CHRISTIAN CEMETERIES.[141]
Sanctity of tombs guaranteed to all creeds alike.--The
Christians' preference for underground cemeteries not due to fear
at first.--Origin and cause of the first persecutions.--The
attitude of Trajan towards the Christians, and its results.--The
persecution of Diocletian.--The history of the early Christians
illustrated by their graves.--The tombs of the first
century.--The catacombs.--How they were named.--The security they
offered against attack.--Their enormous extent.--Their gradual
abandonment in the fourth century.--Open-air cemeteries developed
in proportion.--The Goths in Rome.--Their pillage of the
catacombs.--Thereafter burial within the city walls became
common.--The translation of the bodies of martyrs.--Pilgrims and
their itineraries.--The catacombs neglected from the ninth to the
sixteenth century.--Their discovery in 1578.--Their wanton
treatment by scholars of that time.--Artistic treasures found in
them.--The catacombs of Generosa.--The story of Simplicius,
Faustina and Viatrix.--The cemetery of Domitilla.--The Christian
Flavii buried there.--The basilica of Nereus, Achilleus and
Petronilla.--The tomb of Ampliatus.--Was this S. Paul's
friend?--The cemetery "ad catacumbas."--The translation of the
bodies of SS. Peter and Paul.--The types of the Saviour in early
art.--The cemetery of Cyriaca.--Discoveries made
there.--Inscriptions and works of art.--The cemetery "ad duas
Lauros."--Frescoes in it.--The symbolic supper.--The discoveries
of Monsignor Wilpert.--The Academy of Pomponio Leto.
The Roman law which established the inviolability of tombs did not
make exceptions either of persons or creeds. Whether the deceased had
been pious or impious, a worshipper of Roman or foreign gods, or a
follower of Eastern or barbaric religions, his burial-place was
considered by law a _locus religiosus_, as inviolable as a temple. In
this respect there was no distinction between Christians, pagans, and
Jews; all enjoyed the same privileges, and were subject to the same
rules. It is not easy to decide whether this condition of things was
an advantage to the faithful. It was certainly advantageous to the
Church that her cemeteries should be considered sacred by the law, and
that the State itself should enforce and guarantee the observance of
the rules (_lex monumenti_) made by the deceased in connection with
his interment, and tomb; but as the police of cemeteries, and the
enforcement of the _leges monumentorum_, was intrusted to the college
of high priests, who were stern champions of paganism, the church was
liable to be embarrassed in many ways. When, for instance, a body had
to be transferred from its temporary repository to the tomb, it was
necessary to obtain the consent of the _pontifices_; which was also
required in case of subsequent removals, and even of simple repairs
to the building. Roman epitaphs constantly refer to this authority of
the pontiffs, and one of them, discovered by Ficoroni in July, 1730,
near the Porta Metronia, contains the correspondence exchanged on the
subject between the two parties. The petitioner, Arrius Alphius, a
favorite freedman of the mother of Antoninus Pius, writes to the high
priests: "Having lost at the same time wife and son, I buried them
temporarily in a terra-cotta coffin. I have since purchased a burial
lot on the left side of the Via Flaminia, between the second and the
third milestones, and near the mausoleum of Silius Orcilus, and
furnished it with marble sarcophagi. I beg permission of you, my
Lords, to transfer the said bodies to the new family vault, so that
when my hour shall come, I may be laid to rest beside the dear ones."
The answer was: "Granted (_fieri placet_). Signed by me, Juventius
Celsus, vice-president [of the college of pontiffs], on the 3d day of
November [A. D. 155]."
The greatest difficulty with which the Christians had to deal was the
obligation to perform expiatory sacrifices in given circumstances; as,
for instance, when a corpse was removed from one place to another, or
when a coffin, damaged by any accidental cause, such as lightning,
inundation, fire, earthquake, or violence, had to be opened and the
bones exposed to view. But these were exceptional cases; and there is
no doubt that the magistrates of Rome were naturally lenient and
forbearing in religious matters, except in time of persecution. The
partiality shown by early Christians for underground cemeteries is due
to two causes: the influence which Eastern customs and the example of
the burial of Christ must necessarily have exercised on them, and the
security and freedom which they enjoyed in the darkness and solitude
of their crypts. Catacombs, however, could not be excavated
everywhere, the presence of veins or beds of soft volcanic stone being
a condition _sine qua non_ of their existence. Cities and villages
built on alluvial or marshy soil, or on hills of limestone and lava,
were obliged to resort to open-air cemeteries. In Rome itself these
were not uncommon. Certainly there was no reason why Christians should
object to the authority of the pontiffs in hygienic and civic matters.
This authority was so deeply rooted and respected, that the emperor
Constans (346-350), although a stanch Christian and anxious to abolish
idolatry, left the pontiffs full jurisdiction over Christian and pagan
cemeteries, by a constitution issued in 349.[142]
From apostolic times to the persecution of Domitian, the faithful were
buried, separately or collectively, in private tombs which did not
have the character of a Church institution. These early tombs, whether
above or below ground, display a sense of perfect security, and an
absence of all fear or solicitude. This feeling arose from two facts:
the small extent of the cemeteries, which secured to them the rights
of private property, and the protection and freedom which the Jewish
colony in Rome enjoyed from time immemorial. The Romans of the first
century, populace as well as government officials, made no distinction
between the proselytes of the Old Testament and those of the New.
Julius Cæsar and Augustus treated the Jews with kindness, and when S.
Paul arrived in Rome the colony was living in peace and prosperity,
practising religion openly in its Transtiberine synagogues.[143] The
same state of things prevailed throughout the peninsula. Thus the
rabbi or archon of the synagogue at Pompeii called the _Synagoga
Libertinorum_ (the existence of which was discovered in September,
1764), could take, in virtue of his office, an active part in city
politics and petty municipal quarrels, and in his official capacity
could sign a document recommending the election of a candidate for
political honors, as is shown by one of the Pompeian inscriptions:--
CUSPIUM PANSAM ÆD[_ilem fieri rogat_] FABIUS EUPOR
PRINCEPS LIBERTINORUM.[144]
The persecution which took place under Claudius was really the first
connected with the preaching of the gospel. According to Suetonius
(Claud. 25) the Jews themselves were the cause of it, having suddenly
become uneasy, troublesome, and offensive, _impulsore Chresto_, that
is to say, on account of Christ's doctrine, which was beginning to be
preached in their synagogues. The expression used by Suetonius shows
how very little was known at the time about the new religion. Although
Christ's name was not unknown to him, he speaks of this outbreak under
Claudius as having been stirred up personally by a certain Chrestus,
as though he were a living member of the Jewish colony. At that early
stage the converts to the gospel were identified by the Romans with
the Jews, not by mistake or error of judgment, but because they were
legally and actually Jews, or rather one Jewish sect which was
carrying on a dogmatic war against the others, on a point which had no
interest whatever in the eyes of the Romans,--that is, the advent of
the Messiah. This statement is corroborated by many passages in the
Acts, such as xviii. 15; xxiii. 29; xxv. 9; xxvi. 28, 32; xxviii. 31.
Claudius Lysias writes to the governor of Judæa that Paul was accused
by his fellow-citizens, not of crimes deserving punishment, but on
some controversial point concerning their law. In Rome itself the
apostle could preach the gospel with freedom, even when in custody, or
under police supervision.[145] And as it was lawful for a Roman
citizen to embrace the Jewish persuasion, and give up the religion of
his fathers, he was equally free to embrace the Evangelic faith, which
was considered by the pagans a Jewish sect, not a new belief.
The pagans despised them both, and mixed themselves up with their
affairs only from a fiscal point of view, because the Jews were
subject to a tax of two drachms per head, and the treasury officials
were obliged to keep themselves acquainted with the statistics of the
colony.
This state of things did not last very long, it being of vital
importance for the Jews to separate their cause from that of the
new-comers. The responsibility for the persecutions which took place
in the first century must be attributed to them, not to the Romans,
whose tolerance in religious matters had become almost a state rule.
The first attempt, made under Claudius, was not a success: it ended,
in fact, with the banishment from the capital of every Jew, no matter
whether he believed in the Old or the New Testament. _Judæos,
impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes, Claudius Romæ expulit_
(Suetonius: Claud. 25). It was, however, a passing cloud. As soon as
they were allowed to come back to their Transtiberine haunts, the
Jews set to work again, exciting the feelings of the populace, and
denouncing the Christians as conspiring against the State and the
gods, under the protection of the law which guaranteed to the Jews the
free exercise of their religion. The populace, impressed by the
conquests made by the gospel among all classes of citizens, was only
too ready to believe the calumny. The Church, repudiated by her mother
the Synagogue, could no longer share the privileges of the Jewish
community. As for the State, it became a necessity either to recognize
Christianity as a new legal religion, or to proscribe and condemn it.
The great fire, which destroyed half of Rome under Nero, and which was
purposely attributed to the Christians, brought the situation to a
crisis. The first persecution began. Had the magistrate who conducted
the inquiry been able to prove the indictment of arson, perhaps the
storm would have been short, and confined to Rome; but as the
Christians could easily exculpate themselves, the trial was changed
from a criminal into a politico-religious one. The Christians were
convicted not so much of arson (_non tam crimine incendii_) as of a
hatred of mankind (_odio generis humani_); a formula which includes
anarchism, atheism, and high treason. This monstrous accusation once
admitted, the persecution could not be limited to Rome; it necessarily
became general, and more violent in one place or another, according to
the impulse of the magistrate who investigated this entirely
unprecedented case.
Was the hope of a legal existence lost forever to the Church? After
Nero's death, and the condemnation of his acts and memory, the
Christians enjoyed thirty years of peace. Domitian broke it, first, by
claiming with unprecedented severity the tribute from the Jews and
those "living a Jewish life;"[146] secondly, by putting the
"atheists," that is, the Christians, to the alternative of giving up
their faith or their life. These measures were abolished shortly after
by Nerva, who sanctioned the rule that in future no one should be
brought to justice under the plea of impiety or Judaism. The answer
given by Trajan to Pliny the younger, when governor of Bithynia, is
famous in the annals of persecutions. To the inquiries made by the
governor, as to the best way of dealing with those "adoring Christ for
their God," Trajan replied, that the magistrate should not molest them
at his own initiative; but if others should bring them to justice, and
convict them of impiety and atheism, they deserved punishment.[147]
These words contain the solemn recognition of the illegality of
Christian worship; they make persecution a rule of state. The faithful
were doomed to have no respite for the next two centuries, except what
they could obtain at intervals from the personal kindness and
tolerance of emperors and magistrates. Those of the Jewish religion
continued to enjoy protection and privileges, but Christianity was
either persecuted or tolerated, as it happened; so that, even under
emperors who abhorred severity and bloodshed, the faithful were at the
mercy of the first vagrant who chanced to accuse them of impiety.
Strange to say, more clemency was shown towards them by emperors whom
we are accustomed to call tyrants, than by those who are considered
models of virtue. The author of the "Philosophumena" (book ix., ch.
