.
Tempus enim longe fieri complexibus : instat
Summa dies : prope jam Dominus ; jam surgere somno
Tempus, et ad Domini pulsum vigilare paratos.

Like blest Jacob may I live,
From the world a fugitive :
Find a Rock beside my bed,
Where may rest my weary head :
Grant me to repose on Thee,
Christ, to all eternity.

May I live like Joseph pure ;
May no snares my heart allure :
But immaculate as he,
Let me from temptation flee ;
Linger not to count the cost.
Though my all on earth be lost.

Let me each short hour redeem
From death's slumber ; lest my dream
End but with salvation's day.
All too late to watch and pray.
Lest the Lord, a friend no more.
Knock in judgment at the door.

This passage is among the earliest Christian
poetry that may strictly be called devotional. The

A A 4

360

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN ART.

reflection on Isaac's sacrifice contains an idea
often since repeated :

" Hostia viva Deo tanquam puer ofFerar Isaac,
Et mea ligna gerens, sequar almum sub cruce patrem."

May I, like the youthful Isaac, be offered to God a living sa-
crifice, and bearing my own wood, follow my Holy Father,
beneath the cross.

361

CONCLUSION.

*'-They sought out many inventions." Eccles. vii. 29.

That a general change had passed upon the exte-
rior of the Roman Church during its occupation of
the Catacombs, is evident from the descriptions
left by contemporary Christian writers. If further
proof be wanting, it is easily obtained by com-
paring with each other the calumnies of Pagans
at different epochs, in which we have not only a
forcible, though rudely executed, picture of primi-
tive Christianity, but also an argument against the
antiquity of many customs and observances, con-
cerning which an entire silence was maintained by
them.

The earliest accusations brought against the
Christians were levelled principally at their obsti-
nate adherence to their religion, and refusal to
sacrifice to idols. Pliny described them as meet-
ing together to worship Christ, to sing hymns, and
to partake of a social meal : their morals were re-
presented as pure, their opinions as simply opposed
to the religion of the state. The same objections
were urged afresh from time to time, with such ad-
ditions as the malice of the heathen could invent,
principally in relation to the supposed immorality
of the Agape.

362

CONCLUSION.

If we follow in chronological order the accusa-
tions brought against them from that time down-
wards, we shall find little or no variation till the
middle of the fourth century ; after which the cha-
racter of the Pagan taunts suddenly changes, and
a torrent of ridicule, different from all that had
been formerly let loose upon Christianity, assails
the votaries of monachism and saint-worship. At
first. Christians are accused of Christianity, that is,
of worshipping Christ. Beginning with Celsus,
about A. D. 150, we find this reproach: "After
an infamous life, and a most wretched death, you
have made a god of him : how much worthier of
that honour ought you to consider Jonah under
his gourd, or Daniel coming unharmed out of the
den of lions, and others still more wonderful ? "
Twenty years later, Lucian, in his ironical way,
describes the Christians as " worshipping that great
man who was crucified in Palestine, and who brought
to life the new religion."*

At that time, to worship a martyr was considered
equivalent to deserting Christ. This feeling dis-
played itself both in Jews and Christians, immedi-
ately after the death of Polycarp, in the year 168.
The believers of Smyrna must do justice to their
Christianity in their own words :

" It was suggested to Nicetas, the father of Herod and brother
of Dalce, that he should order the proconsul not to give up the
body of Polycarp, ' lest,' said they, ' leaving the Crucified, they

* Lucian, De Morte Peregrini.

CONCLUSION. 363

begin to worship him' And this was said at the instigation of
the Jews, who also watched us, lest we should snatch him from
the fire : ignorant as they were, that Ave can never leave Christ,
who suffered for the salvation of all who are saved in the world,
nor can we worship any one besides Him. For Him, indeed, we
worship as the Son of God, but the martyrs we duly love as
disciples and imitators of the Lord, on account of their invincible
love and attachment to their King and Master." *

About 207, was written the dialogue entitled
Octavius, in which the Christian Minucius embodies
the complaints made by the Pagans, with sufficient
minuteness to show in what lay the real ground of
controversy. The heathen interlocutor thus de-
scribes them : " A darkling and light-avoiding race,
dumb in public, garrulous in corners, they despise
temples and tombs, revile the gods, and ridicule
sacred rites ; the wretches actually pity the honours
of our priests, and, half-naked themselves, scorn
the purple. 0 wonderful folly and incredible pre-
sumption ! they contemn present torments, while
they dread those that are future and uncertain :
and while they fear to die after death, are not
afraid of dying immediately. * * * They reverence
what they deserve" (meaning the cross). "The
Jews," he continues, "were an impracticable people
enough ; yet even they had temples and sacrifices :
but these, why have they no altars, temples, and
images known to us ? why must they always talk
in secret, and never come together openly ? what
object can they have in all this, unless their worship

* Eusebii lib. iv. c. 15.

364

CONCLUSION.

and intercourse is something to be ashamed of, or
to be punished ?"

The chief stumbling-block to the Pagans still
continued to be the Divinity of Christ, and the
worship offered to Him. One of their taunts on
this subject has been preserved by Arnobius,
writing about 290: " You worship a man, born,
and crucified in a manner proper to vile persons :
you contend that he is God, believe him yet living,
and address him with daily prayers." *

Not only can we, from these sarcasms cast upon
the Christians for their adoration of the Saviour,
prove the non-existence of martyr- worship in the
days of heathen rule ; but, from the after-contro-
versy between the contending parties, we are
enabled to date with accuracy the introduction of
the new worship of saints and relics. About the
close of the third century we find the argument
still in the position in which it was left by Isaiah,
and in which it afterwards appears in the Anglican
homilies. The heathen, provoked by the ridicule
cast upon their practice, had recourse to the evasion,
then for the first time introduced into the world,
that they worshipped not the image, but the divinity
represented by it. To this the Christians answered
with contempt. Arnobius charged them with not
thoroughly believing in their gods, since they re-
quired a visible image to help out their faith in the
unseen. " If you do not believe, or, to speak more

* Arnobius contra Gentes, lib. i.

CONCLUSION.

365

cautiously, if you doubt, that the gods exist, why
should you feign and set up the images of things
uncertain, and by an empty imitation represent
what you do not believe in ? Perhaps you will
say that a certain presence is manifested under
these images of the gods, and since it is not granted
you to behold the gods, you are permitted thus to
worship them, and to offer them service. Whoever
says this does not believe in the existence of the
gods : he is convicted of unbelief in his own creed,
since he must see in order to hold, lest perhaps
what is unseen may be unreal. Through the
images, you say, we worship the gods : but if there
were no images, would the gods be ignorant of your
worship, and suppose that no honour was paid to
them?"*

So thoroughly was this ground of controversy
beaten by the ancients, that scarcely anything
original was left for the Reformed churches to
advance. Lactantius, writing about 300, follows
up the argument. "We do not fear the images,"
the heathen had said, " but those whose likeness and
names they bear." "If so," returns Lactantius,
" why do you not raise your eyes to heaven, and,
calling upon the names of the gods, offer sacrifices
in open space ? Why look rather to walls and
wood and stone, than to that place in which you
believe them to dwell ? AVhat is the meaning of
tem.ples, and of altars ; what especially of images,

* Arnobius adv. Pagaiios, lib. vi.

366

CONCLUSION.

which are either monuments of the dead or of the
absent living

An incident occurring in domestic life, towards
the close of the third century, shows the character
which Christianity bore among its enemies. Acertain
woman had turned Christian : her husband, anxious
to reclaim her, applied to Apollo for assistance.
The oracle returned answer in Greek verse, and
Porphyry preserved the response in his work against
the Christians. The story has come down to us
by a mere chance ; Porphyry's work being lost, we
are dependent upon Augustine's translation of the
passage. The oracle dissuaded the husband from
further attempts : " You may as well write upon
water, or make yourself wings and fly. Let her
go on as she thinks proper, let her persist in her
vain fallacies ; in empty lamentations singing her
dead God, whom right-minded judges condemned,
and who perished by the sword and the worst of
deaths, "f The heathen priest thinks proper to
notice the Church's miserere: but of her Easter
hymn of triumph, the less said the better. Festus
was more candid : " One Jesus, which was dead,
whom Paul affirmed to be alive."

Another allusion to the object of Christian
worship is found in a fragment of Porphyry's
work preserved by Theodoret. The heathen had
begun to find the power of the gods not what it
had been. " They wonder," says Porphyry, " that

* Lib. ii. (De Origine Erroris) cap. 2.
I De Civitate Dei, lib. xix. cap. 23.

CONCLUSION.

367

during so many years the city has been afflicted
with sickness, and that neither JEsculapius nor any
other of the gods does any longer visit it. For since
Jesus began to be worshipped, no one has received
any public benefit from the gods." *

Up to the year 350, there is no mention of wor-
shipping any person besides Christ.

