[1] Hot-baths.
[2] Lib. iv. ep. 16.
[3] The Pompeian Court in the Crystal Palace, London, will have familiarized many readers with the forms of an ancient house.
[4] This custom suggests to St. Augustine the beautiful idea, that the Jews were the pædagogi of Christianity,—carrying for it the books which they themselves could not understand.
[5] The peculiar epithet of the Catacombs.
[6] The pancratium was the exercise which combined all other personal contests,—wrestling, boxing, etc.
[7] The implements of writing in schools, the tablets being covered with wax, on which the letters were traced by the sharp point, and effaced by the flat top, of the style.
[8] The hand-bandages worn in pugilistic combats.
[9] One of the many calumnies popular among the heathens.
[10] This scene is taken from a real occurrence.
[11] Church and gate of San Pancrazio.
[12] Old St. Pancras’s Church, London, the favorite burial-place of Catholics, till they had cemeteries of their own.
[13] Anastastasius, Biblioth, in vita Honorii.
[14] Pronounced with the accent on the i.
[15] The milk of 500 asses per day was required to furnish Poppæa, Nero’s wife, with one cosmetic.
[16] The dining-hall.
[17] Black antimony applied on the eyelids.
[18] Not all of me will die.
[19] Job xix. 27.
[20] See the noble answer of Evalpistus, an imperial slave, to the judge, in the Acts of St. Justin, ap. Ruinart, tom. i.
[21] Church.
[22] “Thy eyes are as those of cloves.”—Cantic. i. 14.
[23] Twelve was the age for marriage according to the Roman law.
[24] “Annulo fidei suæ subarrhavit me, et immensis monilibus ornavit me.”—Office of St. Agnes.
[25] “Dexteram meam et collum meum cinxit lapidibus pretiosis, tradidit auribus meis inæstimabiles margaritas.”
[26] So called from its resemblance to the letter C, the old form of Σ.
[27] Gloves.
[28] Lucian: De Morte Peregrini.
[29] “Magnificæ nemo negat; sed quæ potest esse homini polito delectatio, quum aut homo imbecillus a valentissima bestia laniatur, aut præclara bestia venabulo transverberatur?”—Ep. ad Fam. lib. vii. ep. 1.
[30] Porridge.
[31] Vengeance.
[32] 1 Cor. vii. 24.
[33] 1 Pet. ii. 14.
[34] A famous sorceress in Augustus’s age.
[35] The worship of interior Africa.
[36] “The sweating goal.” It was an obelisk of brick (which yet remains), cased with marble, from the top of which issued water, and flowed down like a sheet of glass, all round it, into a basin on the ground.
[37] The triumphal arch of Titus, on which are represented the spoils of the Temple.
[38] The arch of Constantine stands exactly under the spot where this scene is described.
[39] The place where live beasts were kept for the shows.
[40] Gaeta.
[41] The generic name for the wild beasts of that continent, as opposed to bears and others from the north.
[42] It is not mentioned what it precisely was.
[43] These were the popular ideas of Christian worship.
[44] Now Monte Cavo, above Albano.
[45] “Vidi supra montem Agnum stantem, de sub cujus pede fons vivus emanat.”—Office of St. Clement.
[46] Ammianus Marcellinus tells us that, at the decline of the empire, the streets at night were lighted so as to rival day. “Et hæc confidenter agebat (Gallus) ubi pernoctantium luminum claritudo dierum solet imitari fulgorem.” Lib. xiv. c. 1.
[47] Roma Subterr. 1. iii. c. 22.
[48] Euseb. E. H. 1. vi. c. 43.
[49] No domestic concealment surely could be more difficult than that of a wife’s religion from her husband. Yet Tertullian supposes this to have been not uncommon. For, speaking of a married woman communicating herself at home, according to practice in those ages of persecution, he says, “Let not your husband know what you taste secretly, before every other food; and if he shall know of the bread, may he not know it to be what it is called.” Ad Uxor. lib. ii. c. 5. Whereas, in another place, he writes of a Catholic husband and wife giving communion to one another. De Monogamia, c. 11.
[50] The Vicus Patricius.
[51] Job xxix. 15.
[52] The place most noted in the neighborhood of Rome for whining and importunate beggars.
[53] Is. i. 9.