11) says that Commodus granted to Pope Victor the liberation of the
Christians who had been condemned to the mines of Sardinia by Marcus
Aurelius. Thus that profligate emperor was really more merciful to the
Church than the philosophic author of the "Meditations," who, in the
year 174, had witnessed the miracle of the Thundering Legion. The
reason is evident. The wise rulers foresaw the destructive effect of
the new doctrines on pagan society, and indirectly on the empire
itself; whereas those who were given over to dissipation were
indifferent to the danger; "after them, the deluge!"
At the beginning of the third century, under the rule of Caracalla and
Elagabalus, the Church enjoyed nearly thirty years of peace,
interrupted only by the short persecution of Maximus, and by
occasional outbreaks of popular hostility here and there.[148]
In 249 the "days of terror" returned, and continued fiercer than ever
under the rules of Decius, Gallus, and Valerianus. The last
persecution, that of Diocletian and his colleagues, was the longest
and most cruel of all. For the space of ten years not a day of mercy
shone over the _ecclesia fidelium_. The historian Eusebius, an
eye-witness, says that when the persecutors became tired of bloodshed,
they contrived a new form of cruelty. They put out the right eyes of
the confessors, cut the tendon of their left legs, and then sent them
to the mines, lame, half blind, half starved, and flogged nearly to
death. In book VIII., chapter 12, the historian says that the number
of sufferers was so great that no account could be kept of them in the
archives of the Church. The memory of this decade of horrors has never
died out in Rome. We have still a local tradition, not altogether
unfounded, of ten thousand Christians who were condemned to quarry
materials for Diocletian's Baths, and who were put to death after the
dedication of the building.
Towards the end of 306, Maxentius stopped the persecution, but the
true era of peace did not begin before 312, which is the date of
Constantine's famous "edict of Milan," granting to the Church liberty
and free possession of her places of worship and cemeteries forever.
The events of which I have given a summary sketch are beautifully
illustrated by the discoveries which have been made in early Christian
cemeteries, from May 31, 1578, which is the date of the discovery of
the first catacomb, to the present day.
From the time of the apostles to the first persecution of Domitian,
Christian tombs, whether above or below ground, were built with
perfect impunity and in defiance of public opinion. We have been
accustomed to consider the catacombs of Rome as crypts plunged in
total darkness, and penetrating the bowels of the earth at
unfathomable depths. This is, in a certain measure, the case with
those catacombs, or sections of catacombs, which were excavated in
times of persecution; but not with those belonging to the first
century. The cemetery of these members of Domitian's family who had
embraced the gospel--such as Flavius Clemens, Flavia Domitilla,
Plautilla, Petronilla, and others--reveals a bold example of
publicity.
The entrance to the crypt, discovered in 1714 and again in 1865, near
the farmhouse of Tor Marancia, at the first milestone of the Via
Ardeatina, is hewn out of a perpendicular cliff, which is conspicuous
from the high road (the modern Via delle Sette Chiese). The crypt is
approached through a vestibule, which was richly decorated with
terra-cotta carvings, and, on the frieze, a monumental inscription
enclosed by an elaborate frame. No pagan mausolea of the Via Appia or
the Via Latina show a greater sense of security or are placed more
conspicuously than this early Christian tomb. The frescoes on the
ceiling of the vestibule, representing biblical scenes, such as Daniel
in the lions' den, the history of Jonah, etc., were exposed to
daylight, and through the open door could be seen by the passer. No
precaution was taken to conceal these symbolic scenes from profane or
hostile eyes. We regret the loss of the inscription above the
entrance, which, besides the name of the owner of the crypt, probably
contained the _lex monumenti_, and a formula specifying the religion
of those buried within. In this very catacomb, a few steps from the
vestibule, an inscription has been found, in which a Marcus Aurelius
Restitutus declares that he has built a tomb for himself and his
relatives (_sibi et suis_), provided they were believers in Christ
(_fidentes in Domino_). Another tombstone, discovered in 1864, in the
Villa Patrizi, near the catacombs of Nicomedes, states that none might
be buried in the tomb to which it was attached except those who
belonged to the creed (_pertinentes ad religionem_) of the founder.
[Illustration: Entrance to the Crypt of the Flavians.]
The time soon came when these frank avowals of Christianity were
either impossible or extremely hazardous; and although legally a tomb
continued to be a _locus religiosus_, no matter what the creed of the
deceased had been, a vague sense of anxiety was felt by the Church,
lest even these last refuges should be violated by the mob and its
leaders. Hence the extraordinary development which underground
cemeteries underwent towards the end of the first and the beginning of
the second century. These catacombs were considered by the law to be
the property of the citizen who owned the ground above, and who either
excavated them at his own cost, or gave the privilege of doing so to
the Church. This is the reason why the names of our oldest suburban
cemeteries are derived, not from the illustrious saints buried in
them, but from the owner of the property under which the catacomb was
first excavated. Balbina, Callixtus, Domitilla were never laid to rest
in the catacombs which bear their names. Prætextatus, Apronianus, the
Jordans, Novella, Pontianus, and Maximus, after whom other cemeteries
were named, are all totally unknown persons. When these cemeteries
became places of worship and pilgrimage, after the Peace of
Constantine, the old names which had sheltered them from the violence
of persecutors were abandoned, and replaced by those of local martyrs.
Thus the catacomb of Domitilla became that of Nereus and Achilleus;
that of Balbina was named for S. Mark; that of Callixtus for SS.
Sixtus and Cæcilia; and that of Maximus for S. Felicitas.
One characteristic of Christian epigraphy shows what a comparatively
safe place the catacombs were. Inscriptions belonging to them never
contain those requests to the passer to respect the tomb, which are so
frequent in sepulchral inscriptions from tombs above-ground, and which
sometimes, on Christian as well as pagan graves, take the form of an
imprecation. An epitaph discovered by Hamilton near Eumenia, Phrygia,
contains this rather violent formula: "May the passer who damages my
tomb bury all his children at the same time." In another, found near
the church of S. Valeria, in Milan, the imprecation runs: "May the
wrath of God and of his Christ fall on the one who dares to disturb
the peace of our sleep."
The safety of the catacombs was not due to the fact that their
existence was known only to the proselytes of Christ. The magistrates
possessed a thorough knowledge of their location, number, and extent;
and we have evidence of raids and descents by the police on
extraordinary occasions, as, for instance, during the persecutions of
Valerian and Diocletian. The ordinary entrances to the catacombs,
which were known to the police, were sometimes walled up or otherwise
concealed, and new secret outlets opened through abandoned pozzolana
quarries (_arenariæ_). Some of these outlets have been discovered, or
are to be seen, in the cemeteries of Agnes, Thrason, Callixtus, and
Castulus. In May, 1867, while excavating on the southern boundary line
of the Cemetery of Callixtus, de Rossi found himself suddenly
confronted with sandpits, the galleries of which came in contact with
those of the cemetery several times. The passage from one to the other
had been most ingeniously disguised by the _fossores_, as those who
dug the catacombs were called.[149]
The defence of these cemeteries in troubled times must have caused
great anxiety to the Church. Tertullian tells how the population of
Carthage, excited against the Christians, sought to obtain from
Hilarianus, governor of Africa, the destruction of their graves. "Let
them have no burial-ground!" (_areæ eorum non sint_) was the rallying
cry of the mob.
The catacombs are unfit for men to live in, or to stay in even for a
few days. The tradition that Antonio Bosio spent seventy or eighty
consecutive hours in their depths is unfounded. When we hear of Popes,
priests, or their followers seeking refuge in catacombs, we must
understand that they repaired to the buildings connected with them,
such as the lodgings of the keepers, undertakers, and local clergymen.
Pope Boniface I., when molested by Symmachus and Eulalius, found
shelter in the house connected with the Cemetery of Maximus on the Via
Salaria. The crypts themselves were sought as a refuge only in case of
extreme emergency. Thus Barbatianus, a priest from Antiochia,
concealed himself in the Catacombs of Callixtus to escape the wrath of
Galla Placidia.
Many attempts have been made to estimate the extent of our catacombs,
the length of their galleries, and the number of tombs which they
contain. Michele Stefano de Rossi, brother of the archæologist, gives
the following results for the belt of catacombs within three miles of
the gates of Servius:[150]--
(A) Surface of tufa beds, capable of being excavated into catacombs,
67,000,000 square feet.
(B) Surface actually excavated into catacombs, from one to four
stories deep, 22,500,000 square feet,--more than a square mile.
(C) Aggregate length of galleries, calculated on the average
construction of six different catacombs, 866 kilometres, equal to 587
geographical miles.
The sides of the galleries contain several rows of loculi, sometimes
six or eight. Some bodies are buried under the floor, or in the
cubiculi which open right and left at short intervals. Assuming these
galleries to be capable of containing two bodies per metre, the
number of Christians buried in the catacombs, within three miles from
the gates of Servius, may be estimated at a minimum of 1,752,000.
The construction of this prodigious labyrinth required the excavation
and removal of 96,000,000 cubic feet of solid rock.
With regard to the number of inscriptions, I quote the following
passage from Northcote's "Epitaphs," page 3: "Of Christian
inscriptions in Rome, during the first six centuries, de Rossi has
studied more than fifteen thousand, the immense majority of which were
taken from the catacombs; and he tells us there is still an average
yearly addition of about five hundred, derived from the same source.
This number, vast as it is, is but a poor remnant of what once
existed. From the collections made in the eighth and ninth centuries
it appears that there were once at least one hundred and seventy
ancient Christian inscriptions in Rome, which had an historical or
monumental character; written generally in metre, and to be seen at
that time in the places which they were intended to illustrate. Of
these only twenty-six remain, either whole or in parts. In the Roman
topographies of the seventh century, one hundred and forty sepulchres
of famous martyrs and confessors are enumerated; we have recovered
only twenty inscribed memorials, to assist us in the identification of
these. Only nine epitaphs have come to light belonging to the bishops
of Rome during the same six centuries; and yet, during that period,
there were certainly buried in the suburbs of the city upwards of
sixty. Thus, whatever facts we take as the basis of our calculation,
it would seem that scarcely a seventh part of the original wealth of
the Roman church in memorials of this kind has survived the wreck of
ages; and de Rossi gives it as his conviction that there were once
_more than one hundred thousand_ of them."
When the catacombs began to be better known to the general public, and
were visited by crowds of the devout or curious, they became one of
the marvels of Rome. Travellers who so admired the _syringes_ or
crypts of the kings of Thebes, calling them [Greek: ta thaumata] (the
wonders), could not help being struck with awe at the great work
accomplished by our Christian community in less than three centuries.
An inscription found by Deville at Thebes, in one of the royal crypts,
and published in the "Archives des missions scientifiques," 1866, vol.
ii. p. 484, thus refers to the parallel wonders of Roman and Egyptian
catacombs: "Antonius Theodorus, intendant of Egypt and Phoenicia,
who has spent many years in the Queen-city of Rome, has seen the
wonders ([Greek: ta thaumata]) both there and here." The allusion to
the catacombs in comparison with the _syringes_ is evident. The
inscription dates from the second half of the fourth century.
