CHAPTER VIII.
WITH PRIMITIUS, THE PRESBYTER.
The venerable presbyter laid his hand familiarly on the young man'sshoulder and conducted him into a smaller, but much more elegantlyfinished, apartment. It contained no graves, save an arched tomb whichhad never been used; at one side was a shelf for lamps. The wholesurface of the wall was covered with hard white stucco, which wasdivided into panels by bands and borders of brilliant red and blue, asshown in the cut on next page. The vaulted ceiling was similarlydivided. The angles were filled in with elegant floral designs, and thepanels with Biblical and symbolical paintings, which Primitius began nowto explain.
PAINTED CHAMBER IN THE CATACOMBS]
"Thou seest, my son," he said, "that central group above the arch. Thatrepresents the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. Thouperceivest He bears the lost sheep upon His shoulders, and gently leadsthose which follow Him. Even so, all we, like sheep, have gone astray,but the blessed Saviour seeks the erring, and brings them into the safeand true fold. Thou seest to the left the figure between the two lions.That is Daniel in the lion's den; and to the right are the three Hebrewsin the fiery furnace. These, my son, are symbols of the Church ofChrist, amid the wild beasts and the fires of persecutions. But sheshall be delivered unhurt; she shall come forth unscathed. In theceiling you will observe praying figures between lambs, the emblems ofthe Church, the Bride which is the Lamb's wife, perpetually engaged inadoration and prayer."
The youth was deeply impressed, and almost awed, to see thesilvery-haired old man, a refugee from persecution, in thesesubterranean crypts, with the full assurance of faith, confronting allthe power of the persecuting despot of the world, and predicting thetriumph of that oppressed Church which was compelled to seek safety inthose dens and caves of the earth.
The good old man then sought to impart the great truths of our holyreligion to his new catechumen, and to implant in his soul the samegerms of lofty faith that flourished in his own. With this object he ledhim through the long corridors and chambers of the vast encampment ofdeath--a sort of whispering gallery of the past, eloquent with theexpression of the faith and hope of the silent sleepers in their narrowcells.
"Listen, my son," said Primitius, "to the testimony of the dead inChrist, and of the martyrs for the truth," and pausing from time to timebefore some inscribed or painted slab, he pointed out the lofty hopeswhich sustained their souls in the very presence of death.
"Here," he said, entering again the chamber he had first left, "is thesepulchre of my own beloved wife. When depressed and lonely, I comehither and derive strength and consolation by reading the words whichshe requested, with her dying breath, should be written on her tomb,"and with deep emotion he traced with his finger the inscription:--[24]
PARCITE VOS LACRIMIS DVLCIS CVM CONIVGE NATAEVIVENTEMQVE DEO CREDITE FLERE NEFAS.
"Refrain from tears, my sweet children and husband, and believe that itis forbidden to weep for one who lives in God."
"And here," he went on, "is the tomb of our little child," and Isidorusread with softened spirit the words:--
AGNELLVS DEI--PARVM STETIT APVD NOS ETPRAECESSIT NOS IN PACE.
"God's little lamb--he stayed but a short time with us, and went beforeus in peace."
"And here," said Primitius, "is the couch of our eldest daughter," andhe read, with caressing tones, her epitaph:--
ANIMA DVLCIS INNOCVA SAPIENS ET PVLCHRA--NON MORTVA SED DATA SOMNO.
"A sweet spirit, guileless, wise, beautiful. She is not dead butsleepeth."
"This is certainly very different," said Isidorus, "from two epitaphs Iread to-day upon the pagan tombs on the Appian Way. They ran thus:--
DECIPIMVR VOTIS ET TEMPORE FALLIMVR ET MORSDERIDET CVRAS ANXIA VITA NIHIL.
"We are deceived by our vows, misled by time, and death derides ourcares; anxious life is naught."
INFANTI DVLCISSIMO QVEM DEI IRATI AETERNOSOMNO DEDERVNT.
"To a very sweet child, whom the angry gods gave to eternal sleep."
"Yes," said Primitius, "nothing can sustain the soul in the presence ofdeath, but such faith as that of my friend Eutuchius, who sleeps here;"and he read the lofty line:--
IN CHRISTVM CREDENS PREMIA LVCIS HABET.