[54] “Ne quis hæredem virginem neque mulierem faceret,” that no one should leave a virgin or a woman his heiress.—Cicero in Verrem, i.
[55] The upper part of the Quirinal, leading to the Nomentan gate, Porta Pia.
[56] “Cujus pulchritudinem sol et luna mirantur, ipsi soli servo fidem.”—Office of St. Agnes.
[57] We have it recorded of Nepotian, that on his conversion he distributed all his property to the poor. St. Paulinus of Nola did the same.
[58] “Dabis impio militi quod non vis dare sacerdoti, et hoc tollit fiscus, quod con accipit Christus.”—St. Aug.
[59] “Be pleased to render, O Lord, eternal life to all who for Thy Name’s sake do unto us good things.”
[60] Pampinus, pampino.
[61] Ocelli Italiæ.
[62] Such as are given by Macrobius in his Saturnalia, lib. i., and by Valerius Maximus.
[63] Matt. xii. 11.
[64] “The Villa of Statues,” or “at the Statues.”
[65] “At” or “to the palms.”
[66] Jos. vii.
[67] There was no post in those days, and persons wishing to send letters had to dispatch an express, or find some opportunity.
[68] Matt. v. 44.
[69] A whirlpool between Italy and Sicily.
[70] The heathen notion of the Blessed Eucharist.
[71] “Diogenes, the excavator, deposited in peace, eight days before the first of October.”—From St. Sebastian’s. Boldetti, i. 15, p. 60.
[72] “From New Street. Pollecla, who sells barley in New Street.” Found in the cemetery of Callistus.
[73] Given by F. Marchi in his Architecture of Subterranean Christian Rome, 1844; a work on which we will freely draw.
[74] The number, unfortunately, is not intelligible, being in cipher.
[75] In the cemetery of St. Agnes, pieces of lime have been found in tombs forming exact moulds of different parts of the body, with the impression of a finer linen inside, and a coarser outside. As to spices and balsams, Tertullian observes that “the Arabs and Sabæans well know that the Christians annually consume more for their dead than the heathen world did for its gods.”
[76] These terms will be explained later.
[77] On the 22d of April, 1823, this tomb was discovered unviolated. On being opened the bones, white, bright, and polished as ivory, were found, corresponding to the framework of a youth of eighteen. At his head was the phial of blood. With the head to his feet was the skeleton of a boy, of twelve or thirteen, black and charred chiefly at the head and upper parts, down to the middle of the thigh-bones, from which to the feet the bones gradually whitened. The two bodies, richly clothed, repose side by side under the altar of the Jesuits’ college at Loreto.
[78] Better known as Caracalla’s.
[79] The person who had charge of the bathers’ clothes, from capsa, a chest.
[80] “Cucumio and Victoria made (the tomb) for themselves while living. Capsarius of the Antonine” (baths). Found in the cemetery of Callistus, first published by F. Marchi, who attributes it, erroneously, to the cemetery of Prætextatus.
[81] “Marcus Antonius Restitutus made this subterranean for himself and his family, that trust in the Lord.” Lately found in the cemetery of SS. Nereus and Achilleus. It is singular that in the inscription of the martyr Restitutus, given in the last chapter, as in this, a syllable should be omitted in the name, one easily slurred in pronouncing it.
[82] Sixty was the full age, but admission was given sometimes at forty.
[83] Now St. Sebastian’s. The older Porta Capena was nearly a mile within the present.
[84] As Ad Nymphas, Ad Ursum pileatum, Inter duas lauros, Ad Sextum Philippi, &c.
[85] The cemetery at St. Cæcilia’s tomb.
[86] Formed apparently of a Greek preposition and a Latin verb.
[87] That is, the red volcanic sand called puzzolana, so much prized for making Roman cement.
[88] Locus, loculus.
[89] That of SS. Nereus and Achilleus.
[90] So F. Marchi calculates them, after diligent examination. We may mention here that, in the construction of these cemeteries, the sand extracted from one gallery was removed into another already excavated. Hence many are now found completely filled up.