To the edict of Milan, and to the peace which it gave to the Church,
we must attribute the origin of the decadence of underground
cemeteries. Burial in open-air cemeteries having become secure once
more, there was no reason why the faithful should give preference to
the unhealthy and overcrowded crypts below. The example of desertion
was set by the Popes themselves. Melchiades (311-314), who was the
first to occupy the Lateran palace after the victory of the Church,
was the last Pope buried near his predecessors _in coemeteris
Callisti in cripta_. Sylvester, his successor, was buried in a chapel
built expressly, above the crypt of Priscilla, Mark above the crypts
of Balbina, Julius above those of Calepodius, and so on. Still, the
desire of securing a grave in proximity to the shrine of a martyr was
so intense that the use of the catacombs lasted for a century longer,
although in diminishing proportions. When a gallery is discovered
which contains more graves than usual, and has been excavated even in
the narrow ledges of rock which separated the original loculi, or else
at the corners of the crossings, which were usually left untouched, as
protection against the caving-in of the earth, we may be sure we are
approaching a martyr's altar-tomb. Sometimes the paintings which
decorate a martyr's _cubiculum_ have been disfigured and their
inscriptions effaced by an overzealous devotee. The accompanying cut
shows the damage inflicted on a picture of the Good Shepherd in the
cubiculum of S. Januarius, in the Catacombs of Prætextatus, by an
unscrupulous disciple who wished to be buried as near as possible to
his patron-saint.
[Illustration: Cubiculum of Januarius.]
By the end of the fourth century burials in catacombs became rare, and
still more between 400 and 410. They were apparently given up
altogether after 410. The development of open-air cemeteries increased
in proportion, those of S. Lorenzo and S. Paolo fuori le Mura being
among the most popular. In 1863, when the entrance-gate to the modern
Camposanto adjoining S. Lorenzo was built, fifty tombs, mostly
unopened, were found in a space ninety feet long by forty feet wide.
Since that time five hundred tombstones have been gathered in the
neighborhood of that favorite church. As regards S. Paul's cemetery,
more than one thousand inscriptions, whole or in fragments, were found
in rebuilding the basilica and its portico, after the fire of
1823;[151] two hundred in the excavations of S. Valentine's basilica,
outside the Porta del Popolo. These last excavations are the only ones
illustrating a Christian cemetery which are left visible; but their
importance is limited. The cemeteries of Arles and Pola, alluded to by
Dante, have disappeared; and so has the magnificent one of the
officers and men employed in the Roman arsenal at Concordia
Sagittaria, which was discovered in 1873, near Portogruaro, by Perulli
and Bartolini. This cemetery, which contains, in the section already
explored, nearly two hundred sarcophagi, cut in limestone, in the
shape of Petrarch's coffin, at Arquà, or Antenor's at Padua, was
wrecked by Attila in 452, and buried soon after by an inundation of
the river Tagliamento, which spread masses of mud and sand over the
district, and raised its level five feet. The accompanying plate is
from a photograph taken at the time of the discovery.
I have just stated that burial in catacombs seems to have been
abandoned in 410, because no inscription of a later date has yet been
found. The reader will easily perceive the reason for the abandonment.
On August 10, 410, Rome was stormed by Alaric, and the suburbs
devastated. This fatal year marks the end of a great and glorious era
in Christian epigraphy, and in the history of catacombs the end of the
work of the _fossores_. More fatal still was the barbaric invasion of
457. The actual destruction began in 537, during the siege of Rome by
Vitiges. The biographer of Pope Silverius expressly says: "Churches
and tombs of martyrs have been destroyed by the Goths" (_ecclesiæ et
corpora sanctorum martyrum exterminata sunt a Gothis_). It is
difficult to explain why the Goths, confessed and even bigoted
Christians (Arians) as they were, and full of respect for the
basilicas of S. Peter and S. Paul, as Procopius declares, should have
ransacked the catacombs, violated the tombs of martyrs, and broken
their historical inscriptions. Perhaps it was because none of the
barbarians could read Latin or Greek epitaphs, and make the
distinction between pagan and Christian cemeteries; or perhaps they
were moved by the desire of finding hidden treasures, or securing
relics of saints. Whatever may have been the reason of their behavior,
we must remember that two encampments, at least, of the Goths were
just over catacombs and around their entrances; one on the Via
Salaria, over those of Thrason; the other on the Via Labicana, above
those of Peter and Marcellinus. The barbarians could not resist the
temptation of exploring those subterranean wonders; indeed they were
obliged to do so by the most elementary rules of precaution in order
to insure the safety of their intrenchments against surprises. Here I
have to record a remarkable coincidence. In each of these two
catacombs the following memorial tablet has been seen or found,
written in distichs by Pope Virgilius:--
[Illustration: CHRISTIAN MILITARY CEMETERY OF CONCORDIA SAGITTARIA]
"When the Goths pitched their camps under the walls of Rome, they
declared an impious war against the Saints:
"And destroyed in their sacrilegious attack the tombs dedicated
to the memory of martyrs:
"Whose epitaphs, composed by Pope Damasus, have been
destroyed.
"Pope Virgilius, having witnessed the destruction, has repaired
the tombs, the inscriptions, and the underground sanctuaries
after the retreat of the Goths."
The repairs must have been made in haste, between March, 537, the date
of the flight of Vitiges, and the following November, the date of the
journey of Virgilius to Constantinople, from which he never returned.
Traces of this Pope's restorations have been found in other catacombs.
In those of Callixtus the fragments of a tablet, dedicated by Damasus
to S. Eusebius, have been found, dispersed over a large area, and also
a copy set up by Virgilius in the place of the original. In those of
Hippolytus, on the Via Tiburtina, an inscription was discovered in
1881, which stated that the "sacred caverns" had been restored
_præsule Virgilio_. The example of Virgilius and his successors in the
See of Rome was followed by private individuals. The tomb of
Crysanthus and Daria on the Via Salaria was restored, after the
retreat of the barbarians, _pauperis ex censu_, that is to say, with
the modest means of a devotee.
Nibby has attributed the origin of cemeteries within the walls to the
invasion of Vitiges, burial within the city limits having been
strictly forbidden by the laws of Rome. But the law seems to have been
practically disregarded even before the Gothic wars. Christians were
buried in the Prætorian camp, and in the gardens of Mæcenas, during
the reign of Theodoric (493-526). I have mentioned this particular
because it marks another step towards the abandonment of suburban
cemeteries. The country around Rome having become insecure and
deserted, it was deemed necessary to place within the protection of
the city walls the bodies of martyrs who had been buried at a great
distance from the gates. The first translation took place in 648: the
second in 682, when the bodies of Primus and Felicianus were removed
from Nomentum, and those of Viatrix, Faustinus and Simplicius from the
_Lucus Arvalium_ (Monte delle Piche, by la Magliana). The last blow to
the catacombs was given by Paschal I. (817-824). Contemporary
documents mention innumerable transferences of bodies. The mosaic
legend of the apse of S. Prassede says that Pope Paschal buried the
bodies of many saints within its walls.[152]
The official catalogue of the remains removed on July 20, 817, which
was compiled by the Pope's notary and engraved on marble, has come
down to us. It speaks of the translation of twenty-three hundred
bodies, most of which were buried under the chapel of S. Zeno, which
Paschal I. had built as a memorial to his mother, Theodora Episcopa.
The legend in the apse of S. Cæcilia speaks, likewise, of the
transference to her church of bodies "which had formerly reposed in
crypts" (_quæ primum in cryptis pausabant_): among them those of
Cæcilia herself, Valerianus, Tiburtius, and Maximus. The finding and
removal of Cæcilia's remains from the Catacombs of Callixtus is one of
the most graceful episodes in the life of Paschal I. He describes it
at length in a letter addressed to the people of Rome.
After many unsuccessful attempts to discover the coffin of the saint,
he had come to the conclusion that it must have been stolen by the
Lombards, when they were besieging the city in 755. S. Cæcilia,
however, told him in a vision where her grave was; and hurrying to the
catacombs of the Appian Way he at last discovered her crypt and
coffin, together with those of fourteen Popes, from Zephyrinus to
Melchiades. It is only fair to say that the discoveries made in this
very crypt, between 1850 and 1853, confirm the account of Paschal in
its minutest details.
The first half of the ninth century thus marks the final abandonment
of the catacombs, and the cessation of divine worship in their
historical crypts. In later times we find little or no mention of them
in Church annals. When we read of Nicholas I. (858-867) and of Paschal
II. (1099-1118) visiting the cemeteries, we must believe that their
visits were to the basilicas erected over the catacombs, and to their
special crypts, not to the catacombs themselves. In the chronicle of
the monastery of S. Michael ad Mosam we read of a pilgrim of the
eleventh century who obtained relics of saints "from the keeper of a
certain cemetery, in which lamps are always burning." He refers to the
basilica of S. Valentine and the small hypogæum attached to it
(discovered in 1887), not to catacombs in the true sense of the word.
The very last account referring directly to them dates from the time
of Pope Nicholas I. (858-867) who is said to have restored the crypt of
Mark on the Via Ardeatina, and of Felix, Abdon, and Sennen on the Via
Portuensis. At this time also the visits of pilgrims, to whose
itineraries, or guidebooks, we are indebted for so much knowledge of
the topography of suburban cemeteries, come to an end. The best
itineraries are those of Einsiedeln, Salzburg, Wurzburg, and William
of Malmesbury; and the list of the oils from the lamps burning before
the tombs of martyrs, which were collected by John, abbot of Monza, at
the request of queen Theodolinda. The pilgrims left many records of
their visits scratched on the walls of the sanctuaries; and to these
_graffiti_ also we are indebted for much information, since they
contain formulas of devotion addressed to the saint of the place. They
are very interesting in their simplicity of thought and diction, as
are generally the memoirs of early pilgrims and pilgrimages. I shall
mention one, discovered not many years ago in the cemetery of
Mustiola at Chiusi. It is a plain tombstone, inscribed with the
words:--
HIC · POSITUS · EST · PEREGRINUS · CICONIAS · CUIUS ·
NOMEN · DEUS · SCIT
"Here is buried a pilgrim from Thrace, whose name is known only to
God." The tale is simple and touching. A pilgrim on his way to Rome,
or back to his country, was overtaken by death at Chiusi, before he
could make himself known to those who had come to his help. They could
only suppose he had come from Thrace, the country of the Cicones,
possibly from the language he spoke, or from the costume he wore.
