b CHRISTIAN EPITAPHS OP 



" Petronins in peace on the seventeenth day before the Calends of , 



who lived 66 years, in the Consulship of Olybrius and Probinus, most distin- 

 guished men, i. e. 395 A. d. Here rests in peace who in her life time 



made this. Space for two bodies is unoccupied." 



1. 2. nis. The beginning of the word, of which this is the ending, 

 was in the preceding line. Consulatu Olyhrio. See note on epitaph 58. 

 ^Blsomxis vacat. Was this an intimation that it was for sale ? I have 

 not seen Ratti's comment on this inscription, which was published in 

 Alti della pont. accad^ d'arch., but De Rossi's notice of it is very 

 unfavorable. He says that his observations show nothing but incredi- 

 hilem ejus in re epigrajphica inscitiam et summam judicii levitatem. 



(e) Locus trisoimis : — 80. 



CALEVIVSBBNDIDITAYINTRISOMVVBIPOSITIERANTVIN 



[lETCALVILIVSET 

 LVCIVSmPA COS • STIL 



{E coemeterio S8. Quarii et Quinti; De Rossi, n, 489.) 



Calevius vendidit Avln (Avinio) trisomu (trisomum), ubi poslii 

 erant vini (bini) et CalvUius et Lucius in pace, Consulatu StiUclionis. 



"Calevius sold to Avinius a place for three bodies, where both Calvilius and 

 Lucius had (already) been placed in peace, in the Consulship of Stilicho," i. e. 

 400 A. D. 



The stone that bears this inscription is remarkable on account of the 

 symbols that are cut on it, viz., the monogram, the balance, the fish, 

 the candelabrum with seven lights, the house, and the mummy in a 

 receptacle approached by steps. Of the monogram and the fish I have 

 already spoken. The candelabrum with seven lights, or the seven- 

 branched candlestick, is frequently represented on the grave-stones of 

 Jews, and was adopted from them by Christians, with, perhaps, a diffe- 

 rent meaning. The balance may have been derived from the notion of 

 Psychostasy, which was Eastern in its origin, and to which the weigh- 

 ing of the Fates of Achilles and Hector in the Iliad is analogous. 

 With it may be compared the expression used relative to Belshazzar 

 in Daniel, v. 27. Or does the symbol merely indicate the just dealing 

 of the deceased ? 



f I have given this epitaph in illustration of locus hisomus, chiefly on account 

 of the words bisomus vacat; but the locus seems to have been quadvisomus, space 

 for two bodies being unoccupied. 