[91] One or two entries from the old Kalendarium Romanum will illustrate this:
We have extracted these entries of depositions in the cemetery of Callistus, because, while actually writing this chapter, we have received news of the discovery of the tombs and lapidary inscriptions of every one of these Popes, together with those of St. Antherus, in one chapel of the newly-ascertained cemetery of Callistus, with an inscription in verse by St. Damasus:
Published by Ruinart,—Acta, tom. iii.
[92] Acta Martyr. tom. iii.
[93] S. Greg. Turon, de Gloria Mart. lib. i. c. 28, ap. Marchi, p. 81. One would apply St. Damasus’s epigram on these martyrs to this occurrence, Carm. xxviii.
[94] Published by Bucherius in 1634.
[95] (Of) ... nelius martyr.
[96] The crypt, we believe, was discovered before the stairs.
[97] Of Cornelius Martyr Bishop.
[98] These form the great bulk of his extant works in verse.
[99] “(The picture) of St. Cornelius Pope, of St. Cyprian.” On the other side, on a narrow wall projecting at a right angle, are two more similar portraits; but only one name can be deciphered, that of St. Sixtus, or, as he is there and elsewhere called, Sustus. On the paintings of the principal saints may still be read, scratched in the mortar, in characters of the seventh century, the names of visitors to the tomb. Those of two priests are thus—
✠LEO P̅R̅B̅ I ANNIS P̅R̅B̅.
It may be interesting to add the entry in the Roman calendar.
“xviii. Kal. Oct. Cypriani Africæ: Romæ celebratur in Callisti.” “Sept. 14. (The deposition) of Cyprian in Africa: at Rome it is kept in (the cemetery) of Callistus.”
[100] Pope Pius IX.—Pub.
[101] Chambers.
The idea that the martyr lies “beneath the feet of God” is an allusion to the Real Presence in the Blessed Eucharist.
[103] The arched tombs were so called. A homely illustration would be an arched fireplace, walled up to the height of three feet. The paintings would be inside, above the wall.
[104] The word is usually given in Greek, and Christ is familiarly called the ιχθυς, ichthys.
[105] This is the interpretation of St. Optatus (adv. Parm. lib. iii.) and St. Augustine (de C. D. lib. xviii. c. 23).
[106] This is Tertullian’s explanation (de Baptismo, lib. ii. c. 2).
[107] In the same cemetery is another interesting painting. On a table lie a loaf and a fish; a priest is stretching his hands over them; and opposite is a female figure in adoration. The priest is the same as, in a picture close by, is represented administering baptism. In another chamber just cleared out, are very ancient decorations, such as masks, &c., and fishes bearing baskets of bread and flasks of wine, on their backs as they swim.
[108] The type of the figure is that of St. Peter, as he is represented to us in the cemeteries. On a glass, bearing a picture of this scene, the person striking the rock has written over his head PETRVS.
[109] There are several repetitions of this painting. One has been lately found, if we remember right, in the cemetery of Nereus and Achilleus. It is long anterior to the Council of Chalcedon, whence this mode of representing our Lord is usually dated. It is given in our title-page.
[110] The Lateran house or palace.
[111] Inscription on the front, and medals, of the Lateran Basilica.
[112] These are the very words of Decius, on the election of St. Cornelius to the See of St. Peter: “Cum multo patientius audiret levari adversum se æmulum principem, quam constitui Romæ Dei sacerdotem.” S. Cypr. Ep. lii. ad Antonianum, p. 69, ed. Maur. Could there be a stronger proof, that under the heathen empire, the papal power was sensible and external, even to the extent of exciting imperial jealousy?
[113] “As a sated guest.”
[114] A fashionable watering-place near Naples.
[115] A large earthenware vessel, in which wine was kept in the cellar.
[116] These instruments of cruelty are mentioned in the Acts of the Martyrs, and in ecclesiastical historians.
[117] “Sopra l’antichissimo altare di legno, rinchiuso nell’ altare papale,” &c. “On the most ancient wooden altar, enclosed in the papal altar of the most holy Lateran basilica.” By Monsig. D. Bartolini. Rome, 1852.
[118] Acts x.
[119] 2 Tim. iv. 21.
[120] A second or younger Pudens is spoken of.
[121] May the 19th.
[122] Verses 17, 18.
[123] It is not necessary to go into the classical uses of the word titulus.