"Believing in Christ, he has the rewards of the light (of heaven)."
"Similar are these also," and he pointed to the following ill-written,but sublime, epitaphs, which Isidorus slowly spelled out:--
DVLCIS ET INNOCES _(sic)_ HIC DORMIT SEVERIANVSSOMNO PACIS CVIVS SPIRITVS IN LVCE DOMINISVSCEPTVS EST,--IN SEMPETERNALEAEVVM QVIESCIT SECVRVS.
"Here lies in the sleep of peace, the sweet and innocent Severianus,whose spirit is received into the light of God. He rests free from carethroughout endless time."
"But how were these Christians so confident of the future life," askedthe Greek, "when the greatest of the philosophers and sages--a Socratesor Cicero--never rose above a vague 'perhaps,' and even the philosophicPliny, anticipating only annihilation, writes, 'there is no moreconsciousness after death than before birth?'"
"Find there thy answer, young man," exclaimed Primitius, and with agleam of exultation in his eyes, he pointed to the following epitaphs:--
CREDO QVIA REDEMPTOR MEVS VIVIT ET NOVISSIMODIE DE TERRA SVSCITABIT ME IN CARNE MEAVIDEBO DOMINVM.
"I believe, because that my Redeemer liveth, and in the last day shallraise me from the earth, that in my flesh I shall see the Lord."
HIC REQVIESCIT CARO MEA NOVISSIMO VERO DIEPER CHRISTVM CREDO RECVSCITABITVR A MORTVIS.
"Here rests my flesh, but at the last day, through Christ, I believe itwill be raised from the dead."
"And must the soul, then, slumber with the body in blank unconsciousnesstill this 'last day?'" asked the Greek. "Methinks I should shudder atgoing out into the dark inane, like a taper extinguished in these gloomyvaults. Better is the dim and ghostly Hades, and Elysian Fields of ourown mythology, than that."
"Not so, my son," replied Primitius, "we believe with the blessedPaul--that as soon as the soul passes from earth's living death, itenters into the undying life and unfading bliss of heaven." And hepointed out, one after another, the following epitaphs corroborating hisview:--
CORPVS HABET TELLVS ANIMAM CAELESTIA REGNA.MENS NESCIA MORTIS VIVIT ET ASPECTVFBVITVR BENE CONSCIA CHRISTI.
"The soul lives unknowing of death, and consciously rejoices in thevision of Christ."
PRIMA VIVIS IN GLORIA DEI ET IN PACE DOMININOSTRI XR.
"Prima, thou livest in the glory of God, and in the peace of Christ ourLord."
"This is indeed a high philosophy, beyond aught I ever heard before,"said Isidorus, deeply moved. "Whence do you Christians derive such loftyteachings? For as Hilarus but now said most of your sect are poor andlowly in this world's goods and rank."
"Our teaching comes, my son, from God Himself, the Great Father oflights, and from Jesus Christ our Lord. Behold, as the greatest favour Ican do thee, I will lend thee this precious MS. of the Gospel of theblessed John;" and he took from a leathern case a purple vellumparchment scroll, inscribed with letters of silver. "Cherish itcarefully; 'tis worth more than gold. When thou hast well pondered it, Iwill lend thee the letter of the blessed Paul to the infant Church inthis city of Home. But here comes Hilarus to conduct thee back to thelight of day. Return hither, if thou canst, on the fourth day from now--the day of our Sabbath assembly. My blessing be upon thee. _Paxvobiscum et cum spiritu tuo._"
The young Greek knelt at the old man's feet, then rose and kissed hishand, and followed in silence the fossor Hilarus. At length he broke thesilence by inquiring,--
"What's the meaning, good Hilarus, of all these strange figures which Ihave noted on the tombstones as I passed. I have observed a lion, a pig,an ass, a cobbler's last, carpenters', masons', and wool-combers'implements; a fish, a ship, an anchor, and the like--all scratched orpainted on the stone slabs. They have no religious significance,surely?"
TOMB OF THE BISHOPS, CATACOMB OF ST. CALIXTUS.
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Seven of the Bishops of the early Christian Church in Rome fell insuccession by the hand of the headsman, five of them in the space ofeight years. In this chamber are buried several of those heroic martyrsof Jesus.]
