CHAPTER IV. 362

GILT GLASSES AND OTHER OBJECTS FOUND IN THE CATACOMBS.

Ever since the re-discovery and exploration of the Catacombs in the sixteenth century they have been a vast treasury from which, as from an inexhaustible mine, have been derived innumerable relics of Christian antiquity, many of them of inestimable value. Among these are a number of gilt glasses of curious design and remarkable interest, lamps, vases, rings, seals, toys, trinkets, and various objects of domestic use or ornament. Collections of these relics are found in most of the great museums of Europe, especially in those of the city of Rome. An account of the more important of them will be given in the present chapter.

Reference has already been made to the numerous fragments of gilt glass found in the Catacombs, which so remarkably illustrate Christian life in the primitive ages. In the last century, Buonarotti described all the specimens then known. The distinguished archæologist, Padre Garrucci, has recently exhaustively treated these remains of ancient art in his elaborate monograph on this subject.[614] They are also profusely illustrated in the magnificent pages of Perret.[615]

These glasses are generally mutilated fragments, apparently the 363 bottoms of drinking-cups, and occasionally of the dish-like shape of the classic _patera_. They vary in size from about one to four or five inches in diameter. The design is executed in gold leaf on the bottom of the cup, so as to appear through the glass on the inside, and is occasionally beautifully relieved by a dark purple background. It is protected by a plate of glass, fused upon the lower surface so as to become a solid mass, like the glass paper-weights with enclosed ornamental designs which are so common. The pictures thus hermetically sealed are indestructible so long as the glass is not fractured. These vessels were apparently affixed at the time of burial to the soft plaster of the grave; but the thinner portion, standing out from the cement, has almost invariably been broken, while the thick part, imbedded in the plaster, has been preserved. Sometimes even the solid bottoms of these vessels were fractured in the effort to detach them from the walls, and frequently impressions in the cement indicate where they were affixed. They are rarely found _in situ_, having been destroyed or carried off by successive generations of explorers or plunderers. The most important collection is in the Vatican Library. In the British Museum are some thirty specimens; in the museums of Paris, Florence, and Naples, a less number; and a few others in various private collections. The entire number extant is only three hundred and forty. In the course of a quarter of a century De Rossi discovered but two fragments of these glasses. This extreme rarity is doubtless owing to their excessive fragility, and probably also to their being destroyed in large quantities to procure the gold they contain. In some of the extant examples portions of this gold has been removed by inserting a knife between the plates of glass. Perhaps the ingenious avarice of the Jewish “dealers in broken glass,” 364 notorious even in the days of Martial,[616] may have largely contributed to the destruction of these curious remains of Christian antiquity.

It was thought that the manufacture of these glasses was known only at Rome; but in the year 1864 a fragment of a glass plate, with a number of small gilt medallions bearing scriptural representations imbedded in it, was discovered beneath the surface of the ground near the church of St. Severin at Cologne; and in 1866 another of similar character was found, accompanied by some charred bones, in a stone chest near the same place.

Buonarotti regarded these fragments as having all formed part of sacramental vessels; but the character of the designs seems frequently to preclude that idea. Several of these are derived from the fables of pagan mythology, and seem to indicate, if not heathen origin, at least the influence of pagan types. Among them are found the figures of Achilles, Hercules, Dædalus, Minerva, Mercury, the Three Graces, Cupid and Pysche, and other groups still less congruous with Christian thought. Other scenes represent various industries, as men sawing, planing, and carving wood; a ship-builder with his men at work; a tailor, druggist, and money-coiner, in their respective shops. Hunting scenes, men boxing, and charioteers encouraging their horses, also occur. A more numerous series represent domestic groups, portraits of husband and wife, frequently accompanied by their children, groups of children playing, or sometimes a lady in rich costume, with cupids holding her mirror and other toilet adjuncts. Frequently occurs what 365 seems to be a marriage scene, with the bride and bridegroom joining hands over an altar, above which Christ is often depicted as placing crowns on their heads. Sometimes is expressed in gilt letters the beautiful wish VIVATIS IN DEO--“May you live in God.” In one instance it is a winged cupid that bestows the crown.

The majority of the scenes, however, are of a distinctively Christian character, comprising most of the subjects in the symbolical and biblical cycles already described; but from the conditions of space, which are often exceedingly limited, the design is frequently of a very rudimentary type. In the large _patera_ of Cologne the medallions contain the separate parts of different groups, which are only intelligible as a whole. Besides the ordinary scenes from Old and New Testament history there is a unique example of the triumph of Christ, in which he appears in fulness of glory holding the globe of sovereignty; while opposite to him stands a figure, interpreted by Garrucci as Isaiah prophesying the advent of the Light of the World. Perret also figures one example of Christ on the cross, with Mary and John beside it, which he thinks is later than the sixth century.

Another class exhibits representations of the Virgin Mary, generally in the attitude of prayer, either alone, or standing between St. Peter and St. Paul, which position is also often occupied by St. Agnes or some other female saint. More frequently recurring than any other figures are those of St. Peter and St. Paul. They are found on eighty out of three hundred and forty specimens figured by Garrucci, or nearly one fourth of the whole. They appear generally as busts side by side, without the slightest indication of the superiority of one over 366 the other, Peter being often on the left instead of the right, which, according to the Romish theory of his primacy, he should always occupy. Indeed, their perfect parity in dignity and honour is implied in the single crown sometimes suspended over their heads, or by their simultaneous crowning by Christ, who appears between or above them. Other saints are also represented, who are discriminated by labels bearing their names, as Lawrence, Vincent, Sixtus, Callixtus, Hippolytus, etc. There are also five or six specimens exhibiting Jewish symbols, the ark of the covenant and the rolls of the law. From the technical difficulties in the employment of a rather intractable material, as well as from the general decline of art, the execution is often uncouth and stiff. “The faithful,” says Buonarotti, “desiring to adorn these vases with pious symbols, were forced to avail themselves of inexpert workmen, or even those who pursued other trades.”[617] The accompanying is a characteristic example, from this author, of the domestic class. It exhibits a husband, wife, and child, with the motto 367 in Latin characters, PIE ZESES--“Drink and live.” Between the faces is an object like an ancient lachrymatory.