On May 31, 1578, a workman, while digging a sandpit in the vineyard of
Bartolomeo Sanchez at the second milestone of the Via Salaria, came
upon a Christian cemetery containing frescoes, sarcophagi, and
inscriptions. This unexpected discovery created a great
sensation,[153] and the report was circulated that an underground city
had been found. The leading men of the age hastened to the spot; among
them Baronius, who speaks of these wondrous crypts three or four times
in his annals.[154] It seems that the network of galleries, crossing
one another at various angles, the skylights, the wells, the symmetry
of the cubiculi and arcosolia, the number of loculi with which the
sides of the galleries were honeycombed, affected the imagination of
visitors even more than the pictures, the sarcophagi, and the
epitaphs. The subjects of the frescoes were so varied as to contain
almost the whole cycle of early Christian symbolism. There were the
Good Shepherd and the Praying Soul, Noah and the ark, Daniel and the
lions, Moses striking the rock, the story of Jonah, the sacrifice of
Isaac, the three men in the fiery furnace, the resurrection of
Lazarus, etc. The bas-reliefs of the marble coffins represented
Christian love-feasts and pastoral scenes. The epitaphs contained
simply names, except one, which was raised by a girl "to her sweet
nurse Paulina, who dwells in Christ among the blessed." These pious
memorials of the primitive church led the learned visitors to
investigate their meaning and value, as well as the history and name
of those mysterious labyrinths. The origin of Christian archæology,
therefore, really dates from May 1, 1578. Antonio Bosio, the Columbus
of subterranean Rome, was but three years old at that time, but he
seems to have developed his marvellous instinct on the strength of
what he saw in the Vigna Sanchez in his boyhood. The crypts, however,
had but a short life: the quarry-men damaged and robbed them to such
an extent that, when Bosio began his career in 1593, every trace of
them had disappeared. They have never been found since. We can only
point out to the lover of these studies the site of the Vigna Sanchez.
It is marked by a monumental gate, on the right side of the Via
Salaria, crowned by the well-known coat-of-arms of the della Rovere
family, to whom the property was sold towards the end of the sixteenth
century. The gate is a little more than a mile from the Porta Salaria.
From that time to the first quarter of the present century, we have to
tell the same long tale of destruction. And who were responsible for
this wholesale pillage? The very men--Aringhi, Boldetti, Marangoni,
Bottari--who devoted their lives, energies and talents to the study of
the catacombs, and to whom we are indebted for many standard works on
Christian archæology. Such was the spirit of the age. Whether an
historical inscription came out of one cemetery or another did not
matter to them; the topographical importance of discoveries was not
appreciated. Written or engraved memorials were sought, not for the
sake of the history of the place to which they belonged, but to
ornament houses, museums, villas, churches and monasteries. In 1863,
de Rossi found a portion of the Cemetery of Callixtus, near the tombs
of the Popes, in incredible confusion and disorder: loculi ransacked,
their contents stolen, their inscriptions broken and scattered far and
wide, and the bones themselves taken out of their graves. The
perpetrators of the outrage had taken care to leave their names
written in charcoal or with the smoke of tallow candles; they were men
employed by Boldetti in his explorations of the catacombs, between
1713 and 1717. Some of the tombstones were removed by him to S. Maria
in Trastevere, and inserted in the floor of the nave. Benedict XIV.
took away the best, and placed them in the Vatican Library. They have
now migrated again to the Museo Epigrafico of the Lateran Palace.
Those left in the floor of S. Maria in Trastevere were removed to the
vestibule of the church in 1865.
In 1714, some beautiful paintings of the first century were discovered
in the crypt of the Flavian family (Domitilla) at Torre Marancia. They
were examined by well-known archæologists and churchmen, whose names
are scratched or written on the walls: Boldetti, Marangoni, Bottari,
Leonardo da Porto Maurizio, and G. B. de Rossi (the last two since
canonized by the Church), and by hundreds of priests, nuns,
missionaries, and pilgrims. No mention is made of this beautiful
discovery in contemporary books; but an attempt was made to steal the
frescoes, which resulted, as usual, in their total destruction.[155]
The catacombs owe their sad fate to the riches which they contained.
In times of persecution, when the _fossores_ were pressed by too much
work and memorial tablets could not be secured in time, it was
customary for the survivors to mark the graves of the dear ones either
with a symbol, a word, or a date scratched in the fresh cement; or
with some object of identification, such as glass cups, medallions,
cameos, intaglios, objects cut in rock crystal, coral, etc. If the
work of exploration has been carried on actively in the last three
centuries, it is on account of the rich harvest which searching
parties were sure to reap whenever they chanced to come across a
catacomb or part of a catacomb, yet unexplored, with these signs of
recognition untouched.
The best works of the glyptic art, the rarest gems, coins, and
medallions of European cabinets have come to light in this way. Pietro
Sante Bartoli, who chronicled the discoveries made in Rome in the
second half of the seventeenth century, speaks several times of
treasure-trove in catacombs:[156]
"In a Christian cemetery discovered outside the Porta Portese, in the
vineyard of a priest named degli Effetti, many relics of martyrs have
been found, a beautiful set of the rarest medallions (_bellissima
serie di medaglioni rarissimi_), works in metal and crystal, engraved
stones, jewels, and other curios and interesting objects, many of
which were sold by the workmen at low prices." And again: "The opening
of a catacomb was discovered by accident under the Casaletto of Pius
V., outside the Porta S. Pancrazio. Although the crypt had never been
entered, and promised to be very rich, no excavations were attempted,
owing to the dangerous condition of the rock. One object only was
extracted from the ruinous cavern; a polychrome cameo of marvellous
beauty (_di meravigliosa bellezza_) representing a Bacchanalian. The
stone measured sixteen inches in length by ten in width. It was given
to cardinal Massimi."[157]
The number of catacombs has been greatly exaggerated. Panvinius and
Baronius stated it as forty-three; Aringhi and his followers raised
this number to sixty. De Rossi, however, in vol. i., p. 206, of the
"Roma sotterranea" proves that the number of catacombs excavated
during the first three centuries, within a radius of three miles from
the walls of Servius Tullius, is but twenty-six; besides eleven of
much less importance, and five which were excavated after the Peace of
Constantine.
It would be impossible to give even a summary description of these
forty-two cemeteries, within the limits of the present chapter. De
Rossi's account of Lucina's crypts in the Cemetery of Callixtus
occupies one hundred and thirty-two folio pages, and has required
thirty-five plates of illustration. I must confine myself to the
mention of the few discoveries, connected with the history and
topography of underground Rome, which have come within my personal
experience, or which I have had occasion to study.
THE CATACOMBS OF GENEROSA. In 1867, while watching with my friend
commendatore Visconti (the present director of the Vatican Museum) the
excavations of the Sacred Grove of the Arvales, on the Via Campana,
five miles outside the Porta Portese, I witnessed for the first time
the discovery of a catacomb. The experience could not have been more
pleasant, nor the history of the first occupants of these crypts more
interesting.
In the persecution of Diocletian two brothers, Simplicius and
Faustinus, were tortured and put to death for their faith, and their
bodies were thrown into the Tiber from the bridge of Æmilius Lepidus.
The stream carried them to a considerable distance, and their young
sister Beatrix, who was anxiously watching the banks of the river for
the recovery of their dear remains, discovered them lying in the
shallows of la Magliana, near the grove of the Arvales. She buried
them in a small Christian cemetery which a certain Generosa had
excavated close by, under the boundary line of the grove itself.
Beatrix, left alone in the world, found shelter in the house of one of
the Lucinas; but the persecutors, to whom her pious action had
evidently been reported, discovered her retreat, and killed her by
suffocation, seven months after the execution of Simplicius and
Faustinus. Lucina laid her to rest in the same cemetery of Generosa,
by the side of her brothers. This touching story is related in
contemporary documents.
Pope Damasus, who in his younger days had been notary and stenographer
of the church of Rome, and was acquainted with every detail of the
last persecution, raised a small oratory to the memory of the three
martyrs, and sanctified the ground which for eleven centuries had been
the seat of the worship of the Dea Dia. The chapel lasted until the
pontificate of Leo II., when it became evident that the only way of
saving the remains of Beatrix, Simplicius, and Faustinus from
profanation and robbery, was to remove them from a place so
conspicuous for many miles around, and directly in the path of pirates
and invaders from the sea, and to place them under the protection of
the city walls. The translation took place in 682; the bodies were
removed to the church of Santa Biviana, or the Bibiana, on the
Esquiline, and placed in a sarcophagus, with the record: "Here lie in
peace Simplicius and Faustinus, martyrs, drowned in the Tiber and
buried in the cemetery of Generosa, above the landing-place called ad
Sextum Philippi." Sarcophagus and inscription are still in existence.
The discovery of the oratory of Pope Damasus and the cemetery of
Generosa took place, as already stated, in the spring of 1867, when a
fragment of the architrave of the altar was found in front of the
apse, inscribed with the names, ··· STINO · VIATRICI, engraved in the
best Damasian calligraphy. The spelling of the second name deserves
attention, because it is certainly intentional, as Damasus and his
engraver Furius Dionysius Philocalus are distinguished for absolute
epigraphic correctness. _Viatrix_, the feminine of _Viator_, is
altogether different from _Beatrix_, and has its own Christian
meaning, as an allusion to the eventful journey of human life. Must we
take the word _Beatrix_ as a new form, more or less connected with the
adjective _beatus_, or as a corruption of the genuine name? No doubt
it is a corruption, as the oldest martyrologies and liturgies have the
genuine spelling. The substitution of the B instead of the V took
place in the eighth or ninth century, and appears for the first time
in the Codex of Berne. The grammarian who wrote it was evidently of
the opinion that _Viatrix_ was not the right spelling; and so the true
and beautiful name of the sister of Faustinas and Simplicius became
corrupted.
[Illustration: Sancta Viatrix.]
The accompanying illustration represents the portrait of Viatrix
discovered in the Catacomb of Generosa in the spring of 1868.
THE CEMETERY OF DOMITILLA. The farm of Torre Marancia, at the crossing
of the Via Ardeatina and the Via delle Sette Chiese, is familiar to
archæologists on account of the successful excavations which the
duchess of Chablais made there in the spring of the years 1817 and
1822. Bartolomeo Borghesi, who first visited them in April, 1817,
describes the remains of a noble villa of the first century, with
mosaic pavements, fountains, statuary, candelabra, and frescos. The
pictures of Pasiphae, Canace, Phædra, Myrrha, and Scylla, which are
now in the Cabinet of the Aldobrandini Marriage, in the Vatican
Library, were discovered in one of the bedrooms of the villa. Other
works of art, now exhibited in the third compartment of the Galleria
dei Candelabri, were found in the peristyle. An exact description of
these discoveries, with maps and illustrations, is given by Marchese
Biondi in a volume called "Monumenti Amaranziani," published in Rome
in 1825.
The Villa Amaranthiana, from which the modern name of Torre Marancia
is derived, belonged to two ladies, one of imperial descent, Flavia
Domitilla, a relative of Domitian and Titus, the other of patrician
birth, Munatia Procula, the daughter of Marcus. Domitilla's name
appears twice in documents attesting her ownership of the ground; the
first is the grant of a sepulchral area, measuring thirty-five feet by
forty, to Sergius Cornelius Julianus _ex indulgentia Flaviæ
Domitillæ_; the other mentions the construction of another tomb,
_Flaviæ Domitillæ divi Vespasiani neptis beneficio_.[158] These
concessions refer to burial-plots above ground, on the Via Ardeatina.