[124] Only the Pope can say Mass on it, or a cardinal, by authority of a special bull. This high altar has been lately magnificently decorated. A plank of the wooden altar has always been preserved in St. Peter’s altar, at St. Pudentiana’s. It has been lately compared with the wood of the Lateran altar, and found to be identical.
[125] Its site is now occupied by the Caetani chapel.
[126] Prefixed to the Maurist edition of his works, or in Ruinart, i.
[127] Ο προεστως, prœpositus, see Heb. xiii. 17. Ο των Ρωμαιων προεστως Βικτωρ, “Victor bishop of the Romans.” Euseb. H. E. I. v. 24. The Greek word used is the same as in St. Justin.
[128] The learned Bianchini plausibly conjectures that the station on Easter Sunday is not at the Lateran (the cathedral), nor at St. Peter’s, where the Pope officiates, at one of which it would naturally be expected to be, but at the Liberian basilica, because it used to be held for the administration of baptism at St. Pudentiana’s, which is only a stone’s throw from it.
[129] “Cinnamius Opas Lector, of the title of Fasciola” (now SS. Nereus and Achilleus), “the friend of the poor, who lived forty-six years, seven months, and eight days. Interred in peace the tenth day before the calends of March.” From St. Paul’s.
[130] “Macedonius, an exorcist of the Catholic Church.” From the cemetery of SS. Thraso and Saturninus, on the Salarian way.
[131] In the great and old basilicas of Rome the celebrant faces the faithful.
[132] “The day before the first of June ceased to live Prætiosa, a girl (puella), a virgin of only twelve years of age, the handmaid of God and of Christ. In the consulship of Flavius Vincentius, and Fravitus, a consular man.” Found in the cemetery of Callistus.
[133] Vetus et Nova Ecclesiæ Disciplina; circa Beneficia. Par. I. lib. iii. (Luc. 1727.)
[134] Thomass. p. 792.
[135] “Jesus the virgin’s crown,” the hymn for virgins.
[136] “Posuit signum in faciem meam, ut nullum præter eum amatorem admittam.” Office of St. Agnes.
[137] “Mel et lac ex ejus ore suscepi, et sanguis ejus ornavit genas meas.” Ibid.
[138] “Discede a me pabulum mortis, quia jam ab alio amatore præventa sum.” “Ipsi soli servo fidem, ipsi me tota devotione committo.” “Quem cum amavero casta sum, cum tetigero munda sum, cum accepero virgo sum.” Ibid.
[139] “Est autem sabaia ex hordeo vel frumento in liquorem conversis paupertinus in Illyrico potus.” “Sabaia is the drink of the poor in Illyria, made of barley or wheat, transformed into a liquid.” Ammian. Marcellinus, lib. xxvi. 8, p. 422, ed. Lips.
[140] A.D. 258.
[141] Prudentius, in his hymn on St. Laurence.
[142] “Our lords Dioclesian and Maximian, the unconquered, elder Augusti, fathers of the Emperors and Cæsars.”
[143] The name of the Emperor.
[144] See Lucian’s address to the judge, upon Ptolemæus’s condemnation, in the beginning of St. Justin’s Second Apology, or Ruinart, vol. i. p. 120.
[145] There was one cemetery called ad sextum Philippi, which is supposed to have been situated six miles from Rome; but many were three miles from the heart of the city.
[146] Ad Uxorem, lib. ii. c. 5.
[147] When the Vatican cemetery was explored, in 1571, there were found in tombs two small square golden boxes, with a ring at the top of the lid. These very ancient sacred vessels are considered by Bottari to have been used for carrying the Blessed Eucharist round the neck (Roma Subterranea, tom. i. fig. 11); and Pellicia confirms this by many arguments (Christianæ Eccl. Politia, tom. iii. p. 20).
[148] Door-keepers,—an office constituting a lesser order in the Church.
[149] “The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?”
[150] “While the wicked draw nigh me, to eat my flesh, my enemies that trouble me have themselves been weakened and have fallen.”
[151] “If armies in camp shall stand together against me, my heart shall not fear.”—Ps. xxvi.
[152] The guardian genius of the place.
[153] Blind.
[154] The rack was used for a double purpose; as a direct torment, and to keep the body distended for the application of other tortures. This of fire was one of the most common.
