WITH PRIMITIUS, THE PRESBYTER.
The venerable presbyter laid his hand familiarly on the young man's
shoulder and conducted him into a smaller, but much more elegantly
finished, apartment. It contained no graves, save an arched tomb which
had never been used; at one side was a shelf for lamps. The whole
surface of the wall was covered with hard white stucco, which was
divided into panels by bands and borders of brilliant red and blue, as
shown in the cut on next page. The vaulted ceiling was similarly
divided. The angles were filled in with elegant floral designs, and the
panels with Biblical and symbolical paintings, which Primitius began now
to explain.
[Illustration: PAINTED CHAMBER IN THE CATACOMBS]
"Thou seest, my son," he said, "that central group above the arch. That
represents the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. Thou
perceivest He bears the lost sheep upon His shoulders, and gently leads
those which follow Him. Even so, all we, like sheep, have gone astray,
but the blessed Saviour seeks the erring, and brings them into the safe
and true fold. Thou seest to the left the figure between the two lions.
That is Daniel in the lion's den; and to the right are the three Hebrews
in the fiery furnace. These, my son, are symbols of the Church of
Christ, amid the wild beasts and the fires of persecutions. But she
shall be delivered unhurt; she shall come forth unscathed. In the
ceiling you will observe praying figures between lambs, the emblems of
the Church, the Bride which is the Lamb's wife, perpetually engaged in
adoration and prayer."
The youth was deeply impressed, and almost awed, to see the
silvery-haired old man, a refugee from persecution, in these
subterranean crypts, with the full assurance of faith, confronting all
the power of the persecuting despot of the world, and predicting the
triumph of that oppressed Church which was compelled to seek safety in
those dens and caves of the earth.
The good old man then sought to impart the great truths of our holy
religion to his new catechumen, and to implant in his soul the same
germs of lofty faith that flourished in his own. With this object he led
him through the long corridors and chambers of the vast encampment of
death--a sort of whispering gallery of the past, eloquent with the
expression of the faith and hope of the silent sleepers in their narrow
cells.
"Listen, my son," said Primitius, "to the testimony of the dead in
Christ, and of the martyrs for the truth," and pausing from time to time
before some inscribed or painted slab, he pointed out the lofty hopes
which sustained their souls in the very presence of death.
"Here," he said, entering again the chamber he had first left, "is the
sepulchre of my own beloved wife. When depressed and lonely, I come
hither and derive strength and consolation by reading the words which
she requested, with her dying breath, should be written on her tomb,"
and with deep emotion he traced with his finger the inscription:--[24]
PARCITE VOS LACRIMIS DVLCIS CVM CONIVGE NATAE
VIVENTEMQVE DEO CREDITE FLERE NEFAS.
"Refrain from tears, my sweet children and husband, and believe that it
is forbidden to weep for one who lives in God."
"And here," he went on, "is the tomb of our little child," and Isidorus
read with softened spirit the words:--
AGNELLVS DEI--PARVM STETIT APVD NOS ET
PRAECESSIT NOS IN PACE.
"God's little lamb--he stayed but a short time with us, and went before
us in peace."
"And here," said Primitius, "is the couch of our eldest daughter," and
he read, with caressing tones, her epitaph:--
ANIMA DVLCIS INNOCVA SAPIENS ET PVLCHRA--
NON MORTVA SED DATA SOMNO.
"A sweet spirit, guileless, wise, beautiful. She is not dead but
sleepeth."
"This is certainly very different," said Isidorus, "from two epitaphs I
read to-day upon the pagan tombs on the Appian Way. They ran thus:--
DECIPIMVR VOTIS ET TEMPORE FALLIMVR ET MORS
DERIDET CVRAS ANXIA VITA NIHIL.
"We are deceived by our vows, misled by time, and death derides our
cares; anxious life is naught."
INFANTI DVLCISSIMO QVEM DEI IRATI AETERNO
SOMNO DEDERVNT.
"To a very sweet child, whom the angry gods gave to eternal sleep."
"Yes," said Primitius, "nothing can sustain the soul in the presence of
death, but such faith as that of my friend Eutuchius, who sleeps here;"
and he read the lofty line:--
IN CHRISTVM CREDENS PREMIA LVCIS HABET.