It is probable that these vessels were designed not for sacramental solemnities, but for occasions of domestic and social rejoicing, as nuptial, baptismal, and anniversary festivals; and for the celebration of the Agape, or love-feast, after it had lost the religious character it possessed in early times. Hence the selection of a comparatively gay and mundane class of subjects; some derived from pagan art, and others implying a conformity to the fashionable follies and amusements of the world, and indicating a decline of piety and corruption of manners.

Garrucci thinks, from the large proportion of glasses bearing the effigies of St. Peter and St. Paul, that those at least were used in connexion with the feast in honour of these saints, which in the fourth and fifth centuries was celebrated in Rome as a public holiday, with much of the vulgar merriment with which the peasants of the Campagna keep their _festa_ to-day. Mr. Brownlow hints the possibility that the “idea of restraining the potations of the Roman Christians, by depicting figures which could only be seen to advantage when the glass was empty, suggested the use of these gilded cups.”[618]

The festive purpose for which many of these vessels was designed is indicated by the convivial character of the inscriptions they bear. Mr. Brownlow has translated the following examples in this sense:[619] DIGNITAS AMICORVM PIE ZESES CVM TVIS OMNIBVS BIBE ET PROPINA--“A mark of friendship; drink, and (long) life to thee, with all thine; drink, and propose a toast;” CVM TVIS FELICITER ZESES--“Mayest thou live 368 happily with thine own;” or, more freely, “Life and happiness to thee and thine;” ΠΙΕ ΖΕΣΕΣ ΕΝ ΑΓΑΘΟΙΣ--“Drink and live among the good.”

Sometimes these inscriptions breathe a spirit of pious congratulation and good-will, as the following from Perret: HILARIS VIVAS CVM TVIS OMNIBVS FELICITER SEMPER IN PACE DEI ZESES--“Joyfully mayest thou live with all thine; happily mayest thou live forever in the peace of God.” Augustine, describing in his Confessions the devout celebration of the anniversaries of the saints by his mother, Monica, says she used to bring to the festivals “a small cup of wine diluted according to her own abstemious habits, which for courtesy she would taste.”[620]

Although it is impossible that _all_ these vessels were designed for sacramental purposes, yet it is not improbable that some of them were used as patens and chalices in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Tertullian speaks of the representation of the Good Shepherd on the sacred cup in a manner which seems to imply similarity of material and ornamentation.[621] The _Liber Pontificalis_ states that glass patens were in use in the third century. When these were superseded by gold and silver vessels they would not improbably be placed as memorials on the tombs of departed saints.[622]

It is difficult to determine even the proximate date of these glasses. 369 From the degraded character of their art they are evidently of a comparatively late period. Garrucci and some other writers, indeed, assign them to the third or fourth century; but from the occurrence of the nimbus, and for other technical reasons, Marriott attributes many of them to the fifth or sixth century.[623] Other peculiarities of execution are characteristic of Byzantine art, and a writer in the _Revue Chrétienne_ asserts that there is not a single example of this mode of treatment known to belong to the Roman period. The striking corruption of doctrine and practice indicated is also an evidence of late origin.

Numerous small cups or flasks, known as _ampullæ_, have been found affixed to the walls or imbedded in the plaster of the tombs, frequently containing in the bottom a reddish deposit. This Bosio concluded was dried blood, and therefore asserted that these cups were irrefragable proofs of the martyrdom of the persons to whose graves they were attached. The Roman ecclesiastical authorities received this theory with enthusiasm, and in the year 1688 issued a decree that, “The Holy Congregation of Relics, having carefully examined the matter, decides that the palm and vessel tinged with blood are to be considered most certain signs of martyrdom.” Eminent Romanist writers have unflinchingly asserted, without the least corroboration of their theory from contemporary evidence, that these cups were filled with the martyr’s blood and affixed to his grave;[624]--another example of the fatal mistake of Rome in fortifying truth with the bulwark of 370 falsehood, and thus shaking our confidence even in that which is real. The Acts of the Martyrs, indeed, mention the collecting of their blood in napkins, sponges, or veils, to keep as a talisman and heirloom at home; but never of its preservation in a cup, or burial beside their graves. This symbol does not occur on the tombs of some who were unquestionably martyrs;[625] and some who have it, from their extreme youth, or from some other reason indicated by the inscription, cannot have belonged to that honoured class.[626] Moreover, as Mr. Seymour remarks, some of these alleged martyr blood-cups are of a form and exhibit designs unknown till long after the age of persecution.[627] In the example on the following page, given by Aringhi, the inscription is unwarrantably translated by Romanist epigraphists, “the blood of Saturnius;” instead of, in analogy with numerous other inscriptions, “the place [_locus_] of holy Saturnius.”

