Translated from Philip Schaff's History of The Christian Church

第七章地下墓窟中的教会

§ 82. 文献

参看第VI章所引著作，尤其是加鲁奇 (Garrucci) 的著作（6卷），以及本卷末的插图表。

I. 较早的著作。博西奥 (Bosio)：《地下罗马》(Roma Sotterranea)，罗马 (Rom.)，1632年；P. 乔瓦尼·塞韦拉尼·达·圣塞韦里诺 (P. Giovanni Severani da S. Severino) 节编本，罗马，1710年，极为罕见；博尔代蒂 (Boldetti)，1720年；博塔里 (Bottari)，1737年；达让库尔 (D’AGINCOURT)，1825年；勒斯特尔 (Röstell)，1830年；马尔基 (Marchi)，1844年；梅特兰 (Maitland)：《地下墓窟中的教会》(The Church in the Catacombs)，伦敦 (Lond.)，1847年；路易·佩雷 (Louis Perret)：《罗马地下墓窟》(Catacombes de Rome) 等，巴黎，1853年及后，5卷，附325幅精美图版，但正文价值甚微，且已被后来的著作取代。

较近的著作。

乔瓦尼·巴蒂斯塔·德罗西 (Giovanni Battista de Rossi，地下墓窟研究的首要权威)：《基督教地下罗马的描述与图解》(La Roma Sotterranea Cristiana descritta et illustrata)，奉教皇庇护九世 (Pio Nono) 之命出版，罗马（宗座彩色石印所，cromolitografia Pontificia），第I卷，1864年；第II卷，1867年；第III卷，1877年；共3卷，对开本，另附图版与铭文2卷。第四卷预计将出版。参看他在双月刊《基督教考古学通报》(Bulletino di archeologia Cristiana) 上的文章，罗马，1863年及后，以及数篇较短的论文。罗勒 (Roller) 称德罗西为“le fouilleur le mieux qualifié fervent catholique, mais critique sérieux”（最称职的发掘者，虔诚的天主教徒，却也是严谨的批评家）。

J. 斯宾塞·诺思科特 (J. Spencer Northcote，伯明翰法政牧师) 与 W. R. 布朗洛 (W. R. Brownlow，普利茅斯法政牧师)：《地下罗马》(Roma Sotteranea)。伦敦，Longmans, Green & Co.，1869年；第二版“重新撰写并大幅增订”，1879年，2卷。第一卷论历史，第二卷论基督教艺术。本书经德罗西勋爵 (Commendatore De Rossi) 同意，提供了其研究的主要成果，并附大量彩色石印图版与木刻插图，尤着重于圣卡利斯托 (San Callisto) 墓地。论铭文的一卷另行出版，见下文。

F. X. 克劳斯 (F. X. Kraus，罗马天主教徒)：《地下罗马：罗马地下墓窟》(Roma Sotterranea. Die Röm. Katakomben)。布赖斯高的弗赖堡 (Freiburg. i. B.)，1873年；第二版，1879年。以德罗西的著作及诺思科特与布朗洛的第一版为基础。

D. 德·里什蒙 (D. de Richemont)：《罗马地下墓窟》(Les catacombes de Rome)。巴黎，1870年。

沃顿·B. 马里奥特 (Wharton B. Marriott)，B.S.F.S.A.（英国国教会）：《地下墓窟及第二至十八世纪其他基督教艺术遗迹对当今教会中有争议的教义问题所作的见证》(The Testimony of the Catacombs and of other Monuments of Christian Art from the second to the eighteenth century, concerning questions of Doctrine now disputed in the Church)。伦敦，1870年（223页，附插图）。讨论涉及童贞女马利亚崇敬、教皇至上权及死后状态的遗迹。

F. 贝克尔 (F. Becker)：《罗马古代基督教墓地》(Roms Altchristliche Cömeterien)。莱比锡，1874年。

W. H. 威思罗 (W. H. Withrow，循道宗)：《罗马地下墓窟及其关于原始基督教的见证》(The Catacombs of Rome and their Testimony relative to Primitive Christianity)。纽约，Nelson & Phillips，1874年。本书带有反对罗马天主教主义的论战性质。作者说（序言，第6页）：“地下墓窟的见证，比任何其他证据都更鲜明地表明了原始基督教与现代罗马天主教主义之间的巨大反差。”

约翰·P. 伦迪 (John P. Lundy，圣公会)：《遗迹中的基督教：作为独一大公信仰与实践之见证和教导的原始教会艺术与象征》(Monumental Christianity: or the Art and Symbolism of the Primitive Church as Witnesses and Teachers of the one Catholic Faith and Practice)。纽约，1876年。增订新版，1882年，453页，插图丰富。

约翰·亨利·帕克 (John Henry Parker，圣公会)：《罗马考古学》(The Archaeology of Rome)。牛津与伦敦，1877年。第ix、x部分：罗马城内及近郊的坟墓，以及雕刻；第XII部分：地下墓窟。一部权威著作，附有最优良的插图。

泰奥菲尔·罗勒 (Theophile Roller，新教徒)：《罗马地下墓窟：基督教最初几个世纪的艺术与宗教信仰史》(Les Catacombes de Rome. Histoire de l’art et des croyances religieuses pendant les premiers siècles du Christianisme)。巴黎，1879–1881年，2卷，对开本，正文720页，附100幅精美的照相凹版图版 (en hétiogravure)，以及许多插图和铭文。作者曾以改革宗牧师身份在那不勒斯和罗马居住数年。

M. 阿尔梅利尼 (M. Armellini，罗马天主教徒)：《罗马地下墓窟述略》(Le Catacombe Romane descritte)。罗马，1880年（据德罗西著作编成的通俗节本，437页）。同一作者更为重要的著作：《诺门塔纳大道旁的圣阿涅塞墓地》(Il Cimiterio di S. Agnese sulla via Nomentana)。罗马，1880年。

斯坦利座堂主任牧师 (Dean Stanley)：《罗马地下墓窟》(The Roman Catacombs)，载其《基督教制度》(Christian Institutions)。伦敦与纽约，1881年（第272–295页）。

维克托·舒尔策 (Victor Schultze，路德宗)：《古代基督教遗迹的考古研究，附26幅木刻插图》(Archaeologische Studien ueber altchristliche Monumente. Mit 26 Holzschnitten)，维也纳，1880年；《地下墓窟：古代基督教墓地，其历史与遗迹》(Die Katakomben. Die altchristlichen Grabstätten. Ihre Geschichte und ihre Monumente)（附52幅插图），莱比锡，1882年（342页）；《那不勒斯贫民圣雅努阿里乌斯地下墓窟》(Die Katakomben von San Gennaro dei Poveri in Neapel)，耶拿，1877年。另有小册子：《地下墓窟研究的神学收获》(Der theolog. Ertrag der Katakombenforschung)，莱比锡，1882年（30页）。最后这本小册子是对哈纳克 (Harnack) 书评的反驳；哈纳克指责舒尔策高估了地下墓窟研究的收获（见1882年的《神学文献报》〔Theol. Literaturzeitung〕）。

W. J. 基普主教 (Bishop W. J. Kip)：《阐明最初三个世纪教会状况的罗马地下墓窟》(The Catacombs of Rome as illustrating the Church of the First Three Centuries)。纽约，1853年；第6版，1887年（212页）。

K. 勒内克 (K. Rönneke)：《罗马的基督教地下墓窟》(Rom’s christliche Katakomben)。莱比锡，1886年。

另参看埃德蒙·维纳布尔斯 (Edmund Venables) 载于史密斯与奇瑟姆 (Smith and Cheetham) 合编著作第I卷第294–317页的文章；海因里希·梅尔茨 (Heinrich Merz) 载于赫尔佐格 (Herzog) 编著第VII卷第559–568页的文章；特奥德·蒙森 (Theod. Mommsen) 论《罗马地下墓窟》(Roman Catac.) 一文，载《当代评论》(The Contemp. Review)，第XVII卷，第160–175页（1871年4月至7月）；马蒂尼 (Martigny) 与克劳斯的考古学辞典中的有关条目，以及贝内特 (Bennett) 的《考古学》(Archaeology)（1888年）。

地下墓窟及其他古代遗迹中的基督教铭文。

J. B. 德罗西勋爵 (Commendatore J. B. de Rossi)：《罗马城七世纪以前的基督教铭文》(Inscriptiones Christiana Urbis Romae septimo seculo antiquiores)。罗马 (Romae)，1861年（XXIII及619页）。另一卷预计将出版。这是本领域的主要著作。他的《地下罗马》(Roma Sott.) 及《通报》(Bulletino) 中也收有许多铭文。

爱德华·勒布朗 (Edward Le Blant)：《高卢八世纪以前的基督教铭文》(Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule anterieures au VIII^me siècle)。巴黎，1856年及1865年，2卷。同一作者：《基督教铭文学手册》(Manuel d’Epigraphie chrétienne)。巴黎，1869年。

约翰·麦考尔 (John McCaul)：《最初六个世纪的基督教墓志铭》(Christian Epitaphs of the First Six Centuries)。多伦多，1869年。收录希腊文与拉丁文墓志铭，尤以罗马所出者为主。

F. 贝克尔 (F. Becker)：《罗马墓地铭文》(Die Inschriften der römischen Cömeterien)。莱比锡，1878年。

J. 斯宾塞·诺思科特 (J. Spencer Northcote，伯明翰的罗马天主教法政牧师)：《地下墓窟墓志铭，或最初四个世纪罗马的基督教铭文》(Epitaphs of the Catacombs or Christian Inscriptions in Rome during the First Four Centuries)。伦敦，1878年（196页）。

G. T. 斯托克斯 (G. T. Stokes) 论《希腊文与拉丁文基督教铭文》(Greek and Latin Christian Inscriptions) 的两篇文章，载于1880年及1881年的《当代评论》(Contemporary Review)。

V. 舒尔策 (V. Schultze) 在其《地下墓窟》(Die Katakomben)（1882年）第五部分，第235–274页，讨论铭文，并列出有关文献。

伯克 (Böckh) 与基尔霍夫 (Kirchhoff) 的《希腊铭文集成》(Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum)，以及特·蒙森 (Th. Mommsen) 等为柏林科学院编辑的《拉丁铭文集成》(Corpus Inscriptionium Lat)，1863年及后（尚未完成），也收录了基督教铭文。E. 许布纳教授 (Prof. E. Hübner) 补入了西班牙（1871年）和不列颠（1873年）的铭文。G. 皮特里 (G. Petrie) 收集了爱尔兰文的基督教铭文，由斯托克斯编辑，都柏林，1870年及后。参看史密斯与奇瑟姆合编著作第I卷第841页的“铭文”条。

§ 83. 地下墓窟的起源与历史

罗马及其他城市的地下墓窟，为教会史揭开了新的一章；这一章直到最近才从地腹深处发掘出来。它们的发现，给世人带来的启示，其教益与重要性不亚于久已湮没的庞贝 (Pompeii)、赫库兰尼姆 (Herculaneum)、尼尼微 (Nineveh) 和巴比伦 (Babylon) 等城的发现。优西比乌 (Eusebius) 对它们只字未提；古代教父除哲罗姆 (Jerome) 和普鲁登修斯 (Prudentius) 外，也几乎不曾提及它们；即使这两位，也未曾让我们认识到它们的规模与重要性。因此，直到不久以前，历史学家一直对此默然略过。¹ 但自从德罗西勋爵及其他考古学家作出重大发现以后，它们便再也不能被忽视了。我们先前从那些更重要的文献遗存所得的知识，如今由它们得到了证实、阐明和补充。

“地下墓窟” (Catacombs) 一名的起源尚不确定，但其意义相当于地下墓地，或死者的安息之所。² 这个名称起初用于罗马附近的基督教墓地，后来也用于那不勒斯 (Naples)、马耳他 (Malta)、西西里 (Sicily)、亚历山大 (Alexandria)、巴黎及其他城市的同类墓地。

从前人们以为，罗马地下墓窟原是异教徒为取得建筑材料而开凿的采沙坑 (arenariae) 或采石场 (lapidicinae)，偶尔也被用来收容地位最卑贱的奴隶和罪犯的尸体。³ 但由于构造和土质上的差异，这一看法如今已被放弃。不过，少数地下墓窟——三十处中约有五处——确实与废弃的采沙坑有或多或少的密切联系。⁴

因此，除了少数例外，地下墓窟都起源于基督徒，是专为安葬基督徒而开凿的。它们规模极其庞大，异教的象征和铭文又与基督教的混杂在一起，或许令人想到异教徒也曾使用这些墓窟；但基督徒与拜偶像者无论生前死后都彼此厌恶、不愿相交，这一事实排除了这种可能。其中的神话成分很少，而且都经过改造，以适合基督教的观念。⁵

另一种一度为人普遍接受的错误看法，认为地下墓窟是躲避异教徒逼迫的避难所。然而，开凿这些墓窟所需的巨大劳作，不可能逃过警察的注意。恰恰相反，它们是宽容政策的产物。罗马政府虽然（像一切专制政府一样）猜忌秘密团体，却对丧葬互助会颇为宽容；这类团体的成员多属贫民，他们定期缴款，以确保死后能按照宗教仪式得到体面的安葬。⁶ 只有罪大恶极的犯人、叛国者、自杀者，以及遭雷击而死的人（被诸神触及者），才不得安葬。虔敬地照料死者，是人性的本能，在万国中都可见到。死亡大有能力，能抹平尊卑差别，宣讲宽容与仁爱；即使专制君主也在它面前低头，想起自身的虚空；即使铁石心肠也因它而生怜悯、流下眼泪。“De mortuis nihil nisi bonum”（论及死者，只说好话）。

基督徒大概从起初就像犹太人一样，享有共用墓地的特权，即使没有明文法令也是如此。在瓦勒良 (Valerian) 逼迫期间，这些墓地一度遭到没收，迦里恩努斯 (Galienus) 后来将它们归还（260年）。⁷

罗马的基督徒大多出自犹太人和东方人的后裔，自然沿袭东方习俗，在岩石中凿墓，开辟廊道。因此，罗马的犹太人墓地与基督徒墓地极为相似。⁸ 古希腊人和帝国时期的罗马人，出于卫生考虑，习惯焚烧尸体（火葬，crematio）；但在城外大道旁、山丘上或天然洞穴中将死者埋入土里（土葬，humatio），却是更古老的习俗；富人则有自己的坟墓 (sepulcra)。

基督徒可以在自己的地下墓窟中聚集敬拜，也可以在遭受逼迫时避难。他们在这些幽静的隐蔽处极少遭到追捕。只有一次，据传异教徒把基督徒封闭在一处墓地内，使他们窒息而死。

地下墓窟大多建于最初三个世纪，其中少数几乎可以追溯到使徒时期。⁹ 君士坦丁 (Constantine) 以后，基督徒的世俗处境得到改善，可以不受干扰地在露天安葬死者，于是墓地便设在地面上，尤其是在地下墓窟上方和巴西利卡 (basilicas) 周围；也有设在为此购置或获赠的其他土地上的。有些地下墓窟起源于个人或私人家庭，他们准许弟兄们葬在自己的土地上；另一些则属于教会。基督徒在坟墓上写下合宜的墓志铭和安慰的话语，并在墙壁上绘出他们喜爱的象征图案。举行葬礼时，他们把这些幽暗凄凉的居所变成礼拜堂；在陶灯昏暗的光照下，他们让尘归尘、灰归灰，在死亡的幽影中呼吸着复活与永生的气息。然而，若以为地下墓窟在逼迫时期曾是通常的敬拜场所，那便错了；因为它们完全不适合这种用途，即使最大的墓窟，在便于聚会的距离内，至多也只能容纳二三十人。¹⁰

地下墓窟用于敬虔活动，始于尼西亚时期 (Nicene age)，大大助长了对殉道者和圣徒的崇拜。当墓窟不再用于安葬时，便成了虔诚朝圣者常去的地方。人们建起小礼拜堂，举行纪念殉道者的礼仪。圣哲罗姆 (Jerome) 记述说，¹¹ 大约公元350年，他还是学童时，每逢主日，常与同伴到罗马地下墓穴中使徒和殉道者的坟墓去：“在那里，来访者在地底深处穿行，两侧墙壁内都是安葬的尸体；四周如此幽暗，预言在此得了应验：活人下到阴间。¹² 偶尔有一道光从上方照下，并非透过窗户，而只是从一道裂缝挤入，稍稍缓和了幽暗；继续前行，光便消逝，在环绕你的黑夜般的幽暗中，你便想起维吉尔 (Virgil) 的诗句：

“Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent.”（处处恐怖震慑心灵，就连寂静本身也令人惊惧。）¹³

诗人普鲁登修斯 (Prudentius) 在第五世纪初，也曾数次提到这些墓地，以及在其中举行的敬虔活动。¹⁴

教皇达马苏斯 (Damasus，366–384年) 热心修缮、装饰地下墓窟，又为朝圣者的便利修建了新的阶梯。他的继任者继续关注此事，但反复修缮，使这些艺术作品的年代次序陷入极大的混乱。

阿拉里克 (Alaric，410年)、盖塞里克 (Genseric，455年)、里奇默 (Ricimer，472年)、维提吉斯 (Vitiges，537年)、托提拉 (Totila，546年) 以及伦巴第人 (Lombards，754年) 的蛮族入侵，使罗马化为一片废墟，毁坏了许多古典时代和基督教古代的珍贵遗物。然而，搜寻圣物者那种虔诚的野蛮行径，造成的损害更大。真实的和虚构的圣徒坟墓都遭到洗劫，死人的骸骨被一车车迁往万神殿 (Pantheon)、教堂和礼拜堂，以便人们更方便地敬拜。地下墓窟就这样渐渐失去一切吸引力，日趋荒废，并在六个多世纪中完全被人遗忘。

十六世纪，地下墓窟重新被发现，为古物研究开辟了一个引人入胜的领域。最初的发现是在1578年5月31日：一些工人在萨拉里亚大道 (Via Salaria) 旁的一座葡萄园里挖掘火山灰 (pozzolana)，偶然发现了一处古老的地下墓地，其中装饰着基督教绘画、希腊文和拉丁文铭文，以及带雕刻的石棺。德·罗西 (De Rossi) 说：“就在那一天，‘地下罗马’ (Roma Sotterranea) 这个名称及关于它的知识诞生了。”最早且最重要的探索者之一，是安东尼奥·博西奥 (Antonio Bosio)，即“这个地下世界的哥伦布”。他的研究成果在他死后出版（罗马，1632年）。菲利波·内里 (Filippo Neri)、卡洛·博罗梅奥 (Carlo Borromeo) 及其他罗马天主教的复兴者，像古时的圣哲罗姆一样，在这些殉道者时代的遗迹中彻夜祷告。然而，新教神学家却不信这些发现，认为它们是罗马天主教神学家的杜撰；这些人在异教徒的采沙坑中，搜寻从未活过的基督教圣徒和从未死过的基督教殉道者。¹⁵

本世纪，地下墓窟的发现与考察有了新的开端，如今已成为基督教考古学的一个重要部门。教条式和宗派式的处理方式，已让位于以查明真相为唯一目的的科学方法。在古代教会史的这个地下领域中，公认的先驱是约翰·巴普蒂斯特·德·罗西骑士 (Cavalier John Baptist de Rossi)，一位虔诚而思想开明的罗马天主教徒。他那部用意大利文写成的鸿篇巨著《地下罗马》(Roma Sotterranea, 1864–1877年)，经阿拉尔 (Allard，1871年)、克劳斯 (Kraus，1873及1879年)、诺思科特与布朗洛 (Northcote & Brownlow，1869及1879年) 作出得当的节编，使法文、德文和英文读者也能读到。其他作者，无论新教徒还是罗马天主教徒，也不断充实我们的知识宝库。在地下墓窟绘画的年代判定和诠释方面，已经取得了很大进展。

然而，这项工作才刚刚开始。古代基督教墓地还有一半以上等待将来的探索。德·罗西主要论述的，只是罗马地下墓窟中的一组，即卡利斯图斯 (Callistus) 墓窟。那不勒斯 (Naples)、叙拉古 (Syracuse)、吉尔真蒂 (Girgenti)、米洛斯 (Melos)、亚历山大 (Alexandria) 和昔兰尼 (Cyrene) 的地下墓窟，人们所知仍极为有限；在古老的使徒教会所在地，或许还会发现其他墓窟，其成果对于教会史的重要性，可能不亚于伊利昂 (Ilium)、迈锡尼 (Mycenae) 和奥林匹亚 (Olympia) 的发现对于古典希腊史的重要性。

§ 84. 地下墓窟的形制

罗马的地下墓窟，是为安葬死者而在城外四周山丘的地底深处开凿的狭长通道或廊道，以及交叉廊道。它们阴暗幽深，只有偶尔从上方透入的一线光亮。廊道有两层或更多层，里面布满坟墓，构成错综复杂的网络，或说一座地下迷宫。在垂直的墙壁上，凿出像搁架一样的小龛 (loculi)，用来安放死者；又凿出长方形墓室 (cubicula)，供家族或著名殉道者使用。墓穴用大理石板或陶板封闭。较富有的人则安葬在石棺中。顶部是平的，有时略呈拱形。空间的利用十分节省，通常只留下容一人通过的地方；通道平均宽度为2½至3英尺。这种节省，可以追溯到早期基督徒的贫穷，也可归因于他们在生死中强烈的共同体意识。设有祭坛、并在凝灰岩中凿出主教座椅的小祈祷室，可能是后来建造的，每次只能容纳少数人。这些地方适合举行葬礼和私人敬虔活动，却不适合公共敬拜。

这些廊道起初规模很小，后来逐渐延伸，长度极为惊人。其总长以数百英里计，坟墓数则以百万计。¹⁶

罗马最古老、最著名的墓地，是圣塞巴斯蒂安 (St. Sebastian) 墓地，原名 Ad Catacumbas，位于阿庇亚大道 (Appian road) 旁，在城墙以南两英里多一点的地方。据说，圣彼得和圣保罗的遗体在迁往以他们命名的巴西利卡以前，曾暂厝于此；此外，这里也曾安葬四十六位罗马主教和许多殉道者。

阿庇亚大道 (Via Appia) 旁规模宏大的教皇卡利斯图斯 (Callistus，218–223年) 墓地，起初由几处独立的小墓地组成（称为 Lucinae、Zephyrini、Callisti、Hippoliti）。德·罗西对它进行了彻底考察。最古老的部分以卢基娜 (Lucina) 命名，宽100罗马尺，长180罗马尺。整组墓地以卡利斯图斯命名，可能因为他的前任泽菲里努斯 (Zephyrinus) 曾“派他主管墓地”（即罗马教会的墓地）。¹⁷ 他当时是一名执事。罗马教会对他的评价很高，但希波吕托斯 (Hippolytus) 对他的记述却相当不利。他无疑是个非凡的人物，从奴隶身份升到了教会的最高尊位。

多米提拉 (Domitilla) 墓地（第四世纪称为 St. Petronillae, Nerei et Achillei）位于阿尔德亚蒂纳大道 (Via Ardeatina) 旁，其起源可追溯到韦斯帕芗 (Vespasian) 的孙女或曾孙女弗拉维娅·多米提拉 (Flavia Domitilla)。她因“承认基督”，约在公元95年被图密善 (Domitian) 放逐到蓬提亚岛 (Pontia)。¹⁸ 据一个不确定的传说，她的内侍 (eunuchi cubicularii) 尼鲁斯 (Nerus) 和阿基琉斯 (Achilleus) 曾受圣彼得施洗，后来殉道，葬在女主人所有的一处农庄中。在这座墓地的另一部分，德·罗西发现了一座地下礼拜堂的断柱，以及一间小墓室；墓室墙上的壁画，描绘了一位名叫“韦内兰达” (Veneranda) 的年长妇人和一位年轻女子。铭文称后者为“殉道者佩特罗尼拉” (Petronilla martyr)；她指着身旁箱中的圣经，作为她信仰的凭据。前者似乎正引领后者进入乐园。¹⁹ 这个名字自然使人联想到传说中圣彼得的女儿。²⁰ 但罗马天主教神学家不愿承认第一位教皇有任何子女（尽管根据福音书的记载，他曾结婚是毫无疑问的），便将佩特罗尼拉解释为这位使徒属灵的女儿，正如马可是他属灵的儿子一样（彼前5:13），并认定她是某位与多米提拉家族有关系的罗马人佩特罗尼乌斯 (Petronius) 或佩特罗 (Petro) 的女儿。

其他古老的地下墓窟，有普雷特克斯塔图斯 (Pruetextatus)、普里西拉 (Priscilla，St. Silvestri 和 St. Marcelli)、巴西拉 (Basilla，S. Hermetis, Basillae, Proti, et Hyacinthi)、马克西穆斯 (Maximus)、圣希波吕托斯 (St. Hippolytus)、圣劳伦提乌斯 (St. Laurentius)、圣彼得与马尔凯利努斯 (St. Peter and Marcellinus)、圣阿格尼丝 (St. Agnes) 的墓窟，以及奥斯特里亚努姆 (Ostrianum，又称 Ad Nymphas Petri 或 Fons Petri；据说彼得曾在此用一口天然井的水施洗)。德·罗西列出罗马城内及近郊四十二处大小墓地，包括殉道者的独立墓穴；它们都可追溯到最初四个世纪，并见于古代记载。²¹

地下墓窟中的随葬器物，富有启发且饶有趣味，但大多已移往教堂和博物馆，必须到墓窟以外研究。与死者一同封入墓中的，有装饰品、戒指、印章、手镯、项链、镜子、牙签、耳挖、带扣、胸针、珍稀钱币、无数陶土 (terra-cotta) 灯、青铜灯，甚至银灯和琥珀灯，还有各式工具；若是儿童，则有种种玩具。这些物品中有许多刻着基督的字母组合，或其他基督教象征图案。（犹太人墓地中的灯，通常带有金灯台的图案。）

此外，还发现了大量小瓶和杯子，有的带装饰，有的没有，大多在墓穴外面，固定在墓盖上。过去有人以为，这些器皿是用来盛眼泪的；也有人根据其中红色的干燥沉淀物，认为它们是用来盛殉道者鲜血的。但后来的考古学家认为，它们是在爱筵 (agapae) 和奉献礼中使用的饮器。第四世纪曾盛行一种迷信习俗，即给死者饮用圣餐酒，或把盛有祝圣之酒的杯子放入坟墓，尽管迦太基会议 (Carthage，397年) 曾谴责这种做法。²²

那些轻信之人凭着丰富想象力所发现的“刑具”，曾被用来证明葬在地下墓窟中的基督徒几乎个个都是殉道者，其实不过是手工业工具。自然的本能促使丧亲之人，把亲友生前经常使用的东西放进他们的坟墓。此外，当时还相当普遍地流行着一种观念，认为来生仍会继续今生的工作和娱乐，只是不再有罪和缺欠。

即使到了如今，打开坟墓时，仍常可见保存得极好的骨骼，有时洁白耀眼，仿佛披着闪烁的荣光；但一经触碰，便化为尘土。

§ 85. 绘画与雕刻

地下墓窟最重要的遗存，是绘画、雕刻和墓志铭。

I. 绘画。这些已在前一章叙述过。它们采用湿壁画法 (al fresco) 绘于墙壁和顶部，表现基督教的象征图案、圣经历史场景，以及以寓意手法构想的救主形象。少数作品具有纯粹的古典风格，显露出其年代较早，当时希腊艺术在罗马仍然兴盛；但大多数属于衰落时期。善牧的图画，以及彰显信心之得胜和复活之盼望的圣经故事，占有突出地位。有些基督教壁画带有混合性质，部分原因是基督徒资助者雇用了异教艺术家，部分则来自旧有记忆的留存。伊特鲁里亚人 (Etrurians) 和希腊人素有装饰墓室绘画的习俗，而希腊基督徒很早就看出，图画语言具有教导的价值。在技艺上，基督教艺术逊于异教艺术，但其题材更崇高，含义也更深刻。

雕刻作品大多见于石棺之上。其中许多收藏于拉特兰博物馆 (Lateran Museum)。属于尼西亚会议以前时期的为数甚少。²³ 它们以浮雕表现壁画中同样的题材，只要这些题材能够用石材或大理石雕刻出来；尤其常见的是拉撒路复活、但以理在狮子中、摩西击打磐石以及献以撒。

最古老的基督教石棺中，有君士坦丁 (Constantine) 之母圣海伦娜 (St. Helena，卒于328年) 和他的女儿君士坦提娅 (Constantia，卒于354年) 的石棺；两者均以红色斑岩制成，现存梵蒂冈博物馆 (Vatican Museum)。前者的雕刻可能表现君士坦丁战胜马克森提乌斯 (Maxentius) 后凯旋进入罗马的情景；后者的雕刻表现葡萄栽培，可能具有象征意义。²⁴

所有基督教石棺中，装饰最丰富、制作最精美的，是尤尼乌斯·巴苏斯 (Junius Bassus) 的石棺，现存梵蒂冈圣彼得大教堂的地下室中；他于公元359年任罗马城长官，并曾五任执政官。²⁵ 这具石棺于1595年在梵蒂冈墓地发现，以帕罗斯 (Parian) 大理石制成，采用科林斯 (Corinthian) 风格。上部所表现的题材是亚伯拉罕献祭、圣彼得被捕、基督坐在彼得与保罗之间、基督被捕，以及彼拉多洗手；下部则是亚当与夏娃受试探、约伯受苦、基督进入耶路撒冷、但以理在狮子中，以及圣保罗被捕。

§ 86. 墓志铭

“字迹虽粗陋，每个字却

满含盼望，也满含心碎，

满含今生

与来世一切温柔的哀情。”

借墓志铭使亲友的记忆长存，并在死亡与永恒面前，记下爱与敬重、悲伤与盼望之情，是一切文明时代和民族共有的习俗。这些墓志铭受篇幅所限，往往引起好奇，却不能满足好奇；然而，无论以诗歌还是散文写成，都蕴藏着大量传记和历史资料。许多墓园就是其所属教会的一部残缺史录。

地下墓窟中有大量这样的纪念铭文，用希腊文或拉丁文写成，或以奇特的方式混合两者（用希腊字母拼写拉丁词语）；字迹往往粗陋，拼写错误，残缺不全，几乎无法辨认，有的带有象征图案，有的则没有。当时，古典语言与古典雄辩术和艺术一样，都处于衰落之中，而绝大多数基督徒都是贫穷、不识字的人。较早的墓志铭只记一个名字，有时也记年龄和安葬之日，却不记出生日期。

仅就罗马一地而言，德·罗西 (De Rossi) 已收集、分类并解释了最初六个世纪的一万五千多篇墓志铭，而且数量仍在不断增加。本笃十四世 (Benedict XIV) 于1750年创设了一座基督教博物馆，并将梵蒂冈的一座山丘用来收藏古代石棺。格列高利十六世 (Gregory XVI) 和庇护九世 (Pius IX) 都曾资助它。在这座石刻陈列廊 (Lapidarian Gallery) 中，华贵的异教铭文和石棺与朴素的基督教铭文和石棺分列两壁，彼此相对，形成鲜明的对照。另有一批重要收藏在罗马学院 (Roman College) 的基歇尔博物馆 (Kircherian Museum)，还有一批在柏林大学的基督教博物馆。²⁶ 凭着格鲁特 (Gruter)、穆拉托里 (Muratori)、马尔基 (Marchi)、德·罗西、勒布朗 (Le Blant)、伯克 (Böckh)、基尔霍夫 (Kirchhoff)、奥雷利 (Orelli)、蒙森 (Mommsen)、亨岑 (Henzen)、许布纳 (Hübner)、沃丁顿 (Waddington)、麦考尔 (McCaul) 的勤勉与学识，意大利及其他国家的异教与基督教古代铭文学整个领域，已向研究者开放。

考古学这一分支最困难的部分是年代考订（最古老的铭文大多没有注明年代）。²⁷ 对教会史家而言，它们最值得关注的是其中的宗教信仰，尽管往往只能从寥寥数语中推知。

与异教墓志铭相比，基督教墓志铭的基调，已由保罗安慰帖撒罗尼迦人的话语奏出：他们不应像那些没有盼望的外邦人一样忧伤，却当记得，耶稣既从死里复活，上帝也必照样使那些在耶稣里睡了的人复活。

因此，异教墓志铭很少表达对不朽的信仰，反而常把死亡描述为永恒的睡眠，把坟墓视为最后的归宿，通篇弥漫着悲伤的情调；基督教墓志铭却充满盼望与喜乐。地上的告别之后，便是天上的欢迎。死亡不过是短暂的睡眠；灵魂与基督同在，活在上帝里面，身体则等候喜乐的复活：这就是基督教墓志铭神学的全部要旨。基督的象征（Ichthys，鱼）常置于开头或结尾，表明这盼望的根基。我们一再读到这些简短却意味深长的话：“在平安中”；²⁸“他”或“她安睡于平安中”；²⁹“活在上帝里面”，或“在基督里面”；“永远活着”。³⁰“他安歇得好。”“愿上帝使你的灵苏醒。”“我的孩子，不要哭泣；死亡并非永恒。”“亚历山大 (Alexander) 没有死，而是活在群星之上，他的身体安息于此墓中。”³¹“高卢 (Gaul) 的信使戈尔迪安 (Gordian)，因信仰而与全家一同被绞死，在此安然长眠。女仆狄奥菲拉 (Theophila) 立此碑。”³²

