or universal bread of life, has fed all his disciples, instead of being consumed or diminished, or divided into parts, the same food remains whole, and superabounds, so as to continue to feed the universe. But what is most important in this painting, though it might easily escape notice, is the attitude of kneeling, a posture not used at Rome in those early times in the act of receiving the Holy Communion, any more than it is at this day used among the orientals, who all receive standing. (Indeed, according to the Roman use, though the people kneel, the priest at the altar still receives standing.) So then in the painting before us there must be some special sense and intention in the posture of kneeling, as when a Greek or other eastern Christian makes an occasional and passing prostration; and if so, it will be difficult even to think of any other purpose than that of signifying the recognition and adoration of the Divine Food; of that bread which, being laid in the manger of Bethlehem, that is, of the Church, the "House of Bread," is adored both by the shepherds and the flock, which "no man eats," according to the words of S. Augustine, "but he first adores."

In G 3 e, from another tomb in the Cemetery of S. Hermes (Rom. Sott. vol. III. pl. clxxxvii.), we have three paintings, forming of themselves a composition relating to Penitence and Absolution, a subject of itself not likely to occur in the paintings of the Catacombs, but for a controversy which in the third century it occasioned. Certain heretics, at Rome and elsewhere, denying the propriety of restoring by penance and absolution such as had lapsed after baptism, the Church was more indulgent, and used the power which she believed herself to have received of remitting even the heaviest sins, granting penance even to such as in time of persecution had denied Christ, and restoring them to

The

communion. Thus it became natural to paint about the tomb of one who had been so restored the sacrament of Absolution, showing that in spite of the harsh doctrine of the heretics, he was in death a sharer in the hope and peace of the brethren, as having been reincorporated into the unity of Christ and his Church. A bishop or priest is seen here over the centre of the tomb, in the act of giving absolution by imposition of his right hand (as the orientals give it still) to a kneeling penitent, the same, no doubt, as was buried in the tomb below. absolver has a double robe, the penitent is in the single tunic. On either side of this group, in two lesser compartments, and manifestly designed to serve as pendants to the same, there are two other paintings bearing upon the same subject; on one side, to our right, Jonas, escaped from the jaws of hell, is giving thanks on dry land, with his hands uplifted to God, for having been delivered by absolution from the death of sin to the life of righteousness. On the other side, to our left, the paralytic, whom Christ has absolved, saying, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee," is seen walking and carrying his bed. Alone, these two paintings would probably have had a wider sense; Jonas would have been a sign of the resurrection, and the healing of the paralytic might have signified the general healing of human nature from the paralysis caused by original as well as actual sin. But here, grouped as they are with a painting of ecclesiastical absolution between them, they suggest a more limited application.

The Unction of the Sick, again, was not likely to occur, and the less as it was used chiefly in the first ages to obtain healing, by prayer and faith, from the bodily consequences of sin. So as a substitute for it we have taken one of the miracles of Christ which symbolises it

in its source; and which, in a somewhat wider sense and application, occurs frequently on the sarcophagi of the fourth century. The sculpture which we have selected, G 2 f, is given in Rom. Sott. vol. I. pl. xxi. It represents the woman with the issue of blood, who after many years, having spent all she had on earthly physicians, and having been by them nothing benefited, but rather made worse, sought at last to Christ; and coming behind him touched the hem of his garment, when the virtue of spiritual Unction went out from Him and healed her. The same may be applied to those who, after seeking in vain to earthly teachers as to physicians, turn at length to Christ; and touching the hem of his garment, that is, his humanity and the unity of his Church, are so made whole of their plagues.

while

Lastly, on a glass, G 3 g, published by P. Garucci, (see also Rom. Sott. vol. III. pl. cxcviii. bis,) we have a representation of Marriage. A man and a woman, handsomely dressed, are holding their hands united over a small altar, above which are a ring and a crown ; around are inscribed the words "Vivatis in Deo," "May ye live together in God;" the good wish, no doubt, of them that drink from the glass, and partake of the agape, or charitable distribution, given on occasion of their wedding, by the pair. The altar, like that in Composition F 2, is borrowed from the heathen in form, and only indirectly hints that which answers to it in the Christian religion. The crown is still prescribed as part of the ceremony by the rituals of all the Eastern Churches, so that instead of marrying a couple, blessing a marriage, or being married, the expression is "to crown," and "to be crowned." And in the West the crown is still used in the metaphorical wedding of a nun. The ring needs no comment.

VIII. COMPOSITION H. Of the Martyrs.

THE principal group, H 1, copied for the author from a tomb in the Cemetery of S. Agnes (Rom. Sott. vol. III. pl. cxxxiii.) is a composition in itself. It exhibits in the middle, Christ the Good Shepherd (the engraving also gives him pipes in his hand) with two sheep at his feet, between two lesser compartments containing symbolically the sufferings of the Martyrs. For on one side there is Daniel praying between the lions; and on the other the three children of the Hebrews are praying in the midst of the flames. Alone, the central figure of Christ would have been simply the Good Shepherd; and the two sheep at his feet would have been, generally, the flock of his elect: but when placed, as he is here, in the midst of the sufferings of the Martyrs, he appears as the shepherd and king of Martyrs, himself the chief of their army, who has drunk deeper than all of the cup of suffering, and is able both to strengthen and reward them that suffer; and the two sheep at his feet are the two Apostles as Martyrs, and in them all others.

The lateral paintings, H 2 and H 3, are from a tomb in the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, which is fully described by Bosio, but now is no longer extant. (Rom. Sott. vol. III. pl. clx.) It seems to have belonged to a soldier; and the wings of the angels seem to show that it is one of the latest of the tombs of the Martyrs. Besides the emblem of a heathen triumph, or victory in the Circus, painted within the arch on either side over the tomb, there are other representations in the same arch similarly borrowed from heathen imagery, as winged Pegasi; and others, again, as tessera, which seem to be taken from

military life, and applied, like the triumph, in a Christian sense. On the end wall over the tomb, within the arch, in the centre, was a medallion containing the bust of the Martyr, naked, as that of an athlete; and on either side of this medallion, two men standing, with long scrolls unrolled and hanging down from their hands. At the top of the arch was a small figure of Tobias carrying the inward parts of the fish, and running, accompanied by his dog, to anoint the blind eyes of his father, as an emblem of the illumination of Baptism. Hence perhaps we may guess that the soldier here buried was hastily baptized, before he obtained the crown of martyrdom. What has been done in grouping our own Composition consists in this; first, that the emblem of a heathen triumph associated at the tomb we have described with one particular Martyr, has been placed in connexion with a painting which represents the sufferings of all the Martyrs generally; whereby nothing is added to the idea, which is already perfectly implied, when a triumph is ascribed to any single Martyr: secondly, the two triumphs which in the original painting, or at least in the engraving of Bosio, almost face the spectator, have been turned a little, so as to present a side rather than a front view; that the conquerors may be exhibited on either side going in triumph, with their palms and crowns, not towards the Capitol, but towards Christ, the King of Martyrs, on Mount Sion. Lastly, the colours have been added. As regards the winged angels which hold a second palm and crown over the Martyr above, these in the original are on the flat wall over the arch; and they are no unmeaning reduplication, seeing that the martyrs triumph not only on earth in the Church, which honours and invokes them, but also, and much more, in heaven.