Chap. III. through S w i s 
Mlius Gallus, qiii ait antiqui moris fuijje^ ut pair es-f ami- 
lias in locum publicum extra oppidum mancipia vtlia proji- 
cerent^ atque ita projedta^ quod ibi ea putefcerenty nomen 
ejje fabium Puticuli. The other Paflage runs thus : 
Vejpa £ 5 * vefpillones dicuntur, qui funerandis corporibus 
officium gerunt, non a minutis illis volucribus^ fed quia vef- 
pertino tempore eos efferunt, qui funebri pompd duci propter 
inopiam nequeunt. AH this agrees fo exa61;ly, that it will 
not be hard to perfuade one, that thofe Burying-places, 
now graced with the pompous Title of Catacombs, are 
no other than the Puticuli of Fefius Pompeius^ where the 
meaneft Sort of the Roman Slaves were laid, and without 
any farther Care about them, were left to rot. 
It is very probable, that as we fee fome of the Roman 
Families continued to bury their Dead, even when Bur- 
ning was the more common Cuftom ; fo perhaps others 
continued after this to burn their Dead, this Thing be- 
ing indifferent, and no Law made about it ; and there- 
fore it was objefted to the Chriftians after that Time, 
that the abhorred they Cuftom of burning the Bodies of 
the Dead, which is mentioned by Minutius Falix ; but 
this, or any other Evidences that may be brought from 
Medals after this Time, will only prove that fome were 
burnt, and that the Chriftians pra6tifed burying univer- 
fally, as exprefling their Belief of the Refurreiftion ; 
whereas the Heathens held the Thing indifferent. It is 
alfo clear, from many genuine inferiptions that have 
been found in the Catacombs, bearing the Dates of 
the Confuls, that thefe were the common Burial-places 
of all the Chriftians of the fourth and fifth Century *, 
for I do not remember that there is any Date ancienter j 
and yet not one of the Writers of thofe Ages fpeak of 
them as the Work of the Primitive Chriftians : They 
fpeak indeed of the Burial-places of the Martyrs ; but 
that will prove no more, but that the Chriftians might 
have their Quarters and their Walks in thofe common Bu- 
rial-places, where they laid their Dead, and which 
might have been known among them, though it is not 
likely that they would, in Times of Perfecution, make 
fuch Inferiptions as might expofe the Bodies of their 
dead Friends to the Rage of their Enemies : And the 
fpurious A6ls of fome Saints and Martyrs are of too 
little Credit to give any Support to the common Opi- 
nion. Damafus^ Poetry is of no better Authority ; and 
though thofe Ages were inclined enough to give Credit 
to Fables, yet it feems this of the Catacombs, having 
been the Work of the Primitive Chriftians, was too 
grofs a Thing to be fo early impofed on the World : 
And this Silence, in a fuperftitious Age, has much Force 
in it, for fo vaft a Work muft have been well known 
to all the Romans, It were eafy to carry this much 
farther, and to lEew that the Bafs Relieves that have 
been found in fome of thofe Catacombs, have Nothing 
of the Beauty of the ancient Roman Time. 
This is alfo difcernible in many Inferiptions that are 
rather Gothick than Roman ; and there are fo many In- 
feriptions relating to Fables, that it is plain thefe were 
of later Times ; and we fee by St. Jerome^ that the 
Monks began even in his Time to drive a Trade of 
Reliques •, no Wonder then, that to raife the Credit of 
fuch a Heap as was never to be exhaufted, they made 
fome miferable Sculptures and Inferiptions, and perhaps 
ihut up the Entries with Care and Secrecy, intending 
to open them upon fome Dream, or other Artifice, to 
give them the more Reputation ♦, which was often prac- 
tifed, to the drawing much Wealth and Devotion even 
to fome fingle Relique j and a few being in this Secret, 
either thofe died, or by the Revolutions that happen’d 
in Rome, might have been difperfed before they made 
the Difeovery : And thus the Knowlege of thefe Places 
was loft, and came to be difeover’d by Accident in the 
laft Age, and ever fmee fupplied with an inexhauftible 
Magazine of Bones, which are no other than the Bones 
of the Pagan Romans, though they are now fent over 
the World to feed a Superftition that is as blind as it 
proves expenfive. And thus the Bones of the Roman 
Slaves, or at leaft thofe of the meaner Sort, are fet in 
Silver and Gold, and entertain the Superftition of thofe 
who are willing to be deceived, as well as thofe who 
feek to deceive the World. But becaufe it cannot be 
SERLAND, ^C. 62 ^ 
pretended there v/as fuch a Number of Chriftians at iVii- 
ples as could have wrought the Catacombs j and if it 
had been thought that thofe were the common Burial- 
places of the Heathens, that might have induced the 
World to think that the Roman Catacombs were fo 
too j therefore no Care was taken to examine thefe. 