[155] There are many instances in the lives of martyrs of their deaths being the fruit of prayer, as in St. Praxedes, St. Cæcilia, St. Agatha, &c.
[156] “In peace, in the selfsame, I will sleep and I will rest.” Ps. iv. 9.
[157] For Thou, O Lord, singularly hast placed me in hope. Ps. v. 10.
[158] The penitentiary system of the early Church will be better described in any volume that embodies the antiquity of the second period of ecclesiastical history, that of The Church of the Basilicas. It is well known, especially from the writings of St. Cyprian, that those who proved weak in persecution, and were subjected to public penance, obtained a shortening of its term,—that is, an indulgence,—through the intercession of confessors, or of persons imprisoned for the faith.
[159] This is related in the Acts just referred to.
[160] See Piazza, on the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in his work on the Stations of Rome.
[161] The last cardinal of the extinct title of St. Cyriacus’s, formed out of a part of these Baths, was Cardinal Bembo.
[162] Michelangelo. The noble and beautiful church of Sta. Maria degli Angeli was made by him out of the central hall and circular vestibule, described in the text. The floor was afterwards raised, and thus the pillars were shortened, and the height of the building diminished by several feet.
[163] See the account of St. Pothinus, Ruinart, i. p. 145.
[164] Ruinart, p. 145.
[165] “Si dignus fueris, cognosces.” Ib.
[166] Acts of St. Justin. Ruinart, p. 129.
[167] This is mentioned as the extreme possible extension.
[168] Ib. p. 56, Acts of St. Felicitas and her sons.
[169] p. 220, Acts of St. Perpetua, &c.
[170] pp. 219 and 146, Acts of Lyonese Martyrs.
[171] Acts of Lionese Martyrs, p. 219.
[172] Asinus portans mysteria, a Latin proverb.
See also Baronius’s notes to the Martyrology. The words “(Christi) cœlestia membra,” applied to the Blessed Eucharist, supply one of those casual, but most striking, arguments that result from identity of habitual thought in antiquity, more than from the use of studied or conventional phrases.
[174] Such a celebration of the Divine Mysteries, by a priest of this name at Antioch, is recorded in his Acts. (See Ruinart, tom. iii. p. 182, note.)
[175] “I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Gal. ii. 20.
[176] See the Acts of the Martyrs of Lyons, Ruinart, vol. i. p. 152 (where will be found the account of the martyrdom of a youth of fifteen), and those of St. Perpetua and Felicitas, p. 221.
[177] See the Acts of St. Felicitas and her seven sons, Ruinart, vol. i. p. 55.
[178] Hist. Eccles. lib. viii. c. 7.
[179] Euseb. ibid. See also St. Ignatius’s letter to the Romans, in his Acts, ap. Ruinart, vol. i. p. 40.
[180] The amphitheatre could contain 150,000.
[181] This was an ordinary device. The underground constructions for its practice have been found in the Coliseum.
[182] The martyr Saturus, torn by a leopard, and about to die, addressed the soldier Pudens, not yet a Christian, in words of exhortation; then asked him for the ring on his finger, dipped it in his own blood, and gave it back, “leaving him the inheritance of the pledge, and the memorial of his blood.” Ap. Ruinart, vol. i. p. 223.
[183] He is commemorated on the 11th of August, with his father Chromatius, as has been already observed.
[184] About 800l.
[185] We give equivalents in English money, as more intelligible.
[186] Called thence St. Adauctus.
[187] “Membraque picta cruore novo.” Prud. περι στεφ iii. 29.
[188] The reader, when visiting the Crystal Palace, will find in the Roman Court an excellent model of the Roman Forum. On the raised mound of the Palatine hill, between the arches of Titus and Constantine, he will see a chapel of fair dimensions standing alone. It is the one to which we allude. It has been lately repaired by the Barberini family.
[189] The fountain before described.
[190] See the Acts of St. Sebastian.
[191] The coup de grace, the blow by which culprits were “put out of their pain.” Breaking the legs of the crucified was considered an ictus gratiosus.
[192] The great sewer of Rome.
[193] “If thou hadst known, and in this thy day,” etc. St. Luke, xix. 42.
[194] “Ecce quod concupivi jam video, quod speravi jam teneo; ipsi sum juncta in cœlis quem in terris posita tota devotione dilexi.” Office of St. Agnes.
