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THE KEY. PREBENDARY H. E. FOX, M.A., ON 



Hebrew use, such as the seven-branched lamp and oil jar, the 

 word " synagogue " and occasionally Hebrew characters. 



A very fine stone, now in the Lateran Museum, has the lamp, 

 oil jar, and ivy leaf in duplicate, with an inscription which 

 might be either Jewish or Christian. The words are in Greek : 

 " Here lies Primitiva with her child Euphrainon, their sleep is 

 in peace." Another, also in Greek, has the touch of a pagan 

 spirit. " Here lies Nicodemus the ruler of the Suburrans and 

 beloved by all, aged thirty years and Jorty-two days. Be of 

 good cheer, blameless youth, no one is deathless." 



The Suburra might be described as the Whitechapel of Borne, 

 and Nicodemus held the same office there that his famous 

 namesake held in Jerusalem. 



Another is interesting as combining the same three languages 

 as those in the inscription on the Cross of our Lord : 



" Here lies Faustina, Peace." 



The first words are in Greek, including Faustina, winch is a 

 Latin name. The last is in illiterate Hebrew script. There 

 are also rude figures of the branching lamp and oil jar. 



IX The Lapidarian Gallery in the Vatican makes no attempt 

 at any arrangement of inscriptions indicating date or locality, 

 but places the Christian on one side and the pagan on the 

 other. The contrast is very striking ; the Christian all bearing 

 witness to the peace and hope of the after life ; the other 

 breathing bitterness and remorse, or selfishlv agnostic. A few 

 taken at random illustrate the soil into which the seeds of 

 Christianity fell and from which so marvellous a harvest 

 sprung. 



"To a most sweet babe whom the angry gods haYe committed to 

 eternal sleep." 



" What I ate and drank I haYe with me, what I left I lost." 

 " No animal is more ungrateful than man." 



" I, Procope, lift up my hands against the angry gods who carried 

 me off in my innocence." 



" While I liYed I liYecl well. Now my play is over, soon yours 

 will be acted. Farewell and applaud me." 



This is not an occasion for moralizing, but the earnest wish 

 may be expressed that the Antiqua Fides of the first centuries 

 may be the Perpetua Fides of our later days, and bear the same 

 noble fruits of character and service. 