The chemist Leibnitz analyzed the red deposit in these vessels, and found that it was composed of organic matter, but does not hazard the assertion that it is blood. It has been suggested by Röstell, with whom Rochette agrees, that these cups were sacramental vessels, and that 371 the sediment was the lees of wine, which would yield a similar organic residuum. The desire to express fellowship with the departed in the celebration of the Agape, or the Eucharist, which often took place beside their graves, may have led to the custom of affixing these vessels to the tombs and replenishing them with wine. We know that this yearning of the human heart led in course of time to the offering of the sacrament to the dead, and the burying it in their graves.[628]

The occurrence of the palm branch engraved or painted on the tomb was 372 also, as we have seen, declared by the Congregation of Relics to be a certain sign of a martyr’s tomb. But this was a common symbol of victory both among the pagans and Jews, and therefore was naturally adopted by the Christians in token of their being “more than conquerors” through Christ, without any reference to martyrdom. It is found, moreover, on graves posterior to the times of persecution, on those of children, and even on a tomb which a man had prepared for himself while yet alive. Muratori, who gives this example, though a devout Romanist, says the palm was by no means a sign of martyrdom.[629] Other criteria of martyrdom were also adopted, as the occurrence of the laurel and the olive crown, and the appearance of _oranti_ on the tombs; but the former are also common to paganism, and in Christian epigraphy adorn the graves of very young children, and the latter frequently occur on the sarcophagi after the age of persecution had passed.

It is remarkable that so few allusions to martyrdom occur in the Catacombs. In the whole range of the inscriptions, as before observed, only five, some of which may be spurious, commemorate martyrs, or less than one in two thousand. The pictorial representations of this event are less frequent still. In the cemetery of St. Priscilla was discovered a terra cotta bas relief of the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, but evidently of late date: the soldiers are armed with cross-bows, and are clad apparently in mediæval plate armour. This subject has at all times been a favourite theme of Italian art, and this relief may have been left at the shrine of the saints by some pious pilgrim of 373 the Middle Ages. In the Catacomb of Callixtus is a painting of two Christians standing before the tribunal of a Roman magistrate. This is probably of the early centuries, but how different from the gross and bloody martyr-pictures in the church of _S. Steffano in Rotondo_ in Rome. On one of the gilt glasses, executed long after the days of persecution, is a group supposed to represent Isaiah sawn asunder, and in one of the Catacombs is a scene thought to indicate the martyrdom of Hippolytus. The pictures of Daniel and the three Hebrews indicate rather the triumph than the trial of God’s saints.

The martyrs left no outward memorial of their sufferings, nor was any needed, for their intrepid spirit animated the whole Christian community. D’Agincourt says he found in thirty years’ exploration only one picture, and that of late and barbarian design, portraying martyrdom.[630] Those who themselves stood in jeopardy every hour did not magnify the merit of the faithful confession of Christ, whom they considered alone deserving of the title of “Faithful and True Witness.” No sacred litany entreated St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, St. Vincent, and all holy martyrs, to pray for them; nor is any such inscription found in the whole range of the epigraphy of the Catacombs.[631]

In the following rude representation, from a slab in the Lapidarian Gallery, Romish imagination has discovered the outline of a furnace, or of a caldron of boiling oil in which Victorina was immersed. A 374 comparison with other similar figures indicates that it is intended for a corn measure filled with grain, the sign of the trade of an ancient meal merchant.

In the Vatican Museum are certain truculent-looking objects, said by the Roman custodians to be instruments of torture taken from the graves of the martyrs.[632] But the locality in which they were found is seldom recorded, which deprives them of much of their historic value; and many of them are probably fictitious. Dr. Northcote admits that they are often “of doubtful authenticity,” and that “many look more like domestic utensils, and seem to be of Etruscan workmanship.” “These,” he adds, “were probably never taken from the Catacombs at all.”[633] Others have too modern an appearance to admit such a supposition, and look rather, as Maitland suggests, as if “taken from the chambers of the Holy Inquisition.”[634] Among the most formidable of these alleged instruments of martyrdom, as well as the most probably genuine, are the terrible _plumbatæ_ and _ungulæ_. The former were scourges of small chains loaded with bronze or lead, with which, 375 it is recorded, the martyrs were often beaten to death.[635] Aringhi and others have affected to discover on the mouldering skeletons of the early Christians, after the lapse of fifteen hundred years, the marks made by these _plumbatæ_. In one exceptional instance given by Bosio,[636] an _orante_ is represented with this dreadful instrument of torture lying beside her. The _ungulæ_, as the name implies, are iron claws or hooks, described in the Acts of the Martyrs as employed for lacerating their flesh. The dreadful wounds they inflict are referred to by Prudentius in his account of the martyrdom of St. Vincent: “One covers with kisses the double furrows of the _ungulæ_; another is glad to wipe the purple stream from the body.”

In the Catacomb of Calepodius was discovered an iron-toothed comb considered to have been similarly employed in torturing the martyrs; in the crypts of St. Alexander, among other iron instruments, was found a long narrow ladle, which it is thought was used in pouring molten lead down their throats; and in the cemetery of St. Agnes an iron hook, designed, as Aringhi conceived, for dragging their bodies after death. In the Vatican Museum is also a pair of iron forceps, with horrid trenchant teeth and the remains of wooden handles, probably employed in pinching and tearing the flesh of the helpless victims of heathen rage. A similar forceps is sometimes engraved on a funeral slab, where, in accordance with analogous examples, it probably indicated the trade of the deceased as a smith. The genius of primitive Christianity was averse to recording the circumstances of the believer’s death, and made slight allusion to the sufferings of the martyrs. Although it is possible that some of these relics of 376 persecution may be genuine, yet it is difficult to conceive how the Christians could obtain from the pagan authorities these instruments of torture, or why they should bury them with the martyred dead; and these considerations will account for the extreme rarity of their authentic occurrence.

Vast numbers of lamps have been found in the Catacombs, and specimens abound in almost every antiquarian museum. They must have been absolutely necessary to dispel the darkness of these gloomy crypts, so as to render them safe for the solemnizing of funeral rites, for worship, or for sanctuary from oppression. They are of varying material and design, but are for the most part of terra cotta of the ordinary antique pattern and of common workmanship. Many, however, were executed in bronze or iron, often with considerable taste and skill. Some of these had bronze chains by which to suspend them from the ceiling of the chambers or corridors. Those in terra cotta had frequently handles by which they could be carried; most, however, were without either, and were placed in niches in the _tufa_ near the stairways, at the entrances of the principal galleries, at the angles of the corridors, and in the _cubicula_ used for purposes of worship.

