62a Bijhop Burn 
noc know which Way they carried on thofe Works, 
when they were once To far engaged under Ground as 
to lofe themfelves. It is a vain Imagination, to dream 
the Chriftians in the primitive Times were able to carry 
on fuch a Work ; for as this prodigious Digging into 
fuch Rocks muft have been a very vifible Thing, by 
the Mountains of Rubbilh that muft have been 
brought out, and by the vaft Number of Hands 
employed in it j fo it is abfurd to think, that 
they could hold their Afiemblies in the Midft of fo 
much Corruption. I found the Steams fo ftrong, that 
though I am as little fubjed to Vapours as moft Men, 
yet I had all Day long, after I was in them, which was 
not an Hour, a Confulion, and as it were a Boiling 
in my Head, that difordered me extremely ; and if 
there is now fo much ftagnating Air there, this muft 
have been fenfible in a more infufterable Manner, while 
there were vaft Numbers of Bodies rotting in thofe 
Niches. But bcfides this Improbability from the Na- 
ture of the Thing, I called to mind a Paflage of a 
Letter of Cornelius, that was Bifhop of Rome after the 
Middle of the third Century, which is preferved by 
Eufebius in his fixth Book, in which we have the State 
of the Church of Rome at that Time. There were 
forty-ftx Presbyters, feven Deacons, as many Subdea- 
cons, and Ninety 'lour of the inferior Orders of the 
Clergy among them : There were alfo fifteen 
hundred Widows, and other Poor maintained out of the 
publick Charities. It may be reafonably fuppofed, that 
the Numbers of the Chriftians were as great when this 
Epiftle was writ, as at any Time before Conftantine : 
For as this was writ at the End of that long Peace, 
which both St. Cyprian and Lablantius mention, of 
above ah Hundred Years j fo after there were fuch a 
Succeftion of Perfecutions, and thefe came fo thick, 
that we cannot think the Numbers of the Chriftians 
encreafed much beyond what they were at this Time. 
There are two Particulars in this State of the Clergy, 
upon which one may make a probable Eftimate of the 
Chriftians *, one is, their Poor, which were but fifteen 
hundred j now upon an exadl Survey it will be found, 
that where the Poor are well look’d to, they are gene- 
rally the thirtieth or fortieth Part of Mankind i and 
this may be believed to be the Proportion of the Poor 
among the Chriftians of that Age ; for as their Charity 
was vigorous and tender, fo we find Celfus, Julian, Lu- 
cian, Porphyry, and others, objedf: this to the Chriftians 
of that Time,, that their Charities to the Poor drew vaft 
Numbers of the lower Sort among them, that they 
might be fupplied by their Brethren. So that this be- 
ing the State of the Chriftians, we may reckon the Poor 
the thirtieth Part *, and the whole five and forty thou- 
fand : And I am the more inclined to think that this 
rifes near the full Sum of their Numbers, by the other 
Character of the Amount of the Clergy ; for as there 
were forty-fix Presbyters, fo there were ninety four of 
the inferior Orders, who were two more than double the 
Number of the Priefts j and this was in a Time when 
the Care of Souls was more exadlly looked after, 
than it has been in the more corrupted Ages, the Clergy 
having then really more Work on their Hands, the in- 
ftrudling their Catechumens, the vifiting their Sick, and 
the comforting the Weak, Tasks that required fo much 
Application, that in fo vaft a City as Rome in thofe 
Days, in which the Chriftians were fcatter’d over the 
City, we make a Conjeflure, that every Presbyter had 
perhaps about a thoufand Souls committed to his Care ; 
this rifes to fix and forty thoufand, which comes very 
near the Sum gathered from the other Hint taken from 
their Poor ; So that about fifty thoufand is the higheft 
to which we can reafonably raife the Number or the 
Chriftians of Rome in that Time ; and of fo many Per- 
fons, the old, the young, and the Women, make more 
than three fourth Parts ; the Men therefore in Condi- 
tion to work were not above twelve thoufand, and by 
Confequence were in no Condition to undertake and car- 
ry on fo vaft a Work. If Cornelius in that Letter fpeaks 
of the Numbers of the Chriftians in excelTive Terms, 
and if L’ertullian in his Apology hath alfo fet out the 
Numbers of the Chriftians of his Time in a very high 
E T’j' Travels Book II. 