Much more important was the permission given by Domitilla for the
excavation of a catacomb in the service of the Church, which had just
been established in Rome by the apostles. The catacomb consisted
originally of two sections; one for the use of those members of the
imperial Flavian family who had been converted to the gospel, and one
for common use. I have already given a brief account of the first (see
p. 10). The entrance to the crypts was built in a conspicuous place,
under the safeguard of the law which guaranteed the inviolability of
private tombs. The place can still be visited. On each side of the
entrance are apartments for the celebration of anniversary banquets,
the [Greek: agapai] or love-feasts of the early Church. Those on the
left are decorated in the so-called Pompeian style, with birds and
festoons on a red ground. Here is the well, the drinking-fountain, the
washing-trough, and the wardrobe. On the opposite side is the
_schola_, or banqueting-room, with benches on three sides. There is no
doubt that the builders and owners of these crypts were Christians;
because the graves within were arranged for the interment of bodies,
not for cremation; that is, for sarcophagi and coffins, not for
cinerary urns; and, as I stated at the beginning of the previous
chapter, the pagans of the first century, and of the first half of the
second, were never interred. The Domitilla after whom the catacombs
were named was a niece of Vespasian, _Divi Vespasiani neptis_. The
reader will remember that in chapter i. I quoted Xiphilinus as saying
that in the year 95 some members of the imperial family were condemned
by Domitian on the charge of atheism, together with other leading
personages, who had adopted "the customs and persuasion of the
Jews,"--an expression which means the Christian faith. Among those
condemned he mentions Clemens and Domitilla, whose genealogy is still
subject to some uncertainty.
A tombstone discovered in 1741, by Marangoni, in these very catacombs,
mentions two names, Flavius Sabinus and Flavia Titiana. They are
descendants, perhaps grandchildren, of Flavius Sabinus, the brother of
Vespasian. Sabinus was prefect of Rome during the persecution of Nero;
but Tacitus[159] describes him as a gentle man, who hated violence
(_mitem virum abhorrentem a sanguine et cædibus_). His second son,
Titus Flavius Clemens, consul A. D. 82, was executed in 95 on account
of his Christian faith; and Flavia Domitilla, his daughter-in-law, was
banished for the same cause to the island Pandataria. There is a
record of the banishment of another Flavia Domitilla to the island of
Pontia; but her genealogy and relationship with the former have not
been yet clearly established. Some writers, however, have identified
her with the niece of Vespasian, mentioned in the inscription referred
to above, as owner of the villa of Torre Marancia and founder of the
catacombs. The small island, where she spent many years in solitary
confinement, is described by S. Jerome as one of the leading places of
pilgrimage in the fourth century of our era.
The "Acta Martyrum" state that Flavia Domitilla, niece of Flavius
Clemens, was buried at Terracina, with her attendants, Theodora and
Euphrosyne; and that her body-servants, or _cubicularii_, Nereus and
Achilleus, who were executed for the same reason, were laid to rest in
the crypts of the Villa Amaranthiana, half a mile from Rome, near the
tomb of Petronilla, the so-called daughter of S. Peter. In the early
itineraries the place is also indicated as the "cemetery of
Domitilla, Nereus, and Achilleus, near Santa Petronilla." Bosio
discovered it towards the end of the sixteenth century, and mistook it
for the Cemetery of Callixtus. The discoveries made in 1873 leave no
doubt as to its identification with the famous burial-place of the
Flavians; they brought to light, not a crypt of ordinary dimensions,
but a basilica equal in size to the one dedicated to S. Lorenzo by
Constantine.
[Illustration: Basilica of Nereus, Achilleus and Petronilla.]
The pavement of the basilica is sunk to the level of the second floor
of the catacombs, in order that the graves of Nereus, Achilleus, and
Petronilla could be enclosed in the altar, without being raised, or
touched at all. The body of the church is divided into nave and aisles
by two rows of columns, mostly of _cipollino_, some of which were
stolen in 1871 by the farmer; the others were found in 1876 lying on
the floor, in parallel lines from northeast to southwest, as if they
had been overthrown by an earthquake.
A fragment of one of the four columns which supported the ciborium
above the high altar has been found in the apse. This fragment
contains a bas-relief representing the execution of a martyr. The
young man is tied to a stake, which is surmounted by a cross-beam,
like a [Symbol: T], the true shape of the _patibulum cruciforme_. A
soldier, dressed in a tunic and mantle, seizes the prisoner with the
right hand, and stabs him in the neck with the left. The weapon used
is not a lictor's axe, nor the sword of a legionary, but a sort of
cutlass, which would be more likely to cut the throat than to sever
the head from the body. The cross is crowned by a triumphal wreath, as
a symbol of the immortal recompense which awaits the confessor of the
Faith. The historical value of this rare sculpture is determined by
the name, ACILLEVS, engraved above it.
[Illustration: The Execution of Acilleus.]
The character of the letters and the style of the bas-relief are those
of the second half of the fourth century. Of the sister column, with
the name and martyrdom of NEREVS, only a small bit has been found.
Another monument of equal value is a broken slab containing, in the
first line, the letters ····RVM; in the second, the letters ····ORVM;
and below these, the cross-shaped anchor, the mysterious but certain
emblem of Christian hope. As the position of the symbol determines the
middle point of the inscription, it is easy to reconstruct the whole
text, by a careful calculation of the size of each letter:--
[Illustration: SEPVLCRVM FLAVIORVM]
"the tomb of the Flavian family," namely, of those relatives of
Domitilla who had embraced the Christian faith.
Under the pavement of the nave, aisles, and presbytery, are numberless
graves, some of which belong to the original catacombs, before they
were cut and disarranged by the building of the basilica; others are
built in accordance with the architectural lines of the basilica
itself. A grave belonging to the first series, that is, to a gallery
of the catacombs which had been blocked by the foundations of the left
aisle, bears the date of the year 390; while a sarcophagus placed at
the foot of the altar is dated Monday, May 12, 395. It is evident,
therefore, that the basilica was built between 390 and 395, during the
pontificate of Siricius.
No memorial of Petronilla, the third saint for whom the building was
named, has been found within the sacred enclosure,--a fact not wholly
unexpected, because the coffin in which her remains were placed is
known to have been removed to the Vatican by Paul I. (755-756), at the
request of the king of France. In November, 1875, a cubiculum was
found at the back of the apse, connected with it by a corridor which
opens near the episcopal chair. The walls of this passage are covered
with _graffiti_ and other records of pilgrims. The cubiculum contains
two graves: one empty, in the arcosolium, the place of honor; the
other, in front of it, of a much later date. The front of the
arcosolium is closed by a wall, on the surface of which is an
interesting fresco, which is here reproduced.
[Illustration: Petronilla and Veneranda.]
The younger figure, on the right, is Petronilla Martyr; the elder is a
matron named Veneranda, buried January 7 (DEP_osita_ VI. IDVS.
IANVARIAS), in the sarcophagus below the picture. There is no doubt
that Petronilla was buried in close proximity to this cubiculum. The
story of her relationship to S. Peter has no foundation whatever; it
rests on an etymological mistake, by which the name Petronilla is
treated as a diminutive of Petrus, as is Plautilla of Plautius or
Plautia, and Domitilla of Domitius or Domitia. Petrus is not a Latin
name; it came into use with the spreading of the gospel, and only in
rare and exceptional cases. The young martyr was named after a member
of the same Flavian family to which this cemetery belonged, Titus
Flavius Petron, an uncle of Vespasian. Her kinship with the apostle
must consequently be taken in a spiritual sense.
Towards the end of 1881 another remarkable discovery took place in
these catacombs: that of a cubiculum which in style of decoration is
unique. It looks more like the room of a Pompeian house than a
Christian crypt. Its architectural paintings with groups of frail
columns supporting fantastic friezes, and enclosing pastoral
landscapes, might be compared to the frescoes of the Golden House of
Nero, or those of the house of Germanicus on the Palatine; but they
find no parallel in "subterranean Rome."
The name of the owner of this conspicuous tomb is engraved above the
arcosolium: AMPLIATI. The size and the beauty of the letters, the
peculiarity of a single cognomen in a possessive case, the fact that a
man of inferior condition[160] should own such a tomb; that at a later
period, a staircase had been cut through the rock, to provide a direct
communication between the Via Ardeatina and the tomb, for the
accommodation of pilgrims; the care used to keep the tomb in good
order, as shown by later restorations,--all these circumstances make
us believe that Ampliatus was a prominent leader of our early
Christian community.
Such being the case, the mind runs at once to the paragraph of S.
Paul's Epistle to the Romans (xvi. 8): "Salute Ampliatus my beloved in
the Lord," and one feels inclined to kneel before the tomb of the dear
friend of the apostle. However, when discoveries of this kind happen,
it is wise to proceed with caution, and examine every detail from a
sceptical point of view. Doubtless the cubiculum of Ampliatus was made
and painted in the first century of our era. The type of the letters
engraved above the tomb is peculiar to painted or written inscriptions
of the beginning of the second century. It is possible, therefore,
that the name was at first painted on the white plaster, and engraved
on marble many years after the deposition of Ampliatus. As regards
Ampliatus himself, it is true that according to Greek tradition he
died when Bishop of Moesia,[161] but the tradition is derived from
an apocryphal source. There are those who doubt whether all the
salutations contained in S. Paul's epistle are really addressed to the
faithful residing in Rome and belonging to the Roman community.[162]
Another difficulty arises from the fact that in the same cubiculum a
tombstone has been found, inserted in the wall above the arcosolium,
between two painted peacocks, with this inscription: "Aurelius
Ampliatus and his son Gordianus have placed this memorial to Aurelia
Bonifatia, wife and mother incomparable, and truly chaste, who lived
25 years, 2 months, 4 days, and 2 hours." Although the name Aurelius
is not uncommon on tombstones of the first century in this very
Cemetery of Domitilla, there is no doubt that the tablet of Aurelia
Bonifatia belongs to a later period. The name Bonifatius--derived from
_bonum fatum_, not from _bonum facere_ as commonly believed--did not
come into use before the middle of the second century. At all events,
Ampliatus, husband of Bonifatia and father of Gordianus, may be the
son, grandson, or even a later descendant of the man in whose memory
the cubiculum was originally built.
Shall we recognize in this man the friend of S. Paul? I do not think
the question can as yet be answered with certainty. Further
excavations in the galleries radiating from the crypt may disclose
fresh particulars, and supply more conclusive evidence.