These lamps generally bore some Christian symbol, as the sacred monogram, the Good Shepherd, the palm, fish, or dove, and not unfrequently the heads of St. Peter and St. Paul. Sometimes the lamp itself was made in the shape of a boat, the emblem of the church voyaging through a stormy sea to the shores of eternity; of the mystic fish, whose representation entered so largely into primitive art; of a dove, the symbol of the believer’s guilelessness and purity; or of a cock, the emblem of vigilance, a monition that he should watch and be 377 sober. They frequently bear inscriptions referring to the five virgins, or to the source of true spiritual illumination, the divine word, which is a lamp unto the feet and a light unto the path. On one example occurs the legend, QVASI LVCERNAE LVCENTI IN CALIGINOSO LOCO--“As a light shining in a dark place,” a sentiment peculiarly appropriate to those gloomy chambers of death, which were nevertheless illumined by the glorious hope of a blissful immortality.

The accompanying example of a symbolical lamp in the form of a boat, furnished with chains and ring for suspension, is a characteristic type.[637] The figures in the little bark are interpreted by Roman archæologists as Peter and Paul--the pilot of the Galilean lake as the chief of the apostles holding the rudder and guiding the fortunes of 378 the church. The tablet on the mast bears the inscription--DOMINVS LEGEM DAT. VALERIO SEVERO EVTROPIO. VIVAS--“The Lord gives the word. To Valerius Severus Eutropius. May you live.”

Fig. 113 exhibits a lamp from the Catacombs, on the upper part of which the ever-recurring ichthyic symbol is repeated, and on the handle the sacred monogram of the name of Our Lord. The lamp is replenished at the central opening. They sometimes burn with two or three lights. See also the terra cotta lamp with handle and medallion in Fig. 114, and the hanging lamps shown in Figs. 23 and 24.

A lamp figured by Perret has the sacred monogram surrounded by the heads of the twelve apostles. On another found in the Jewish Catacomb is a representation of the seven-branched candlestick. This also occurs in Christian symbolism, and probably is emblematic, as has been suggested by Dr. McCaul, of the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit of divine illumination.

The necessary use of lights in the funeral solemnities of the church in the Catacombs was probably the origin of the Romish usage of burying the dead with the accompaniment of burning tapers even amid 379 the blaze of day. It was also a heathen custom, in the adoption of which, as in so many other things, the Catholic became the pagan’s heir.[638] Jerome mentions its observance in his day at the funeral of the famous Lady Paula.[639] Several others of the later Fathers mention the same practice.

From the illumination of the subterranean chapels was also derived the custom of burning altar lights, which early became prevalent, and which is so striking a feature of modern Romanism.[640] The first step in this direction seems to have been the practice of burning tapers before the shrines of the martyrs in the Catacombs, probably for the convenience of pilgrims to their tombs, which practice was continued in the churches erected over their remains. The Council of Elvira forbade the custom,[641] which Vigilantius vehemently denounced as an imitation of the pagan superstition of lighting lamps at the graves of the dead.[642] “We almost see,” he says, “the ceremonial of 380 the heathen introduced into the churches under the guise of religion--piles of candles lighted while the sun is shining.... Great honour do such persons as do this,” he adds, “render to the blessed martyrs, thinking with miserable tapers to illumine those whom the Lamb in the midst of the throne shines upon with the splendour of his glory.”[643] In the fifth century, however, the custom of thus striving to do “vain honour to the Father of lights” had become established.

Numerous terra cotta vases of varying size and shape have been found in the Catacombs. Some of these were quite large, and were probably used for holding water or wine for the fossors, or perhaps for the refugees from persecution. The first vase in the engraving on the following page, which is exactly the shape of the classic amphora,[644] is over three feet high. The acute termination at the bottom was set in a stand or stuck in the ground, so that the vessel stood upright. Many amphoræ have been found in this position in the cellars of Pompeii. The upper right hand object is furnished with a spout, and an opening for replenishing the vessel. That in the lower right hand corner is a lamp with a handle for carrying it, ornamented by medallion heads of St. Peter and St. Paul. The small flasks in the centre of the engraving are of enamel and purple glass, about an inch high, probably for holding precious unguents. These miniature vases were sometimes made of agate, and were occasionally in the shape of a bee-hive, probably emblematic of the milk and honey given at baptism, 381 to signify the sincere milk of the word and the sweets of salvation imparted to new-born babes of Christ.[645]

Some of these vessels are shallow basins rather than vases, (see above, and also Fig. 116,) which have been interpreted by Roman Catholic writers as _benitiers_, or holy-water vessels employed in the services of the Romish ritual. They were more probably 382 ablutionary basins for the use of the fossors, summoned from their grimy labour to assist in the funeral solemnities; or, possibly, for the symbolical washing of the hands by the primitive bishops and presbyters before the consecration of the eucharist, which is mentioned by several of the Fathers as a fulfilment of that Scripture, “I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O Lord.”[646] They have also been regarded as baptismal vases.

Generally this primitive pottery, except the fictile lamps, bears no distinctive Christian symbol; yet sometimes it does, as the accompanying amphora, the bottom of which has been broken off. Around the vessel runs the inscription, VINCENTI PIE ZESE--“Vincent, drink and live.” On the lower part are three conquering horses, probably in allusion to the name Vincent. Above the horses is the inscription, AEGIS OIKOYMENE ZEP, written backwards.

The tall vessels shown in Fig. 116, which are of silver with gold coating, are described by Perret as designed for holding the holy chrism,[647] or sacred anointing oil. They were more probably used for containing the wine for the eucharist, for which they were of sufficient size, as the subterranean assemblies could not be very numerous. On the large medallion is a bust of St. Paul, and on the 383 reverse that of St. Peter. On the other vessel, besides the busts of these saints, is that of Our Lord wearing a nimbus, together with the sacred symbols of the cross, doves, and lambs. The nimbus, the form of the cross, the material, and the style of execution, indicate a comparatively late date. Some of the vessels we have described were doubtless employed also in the celebration of the Agape.

