HERE, IF YOU WOULD KNOW, LIE HEAPED TOGETHER A NUMBER OF THE HOLY,
THESE HONOURED SEPULCHRES ENCLOSE THE BODIES OF THE SAINTS,
THEIR LOFTY SOULS THE PALACE OF HEAVEN HAS RECEIVED.
HERE LIE THE COMPANIONS OF XYSTUS, WHO BEAR AWAY THE TROPHIES FROM
THE ENEMY;
HERE A TRIBE OF THE ELDERS WHICH GUARDS THE ALTARS OF CHRIST;
HERE IS BURIED THE PRIEST WHO LIVED LONG IN PEACE;[18]
HERE THE HOLY CONFESSORS WHO CAME FROM GREECE;[19]
HERE LIE YOUTHS AND BOYS, OLD MEN AND THEIR CHASTE DESCENDANTS,
WHO KEPT THEIR VIRGINITY UNDEFILED.
HERE I, DAMASUS, WISHED TO HAVE LAID MY LIMBS,
BUT FEARED TO DISTURB THE HOLY ASHES OF THE SAINTS.
In front was the altar. From here a gallery leads to the Crypt of S.
Cecilia, where her body was placed after martyrdom by Priest Urban,
A.D. 203. From this resting-place it was removed in 820 by Paschal I.
(See p. 140.) The body was found "fresh and perfect as when it was
first laid in the tomb, and clad in rich garments mixed with gold,
with linen cloths stained with blood rolled up at her feet." On the
wall is a fresco of S. Cecilia attired in a dress of Byzantine
character. Below are two others--on the left, Christ, with a nimbus;
on the right, Urban in full pontifical dress: they are of the ninth
century. After traversing some passages, we enter the cubicula of a
family. On the walls are roughly executed frescoes of the Baptism of
Christ in Jordan by John, the story of Jonah and the Large Fish, Moses
striking the Rock, the Woman at the Well of Samaria, the Paralytic Man
walking with his Bed--doves, emblems of immortality, on the sides. At
the end are two fossori, or grave-diggers, between whom are three
subjects in fresco, representing two men, one on either side of a
tripod on which something is cooking; and next it, seven people seated
at a table, beyond which are two figures and some sheep or lambs.
These frescoes seem to us to represent the scenes at the Lake of
Tiberias, after the resurrection of our Lord, as recorded in the
twenty-first chapter of S. John. They certainly agree with the story:
"There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other
of his disciples" (ver. 2)--"But when the morning was now come, Jesus
stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus"
(ver. 4)--"As soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals
there, and fish laid thereon, and bread" (ver. 9)--"Jesus saith unto
them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art
thou? knowing that it was the Lord" (ver. 12)--"Jesus then cometh, and
taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise" (ver. 13)--"So when
they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou
knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs" (ver. 15;
see also ver. 16, 17). In another sepulchre have been found two
sarcophagi containing remains; the tops are now covered with glass.
Opening out of this sepulchre is another, in which was found a
sarcophagus (fourth century) representing Lazarus being raised from
the dead, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Daniel in the
lions' den. Near this is a crypt containing an inscription having
reference to the heresy of Heraclius, on account of which Eusebius
became a voluntary exile. The names of the person who engraved
it--Furius Dionysius Filocalus--and of Bishop Damasus are cut in two
vertical lines down the sides. It had served previously for an
inscription to Caracalla, made by M. Asinius Sabinianus. It was a very
usual thing for the early Christians to re-use the marble of other
times, on account of its cheapness, they being mostly poor.