MijcelUnea Curiofa: Vol. TIL 



P&fius Pomfeius to call theni by the little name 

 of Puticuli^ and fo confine them to one place 

 only, that I mean unknown now without the 

 Efi[tdlm-GatQi indeed the Charafters of th^ 

 Places arc fo very unlike, that one wou'd 

 wonder how a corhmon Burying place, where 

 in holes Bodies were thrown together to roty 

 came to be confounded with Repofitorie$ 

 cut in the face of a long Gallery, one over 

 another^ fometimes to the number of feven^ 

 in which Bodies were lingly laid, and hand^ 

 fonily done lip again, fo that nothing cou'd 

 offend the view of thofe that went in, efpe- 

 ' dally with the little Rooms of the fafliion of 

 Chappels, that have all the Appearances of 

 being the Sepulchers of People of diftinftion. 

 The Remark, Pt^tfcutos Amiquijfim^rn yi?- 



pultura genm 4ppeIlat$Sj quod ibi in futeU fefi^ 

 rentur homims^ is that of an Etymologifl:^ 

 that would be now thought to fpeak againft 

 all the property of Language, if h^ apply'd 

 the name to our Graves or Vaults, to which 

 itmay with more Jultice and Reafon be applyM, 

 than to the Galleries of the Catacombs, and 

 the Rooms that go off them* What the par- 

 ticulars were is not difficult to define, after 

 what we have feen fo often. When the Per-* 

 fecutors fpilt the Blood of fo many Martyrs,- 

 they us'd to dig holes perpendicularly in the 

 Ground, and to throw their Bodies promiP 

 cuaufly in them ; of this the Memory is ftili 

 confervM, Chiirches l^ing built in the Places 

 where the holes were made, and littkMo-* 

 Buments ereded over the holes themfelves, 

 to which the name of Putei is continued to 

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this 