Among the most interesting objects found in the Catacombs are the rings and seals of the early Christians, which are frequently combined in one. Tertullian speaks of the _annulus pronubus_, or ring of espousal, the wearing of which was the only use of gold known to the Roman women in the days of primitive simplicity;[648] and St. Agnes declares her betrothal to Christ by the ring of his faith.[649] A 384 signet ring was also considered an essential part of the bridal outfit of a newly wedded wife, and that not for ostentation, says Clement of Alexandria, but that, being entrusted with the care of domestic concerns, she may seal up those household treasures which might otherwise be insecure.[650] But these rings must be freed from every trace of idolatrous superstition, and bear only Christian symbols. “On our signet rings,” says the writer just mentioned,[651] “let there be seen only a dove, or a fish, or a ship sailing toward heaven, or a lyre, or an anchor; for those men ought not to engrave idolatrous forms to whom the use of them is forbidden; those can engrave no sword and bow who seek for peace; the friends of temperance cannot engrave drinking cups.”

Signet rings, being ancient symbols of authority,[652] were also worn by bishops as a sort of badge of office, and as a pledge of their spiritual espousal to the church of Christ. A curious episcopal ring worn by St. Arnulf, bishop of Metz, in the sixth century, exhibits the well-known ichthyic symbol.[653]

The ring shown in Fig. 117 bears the sacred monogram accompanied by the significant Alpha and Omega. In the seal, or intaglio, copied in Fig. 118, the ship of the church is represented as borne by the symbolical fish, while doves, the emblem of the faithful, perch upon the mast and stern. In naive blending of the literal with the figurative, Our Lord in bodily presence is seen approaching the vessel and supporting Peter by the hand, doubtless in allusion to the 385 trial of his faith on the Sea of Galilee. The identity of both figures is indicated by the names written overhead. Two other apostles row the vessel, and a third lifts up his hands in prayer. It was doubtless a seal of this character to which Clement of Alexandria alludes as bearing the ναῦς οὐρανοδραμοῦσα--“the ship in full sail for heaven.”

On some signet rings in the Museum of Naples, found in the ruins of Pompeii, are the Christian symbols of the mystical fish, palms, and the anchor of hope, or the synonymous word ΕΛΠΙϹ. These are almost the sole indications of the existence of any Christian element in that gay, luxurious city. Other Pompeian rings bear light Epicurean mottoes, as: ΕΥΤΥΧΙ ΠΑΝΟΙΚΙ Ο ΦΕΡΩΝ--“Good luck to thee, O wearer, and to all thine;” ΛΕΓΟΥϹΙΝ Α ΘΕΛΟΥϹΙΝ ΛΕΓΕΤΩϹΑΝ ΟΥ ΜΕΛΙΜΟΙ--“They say what they will; let them say, I care not.” Another has an engraving of a finger holding an ear, with the word, ΜΝΗΜΟΝΕΥΕ--“Remember.” Other Roman rings bear such mottoes as, AMO TE AMA ME--“I love thee, love thou me;” PIGNVS AMORIS--“A pledge of love;” VNI AMBROSIA VENENVM CAETERIS--“To one nectar, to others poison.”

More frequently than the seal itself occurs its impression in the 386 plaster of the graves, either to express some Christian sentiment, or as a means of recognizing a tomb which bore no other mark. The stamp of coins, or even shells, stuck into the plaster, were used apparently for the same purpose. In the following engraving are represented impressions of two of these seals. In the first is the confession of faith in the divinity of Our Lord by some orthodox Christian, probably in the time of the Arian heresy. In the second a devout believer declares his hope in Christ.

Other seals bear such pious mottoes as DEVS DEDIT--“God gave;” VIVAS IN DEO--“May you live in God;” SPES IN DEO--“Hope in God;” PEDE SECVNDO--“May you succeed happily.” Vast numbers of tiles bearing impressions of the die upon them are found, but these are merely the stamps of the imperial brick kilns, with the names of the reigning sovereigns.

Affecting memorials of domestic affection are found in the toys and trinkets of little children enclosed in their graves or affixed to the plaster without. The dolls in the following engraving strikingly resemble those with which children amuse themselves to-day. They are made of ivory, and some are furnished with wires, by which the joints can be worked after the manner of the modern marionettes. The object 387 in the upper left hand corner is a terra cotta vase with a narrow slit for receiving money, like the common children’s savings banks. Beneath it is an ivory ring. The other objects are small bronze bells, forming part of a child’s rattle. In the Catacomb of St. Sebastian was also found a small terra cotta horse of rude design, dappled with coloured spots.

The human affections are the same in every age. These simple objects speak more directly to the heart than “storied urn or animated bust.” As we gaze upon these childish toys in the Vatican Museum the centuries vanish, and busy fancy pictures the weeping Roman mother placing these cherished relics of her dead babe in its waxen hands or by its side, as it is laid from her loving arms in the cold embrace of the rocky grave, and then, with tear-dimmed eyes, taking a last, long, lingering farewell of the loved form about to be closed from her sight forever.