The worship of saints was first attacked about
362, by the ei:gperor Julian: ''Instead of many
gods, " he complained, " the Christians worship,
not one man, but many wretched men. " Nor does
he omit to distinguish between the ancient and
novel parts of their system : "At what you have
done, adding new dead to your first Dead One,
who can express sufficient disgust? You have
filled all places with sepulchres and monuments,
though it was never told you that you should go
about them and worship them. * * * If Jesus
declared that sepulchres were full of uncleanness,
why do you invoke God upon them. " f

Julianas severest reproof was called forth on the
occasion of a persecution which had been set on
foot contrary to his orders. The Christians, he
remarks, had suffered against his will, though not
without justice, " for such misfortunes do they bring
upon themselves, who, from the immortal gods,
betake themselves to dead men and their remains. "J

* Theodoret, sermo xii. sub fine.

f Cyril, adv. Julianum, lib. vi. et x.

t Juliani Epistolse, ep. 52. ed. Spanheim.

368

CONCLUSION.

A few years later Libanius describes them as persons
"hostile to the gods, worshippers of tombs."*

Notices of monks and martyr -worship now fol-
low each other rapidly. About the year 380 the
reproach is taken up by Eunapius the Sardian,
biographer of the sophists and philosophers. In
describing the demolition of the Serapion at Alex-
andria, and the introduction of the new worship at
Canopus, he tells us that " they introduced into the
sacred precincts the so-called Monks, men certainly
in appearance, but in habits swine: who openly
committed enormous and unspeakable crimes ; part
of whose religion it was to scout all reverence for
the sacred place. At that time any one who wore
a black dress, or had no objection to being seen
publicly in a dirty coat, was invested with absolute
authority : to such estimation had risen that class
of men, of whom all books of history have made
mention. The Monks were also established at Ca-
nopus, that they might worship with divine honours
certain slaves and scandalous characters, in the
place of those gods who are discerned by the under-
standing. They also compelled men to a form of
observances and ceremonies ; for they exhibited as
sacred the heads, salted and preserved, of those who
had been put to death by the judges for the multi-
tude of their crimes. To those they bowed the
knee, and received them among their gods ; be-
smearing themselves with dust and filth before their

* Libanii Oratio xxv.

CONCLUSION. 369

sepulchres. Some of these were styled Martyrs,
some Deacons, and others legates and arbiters of
prayers and petitions with the gods ; while in fact
they had been faithless in slavery, and miserably
corrected by scourging ; bearing on their bodies
the scars of punishment, and the traces of their
crimes. Such gods does earth produce."*

It would not be difficult to verify much of this
account from the writino^s of the Fathers. Auo^us-
tine's description of the monks is little better :
^' Some make wide their fringes and phylacteries,
while others pretend falsely that they have received
news of parents or relations living in such or such
a country, and are travelling thither. And all beg,
all demand, either the means of supporting their
lucrative pauperism, or the reward of their feigned
sanctity." f

The supposed merit of dirt, a discovery not made
till about 380, was instantly fixed upon by the
Pagans as a fair mark for satire ; and if the
monastic world did scrupulously carry out the
directions of Jerome, we must acquit Eunapius of
injustice in his description. In Jerome's advice to
Rusticus the monk, we find the maxim, " Dirty
clothes bespeak a clean mind : a shabby cloak
shows a contempt of the world." He also inquires
concerning the teaching of Carneades, who was be-
coming too popular with the ladies of his neigh-
bourhood : " Does he set an example of luxury and

* Eunapius, in Vita JEdesii.

f Augustine, de Opere Monachorum, cap. xxviii.

B B

370

CONCLUSION.

the use of the bath, or does he inculcate fasting,
modesty, and dirt (iUuviem)?" Jerome to Domnio.*
Jerome's complaint was scarcely fair, as he himself
relaxed a little in the case of young ladies : " Your
clothes," he directs Eustochium, " should be not
exactly clean, yet not filthy."

The Pagan poet Kutilus Numatian wrote his
Itinerarium about 410. In this short poem he
describes his voyage round the Mediterranean:
among other places he touched at Capraria, then
peopled by monks. " Now rises the island of Ca-
praria, defiled by swarms of light-shunning men.
They call themselves by the Greek name of Monks
(solitaries), because they choose to live alone, with-
out companions. * * So Homer distinguished the
disease of too much bile, by Bellerophontian cares."

Sic nimios bilis morbum assignavit Homerus
BelleropliontEeis sollicitudinibus. "f

Rutilus describes the state of a young friend
who had turned Christian, and afterwards monk
(v. 518). " Among rocks which stand as monu-
ments of his recent loss, this citizen was en-
tombed in a living grave ; for our youthful friend,
lately high in family, in estate, and in marriage
connection, impelled by furies, has left men and
gods, and now a superstitious exile, dwells in shame-
ful obscurity. Unhappy man ! He thinks in dirt

* " But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash
thy face." — Ciirist to his disciples ; Matthew, vi. 17.

•f Rutili Numatiani Itinerarium, v. 439. Beilerophon, after
his fall from Pegasus, continued to wander upon earth in a state
of melancholy.

CONCLUSION.

371

to feed on heavenly things ; and, severer than the
offended gods, punishes himself."

The adoration of saints and martyrs, though not
actually occupying so prominent a place in the
system of the fourth and fifth centuries, as would
appear from the sketch of Eunapius, is noticed with
different degrees of distinctness by all classes of
writers of the time. Augustine feels it necessary
to apologise in some manner for it: — "It quite
passes the strength of my understanding," he ob-
serves, " how the martyrs can help those to whom
they certainly do render assistance : whether they
are present simultaneously in different places, and
those far apart ; whether their presence is only to
be recognised at their shrines, or every where
else."*

The Church of the fourth century, while under-
going this change, did not unanimously acquiesce
in the adoption of novelties so repugnant to its
original institution. Good men, like Paulinus and
Augustine, were at times staggered by the dan-
gerous results of the new doctrines ; while others,
like Yigilantius, entered an energetic protest against
them. The controversy thus produced degenerated
into little more than a personal quarrel between
Jerome and his opponents, and no permanent result
was effected. Not the least remarkable circum-
stance connected with it, is the little interest taken
by the Church in general in the important questions

* De Cura pro Mortuis gerenda, c. xviii.

B B 2

372

CONCLUSION.

raised by Yigilaiitius ; although that presbyter, en-
joying the intimate friendship of the most pious
and distinguished men of his time, continued to
attack the principles then entering the Church,
almost under their auspices. The little opposition
made to him cannot be explained by any superio-
rity of station, for he was born in the remote passes
of the Alps, and employed in menial offices in his
father's tavern. In such a situation it is surprising
that he should obtain any education, or acquire in-
formation on ecclesiastical subjects ; yet he appeared
as a learned and formidable adversary to the im-
petuous Jerome, who vainly expended his most
abusive eloquence upon the "tapster's son."*

To what extent the worship of martyrs was
carried in the beginning of the fifth century, is not

* The character of Yigilantius has generally been made the
sport of party-feeling and misrepresentation. In imitation of
Jerome's invectives, the Romanists have spared no pains to
vilify him: their arguments were demolished by Bayle, who
seems to have written on the subject chiefly for the pleasure of
confuting liis old opponents. Mosheim naturally took the part
of Yigilantius, and supported his opinion by the authority of
Bayle. This was sufficient to determine Milner to the opposite
side, and to set him against the " man whom Mosheim scruples
not to call the good Yigilantius. He quotes," continues ]Mil-
ner, " Bayle's Dictionary, whence I gather that the presbyter
before us was agreeable to that self-conceited sceptic." (History
of the Church, Century Y.) More lately, Mr. Milman and
Dr. Gilly have adopted the shortest method of ascertaining the
real merits of Yigilantius, by examining the original correspon-
dence regarding him, in which are preserved the few sentences
of his works now extant. Perhaps the most amusing account
of him is that contained in Basnage's Ecclesiastical History.

CONCLUSION.

373

clear: Jerome denied the imputation of it alto-
gether. Augustine considered the practice heretical:
^' I know many who are worshippers of sepulchres
and pictures."* On these subjects different opinions
were held by different persons at the same time,
especially as to the orthodoxy of sacred painting.
Thus while Paulinus was decorating his church
with frescoes of Scripture subjects, to an extent
w^hich could scarcely be tolerated by a bishop of
our own communion, Epiphanius was manifesting
a zeal against pictures, which, however salutary at
that critical period, would now be deemed some-
what intolerant. " I found," he says, " fastened to
the door of a church at Anablatha, a veil, dyed and
painted, and displaying a likeness either of Christ,
or of some saint (for I do not exactly remember
whose it was) : seeing then the image of a man ex-
posed to view in the church of Christ, against the
authority of Scripture, I tore the curtain, and ad-
vised those who kept that place to wrap in it the
body of some poor man for burial," This happened
about 410. t

The degrees of worship and adoration, since de-
fined with fatal precision by the Eomish Church,
w^ere not then fixed ; and the heathen, even less
-svilling than the Christian laity to enter into re-
finements on the subject, saw no distinction be-
tween one form and another. The consequences

* De Moribns Eccles. Catli., lib. i. c. 34-
t Jerome, Epistle 90.

