608 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



But my notary, calling to mind his servant's dream, proposed to his companion 

 that they should go to the cemetery which their host had talked about without 

 him. So, having found and hired a guide, they went in the first place to the basil- 

 ica of the blessed Tiburtius in the Via Labicana, about three thousand paces from 

 the town, and cautiously and carefully inspected the tomb of that martyr, in order 

 to discover whether it could be opened without any one being the wiser. Then 

 they descended into the adjoining crypt, iu which the bodies of the blessed mar- 

 tyrs of Christ, Marcellinus and Petrus, were buried ; and, having made out the 

 nature of their tomb, they went away thinking their host would not know what 

 they had been about. But things fell out differently from what they had ima- 

 gined. (Cap. i, 7.) 



In fact, Deacon Deusdona, who doubtless kept an eye on his 

 guests, knew all about their manoeuvres and made haste to offer his 

 services, in order that, " with the help of God " (si Deus votis eorum 

 favere dignaretur), they should all work together. The deacon 

 was evidently alarmed lest they should succeed without his help. 



So, by way of preparation for the contemplated vol avec effrac- 

 tion, they fasted three days ; and then, at night, without being 

 seen, they betook themselves to the basilica of St. Tiburtius, and 

 tried to break open the altar erected over his remains. But the 

 marble proving too solid, they descended to the crypt, and " hav- 

 ing invoked our Lord Jesus Christ and adored the holy martyrs," 

 they proceeded to prise off the stone which covered the tomb, and 

 thereby exposed the body of the most sacred martyr Marcellinus, 

 " whose head rested on a marble tablet on which his name was 

 inscribed." The body was taken up with the greatest veneration, 

 wrapped in a rich covering, and given over to the keeping of the 

 deacon and his brother Lunison, while the stone was replaced with 

 such care that no sign of the theft remained. 



As sacrilegious proceedings of this kind were punishable with 

 death by the Roman law, it seems not unnatural that Deacon Deus- 

 dona should have become uneasy, and have urged Ratleig to be 

 satisfied with what he had got and be off with his spoils. But the 

 notary having thus cleverly captured the blessed Marcellinus, 

 thought it a pity he should be parted from the blessed Petrus, side 

 by side with whom he had rested for five hundred years and more 

 in the same sepulchre (as Eginhard pathetically observes) ; and the 

 pious man could neither eat, drink, nor sleep, until he had compassed 

 his desire to reunite the saintly colleagues. This time, apparently 

 in consequence of Deusdona's opposition to any further resurrec- 

 tionist doings, he took counsel with a Greek monk, one Basil, and, 

 accompanied by Hunus, but saying nothing to Deusdona, they 

 committed another sacrilegious burglary, securing this time, not 

 only the body of the blessed Petrus, but a quantity of dust, which 

 they agreed the priest should take, and tell his employer that it 

 was the remains of the blessed Tiburtius. 



