all
the carvings in wood and stone which have been found in the catacombs of
Rome and Naples.

Christianity has the great merit of having discovered the poesy of the
grave. From the outset it abhorred the Pagan custom of burning the dead,
and faithful to its Jewish origin, and mindful perhaps of Christ's
burial, it renewed the old Roman custom of interring the departed. This
was the origin of the catacombs. The early Christians loved to be
deposited with, or near the Martyrs, and grounds for burial capable of
receiving a large number of the dead were wholly wanting. The population
of Rome, Naples, Alexandria, and Syracuse was so great, that there was
scarcely room enough for the living. To find new receptacles for the
dead became an urgent necessity. It is true, that digging into the
bowels of the earth for the purpose of entombing the bodies of the dead
was no new operation. Egypt and Etruria had in their time set the
example. The one idea of immortality, led to similar results in
different creeds. The early Christians found their cities of the dead
already prepared for them. Paris, in our own time, stands upon a soil
which is hollowed throughout. The limestone upon which Paris stands was
taken from beneath to supply the wants of the builders. Rome, in like
manner, has a second and subterraneous town of vast extent, with its
streets and squares in endless number. Nor is it without its
inhabitants. In this town did Christians seek refuge from Pagan
persecution, and here did they likewise inter their dead. The caves and
passages were not dug by Christian hands, but were discovered already
made. They date from the last century of the republic, when the clay
upon which Rome stands, was required by the mania then raging for
extensive and magnificent structures. The Christians took possession of
the hollows and enlarged them; the work was by no means difficult, for
the clay was soft and plastic.

It was after the time of Constantine that the catacombs came into more
general use. Martyrs were more revered subsequently to the reign of this
Emperor than before it, for martyrdom became less easy of achievement.
The chief martyrs had found a resting-place in the catacombs. Churches
rose above their remains, from which secret and sacred doors led into
the City of the Dead, the cemetery of the saints. It was at the period
to which we refer that the regularly formed spacious catacombs were
first fashioned--a fact established by th