B B 3

874

CONCLUSION.

were disastrous in the extreme : the charge of
idolatry, mutually urged by the contending parties,
lost its force ; or rather, was effectively employed
by the Pagans, after it had become powerless in
Christian hands. Thus it was, that although the
pure doctrines of our faith rapidly displaced the
profligate Polytheism of the empire, the after-con-
flict was long doubtful, being maintained by a
religion enfeebled by admixture with foreign ele-
ments, against one that had profited by adversity,
and had not scrupled to borrow largely from its
rival. We read in fable of the struggle between
the man and the serpent, in which at length the
combatants became transformed into the shapes of
each other. In the last contest between Paganism
and Christianity, we find the sophist contending for
the unity of God, and accusing the Christian of
undisguised Polytheism ; and on the other side, the
Christian insisting on the tutelary powers of glorified
mortals, and the omniscience of departed spirits. *

Augustine has preserved a remarkable letter,
written by Maximus the Madaurian, about 420,
attacking the worship of martyrs. " I entreat
you, " he writes to Augustine, " not to slight what
I say, as if it proceeded from dotage, because I am
old. The Greeks, in their dubious creed, tell us
fabulously, that the mountain Olympus is the habi-

* Qui lumine Cliristi

Cuncta et operta vides, longeque absentia cernis."

Paulini Natal, vi.

CONCLUSION.

375

tation of the gods ; but we see and experience, that
tlie forum of our city enjoys the presence of the
protecting divinities. The certainty that there is
one supreme God, without beginning or natural
issue, the great and glorious Father, who is so mad,
so besotted, as to deny ? * * * But I cannot dis-
semble my want of patience concerning this great
error: for who can endure that Mygdo (or, as
twelve copies read, Myggins,) should be set above
Jove that wields the thunder ; Sanae be preferred
to Juno, i\Iinerva, Yenus, and Vesta : and, dreadful
to think, that arch martyr Xamphanio to all the
immortal gods : among whom Lucitas is to be re-
ceived with equal honour. There are also others, in
endless number, with names hateful to gods and
men, Avho, in the consciousness of unspeakable atro-
cities, and adding crime to crime, have, under the
semblance of a glorious death, met with an end
befitting a life so stained with guilt. Their tombs,
if such a thing is worth mentioning, do fools fre-
quent, neglecting the temples and the ancestral
Manes. Thus is fulfilled the prophecy of the in-
dignant poet —

' Rome swears by shadows in the temples of the gods.' " *

Far be it from any one to repeat lightly or cause-
lessly the calumnies cast upon Christ's martyrs
by the ungodly of past ages ; but neither useless
nor trifling is the collection of these slanders when

Augustine, Epist. xvi.

B B 4

376

CONCLUSION.

employed to clear the ancient Church from the
charge of idolatry. The Pagan accusations, when
arranged in chronological order, divide themselves
into two classes, according as they were advanced
before or after the year 350.

Christians were accused of worshipping, in the
year

150. Christ. (Celsus.)

170. The great Man crucified in Palestine. (Lucian.)

290. A Man born and crucified. (Apud Arno-
bium.)

— A dead God. (Oracle of Apollo.)
300. Jesus. (Porphyry.)
360. Many wretched men. (Julian.)
370. Tombs. (Libanius.)

380. Slaves, martyrs, and deacons. (Eunapius.)
420. Martyrs. (Maximus Madaurensis.)

To sum up these charges: before the year 350,
Christians were accused of worshipping Christ ;
after that time, of worshipping saints. Can the
non-existence of saint-worship in primitive ages be
more satisfactorily proved ?

It has been attempted, in the foregoing pages, to
describe with accuracy and honesty some features
of the Church of ancient Rome ; a Church founded
by St. Peter and St. Paul, -visited by St. John, and
numbering in aftertimes a matchless succession of
martyr-bishops. In a day when the Romanist
claim to primitive resemblance is half credited by
.some who might be forward in furnishing a re-
futation to the assumption, it must be consolatory

CONCLUSION.

377

to every dutiful son of our Church, to find that
most of the points on which the question of
Catholicism turns require no subtle refinement for
their mastery. We may leave to the learned and
pious defenders of our Church the nicer questions
of doctrine which properly lie within their province:
while they, with the reed furnished by the inspired
Word, " measure the temple of God, and them that
worship therein," we need but walk through the
outer courts of the sanctuary, to see how unlike to
all that now occupies the sacred site was the first
erection of Apostolic hands. The details of one
period cannot by any possibility be transferred to
the other. To which of the two, it may be confi-
dently asked of the least informed in Church history,
belongs the bishop who greeted his correspondent
" From Paulinus and Therasia his wife, sinners ? "
When lived in Rome that Marcus whose parents
expressed their belief in his immediate blessedness
after death ? When was the fear of detection from
the smell of wine an inducement with the perse-
cuted laity to defer their morning Eucharist?*
When was held that council in Carthage which was
opened by the declaration that none here setteth
up himself as bishop of bishops ?"f Even the
forgeries, to which Rome has had recourse, gene-
rally betray their date by the introduction
of some mediaBval superstition : the " donation
of Constantine," a document professing to make

* Cyprian. Epist. 63.

-j- Concilium Carthag. in Epist. Cypriani.

378

CONCLUSION.

over the whole city of Rome to its bishops, goes
for nothing when we find in it the expression, " The
blessed Peter, Yicar of God's Son upon earth.
After this there is comparatively little interest in
the discovery that it is the production of a noto-
rious impostor, who flourished about 790.^ Other
attempts to patch the ragged garment of papal tra-
dition have been equally unsuccessful : there was
little gained by prefixing to a canon of the first
Nicene council the Latin title, " That the Roman
Church always possessed the primacy, " when the
statement is directly contradicted by the substance
of the canon itself. f

Rome's pretensions to antiquity are founded upon
a vast anachronism ; the facts and authorities
jumbled together by her apologists, when arranged
in a strictly chronological order, tell fatally against
her. Judged by antiquity, what sentence shall be
passed upon modern Rome? and judged by modern
Rome, what sentence upon antiquity ? how shall
the long-neglected worship of the Virgin be for-
given to the apostolic age? — how the non-preser-
vation of blood and ashes enough to impregnate
Christendom with the odour of heavenly sanctity?

* Isidore, who took the name of Peccator, which his friends
unnecessarily changed to Mercator.

t Canon vi. " Let Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, preserve
the ancient usage, the bishop of Alexandria having authority
over all those churches, as is the custom wdth the Roman bi;^hop.
In like manner, also, he who is appointed over Antioch : and in
all the provinces let the seniority of the churches be maintained."
Harduin, t. i. col. 432.

CONCLUSION.

379

0 infantine and undeveloped religion, without
mythology, shrines, or images : taught by a priest-
hood ingloriously moral, unqualified to " create
their Creator," and sharing the cup of blessing
with the meanest of the laity ! Vainly was
St. Paul suffered to witness the glories of the third
heaven, debarred from their ultimate enjoy-
ment by the decree, " If any one shall say, that
justifying faith is none other than a trust in the
Divine mercy forgiving our sins for Christ's sake,
or that it is that trust alone by which we are jus-
tified, let him be accursed."*

The assumptions of Rome during the middle ages
were, in the general ignorance of literary criti-
cism, supported by the fabrication of fictitious
works, professing to be the constitutions and de-
cretals of early popes. This artifice has been so
completely exposed by the antiquarian knowledge
of the last few centuries, as to unmask the older
forgeries, and effectually to prevent the perpetration
of new. Accordingly the defence set up by
Romanist writers has been in some measure
changed : we hear less and less of the consent of
antiquity, and more and more of a certain develop-
• ment of Christianity during successive ages. We
may hail with pleasure this new apology, as it
virtually surrenders the ground long contested be-
tween the Reformed and Tridentine Churches.
Fairly granting that the papacy did not exist in the

* Council of Trent, session vi., canon 12.

380

CONCLUSION.

time of the Antonines, our opponents maintain
that it inevitably arises out of the episcopacy es-
tabhshed by the apostles. But it needs a bold
imagination to trace, in the institutions of the first
three centuries, the essential elements of purgatory,
transubstantiation, relic-worship, and the adoration
of the Virgin Mary ; or in the scrupulous attach-
ment to the letter of Scripture observable in the
early Church, the suppression, however ingeniously
contrived, of the second commandment.

Nor is there in the inspired Word any reference
to the future development of new mysteries. St.
Paul did indeed notice a certain mystery even then
beginning to work, a something to be revealed in
its time ; but with this the spirit of Romanism pro-
fesses no affinity. In conforming to that spirit, we
are turning our backs upon the ancient churches of
Italy, that fought and triumphed in the cause of
Christ ; and joining with one that has reversed
their practice, and deluged with martyr blood our

* Among tlie shifts resorted to in order to supply the place
of the dangerous commandment, the insertion of the second
Gospel precept, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," is
not the least curious. In a MS. on vellum, in St. George's Li-
brary, Windsor, is the following paraphrase of the " Ten Com -
mandments : "

" I. Worship one God, and no more.

And serve Him both with main and might, &c.

II. And let your neighbours, both friend and foe,
Right freely of your friendship feel, &c.

III. In idle God's name take you not,

But weet and save you from that sin, &c."

CONCLUSION.

381

native country: which has cursed our forefathers,
and retains in full force every anathema against
ourselves. We have but to examine the ecclesias-
tical remains of Rome, to find that its past and
present can in no way be identified ; that we gain
nothing in resemblance to the Church of the Cata-
combs by a movement towards modern Rome; and
that no tendency to apostolic unity is implied in
the profession

" Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum
Tendimus in Latium."