[195] Jan. 21.
[196] In or near the forum stood several arches dedicated to Janus, and called simply by his name, near which usurers or money-lenders kept their posts.
[197] 1600l.
[198] “Mecum enim habeo custodem corporis mei, Angelum Domini.” The Breviary.
[199] “Incessu patuit Dea.”
[200] “Duplex corona est præstita martyri.” Prudentius.
[201] “Ingressa Agnes turpitudinis locum, Angelum Domini præparatum invenit.” The Breviary.
[202] The Church of St. Agnes in the Piazza Navona, one of the most beautiful in Rome.
[203] “Non intorto crine caput comptum.” Her head not dressed with braided hair. St. Ambrose, lib. i. de Virgin. c. 2. See Prudentius’s description of St. Eulalia, περι στεφ hymn. iii. 31.
[204] “Solvitur acris hyems, grata vice veris et Favoni.” Horace.
[205] Pudicitia.
[206] St. Ambrose, ubi supra.
[208] This was the usual practice, to behead out of the gate, at the second, third, or fourth mile-stone; but it is clear from Prudentius and other writers that St. Agnes suffered at the place of trial, of which we have other instances.
[209] Prudentius.
[210] St. Ambrose.
[211] Prudentius mentions that a sudden fall of snow shrouded thus the body of St. Eulalia lying in the Forum. Ubi sup.
[212] Red paint.
[213] Revenge.
[214] “[The tomb] of Dionysius, physician [and] priest,” lately found at the entrance to the crypt of St. Cornelius, in the cemetery of Callistus.
[215] “Qui verbo suo instaurat universa.” The Breviary.
[216] Eusebius, in his account of Serapion, teaches us that this was the manner of administering Holy Communion to the sick, without the cup, or under only one kind.
[217] Persons freed from slavery retained the title of freedman or freedwoman (libertus, liberta) of the person to whom they had belonged, as “of Augustus.” If they had belonged originally to a free class, they were liberated as ingenuus or ingenua (well-born) and restored by emancipation to that class.
[218] Phil. ii. 7.
[219] Isaias vii. 14.
[220] “Cum arcam suam, in qua Domini sanctum fuit, manibus indignis tentasset aperire, igne inde surgente deterrita est, ne auderet attingere.” “When she attempted to open, with unworthy hands, her chest, in which was the holy (body) of our Lord, she was deterred from daring to touch it, by fire rising up from it.” De Lapsis.
[221] See Martenne, De antiquis Ecclesiæ Ritibus.
[222] So in the eastern liturgies. Fortunatus calls the Blessed Eucharist, “Corporis Agni margaritum ingens.” “The huge pearl of the Body of the Lamb.” Lib. iii. car. 25.
[223] De morte Satyri.
[224] St. Aug. Tract. cxviii. in Joan.
[225] Tertullian (who lived earlier than two hundred years after Christ, and is the oldest Latin ecclesiastical writer) de Corona Milit. c. 3.
[226] Audientes.
[227] Genuflectentes.
[228] Electi and competentes.
[229] These will be found, particularly in the baptism of adults, joined with repetitions of the Our Father.
[231] St. Ambrose said Mass in the house of a lady beyond the Tiber. (Paulinus, in his Life, tom. ii. Oper. ed. Bened.) St. Augustine mentions a priest’s saying Mass in a house supposed to be infested with evil spirits. De Civ. D. lib. xxii. c. 6.
[232] Isaias xxxv. 1, 2.
[233] The ceremony employed after desecration.
[234] Euseb. H. E. lib. x. c. 5.
[235] In the East, some governors, wearied with wholesale murders, adopted this more merciful way of treating Christians towards the end of the persecution. See Eusebius.
[236] This scene is described from reality.
[237] Eusebius, ubi sup.
[238] The law of retaliation, such as was prescribed also in the Mosaic law, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” &c.
[239] Clinical baptism, or that of persons confined to their beds was administered by pouring or sprinkling the water on the head. See Bingham, book xi. c. 11.
[240] A. D. 303.
[241] The religious who lived in community, or common life, were so called.
[242] A. D. 303.
[243] Confession of sins in private was made before baptism. See Bingham, Origines, b. xi. ch. viii. § 14.