Numerous toilet articles have also been found in the Catacombs, generally in the graves of the dead or cemented by the plaster to the tombs. Many of these have been plundered and lost; but still a very interesting collection exists in the Vatican Library. Among its 388 contents are long silver or ivory bodkins for the hair, combs of box or ivory, scent-bottles and boxes of perfume, broaches, earrings, bracelets, sometimes with keys to unlock the clasps, and other ornaments in bronze, silver, or gold.[654] The simpler manners of the Christian women, as compared with those of pagan faith around them, is indicated by the conspicuous absence of the rouge pots and jars of cosmetics, and many other articles of luxury, which formed so important a part of the toilet requisites of Rome’s proud dames, and which are so frequently found in the ruins of Pompeii. The Christian ornaments, moreover, even after the departure from the primitive simplicity of manners, were of a very different character from those of the corrupt civilization of paganism. Instead of the abominable representations of heathen art, suggesting every evil thought and stimulating every vile passion, of which so many examples occur in the Museum of Naples, only chaste and modest figures are found; and even the articles of the toilet are frequently adorned with pious mottoes. Thus, on a bodkin for a lady’s hair, probably a love-gift to a wife or betrothed bride, is engraved the beautiful sentiment, ROMVLA SEMPER VIVAS IN DEO--“Romula, may you ever live in God.” Such a religious art seems an anticipation of the day when “Holiness to the Lord” shall be written upon the bells of the horses.

Small caskets of gold or other metal for containing a portion of the gospels, generally part of the first chapter of John, which were worn 389 on the neck, have also been found. They seem to have been introduced in the decline of primitive piety in imitation of the Jewish phylactery or pagan amulet, and were probably worn for the same superstitious purpose, to avert danger or to cure disease. They were condemned by Irenæus, Augustine, Chrysostom, and by the Council of Laodicea, as a relic of heathenism.[655] On a carved figure of a fish, with a hole drilled through it for suspending it from the neck, and probably intended for an amulet, is engraved the word, ϹΩϹΑΙϹ--“Mayest thou save us.” Medals, coins, and what are described as tessaræ of hospitality, by which the early Christians recognized travelling members of distant churches as sharers of the same faith, and admitted them to their assemblies and their homes, have likewise been found. So also have articles of domestic economy, as spoons, knives, keys, drinking-cups and shells used as such, and even a metallic kettle for cooking. Certain articles employed in religious service, as a baptismal font, altars, chairs, etc., will be hereafter described.

This practice of burying with the dead the objects which they had employed in life was common to the pagans from the earliest Etruscan times to the most recent heathen sepulture. They interred in the tombs of the departed every kind of utensil and implement of trade, and even articles of food. M. Rochette perceives herein a notion, confused and gross though it may be, of the immortality of the soul, and a proof of that instinct of man which recoils from the thought of annihilation.[656] In like manner, the Christians, although animated by a loftier hope, 390 and inspired with an assurance of eternal deathlessness, long followed this ancient custom, even to the extent sometimes of putting the piece of money in the mouth of the deceased, intended by the heathen for the payment of Charon.[657] This was most probably, in many instances a mere unthinking conformity to ancient use and wont. Milman asserts that the practice of burying money, often large sums, with the dead, was the cause of the very severe Roman laws against the violations of the tombs, inasmuch as the government wished to reserve to itself that source of revenue.[658]

In the Christian Museum of the Vatican is a marble statue of the Good Shepherd, figured in the accompanying engraving, which is believed to be from the Catacombs. Although the execution is coarse, yet from the general style Rumohr thinks it probably the oldest extant specimen of 391 Christian statuary.[659] Sculpture seems to have bowed less willingly than painting to the new religion, and was much more tardy in laying its offerings on the altar of Christianity. It retained also much of the spirit of paganism, and never became thoroughly imbued with Christian sentiment. The colossal figure of the Galilean fisherman beneath the mighty dome of his proud mausoleum--that stateliest fane in Christendom--if not indeed the identical statue of the Capitoline Jove, is copied from a heathen model. The majestic Moses of Michael Angelo seems rather the embodied conception of the cloud-compelling Phidian Zeus than of the Hebrew patriarch, described as the meekest of men. Even Thorwaldsen’s sublime figures of Christ and the apostles exhibit more of the majesty of antique pagan art than of the meek and tender grace of Christianity. Sculpture, as M. Rochette well remarks, struck its roots deeply into the soil of heathenism, and was with the utmost difficulty transplanted therefrom. It is essentially pagan in its character, and is especially adapted for the expression of the severer virtues. Painting is more instinct with Christian spirit, and is the better fitted for the representation of the softer graces.

Moreover, the profession of the sculptor was held in abhorrence on account of its connexion with idolatry. Tertullian stigmatizes the makers of images as the foster-fathers of devils and the procurers 392 of idols.[660] Prudentius calls Mentor and Phidias the makers and parents of the heathen gods.[661] All who were in any wise connected with this unhallowed craft were rejected from the ordinance of baptism and denied the holy eucharist.[662] “The ancient Christians,” Buonarotti truly remarks, “always kept aloof from these arts, by which they might have run a risk of polluting themselves with idolatry; and hence it arose that few or none of them devoted themselves to painting or to sculpture, which had as their principal object the representations of the gods or the myths of the heathen.”[663] Hence the almost entire absence of Christian statuary from the Catacombs. Even the sculptured bas reliefs of the sarcophagi before described were for the most part the product of that later period, when Christianity, coming forth from these subterranean crypts, walked in the light of day and basked in the favour of princes.

This brief notice of early Christian sculpture would be incomplete without some reference to the statue of the celebrated Hippolytus, bishop of Portus, the most remarkable known specimen of that class. It was discovered by some workmen digging near the church of _San Lorenzo fuori le mura_ in the year 1551, and probably originally stood in the adjacent Catacomb of Hippolytus. The martyr bishop is 393 represented as seated in a sort of episcopal chair. The figure is modelled with a classic grace and dignity superior to any examples of the Constantinian period. Indeed, the distinguished art critic, Winckelmann, declares it to be the finest specimen of early Christian sculpture extant. It was considerably mutilated, but has been skilfully restored, and now stands in the Lateran Museum. On the base of the chair is engraved a list of the published writings of Hippolytus,[664] and also the table which he constructed for determining the true period of the Easter festival. The discovery of an error in this table deprived it of much of its value; and the date of this monument is probably prior to that discovery, or the early part of the third century.