To the present Church of the Seven-hilled City we
are indebted for nothing but excommunication and
the stake ; whereas to ancient Rome we owe almost
the re-evangelisation of our country, through the
zeal of that Gregory who rejected as antichristian
the title of universal bishop ; and Avhose " acts
are," or ought to be, " written in the chronicles of"
a grateful nation. In that auspicious hour, when
his eye first rested on the captive Angles bound in
a Roman slave market, was planned the most suc-
cessful missionary enterprise ever undertaken by
man : may our Church be enabled in turn to spread
the blessing ; and having proved its vitality by
continuance, may it ever add the yet stronger evi-
dence of life — extension.

INDEX.

Abgarus, history of, 324.

Abraham, bas-relief of, 320.

Adrian, his epistle to Minucius Fundanus, 91-

Agape, the, its origin, 267. Ancient picture of the ceremony,

268. How abused, 271. Discontinued, 274.
Agape, a proper name, 289.
Agapetae, 265.

Alexander, martyr, his epitaph, 39.

Ambrose, gives legend of " Domine quo vadis," 119.

', describes discovery of Gervasius and Protasius, 137.

Invents the florid style of martyrology, 140. His history

of Theodora Martyr, 141.
Anaxarchus, lauded by Celsus, 128.
Anchor, symbol of, 215.

Andromeda, history of, borrowed from Jonah, 302.
Angel of the church, 24 k
Antioch, St. Peter's chair at, 236.
Apamea, deluge of, 308.

Apocalypse, copied in the second book of Esdras, 78, note.

Interfered with the pretensions of the " Eternal City," 90.

On Alpha and Omega, 209. On the Crown and Palm, 219.
Apollodorus, mentions Andromeda, 302.
Apostles distinguished from bishops, 245.
Aquarian heresy, 276.

Architecture, Christian, 336. What part derived from the

catacombs, 339 ; and what from tlie basilica, 344.
Arenarii, 30.

Aringhi, his work on the Catacombs, 5. Quoted, passim. Sup-
ports the legend of the Appian footsteps, 122. Discusses
the epitaph of Gordianus martyr, 133. His speculations
on death of martyrs, 181. His theory of instruments of
martyrdom, 185. 189. On epitai)h of Basil, 248. His
belief in the miraculous portrait of Clu'ist, 327.

384

INDEY.

Arnobius, on reception of the lapsed, 102. Attacks image
worship, 364.

Art, Christian, 297. Its history, 300. Its cheerful character,
311.

Art, Greek, 297. 299.
Art, medieval, 33, 206.

Asinius, murdered in the Esquiline sandpits, 25.

Augustine, on the " Rock," 241. On lectors, 250. On tlie
Agape, 271. On Jonah's gourd, 306. On portraits of
Christ, 327 : and of the Apostles, 330. Describes the
mendicant monks, 369.

Aurelian, his ejection of Paul of Samosata, 92.

Babylon, anciently identified with Rome, 231, note.
Balbina, cemetery of, 42.

Baptism, the rite of, 277. For the dead, 278.
Baptism of unknown relics, 180.

Baronius, Cardinal, on the Veronica, 159. On life of St. Peter,

236. On the creed, 281.
Bartemistus, buys a tomb of the fossors, 70.
Basilica, the imperial, or Pagan, 344. The Christian, 346. 349.
Bellarmine, Cardinal, 156. Objects to Christ being made Pope

of Rome, 235, note.
Bellicia, her epitaph, 218.
Benerus, blacksmith, his epitaph, 181.
Bingham, his Christian Antiquities, 349. 351.
Bishops, origin of their office, 245.
Bisomum, 44. 72.

Blood-cup, theory of, 172. 174. Mistakes caused by, 179. 181.
Boldetti, his work on the catacombs, 5. Drawing of graves,

55. Quoted, passim.
Bona, dragged to sacrifice by her husband, 115.
Boniface, acts of, 154.

Bosio, his discoveries in the catacombs, 4. Discovers the
Jewish cemetery, 76. Invents the blood-cup theory, 174.
Quoted, passim.

Bottari, his work on the catacombs, 5. Quoted, passim.

Bunsen, the Chevalier, 29, note (see Roestell). 345, note.

Buonarotti, cups from, 172.

Burnet, his theory of the catacombs, 7.

INDEX.

385

Caius, his concealment in the catacombs, 36.
Callistus, enlarges the Sebastian catacombs, 67.
Calpurnius, on Good Shepherd, 313.
Candida, her martyrdom in the catacombs, 55.
Candlestick, golden, of the temple, 79.
Capitol, museum of, 9. 70.

Carthage, the Decian persecution at, 104. Council at, 138.
Cask, as a phonetic sign, 226.

Catacombs, the, re-discovered in the sixteenth century, 2.
Described by Jerome, 3. Writers upon, 4. Contain no
Pagan sepulchres, 8. First attract attention in the time of
Augustus, 24. Their origin as sandpits, 25. First occu-
pied by the Christians, 29, 30. As a refuge from perse-
cution, 34. As a place of worship, 38. As a cemetery,
42. Present appearance of, 51. Martyrs of, 127. 130,
131. 133. 170. 174. 176. Sculptures of, 301. Paintings
of, 329. Subterranean architecture, 336.

Catechumen, epitaph of, 280.

Catomus, derivation of the name, 167. Mistakes about,
168, note.

Celerinus, applies to Lucian for tickets. 111. His letter, 112.

Made a reader, 117-
Celibacy, 255. Origin and abuses of, 257, &c.
Celsus, reproaches the Christian martyrs, 128. Attacks the

pseudo- Sibylline oracles, 129. Ridicules the ark of Noah,

310. Ridicules Christianity, 362.
Cemetery, the term found in inscriptions, 42. 46.
Cepotaph, 69.

Csesar, Julius, on Druids' use of Greek, 134.
Chapels of the catacombs, 339, &c. How lighted, 55.
Chosroe, his siege of Edessa, 325, 326.

Christianity, establishment of, by Constantine, 295. Change
passed upon in the Middle Ages, 334.

Chrysostom, on concealment in the catacombs, 37. On the
morals of the nuns, 263. On the Eucharist, 277. On bap-
tism, 278.

Clement of Alexandria, on symbols, 213. On apostles' mar-
riages, 266.
Clinicks, 280.

C C

386

INDEX.

Coliseum, the, Ignatius is martyred in, 126.

Columbarium, arrangement of urns in, 69.

Comb, supposed implement of martyrdom, 188.

Constantia, applies to Eusebius for a portrait of Christ, 330.

Constantine, presents the catacombs to the Christians as church

property, 8. His vision, 211. His clemency, 295.
Consular epitaphs. 11. 58, 59.
Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, letter from, 244.
Creed, history of, 281.
Crete, see of, 245.

Cross, the, supposed discovery of, 185. Used as a symbol, 200.
Crown, used as an emblem, 219.
Crucifix, its origin, 207.
Crucifixion, paintings of, 205.

Cyprian, 28. His description of the lapsed, 103. His history
during the Decian persecution, 104, &c. His character,
117, note. Caution respecting trust in martyrs, 193. On
St. Peter at Rome, 232. 234. On St. Peter as the Rock,
241. On the Eucharist, 276. On baptism, 280. On the
morals of the nuns, 258. 265.

Cyriacus, his attempt to become universal bishop, 242.

Cyril the Deacon, story of his martyrdom, 169.

Daniel, painting of, 313.

D'Agincourt, his life in Rome, 5. His work on Christian art,
24. 30. Plan of the catacombs, 53. Drawing of a tomb,
64. Epitaph of Bellicia, 218.

Deacon, wife of, 249.

Deaconesses, 251.

Decalogue, the, mutilated by the Church of Rome, 380, note.
Decius, persecution under, at Carthage, 104.
Deucalion, 306. 309.

Diis Manibus, sometimes used by Christians, 60.

Diocletian, peaceful beginning of his reign, 91. Inscriiitions

raised by him, 131.
Diogenes, fossor, epitaph and picture of, 74.
Dodwell, his Treatise on the " Paucity of Martyrs," 93.
Domine quo vadis ? History of the Legend, 119.
Domus Eternalis, 61.

Dove, used as an emblem of peace, 48. 202. 214. Of the Holy
Spirit, 321.

INDEX.

387

Druids, specimen of their Greek character, 134.
Ducange, on the Veronica, 158. On the CatomuS; 167.

Edessa beseiged by Chosroe, 325, 326.
Egypt, its sculpture, 298.

" Elexit domum vivus," in a Christian epitaph, 73.

Elvira, Council of, 150. 267. 272. 287. 331.

Epiphanius, on baptising for the dead, 278. Condemns wor-
ship of the Virgin Mary, 328. His zeal against church
pictures, 373.

Epitaphs, Pagan, (see Pagans.) Christian, where preserved, 9.
Description of, 12. Generally contain baptismal name only,
15. Written in Grceco -Latin, 16 — 18. Their character,
22. Maledictory, 81. Expressing parental and conjugal
affection, 288, &c.

Esquiline Hill, sandpits upon, 25. Used for burying, 26. Re-
claimed by Maecenas, 27.

Etruria, its school of art, 299.

Eucharist, the holy, 276, 277. In Martyr-chapels, 342.
Eulalia, martyrdom of, 150. 155. 168, note.
Eunapius, his attack upon the monks, 368.
Euphrasia, martyr, story of, 157.

