IX. COMPOSITION I.- Of the Virgins.

THE principal group, I 1, like that of the sufferings of the Martyrs, H 1, is from a tomb in the Cemetery of S. Agnes, and was copied for the author on the spot; the central part, which has become effaced since the time of Bosio, being restored from his engraving (see Rom. Sott. vol. III. pl. cxlviii.). The whole, like H 1, forms a composition of itself, in the middle compartment of which we see the Blessed Virgin, as the Mother and Queen of Virgins, standing in the attitude of prayer, as praying for her daughters. A dove, the emblem of the Church (of which the Blessed Virgin herself is the most perfect type), and generally of the soul espoused to Christ, is at her feet. In one of the two lesser compartments to her left, that is, to the right of the spectator, we see the five prudent Virgins of the parable, with their torches (for torches, not lamps, were carried at Rome at weddings) burning, and in the other hand vessels of oil or grease, with which to feed them. They stand all together, waiting, ready to go in to the banquet. On the opposite side, to the right of the central figure, the same five, now admitted to the marriage feast of the great King, are seen seated at table, enjoying paradise.

It is interesting to compare this composition of the third century with another in mosaic, on the same subject, over the porch on the principal façade of the church of S. Maria in Transtevere, the first church ever dedicated by the name of the Blessed Virgin, indeed, the first ever built as a church at all at Rome. For before the date of its first erection (which was in the third century, the mosaics spoken of being many centuries later),

In the mosaic composition midst the Blessed Virgin Saviour in her arms, both

there were at Rome only house-churches (so we may call them), as the houses of Priscilla and Aquila, of Pudens, of Paul, and of Clement, and as the Cenacle on Mount Sion, at Jerusalem. alluded to one sees in the seated on a throne, with our being crowned and clad in imperial robes. To their right, that is, to the left of the spectator, are the five prudent Virgins, as if approaching, in rich Byzantine dresses, with lighted lamps in one hand, and vessels of oil in the other, and upon their heads crowns. On the other side, to the left of the Blessed Virgin, are the five foolish Virgins-(this representation, it is to be remembered, is on the outside of the Church)-scarcely distinguishable, at first sight, from the five prudent ones; but on looking more attentively we perceive that the two foremost of them have no crowns, and that the lamps in the hands of these two are unlighted. Thus the precise sense of the Latin and Greek words in the parable is rendered, "for our lamps are going out," 'extinguuntur," are in the act of going out. The first two having already gone out while the remaining three are still lighted, this implies that the latter also are on the point of going out. But to return to our own Com

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position :

In the lateral group I 2, in a, from the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, (Rom. Sott. vol. III. pl. clxxvi.), we see a painting of the Annunciation, the earliest probably which exists, if indeed it does still exist; for it is copied here only from Bosio, and the colours added. The fact that the angel is without wings is a sufficient sign that it is earlier than the fourth century.

In I 2 b is the Blessed Virgin, seated as a mother, with the Saviour in her arms. It is the same painting

which has been already given in Composition C 3 from the Cemetery of SS. Nereus and Achilles, where it occurs in connexion with Moses striking the rock. It may be doubted whether the rod held in C 3 in the hand of the infant Christ is really a rod in the original painting, or only a mark on the plaster which has been damaged; and though it appears in one publication, it is not seen or named in any edition of the works of Bosio. For this reason the rod is absent in the present Composition; though in Composition C, where it is so much in place, this consideration was allowed to weigh in favour of its admission. In point of sense, it is in that Composition all one whether it be visibly held in the hand of Christ or not, the rod in the hand of Moses striking the rock being confessedly the power of Christ to come, who in the glass C 1 b seems to take the place of Moses, and is himself at once the rock struck, the striker, and the rod.

The stone chairs which appear four times over in the lateral groups I 2 and I 3 are exactly the same with those which are still seen cut in the native tufa, and undetached from the side-walls of divers crypts in the Catacombs, especially in the Cemetery of S. Agnes. They belong undoubtedly to the third century.

The two paintings of the opposite lateral group, I 3, c and d, are from the Cemetery of S. Priscilla-(they are given in Rom. Sott. vol. III. pl. clxxviii). In ca Bishop, seated in one of the stone chairs just mentioned, is giving the veil, as it seems, to a Christian virgin (a Deacon also standing by); and he is pointing her attention to her pattern and patroness, and mother, the Blessed Virgin, who sits at some distance, with the infant Jesus in her arms, in another stone chair similar to that of the Bishop. She is sitting in an awkward

posture, half turned round, designed no doubt to make it apparent that she is turning round on purpose to give the virgin who receives the veil a look of encouragement and protection. This is the explanation which seems most probable, and for which the author can quote the opinion of P. Garucci, though it is to be observed at the same time, that in the original painting there is in the middle, between the stone chairs of the Bishop and the Blessed Virgin, another larger female figure, not seated, but standing with hands uplifted, and praying. The whole covers the end wall over an arched tomb; and there is something needing further illustration if the central standing figure is, as she probably is, the person who was buried below. Nothing is more frequent than to see in the centre of the front of a sarcophagus one or two busts of the person deceased, or of the pair, inclosed within, these busts being separated by a circle or medallion from the sacred representations sculptured on either side. But this is in the fourth and fifth centuries; while in the earlier paintings about arched tombs in the Catacombs it certainly is not common, to say the least, to see the person buried in the tomb occupying the centre of the end wall over it, especially when other persons of superior dignity are represented in the same painting. Perhaps the most probable solution is, that in this case the two side pictures, c and d, are introduced only for the sake of the central standing figure to whom they refer, she being herself the maiden to whom the Bishop is seen giving the veil, and the Virgin and Child opposite being there in connexion with the same event; while in the central and principal representation she is represented as having now happily accomplished that course of which c and d show the beginning. It is further noticeable that the Child in the

arms of the Blessed Virgin is naked, a variety which becomes common in modern times, but is very rare in the early paintings.

X. COMPOSITION K.-Of Susannah.

IN K 1 and K 2 we see two paintings which occur on the walls of a crypt in the Cemetery of SS. Thraso and Saturninus. The figures in this instance are copied at second-hand from the magnificent but untrustworthy work of M. Perret, with some assistance from notes made on the spot. The crypt shows signs of having been cut not earlier than at the beginning of the fourth century, or at the end of the third; and were it not that the martyr Susannah, the niece of Pope Caius, is related to have been buried in the Cemetery of S. Priscilla, a little nearer to the walls, one might have been tempted to suppose, from the paintings of this crypt, that it contained her tomb. The same subject, naturally suggested by her name, is still painted on the walls of her church near the Baths of Diocletian; and though the present church is comparatively modern, its paintings may probably have been derived from those of the church originally founded on the same spot.

Representations of the story of Susannah applied in a Christian sense are not so frequent as many others; they occur however both in paintings and sculptures, as is shown in this Composition, and also in a compendious form on some glasses, which have been illustrated by P. Garucci and in the writings of the Fathers the sense in which the story was applied by them and by the Christians, their contemporaries, is in many places alluded to or explained at length.