Passing allusion should also be here made to the early Christian diptychs, specimens of which are found in almost every antiquarian museum. These were formed after the model of the imperial and consular diptychs, or registers of the public officers of Rome. They consisted of tablets of ivory, wood, or metal, folded together,[665] and bore 394 the names of the bishops, officers, or distinguished patrons of the church, and memorials of the martyrs and holy dead. These memorials were frequently read in the religious assemblies of the primitive church, especially on the anniversaries of the martyrs’ death. This practice led in course of time to the invocation of their aid in the Litany of the Saints, and to other errors of Romanism. The diptychs had also frequently elaborate bas reliefs of scenes from the biblical cycle, and in the age of image-worship bore the figures of the saints to whom a corrupt Christianity had begun to pay an idolatrous veneration. They became thus the prototype of the illuminated missal of the Middle Ages.

[614] _Vetri ornati di figure in oro trovati nei cimiteri dei Cristiani primitivi di Roma raccolti e spiegati da Raffaele Garrucci._--Roma, 1858.

[615] _Osservazioni sopra alcuni frammenti di vasi antichi di vetro ornati di figure trovati nei cimiteri di Roma._--Firenze, 1716.

[616] Transtyberinus ambulator, Qui pallentia sulphurata fractis Permutat vitreis.--_Epig._, i, 42.

[617] Sicche volendo i fedeli adornar con simboli devoti i loro vasi, erano forzati per lo più a valersi di artefici inesperti, e che professavano altre mestieri.--_De’ Vetri Cemeteriali._

[618] _Rom. Sott._, p. 283.

[619] _Ibid._

[620] “Unde dignationem sumeret.”--_Conf._, vi, 2. Compare with the expression DIGNITAS in the previous inscription.

[621] Pastor quem in calice depingis.--_De Pudicit._, c. 7. Ipsæ picturæ calicum vestrorum, si vel in illis _perlucebit_ interpretatio,... et ego ejus pastoris scripturam haurio _qui non potest frangi_.--_Ibid._, 10.

[622] Glass chalices are common, indeed it is said universal, at the present day in the Coptic churches of Egypt. The _San Greal_, or reputed vessel of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, preserved in the Cathedral of Genoa, is, curiously enough, of glass, of a hexagonal form.

[623] P. 16, first foot note. Both Christ and Mary have the nimbus. The legend _Christus et Istafanus_ on one example, indicating a transition into modern Italian, implies a late date.

[624] Rock’s _Hierurgia_, p. 269.

[625] See the epitaphs of Lannus and Gordianus, p. 98.

[626] Muratori gives the epitaph of a girl of the age of two years and twenty days, on whose tombstone this cup was found, and feeling the absurdity of this theory, but unwilling to controvert the decree of the Congregation of Relics, he adds ironically, “In these sacred cemeteries you especially wonder at two things, namely, that when so many glass or figured vases occur no mention is made in the inscriptions of martyrdom; and especially that _infants_ suffered death on account of faith in Christ”--In sacris iis coemeteriis duo potissimum mireris, Nempe quum tot Vasa vitrea aut figulina occurrant, nullam tamen in ipsis inscriptionibus mortis pro Christo toleratæ mentionem haberi, et praeterea Infantes ob Fidem Christi morti datos fuisse.--_Nov. Thesaur. Vet. Inscrip._, p. 1958, No. 8.

[627] _Mornings with the Jesuits_, p. 222.

[628] The Third Council of Carthage in the year 397 forbade this practice, because Christ said, “Take and eat,” whereas a dead body can neither take nor eat--Placuit ut corporibus defunctorum eucharistia non detur. Dictum est enim a Domino Accipite et edite: cadavera autem nec accipere possunt, nec edere.--_Conc. Cath._, 3, can. 6. Chrysostom also denounces the practice because the words were spoken to the living and not to the dead.--_Hom._, 40, in 1 Cor. Gregory the Great speaks of the burial of the Eucharist with the dead, “Jussit communionem Dominici corporis in pectus defuncti reponi atque sic tumulari.”--_Greg. Dial._, lib. ii, c. 24. Maitland thinks that these cups were probably depositories for aromatic gums much used in the interment of the dead.

[629] “Ergo palma indicium minime Martyri fuit.”--The inscription, which bears two palms, reads thus--LEOPARDVS SE BIBV FECIT.

[630] Il n’a rencontré lui même dans ces souterrains aucun trace de nul autre tableau représentant une martyre.--_Hist. de l’Art._

[631] A fresco of the martyrdom of Felicitas and her seven sons, in an ancient chapel within the Baths of Titus, is not later, according to M. Rochette, (_Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscr._, tom. xiii, p. 165,) than the seventh century.

[632] Aringhi has given an entire chapter on this subject, entitled “Martyriorum instrumenta unà cum martyrum corporibus tumulo reponuntur.”--_Rom. Sott._, i, 29.

[633] _Catacombs of Rome_, pp. 111, 112.

[634] _Ibid._, p. 187.

[635] “Flagellum quoddam ad corpus excruciandum,” is the phrase of Aringhi.

[636] _Rom. Sott._, p. 387.

[637] _Perret_, tom. iv, planche 2. The ship was a favourite type of the church during the Middle Ages. In the church of St. Etienne-du-Mont, at Paris, is a representation of a vessel crowded with passengers, among whom the portrait of Francis I. has been recognized. In an ancient Merovingian MS. missal the same idea is repeated, only the Holy Spirit is substituted as pilot--Bene gubernatus est Spiritus Sanctus.

[638] _La Corinne._

[639] Translata episcoporum manibus, cum alii pontifices lampadas cereosque præferrent.--Hieron., Ep. 27, _ad Eustach., in Epitaph. Paulæ_.