Eusebius, his testimony concerning Linus first bishop of Rome,

233. Quoted, 266. 324. 330.
Eustochium, 262. 264, 265. 370.
Evagrius, describes the siege of Edessa, 326.
Exorcist, epitaph of, 249.

Fabian, his martyrdom, 106.

Fabretti, made Curator of the catacombs, 5. Epitaphs quoted

from, 82, &c. Shows the catacombs to ]\Iabillon, 200.
Felicitas, her speech before martyrdom, 148.
Felix St., hymn to, by Paulinus, 357.
Festus, the grammarian, 26, note.
Firmilian, his opinion of Pope Stephen, 232.
Fish, monogram of, 213, 214.
Follis, used in recording the price of a tomb, 70.
Fortunata, is starved to death, 107.

Fossors, described by Jerome, 68. Their Office, 70, Picture
of Diogenes fossor, 74. Epitaphs of, 251.

c c 2

388

INDEX.

Foxe, attributes verses to St. Laurence, 143. His mistake

about Agnes, 168, note.
Francis, St., his stigmata, 208.

Funeral ceremonies of the Heathen, 25. 27, note. 170. 284.
287. Of the Christians, 50, 51. 171. Entrusted to
fossors, 68.

Gallienus, allows the Christians to return to the catacombs, 38.
Gallonius, his work on the tortures of the Martyrs, 166. 168.
Gelasius, Pope, 235.

Gervasius and Protasius, invention of, 137.
Golden Legend, the, 162.
Good Shepherd, the, 312 — 316.
Gordianus, martyr, 133. His history, 135.
Gourd, of Jonah, 305.
Greek, Druidical, 134.

Greek monks, bring a feigned portrait of Christ to Rome,
327. Sell common bones as sacred, 338.

Gregory the Great, first uses the word catacombs, 29. On the
See of Rome, 236, 237, note. His works tampered with,
238. Considers "Universal Bishop" an Antichristian
title, 253. Refuses it when applied to himself, 244. Re-
fuses to give away a part of St. Paul, 337. His Anglo-
Saxon mission, 381.

Gregory the Seventh, 336.

Gruter, epitaphs from, 71. 80. 82, 8cc. On bishops' epitaphs,
246.

Hilary, retorts upon Leo or Liberius, 247.

Hippolitus, martyr, his tomb in the catacombs, 39. Picture of

his martyrdom, 322.
Hope, his Essay on Architecture, 227.
Horace, his description of the Esquiline gardens, 27.
Hymn to the Saviour, medieval, 207. By da Todi, 356.

(See Prudentius, Paujinus).

Ignatius, martyrdom of, 124. Epistles from, 125.
Implements of martyrdom, Aringhi's theory of, 185. Re-
jected, 186. Specimens of, 188.

INDEX.

389

Imprecations in epitaphs, 81.

Innocent III. expounds " Launch out into the deep," 237, note.

Enforces the use of confession, 351.
Innocentius, boy and martyr, 179.
"In Pace," 78, &c.
Irene^ a proper name, 289.
Irena3us, on Linus first bishop of Rome, 231.
Inquisition, the, 187.

Jerome, his description of the catacombs, 3. Of the fossors,
68. On Rome as Babylon, 90, note. Quoted, 229. 235.
On late rise of monasticism in Rome, 254. On celibacy,
258 to 265. On the use of lights in worship, 284, note.
On Jonah, 302. On the gourd, 305. Recommends dirt,
369.

Jews, their cemetery in the catacombs, 76. Hebrew epitaphs,
77.

Jonah, bas-reliefs of, 197. 331. 304. Emblematic of the Re-
surrection, 303. His gourd, 305.
J ohn. Patriarch of Constantinople, 242.
John XXII, his hymn to St. Veronica, 160.
Joppa, scene of adventures of Jonah and Andromeda, 302.
Julia Euodia, a pseudo-saint, 182.

Julian, persecution under, 133. 169. 228. Attacks saint wor-
ship, 367.
Juvenal, 97, note.

Lactantius, describes the " Deaths of the Persecutors," 133.
Quoted, 168, note. On lights, 285. Against image-
worship, 365.

Lamb painted at foot of the cross, 204.

Lampridius, 91.

Lamps used in the catacombs, 77.
Lannus, martyr, his epitaph, 130.

Lapidarian Gallery, description of, 9 — 13. Importance of, 18.
20. Why free from more modern inscriptions, 2 1 . Cheer-
ful character of its remains, 33. 204. Scarcity of epitnphs
relating to celibacy, 254. Does not contain the name of
the Virgin Mary, 333.

390

IISTDEX.

Lapsed, the, rejected by the Novatians, 102. Their condition
described by Cyprian, 103. Their numbers at Carthage,
110. Disturbances caused by them, 116.

Laurence, martyr, origin of the stanza attributed to him, 143.

Lazarus, bas-relief of, 317.

Leaf used in punctuation, 62.

Lectors, epitaphs of, 250.

Leibnitz, his report upon the blood-cups, 176.

Leo, Pontius, his epitaph, 200. 226.

Leo L, on the " Rock," 241. Permits private confession for

public offences, 351.
Leo or Liberius, bishop, his epitaph, 246. Conversation with

Hilary, 247.
Leo, a " religiosissimus lector," 326.
Levite, or deacon, 244. Epitaph of, 248, 249.
Libellatics, 116.

Liberius, takes refuge in the catacombs, 36. His history,
247, note.

Lights, when first used in divine service, 282. Used by Pagans,
284.

Linus, first bishop of Rome, 231.
Lion, in epitaph of Leo, 226.
Lyons, epistle from church of, 49. 87.

Lucian of Carthage, issues tickets in the name ofPaulus, 110.

His sufferings. 111. His letter to Celerinus, 113.
Luci&n the satirist, accuses the Christians of worshipping Christ,

362.

Lupi, his story of Innocentius martyr, 179.

Mabillon, 5. Epitaphs from, 13. 81. note. Observation on
Druidical Greek, 134. On the Veronica, 158. On bap-
tising relics, 180. On false saints, 182. 190. Visits the
catacombs, 200. Quoted, 294. Is taken to see Christ's
portrait, 327.

Maecenas, reclaims the Esquiline sandpits, 26 — 28.

Maitland, Rev. S. R., his Dark Ages," 83.

Mappalicus, his martyrdom, 107. 110.

Marianus Scotus, his story of Veronica and Tiberius, 159.

Makes Christ the first pope of Rome, 235.
Marina, virgin, martyrdom of, 156.

INDEX.

391

Marini Gaetano, arranges the Lapidarian Gallery, 10. 22. His

opinion on the date of the monogram, 212.
Marius, martyr, his epitaph, 127.
Martial, quoted, 27, note. 269.
Martin Polonus, 163, note. 326.

^lartin of Tours, questions the ghost of a supposed martyr, 139.
Martyi-s of the catacombs, 84., &c. Distinct from confessors,

87. Controversy regarding number of, 93. Difficulty of

learning the true history of, 119. Worship of, described

by the pagans, 367. 375.
Martyrology, origin of, 118. Early or pure style, 125. Florid

style, 140. Debased, 162. Scientific, 165.
Martyr-paintings, 322.

Martyr-worship, its origin, 190. Ridiculed by the Pagans, 367.
Mask, found on sarcophagi, 216.

Maximian, forbids the Christians to enter the catacombs, 38.
Maximus the Madauriau, his attack upon martyr-worship, 374.
Metaphrastes, Simeon, his martyrology, 156. Re-models the

life of St. Peter, 235. 237.
Milan, fabrication of martyr's remains at, 137, 138.
Milman, Mr., his History of Christianity, 89. 321. His Bamp-

ton Lectures, 201.
Minucius Felix, his " Octavius," 363.
JVIissa, or Mass, origin of the name, 275.

Monasticism, its late rise in Rome, 254. Motives which led to

it, 259. Character of its votaries, 262.
Monks, the, their ideas of virgin martyrs, 164. At times were

married, 267. Their traffic in relics, 337. Their dirt

ridiculed by the pagans, 368.
Monogram, the, 209, &c.

Moses, truth of his narrative proved by arch of Titus, 79.

Neocaesarea, council of, 266.
Neocori, their office, 309.
Neophyte, epitaphs of, 279.

Nero, refuses to take refuge in the Esquiline sandpits, 25. His

persecution of the Christians, 93. 96.
Nice, first council of, 266. Second council of, 326.
Nicephorus, his story of Euphrasia virgin and martyr, 157.

His story of Cyril, 169.
Noah, bas-reliefs of, 306 to 311.

392

INDEX.

Novatians, their rejection of the hipseil, 102.
Numatian, his description of the monks, 370.
Numidicus, his sufferings, 117.

Onuphrius Panvinus, 121. 235. 238. 326.

Optatus, the first person who styled St. Peter bishop of Rome,
234.

Origen, defends the conduct of the martyrs, 128.
Orpheus, thought to prefigure Christ, 129.
Ovid, quoted, 279.

