DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0109
Ch, III. THROUGH ITALY. 91
woven, were the only marks employed to certify
that the body enclosed belonged to a Christian.
Several bodies have been found without any in-
scription, mark, or indication of name or pro-
fession. Such may have belonged to Pagans, as
it is highly probable that these cavities were
used as burial places * before as well as during
the age of persecutions. It is impossible to
range over these vast repositories of the dead,
these walks of horror and desolation, without
sentiments of awe, veneration, and almost of
terror. We seemed on entering to descend into
the regions of the departed, wrapped up in the
impenetrable gloom of the grave.
—— Marcentes intus tenebrae, pallensque sub antris,
Longa nocte situs-quo
Non metuunt emittere manes.
Independent of these imaginary terrors, the
damp air and fetid exhalations warn the curious
* A Jewish cemetery was discovered on the Via Portuensis:
it was ornamented with various paintings, in one of which
was seen the golden candlestick exactly in the same form
as that in the Arch of Titus. An inscription containing the
word CTNAmr .... seems to show that it had been
employed as a place of worship.
woven, were the only marks employed to certify
that the body enclosed belonged to a Christian.
Several bodies have been found without any in-
scription, mark, or indication of name or pro-
fession. Such may have belonged to Pagans, as
it is highly probable that these cavities were
used as burial places * before as well as during
the age of persecutions. It is impossible to
range over these vast repositories of the dead,
these walks of horror and desolation, without
sentiments of awe, veneration, and almost of
terror. We seemed on entering to descend into
the regions of the departed, wrapped up in the
impenetrable gloom of the grave.
—— Marcentes intus tenebrae, pallensque sub antris,
Longa nocte situs-quo
Non metuunt emittere manes.
Independent of these imaginary terrors, the
damp air and fetid exhalations warn the curious
* A Jewish cemetery was discovered on the Via Portuensis:
it was ornamented with various paintings, in one of which
was seen the golden candlestick exactly in the same form
as that in the Arch of Titus. An inscription containing the
word CTNAmr .... seems to show that it had been
employed as a place of worship.