"Believing in Christ, he has the rewards of the light (of heaven)."
"Similar are these also," and he pointed to the following ill-written,
but sublime, epitaphs, which Isidorus slowly spelled out:--
DVLCIS ET INNOCES _(sic)_ HIC DORMIT SEVERIANVS
SOMNO PACIS CVIVS SPIRITVS IN LVCE DOMINI
SVSCEPTVS EST,--IN SEMPETERNALE
AEVVM QVIESCIT SECVRVS.
"Here lies in the sleep of peace, the sweet and innocent Severianus,
whose spirit is received into the light of God. He rests free from care
throughout endless time."
"But how were these Christians so confident of the future life," asked
the Greek, "when the greatest of the philosophers and sages--a Socrates
or Cicero--never rose above a vague 'perhaps,' and even the philosophic
Pliny, anticipating only annihilation, writes, 'there is no more
consciousness after death than before birth?'"
"Find there thy answer, young man," exclaimed Primitius, and with a
gleam of exultation in his eyes, he pointed to the following epitaphs:--
CREDO QVIA REDEMPTOR MEVS VIVIT ET NOVISSIMO
DIE DE TERRA SVSCITABIT ME IN CARNE MEA
VIDEBO DOMINVM.
"I believe, because that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day shall
raise me from the earth, that in my flesh I shall see the Lord."
HIC REQVIESCIT CARO MEA NOVISSIMO VERO DIE
PER CHRISTVM CREDO RECVSCITABITVR A MORTVIS.
"Here rests my flesh, but at the last day, through Christ, I believe it
will be raised from the dead."
"And must the soul, then, slumber with the body in blank unconsciousness
till this 'last day?'" asked the Greek. "Methinks I should shudder at
going out into the dark inane, like a taper extinguished in these gloomy
vaults. Better is the dim and ghostly Hades, and Elysian Fields of our
own mythology, than that."
"Not so, my son," replied Primitius, "we believe with the blessed
Paul--that as soon as the soul passes from earth's living death, it
enters into the undying life and unfading bliss of heaven." And he
pointed out, one after another, the following epitaphs corroborating his
view:--
CORPVS HABET TELLVS ANIMAM CAELESTIA REGNA.
MENS NESCIA MORTIS VIVIT ET ASPECTV
FBVITVR BENE CONSCIA CHRISTI.
"The soul lives unknowing of death, and consciously rejoices in the
vision of Christ."
PRIMA VIVIS IN GLORIA DEI ET IN PACE DOMINI
NOSTRI XR.
"Prima, thou livest in the glory of God, and in the peace of Christ our
Lord."
"This is indeed a high philosophy, beyond aught I ever heard before,"
said Isidorus, deeply moved. "Whence do you Christians derive such lofty
teachings? For as Hilarus but now said most of your sect are poor and
lowly in this world's goods and rank."
"Our teaching comes, my son, from God Himself, the Great Father of
lights, and from Jesus Christ our Lord. Behold, as the greatest favour I
can do thee, I will lend thee this precious MS. of the Gospel of the
blessed John;" and he took from a leathern case a purple vellum
parchment scroll, inscribed with letters of silver. "Cherish it
carefully; 'tis worth more than gold. When thou hast well pondered it, I
will lend thee the letter of the blessed Paul to the infant Church in
this city of Home. But here comes Hilarus to conduct thee back to the
light of day. Return hither, if thou canst, on the fourth day from now
--the day of our Sabbath assembly. My blessing be upon thee. _Pax
vobiscum et cum spiritu tuo._"
The young Greek knelt at the old man's feet, then rose and kissed his
hand, and followed in silence the fossor Hilarus. At length he broke the
silence by inquiring,--
"What's the meaning, good Hilarus, of all these strange figures which I
have noted on the tombstones as I passed. I have observed a lion, a pig,
an ass, a cobbler's last, carpenters', masons', and wool-combers'
implements; a fish, a ship, an anchor, and the like--all scratched or
painted on the stone slabs. They have no religious significance,
surely?"
[Illustration: TOMB OF THE BISHOPS, CATACOMB OF ST. CALIXTUS.
