BEHOLD! A WAY DOWN HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED, AND THE DARKNESS
DISPELLED: YOU SEE THE MONUMENTS OF CORNELIUS, AND HIS
SACRED TOMB. THIS WORK THE ZEAL OF DAMASUS HAS
ACCOMPLISHED, SICK AS HE IS, IN ORDER THAT THE APPROACH
MIGHT BE BETTER, AND THE AID OF THE SAINT MIGHT BE MADE
CONVENIENT FOR THE PEOPLE; AND THAT, IF YOU WILL POUR FORTH
YOUR PRAYERS FROM A PURE HEART, DAMASUS MAY RISE UP BETTER
IN HEALTH, THOUGH IT HAS NOT BEEN LOVE OF LIFE, BUT CARE
FOR WORK, THAT HAS KEPT HIM HERE BELOW.
AT THE TIME WHEN THE SWORD PIERCED THE HEART OF OUR MOTHER,
I, ITS RULER, BURIED HERE, WAS TEACHING THE THINGS OF
HEAVEN. SUDDENLY THEY CAME, THEY SEIZED ME SEATED AS I WAS.
THE SOLDIERS BEING SENT IN, THE PEOPLE GAVE THEIR NECKS.
SOON THE OLD MAN SAW WHO WAS WILLING TO BEAR AWAY THE PALM
FROM HIMSELF, AND WAS THE FIRST TO OFFER HIMSELF AND HIS
OWN HEAD, FEARING LEST THE BLOW SHOULD FALL ON ANY ONE
ELSE. CHRIST, WHO AWARDS THE REWARDS OF LIFE, RECOGNIZES
THE MERIT OF THE PASTOR; HE HIMSELF IS PRESERVING THE
NUMBER OF HIS FLOCK.
Beyond are two crypts, with a fresco of the Good Shepherd, in good
preservation, on the ceiling, and other Christian emblems. We emerge
into daylight by means of the original stairs, of an early
construction.
_A little lower down the road, on the left, are the_ JEWISH CATACOMBS,
which, perhaps more than any other, would illustrate that these
catacombs were formerly quarries, because they are rather wide.
_A little further on we turn down a rough road on the left_, leading
to what has been called the "antiquary's despair," the