与此同时，异教墓志铭的惯用套语仍继续沿用（当然已不含多神信仰的意义），例如“献给丧葬诸神”，或“献给亡灵”。³³ 异教墓志铭中那些颂扬性的称号，在这里很少见；³⁴ 表达天伦之爱的朴素词语却极为常见，如“我最亲爱的孩子”；“无辜的小羊”；“我最亲爱的丈夫”；“我最亲爱的妻子”；“我无辜的鸽子”；“我可敬的父亲”，或“母亲”。³⁵ A.与B.“共同生活”（15、20、30、50，甚至60年），“没有任何怨言或争吵，既不因对方而恼怒，也不使对方恼怒”。³⁶ 这种对婚姻幸福的纪念，以及对妇女贞静、纯洁、审慎、勤勉等美德的赞扬，也常见于异教碑铭，证明尤维纳利斯 (Juvenal) 和讽刺诗人笔下腐败的罗马社会，仍有许多例外。

有些墓志铭请求天上的死者为地上的生者祈祷。³⁷ 到了较晚时期，主要由于教皇格列高利一世 (Gregory I) 的影响，炼狱一旦成为西方教会普遍信奉的教义，我们便见到为亡者请求代祷的话语。³⁸ 然而，最古老的基督教墓志铭以压倒性的见证表明，虔诚的死者已经享有平安；这与救主对悔改的强盗所作的应许，以及圣保罗情愿离世与基督同在、因为这是好得无比的心愿，完全一致。³⁹ 只举这一例：“普里玛 (Prima)，你活在上帝的荣耀中，也活在我们主耶稣基督的平安中。”⁴⁰

附注

I. 罗马墓志铭选录

以下选录的罗马地下墓窟简短墓志铭，取自德·罗西和诺思科特 (Northcote) 的著作；他们提供了拉丁文和希腊文原铭的摹本。另参罗勒 (Roller) 第I卷第X、XXXI、XXXII、XXXIII号摄影图版；第II卷第LXI、LXII、LXV、LXVI号摄影图版。

献给亲爱的居里亚库斯 (Cyriacus)，最亲爱的儿子。愿你活在圣灵里面。
耶稣基督，上帝之子，救主。献给帕斯托尔 (Pastor)，善良而无辜的儿子，享年4岁5个月26天。父母维塔利斯 (Vitalis) 与马尔凯利娜 (Marcellina) 立。
在永恒的睡眠中（somno aeternali）。奥勒利乌斯·格梅卢斯 (Aurelius Gemellus)，享年……岁8个月18天。母亲为她最亲爱、可敬的儿子立此碑。在平安中。巴西拉 (Bassilla)，我将格梅卢斯的无辜托付[给你]。
巴西拉夫人［即圣巴西拉］，我们克雷森提乌斯 (Crescentius) 和米基娜 (Micina)，将女儿克雷森[蒂娜] (Crescen[tina]) 托付给你；她在世10个月……天。
马特罗娜塔·马特罗娜 (Matronata Matrona)，在世1年52天。请为你的父母祈祷。
阿纳托利乌斯 (Anatolius) 为他可敬的儿子立此碑；他在世7年7个月20天。愿你的灵在上帝里面安然歇息。请为你的姊妹祈祷。
雷吉娜 (Regina)，愿你活在主耶稣里面（vivas in Domino Jesu）。
献给我善良、最亲爱的丈夫卡斯托里努斯 (Castorinus)，享年61岁5个月10天；他是可敬的。妻子立此碑。活在上帝里面吧！
阿梅里姆努斯 (Amerimnus) 献给他最亲爱、可敬的妻子鲁菲娜 (Rufina)。愿上帝使你的灵得享苏息。
亲爱的福斯蒂娜 (Faustina)，愿你活在上帝里面。
上帝啊，求你使……的灵魂得享苏息。
博洛萨 (Bolosa)，愿上帝使你得享苏息；享年31岁，卒于9月19日。在基督里面。
奥克叙科利斯 (Oxycholis)，愿你的灵魂平安。
阿加佩 (Agape)，你必永远活着。
在基督里面。献给新受洗者保利努斯 (Paulinus)。在平安中。享年8岁。
菲尔梅娜 (Filmena)，愿你的灵在平安中。
在基督里面。埃斯托尼娅 (Aestonia)，一位童贞女；外乡人，享年41岁8天。她于2月26日离开肉身。
维克托里娜 (Victorina) 在平安中，也在基督里面。
达夫嫩 (Dafnen)，寡妇，生前从未在任何事上使教会受累。
献给新受洗者莱奥帕尔杜斯 (Leopardus)，在世3年11个月。3月24日安葬。在平安中。
献给他们可敬的儿子费利克斯 (Felix)，享年23岁10天；离世时仍守童贞，且是新受洗者。在平安中。父母立此碑。8月2日安葬。
卢基利亚努斯 (Lucilianus) 献给巴基乌斯·瓦莱里乌斯 (Bacius Valerius)，在世9年8[个月]22天。慕道者。
塞普提米乌斯·普拉埃泰克斯塔图斯·凯基利亚努斯 (Septimius Praetextatus Caecilianus)，上帝的仆人，一生行事端正。[主啊，]我若曾事奉你，我并不后悔，并要称谢你的名。他将灵魂交给上帝时，[年]三十三岁六个月。［位于圣卡利斯托 (St. Callisto) 地下墓窟的圣凯基利娅 (St. Cecilia) 墓室。可能是某个贵族家族的成员，第三个名字有残损。德·罗西将这篇墓志铭定于第三世纪初。］
科尔内利乌斯 (Cornelius)。殉道者。主教（Ep. [iscopus]）。

欧坦铭文

这篇希腊文铭文于公元1839年发现于欧坦 (Autun) 附近的圣皮埃尔莱斯特里耶墓地 (Saint Pierre l’Estrier)；欧坦即奥古斯托杜努姆 (Augustodunum)，古代埃杜伊高卢 (Gallia Aeduensis) 的首府。枢机主教皮特拉 (Pitra) 首先将它公之于世，各国博学的考古学家随后作了详尽讨论。参《索莱姆文献集》(Spicilegium Solesmense，皮特拉编)，第I–III卷；拉夫·加鲁奇 (Raf. Garrucci)，《古代铭文学碑刻》(Monuments d’ epigraphie ancienne)，巴黎，1856、1857年；P. 勒诺尔芒 (P. Lenormant)，《论欧坦铭文》(Mémoire sur l’ inscription d’ Autun)，巴黎，1855年；H. B. 马里奥特 (H. B. Marriott)，《地下墓窟的见证》(The Testimony of the Catacombs)，伦敦 (Lond.)，1870年，第113–188页。耶稣会神父塞基 (Secchi) 和加鲁奇从中发现了变质说和炼狱的确凿证据，马里奥特却不遗余力地加以反驳。另参舒尔策 (Schultze)，Katak.，第118页。鱼的象征 (Ichthys) 在这篇铭文中占有突出地位，显露其起源甚早，但考古学家的意见不一：皮特拉、加鲁奇等人将其定于公元160–202年；基尔霍夫、马里奥特和舒尔策则较为可信地将其定于第四世纪末或第五世纪初；勒诺尔芒和勒布朗则定于第五或第六世纪。德·罗西指出，铭文字体的年代，不及其所表达的思想古老。铭文有些缺损，必须凭推测补足。这是佩克托里乌斯 (Pectorius) 为父母和朋友所作的纪念铭文，分为两部分；前六行是一首离合诗（Ichthys），包含死者（可能是母亲）的话语；第二部分则由儿子发言。第一部分似乎年代更早。舒尔策推想，它是一首古老的基督教赞美诗。铭文开头是 Ἰχθύος ο[ὐρανίου ἅγ]ιον^*［或可能是 θεῖον^*］γένος^*，结尾是 μνήσεο Πεκτορίου^*；佩克托里乌斯就是为父母立这座碑的人。以下是马里奥特的译文（部分出于推测；l.c.，第118页）：

“属天之鱼 (Ichthys) 的后裔啊，当保守一颗圣洁敬畏的心；因为你尚在人世，便已从神圣的水中领受了通向不朽的生命泉源。亲爱的人啊，当以那赐人丰盛、长流不息的智慧之水，使你的灵魂苏醒，并领受众圣徒之救主那甘甜如蜜的食物。怀着饥渴吃吧，手中持着鱼 (Ichthys)。”

“向鱼 (Ichthys)……我的主[和]救主啊，求你亲近我，[作我的引导]；你是那些已经历死亡时刻之人的光，我恳求你。”

“阿斯坎迪乌斯 (Aschandius)，我心所爱的父亲啊，还有你［亲爱的母亲，以及所有］属我的人……请记念佩克托里乌斯。”

§ 87. 地下墓窟的教训

地下墓窟代表了尼西亚会议以前时代的地下基督教。它们揭示了基督徒面对死亡与永恒时的生活。其范围之广大、黑暗之肃穆、迷宫般的神秘，以及其中粗朴的墓志、图画和雕刻，还有手工业、敬拜和殉道的遗迹，使我们对从使徒去世到君士坦丁 (Constantine) 归信这段时期基督徒的社会与家庭状况、贫穷与谦卑、敬虔精神、试炼与苦难、信心与盼望，有了生动而深刻的认识。今日的访客活着走下这片死者之域，所得的印象，与十五个多世纪以前圣哲罗姆所得的相同：肃穆的黑暗、可怖的寂静和神圣的联想，使他深受震撼；只不过如今黑暗更深，坟墓中的珍藏也已被搬空。斯坦利 (Stanley) 座堂主任牧师说：“一个深深浸润于地下墓窟意象之中的人，会比一个将德尔图良或奥利金 (Origen) 最精深的论著背得滚瓜烂熟的人，更接近早期教会的思想。”这话不无修辞上的夸张。⁴¹

罗马天主教与新教的作者，都曾过分地使这座地下死者之城的发现服务于论战和护教的目的。前者在其中寻求并找到了实物论据，用来支持对圣徒、圣像和圣物的崇拜，对童贞女马利亚的敬礼，彼得的首席地位，七件圣礼，真实临在，甚至变质说和炼狱；后者则从中看见使徒式生活与敬拜之简朴的证据，并认为它阐明了保罗所说的话：上帝拣选了世上愚拙的、软弱的和被人藐视的，叫那有智慧、有能力、有权势的羞愧。⁴²

要充分解决这些争议问题，有赖于确定这些遗迹和铭文的年代，然而这一点极不确定。最杰出的考古学家也持有大相径庭的意见。罗马天主教方面最有权威的罗马学者约翰·巴普蒂斯特·德·罗西 (John Baptist de Rossi)，将圣卢基娜 (St. Lucina) 和圣多米蒂拉 (St. Domitilia) 墓窟中的一些绘画和墓志，甚至追溯到第一世纪末或第二世纪初。另一方面，同样杰出的牛津考古学家 J. H. 帕克 (J. H. Parker) 却主张，壁画中足有四分之三属于第八、九世纪最后几次修复的作品，而“其余四分之一中，又有相当一部分属于第六世纪”。他还断言，在地下墓窟的图画中，“君士坦丁以前没有宗教题材”，“第四、五世纪的题材完全限于圣经”，并且“第六世纪以前没有一个圣徒或殉道者的形象，第八世纪以前也极少，到第八世纪才大量出现”。⁴³ 勒南 (Renan) 将地下墓窟最早的图画定于第四世纪，只有极少数（在多米蒂拉墓窟中）定于第三世纪。⁴⁴ 特奥多尔·蒙森 (Theodore Mommsen) 认为，德·罗西将多米蒂拉墓地 (Coemeterium Domitillae) 的早期年代定在公元95年以前，其论证并无定论；他宁愿将其追溯到哈德良 (Hadrian) 和庇乌 (Pius) 的时代，而非弗拉维王朝诸帝 (Flavian emperors) 的时代。⁴⁵

但无论如何，在地下墓窟中寻求一套完整的信条，正如在现代墓园中作同样的寻求一样，都是不合理的。我们在那里所能期望发现的，只是末世论的通俗要素，或有关死亡与永恒的情感，以及偶然留下的当时个人与社会生活的痕迹。异教、犹太教、伊斯兰教和基督教的墓地，各有其特征，但也都有许多共同之处，与人性不可分离。罗马天主教墓地很容易辨认，因为其中有十字架、苦像，以及对炼狱和为死者祈祷的提及；新教墓地则以墓志中频繁出现的经文，以及面对虔诚死者将立即进入基督面前这一前景所表达的盼望和喜乐为特征。地下墓窟自有其独特的性质，既不同于罗马天主教墓地，也不同于新教墓地。

其中最具特色的象征和图画，是好牧人、鱼和葡萄树。这些象征在第四世纪以后几乎完全消失了，但在早期基督徒心中，它们以孩童般的单纯，生动地表达了各种信条的基督徒所不可缺少的观念：基督及其救恩，是生与死中唯一的安慰。牧人的形象，无论来自萨宾 (Sabine) 还是加利利 (Galilean) 的山岭，都使人想到寻回迷失的羊、温柔的看顾与保护、青草地与清泉，以及生命的牺牲；总之，就是救主的完整形象。⁴⁶ 这幅图画的流行，使我们能够理解《赫尔马牧人书》(Pastor of Hermas) 何以如此广受欢迎。这部宗教寓言约于第二世纪中叶写于罗马，直到第四世纪，许多教会仍将它作为新约的一部分诵读（《西奈抄本》即如此）。鱼以另一种形式表达同一救恩观念，但只有熟悉希腊文（即 Ichthys 的字母组合含义），并将鱼与日常食物及重生的洗礼之水联系起来的人，才能领会。葡萄树则再次表明信徒与基督之间的生命联合，以及众信徒彼此之间的生命相通。

地下墓窟另一显著的特色，是其充满盼望与喜乐的末世论。它们用象征和文字宣告一种坚定的确信：灵魂不朽，身体复活；这确信在今世与基督活泼的联合中生根立基。⁴⁷ 在贫穷、试炼和逼迫的时期，这些荣耀的盼望安慰并坚固了早期基督徒。这一特色，与此前及同时代异教的阴郁形成鲜明对照，因为对异教而言，来世是一片空白；它也与随后中世纪末世论的阴郁形成鲜明对照，因为后者向最认真的基督徒呈现的来世，乃是惩罚性苦难的延续。这是地下墓窟所给予的首要教训，我们也可以说，是唯一的教义性教训。

它们还附带地为其他一些问题提供了新的启示，尤其是基督教的传播和基督教艺术的起源。其范围如此广大，意味着基督教在异教罗马的信徒人数，远比人们通常所设想的多。⁴⁸ 其中众多的装饰确凿地证明：或者，早期基督徒从犹太人承袭的对绘画和雕刻的反感，并不像从尼西亚会议以前某些作者的文字中所推断的那样普遍，也未持续那么久；或者——这更有可能——民众从希腊人和罗马人承袭的对艺术的爱好，很少受神学家影响，最终压倒了理论家们的疑虑。

地下墓窟的初次发现，使基督教世界大为惊讶，并引发了种种狂想，谈论无法计数的殉道者、逼迫的恐怖，以及早期基督徒的地下聚会，仿佛他们出于不得已或个人偏好，生死都在地下的黑暗中度过。更细致的考察驱散了这些传奇想象，也加深了人们对实情的认识。

尼西亚会议以前遗迹所呈现的宗教，与这一时期文献所呈现的宗教之间，并无矛盾。两者彼此补充，互相阐明。它们向我们展现的，既不是中世纪的天主教，也不是现代的新教，而是使徒以后认信者与殉道者的基督教：单纯、谦卑、不事炫耀、没有学问、不属世，在死亡面前刚强，盼望有福的复活；尚无后世特有的教义与习俗，却已具有我们在殉道者游斯丁 (Justin Martyr)、德尔图良、亚历山大的革利免 (Clement of Alexandria) 和奥利金的著作中所见的，对象征主义、神秘主义、禁欲主义和民间迷信的强烈爱好。

Original Text

CHAPTER VII. THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

§ 82. Literature.