The discoveries of which a summary description has here been given
deserve a place of honor in the comments to Suetonius' "Lives of the
Emperors." The exploration of underground Rome must be greeted with
pleasure, not only by the pious believers in Christ and his martyrs,
but also by agnostic students of classical history. A tombstone, which
on one side is inscribed with the records of the victories gained by
the imperial legions, on the other with the simple and humble name of
a Christian who has given his life for his faith, is a monument worthy
the consideration of all thoughtful men. Christian archæology has an
intimate and indissoluble connection with classical studies, and there
is no discovery referring to the first century of Christianity which
does not throw new and often unexpected light on general history, art,
and science. Those made at Torre Marancia in 1875 illustrate the
history of Rome and the Campagna, after the fall of the empire. In the
niche where the episcopal chair was placed,--behind the high altar, in
the middle of the apse,--a rough hand has sketched the figure of a
priest, dressed in a casula, in the act of preaching from his seat.
This sketch reminds us of Gregory the Great, when in this very
cemetery of Nereus and Achilleus, in this very apse, he read one of
his homilies from this episcopal chair, deploring to the
panic-stricken congregation the state of the city, the queen of the
world, desolated by famine, by pestilence, and by the Lombards, who at
that very moment were burning and plundering the villas and farms of
the surrounding Campagna.
CEMETERY AD CATACUMBAS.[163] The cemetery near the church of S.
Sebastiano was originally called in an indefinite way _cimiterium ad
catacumbas_. The etymology of the name is uncertain. De Rossi suggests
the roots _cata_, a Græco-Latin preposition of the decadence,
signifying "near," and _cumba_, a resting-place. The word would
therefore mean _apud accubitoria_, "near the resting-places," an
allusion to the many tombs which surrounded the old crypt above and
below ground. This crypt dates from apostolic times, or, at all
events, from a period much earlier than the martyrdom of Sebastian,
the Christian officer whose name it now bears.
The great interest of the cemetery is derived from the shelter which
the bodies of the apostles are said to have had in its recesses during
the fiercest times of persecution. The temporary transferment of the
remains of SS. Peter and Paul, from their graves on the Via Cornelia
and the Via Ostiensis, to the catacombs, is not a mere tradition. It
is described by Pope Damasus in a metric inscription published by de
Rossi,[164] and by Pope Gregory in an epistle to the empress
Constantina, no. 30 of book iv. A curious entry in the calendar called
_Bucherianum_, from its first editor, seems to point to a double
transferment. The entry is dated June 29, A. D. 258:--
_Tertio Kalendas Julias, Tusco et Basso consulibus, Petri in Vaticano,
Pauli in via Ostiensis--utriusque in Catacumbas._
Since, in early calendars, the date is only appended in case of
transferment of remains, archæologists have suggested the theory that
the bodies of the apostles may possibly have found shelter in the
catacombs of the Appian Way a second time, during the persecution of
Valerian (A. D. 258). Marchi asserts that the evidences of a double
concealment are still to be found in the frescoes of the crypt, some
of which belong to the first, others to the third, century; but this
hardly seems to be the case. I lowered myself into the hiding-place on
February 23 of the present year, and, after careful examination, have
come to the conclusion that its paintings are by one hand and of one
epoch, the epoch of Damasus. However, whether they were laid there
once or twice, its temporary connection with the apostles made the
"locus ad catacumbas" one of the great suburban sanctuaries. The
cubiculum, called Platonia, was decorated by Damasus with marble
incrustations. According to the Acts of S. Sebastian (January 20) he
expressed the wish to be buried "_ad catacumbas_, at the entrance of
the crypt, near the memorial of the apostles." These events were
represented in the frescoes of the old portico of S. Peter's,
destroyed in 1606-1607 by Paul V. One of them showed the bodies of
the apostles, bandaged like mummies, being lowered into the place of
concealment; the other, Lucina and Cornelius bringing back the bodies
to their original graves in the Via Cornelia and the Via Ostiensis.
A remarkable monument was discovered in the crypt four years ago. It
is a marble bust, or rather the fragment of a bust, of the Redeemer,
with locks of hair descending on each shoulder,[165] a work of the
fourth century.
It is well known that the oldest representations of the Redeemer are
purely ideal. He appears as a young man, with no beard, his hair
arranged in the Roman style, wearing a short tunic, and showing the
amiable countenance of the Good Shepherd. I give here a characteristic
specimen of this type, a statue of the first quarter of the third
century, now in the Lateran Museum.[166] Whether performing one of the
miracles which prove his divinity, or teaching the new doctrine to the
disciples, the type never varies. It is evident that the Christian
painters or sculptors of the first three centuries, in drawing or
modelling the head of Jesus, had no intention of making a likeness,
but only a conventional type, noble and classic, and suggestive of the
eternal youth of the Word. A new tendency appears in Christian art
towards the middle of the fourth century, the attempt to reproduce the
genuine portrait of Christ, or what was regarded as such by the
Orientals. The change was a consequence of the peace and freedom given
to the Church, and of the cessation of that overbearing contempt in
which the Gentiles had held a religion which they believed to be that
of the vile followers of a crucified Jew. It had been considered
prudent, at the outset, to present the Redeemer to the neophytes, who
were not yet entirely free from pagan ideas, in a type which was
familiar and pleasing to the Roman eye, rather than with the
characteristics of a despised race. The triumph of the Church made
these precautions unnecessary, and then arose the desire of exhibiting
a truer portraiture of Christ. The first addition to the conventional
type was that of the beard, and probably of the hair parted in the
middle.
[Illustration: The portrait head of Jesus in the Sancta Sanctorum.]
[Illustration: THE IDEAL ROMAN FIGURE OF CHRIST]
Ancient writers have left but little information about the personal
appearance of the Saviour; and the vagueness of their accounts proves
the absence of a type which was universally recognized as authentic.
Many documents concerning this subject must be rejected as forgeries
of a later age. Such is the pretended letter of Lentulus, governor of
Judæa, to the Senate, describing the appearance of Jesus. In the same
way we should regard the images attributed to Nicodemus and Luke, and
those called _acheiropitæ_ (not painted by human hands), like the
famous one of the chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum,[167] the first
historical mention of which dates from A. D. 752, when Pope Stephen
II. carried it in a procession from the Lateran to S. Maria Maggiore,
to obtain divine protection against Aistulphus. Garrucci questions
whether it may not be that of Camulianus, described by Gregory of
Nyssa; or a copy of the image alleged to have been sent by the Saviour
himself to Abgar, king of Edessa,[168] with an autograph letter. Must
we consider these and other portraits, like the "Volto Santo" in the
Vatican, as fanciful as the old youthful Roman type of the Good
Shepherd? There can be no doubt that in some provinces of the East,
like Palestine, Syria, and Phoenicia, the oral traditions about the
personal appearance of the Saviour were kept for many generations. It
is also probable that the tradition was confirmed by some work of art,
like the celebrated group of Paneas (Bâniâs). With regard to this,
Eusebius says that the woman with the issue of blood, grateful to the
Saviour for her cure (Mark v., 25-34), caused a statue, representing
Him in the act of performing the miracle, to be set up in front of her
house; that it still existed when he wrote, and was held in great
veneration throughout Palestine and the whole East. Sozomenos adds
that Julian the Apostate substituted his own statue for it, but that
the imperial image was struck by lightning. This excited the wrath of
the pagans to such an extent that they destroyed the group of Christ
and the Woman, which Julian had caused to be removed. Cassiodorus,
Rufinus, Kedrenos, and Malala, assert that the head was saved from
destruction. It has been suggested that the group did not represent
the woman at the feet of the Saviour, but a conquered province
kneeling before the Roman emperor and addressing him as her Saviour
([Greek: SÔTÊRI]). But this explanation seems more ingenious than
probable, because it implies that Christians, Eusebius included, had
mistaken the portrait of a Roman conqueror for that of
Christ, which would have been so different in type, dress, and
attitude. At all events, the belief that the group of Bâniâs was a
genuine likeness was general in the fourth century. Eusebius
contributed to make it known in the Western world; and to this
diffusion we probably owe the second type of the Saviour's
physiognomy, the bearded face, the large impressive eyes, the hair
parted in the middle, and falling in locks on the shoulders.[169]
To this type belongs the bust discovered four years ago in the "locus
ad catacumbas." According to an ingenious hypothesis of Bottari,
adopted by de Rossi, the Paneas group is represented on the Lateran
sarcophagus, engraved by Roller in the second volume of his
"Catacombs," plate 58.
[Illustration: Landslip in the Cemetery of Cyriaca.]
THE CEMETERY OF CYRIACA. This, the principal cemetery of the Via
Tiburtina, was excavated in the hill above the basilica of S. Lorenzo
fuori le Mura. It is the one with which I have had most to do, because
the building of the new Camposanto, together with the sinking of the
foundations of the new tombs, has been the occasion of frequent
discoveries. One of the characteristic features of Cyriaca's cemetery
is the large number of military inscriptions from the prætorian camp
which were used to close the graves, the name of the deceased
Christian being engraved on the blank side of the slab. On December
23, 1876, a landslide of considerable extent took place along the
southern face of the rock in which the catacombs are excavated, in
consequence of which many loculi, arcosolia, and painted cubicula were
laid open. I happened to witness the accident, and was able to direct
the exploration of the graves. Among the objects discovered, I
remember a pair of silver earrings, a necklace of gold and emeralds,
sixteen inches long, clay objects of various kinds, gladiatorial and
theatrical lamps, and nine Christian tombstones. One of them was
engraved on the back of a slab from the prætorian camp, containing the
roster of one hundred and fifty soldiers from the twelfth and
fourteenth city cohorts (_cohortes urbanæ_). Each individual has his
prænomen, nomen, and cognomen, carefully indicated, together with the
names of his father, tribe, and country. The men are grouped in
companies, which are indicated by the name of their captains, such as
the "company of Marcellus" or the "company of Tranquillinus," with the
consular date of the year in which Marcellus and Tranquillinus were
in command of that company. Another part of the same roster, engraved
on a slab of the same marble and size, and containing many more names,
was found a century and a half ago in the same place, and removed to
the Vatican Museum.
One of the tombs, discovered during the following January, seems to
have belonged to a lady of rank. A gold necklace and a pair of opal
earrings were found in the earth which filled the grave. Relatives or
friends of the occupants of the cubiculum had written on the plaster
words of affection and devotion, such as "Gaianus, live in Christ with
Procula;" "Semplicius, live in Christ."
It is to be regretted that, in order to make room for the daily
victims of death, the municipality of Rome should be obliged to turn
out of their graves the faithful of the third and fourth centuries who
were buried in the neighborhood of S. Lorenzo. In 1876 I witnessed the
discovery of a section of the old cemetery at the foot of the hill of
Cyriaca. The tombs were mostly sarcophagi, with reliefs, the subjects
of which are taken from the Bible. One of them, carved in the rude but
pathetic style of the fifth century, represents the crossing of the
Red Sea, and the Egyptian hosts, led by Pharaoh, following closely on
the Jews. The waves are closing over the persecutors, just as the last
of the fugitives emerges safely on the land. The "column of fire" is
represented, according to the Vitruvian rules, with base and capital;
and the costumes of the warriors of the Nile are those of Roman
_gregarii_, or privates, under Constantine. Another sarcophagus shows
the Virgin Mary, with the infant Saviour in her arms, receiving the
offering of the Eastern kings. A third represents a sort of pageant of
court dignitaries of one of the Valentinians. Besides these and many
other pieces of sculpture seventy-two inscriptions or fragments of
inscriptions were dug up, mostly from the pavement of a ruined chapel,
one of the seven by which the basilica of S. Lorenzo was surrounded in
ancient times.
