INSCRIPTIONS AND DRAWINGS FROM ROMAN CATACOMBS. 107 



second to the fourth century have beeen recorded. Inscriptions 

 to Presbyters and their wives and children, to deacons, readers, 

 and exorcists are frequent. A large stone in the Lateran 

 Gallery marked the tomb of " Dionysius physician Presbyter." 



The graven lingers seem to have formed a sort of guild, and 

 several inscriptions record t lie bargains made with them in the 

 life-time of those who were to occupy the tombs. 



VI. Professor Orr has lately pointed out, as others have done 

 before, that it is a mistake to suppose that Christianity 

 attracted only the lowest classes of the city. It is well known 

 that members of the Imperial Household and even Family were 

 among the converts. The inscriptions confirm the fact that 

 the new religion reached all classes. 



An officer of the Pretorian Guard places a tablet to his wife. 



A lady, who adds the letters C. F. (" Clarissima femina ") to 

 her name, describes her " most dear " husband by the letters 

 V. E., which mean that he was of Equestrian rank. Another, 

 C. F., w ho calls her husband " incomparable," adds that he was 

 V. P. (" Vir Patricius "). 



Tradesmen and artizans are well represented in the inscrip- 

 tions, and trusted servants have their virtues recorded. A 

 master, for example, places the inscription in Latin : " Here lies 

 Notatus, a most faithful slave." Another in Greek runs : " To 

 my sweetest and faithful servant" (the word describes one 

 born of slave parents and brought up in the house) " her 

 mistress Artonia has placed this." Another, using the same 

 word, speaks of " Our sweetest Peter." 



A' 1 1. It is in the allusions to family life that naturally the 

 influence of Christianity is most fully shown. Inscriptions of 

 parents to their children, and children to fathers and mothers, 

 brothers and sisters to each other, all breathe tenderness, 

 affection and hope. Thus a husband and son describe the 

 " incomparable wife, a woman of genuine purity, who lived 

 twenty-five years two months four days two hours." The 

 pathetic exactness in recording the age occurs again in several 

 cases. " To a holy and most honoured wife," " To his revered 

 and sweetest consort," " To a most excellent sister," " Bonosa to 

 Bonosus her son. We are sleeping in our Lord," are typical 

 instances out of many. In every case they speak of deep 

 affection, unbroken by death, and the comforting consciousness 

 that the loved ones are in peace and rest. 



VIII. Besides Christian cemeteries, another, discovered by 

 Bosio, has been with good reason assigned to Jews. jSTo signs of 

 Christian terms have been found, but several features point to 