Comp. the works quoted in ch. VI., especially Garrucci (6 vols.), and the Table of Illustrations at the end of this volume.

I. Older works. By Bosio (Roma Sotterranea, Rom. 1632; abridged edition by P. Giovanni Severani da S. Severino, Rom. 1710, very rare); Boldetti (1720); Bottari (1737); D’AGINCOURT (1825); Röstell (1830); Marchi (1844); Maitland (The Church in the Catacombs, Lond. 1847); Louis Perret (Catacombes de Rome, etc. Paris, 1853 sqq. 5 vols., with 325 splendid plates, but with a text that is of little value, and superseded).

More recent works.

Giovanni Battista de Rossi (the chief authority on the Catacombs): La Roma Sotterranea Cristiana descritta et illustrata, publ. by order of Pope Pio Nono, Roma (cromolitografia Pontificia), Tom. I. 1864, Tom. II. 1867, Tom. III. 1877, in 3 vols. fol. with two additional vols. of plates and inscriptions. A fourth volume is expected. Comp. his articles in the bimonthly "Bulletino di archeologia Cristiana," Rom. 1863 sqq., and several smaller essays. Roller calls De Rossi "le fouilleur le mieux qualifié fervent catholique, mais critique sérieux*."

J. Spencer Northcote (Canon of Birmingham) and W. R. Brownlow (Canon of Plymouth): Roma Sotteranea*. London (Longmans, Green & Co., 1869; second edition, "rewritten and greatly enlarged," 1879, 2 vols. The first vol. contains the History, the second, Christian Art. This work gives the substance of the investigations of Commendatore De Rossi by his consent, together with a large number of chromo-lithographic plates and wood-engravings, with special reference to the cemetery of San Callisto. The vol. on Inscriptions is separate, see below.

F. X. Kraus (R.C.), Roma Sotterranea. Die Röm. Katakomben. Freiburg. i. B. (1873), second ed. 1879. Based upon De Rossi and the first ed. of Northcote & Brownlow.

D. de Richemont: Les catacombes de Rome. Paris, 1870.

Wharton B. Marriott, B.S.F.S.A. (Ch. of England): The Testimony of the Catacombs and of other Monuments of Christian Art from the second to the eighteenth century, concerning questions of Doctrine now disputed in the Church. London, 1870 (223 pages with illustrations). Discusses the monuments referring to the cultus of the Virgin Mary, the supremacy of the Pope, and the state after death.

F. Becker: Roms Altchristliche Cömeterien. Leipzig, 1874.

W. H. Withrow (Methodist): The Catacombs of Rome and their Testimony relative to Primitive Christianity. New York (Nelson & Phillips), 1874. Polemical against Romanism. The author says (Pref., p. 6): "The testimony of the catacombs exhibits, more strikingly than any other evidence, the immense contrast between primitive Christianity and modern Romanism."

John P. Lundy (Episc.): Monumental Christianity: or the Art and Symbolism of the Primitive Church as Witnesses and Teachers of the one Catholic Faith and Practice. New York, 1876. New ed. enlarged, 1882, 453 pages, richly illustrated.

John Henry Parker (Episc.): The Archaeology of Rome*. Oxford and London, 1877. Parts ix. and x.: Tombs in and near Rome, and Sculpture; Part XII: The Catacombs. A standard work, with the best illustrations.

Theophile Roller (Protest.): Les Catacombes de Rome. Histoire de l’art et des croyances religieuses pendant les premiers siècles du Christianisme*. Paris, 1879–1881, 2 vols. fol, 720 pages text and 100 excellent plates en hétiogravure, and many illustrations and inscriptions. The author resided several years at Naples and Rome as Reformed pastor.

M. Armellini (R.C.): Le Catacombe Romane descritte. Roma, 1880 (A popular extract from De Rossi, 437 pages). By the same the more important work: Il Cimiterio di S. Agnese sulla via Nomentana. Rom. 1880.

Dean Stanley: The Roman Catacombs, in his "Christian Institutions." Lond. and N. York, 1881 (pp. 272–295).

Victor Schultze (Lutheran): Archaeologische Studien ueber altchristliche Monumente. Mit 26 Holzschnitten. Wien, 1880; Die Katakomben. Die altchristlichen Grabstätten. Ihre Geschichte und ihre Monumente (with 52 illustrations). Leipzig, 1882 (342 pages); Die Katakomben von San Gennaro dei Poveri in Neapel. Jena, 1877. Also the pamphlet: Der theolog. Ertrag der Katakombenforschung. Leipz. 1882 (30 pages). The last pamphlet is against Harnack’s review, who charged Schultze with overrating the gain of the catacomb-investigations (see the "Theol. Literaturzeitung," 1882.)

Bishop W. J. Kip: The Catacombs of Rome as illustrating the Church of the First Three Centuries. N. York, 1853, 6th ed., 1887(212pages).

K. Rönneke: Rom’s christliche Katakomben. Leipzig, 1886.

Comp. also Edmund Venables in Smith and Cheetham, I. 294–317; Heinrich Merz in Herzog, VII. 559–568; Theod. Mommsen on the Roman Catac. in "The Contemp. Review." vol. XVII. 160–175 (April to July, 1871); the relevant articles in the Archaeol. Dicts. of Martigny and Kraus, and the Archaeology of Bennett (1888).

Christian Inscriptions in the catacombs and other old monuments.

Commendatore J. B. de Rossi: Inscriptiones Christiana Urbis Romae septimo seculo antiquiores. Romae, 1861 (XXIII. and 619 pages). Another vol. is expected. The chief work in this department. Many inscriptions also in his Roma Sott*. and "Bulletino."

Edward Le Blant: Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule anterieures au VIII^me siècle. Paris, 1856 and 1865, 2 vols. By the same: Manuel d’Epigraphie chrétienne. Paris, 1869.

John McCaul: Christian Epitaphs of the First Six Centuries. Toronto, 1869. Greek and Latin, especially from Rome.

F. Becker: Die Inschriften der römischen Cömeterien. Leipzig, 1878.

J. Spencer Northcote (R.C. Canon of Birmingham): Epitaphs of the Catacombs or Christian Inscriptions in Rome during the First Four Centuries*. Lond., 1878 (196 pages).

G. T. Stokes on Greek and Latin Christian Inscriptions; two articles in the "Contemporary Review" for 1880 and 1881.

V. Schultze discusses the Inscriptions in the fifth section of his work Die Katakomben (1882), pp. 235–274, and gives the literature.

The Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum by Böckh, and Kirchhoff, and the Corpus Inscriptionium Lat, edited for the Berlin Academy by, Th. Mommsen and others, 1863 sqq. (not yet completed), contain also Christian Inscriptions. Prof. E. Hübner has added those of Spain (1871) and Britain (1873). G. Petrie has collected the Christian Inscriptions in the Irish language, ed. by Stokes. Dublin, 1870 sqq. Comp. the art. "Inscriptions," in Smith and Cheetham, I. 841.

§ 83. Origin and History of the Catacomb.

The Catacombs of Rome and other cities open a new chapter of Church history, which has recently been dug up from the bowels of the earth. Their discovery was a revelation to the world as instructive and important as the discovery of the long lost cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and of Nineveh and Babylon. Eusebius says nothing about them; the ancient Fathers scarcely allude to them, except Jerome and Prudentius, and even they give us no idea of their extent and importance. Hence the historians till quite recently have passed them by in silence.(1) But since the great discoveries of Commendatore De Rossi and other archaeologists they can no longer be ignored. They confirm, illustrate, and supplement our previous knowledge derived from the more important literary remains.

The name of the Catacombs is of uncertain origin, but is equivalent to subterranean cemeteries or resting-places for the dead.(2) First used of the Christian cemeteries in the neighborhood of Rome, it was afterwards applied to those of Naples, Malta, Sicily, Alexandria, Paris, and other cities.

It was formerly supposed that the Roman Catacombs were originally sand-pits (arenariae) or stone-quarries (lapidicinae), excavated by the heathen for building material, and occasionally used as receptacles for the vilest corpses of slaves and criminals.(3) But this view is now abandoned on account of the difference of construction and of the soil. A few of the catacombs, however, about five out of thirty, are more or less closely connected with abandoned sand-pits.(4)

The catacombs, therefore, with a few exceptions, are of Christian origin, and were excavated for the express purpose of Christian burial. Their enormous extent, and the mixture of heathen with Christian symbols and inscriptions, might suggest that they were used by heathen also; but this is excluded by the fact of the mutual aversion of Christians and idolaters to associate in life and in death. The mythological features are few, and adapted to Christian ideas.(5)

Another erroneous opinion, once generally entertained, regarded the catacombs as places of refuge from heathen persecution. But the immense labor required could not have escaped the attention of the police. They were, on the contrary, the result of toleration. The Roman government, although (like all despotic governments) jealous of secret societies, was quite liberal towards the burial clubs, mostly of the poorer classes, or associations for securing, by regular contributions, decent interment with religious ceremonies.(6) Only the worst criminals, traitors, suicides, and those struck down by lightning (touched by the gods) were left unburied. The pious care of the dead is an instinct of human nature, and is found among all nations. Death is a mighty leveler of distinctions and preacher of toleration and charity; even despots bow before it, and are reminded of their own vanity; even hard hearts are moved by it to pity and to tears. "De mortuis nihil nisi bonum."

The Christians enjoyed probably from the beginning the privilege of common cemeteries, like the Jews, even without an express enactment. Galienus restored them after their temporary confiscation during the persecution of Valerian (260).(7)

Being mostly of Jewish and Oriental descent, the Roman Christians naturally followed the Oriental custom of cutting their tombs in rocks, and constructing galleries. Hence the close resemblance of the Jewish and Christian cemeteries in Rome.(8) The ancient Greeks and Romans under the empire were in the habit of burning the corpses (crematio) for sanitary reasons, but burial in the earth (humatio), outside of the city near the public roads, or on hills, or in natural grottos, was the older custom; the rich had their own sepulchres (sepulcra).

In their catacombs the Christians could assemble for worship and take refuge in times of persecution. Very rarely they were pursued in these silent retreats. Once only it is reported that the Christians were shut up by the heathen in a cemetery and smothered to death.

Most of the catacombs were constructed during the first three centuries, a few may be traced almost to the apostolic age.(9) After Constantine, when the temporal condition of the Christians improved, and they could bury their dead without any disturbance in the open air, the cemeteries were located above ground, especially above the catacombs, and around the basilicas; or on other land purchased or donated for the purpose. Some catacombs owe their origin to individuals or private families, who granted the use of their own grounds for the burial of their brethren; others belonged to churches. The Christians wrote on the graves appropriate epitaphs and consoling thoughts, and painted on the walls their favorite symbols. At funerals they turned these dark and cheerless abodes into chapels; under the dim light of the terra-cotta lamps they committed dust to dust, ashes to ashes, and amidst the shadows of death they inhaled the breath of the resurrection and life everlasting. But it is an error to suppose that the catacombs served as the usual places of worship in times of persecution; for such a purpose they were entirely unfitted; even the largest could accommodate, at most, only twenty or thirty persons within convenient distance.(10)

The devotional use of the catacombs began in the Nicene age, and greatly stimulated the worship of martyrs and saints. When they ceased to be used for burial they became resorts of pious pilgrims. Little chapels were built for the celebration of the memory of the martyrs. St. Jerome relates,(11) how, while a school-boy, about a.d. 350, he used to go with his companions every Sunday to the graves of the apostles and martyrs in the crypts at Rome, "where in subterranean depths the visitor passes to and fro between the bodies of the entombed on both walls, and where all is so dark, that the prophecy here finds its fulfillment: The living go down into Hades.(12) Here and there a ray from above, not falling in through a window, but only pressing in through a crevice, softens the gloom; as you go onward, it fades away, and in the darkness of night which surrounds you, that verse of Virgil comes to your mind:

"Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent."(13)

The poet Prudentius also, in the beginning of the fifth century, several times speaks of these burial places, and the devotions held within them.(14)

Pope Damasus (366–384) showed his zeal in repairing and decorating the catacombs, and erecting new stair-cases for the convenience of pilgrims. His successors kept up the interest, but by repeated repairs introduced great confusion into the chronology of the works of art.

The barbarian invasions of Alaric (410), Genseric (455), Ricimer (472), Vitiges (537), Totila (546), and the Lombards (754), turned Rome into a heap of ruins and destroyed many valuable treasures of classical and Christian antiquity. But the pious barbarism of relic hunters did much greater damage. The tombs of real and imaginary saints were rifled, and cartloads of dead men’s bones were translated to the Pantheon and churches and chapels for more convenient worship. In this way the catacombs gradually lost all interest, and passed into decay and complete oblivion for more than six centuries.

In the sixteenth century the catacombs were rediscovered, and opened an interesting field for antiquarian research. The first discovery was made May 31, 1578, by some laborers in a vineyard on the Via Salaria, who were digging pozzolana, and came on an old subterranean cemetery, ornamented with Christian paintings, Greek and Latin inscriptions and sculptured sarcophagi. "In that day," says De Rossi, "was born the name and the knowledge of Roma Sotterranea." One of the first and principal explorers was Antonio Bosio, "the Columbus of this subterranean world." His researches were published after his death (Roma, 1632). Filippo Neri, Carlo Borromeo, and other restorers of Romanism spent, like St. Jerome of old, whole nights in prayer amid these ruins of the age of martyrs. But Protestant divines discredited these discoveries as inventions of Romish divines seeking in heathen sand-pits for Christian saints who never lived, and Christian martyrs who never died.(15)

In the present century the discovery and investigation of the catacombs has taken a new start, and is now an important department of Christian archaeology. The dogmatic and sectarian treatment has given way to a scientific method with the sole aim to ascertain the truth. The acknowledged pioneer in this subterranean region of ancient church history is the Cavalier John Baptist de Rossi, a devout, yet liberal Roman Catholic. His monumental Italian work (Roma Sotterranea, 1864–1877) has been made accessible in judicious condensations to French, German, and English readers by Allard (1871), Kraus (1873 and 1879), Northcote & Brownlow (1869 and 1879). Other writers, Protestant as well as Roman Catholic, are constantly adding to our stores of information. Great progress has been made in the chronology and the interpretation of the pictures in the catacombs.

And yet the work is only begun. More than one half of ancient Christian cemeteries are waiting for future exploration. De Rossi treats chiefly of one group of Roman catacombs, that of Callistus. The catacombs in Naples, Syracuse, Girgenti, Melos, Alexandria, Cyrene, are very imperfectly known; still others in the ancient apostolic churches may yet be discovered, and furnish results as important for church history as the discoveries of Ilium, Mycenae, and Olympia for that of classical Greece.

§ 84. Description of the Catacombs.

The Roman catacombs are long and narrow passages or galleries and cross-galleries excavated in the bowels of the earth in the hills outside and around the city, for the burial of the dead. They are dark and gloomy, with only an occasional ray of light from above. The galleries have two or more stories, all filled with tombs, and form an intricate net-work or subterranean labyrinth. Small compartments (loculi) were cut out like shelves in the perpendicular walls for the reception of the dead, and rectangular chambers (cubicula) for families, or distinguished martyrs. They were closed with a slab of marble or tile. The more wealthy were laid in sarcophagi. The ceiling is flat, sometimes slightly arched. Space was economized so as to leave room usually only for a single person; the average width of the passages being 2½ to 3 feet. This economy may be traced to the poverty of the early Christians, and also to their strong sense of community in life and in death. The little oratories with altars and episcopal chairs cut in the tufa are probably of later construction, and could accommodate only a few persons at a time. They were suited for funeral services and private devotion, but not for public worship.

The galleries were originally small, but gradually extended to enormous length. Their combined extent is counted by hundreds of miles, and the number of graves by millions.(16)

The oldest and best known of the Roman cemeteries is that of St. Sebastian, originally called Ad Catacumbas, on the Appian road, a little over two miles south of the city walls. It was once, it is said, the temporary resting-place of the bodies of St. Peter and St. Paul, before their removal to the basilicas named after them; also of forty-six bishops of Rome, and of a large number of martyrs.

The immense cemetery of Pope Callistus (218–223) on the Via Appia consisted originally of several small and independent burial grounds (called Lucinae, Zephyrini, Callisti, Hippoliti). It has been thoroughly investigated by De Rossi. The most ancient part is called after Lucina, and measures 100 Roman feet in breadth by 180 feet in length. The whole group bears the name of Callistus, probably because his predecessor, Zephyrinus "set him over the cemetery" (of the church of Rome).(17) He was then a deacon. He stands high in the estimation of the Roman church, but the account given of him by Hippolytus is quite unfavorable. He was certainly a remarkable man, who rose from slavery to the highest dignity of the church.

