652 



SUBTERRANEAN" P.OME. 



virgin and martyr. Eighty martyrs rest here 

 below." Further excavations were made, in 

 the course of which 121 fragments of one of 

 the Latin inscriptions Pope Damasus put up 

 were found. 



This decided De Rossi that he was in the 

 papal vault mentioned, ruined indeed, with its 

 approaches blocked up, probably to preserve 

 it from depredators, but still containing among 

 its debris fragments of monuments of great 

 interest. In one corner of this crypt, to which 

 access was at first obtained, it appears, down 

 the luminare, though one of the ancient stair- 

 cases has now been restored, is a narrow door- 

 way cut irregularly in the rock, which opens 

 into a large chamber about 20 feet square, fur- 

 nished with a wide luminare, which enables 

 it to be well seen now. When first found it 

 was filled with earth, which had to be removed, 

 as in other instances, to the surface through 

 this luminare or shaft from above. As this 

 work proceeded, and the luminare, also full of 

 earth, was emptied, the figure of a woman in 

 the attitude of prayer was deciphered on the 

 wall; below this a Latin cross between two 

 sheep; and below this again, though still in 

 the luminare, the figures of three saints. On 

 the wall of the chamber, close to the entrance- 

 way from the burial-place of the popes, was 

 found a painting of a woman, " richly attired, 

 and ornamented with bracelets and necklaces 

 such as migh be looked for in a high-born and 

 wealthy Roman bride, and might well be in- 

 tended to represent St. Cecilia." But this 

 painting, which appeared of seventh-century 

 date, was found to be executed on the surface 

 of ruined mosaic-work ; and a niche close by, 

 decorated with a Byzantine head of our Lord, 

 was also noticed to have been previously en- 

 cased with marble, indicating there had been 

 a renewal of ornamentation, marking a site of 

 high religious interest. This fact, taken in 

 connection with the circumstance that close to 

 these paintings was a recess large enough to 

 hold a sarcophagus, and which left but an inch 

 of rock between it and the back of a similar 

 recess in the papal crypt, and compared with 

 the statements in the documents we have men- 

 tioned, led De Rossi to the conclusion that it 

 was in this chamber that the beautiful Chris- 

 tian bride of the martyr Valerius was laid, after 

 three strokes of the executioner had left her to 

 bleed slowly to death on the pavement of her 

 own palace. 



We would mention the care with which the 

 rude scribblings, or graffiti, of ancient visitors 

 are now scanned. De Rossi calls them " the 

 faithful echo of history and infallible guides 

 through the labyrinth of subterranean gal- 

 leries." Sometimes the writing is a mere 

 name, with or without a title ; others are ex- 

 clamations connected with distant or departed 

 friends ; and others are invocations addressed 

 to the martyrs upon whose tombs they are 

 inscribed. The names are of two kinds, the 

 most convenient parts of the walls being 



scribbled over with such classical appellations 

 as Rufina, Felix, Polynices, Leo ; and those 

 higher up with more mediaeval designations, 

 such as Ildebrand, Bonizo, Joannes, Presb., etc. 

 The ejaculations correspond with the simplicity 

 of the earliest epitaphs. They repeat " VI- 

 VAS, VIVAS IN DEO CRISTO, VIVAS IN 

 ETERNO," and similar aspirations, over and 

 over again. This custom is referred to one 

 among the heathens, that prompted them to 

 write the names of those they loved on sacred 

 places they visited, in the hope they might 

 then partake of any benefit to be derived 

 from the attention. An inscription in the 

 island of Phyle, Egypt, is quoted as an illus- 

 tration, where Seraphion, son of Aristo- 

 machus wrote, "Having come to the great 

 Isis, Goddess of Phyle, he makes a re- 

 membrance there of his parents, for their 

 good." One Christian pilgrim can be traced, 

 from sanctuary to sanctuary, by this means. 

 On the vestibule of the principal sanctuary 

 he wrote, what was evidently the wish near- 

 est to his heart, which we translate, "So- 

 fronia, mayest thou live with thine own ; " 

 and when he approached the entrance he 

 wrote and prayed, "Sofronia, mayest thou 

 live in the Lord ; " again, when he came to an 

 altar tomb in another chapel he scratched, 

 " Sweet Sofronia, thou shalt ever live in God ;" 

 and before he left he added, "Sofronia, thou 

 shalt live." Other graffiti, calling upon the 

 martyrs, take the following forms among 

 others: "Holy sonls have in remembrance 

 Marcianus, Successus Severus, and all our 

 brethren. Holy souls, ask that Verecundus 

 and his friends may have a prosperous voyage. 

 Ask for rest, both for my parent and his 

 brethren ; may they live with God. Holy Six- 

 tus, have ye in remembrance in your prayers 

 Auretius Repentinus. Have ye in remem- 

 brance Dionysius." We have selected these 

 as extremely ancient examples. Sometimes 

 they are cut oif in the middle of a sentence 

 by some alteration or renovation that has been 

 made since they were written. As such works 

 were executed chiefly by St. Fabian about the 

 year 245, or by St. Damasus in 370, we get a 

 tolerably precise clew to their date. One of 

 them, De Rossi states, must have been written 

 while the plaster was wet. This is an apos^- 

 trophe to Pontianus, who was probably an 

 exiled pope of that name, brought home after 

 his death in Sardinia, and buried here by St. 

 Fabian. 



Of the paintings in the catacombs, De Rossi 

 ascribes two to the first century. These are 

 the Virgin and Child, with the prophet Isaias, 

 in the catacomb of Sta. Priscilla ; and the free 

 and flowing vine covering the roof of the en- 

 trance to St. Domitilla. The decoration of 

 the roof of the Chapel of St. Januarius, in 

 the catacomb of St. Prsetextatus-, with the 

 paintings of the fish carrying a basket, and 

 the lambs on either side of a milk-pail on an 

 altar, on the walls of a cubiculum in the crypt 