"Well, no, not all of them," said Hilarus, with a smile. "You see, manyof the Christians being lowly craftsmen, are unable to read, so thetools or emblems of their calling are inscribed on the tombs of theirfriends, that they may recognize and find them again in this vastcemetery."
"But the ship, anchor, and fish are not signs of a handicraft, unlessthat of sailor or fisherman."
"No, the fish has another and a secret meaning. I need not tell ascholar like you, that the first letters of the Greek names for JesusChrist, Son of God, the Saviour, make up the word Ichthus, or fish, soit is used as a secret symbol of our faith. The ship is the emblem, Ihave been told, even in your own country, of a well-spent life, and tous it signifies a soul entering into the haven of eternal rest. Whileour holy hopes are the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,entering into that within the veil."
"Well, and the lion, ass, and pig? What about them?"
"These," said the fossor, with a laugh, which seemed as incongruous tohim as it would be to a modern sexton, for such his office virtuallywas, "these are a sort of play upon the names of Leo, Onager, andPorcella, the latter was a sort of pet name, I suspect--'Little Pig'--bywhich their friends, who could not read, could find their tombs."
"What wives these Christians must have had," continued thekeenly-observing Greek. "I have noticed several inscriptions, in whichthey are said to have passed ten, twenty, thirty, and one even fiftyyears of married life--SINE IVRGIO, SINE AEMVLATIONE, SINE DISSIDIO,SINE QVERELA--'Without contention, without emulation, withoutdissension, without strife.' There are no such wives in Rome now, I'llbe bound--at least in the Rome I am acquainted with."
"Yes," said the old man, with a sigh, "come with me into yonder chapel.I always, in passing this way, stop there to see again the sepulchre ofthe best wife God ever gave to any man." After walking in silence someminutes, he entered a sort of family vault, and lit a bronze lamp,shaped like a ship, hanging from the vaulted ceiling, while Isidorusstudied out the following inscription, not altogether free from errorsin spelling and grammar:--
CONIVGE VENEVANDE BONE INNOCVA FLORENTIADIGNA PIA AMABILIS PVDICA _(sic)_ DEO FIDELISDVLCIS MARITO NVTRIX FAMILIAE HVMILISCVNCTIS AMATRIX PAVPERVM. BIXIT MECVMANN. XXXII. MENS. IX. DIES V. HOR. X.SCRVPVLOS XIL SEMPER CONCORDES SINE VLLAQVERELA. BIXIT PLVS MINVS ANN. LII. MENS.V. INCOMPARABILEM CONIVGEM MALE FRACTVSCONIVX GEMITV TRISTI LACRI MIS DEFLET.
"To my wife Florentia, deserving of honour, good, guileless, worthy,pious, amiable, modest, faithful to God, endeared to her husband, thenurse of her family, humble to all, a lover of the poor. She lived withme (_i.e._, was married) thirty-two years, nine months, five days, tenhours, six scruples (about a quarter of an hour--they were veryscrupulous about this). She lived (altogether) fifty-two years, fivemonths, more or less. The sore-broken husband bewails, with tears andbitter lamentation, his incomparable spouse."
"Yes, I made it all up, and carved it all myself," said the old man, asIsidorus finished reading the long inscription; "and if I say it myself,I don't think there is a better in the whole Catacomb; you see, Iselected the best bits from all the best epitaphs, and she deserved itevery word, dear soul," and he drew his rough hand across his moistenedeyes.
The easy-tempered Greek was too good-natured to inflict wanton pain, sohe ignored its bad Latinity, and contented himself with saying that "itwas indeed a very remarkable epitaph."
In a few minutes they emerged from the gloom of the Catacomb to thegolden glory which was flooding the broad Campagna from the westeringsun. "Would," thought Isidorus within himself, "that I could thus emergefrom the gloomy doubts and fears in which my spirit gropes, to thegolden light of Christian life."
FOOTNOTES:
[24] The following, except the last one, are all authentic inscriptionsfrom the Catacombs, selected from many hundreds, translated by thewriter in his volume on this subject.
Valeria, the Martyr of the Catacombs: A Tale of Early Christian Life in Rome Page 10