The cemetery of Domitilla (named in the fourth century St. Petronillae, Nerei et Achillei) is on the Via Ardeatina, and its origin is traced back to Flavia Domitilla, grand-daughter or great-grand-daughter of Vespasian. She was banished by Domitian (about a.d. 95) to the island of Pontia "for professing Christ."(18) Her chamberlains (eunuchi cubicularii), Nerus and Achilleus, according to an uncertain tradition, were baptized by St. Peter, suffered martyrdom, and were buried in a farm belonging to their mistress. In another part of this cemetery De Rossi discovered the broken columns of a subterranean chapel and a small chamber with a fresco on the wall, which represents an elderly matron named "Veneranda," and a young lady, called in the inscription "Petronilla martyr," and pointing to the Holy Scriptures in a chest by her side, as the proofs of her faith. The former apparently introduces the latter into Paradise.(19) The name naturally suggests the legendary daughter of St. Peter.(20) But Roman divines, reluctant to admit that the first pope had any children (though his marriage is beyond a doubt from the record of the Gospels), understand Petronilla to be a spiritual daughter, as Mark was a spiritual son, of the apostle (1 Pet. 5:13), and make her the daughter of some Roman Petronius or Petro connected with the family of Domitilla.

Other ancient catacombs are those of Pruetextatus, Priscilla (St. Silvestri and St. Marcelli), Basilla (S. Hermetis, Basillae, Proti, et Hyacinthi), Maximus, St. Hippolytus, St. Laurentius, St. Peter and Marcellinus, St. Agnes, and the Ostrianum (Ad Nymphas Petri, or Fons Petri, where Peter is said to have baptized from a natural well). De Rossi gives a list of forty-two greater or lesser cemeteries, including isolated tombs of martyrs, in and near Rome, which date from the first four centuries, and are mentioned in ancient records.(21)

The furniture of the catacombs is instructive and interesting, but most of it has been removed to churches and museums, and must be studied outside. Articles of ornament, rings, seals, bracelets, neck-laces, mirrors, tooth-picks, ear-picks, buckles, brooches, rare coins, innumerable lamps of clay (terra-cotta), or of bronze, even of silver and amber, all sorts of tools, and in the case of children a variety of playthings were inclosed with the dead. Many of these articles are carved with the monogram of Christ, or other Christian symbols. (The lamps in Jewish cemeteries bear generally a picture of the golden candlestick).

A great number of flasks and cups also, with or without ornamentation, are found, mostly outside of the graves, and fastened to the grave-lids. These were formerly supposed to have been receptacles for tears, or, from the red, dried sediment in them, for the blood of martyrs. But later archaeologists consider them drinking vessels used in the agapae and oblations. A superstitious habit prevailed in the fourth century, although condemned by a council of Carthage (397), to give to the dead the eucharistic wine, or to put a cup with the consecrated wine in the grave.(22)

The instruments of torture which the fertile imagination of credulous people had discovered, and which were made to prove that almost every Christian buried in the catacombs was a martyr, are simply implements of handicraft. The instinct of nature prompts the bereaved to deposit in the graves of their kindred and friends those things which were constantly used by them. The idea prevailed also to a large extent that the future life was a continuation of the occupations and amusements of the present, but free from sin and imperfection.

On opening the graves the skeleton appears frequently even now very well preserved, sometimes in dazzling whiteness, as covered with a glistening glory; but falls into dust at the touch.

§ 85. Pictures and Sculptures.

The most important remains of the catacombs are the pictures, sculptures, and epitaphs.

I. Pictures. These have already been described in the preceding chapter. They are painted al fresco on the wall and ceiling, and represent Christian symbols, scenes of Bible history, and allegorical conceptions of the Saviour. A few are in pure classic style, and betray an early origin when Greek art still flourished in Rome; but most of them belong to the period of decay. Prominence is given to pictures of the Good Shepherd, and those biblical stories which exhibit the conquest of faith and the hope of the resurrection. The mixed character of some of the Christian frescos may be explained partly from the employment of heathen artists by Christian patrons, partly from old reminiscences. The Etrurians and Greeks were in the habit of painting their tombs, and Christian Greeks early saw the value of pictorial language as a means of instruction. In technical skill the Christian art is inferior to the heathen, but its subjects are higher, and its meaning is deeper.

The works of sculpture are mostly found on sarcophagi. Many of them are collected in the Lateran Museum. Few of them date from the ante-Nicene age.(23) They represent in relief the same subjects as the wall-pictures, as far as they could be worked in stone or marble, especially the resurrection of Lazarus, Daniel among the lions, Moses smiting the rock, the sacrifice of Isaac.

Among the oldest Christian sarcophagi are those of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine (d. 328), and of Constantia, his daughter (d. 354), both of red porphyry, and preserved in the Vatican Museum. The sculpture on the former probably represents the triumphal entry of Constantine into Rome after his victory over Maxentius; the sculpture on the latter, the cultivation of the vine, probably with a symbolical meaning.(24)

The richest and finest of all the Christian sarcophagi is that of Junius Bassus, Prefect of Rome, a.d. 359, and five times Consul, in the crypt of St. Peter’s in the Vatican.(25) It was found in the Vatican cemetery (1595). It is made of Parian marble in Corinthian style. The subjects represented in the upper part are the sacrifice of Abraham, the capture of St. Peter, Christ seated between Peter and Paul, the capture of Christ, and Pilate washing his hands; in the lower part are the temptation of Adam and Eve, suffering Job, Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem, Daniel among the lions, and the capture of St. Paul.

§ 86. Epitaphs.

"Rudely written, but each letter

Full of hope, and yet of heart-break,

Full of all the tender pathos of the Here

and the Hereafter."

To perpetuate, by means of sepulchral inscriptions, the memory of relatives and friends, and to record the sentiments of love and esteem, of grief and hope, in the face of death and eternity, is a custom common to all civilized ages and nations. These epitaphs are limited by space, and often provoke rather than satisfy curiosity, but contain nevertheless in poetry or prose a vast amount of biographical and historical information. Many a grave-yard is a broken record of the church to which it belongs.

The Catacombs abound in such monumental inscriptions, Greek and Latin, or strangely mixed (Latin words in Greek characters), often rudely written, badly spelt, mutilated, and almost illegible, with and without symbolical figures. The classical languages were then in a process of decay, like classical eloquence and art, and the great majority of Christians were poor and illiterate people. One name only is given in the earlier epitaphs, sometimes the age, and the day of burial, but not the date of birth.

More than fifteen thousand epitaphs have been collected, classified, and explained by De Rossi from the first six centuries in Rome alone, and their number is constantly increasing. Benedict XIV. founded, in 1750, a Christian Museum, and devoted a hill in the Vatican to the collection of ancient sarcophagi. Gregory XVI. and Pius IX. patronized it. In this Lapidarian Gallery the costly pagan and the simple Christian inscriptions and sarcophagi confront each other on opposite walls, and present a striking contrast. Another important collection is in the Kircherian Museum, in the Roman College, another in the Christian Museum of the University of Berlin.(26) The entire field of ancient epigraphy, heathen and Christian in Italy and other countries, has been made accessible by the industry and learning of Gruter, Muratori, Marchi, De Rossi, Le Blant, Böckh, Kirchhoff, Orelli, Mommsen, Henzen, Hübner, Waddington, McCaul.

The most difficult part of this branch of archaeology is the chronology (the oldest inscriptions being mostly undated).(27) Their chief interest for the church historian is their religion, as far as it may be inferred from a few words.

The key-note of the Christian epitaphs, as compared with the heathen, is struck by Paul in his words of comfort to the Thessalonians, that they should not sorrow like the heathen who have no hope, but remember that, as Jesus rose from the dead, so God will raise them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus.

Hence, while the heathen epitaphs rarely express a belief in immortality, but often describe death as an eternal sleep, the grave as a final home, and are pervaded by a tone of sadness, the Christian epitaphs are hopeful and cheerful. The farewell on earth is followed by a welcome from heaven. Death is but a short sleep; the soul is with Christ and lives in God, the body waits for a joyful resurrection: this is the sum and substance of the theology of Christian epitaphs. The symbol of Christ (Ichthys) is often placed at the beginning or end to show the ground of this hope. Again and again we find the brief, but significant words: "in peace;"(28) "he" or "she sleeps in peace;"(29) "live in God," or "in Christ;" "live forever."(30) "He rests well." "God quicken thy spirit." "Weep not, my child; death is not eternal." "Alexander is not dead, but lives above the stars, and his body rests in this tomb."(31) "Here Gordian, the courier from Gaul, strangled for the faith, with his whole family, rests in peace. The maid servant, Theophila, erected this."(32)

At the same time stereotyped heathen epitaphs continued to be used but of course not in a polytheistic sense), as "sacred to the funeral gods," or "to the departed spirits."(33) The laudatory epithets of heathen epitaphs are rare,(34) but simple terms of natural affection very frequent, as "My sweetest child;" "Innocent little lamb;" "My dearest husband;" "My dearest wife;" "My innocent dove;" "My well-deserving father," or "mother."(35) A. and B. "lived together" (for 15, 20, 30, 50, or even 60 years) "without any complaint or quarrel, without taking or giving offence."(36) Such commemoration of conjugal happiness and commendations of female virtues, as modesty, chastity, prudence, diligence, frequently occur also on pagan monuments, and prove that there were many exceptions to the corruption of Roman society, as painted by Juvenal and the satirists.

Some epitaphs contain a request to the dead in heaven to pray for the living on earth.(37) At a later period we find requests for intercession in behalf of the departed when once, chiefly through the influence of Pope Gregory I., purgatory became an article of general belief in the Western church.(38) But the overwhelming testimony of the oldest Christian epitaphs is that the pious dead are already in the enjoyment of peace, and this accords with the Saviour’s promise to the penitent thief, and with St. Paul’s desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.(39) Take but this example: "Prima, thou livest in the glory of God, and in the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ."(40)

Notes.

I. Selection of Roman Epitaphs.

The following selection of brief epitaphs in the Roman catacombs is taken from De Rossi, and Northcote, who give facsimiles of the original Latin and Greek. Comp. also the photographic plates in Roller, vol. I. Nos. X, XXXI, XXXII, and XXXIII; and vol. II. Nos. LXI, LXII, LXV, and LXVI.

To dear Cyriacus, sweetest son. Mayest thou live in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour. To Pastor, a good and innocent son, who lived 4 years, 5 months and 26 days. Vitalis and Marcellina, his parents.
In eternal sleep (somno aeternali). Aurelius Gemellus, who lived ... years and 8 months and 18 days. His mother made this for her dearest well-deserving son. In peace. I commend [to thee], Bassilla, the innocence of Gemellus.
Lady Bassilla [= Saint Bassilla], we, Crescentius and Micina, commend to thee our daughter Crescen [tina], who lived 10 months and ... days.
Matronata Matrona, who lived a year and 52 days. Pray for thy parents.
Anatolius made this for his well-deserving son, who lived 7 years, 7 months and 20 days. May thy spirit rest well in God. Pray for thy sister.
Regina, mayest thou live in the Lord Jesus (vivas in Domino Jesu).
To my good and sweetest husband Castorinus, who lived 61 years, 5 months and 10 days; well-deserving. His wife made this. Live in God!
Amerimnus to his dearest, well-deserving wife, Rufina. May God refresh thy spirit.
Sweet Faustina, mayest thou live in God.
Refresh, O God, the soul of ....
Bolosa, may God refresh thee, who lived 31 years; died on the 19^th of September. In Christ.
Peace to thy soul, Oxycholis.
Agape, thou shalt live forever.
In Christ. To Paulinus, a neophyte. In peace. Who lived 8 years.
Thy spirit in peace, Filmena.
In Christ. Aestonia, a virgin; a foreigner, who lived 41 years and 8 days. She departed from the body on the 26^th of February.
Victorina in peace and in Christ.
Dafnen, a widow, who whilst she lived burdened the church in nothing.
To Leopardus, a neophyte, who lived 3 years, 11 months. Buried on the 24^th of March. In peace.
To Felix, their well-deserving son, who lived 23 years and 10 days; who went out of the world a virgin and a neophyte. In peace. His parents made this. Buried on the 2^d of August.
Lucilianus to Bacius Valerius, who lived 9 years, 8 [months], 22 days. A catechumen.
Septimius Praetextatus Caecilianus, servant of God, who has led a worthy life. If I have served Thee [O Lord], I have not repented, and I will give thanks to Thy name. He gave up his soul to God (at the age of) thirty-three years and six months. [In the crypt of St. Cecilia in St. Callisto. Probably a member of some noble family, the third name is mutilated. De Rossi assigns this epitaph to the beginning of the third century.]
Cornelius. Martyr. Ep. [iscopus].

The Autun Inscription.

This Greek inscription was discovered a.d. 1839 in the cemetery Saint Pierre l’Estrier near Autun (Augustodunum, the ancient capital of Gallia Aeduensis), first made known by Cardinal Pitra, and thoroughly discussed by learned archaeologists of different countries. See the Spicilegium Solesmense (ed. by Pitra), vols. I.-III., Raf. Garrucci, Monuments d’ epigraphie ancienne, Paris 1856, 1857; P. Lenormant, Mémoire sur l’ inscription d’ Autun, Paris 1855; H. B. Marriott, The Testimony of the Catacombs, Lond. 1870, pp. 113–188. The Jesuit fathers Secchi and Garrucci find in it conclusive evidence of transubstantiation and purgatory, but Marriott takes pains to refute them. Comp. also Schultze, Katak. p. 118. The Ichthys-symbol figures prominently in the inscription, and betrays an early origin, but archaeologists differ: Pitra, Garrucci and others assign it to a.d. 160–202; Kirchhoff, Marriott, and Schultze, with greater probability, to the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century, Lenormant and Le Blant to the fifth or sixth. De Rossi observes that the characters are not so old as the ideas which they express. The inscription has some gaps which must be filled out by conjecture. It is a memorial of Pectorius to his parents and friends, in two parts; the first six lines are an acrostic (Ichthys), and contain words of the dead (probably the mother); in the second part the son speaks. The first seems to be older. Schultze conjectures that it is an old Christian hymn. The inscription begins with jIcquvo" a [ujranivou a{g] ion [or perhaps qei'on] gevno", and concludes with mnhvseo Pektorivou, who prepared the monument for his parents. The following is the translation (partly conjectural) of Marriott (l.c. 118):

’Offspring of the heavenly Ichthys, see that a heart of holy reverence be thine, now that from Divine waters thou hast received, while yet among mortals, a fount of life that is to immortality. Quicken thy soul, beloved one, with ever-flowing waters of wealth-giving wisdom, and receive the honey-sweet food of the Saviour of the saints. Eat with a longing hunger, holding Ichthys in thine hands.’

’To Ichthys ... Come nigh unto me, my Lord [and] Saviour [be thou my Guide] I entreat Thee, Thou Light of them for whom the hour of death is past.’

’Aschandius, my Father, dear unto mine heart, and thou [sweet Mother, and all] that are mine ... remember Pectorius.’

§ 87. Lessons of the Catacombs.