[640] Sometimes a single candelabrum bears three hundred and sixty-five lights, emblematic of the days of the year. More impressive is a solitary lamp ever burning at some lowly shrine, the type of the flame of love burning in perpetual adoration on the altar of the heart.

[641] Canon., 34.

[642] The following inscription from Gruter indicates this practice:

QVISQVE · HVIC · TVMVLO POSVIT · ARDENTEM · LVCERNAM ILLIVS · CINERES · AVREA · TERRA · TEGAT.

“Who ever places a burning lamp before this tomb, may a golden soil cover his ashes.”

Lactantius accuses the pagans of burning lights to God as to one living in darkness, (_Institut. Divin._, lib. vi, cap. 2,) and the Theodosian Code forbids the custom.

[643] Prope ritum gentilium videmus sub prætextu religionis introductum in ecclesias, sole adhuc fulgente moles cereorum accendi, etc.--_Adv. Vigil._, ii.

[644] From ἀμφί and φέρω--on account of the handles on each side of the neck. They were also called _diota_, or two-eared, from διώτη.

[645] Lac significat innocentiam parvulorum.--Hieron., in _Esai_. lv, 1. Deinde egressos lactis et mellis prægustare concordiam ad infantiæ significationem.--_Ibid._, _Contr. Lucif._, c. 4. See also Tertul., _de Coron. Mil._, c. 3; Clem. Alex., _Pædagog._, lib. i, c. 6.

[646] Nam utique et altare portarent et vasa ejus, et aquam in manus funderent sarcerdoti, sicut videmus per omnes ecclesias.--Aug., _Quæst. Vet. et Nov. Test._, qu. 101. See also Cyril, _Catech. Myst._, 5, n. 1.

[647] “_Renfermer le Saint-chrême._” Tom. i, p. 266.

[648] Cum aurum nulla norat præter unico digito, quem sponsus oppignerasset annulo pronubo.--_Apol._, c. 6.

[649] Et annulo fidei suæ subarravit me.--In Ambr. _Ep._ 31.

[650] Clem. Alex., _Pædagog._, iii, 2.

[651] _Ibid._

[652] See the example of Pharaoh, Gen. xli, 42; and Ahasuerus, Esther iii, 10, and viii, 2.

[653] Pitra, _Spicil. Solesm._, tom. iii, tab. iii, n. 4.

[654] When the tomb of the Empress Maria, wife of Honorius, was opened in 1544, a profusion of ornaments and trinkets were found, from which, it is said, not less than thirty-six pounds of gold were taken. The Empress Placidia was also interred in similar gorgeous funeral pomp, which was, however, consumed in 1577 by the accidental ignition of her gold-embroidered robes.

[655] Iren., lib. ii, c. 57. Aug., tract 7, _in Joan._; serm. 215, _de Tempore_. Chrysos., hom. vi, _Contr. Judæos_. Conc. Laodic., can. 36.

[656] Il y avait là une notion confuse et grossière sans doute de l’immortalité de l’âme, mais il s’y trouvait aussi la preuve sensible et palpable de cet instinct de l’homme, qui repugne à l’idée de la destruction de son être.--_Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscr._, tom. xiii, p. 689.

[657] Rochette says that this practice continued down to the time of Thomas Aquinas, who wrote against it.

[658] “Gold may justly be taken from the sepulture which no longer contains its original owner,” says the minister of Theodoric to a provincial governor; “indeed, it is a sort of fault to leave idly hidden with the dead that which might support the living.”--Aurum enim justè sepulcro detrahitur, ubi dominus non habetur; imo culpæ genus est inutiliter abdita relinquere mortuorum, unde se vita potest sustentare viventium.--Cassiod., _Var._, iv, 34.

[659] _Italienische Forschungen_, vol. i, p. 168.--The subject of early Christian sculpture is fully treated in a recent work by Dr. Wilhelm Lübke, entitled _Geschichte der Plastik_. Two vols. Leipzig: Seeman, 1870.

[660] Qua constantia exorcizabit _alumnos suos_, quibus domum suam cellariam præstat ... quid aliud quam procurator idolorum demonstraris?--_De Idol._, c. 11.

[661] Fabri deorum, vel parentes numinum.--_Peristeph._, x, 293.

[662] _Constit. Apostol._, lib. viii, c. 32.

[663] Stettero sempre lontane di quelle arti, colle quali avessero potuto correr pericolo di contaminarsi colla idolatria, e da ciò avvenne, che pochi, o niuno di essi si diede alla pittura e alla scultura, le quali aveano per oggetto principale di rappresentare le deità, e le favole de’ gentili.--Buonarotti, _De’ Vetri Cemeteriali_.

[664] These were exceedingly voluminous, and although several of them have perished, those which remain throw great light on one of the most obscure periods in the history of the church, and vindicate the title of Origen of the West, bestowed on Hippolytus by Pressensé. Among his most important works were a commentary on the greater part of the Old and New Testament, treatises on Antichrist, on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, on Good and the Origin of Evil, on God and the Resurrection. He was especially noted, moreover, as a vigorous and skilful polemic, and wrote against Platonism and Judaism, and, as we have seen, (page 173,) against Callixtus, bishop of Rome, for his pantheistic heresy. His great work, however, is that entitled the _Philosophoumena_. “It is a vast repertory,” says Pressensé, “reviewing all the doctrinal controversies of the church from the earliest ages and most obscure beginnings of Gnosticism. Christian antiquity has left us no more valuable monument than the treatise “On all the Heresies” of Hippolytus, discovered a few years since among the dusty treasures of a convent of Mount Athos.”

[665] Whence the name, from δίπτυχον, twofold; when several tablets were used they were called πολύπτυχον, or manifold.

BOOK THIRD. 395

THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE CATACOMBS.