DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0111
Ch. III. THROUGH ITALY. 93
cient temple of Vesta, stripped of its whole en-
tablature, curtailed of its full height by the
raising of the ground which covers the lower
part of the pillars* and disfigured by a most pre-
The lively account which St. Jerom gives of these ce-
meteries is not less minute. Dum essem Romae puer et
liberalibus studiis erudirer, solebam cum caeteris ejusdem
aetatis et propositi, diebus dominicis sepulcra apostolorum
et martyrum circumire, crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in
terrarum profundo defossae, ex utraque parte ingredientium
per parietes habent corpora sepultorum; et ita obscura sunt
omnia ut propemodum illud propheticum compleatur: de-
scendant in infernum viventes: et raro desuper lumen ad-
missum horrorem temperet tenebrarum, ut non tam fenestram
quam foramen demissi luminis putes ; rursumque pedetentim
acceditur, et cava nocte circumdatis illud Virgilianum pro
ponitur,
Horror ubique animos simul ipsa silentia terrent.
.S'. Hieron. in Czech.,
The number of the cemeteries or catacombs is very great,
as there are more than thirty known and distinguished by
particular appellations, such as Cerneterium Calixti—Lucinae
—Felicis et Adaucti, &c.—In several, the halls or opener
spaces are painted. Daniel in the Lion’s Den—Jonas
emerging from the Jaws of the Whale—and the Good Shep-
herd bearing a Lamb on his shoulders, seem to have been
the favorite subjects. The latter recurs oftener than any
other, and generally occupies the most conspicuous place.
Some of these decorations are interesting and give a pleasing
cient temple of Vesta, stripped of its whole en-
tablature, curtailed of its full height by the
raising of the ground which covers the lower
part of the pillars* and disfigured by a most pre-
The lively account which St. Jerom gives of these ce-
meteries is not less minute. Dum essem Romae puer et
liberalibus studiis erudirer, solebam cum caeteris ejusdem
aetatis et propositi, diebus dominicis sepulcra apostolorum
et martyrum circumire, crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in
terrarum profundo defossae, ex utraque parte ingredientium
per parietes habent corpora sepultorum; et ita obscura sunt
omnia ut propemodum illud propheticum compleatur: de-
scendant in infernum viventes: et raro desuper lumen ad-
missum horrorem temperet tenebrarum, ut non tam fenestram
quam foramen demissi luminis putes ; rursumque pedetentim
acceditur, et cava nocte circumdatis illud Virgilianum pro
ponitur,
Horror ubique animos simul ipsa silentia terrent.
.S'. Hieron. in Czech.,
The number of the cemeteries or catacombs is very great,
as there are more than thirty known and distinguished by
particular appellations, such as Cerneterium Calixti—Lucinae
—Felicis et Adaucti, &c.—In several, the halls or opener
spaces are painted. Daniel in the Lion’s Den—Jonas
emerging from the Jaws of the Whale—and the Good Shep-
herd bearing a Lamb on his shoulders, seem to have been
the favorite subjects. The latter recurs oftener than any
other, and generally occupies the most conspicuous place.
Some of these decorations are interesting and give a pleasing