Pagans, epitaphs of, 9. 12. " Manus levo contra Deum," 13.
" Atrox o fortuna," 47. " Possidebit sine controversia,"
69. " Ab imo ad summum columbarium IX.," 69. " Bal-
nea, Vinum, Venus, corrumpunt corpora nostra," 80. " Ad
inferos non recipiatur," 81. " Lachrymis udum condidit,"
171. " Ardentem lucernam," 284. " Dii tibi bene-
faciant," 290.

Pagans, their accusations of the Christians, 362.

Painting, Christian, 323.

Palm-branch used as an emblem, 219. By a Jew, 78.
Pan, paintings of, copied for Good Shepherd, 315.
Pantheon, the, 301.
Papal supremacy, 239 to 244.

Paul, St., apocryphal acts of, 120. Martyrdom of, 123. On

celibacy, 256.
Paul of Samosata, his deposition, 92.

Paulinus, quoted, 51. 202. Describes the invention of Naza-
rius, 138. On the Agape, 274. On lights in worship, 286.
His mode of representing the Trinity, 321. His poems,
355.

Paulus martyr, dies after torture, 107. Makes Lucian his

secretary, 110.
Pausanias, on Mercury the Ram-bearer, 313.
Penitents, various classes of, 350.

Persecution, secret history of, 103. At Carthage, under De-

cius, 104. See Diocletian, Martyrs, &c.
Peter, St., his Basilica, 85. Story of Domine quo vadis ? 119.

His martyrdom, 123. His visit to Rome, 231. His post-

INDEX.

393

humous history, 235. His primacy discussed, 239. I lis

denial of Christ, bas-relief of, 347.
Phonetic signs, 225. Lion, pig, and cask, 226.
Pig, in epitaph of Porcella, 226, 227.
Pilate, bas-relief of, 318.

Pliny, 90. 251. Description of the monster found at Joppa,

303. His testimony to primitive Christianity, 361.
Plutarch, on Deucalion's dove, 306.
Polyandria described, 57.

Polycarp, his martyrdom and last prayer, 164. 342. 362.
Pomponius Mela, 303.

Pope, title of, general in the ancient church, 229. Epitaphs of

popes, 229. 246.
Porcella, her epitaph, 226.

Porphyry, accuses the Christians of worshipping Christ, 366.

Portraits of Christ, not known to the ancient church, 327.
Legends concerning, 323. Most ancient found in the cata-
combs, 329. Of the Apostles, 330. Miraculous portrait
of Christ, 324.

Praxedes, buries martyrs, 64.

Prayers on tombstones, begun by the Pagans, 290. Imitated
by the Christians, 291.

Praying figure, once thought to be a symbol of martyrdom,
183. Specimens of, 217, 218.

Presbyter, wife and daughter of one, 248.

Primitius martyr, his epitaph, 131.

Procopius, his history of Chosroe at Edessa, 325.

Prudentius, 8. Description of catacomb tablets, 14. Of the cata-
combs, 38. Of Christian funerals, 50. Of martyrs' graves,
57. 66. Visits the catacombs, 142. His Peristephanon
described, 133. Quotations from, 145. 149. 151. 154.
342. On Quirinus martyr, 177. On prayers to martyrs,
191. On the cross, 203. On the virgins, 255. On martyr
paintings, 322. His poems, 352.

Pudentiana, buries martyrs, 65.

Purgatory, not known to the ancients, 291. 293.

Quadrisomum, 44.

Quinisextan council, 156. 178. 204. 267. 273.
Quirinus, bishop, his martyrdom, 177.

394

INDEX.

RaouJ-Rochette, his description of the Lapidarian Gallery, 10.

On blood-cup theory, 178. 181. On martyi- emblems, 184.

On Christian sculpture, 301. On representations of God

the Father, 319.
Resurrection, hope of, 49 : its influence on interments, 50. Fear

of not rising, 82. Typified by Jonah, 303. By Lazarus,

317.

Revival, the, 300.

Ribadeneira, his " Flower of the Saints," 162. 164. 166.
Roestell, on blood-cup theory, 178. Quoted, passim.
Romanus, martyrdom of, 144 — 147.

Rome, ancient see of, 241. Ambition of, 242. Extent of the
church in, 244.

Ruinart, his " Acts of the Martyrs," 127, note. Of Tarachus
and Probus, 152.

Saints, unknown, worship of, 180. 190.
Sarcophagus maker, epitaph of, 224.
Scipio family, bury their dead, 28.

Sculpture, admitted with difficulty by the Christians, 198. 301.
Sebastian, catacombs of, first occupied by the Christians, 29.

230. Martyrdom of, 67, 68.
Serapion at Alexandria, destruction of, 346. 368.
Severus, Alexander, 92. 99.
Shadrach and his companions, bas-relief of, 312.
Ship, symbol of, 216.
Sibylline oracles, their fabrication, 129.
Simon Magus, 232. 238.

Sponius, epitaph from, " Qui dedit et abstulit," 14. Tomb of
the Abucci, 69. " Ad inferos non recipiatur," 81.

Stephen, martyred in the catacombs, 35. His concealment
there, 36.

Stigmata of St. Francis, 208. Of other saints, note.
Surius, publishes the martyrdom of Gordianus, 135. Of St.
Ursula, 162.

Symbols, their origin, 198. Joyful character of the ancient

emblems, 204.
Symbols of martyrdom, doubts concerning, 183.

INDEX.

895

Tablets, horizontal, 337.
Tarachus, acts of, ol. 152.

Tertullian, eulogy of Roman church, 19. On use of incense in
embalming, 51. On the promises made to martyrs, 86.
His apology for the Christians, 95, &c. Complains of
leniency towards the lapsed, 192. On Peter's crucifixion
at Rome, 232. On the Agape, 272. On lights, 285. On
the Eucharist, 275. 277.

Theodora, her martyrdom, 140.

Theodorus Studita, his history of the miraculous portrait, 326.
Theodosian code, forbids retailing martyi-'s remains, 138.
Theophila, raises an inscription to her master Gordianus, 135.
Tickets, granted by confessors in prison, 110.
Tiles, sepulchral, 279.

Titus, triumph of, 79. Proves the truth of the Mosaic nar-
rative, 80.

Todi, Jacopone da, his hymn on the crucifixion, 356.
Tomb, price of, 70. Selected by a Christian, 73. Drawings
of 55. 64.

Tombstones, Pagan, afterwards employed by Christians, 61.
Trade, implements of, 221, &c.
Trajan, persecutes the church of Antioch, 124.
Transubstantiation, not known to the ancients, 276.
Trinity, the holy, how represented by the ancients, 321.
Trisomum, 44.

Ungula, supposed specimens of, 187, 188.
Ursula, legend of, 162.

Vails of churches, 348.
Varro, 26, note.

Vatican, Christian museum of, 9. 187. Lapidarian gallery, 9.

18. 20. Picture gallery, 32. Byzantine collection, 33.

205. Catacombs of, 230. Library, wall of, quoted, passim.

Christian bas-reliefs of, 301, note, 306, &c.
Viar, late St., his inscription discovered, 183.

396

INDEX.

Veronica, legend of, 158 — 161.

Vigilantius, his protest against lights in church during the day,

283. Against martyr worship, 371.
Vincent, his martyrdom, 148. 154.
Visconti, quoted, 58.

Virgin Mary, the, no authentic portrait of her possessed by the
ancients, 332. Her worship in the Middle Ages, 334.

Virgins, epitaphs of, 253. Eulogy of, 255. Morals of, accord-
ing to Cyprian, 258 : to Jerome, 262 : to Chrysostom,
263.

Vitruvius, recommends the sand from the Esquiline pits for
cement, 25.

Widows, consecrated, 253.
Woolcombers, epitaphs of, 223.

Wordsworth, Rev. Dr., his Pompeian inscriptions, 71.

Xystus, martyred in the catacombs, 35.

THE END.

London :

Spottiswoode and Shaw,
New-street- Square.

A CATALOGUE

NEW WORKS IN GENERM. LITERATURE,

PUBLISHED BY

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS,

39, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.

CLASSIFIED INDEX.

Affriculture and Rural
i\ffairs.

Pages.

Bayldon On valuing Rents, &c. - 4

Cnird's Letters on Agriculture - 5

Cecil's Stud Farm ... 6

Loudon's Asriculture - . - 13

" Self- Instruction - - 13

" Lady's Country Compan. 14

Low's Kli'men'ts of Asrriculture - 14

" Domesticated Animals - 14

Arts, Manufactures, and
Architecture.

Bourne's Catechism of the Steam

Engine - - - - 4

" On the Screw Propeller - 4

Brande's Dictionary of Science, &c. 4

" Ort:anic Chemistry- - 4

Chevreul on Colour - - - - 6

Cresy's Civil Enffineering - - 6

Eastlake On OifPainting - - 7

Gwilt's Encyclo. of Architecture - 8

Jameson's Sacred & Legendary Art 10

" Commonplace Book - 10

Konig's Picto iai Life of Luther - 8

Loudon's Kural Architecture - 13

Most-ley's Engineering - - - 16

Richardson's Art of Horsemanship 18

Steam Engine, hv the Artisan Club 4

Tate on strength of Materials - 21

Ure's Dictionary of Arts, &c. - 22

Biography.

