294 CHKISTIAN EPITAPHS OP 



♦ 



epitaph after the third century. This characteristic, and the identity 

 of the names of the deceased with those of the wife of the Emperor 

 JBlagabalus, who was contemporary, have suggested the suspicion that 

 the family was,.of good rank. In Orelli, n. 4570, we have another 

 Cornelia Paula of the date 211, a.d. This inscription is the earliest 

 of those bearing dates that are accompanied by symbols. Those 

 ysed here are the fish and the anchor. The fish, as is well known, 

 was chosen, as the letters that form the Greek word for it, scil. 

 IX©Y2, are the initials of 'Ivjo-oSs Xptcrros 0eoS Ytos ^cor^p — Jesus 

 Christ, Son of God, Saviour. Tertullian regarded it as a fit emblem 

 of Him, whose children are " born of water " in baptism. The 

 aiichor is regarded as signifying "the close of a well-spent life, the 

 <>onclusion of a successful voyage, when the anchor is cast;" or that 

 tope, which "" we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and 

 stedfast." Both these symbols are mentioned by Clemens Alex- 

 .-andrinus, as suitable for representation on the seals of Christians. 



42. 

 (See Plate I, 1.) 



(In Secret. S. Marise Transtib. ; De Rossi, n. 11.) 



Kwo-orXe K\v8eL(ji cS Harepvu) vcovets No/3ev/?pet/3ors Seie Bcvepes 

 Xowa XXIIII Aei;Kes ^eXeie "^efBtjpe KapecrcrefJie Trocrouere eS eicrTrctpetrw 

 <ravKT(x) TOV(j) fjioprova awovwpoyu VL eS fjLrjcrwpoyv XI Sevpwv X. 



Consule Claudio et Paferno, Nbnis Novemhrihus, die Veneris, 

 iuna XXI V, Leuces filice Sever as carissimas fosuit et spiritui 

 sancto tuo. ITorfua annorum LV et mensium XI dierum X. 



" In the Consulship of Claudius and Paternus [i.e. 269, a.d.), on the 



Nones of November {i.e. November 5th), on Friday, the 24th day of the 



Moon, Leuce erected (this memorial) to her very dear daughter, and to 



thy holy spirit. She (died at the age) of fifty-five years, and eleven 



months, (and) ten days." 



(E coemeterio Saturmni ; De Eossi, n. 11.) 



This is the celebrated inscription that Lupi was the first to ex- 

 plain. Marini pointed out that the numerals, which he read ^^L, 

 were written dvTicrTpo<^ws, i.e. = L^, = 56. De Rossi shows that those 

 numerals were really VL, which, according to Marini's view, he 

 takes for LV. He corrects the error of Lupi, as to the Consulships 

 being the second of Claudius, and the third of Paternus, and also 

 ascertained that Lupi's suggestion, that the word before awovtapwu 