[Illustration: Inscription from the tombstone of a dentist.]
[Illustration: Inscription from the grave of Alexander, a dentist.]
[Illustration: Surgeon's instruments; relief on a tombstone.]
Another inscription, discovered in 1864, deserves attention on account
of the instruments which are engraved upon it. It is a fragment from
the tomb of a dentist named Victorinus, or Celerinus, with the
representation of the instruments he used in extracting teeth. Such
representations are by no means rare on gravestones. The other two
specimens reproduced here are also from the catacombs. Alexander was a
dentist; the unknown owner of the other slab was a general surgeon,
yet the symbol of dentistry occupies the prominent place in his
display of tools. In my experience of Roman or Latin excavations, in
which thousands of tombs have been brought to light, I have hardly
ever met with a skull the teeth of which showed symptoms of decay, or
evidence of having been operated upon by a professional hand.
Specimens of filling are even more rare than those of gold plating. Of
this latter process we have now a beautiful sample in a skull
discovered in the excavations of Faleria, and exhibited in the
Faliscan Museum at the Villa Giulia, outside the Porta del Popolo. The
gold socket or plating of three molar teeth is still in excellent
condition. And here I may recall the ancient law, mentioned by Cicero
(De Leg. ii. 24), which made it illegal to bury a body with gold,
except such as had been used in fastening the teeth.
THE CEMETERY AD DUAS LAUROS (of SS. Peter and Marcellinus).[170] To
the left of the second milestone of the Via Labicana there was an
imperial villa, named _ad Duas Lauros_ (the two laurels), where the
empress Helena was buried by Constantine, and Valentinian III. was
murdered when playing with other youths, in 455. Adjoining the tomb of
the empress, which was described in chapter iv., pp. 197 sq., were two
cemeteries,--one above ground, belonging to the "Equites Singulares,"
or body guards; the other, below. The latter was the largest of the
Via Labicana, and was known in early Church annals under the same name
as the imperial villa. In 1880-82 a third and deeper network of
galleries was excavated for the sake of extracting the pozzolana, the
beds of which support the tufa and the catacombs excavated in it. Some
damage was done to the tombs, but the Italian proverb _Non tutto il
male viene per nuocere_ proved true once more on this occasion. The
excavation of the catacombs, which is generally a difficult and
costly work, and sometimes impossible, when the owner of the ground
above them objects to this form of trespassing on his estate, here
became an easy matter, the earth being simply thrown into the sandpits
from the catacombs above. The discoveries made on this occasion, added
to the descriptions and drawings left by former explorers, give us a
thorough knowledge of these labyrinths. The impression which they make
at first is rather poor; but this is due chiefly to the ravages
committed by early explorers.
The inscriptions are few and not particularly interesting, excepting
one, which was discovered in 1873, and is written in excellent style:
"Aurelius Theophilus, a citizen of Carrhæ, a man of pure mind and
great innocence, at the age of twenty-three has rendered his soul to
God, his body to the earth." His native city, the Haran, or Charan of
the Bible, where Abraham lived, is known in Church annals as one of
the strongholds of paganism in Mesopotamia. When Julian the Apostate
led the Roman armies against the Persians, in 362, he halted for some
time at Carrhæ, to perform impious and cruel sacrifices in the
sanctuary of Luno. A description of the crime is given by Theodoretus
in Book III. ch. xxvi. At that time Carrhæ, in spite of its devotion
to the old religion, had a bishop named Vitus, who died in 381, and
was succeeded by Protogenes. According to Theodoretus, he succeeded in
"cultivating that wild field which had been covered with idolatrous
thorns." Aurelius Theophilus was probably a contemporary of these
events, as the inscription on his tombstone belongs undoubtedly to the
end of the fourth century. There are also a few inscriptions scratched
on plaster, by pilgrims who visited the three historical crypts of
Marcellinus and Peter, Gorgonius, and Tiburtius. To save devout
visitors the trouble and danger of crossing the labyrinths, each of
these crypts was made accessible directly from the ground above by
means of a staircase. The _graffiti_ are found mostly on the sides or
at the foot of these staircases, or else on the door-posts of the
crypts themselves.
The historical and religious associations of this catacomb are summed
up and illustrated in a beautiful picture representing the Saviour
with S. Paul on his right and S. Peter on his left: and, on a line
below, the four martyrs who were buried in the cemetery, Gorgonius,
Peter, Marcellinus, and Tiburtius, pointing with their right hands to
the Divine Lamb on the mountain. The heads of the two apostles are
particularly fine, and the shape of their beards most characteristic.
This well-known fresco, preserved in cubiculum no. 25 of Bosio's plan,
was discovered in 1851 by de Rossi, in a curious manner. Having
obtained from padre Marchi permission to carry the excavations towards
the cubiculum, and finding that the work proceeded too slowly for his
impatience, he crept on his hands and feet for fifty yards along the
narrow gap between the ceiling of the galleries and the earth with
which they were filled, and reached the cubiculum nearly suffocated.
Here, by means of a skylight which was not obstructed by rubbish, he
found that the place was used as a deposit for carrion, as the
half-putrefied carcass of a bull was lying under the famous fresco.
Many cubiculi were painted by one artist, whose power of invention was
rather restricted. He has but two subjects: the story of Jonah, and
the Symbolic Supper. Of this last there are four representations, all
reproduced from the same pattern, of which I give an example. A family
consisting of father, mother, and children, are sitting around a
table, upon which the [Greek: ichthus] or fish is served; the banquet
is presided over by two mystic figures, Irene or Peace on the left,
Agape or Love on the right. The head of the family addresses Peace
with these words: "Irene, da calda!" and Love, "Agape, misce mi!" The
last words are easily understood: "Give me to drink," the verb
_mescere_ being still used in the same sense in Tuscany, where a
wine-shop is sometimes called a _mescita di vino_. The meaning of the
word _calda_ is not certain. There is no doubt, as Bötticher says,
that the ancients had something to correspond to our tea: but the
_calda_ seems to have been more than an infusion; apparently it was a
mixture of hot water, wine, and drugs, that is, a sort of punch, which
was drunk mostly in winter.[171] The names written in charcoal above
the principal inscriptions in this illustration are those of Pomponio
Leto and his academicians.[172]
[Illustration: The Symbolic Supper.]
Another artist distinguished himself in these catacombs, not from
skill in design and color, but from the beautiful subjects chosen by
him for the decoration of the walls and ceilings of three
cubiculi,--compositions which may be called "The Gospel Illustrated."
They have been admirably described and reproduced by photographs and
in outline by monsignore Joseph Wilpert, in his book referred to in
the note on page 354. The intuition of this learned man in detecting
paintings which have been effaced by age, dampness, and smoke is fully
appreciated by students of Christian archæology: but on this occasion
he accomplished a real _tour de force_. When, on December 19, I
entered the cubiculum no. 54, in which the paintings are, and he began
to point out to me outlines of figures and objects, I thought he was
laboring under an optical delusion; I could see nothing beyond a
blackened and mouldy plaster surface. My eyes, however, soon became
initiated to the new experience, and able to read the lines of this
curious palimpsest. The dark spots soon grew into shape, and lovely
groups, inspired by the purest Christian symbolism, appeared on the
walls. There are thirteen pictures, representing the following-named
subjects: the annunciation, the three magi following the star (which
is shaped like the monogram [Symbol: Chi Rho]), their adoration at
Bethlehem, the baptism of our Lord, the last judgment, the healing of
the blind, the crippled, and the woman with the issue of blood, the
woman of Samaria, the Good Shepherd (twice), the Orantes (twice).
The catacombs of SS. Peter and Marcellinus have another attraction for
students. Poor as they are in epitaphs and works of art, they contain
hundreds of names of celebrated humanists, archæologists, and artists
who explored these depths in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
and made record of their visits. When one walks between two lines of
graves, in the almost oppressive stillness of the cemetery, with no
other company than one's thoughts, the names of Pomponius Letus and
his academicians, of Bosio, Panvinio, Avanzini, Severano, Marangoni,
Marchi, and d'Agincourt, written in bold letters, give the lonely
wanderer the impression of meeting living and dear friends; and one
wonders at the great love which these pioneers of "humanism" must have
had for antiquities, to have spent days and days, and to have held
their conferences and banquets, in places like these.
In chapter i., page 10, of "Ancient Rome," I mentioned Pomponio's
Academy, and its visits to the crypts of Callixtus. Since the
publication of my book, the subject has been investigated again and
illustrated by Giacomo Lombroso[173] and de Rossi.[174] It appears
that after the trial which the Academicians underwent at the time of
Paul II., and their unexpected liberation from the Castle of S.
Angelo, they decided to turn over a new leaf. From a fraternity which
was pagan in manners and instincts, which had made itself conspicuous
by the use of profane language, and by the celebration of profane
meetings over the tombs of the martyrs, they became the "Societas
literatorum S. Victoris et sociorum in Esquiliis," a literary society
under the patronage of S. Victor and his companion saints, namely,
Fortunatus and Genesius. Their _pontifex maximus_ became a president;
their _sacerdos_ a priest, whose duty it was to say mass on certain
anniversaries. The most important celebration fell, as before, on
April 21, the birthday of Rome. We have a description by an
eye-witness, Jacopo Volaterrano, of that which took place in 1483: "On
the Esquiline,[175] near the house of Pomponius, the society of
literary men has celebrated the birthday of Rome. Divine service was
performed by Peter Demetrius of Lucca; Paul Marsus delivered the
oration. The dinner was served in the hall adjoining the chapel of S.
Salvatore de Cornutis," etc. In 1501, after the death of Pomponius,
the anniversary meetings were held on the Capitol; the solemn mass was
sung in the church of the Aracoeli, while the banquet took place in
the Palazzo dei Conservatori. The convivial feast of 1501 was not a
success. Burckhardt describes it as _satis feriale et sine bono vino_
(commonplace and with no good wine).
Was the conversion of the Academicians a sincere one? We believe it
was not; they manifested under Sixtus V. the same feelings which had
brought them to justice under Paul II.
In the calendars of the Church of Rome only one name is registered on
April 21, that of Pope Victor. His alleged companions, Fortunatus and
Genesius, were singled out of old, disused calendars of the church of
Africa, unknown to the Latins. Why did the academicians select such
enigmatic and obscure protectors? The reason is evident. Genesius was
chosen because his name suggested an allusion to the _genesis_
(_natalis_) or birthday of Rome; Victor and Fortunatus, likewise, were
considered names of good omen, with a suggestion of the Victory and
Fortune who presided over the destinies of ancient Rome.