The catacombs represent the subterranean Christianity of the ante-Nicene age. They reveal the Christian life in the face of death and eternity. Their vast extent, their solemn darkness, their labyrinthine mystery, their rude epitaphs, pictures, and sculptures, their relics of handicrafts worship, and martyrdom give us a lively and impressive idea of the social and domestic condition, the poverty and humility, the devotional spirit, the trials and sufferings, the faith and hope of the Christians from the death of the apostles to the conversion of Constantine. A modern visitor descending alive into this region of the dead, receives the same impression as St. Jerome more than fifteen centuries ago: he is overcome by the solemn darkness, the terrible silence, and the sacred associations; only the darkness is deeper, and the tombs are emptied of their treasures. "He who is thoroughly steeped in the imagery of the catacombs," says Dean Stanley, not without rhetorical exaggeration, "will be nearer to the thoughts of the early church than he who has learned by heart the most elaborate treatise even of Tertullian or of Origen."(41)

The discovery of this subterranean necropolis has been made unduly subservient to polemical and apologetic purposes both by Roman Catholic and Protestant writers. The former seek and find in it monumental arguments for the worship of saints, images, and relics, for the cultus of the Virgin Mary, the primacy of Peter, the seven sacraments, the real presence, even for transubstantiation, and purgatory; while the latter see there the evidence of apostolic simplicity of life and worship, and an illustration of Paul’s saying that God chose the foolish, the weak, and the despised things of the world to put to shame them that are wise and strong and mighty.(42)

A full solution of the controversial questions would depend upon the chronology of the monuments and inscriptions, but this is exceedingly uncertain. The most eminent archaeologists hold widely differing opinions. John Baptist de Rossi of Rome, the greatest authority on the Roman Catholic side, traces some paintings and epitaphs in the crypts of St. Lucina and St. Domitilia back even to the close of the first century or the beginning of the second. On the other hand, J. H. Parker, of Oxford, an equally eminent archaeologist, maintains that fully three-fourths of the fresco-paintings belong to the latest restorations of the eighth and ninth centuries, and that "of the remaining fourth a considerable number are of the sixth century." He also asserts that in the catacomb pictures "there are no religious subjects before the time of Constantine," that "during the fourth and fifth centuries they are entirely confined to Scriptural subjects," and that there is "not a figure of a saint or martyr before the sixth century, and very few before the eighth, when they became abundant."(43) Renan assigns the earliest pictures of the catacombs to the fourth century, very few (in Domitilla) to the third.(44) Theodore Mommsen deems De Rossi’s argument for the early date of the Coemeterium Domitillae before a.d. 95 inconclusive, and traces it rather to the times of Hadrian and Pius than to those of the Flavian emperors.(45)

But in any case it is unreasonable to seek in the catacombs for a complete creed any more than in a modern grave-yard. All we can expect there is the popular elements of eschatology, or the sentiments concerning death and eternity, with incidental traces of the private and social life of those times. Heathen, Jewish, Mohammedan, and Christian cemeteries have their characteristic peculiarities, yet all have many things in common which are inseparable from human nature. Roman Catholic cemeteries are easily recognized by crosses, crucifixes, and reference to purgatory and prayers for the dead; Protestant cemeteries by the frequency of Scripture passages in the epitaphs, and the expressions of hope and joy in prospect of the immediate transition of the pious dead to the presence of Christ. The catacombs have a character of their own, which distinguishes them from Roman Catholic as well as Protestant cemeteries.

Their most characteristic symbols and pictures are the Good Shepherd, the Fish, and the Vine. These symbols almost wholly disappeared after the fourth century, but to the mind of the early Christians they vividly expressed, in childlike simplicity, what is essential to Christians of all creeds, the idea of Christ and his salvation, as the only comfort in life and in death. The Shepherd, whether from the Sabine or the Galilean hills, suggested the recovery of the lost sheep, the tender care and protection, the green pasture and fresh fountain, the sacrifice of life: in a word, the whole picture of a Saviour.(46) The popularity of this picture enables us to understand the immense popularity of the Pastor of Hermas, a religious allegory which was written in Rome about the middle of the second century, and read in many churches till the fourth as a part of the New Testament (as in the Sinaitic Codex). The Fish expressed the same idea of salvation, under a different form, but only to those who were familiar with the Greek (the anagrammatic meaning of Ichthys) and associated the fish with daily food and the baptismal water of regeneration. The Vine again sets forth the vital union of the believer with Christ and the vital communion of all believers among themselves.

Another prominent feature of the catacombs is their hopeful and joyful eschatology. They proclaim in symbols and words a certain conviction of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body, rooted and grounded in a living union with Christ in this world.(47) These glorious hopes comforted and strengthened the early Christians in a time of poverty, trial, and persecution. This character stands in striking contrast with the preceding and contemporary gloom of paganism, for which the future world was a blank, and with the succeeding gloom of the mediaeval eschatology which presented the future world to the most serious Christians as a continuation of penal sufferings. This is the chief, we may say, the only doctrinal, lesson of the catacombs.

On some other points they incidentally shed new light, especially on the spread of Christianity and the origin of Christian art. Their immense extent implies that Christianity was numerically much stronger in heathen Rome than was generally supposed.(48) Their numerous decorations prove conclusively, either that the primitive Christian aversion to pictures and sculptures, inherited from the Jews, was not so general nor so long continued as might be inferred from some passages of ante-Nicene writers, or, what is more likely, that the popular love for art inherited from the Greeks and Romans was little affected by the theologians, and ultimately prevailed over the scruples of theorizers.

The first discovery of the catacombs was a surprise to the Christian world, and gave birth to wild fancies about the incalculable number of martyrs, the terrors of persecution, the subterranean assemblies of the early Christians, as if they lived and died, by necessity or preference, in darkness beneath the earth. A closer investigation has dispelled the romance, and deepened the reality.

There is no contradiction between the religion of the ante-Nicene monuments and the religion of the ante-Nicene literature. They supplement and illustrate each other. Both exhibit to us neither the mediaeval Catholic nor the modern Protestant, but the post-apostolic Christianity of confessors and martyrs, simple, humble, unpretending, unlearned, unworldly, strong in death and in the hope of a blissful resurrection; free from the distinctive dogmas and usages of later times; yet with that strong love for symbolism, mysticism, asceticism, and popular superstitions which we find in the writings of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen.

Original Footnotes

(1; original 516): Mosheim and Gibbon in the last century, and even Neander, Gieseler, andBaur, in our age, ignore the very existence of the catacombs, except that Gieseler quotes the well-known passage of Jerome. But Dean Milman, in his History of Christianity, Hase, Kurtz, Kraus, and others, in their manuals, take brief notice of them.

(2; original 517): katakuvmbion, catacumba, also (in some MSS.) catatumba. Various derivations: 1) From katav (down from, downwards, as in katabaivnw, katavkeimai, katapevmpw), and tuvmbo" (compare the late Latin tumba, the French tombe, tombeau, and the English tomb, grave), i.e. a tomb down in the earth, as distinct from tombs on the surface. This corresponds best to the thing itself. 2) From katav and koimavw (to sleep), which would make it equivalent to koimhthvrion, dormitorium, sleeping place. 3) From katav and kuvmbh (the hollow of a vessel) or (cup), kumbivon (a small cup, Lat. cymbium), which would simply give us the idea of a hollow place. So Venables in Smith and Cheetham. Very unlikely. 4) A hybrid term from katav and the Latin decumbo, to lie down, to recline. So Marchi, and Northcote and Brownlow (I. 263). The word first occurs in a Christian calendar of the third or fourth century (in Catacumbas), and in a letter of Gregory I. to the Empress Constantia, towards the end of the sixth century (Epp. III. 30), with a special local application to San Sebastian. The earlier writers use the terms koimhthvria, coemeteria (whence our cemetery), also cryptae, crypts

(3; original 518): So Aringhi, Baronius; Severano, Bottari, Boldetti, and all writers prior to Marchi, and his pupils, the two brothers De Rossi, who turned the current of opinion. See Northcote and Br. I. 377 sqq.

(4; original 519): The sand-pits and stone-quarries were made wide enough for a horse and cart, and are cut in the tufa litoide and pozzolana pura, which furnish the best building material in Rome; while the catacombs have generally very narrow passages, run in straight lines, often cross each other at sharp angles, and are excavated in the tufa granulare, which is too soft for building-stone, and too much mixed with earth to be used for cement, but easily worked, and adapted for the construction of galleries and chambers. See Northcote and Br. I. 376-390. The exceptions are also stated by these authors. J. H. Parker has discovered loculi for Christian burial in the recesses of a deserted sand-pit.

(5; original 520): See the remarks of Northcote and Br. I. 276 against J. H. Parker, who asserts the mixed use of the catacombs for heathens and Christians."

(6; original 521): This view is supported by Professor Mommsen, the Roman historian, who says (in "Contemporary Review," vol. xxvii. p. 168): "Associations of poor people who clubbed together for the burial of their members were not only tolerated but supported by the imperial government, which otherwise was very strict against associations. From this point of view, therefore, there was no legal impediment to the acquisition of these properties. Christian associations have from the very beginning paid great attention to their burials; it was considered the duty of the wealthier members to provide for the burial of the poor, and St. Ambrose still allowed churches to sell their communion plate, in order to enlarge the cemeteries of the faithful. The catacombs show what could be achieved by such means at Rome. Even if their fabulous dimensions are reduced to their right measure, they form an immense work, without beauty and ornament, despising in architecture and inscription not only pomp and empty phraseology, but even nicety and correctness, avoiding the splendor and grandeur as well as the tinsel and vanity of the life of the great town that was hurrying and throbbing above, the true commentary of the words of Christ-’My kingdom is not of this world.’

(7; original 522): Euseb. H. E. VII. 13: 1, ta; tw'n kaloumevnwn koimhthrivwn ajpolambavnein ejpitrevpwn cwriva.

(8; original 523): Roller says (in Lichtenberger’s Encycl. des Sc. Rel. II. 685)."Les juifs ensevelissaient dans le roc. A Rome ils ont creusé de grandes catacombes presque identique à celles des chrétiens. Ceux-ci ont été leurs imitateurs. Les Etrusques se servaient aussi de grottes; mais ils ne les reliaient point par des galeries illimitées." Dean Stanley (l.c. p. 274): "The Catacombs are the standing monuments of the Oriental and Jewish character, even of Western Christianity. The fact that they are the counterparts of the rock-hewn tombs of Palestine, and yet more closely of the Jewish cemeteries in the neighborhood of Rome, corresponds to the fact that the early Roman Church was not a Latin but an Eastern community, speaking Greek and following the usages of Syria. And again, the ease with which the Roman Christians had recourse to these cemeteries is an indication of the impartiality of the Roman law, which extended (as De Rossi has well pointed out) to this despised sect the same protection in regard to burial, even during the times of persecution, that was accorded to the highest in the land. They thus bear witness, to the unconscious fostering care of the Imperial Government over the infant church. They are thus monuments, not so much of the persecution as of the toleration which the Christians received at the hands of the Roman Empire."

(9; original 524): De Rossi (as quoted by Northcote and Brownlow I. 112): "Precisely in those cemeteries to which history or tradition assigns apostolic origin, I see, in the light of the most searching archaeological criticism, the cradle both of Christian subterranean sepulchres, of Christian art, and of Christian inscriptions; there I had memorials of persons who appear to belong to the times of the Flavii and of Trajan; and finally I discover precise dates of those times."

(10; original 525): Schultze (Die Katak., p. 73 and 83) maintains in opposition to Marchi, that the catacombs were nothing but burial place, and used only for the burial service, and that the little chapels (ecclesiolae) were either private sepulchral chambers or post-Constantinian structures.

(11; original 526): Com. in Ez. 40.

(12; original 527): He refers to such passages as Ps. 55:15; Num. 16:33.

(13; original 528): Aen. II. 755:

"Horror on every side, and terrible even the silence."

Or in German:

"Grauen rings um mich her, und schreckvoll selber die Stille."

(14; original 529): Peristeph. XI. 153 sqq

(15; original 530): E. g. Bishop Burnet (who visited the catacombs in 1685): Letters from Italy and Switzerland in 1685 and 1686. He believed that the catacombs were the common burial places of the ancient heathen. G. S. Cyprian (1699), J. Basnage (1699), and Peter Zorn (1703), wrote on the subject in polemical interest against Rome.

(16; original 531): I hesitate to state the figures. Roman archaeologists, as Marchi, J. B. de Rossi and his brother Michael de R. (a practical mathematician), Martigny and others estimate the length of the Roman catacombs variously at from 350 to 900 miles, or as "more than the whole length of Italy" (Northcote and Brownlow, I. 2). Allowance is made for from four to seven millions of graves! It seems incredible that there should have been so many Christians in Rome in four centuries, even if we include the numerous strangers. All such estimates are purely conjectural. See Smith and Cheetham, I. 301. Smyth (l.c. p. 15) quotes Rawlinson as saying that 7,000,000 of graves in 400 years’ time gives an average population of from 500,000 to 700,000. Total population of Rome, 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 at the beginning of the empire.

(17; original 532): This is so stated by Hippolytus, Philosoph. IX. 11. Zephyrinus was buried there contrary to the custom of burying the popes in St. Peter’s crypt in the Vatican. Callistus was hurled from a window in Trastevere, and hastily removed to the nearest cemetery on the Via Aurelia. The whole report of Hippolytus about Callistus is discredited by Northcote and Brownlow (I. 497 sqq.), but without good reason.

(18; original 533): Eusebius, H. E. III. 18. De Rossi distinguishes two Christian Domitillas, and defends this view against Mommsen See "Bulletino," 1875, pp. 69-77, and Mommsen, Corp. Inscript. Lat., Tom. VI. p. 172, as quoted by Northcote and Br. I. 86. See also Mommsen in "The Contemp. Review," XVII. 169 sq. Lightfoot. Philippians, p. 22, and S. Clement of R., 257.

(19; original 534): See the picture in Northcote and Br. I. 182, and on the whole subject of Petronilla, pp. 122, 176-186.

(20; original 535): Acta Sanct. Maii, III. 11.

(21; original 536): See also the list in N. and Br. I. pp. xx-xxi, and in Smith and Cheetham, I. 315.

(22; original 537): The curious controversy about these blood-stained phials is not yet closed. Chemical experiments have led to no decided results. The Congregation of Rites and Relics decided, in 1668, that the phiolae cruentae or ampullae sanguinolentaewere blood-vessels of martyrs, and Pius IX. confirmed the decision in 1863. It was opposed by distinguished Roman scholars (Mabillon, Tillemont, Muratori, the Jesuit Père de Buck (De phialis rubricatis, Brussels, 1855), but defended again, though cautiously and to a very limited extent by De Rossi (III. 602), Northcote and Brownlow (II. 330-343), and by F. X. Kraus (Die Blutampullen der Röm. Katakomben, 1868, and Ueber den gegenw. Stand der Frage nach dem Inhalt und der Bedeutung der röm. Blutampullen, 1872). Comp. also Schultze: Die sogen. Blutgläser der Röm. Kat. (1880), and Die Katakomben (1882, pp. 226-232). Roller thinks that the phials contained probably perfumery, or perhaps eucharistic wine.

(23; original 538): Renan dates the oldest sculptures from the end of the third century: "Les sarcophages sculptés, représentant des scènes sacrées, apparaissent vers la fin du III^e siècle. Comme les peintures chrétiennes, ils ne s’écartent guère, sauf pour le sujet, des habitudes de l’art païen du méme temps." (Marc Auréle, p. 546). Comp. also Schultze, Die Katak. 165-186, and especially the IX^th part of John Henry Parker’s great work, which treats on the Tombs in and near Rome, 1877.

(24; original 539): See photographs of both in Parker, Part IX, Nos. 209 and 210, and pp. 41 and 42.

(25; original 540): See a photograph in Parker, l.c., Plate XIII; also in Lundy, Monum. Christianity, p. 112.

(26; original 541): Under the care of Professor Piper (a pupil of Neander), who even before De Rossi introduced a scientific knowledge of the sepulchral monuments and inscriptions. Comp. his "Monumental Theology," and his essay "Ueber den kirchenhistorischen Gewinn aus Inschriften, in the Jahrbücher f. D. Theologie," 1875.

(27; original 542): De Rossi traces some up to the first century, but Renan (Marc-Auréle, p. 536) maintains: "Les inscriptions chrétiennes des catacombes ne remontent qu’ au commencement du III^esiècle."

(28; original 543): In pace; ejn eijrhvnh. Frequent also in the Jewish cemeteries (shalom).

(29; original 544): Dormit in pace; requiescit in pace; in pace Domini; koima'tai ejn eijrhvnh.The pagan formula "depositus" also occurs, but with an altered meaning: a precious treasure intrusted to faithful keeping for a short time.

(30; original 545): Vivas, orvive in Deo; vivas in aeternum; vivas inter sanctos. Contrast with these the pagan declamations: Sit tibi terra levis; Ossa tua bene quiescant Ave; Vale.

(31; original 546): This inscription in the cemetery of Callistus dates from the time of persecution, probably in the third century, and alludes to it in these words: "For while on his knees, and about to sacrifice to the true God, he was led away to execution. O sad times! in which among sacred rites and prayers, even in caverns, we are not safe. What can be more wretched than such a life? and what than such a death? when they cannot be buried by their friends and relations-still at the end they shine like stars in heaven (tandem in caelo corruscant)." See Maitland, The Church in the Cat., second ed. p. 40.

(32; original 547): This inscription is in Latin words, but in Greek uncial letters. See Perret, II. 152, and Aringhi, p. 387.

(33; original 548): D. M. or D. M. S. =Dis Manibus sacrum (others explain: Deo Magno or Maximo);memoriae aeterrae, etc. See Schultze, p. 250 sq. Sometimes the monogram of Christ is inserted before S, and then the meaning may be Deo Magno Christo Sacrum, or Christo Salvatori. So Northcote, p. 99, who refers to Tit. 2:13.