Bodenstedt and "tt'agner's Schamil '-'4

Briehtwell s .\!emonals of Opie '- 17

Bun>en's Iiippt)lytus - - . 5

C hesttrton's Autobiography - - 6

Clinton's (Kynesj A uv biography G

Cockayne's Marshal 'l ureiine - 24

Freeman's Life ''f Kirhy - 11

Haydon's Autobiography, by Taylor 8

Holcrolt's Memoirs ... 24

Holland's (Lord) Memoirs - . 9

Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia - 12

Maunder's Biographical Treasury- 15

Memoir of the Duke of Wellington '24

Memoirsof James Montgomery - 15

Merivale's Memoirs of Cicero . 15

Russell's Mem> irs of Moore - - 16

" Life of Lord \Vm. Russell 19
Southey'8 Life of Wesley - -20

" Life and Correspondence 20

Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography 21

Taylor's Loyola - - - - 21

Wesley - - - - 21

Townsend'8 Eininent Judges - 22

Waterton's Autobiography & Essays 22

Books of General Utility.

Acton's Cookery - ... 3

Black's Treatise on Brewing . . 4

Cabinet Gazetteer - ... 5

" Lawyer - ... 5

Cust's Invalid's Own Book - 6

Hints on Etiquette ... 9

Hudson'sExecutor's Guide - - 10

" On Makine Wills . . 10

Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia . 12

Loudon's Self Instruction . - 13

" Lady's Companion . 14

" Amateur Gardener 13

Maunder's Treasury ol Knowledge 15

" Hiogra()liical 'I'reasury 15

Sci, nt,fi,- 'l ieasury - l",

" Treasury of History - 15

" Natural History - - 15

Pocket and tlie Stud - - . s

Pyciolfs Knglisli Heading . - is

Reece's Medical Guide - - - IH

Pages.

Rich's Comp. to Latin Dictionary IS

Richardson's Art of Horsemanship 18

Riddle s Latin Dictionaries - - 18

Roget's English Thesauius - - 19

Rowton'o Debater ... - 19

Sliort Whist 20

Thomson's Interest Tables - - 22
Traveller's Library - 23 & 24
Webster's Domestic Economy - 22
WiUich's Popular Tables - - 24
Wilmot's Abridgment of Black-
stone's Commentaries - - 24

Botany and Gardening.

Conversations on Botany - - 6

Hooker's British Flora - - . 9

" Guide to Kew Gardens - 9

Lindley's Introduction to Botany 11

" 'i heoiy ot Horticulture - 11

Loudon's Hoi tus Britannicus - 13

" Amateur Gardener - 13

" Self-lnstiuction - - 13
" Trees and Shrubs - -13
" Gardening . - .13

" Plants - . . 13

Rivers's Rose Amateur's Guide - 18

Chronology.

Blair's Chronological Tables - 4

Bunsen's Ancient Eaypt - - 5

Haydn's Beatson's Index - - 8

Nicolas's Chronology of History - 12

Commerce and Mercantile
Affairs.

Atkinson's Shipping T,aws . . 3

Francis On Lile Assurance - . 8

Loch's Sailor's Guide - - - l-i
Loiimer's Letteis to a Young

Mastei Mariner . - . - 13
M'CuUoch'sCommerce & Na\ igation 14

Thomson's Interest Tables - - 22

Criticism, History, and

Memoirs.

Austin s Germany - - - . 3

Balfour's Sketches of Literature . 3

Blair's Cliron. and Histor. Tables - 4

Bunseu's Ancient Kg> pt - - 5

" Hippolytus' - - . 5

Burton's History of Scotland - 5
Chalybaeus's Modern Speculative

Philosophy . . . . s

Conybeaie and Howson's St. Paul 6

Eastlake's History ol « 'il Painting 7

Erskine's History'of India • - 7

Fiancis's Annals of Life Assurance 7

Gleig s Leipsic Campaign - - 24

Gurney's Historxal Sketches . 8
Hamilton's Kssays from the Edin.

burg I Review . - . . g
Haydon's Autobiography, by Taylor 8
Holland's (Lord) Foreign Remi.

niscentes ... . 9

" Whig Party - 9

Jeffrey's (Lord) Contributions . 30

Kcmble's Anglo-Saxons . 11

Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia . 12

Macaulay's C^rit. and Hist. Essays 14

" History of England - 14

" Speeches - - - 14

Mackintosh's Miscellaneous Works 14

H.stoi v ol Kiisland - 14

M'Culloch'sOeog,a,'l,i,alDiaionarj 14

Maitii.eau'sCbun I, H stoiv - - 15

Mauiuhr s 'I Masur\ of Hi>l(irv - 15

Men. on- ol the I uke of Wellington 24

erivale'b History of Rome - . 15

" Roman Republic - 15

Milner's Church History
Moore's (Thomas) Memoirs, &c. -
Mure's Greek Literature
Ranke's Ferdinand & .Maximilian
Rich'.s Comp. Co Latin Dictionary
Riddle's Latin Dictionaries -
Hogeis's Essays fromtheEdinburgh
Review ■- - . .
Roget's English Thesaurus -
Russell's (Lady Hachel; Letters -
" Life of Lord W. Russell
St. John's Indian Aichipi-lago
Schmilz's History 01 Greei e
Smith's Sac: eu Aiiaals - . -
Sou'heN 's Tlie Ductor &c. -
bttpl.en's Ecclt si. lexical Biography
" Lectures en 1 leuih History
Sydney >mitli's Works -

" Select Works

" Lectures
Taylor's Loyola ....

\\'eslev . . . .
Thirlwall's liistorv of Greece
TounsenU's stale Vnals
Turkey and C hristendom
TurneV's Anglo Saxons
Middle A-es -
" Sacred Hi..t. of the World
Zumpt's Latin Gr

Geography and Atlases.

Butler's Geography and Atlases - 5

Cabinet Gazetteer .... 5

Durrieu's Morocco - - - 24

Hall's Large Library Atlas . . a

Hughes's Australian Colonies - 24

Jesse's Russia and the U ar - - 10

Johnston's Geneial Gazetteer - 11
M'Cuiiocli's GeograpliK al Uictionary 14

Russia and Turkey - 24

Milner's Baltic ?ea - - - 15

Murray's Lncyclo. of Geography - 1/

Sharp's British Gazetteer - - 19

Wheeler's Geography of Herodolus 24

Juvenile Books.

Amy Herbert - - - - 19

Corner's Chililien's Sunday Book 6

Earl s Daughter (The) - - - 19

Experience of Life - - - 20

Gertrude - - . - 19

Howitl's Boy's Country Book - 10

" (Mary) Children's \ear - 10

Katharine Aslilun - - . '20

Lady Una anil her Queendom - 11

l.aneton l'arson..ge - - 19

Mrs Marcel's Conversations - - 15

Margaiel Percnul - - - - '20

Pycroft's English Reading - - 18

Mediciftand Surgery.

Bull's Hints to Mothers - - - 4

" Management of Children - 4

Copland's Dictionary of Medicine - 6

Cust's Invalid's Own Book - . 0

Holland's Mental Physiology - 9

Latham On Diseases of the Heart - 11

Little On Treatment of Deformities H

Moore On Health, Disease ,&Remedy 16

Pereira On Food and Diet - - 17

Psychological Inquiries - - 18

Reece's Medical Guide - - - 18

Miscellaneous and General
JLiterature.

Atkinson's Sl,eriff-Laiv - - 3
Austin's Sketches of German Life 3
Carlisle's Lectures anu Addresses 24

CLASSIFIED INDEX.

Chalrbaeus's Modem Speculatire
I'hilosophy ....

Dtfence o{ Eclipst of Faith .

Eclipse of Faiih - -

Greg's Essavs on Political and
Social Science ....

Hav.ln"* Book of Dignities ■

Hole's Essay on Mechanics' Insti-
tutions

Holland's Mental Phvsiology

Hooker s Kew Guide' - '- - »

Hewitt's Rural Life of England - 9
" Visitato RemarkablePlaces 9

Jameson's Commonpl.ioe Book - 10

Jelfrev's , Lord) Contributions - 10

Last of the Old Squires . - 17

Loudon's Lad>"s Companion - 14

Macaulay's Crit. and tiist. Essays U

" ' Speeches - - - 14

Mackintosh's M iscell;»neous Works 1 4

Memoirs of a Maitre-d'Annes - 24

Maitland's Church in the Catacombs 14

Pascal s Works, bv Pearce - - 17

Pycroft's English ReaJin? - - IS

Rich's Comp. to Latin Dictionary IS

Riddle's Lntin Dictionaries - - 18

Ronton s Debater - - 19
Seaward's Narrative of his Shipwreckl9

Sir Roffer de Corerler - - - 20

Smith's ; Rev. Sydney) Works - 21

Sonthev's Common-place Books - 21

'• ' The Doctor &c. - - 21

Souvestre's Attic Philosopher - 24

" Confessions of a Working Man 24

Stephen's Essays - - - - 21

StoWs Training System - - 21

Thomson's Laws of Thought - 21

Tonmsend s State Trials ~ - - 22

Willich's Popular Tables - - 24

Tonge's Ensl.sh-Greek Lexicon - 24

" Latin Gradus - - '24

Zumpt's Latin Grammar - - 24

NaturalHlstory in general.