Under the protection of these alleged saints, Pomponius and his
friends worshipped, and celebrated the birthday of Rome, and the
goddesses connected with the city.[176]
This state of things did not wholly escape the attention of
contemporary observers. One of them, Raffaele Volaterrano, expressly
says: "Pomponius Lætus worshipped Romulus and kept the birthday of
Rome; the beginning of a campaign against religion (_initium abolendæ
fidei_)."
The Roman academy found the means of keeping faithful to its
traditions, and to the spirit of its institutions, in spite of the
reform of its statutes. Victor, Fortunatus, Genesius, in whose honor
divine service was performed on April 20, did not represent to the
initiated the saints of the Church, but the fortunes of ancient Rome,
its founder, the _Paliliæ_. Still, we are not yet able to discover
whether all this was done simply out of love and admiration for the
ancient world, under the influence of the Renaissance of classical
studies; or from hatred and contempt of Christian faith: _initium
abolendæ fidei_.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[141] Principal authorities:--Philip de Winghe: _Cod. biblioth.
Bruxell_. 17872.--Panvinius: _De Coemeteriis Urbis Romæ_. Rome,
1568.--Antonio Bosio: _Roma sotterranea_; opera postuma. Roma,
1632-34.--Paolo Aringhi: _Roma subterranea novissima._ Roma, 1651 fol.
Cologne, 1659 fol.--M. A. Boldetti: _Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri de'
SS. martiri._ Roma, Salvioni, 1720.--Giovanni Bottari: _Sculture e
pitture estratte dai cimiteri di Roma._ 3 vol. Roma, 1737-54.--Filippo
Buonarroti: _Vasi antichi di vetro ornati di figure_, etc. Firenze,
1716, 4.--Raoul Rochette: _Le catacombe di Roma._ Milano,
1841.--Giuseppe Marchi: _Monumenti delle arti cristiane primitive._
Roma, Puccinelli, 1844.--Raffaele Garrucci: _Storia dell' arte
cristiana._ Roma: 6 vol. fol.; _Vetri ornati di figure in oro, trovati
nei cimiteri dei Cristiani._ Rome, Salviucci, 1858.--Louis Perret:
_Les catacombes de Rome_, etc. 6 vol. fol. Paris, 1852-1856.--De
Rossi: _Roma sotterranea cristiana._ 3 vol. fol. Roma, Salviucci,
1864; _Inscriptiones Christianæ Urbis Romæ._ 2 vol. fol. Rome,
1861-1887; _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana._ Roma, Salviucci,
1863-1891.--Northcote and Brownlow: _Roma sotterranea._ 2 volumes 8vo,
2d ed. London, Longmans, 1878.--Northcote: _Epitaphs of the
Catacombs._ London, Longmans, 1878.--Henry Parker: _The Catacombs of
Rome._ Oxford, Parker, 1877.
[142] See _Cod. Theodos._ ix. 17, 2.
[143] On the subject of the Jewish colony in Rome, see:--Emmanuel
Rodocanachi: _Le saint-siège et les Juifs: le Ghetto a Rome._ Paris,
Didot, 1891.--A. Bertolotti: _Les Juifs à Rome._ Revue des études
juives, 1881, fasc. 4.--Raffaele Garrucci: _Cimiterio degli antichi
Ebrei._ Roma, 1862.--Pietro Manfrin: _Gli Ebrei sotto la dominazione
romana._ Roma, 1888-1890.--Ettore Natali: _Il Ghetto di Roma._ Roma,
1887.--Perreau: _Education et culture des Israelites en Italie au
moyen âge._ Corfou, 1885.
[144] This "poster," painted in red letters, which is now in the Museo
Nazionale, Naples, was published by Zangemeister in vol. iv., p. 13,
n. 117, of the _Corpus inscriptionum latinarum._--Prof. Mommsen, in
the _Rheinisches Museum_, xix. (1864), p. 456, contradicts the opinion
of de Rossi as regards the religious persuasion of this Fabius Eupor
(_Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1864, pp. 70, 92).
[145] See Champagny: _Rome et la Judée_, p. 31, of the first edition.
[146] See Suetonius, _Domitian_, chap. 92; Dion Cassius, lxvii. 13.
[147] See Pliny, _Epistolæ_, x. 67.
[148] See de Rossi: _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1868, p. 19.
[149] See _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1867, p. 76.
[150] See _Atti dell' Accademia dei Nuovi Lincei_, sessione 6 maggio,
1860.
[151] _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1863, p. 75.
[152] ... passim corpora condens Plurima sanctorum subter hæc moenia
ponit.
[153] The attention of learned men had been directed towards Christian
underground Rome just ten years before this event, by the publication
of Panvinio's pamphlet _De cæmeteriis urbis Romæ_, 1566.
[154] _Ad ann. 575_; 130, 226.
[155] See _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1865, p. 36.
[156] See Fea: _Miscellanea_, vol. i., pp. 238, 245, etc.
[157] It is now in the Vatican Library. A good engraving is to be
found in Buonarroti's _Osservazioni sui medaglioni_, p. 497.
[158] _Historiar._, iii. 65.
[159] _Historiæ_, iii. 65.
[160] The name Ampliatus belongs to servants and freedmen; it was
never used by men of rank, whether pagans or Christians.
[161] Baronius _ad Martyr_. 31 October.
[162] See Renan's _St. Paul_, lxvii.
[163] Orazio Marucchi: _Di un ipogeo scoperto nel cimitero di S.
Sebastiano._ Roma, 1879; _Un antico busto del Salvatore, etc._, in the
_Mélanges de l'Ecole française_, 1888, p. 403.--Pietro d' Achille: _Il
sepolcro di S. Pietro._ Roma, 1867.--Giovanni B. Lugari: _Le catacombe
ossia il sepolcro apostolico dell' Appia._ Roma, 1888.--De Rossi:
_Roma sotterranea cristiana_, vol. iii., p. 427; _Il sepolcro degli
Uranii cristiani a S. Sebastiano_, in the _Bullettino di archeologia
cristiana_, 1886, p. 24.--Pietro Marchi: _Monumenti primitivi delle
arti cristiane_, p. 212, tav. xxxix-xli.
[164] _Inscriptiones Christianæ_, vol. ii. 32, 77.
[165] Represented in plate ix. of the _Mélanges de l'Ecole française
de Rome_, 1888.
[166] This is also illustrated by Martigny: _Dictionnaire_, 2d ed. p.
586.--Kraus: _Realencyclopädie_, ii. p. 580.--Northcote and Brownlow:
_Roma Sotterranea._ London, 1879. (ii. p. 29.)--Roller: _Catacombes_,
planche i., xl. n. 2.--Garrucci: _Arte cristiana_, tav. 428,
5.--Duchesne: _Bullettino critique_, Décembre, 1882, p. 288.--De
Rossi: _Bullettino comunale_, 1889, p. 131, tav. v., vi.
[167] See:--Giovanni Marangoni: _Istoria dell' oratorio appellato
Sancta Sanctorum._ Roma, 1747.--Gaspare Bambi: _Memorie sacre
della cappella di Sancta Sanctorum._ Roma, 1775.--Giuseppe Soresini:
_Dell' immagine del SS. Salvatore ad Sancta Sanctorum._ Roma,
1675.--Benedetto Millini: _Oratorio di S. Lorenzo ad Sancta
Sanctorum._ Roma, 1616.--Raffaele Garrucci: _Storia dell' arte
cristiana_, vol. i. p. 408.--Rohault de Fleury: _Le Latran_.
[168] A pious but unfounded tradition identifies this picture of
Edessa with the one preserved in Genoa, in the church of S. Bartolomeo
degli Armeni.
[169] On the subject of the Paneas group see:--André Peraté: _Note sur
le groupe de Paneas_, in _Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome_,
1885, p. 302.--Raoul-Rochette: _Discours sur les types imitatifs qui
constituent l'art du Christianisme_, 1834.--Bayet: _Recherches pour
servir à l'histoire de la peinture en Orient_, p. 29.--Orazio
Marucchi: _Di un busto del Salvatore_, etc., in the _Mélanges_, 1888,
p. 403.--Eusebius: H. E. VII., 185, edition Teubner, p. 315.--Grimouard
de St. Laurent: _Guide de l'art Chrétien_, ii. p. 215.
[170] See:--Bossio: _Roma sotterranea_, p. 591, D.--Bruder: _Die
heiligen Martyren Marcellinus und Petrus_. Mainz, 1878.--De Rossi:
_Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_. 1882, p. 111.--Wilpert: _Ein
Cyclus christologischer Gemälde aus der Katacombe der heiligen Petrus
und Marcellinus_. Freiburg, 1891.
[171] See Becker: _Gallus_, p. 4.
[172] See _Ancient Rome_, p. 10.
[173] Giacomo Lombroso: _Gli accademici nelle catacombe_, in the
_Archivio della società romana di storia patria_, 1889, p. 219.
[174] _Bullettino di archeologia cristiana_, 1890, p. 81.--See also:
de Nollae: _Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome_, 1866, p. 165.
[175] The house of Pomponius and the seat of the Academy was not on
the Esquiline, but on the Quirinal, on the area of the Baths of
Constantine, opposite the gate of the Colonna Gardens. The mistake
in the name of the hill must be attributed to Pomponius himself,
who had written on the door of the house:--POMPONI · LÆTI ·
ET · SOCIETATIS · ESCVVILINAI. After the reform of the statutes,
another sign, less classic in style, was put up:
SOCIETAS-LITERATORUM-S-VICTORIS-IN-ESQUILIIS.
[176] The Temple of Fortune in Rome was dedicated on this very day.
See Mommsen, in the _Corpus inscriptionum latinarum_, vol. i. p. 392.
INSCRIPTION COMMEMORATING THE
LUDI SÆCULARES
CELEBRATED IN THE YEAR 17, B. C.
_TEXT AS EDITED BY MOMMSEN_
(_See Chapter II., pp. 73-82_)
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
INDEX.
For the names of individual arches, basilicas, catacombs, churches,
forums, palaces, piazzas, statues, streets, temples, tombs, and
villas, see the headings, _Arch, Basilica, Catacombs, Churches_, etc.
Academy of Pomponio, 359.
Achilleus, martyr, bas-relief representing his execution, 339 (cut).
Acilii Glabriones. See _Glabriones_.
Ærarium Saturni, 163.
Agapæ, 42, 336.
Ager Fonteianus, 270.
Agrippa, M., 79, 82, 99;
edifices due to, 176.
Agrippina, fate of her pedestal once in the ustrinum, 183, 184 (cut);
her death, 183.
Aius Locutius, 72.
Albanum, amphitheatre of, 6.
Alexamenos, 12.
Alexander VII., Pope, 36.
Altars, ancient, 33;
their usual form, 67.
See also _Aræ_.