(34; original 549): More frequent in those after the middle of the fourth century, as inconparabilis, mirae sapientiae or innocentiae, rarissimi exempli, eximiae bonitatis.

(35; original 550): Dulcis, dulcissimus, ordulcissima, carus, orcara, carissimus, optimus, incomparabilis, famulus Dei, puella Deo placita,ajgaqov", a{gio" , qeosebhv", semnov", etc.

(36; original 551): Sine ulla querela, sine ulla contumelia, sine laesione animi, sine ulla offensa, sine jurgio, sine lite motesta, etc.

(37; original 552): "Pete, or roga, ora, pro nobis, pro parentibus, pro conjuge, pro filiis, pro sorore." These petitions are comparatively rare among the thousands of undated inscriptions before Constantine, and mostly confined to members of the family. The Autun inscription (probably from the fourth century) ends with the petition of Pectorius to his departed parents, to think of him as often as they look upon Christ. See Marriott, p. 185.

(38; original 553): Dr. McCaul, of Toronto (as quoted in Smith and Cheetham, 1. 856) says: I recollect but two examples in Christian epitaphs of the first six centuries of the address to the reader for his prayers, so common in mediaeval times."

(39; original 554): Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:8.

(40; original 555): Prima, vives in gloria Dei et in pace Domini nostri."Scratched in the mortar round a grave in the cemetery of Thraso, in Rome, quoted by Northcote, p. 89. He also quotes Paulinus of Nola, who represents a whole host of saints going forth from heaven to receive the soul of St. Felix as soon as it had left the body, and conducting it in triumph before the throne of God. A distinction, however was made by Tertullian and other fathers between Paradise or Abraham’s bosom, whither the pious go, and heaven proper. Comp. Roller’s discussion of the idea of refrigerium which often meets us in the epitaphs, Les Catacombes, I. 225 sqq.

(41; original 556): Study of Ecclesiastical History, prefixed to his Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, p. 59.

(42; original 557): The apologetic interest for Romanism is represented by Marchi, De Rossi, Garrucci, Le Blant., D. de Richemond, Armellini, Bertoli, Maurus, Wolter (Die röm. Katakomben und die Sakramente der kath. Kirche, 1866), Martigny (Dictionaire, etc., 1877), A. Kuhn (1877), Northcote and Brownlow (1879), F. X. Kraus (Real=Encykl. der christl. Alterthümer, 1880 sqq.), Diepolder (1882), and among periodicals, by De Rossi’s Bulletino, theCiviltà Cattolica, the Revue de l’art chrétien, and the Revue archéologique. Among the Protestant writers on the catacombs are Piper, Parker, Maitland, Lundy, Withrow, Becker, Stanley, Schultze, Heinrici, and Roller. See among others: Heinrici, Zur Deutung der Bildwerke altchristlicher Grabstätten, in the "Studien und Kritiken" for 1882, p. 720-743, and especially Piper, Monumentale Theologie.

(43; original 558): Catacombs, Pref. p. xi. The writer of the article Catacombs in the "Encycl. Brit." v. 214 (ninth ed.), is of the same opinion: "It is tolerably certain that the existing frescos are restorations of the eighth, or even a later century, from which the character of the earlier work can only very imperfectly be discovered." He then refers to Parker’s invaluable photographs taken in the catacombs by magnesian light, and condemns, with Milman, the finished drawings in Perret’s costly work as worthless to the historian, who wants truth and fidelity.

(44; original 559): Marc-Auréle, p. 543.

(45; original 560): "Contemp. Rev." for May, 1871, p. 170.

(46; original 561): Stanley, 1.c., p. 283: "What was the popular Religion of the first Christians? It was, in one word, the Religion of the Good Shepherd. The kindness, the courage, the grace, the love, the beauty of the Good Shepherd was to them, if we may so say, Prayer Book and Articles, Creeds and Canons, all in one. They looked on that figure, and it conveyed to them all that they wanted. As ages passed on, the Good Shepherd faded away from the mind of the Christian world, and other emblems of the Christian faith have taken his place. Instead of the gracious and gentle Pastor, there came the Omnipotent Judge or the Crucified Sufferer, or the Infant in His Mother’s arms, or the Master in His Parting Supper, or the figures of innumerable saints and angels, or the elaborate expositions of the various forms of theological controversy."

(47; original 562): See the concluding chapter in the work of Roller, II. 347 sqq. Raoul-Rochette characterizes the art of the Catacombs as "unsystème d’illusions consolantes." Schultze sees in the sepulchral symbols chiefly Auferstehungsgedanken and Auferstehungshoffnungen. Heinrici dissents from him by extending the symbolism to the present life as a life of hope in Christ. "Nicht der Gedanke an die Auferstehung des Fleisches für sich, sondern die christliche Hoffnung überhaupt, wie sie aus der sicheren Lebensgemeinschaft mit Christus erblüht und Leben wie Sterben des Gläubigen beherrscht, bedingt die Wahl der religiös bedeutsamen Bilder. Sie sind nicht Symbole der einstigen Auferstehung, sondern des unverlierbaren Heilsbesitzes in Christus." ("Studien und Krit." 1842, p. 729).

(48; original 563): Theodore Mommsen (in "The Contemp. Rev." for May, 1871, p. 167): The enormous space occupied by the burial vaults of Christian Rome, in their extent not surpassed even by the system of cloacae or sewers of Republican Rome, is certainly the work of that community which St. Paul addressed in his Epistle to the Romans—a living witness of its immense development corresponding to the importance of the capital."

脚注

Best guess 对照表

正文及中文脚注中带上标 * 的外文为 best guess，尚未逐项核实；原始字串保留如下。

原字串	Best guess	语言	出现位置	说明
jIcquvo" a [ujranivou a{g] ion	Ἰχθύος ο[ὐρανίου ἅγ]ιον	Greek	正文第 106 段	据铭文语境推测还原；孤立的 a 疑为 ο 之误，保留原补文括号。
qei'on	θεῖον	Greek	正文第 106 段	按旧字体编码还原，保留作者所列异读。
gevno"	γένος	Greek	正文第 106 段	v 为锐音符，末尾引号编码词尾 ς。
mnhvseo Pektorivou	μνήσεο Πεκτορίου	Greek	正文第 106 段	按编码还原铭文词形及人名，不改 μνήσεο。
katakuvmbion	κατακύμβιον	Greek	脚注 2	按旧字体编码还原，保留原词拼写。
katav	κατά	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原介词及锐音符。
katabaivnw	καταβαίνω	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原，重音落在 αί。
katavkeimai	κατάκειμαι	Greek	脚注 2	按旧字体编码还原。
katapevmpw	καταπέμπω	Greek	脚注 2	按旧字体编码还原。
tuvmbo"	τύμβος	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原，末尾引号为词尾 ς。
katav	κατά	Greek	脚注 2	与同注前一处相同，按编码还原。
koimavw	κοιμάω	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原，保留未缩合词形。
koimhthvrion	κοιμητήριον	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原，与安眠处的语境相符。
katav	κατά	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原介词及锐音符。
kuvmbh	κύμβη	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原，与器皿词源讨论相符。
kumbivon	κυμβίον	Greek	脚注 2	按原编码还原，保留原文重音位置。
katav	κατά	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原介词及锐音符。
koimhthvria	κοιμητήρια	Greek	脚注 2	按编码还原，保留中性复数形式。
ta; tw'n kaloumevnwn koimhthrivwn ajpolambavnein ejpitrevpwn cwriva	τὰ τῶν καλουμένων κοιμητηρίων ἀπολαμβάνειν ἐπιτρέπων χωρία	Greek	脚注 7	按编码还原重音与气息符，保留引文词序。
ejn eijrhvnh	ἐν εἰρήνῃ	Greek	脚注 28	按编码及介词短语还原；与格下标 ι 疑在转码时脱落。
koima'tai ejn eijrhvnh	κοιμᾶται ἐν εἰρήνῃ	Greek	脚注 29	按编码还原；εἰρήνῃ 的下标 ι 据与格语境补出。
ajgaqov", a{gio" , qeosebhv", semnov"	ἀγαθός, ἅγιος, θεοσεβής, σεμνός	Greek	脚注 35	按编码还原四个形容词及气息、重音符号。

上世纪的莫斯海姆 (Mosheim) 和吉本 (Gibbon)，甚至我们时代的尼安德 (Neander)、吉泽勒 (Gieseler) 和鲍尔 (Baur)，都忽略了地下墓窟的存在，只有吉泽勒引用了哲罗姆那段著名的文字。不过，米尔曼 (Milman) 座堂主任牧师在其《基督教史》(History of Christianity) 中，以及哈泽 (Hase)、库尔茨 (Kurtz)、克劳斯 (Kraus) 等人在各自的手册中，都曾作过简短介绍。↩︎
κατακύμβιον^*、catacumba，亦作（见于某些抄本）catatumba。有几种不同的词源解释：1）来自 κατά^*（从上往下、向下，如 καταβαίνω^*、κατάκειμαι^*、καταπέμπω^*）和 τύμβος^*（比较晚期拉丁文 tumba、法文 tombe, tombeau 和英文 tomb、grave），即地下的坟墓，有别于地面的坟墓。这最符合事物本身。2）来自 κατά^* 和 κοιμάω^*（睡眠），如此便相当于 κοιμητήριον^*、dormitorium，即安眠之所。3）来自 κατά^* 和 κύμβη^*（器皿的凹处，或杯）、κυμβίον^*（小杯，拉丁文 cymbium），如此便只是一个中空之处的意思。维纳布尔斯 (Venables) 在史密斯 (Smith) 与奇瑟姆 (Cheetham) 的著作中持此说。极不可能。4）由 κατά^* 和拉丁文 decumbo（躺下、斜倚）组成的混合词。马尔基 (Marchi)，以及诺思科特 (Northcote) 和布朗洛 (Brownlow) 持此说（I. 263）。这个词最早见于第三或第四世纪的一份基督教历书（in Catacumbas），以及第六世纪末格列高利一世 (Gregory I) 致皇后康斯坦蒂娅 (Constantia) 的一封信（Epp. III. 30），特指圣塞巴斯蒂安 (San Sebastian) 一地。较早的作者使用 κοιμητήρια^*、coemeteria（我们的 cemetery 一词即由此而来），也使用 cryptae、crypts，即墓窟。↩︎
阿林吉 (Aringhi)、巴罗尼乌斯 (Baronius)、塞韦拉诺 (Severano)、博塔里 (Bottari)、博尔代蒂 (Boldetti)，以及马尔基和他的学生德·罗西兄弟以前的所有作者，都持此说；马尔基及这两兄弟改变了舆论的方向。参诺思科特与布朗洛，I. 377及下页。↩︎
采沙坑和采石场开凿得足够宽，可供马车通行，开凿于 tufa litoide（坚质凝灰岩）和 pozzolana pura（纯火山灰）之中，这两者提供了罗马最好的建筑材料；地下墓窟的通道则通常十分狭窄，呈直线延伸，常以锐角彼此相交，开凿于 tufa granulare（粒状凝灰岩）之中。这种岩石太软，不能用作建筑石材，混杂的泥土又太多，不能用作水泥，却易于开凿，适合建造通道与墓室。参诺思科特与布朗洛，I. 376–390。这些作者也说明了例外情形。J. H. 帕克在一处废弃采沙坑的凹处，发现了供基督徒安葬之用的壁墓格（loculi）。↩︎
参诺思科特与布朗洛，I. 276，对 J. H. 帕克的反驳；帕克断言，异教徒与基督徒混合使用地下墓窟。↩︎
罗马史学家蒙森教授支持这一观点。他说（见《当代评论》〔Contemporary Review〕，第XXVII卷，第168页）：“穷人为安葬本会成员而集资结成的社团，不仅受到帝国政府的容忍，而且得到支持，尽管政府在其他方面对社团十分严厉。因此，从这一点看，取得这些地产并无法律上的障碍。基督徒团体从最初就十分重视安葬之事；为穷人安排安葬，被认为是较富裕成员的责任，圣安布罗斯 (St. Ambrose) 仍准许教会出售圣餐用的金银器皿，以扩充信徒的墓地。地下墓窟表明，在罗马，凭这些办法可以成就何等的工程。即使把传说中夸大的规模缩减到实际的尺度，它们仍是一项浩大的工程，没有美观与装饰；其建筑与铭文不但鄙弃浮华和空洞的辞藻，甚至也不讲求精巧与准确；它们既避开了上方那座奔忙、悸动的大城生活中的辉煌与宏伟，也避开了它的虚饰与虚荣，正是基督这句话的真实注解：‘我的国不属这世界。’”↩︎
优西比乌 (Euseb.)，《教会史》(H. E.) VII. 13: 1，τὰ τῶν καλουμένων κοιμητηρίων ἀπολαμβάνειν ἐπιτρέπων χωρία^*，意即准许他们收回那些所谓墓地的场所。↩︎
罗勒 (Roller) 说（见利希滕贝格〔Lichtenberger〕编《宗教科学百科全书》〔Encycl. des Sc. Rel.〕II. 685）：“Les juifs ensevelissaient dans le roc. A Rome ils ont creusé de grandes catacombes presque identique à celles des chrétiens. Ceux-ci ont été leurs imitateurs. Les Etrusques se servaient aussi de grottes; mais ils ne les reliaient point par des galeries illimitées.”（犹太人在岩石中安葬死者。他们在罗马开凿了大型地下墓窟，与基督徒的地下墓窟几乎完全相同。基督徒是他们的仿效者。伊特鲁里亚人也使用洞穴，却不以绵延无尽的通道将它们连接起来。）斯坦利座堂主任牧师 (Dean Stanley) 说（l.c.，第274页）：“地下墓窟是永久的见证，表明即使西方基督教也带有东方和犹太的特征。它们与巴勒斯坦凿岩而成的坟墓相仿，与罗马附近的犹太墓地尤其相似；这一事实与另一事实相符，即早期罗马教会不是一个拉丁团体，而是一个说希腊语、遵循叙利亚习俗的东方团体。此外，罗马基督徒能够如此便利地使用这些墓地，也表明了罗马法律的不偏不倚；正如德罗西 (De Rossi) 充分指出的，即使在逼迫时期，法律在安葬事务上给予这个受鄙视的教派的保护，也与给予国内地位最高者的相同。因此，它们见证了帝国政府对幼年教会无意间给予的扶持与照料。因此，与其说它们是基督徒遭受罗马帝国逼迫的纪念物，不如说是他们获得罗马帝国宽容的纪念物。”↩︎
德罗西（引自诺思科特与布朗洛〔Northcote and Brownlow〕，I. 112）说：“恰恰在那些被历史或传统认定具有使徒渊源的墓地中，借助最严密的考古学考证，我看到了基督徒地下墓葬、基督教艺术和基督教铭文共同的摇篮；在那里，我找到了似乎属于弗拉维王朝 (Flavii) 和图拉真 (Trajan) 时代的人物的纪念遗物；最后，我还发现了那些时代的确切纪年。”↩︎
舒尔策 (Schultze)（《地下墓窟》〔Die Katak.〕，第73、83页）反对马尔基 (Marchi) 的意见，主张地下墓窟仅仅是安葬之所，只用于安葬礼；那些小礼拜堂（ecclesiolae）不是私人墓室，就是君士坦丁以后的建筑。↩︎
《以西结书注释》(Com. in Ez.) 40。↩︎
他所指的是《诗篇》55:15、《民数记》16:33等经文。↩︎
《埃涅阿斯纪》(Aen.) II. 755：

“恐怖四面笼罩，连寂静本身也令人战栗。”

