Page:The early Christians in Rome (1911).djvu/32

 PART III

TEACHING OF THE INSCRIPTIONS AND CARVINGS ON THE TOMBS

I

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS—THEIR SIMPLICITY

Uncounted numbers of graves in this silent city of the dead; computed at three, four, or five millions—belonging to all ranks—Some of these were elaborately adorned—Greek often the language of very early epitaphs—Great simplicity as a rule in inscriptions—No panegyric of dead—just a name—a prayer—an emblem of faith and hope—Communion of saints everywhere asserted       307

II

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS CONTRASTED WITH PAGAN INSCRIPTIONS

A few of these epitaphs quoted—never a word of sorrow for the departed found in them—Question of the catacomb teaching on efficacy of prayers of the dead for the living—S. Cyprian quoted here—Desire of being interred close to a famous martyr—Marked difference in the pagan conception of the dead—Some pagan epitaphs quoted       310

III

EPITAPHS IN THE CATACOMBS—THEIR DOGMATIC TEACHING

The epitaphs on the catacomb graves tell us with no uncertain voice how intensely real among the Christian folk was the conviction of the future life—They talk, as it were, with the dead as with living ones—Dogmatic allusions in these short epitaphs necessarily are very brief, but yet are quite definite—The supreme divinity of Jesus Christ constantly asserted—The catacombs are full of Christ—Of the emblems carved on the graves—Jesus Christ as "the Good Shepherd" most frequent—The "Crucifixion" became a favourite subject of representation only in later years       314

APPENDIX

On the wish to be interred close to a saint or martyr—Quotation from S. Augustine here       321