Seven of the Bishops of the early Christian Church in Rome fell in
succession by the hand of the headsman, five of them in the space of
eight years. In this chamber are buried several of those heroic martyrs
of Jesus.]
"Well, no, not all of them," said Hilarus, with a smile. "You see, many
of the Christians being lowly craftsmen, are unable to read, so the
tools or emblems of their calling are inscribed on the tombs of their
friends, that they may recognize and find them again in this vast
cemetery."
"But the ship, anchor, and fish are not signs of a handicraft, unless
that of sailor or fisherman."
"No, the fish has another and a secret meaning. I need not tell a
scholar like you, that the first letters of the Greek names for Jesus
Christ, Son of God, the Saviour, make up the word Ichthus, or fish, so
it is used as a secret symbol of our faith. The ship is the emblem, I
have been told, even in your own country, of a well-spent life, and to
us it signifies a soul entering into the haven of eternal rest. While
our holy hopes are the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
entering into that within the veil."
"Well, and the lion, ass, and pig? What about them?"
"These," said the fossor, with a laugh, which seemed as incongruous to
him as it would be to a modern sexton, for such his office virtually
was, "these are a sort of play upon the names of Leo, Onager, and
Porcella, the latter was a sort of pet name, I suspect--'Little Pig'--by
which their friends, who could not read, could find their tombs."
"What wives these Christians must have had," continued the
keenly-observing Greek. "I have noticed several inscriptions, in which
they are said to have passed ten, twenty, thirty, and one even fifty
years of married life--SINE IVRGIO, SINE AEMVLATIONE, SINE DISSIDIO,
SINE QVERELA--'Without contention, without emulation, without
dissension, without strife.' There are no such wives in Rome now, I'll
be bound--at least in the Rome I am acquainted with."
"Yes," said the old man, with a sigh, "come with me into yonder chapel.
I always, in passing this way, stop there to see again the sepulchre of
the best wife God ever gave to any man." After walking in silence some
minutes, he entered a sort of family vault, and lit a bronze lamp,
shaped like a ship, hanging from the vaulted ceiling, while Isidorus
studied out the following inscription, not altogether free from errors
in spelling and grammar:--
CONIVGE VENEVANDE BONE INNOCVA FLORENTIA
DIGNA PIA AMABILIS PVDICA _(sic)_ DEO FIDELIS
DVLCIS MARITO NVTRIX FAMILIAE HVMILIS
CVNCTIS AMATRIX PAVPERVM. BIXIT MECVM
ANN. XXXII. MENS. IX. DIES V. HOR. X.
SCRVPVLOS XIL SEMPER CONCORDES SINE VLLA
QVERELA. BIXIT PLVS MINVS ANN. LII. MENS.
V. INCOMPARABILEM CONIVGEM MALE FRACTVS
CONIVX GEMITV TRISTI LACRI MIS DEFLET.
"To my wife Florentia, deserving of honour, good, guileless, worthy,
pious, amiable, modest, faithful to God, endeared to her husband, the
nurse of her family, humble to all, a lover of the poor. She lived with
me (_i.e._, was married) thirty-two years, nine months, five days, ten
hours, six scruples (about a quarter of an hour--they were very
scrupulous about this). She lived (altogether) fifty-two years, five
months, more or less. The sore-broken husband bewails, with tears and
bitter lamentation, his incomparable spouse."
"Yes, I made it all up, and carved it all myself," said the old man, as
Isidorus finished reading the long inscription; "and if I say it myself,
I don't think there is a better in the whole Catacomb; you see, I
selected the best bits from all the best epitaphs, and she deserved it
every word, dear soul," and he drew his rough hand across his moistened
eyes.
The easy-tempered Greek was too good-natured to inflict wanton pain, so
he ignored its bad Latinity, and contented himself with saying that "it
was indeed a very remarkable epitaph."
In a few minutes they emerged from the gloom of the Catacomb to the
golden glory which was flooding the broad Campagna from the westering
sun. "Would," thought Isidorus within himself, "that I could thus emerge
from the gloomy doubts and fears in which my spirit gropes, to the
golden light of Christian life."
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTES:
[24] The following, except the last one, are all authentic inscriptions
from the Catacombs, selected from many hundreds, translated by the
writer in his volume on this subject.