或用德语说：

“Grauen rings um mich her, und schreckvoll selber die Stille.”（恐怖环绕我身，连寂静本身也令人战栗。）↩︎
《殉道者冠冕颂》(Peristeph.) XI. 153及下文。↩︎
例如，伯内特主教 (Bishop Burnet，1685年曾参观地下墓窟)：《1685及1686年意大利与瑞士来信》(Letters from Italy and Switzerland)。他认为地下墓窟是古代异教徒的公共墓地。G. S. 居普里安 (G. S. Cyprian，1699年)、J. 巴纳日 (J. Basnage，1699年) 和彼得·措恩 (Peter Zorn，1703年)，都曾出于反罗马教会的论战目的撰文讨论此题。↩︎
我对于列出这些数字颇有踌躇。罗马考古学家，如马尔基、J. B. 德罗西及其弟迈克尔·德罗西 (Michael de R.，一位应用数学家)、马蒂尼 (Martigny) 等，对罗马地下墓窟长度的估计各不相同，从350至900英里不等，或说“超过整个意大利的长度”（诺思科特与布朗洛，I. 2）。估计其中可容纳四百万至七百万座坟墓！即使把众多外来人口计算在内，也很难相信四个世纪中罗马会有这么多基督徒。这一切估计纯属推测。见史密斯与奇瑟姆 (Smith and Cheetham)，I. 301。斯迈思 (Smyth)（l.c.，第15页）引罗林森 (Rawlinson) 的话说，400年间七百万座坟墓，意味着平均人口在五十万至七十万之间。帝国初期，罗马总人口为一百五十万至二百万。↩︎
希波吕托 (Hippolytus) 在《驳斥一切异端》(Philosoph.) IX. 11中如此记述。泽菲里努斯 (Zephyrinus) 葬在那里，违背了将教皇葬在梵蒂冈 (Vatican) 圣彼得地下墓室的惯例。卡利斯图斯 (Callistus) 在特拉斯提弗列 (Trastevere) 被人从窗口掷下，随即被匆匆移葬到奥勒里亚大道 (Via Aurelia) 上最近的墓地。诺思科特与布朗洛（I. 497及下页）否定希波吕托关于卡利斯图斯的全部记述，却没有充分理由。↩︎
优西比乌 (Eusebius)，《教会史》(H. E.) III. 18。德罗西区分出两位信奉基督教的多米提拉 (Domitilla)，并针对蒙森 (Mommsen) 为这一观点辩护。见《公报》(Bulletino)，1875年，第69–77页；以及蒙森，《拉丁铭文集》(Corp. Inscript. Lat.)，第VI卷，第172页，转引自诺思科特与布朗洛 (Northcote and Br.)，I. 86。另见蒙森载于《当代评论》(The Contemp. Review) XVII. 169及下页的文章；莱特福特 (Lightfoot)，《腓立比书》(Philippians)，第22页，以及《罗马的圣革利免》(S. Clement of R.)，第257页。↩︎
见诺思科特与布朗洛 (Northcote and Br.)，I. 182的图；关于彼得罗尼拉 (Petronilla) 的整个问题，见第122、176–186页。↩︎
《圣徒行传》(Acta Sanct.)，五月卷 (Maii)，III. 11。↩︎
另见诺思科特与布朗洛 (N. and Br.)，I. 第xx–xxi页，以及史密斯与奇瑟姆，I. 315所列清单。↩︎
关于这些染血小瓶的奇特争论，至今尚未结束。化学实验未能得出确定的结果。礼仪与圣物部 (Congregation of Rites and Relics) 于1668年裁定，phiolae cruentae 或 ampullae sanguinolentae（染血小瓶）是盛放殉道者血液的容器；庇护九世 (Pius IX) 于1863年确认了这一裁定。若干著名的罗马天主教学者反对这一说法，如马比永 (Mabillon)、蒂耶蒙 (Tillemont)、穆拉托里 (Muratori)，以及耶稣会士德比克神父 (Père de Buck)（《论染红的小瓶》〔De phialis rubricatis〕，布鲁塞尔，1855年）。但德罗西（III. 602）、诺思科特与布朗洛（II. 330–343），以及 F. X. 克劳斯 (F. X. Kraus) 又为之辩护，尽管措辞谨慎，认可的范围也极为有限。克劳斯的著作有《罗马地下墓窟的血瓶》(Die Blutampullen der Röm. Katakomben)，1868年，以及《关于罗马血瓶的内容与意义问题之现状》(Ueber den gegenw. Stand der Frage nach dem Inhalt und der Bedeutung der röm. Blutampullen)，1872年。另参舒尔策：《罗马地下墓窟中所谓的血杯》(Die sogen. Blutgläser der Röm. Kat.)，1880年；以及《地下墓窟》(Die Katakomben)，1882年，第226–232页。罗勒认为，小瓶里盛的很可能是香料，或许是圣餐用酒。↩︎
勒南 (Renan) 将最早的雕刻定于第三世纪末：“Les sarcophages sculptés, représentant des scènes sacrées, apparaissent vers la fin du III^e siècle. Comme les peintures chrétiennes, ils ne s’écartent guère, sauf pour le sujet, des habitudes de l’art païen du méme temps.”（表现神圣场景的雕刻石棺，约在第三世纪末出现。它们与基督教绘画一样，除了题材以外，与同时代异教艺术的惯例几乎没有差别。）（《马可·奥勒留》〔Marc Auréle〕，第546页。）另参舒尔策，《地下墓窟》(Die Katak.)，第165–186页；尤其参约翰·亨利·帕克 (John Henry Parker) 巨著的第IX^th部分，论《罗马及其附近的坟墓》(Tombs in and near Rome)，1877年。↩︎
两者的照片见帕克 (Parker)，第IX部分，第209、210号，以及第41、42页。↩︎
照片见帕克，l.c.，图版XIII；亦见伦迪 (Lundy)，《纪念物中的基督教》(Monum. Christianity)，第112页。↩︎
由皮珀教授 (Professor Piper，尼安德的一位学生) 负责；他甚至早于德罗西，就已引入关于墓葬纪念物及铭文的科学知识。参他的《纪念物神学》(Monumental Theology)，以及论文《铭文对教会史研究的裨益》(Ueber den kirchenhistorischen Gewinn aus Inschriften)，载《德国神学年鉴》(Jahrbücher f. D. Theologie)，1875年。↩︎
德罗西将其中一些追溯到第一世纪，但勒南（《马可·奥勒留》〔Marc-Auréle〕，第536页）主张：“Les inscriptions chrétiennes des catacombes ne remontent qu’ au commencement du III^esiècle.”（地下墓窟中的基督徒铭文，最早只能追溯到第三世纪初。）↩︎
In pace；ἐν εἰρήνῃ^*（在平安中）。在犹太人的墓地也常见（shalom，平安）。↩︎
Dormit in pace（在平安中安睡）；requiescit in pace（在平安中安息）；in pace Domini（在主的平安中）；κοιμᾶται ἐν εἰρήνῃ^*。异教的用语“depositus”（寄存）也有出现，却有了不同的含义：一件珍贵的宝物，暂时托付给忠实的保管者。↩︎
Vivas（愿你活着），或 vive in Deo（在上帝里面活着）；vivas in aeternum（愿你永远活着）；vivas inter sanctos（愿你活在圣徒中间）。试与异教的这些辞句对照：Sit tibi terra levis（愿泥土轻覆你身）；Ossa tua bene quiescant Ave; Vale（愿你的骸骨安息；致意，永别）。↩︎
卡利斯图斯墓地的这篇铭文出于逼迫时期，可能是在第三世纪，并以如下文字暗指那场逼迫：“因为当他跪下，正要向真神献祭时，就被带去处决。何等悲惨的时代！我们在举行神圣礼仪和祈祷时，即使身在洞穴中，也不得安全。还有什么比这样的生活更凄惨？还有什么比这样的死亡更悲苦？他们甚至不能由亲友安葬——然而最终，他们却如天上的星辰闪耀（tandem in caelo corruscant）。”见梅特兰 (Maitland)，《地下墓窟中的教会》(The Church in the Cat.)，第2版，第40页。↩︎
这篇铭文用的是拉丁语词句，却以希腊文大写字体书写。见佩雷 (Perret)，II. 152，以及阿林吉 (Aringhi)，第387页。↩︎
D. M. 或 D. M. S. = Dis Manibus sacrum（献给亡灵诸神；另有人解释为 Deo Magno 或 Maximo，即献给伟大或至大的神）；memoriae aeterrae（永恒的纪念）等。见舒尔策，第250及下页。有时在 S 前插入基督名号的组合字母，此时其意可能是 Deo Magno Christo Sacrum（献给伟大的神基督），或 Christo Salvatori（献给救主基督）。诺思科特，第99页，作此解释，并引《提多书》2:13。↩︎
第四世纪中叶以后的铭文中更为常见，如 inconparabilis（无与伦比），mirae sapientiae or innocentiae（具有非凡的智慧或纯洁），rarissimi exempli（极其罕见的典范），eximiae bonitatis（具有卓越的良善）。↩︎
Dulcis（亲爱的），dulcissimus 或 dulcissima（最亲爱的），carus 或 cara（挚爱的），carissimus（最挚爱的），optimus（最好的），incomparabilis（无与伦比的），famulus Dei（上帝的仆人），puella Deo placita（蒙上帝喜爱的少女），ἀγαθός, ἅγιος, θεοσεβής, σεμνός^* 等。↩︎
Sine ulla querela（毫无怨言），sine ulla contumelia（毫无侮辱），sine laesione animi（没有心灵的伤害），sine ulla offensa（毫无冒犯），sine jurgio（没有争吵），sine lite motesta（没有恼人的争讼）等。↩︎
“Pete，或 roga, ora, pro nobis, pro parentibus, pro conjuge, pro filiis, pro sorore.”（求你为我们、为父母、为配偶、为儿女、为姊妹祈求、代求、祷告。）在君士坦丁以前数以千计未注明年代的铭文中，这些祈求相对少见，而且大多限于家人之间。欧坦铭文 (Autun inscription，可能出于第四世纪) 以佩克托里乌斯 (Pectorius) 向已故父母的祈求作结，求他们每逢瞻望基督时便想起他。见马里奥特 (Marriott)，第185页。↩︎
多伦多的麦考尔博士 (Dr. McCaul) 说（引自史密斯与奇瑟姆，1. 856）：“在头六个世纪的基督徒墓志铭中，我只记得两例请求读者为死者祷告的文字，而这在中世纪却十分普遍。”↩︎
《路加福音》23:43；《腓立比书》1:23；《哥林多后书》5:8。↩︎
Prima, vives in gloria Dei et in pace Domini nostri.（普里玛，你将在上帝的荣耀和我们主的平安中活着。）这句话刻在罗马特拉索 (Thraso) 墓地一座坟墓周围的灰泥上，引自诺思科特，第89页。他还引述了诺拉的保利努斯 (Paulinus of Nola) 的话；保利努斯描写大群圣徒从天上出来，在圣费利克斯 (St. Felix) 的灵魂刚离开身体时便迎接他，并凯旋般将他引到上帝宝座前。然而，德尔图良及其他教父区分了虔诚者所往的乐园或亚伯拉罕的怀，与严格意义上的天国。参罗勒对墓志铭中常见的 refrigerium（安舒）观念的讨论，《地下墓窟》(Les Catacombes)，I. 225及下页。↩︎
《教会史研究》(Study of Ecclesiastical History)，置于其《东方教会史讲座》(Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church) 卷首，第59页。↩︎
以维护罗马天主教为旨趣的学者，有马尔基、德罗西、加鲁奇 (Garrucci)、勒布朗 (Le Blant.)、D. 德里什蒙 (D. de Richemond)、阿尔梅利尼 (Armellini)、贝尔托利 (Bertoli)、毛鲁斯 (Maurus)、沃尔特 (Wolter)（《罗马地下墓窟与天主教会的圣礼》〔Die röm. Katakomben und die Sakramente der kath. Kirche〕，1866年）、马蒂尼（《辞典》〔Dictionaire〕等，1877年）、A. 库恩 (A. Kuhn，1877年)、诺思科特与布朗洛（1879年）、F. X. 克劳斯（《基督教古物实用百科全书》〔Real=Encykl. der christl. Alterthümer〕，1880年及后）、迪波尔德 (Diepolder，1882年)；期刊方面则有德罗西的《公报》(Bulletino)、《天主教文明》(Civiltà Cattolica)、《基督教艺术评论》(Revue de l’art chrétien) 和《考古评论》(Revue archéologique)。研究地下墓窟的新教作者有皮珀、帕克、梅特兰、伦迪、威思罗 (Withrow)、贝克尔 (Becker)、斯坦利、舒尔策、海因里齐 (Heinrici) 和罗勒。除其他著作外，参海因里齐：《早期基督徒墓地图像的阐释》(Zur Deutung der Bildwerke altchristlicher Grabstätten)，载《研究与评论》(Studien und Kritiken)，1882年，第720–743页；尤其参皮珀的《纪念物神学》(Monumentale Theologie)。↩︎
《地下墓窟》(Catacombs)，序言，第xi页。《大英百科全书》(Encycl. Brit.)，第九版，v. 214中“地下墓窟”(Catacombs) 条目的作者也持同样意见：“几乎可以确定，现存壁画是第八世纪、甚至更晚世纪修复的作品；凭借它们，只能极不充分地辨认出早期作品的特征。”他随后提到帕克在地下墓窟中借镁光拍摄的珍贵照片，并与米尔曼 (Milman) 一道，斥责佩雷那部造价昂贵的著作中精工绘制的图画，认为对于要求真实与忠实的历史学家而言，它们毫无价值。↩︎
《马可·奥勒留》(Marc-Auréle)，第543页。↩︎
《当代评论》(Contemp. Rev.)，1871年5月，第170页。↩︎
斯坦利 (Stanley)，前引书（1.c.），第283页：“最初的基督徒普遍信奉的宗教是什么？一言以蔽之，就是好牧人的宗教。好牧人的仁慈、勇气、恩雅、慈爱与美，对他们而言，可以说就是融为一体的祈祷书与信条、信经与教规。他们仰望这一形象，就从中领受了自己所需要的一切。随着岁月流逝，好牧人的形象从基督教世界的心中逐渐淡去，基督教信仰的其他象征取而代之。代替这位仁慈温柔的牧者而来的，是全能的审判者，或被钉十字架的受难者，或母亲怀中的婴孩，或临别晚餐中的夫子，或无数圣徒与天使的形象，或对各种神学争论的繁复阐述。”↩︎
参罗勒 (Roller) 著作的末章，第II卷，第347页及后。拉乌尔－罗谢特 (Raoul-Rochette) 将地下墓窟的艺术称为“unsystème d’illusions consolantes.”（一套给人安慰的幻象体系）。舒尔策 (Schultze) 在墓葬象征中所见的，主要是 Auferstehungsgedanken（复活的观念）与 Auferstehungshoffnungen（复活的盼望）。海因里齐 (Heinrici) 则不同意他的看法，将这些象征的意义扩展至今生，即在基督里怀有盼望的生活。“Nicht der Gedanke an die Auferstehung des Fleisches für sich, sondern die christliche Hoffnung überhaupt, wie sie aus der sicheren Lebensgemeinschaft mit Christus erblüht und Leben wie Sterben des Gläubigen beherrscht, bedingt die Wahl der religiös bedeutsamen Bilder. Sie sind nicht Symbole der einstigen Auferstehung, sondern des unverlierbaren Heilsbesitzes in Christus.”（决定这些具有宗教意义的图像之选择的，并非肉身复活这一孤立的观念，而是整个基督徒的盼望；这盼望从与基督确实的生命相交中萌发，并支配信徒的生与死。这些图像所象征的，不是将来的复活，而是在基督里永不丧失的救恩。）《研究与评论》(Studien und Krit.)，1842年，第729页。↩︎
特奥多尔·蒙森 (Theodore Mommsen)，载《当代评论》(The Contemp. Rev.)，1871年5月，第167页：“基督教罗马的墓室占地极广，即使共和时代罗马的地下排水道或污水道系统，其规模也不能超过它。这无疑是圣保罗在《罗马书》中所致书的那个群体的工程——它是一个活的见证，证明这一群体得到了与首都地位相称的巨大发展。”↩︎

《基督教会史》·第二卷·第七章地下墓窟中的教会

第七章地下墓窟中的教会

目录

§ 82. 文献

§ 83. 地下墓窟的起源与历史

§ 84. 地下墓窟的形制

§ 85. 绘画与雕刻

§ 86. 墓志铭

附注

§ 87. 地下墓窟的教训

Original Text

CHAPTER VII. THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

§ 82. Literature.

§ 83. Origin and History of the Catacomb.

§ 84. Description of the Catacombs.

§ 85. Pictures and Sculptures.

§ 86. Epitaphs.

Notes.

§ 87. Lessons of the Catacombs.

Original Footnotes

脚注

Best guess 对照表

第七章 地下墓窟中的教会

目录

§ 82. 文献

§ 83. 地下墓窟的起源与历史

§ 84. 地下墓窟的形制

§ 85. 绘画与雕刻

§ 86. 墓志铭

附注

§ 87. 地下墓窟的教训

Original Text

CHAPTER VII. THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS.

§ 82. Literature.

§ 83. Origin and History of the Catacomb.

§ 84. Description of the Catacombs.

§ 85. Pictures and Sculptures.

§ 86. Epitaphs.

Notes.

§ 87. Lessons of the Catacombs.

Original Footnotes

脚注

Best guess 对照表

第七章地下墓窟中的教会