Strain, that is to be aferibed to a pompous Eloquence j 
which difpofeth People to magnity their own Party •, 
and we muft allow a good deal to an Hyperbole. 
It is true, it is not fo clear when thofe vaft Cavities 
were dug out of the Rocks : We know that when the 
Laws of the Twelve Tables were made, Sepulture was 
then in Ufe; and Rome being grown to a vaft Big- 
nefs, no Doubt they had Repofitories for their Dead ; fo 
that fince none of the Roman Authors mention any 
fuch Work, it may not be unreafonable to fuppofe 
thefe Vaults had been wrought and cut out from the firft 
Beginnings of the City, and fo later Authors had no 
Occafion to take Notice of it. It is alfo certain, that 
though Burning came to be in Ufe among the Romans, 
yet they returned back to their firft Cuftom of burying 
Bodies long before Conjlantine's Time ; fo it was not the 
Chriftian Religion that produced this Change. All our 
modern Writers take it for granted, that it happen’d in 
the Times of the Antonines ; yet there being no Law made 
concerning it, aud no Mention in an Age full of Wri- 
ters, of any Orders that were given for Burying-places, 
Veljerus^s Opinion feems more probable, that the Cuf- 
tom of Burning wore out by Degrees ; and fince we arc 
fure that they once buried, it is more natural to think, 
that the Slaves and the meaner Sort of People were ftill 
buried, that being a lefs expenfive and more fimple 
Way than burning, which was both pompous and 
chargeable ; and if there were already Burying-places 
prepared, it is much eafier to imagine how the Cuftom 
of Burying grew univerfal without any Law made to 
inforce it. I could not for fome Time find out upon 
what Grounds the modern Cri ticks take it for granted, 
that Burying began in the Times of the Anlonines, till 
I had the Happinefs to talk with the learned Gronovius, 
who feems to be fuch a Mafter of all ancient Learn- 
ing, as if he had the Authors lying always open before 
him: He told me that it was certain the Change from 
Burning to Burying was not made by the Chriftian Em- 
perors : For Macrobius fays, in plain Terms, that the 
Cuftom of burning Bodies was quite worn out in that 
Age ; which is a clear Intimation, that it was not laid 
afide fo late as by Conftantine ; and as there was no Law 
made on that Head, fo he and the fucceeding Emperors 
gave fuch Toleration to Paganifm, that it is not to be 
imagined, there was any Order given againft Burning; 
fo that it is clear, the Heathens changed it of their own 
Accord ; otherways we Ihould have found that among 
the Complaints made of the Grievances under which 
they lay from the Chriftians. But it is more difficult to 
fix the Time when this Change was made. Gronovius 
ffiewed me a Paflage of Phlegon’2, that mentions Bodies 
that were laid in the Ground *, yet he did not build on 
that, for it may have Relation to the Cuftoms of Bury- 
ing that might be elfewhere ; and fo Petronius gives the 
Account of the Burial of the Ephefian Matron’s Huf- 
band : But he made it apparent to me, that Burying 
was commonly praftifed under Commodus-, for Xiphili- 
nus tells us, that in PertinaPs Time, the Friends of 
thofe whom Commodus had ordered to be put to Death, 
dug up their Bodies, fome bringing out only fome Parts 
of them, and others, railing their entire Bodies. The 
fame Author fays, that Pertinax buried Com?noius*s Bo- 
dy, and fo faved it from the Rage of the People ; and 
here is a pofitive Evidence that Burying was the com- 
mon Pradlice of that Time. 
The fame learned Perfon has fince fuggefted to my 
two Paflages of Feftus Pompeius, that feem to determine 
this whole Matter ; and tell us by what Names thofe 
Catacombs were known in the Roman time, whereabouts 
they were, and what Sort of Perfons were laid in them: 
We have alfo the Defignation by which the Bearers were 
known, and the Time when they carried out the dead 
Bodies : and it appears particularly by them, that in 
the Repofitories, of which that Author makes Mention, 
there were no Care taken to preferve the Bodies that 
were laid in them from Rotting. His Words are : Pu- 
ticulos antiquijjimum genus fepulture appellatos, quod ibi 
in puteis jepelirentur homines •, qualis fuerit locus, quo nunc 
cadavera projici folent extra portam Efquilinam : qua, quod 
ibi putefeerent, inde prius appellatos exiftimat Puticulos 
Mlius 