I will not enter upon a Defeription of that which is fo 
well known, as Mont Vefuvio : It had roared fo loud 
about a Month before I came to Naples, that the Inha- 
bitants could hardly deep in the Nights, and fome old 
Houfes were fo fhaken by the Convulfion of the Plill, 
that they fell to the Ground ; and the great Convulfion 
above filty Years ago was fo terrible, that there was no 
fmall Fear in Naples, for though it lies at the Diftance 
of feven Miles, they are very timorous, but now the 
Storm was choaked under Ground ; for tho’ it fmoak’d 
much more than ordinary, yet there was no Eruption. 
It was indeed fmoaking, not only in the Mouth of the 
little Mount, formed within the great Wafte that the 
Fire hath made, but along all the Bottom that is be- 
tween the outward Mouth of this Mountain (which 
is tour Miles in Compafs) and that inward Hill. When 
one fees the Mouth of this Fire, and fo great a Part of 
the Hill, covered fome Feet deep with Allies and Stones 
of metallick Compofition, that the Fire throws out, he 
cannot but Hand amazed, and wonder what can be the 
Fewel ot fo lafting a Burning, that hath calcined fo much 
Matter, and fpewed out fuch prodigious Quantities. It 
is plain, there are vaft Veins of Sulphur all along in this 
Soil, and it leems in this Mountain they run thro’ fome 
Mines and Rocks j and as their flow Confumption raifes 
a perpetual Smoke, fo when the Air within is lb much 
ratified that it muft open itfelf, it throws up thofe Maf- 
fes of Metal and Rock that are fiiut in it. But how 
this Fire draws Air to nourifti its Flame, is not fo eafily 
apprehended, unlefs there is either a Conveyance of Air 
under-ground, by fome undifeover’d Vacuity, or a more 
infenfible Tranfmifilon of Air through the Pores of the 
Earth. The Heat of this Hill operates fo much upon 
the Soil that lies towards the Foot of ir, that it 
produces the richeft Wine about Naples, and it alfo 
purifieth the Air fo much, that the Village at the Bot- 
tom is thought the bell thereabouts; fo that many 
come thither from Naples for their Health. There 
is a Hill in ifehia, an Ifland not far from Naples, which 
fometimes fpews out Fire. On the other Side of Naples,, 
to the Weft, one pafleth through the Cave that piercerh 
the Paufalippe, and is four hundred and forty Paces 
long i for I walked it on Foot. It is twenty Foot 
broad, and at firft forty, afterwards but twenty Foot 
high. The Stone cut here is good for Building ; fo 
that as this opened the Way from Puzzuolo to Naples, 
it was alfo a Quarry for the Building of the Town. 
All the Way one difeovers a ftrange Boiling within the 
Ground ; for a little beyond this Grott of Paufalippo, 
as we come near the Lake of Aniano, there is on the 
one Hand a Bath, occafioned by a Steam that rifes fo 
hot out of the Ground, that as foon as one goes a little 
into it, he finds himfelf in a Sweat, which is very pro- 
per for fome Difeafes, efpecially that which derives its 
Name from Naples. And about twenty Paces from 
thence, there is another little Grott, that fends out fo 
poifonous a Steam, that it puts out a Candle as foon 
as it comes near it, and infallibly killeth any living 
Creature within a Minute ; for in half that Time a 
Dog, upon which the Experiment is commonly tried, 
(the Grott froiri thence called Grotto di Cane)) fell into 
a Convulfion. From that one goes to fee the poor 
Remains of Puzzuolo, and of that Bay, once a conti- 
nued Traft of Towns, being the Retreat of the Ro- 
mans during the Heats of the Summer. All the Ra- 
rities here have been fo often and fo copioufly deferi- 
bed, that I am fenfible I can add Nothing to what 
is fo wdl known. I will fay Nothing of the Am- 
phitheatre, or of Cicero and Virgilh Houfes, for which 
there is nothing but dubious Tradition. They are an- 
cient brick Buildings in Roman Tafte, and the Vaults 
of VirgiPs Houfe are ftill entire. The Sulfatara is a 
furprizing Thing; here is a Bottom, out of which the 
Force of the Fire, that breaks forth ftill in many Pla- 