Catlow s Popular Conchology - 6
Ephemera and Young On the Salmon 7

Gosse s Nat. Hist, of Jamaica . 8

Kemp s N-itural Hist, of Creation 24

Kirby and Spence's Entomology - 11

Lee's Elements of Natural History 11

Maunder s Natural History - - 15

Turton's Shells oftheBritishlslands 22

Waterton'sEssaTs on Natural Hist. 2-2

Touufs The Do? - - - 24

The Ho'ne - - - 24

1-Volume Encyclopaedias
and Dictionaries.

Blaine s Rural Sports - - - 4
Brande s Science, Literature, & Art 4
Coplaml's Dictionary of Medicine - 6
Crss7's Civil Engine'eriug - 6

Gwilt s Architecture ... 8
Johnston's Geographical Dictionary 11
London's Agriculture - - - 13
" Rural Arch\tecture - 13
'* Gardening - - - 13
" Plants - - - - 13
" Trees and Shi ubs - - 13
M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary 14
" Dictionary of Commerce 14
MurraVs Encvclo. of Geography - 17
Shaip's British Gazetteer - - 19
Ure's Dictionary of Arts, &c. - - 22
Webster's Domestic Economy - 22

Religious Se Moral Works.

Amy Herbert - - - - 19

Atkinson On the Church - - 3

Bloomfield'sGreekTestamenl - 4

" Annotations on do. - 4

Calvert's Wife's Manual^^ - 5

Conybeare and Howson'Wt. Paul 6

Corner s Sunday Book . - - 6

Dale's Domestic Liturgy . . 7

Deience of Eclipse of Faith - - J
Discipline

Earl's Daughter The) - - - 19

Eclipse of ^ aith - . - 7

Englishman's Greek Concordance 7

Enslishman'sHeb.&Chald. Concord. 7

Experience of Life , The) - 20

Gertrude 19

Harrison's Light of the Forge - 8

Hook's Lectures on Passion Week 9

Home's Introduction to Scriptures 9

" Abridgment of ditto - 9

Hulbert on Job - - - - 10

Jameson's Sacred Legends - - 10

" Monastic Legends - - 10

" Legends of the Madonna 10

Jeremy Taylor's Works - - - 10

Katharine Ashton - - - 20

Kippis's Hymns - - . . n

Konig's Life of Luther - - - 9

Lady Una and her Queendom - 11

Laneton Parsonage - . - 19

Letters to My L"nkno\vn Friends - 11

" on Happiness - - - II

Litton's Church of Christ - - 13

Maitland's Church in theCato.combs 14

Margaret Percival - - - - "20

Martineau's Church History - - 15

Mdner's Church of Christ '- - 15

Montgomery's Original Hvmns - 16

Moore On the Use of the Body - 16

" " Soul and Body* - 16

" 's Man and his Motives - 16
Morn.onism - . - -24

Keale's Closing Scene - - - 17

" Re>tiug Places of the Just 17

" Riches thai Bring no

Sorrow - .... n

" Risen from the Ranks - 17

Newman's J. H.; Discourses - 17

Racke's ferdinand & Maxinailian 24

Readings for Lent - - - 20

" Confirmation - - 20
Robinson's Lexicon to the Greek

Testament 18

Saints our Example - - - 19

Self Denial - ... 19

Sermon in the Mount - - 19

Sermon on the Mount illuminated 19

Sinclair's Journey of Lite - - "20

Smith's (Svduev/ Moral Philosophy '20

" ;G') Sacred Annals - 20

Southey s Life of Wesley - - 20

Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography 21

Tavlor's Lovola - - 21

■" Wesley - - - - 21

Theolosia Germanica - - - 21

Thumb Bible i The, - - 22

Turner's Sacred History - - - 22

Poetry and tbe Drama.

Arnold's Poems .... 3

Aikm s Dr. British Poets - - 3

Baillie's (Joanna) Poetical Works 3

Barter's 11 ad of Homer - - 3

Bode's Ballads from Herodotus - 4

Calvert's Wife's Manual - - 5
Flowers and their kindred Thoughts 17

Goldsmith's Poems, illustrated - 8

Kent's Aletheia - - - 11

Kippis's Hymns - - - - 11

L. E. L.'s Poetical Works - - 11

Linwood's Anthologia Oxoniensis- 11

Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome 14

Montgoriiery's Poetical Works - 16

' Original Hymns - 16

Moore's Poetical Works ' - - 16

LaUa Rookh - - - 16

" Irish Melodies - - - 16

" Songs and Ballads - - 16

Shakspeare, by Bowdler - - 20

" Sentiments & Similes 10

Sonthev's Poetical Works - - 21

' British Poets - - - 21

Thomson's Seasons, illustrated - 22

Thornton s Zohrab - - - 22

Watts's Lvrics of the Heart - - 22

Political Economy and
Statistics.

Banfield's Statistical Companion - 4
Caird's Letter,- on A gricuiture - 5
Franci^ On Life Assurance - 7

Greg's Essays on Political and

Social Science - - - - 8
Lains's Notes of a Traveller - 11 & 24
M'Culloch's Geog. Statist. &c. Diet. 14
" Dictionary of Commerce 14
" London - - - 24
" SutisticsofGt. Britain 14
Marcet's Political Economy - - 15
Waiich's Popular Tables - - 24

•me Sciences in General
and Mathematics.

Bourne's CatecLism of the Steam

Engine - - - - - 4

On the Screw Propeller - 4

Brande's Dictionary of Science, &c. 4

'• Lectuies ('n Oreanic Chemistry 4

Cresy's Civil Engineering - - 6

DelaBeche'sGeologyofCornwall,&c. 7

" Geological Observer - 7

De la Rive's Electricity - - 7

Faraday 's Non Metallic Elemen|| 7

Pages.

Fuilom's ^tarvels of Science - 7

Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy 9

Holland's Mental Physiology - 9

Humboldt's Aspect* of Nature - 10

" Cosmos - - - 10

Hijnt On Light - - - 10

Lardner's Cabi'iet Cyclnptedia - 12

Marcet's (Mrs.) Conversations - 15

Moseley'sEngineering&Architecture 16

Owen's LecturesonComp. Anatomy 17

Our Coal Fields and our Coal Pits 24

Peschel's Elements of Physics - 17

Phillips's Fossils of Cornwall, &c. 18

" Mineralogy - - - 18

" Guide to t'eoloay - - 17

Portlock's Geology of Londonderry 18

Smee's Electro- Metallurgy - - 20

Steam Engine (The : - - . 4

Tate On Strength of Materials - 21

Todd 's Tables uf Circles - - 22

Wilson's Electric Telegraph- - 24

Rural Sports.

Bakt r's Rifle and Hound in Ceylon
Berkeley's Reminiscences .
Blaine's Dictionar\ of Sports
Cecil's Stable Practice ...
" Records of the Chase -
" Stud Farm - - - -
The Cricket Field ....
Ephemera On Angling ...

" Book of the Salmon
The Hunting Field
Loudon's Ladv's Country Comp. -
Pocket and the Stud - - .
Practical Horsemanship
Pulman s Fly Fishing -
Richardson's Horsemanship -
St John's Sporting Rambles
Stable Talk and Table Talk -
Stonehense On the Greyhound
The Stud, for Practical'Purposes -

8 '
14 I

8 I
18 i
18
19

8 !
21

Veterinary Medicine, Stc.

Cecil's Stable Practice

" Stud Farm
Hunting Field (The) -
Morton's 'S'eterinary Pharmacy - ]
Pocket and the Stud
Practical Horsemanship
Richardson's Horsemanship - 1
Stable Talk and Table Talk
Stud (The' ....
Touatt s The Dog - ... 2

" The Horse ... J

Voyages and Travels.

Baker's Rifle and Hound in Ceylon
Barrow's Continental Tour - - 2
CarUsle's Turkey and Greece
De Custine's Russia

Eothen

Ferguson's Swiss Travels .
Forester and Biddulph's Norway -
Gironiere's Philippines - - -
Hill's Travels in Siberia
Hope's Brittany and the Bible

" Chase in Biittany
How itt's Art Student in" Munich -
Hue s Tartary, Thibet, and China
Hughes's Australian Colonies
Humbley's Indian Journal -
Humboldt's Aspects of Nature
Jameson's Canada - ...
Jerrmann's St. Peter^burg -
Laing's Norway . - - -

" Notes of a Traveller 11 &
Macintosh s Turkey and Black Sea
Oldmixon's Piccadilly to Pera
Osborn's Arctic Journal
Peel's Nubian Desert
Pfeiffer's Voyage round the World
Power s New' Zealand Sketches -
Richardson's Arctic Boat Voyage
Seaward's Narrative - - -
St. John's ' H.; Indian Archifielago
" (J. A.) Isis
" " There* Back again

" (Hon. F.; Rambles
Sutherland's Arctic Voyiiae -
Traveller's Library - - 23 &
Weme s African Wanderings

Works of Fiction.

Arnold's OakfieM - . - 3

Ladv WiUoughby's Diary - .24

Mac'donald s'^Villa Verocchio . 14 !

Sir Roaer de Coverlev - - - 20 j

Southe'y's The Doctor &c. - * 21 I

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\ 2/6

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Full text of "The church in the catacombs : a description of the primitive church of Rome, illustrated by its sepulchral remains"

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