Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/311

Rh on tombs the symbols of profession and trade, was common in this country, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In Wales it lingered down to the seventeenth century.

As to the cups so often found inclosed in the tomb, or cemented to the rock outside, Dr. Maitland observes:—

The custom of depositing small vessels with the bodies of the dead, was common among pagans as well as Christians. Vessels of terra cotta, glass, alabaster, and ivory found in Christian tombs, have generally been considered as receptacles for blood, whilst those belonging to pagans, though exactly similar, have been termed lachrymatories. Two important questions here present themselves:—1st. Were these vessels used by the Christians to contain blood? and 2ndly. Were they exclusively affixed to martyrs' graves?

He then proceeds somewhat at length to combat the notion commonly entertained, and to decide the questions raised, in the negative. Representations are given of two of these cups copied from Boldetti. The inscription on one of these is usually read Sanguis Saturnini, Dr. Maitland suggests it might be read Sanctus Saturninus. On this point the reader may form his own judgment from the representation.

In treating of ancient symbolism, Dr. M. thus writes:—

Perhaps the cause which most powerfully contributed to the adoption of Christian symbols was the ignorance of reading and writing then prevalent. . . . . The symbols employed in the catacombs, exclusive of those supposed to belong to martyrdom, are of three kinds: the larger proportion of them refer to the profession of Christianity, its doctrines, and its graces: a second class, of a purely secular description, only indicate the trade of the deceased: and the remainder represent proper names. Of the first class, the cross, as the most generally met with, claims our early consideration.

It would be difficult to find a more complete revolution of feeling among mankind, than that which has taken place concerning the instrument of crucifixion: once the object of horror and a symbol of disgrace, it is now the blessed emblem of our faith; the sign of admission by baptism to all the benefits of Christian fellowship. . . . The change from cross to crucifix, in ancient monuments, is gradual: first occurs the simple cross; afterwards a lamb appears at the foot of it. In a third stage there is Christ clothed, on the cross with hands uplifted in prayer, but not nailed to it; in the fourth, Christ fastened