]

"For whom is this elegant sarcophagus?" asked Isidorus, as he sipped his
wine.

[Illustration: SARCOPHAGUS NOW IN LATERAN MUSEUM.]

"I pray it be not for her who orders it," said the old man, devoutly;
"at least not for many a long day to come. The good Lady Marcella bade
me exercise my best skill in setting forth the great truths of the
Gospel, that in death as in life, she said, she might teach the
doctrines of Christ. She often comes to see how I get on with it, and to
describe how she wishes it to be. See," said the old man, pointing to
the side--(see above)--"the general idea is all her own, the details
only are mine. These four groups exhibit four scenes in the life--or
rather in the death--of our Lord. To the extreme right we see Pilate,
warned by his wife, washing his hands and saying 'I am innocent of the
blood of this just person,' and yet, like a coward, consenting to His
death, he was as guilty as Judas, who betrayed Him."

At this the Greek visibly winced, then paled and flushed, and said,
"Well, what is the next group?"

"That is part of the same," said the sculptor, with evident pride in his
work. "It represents our Lord, guarded by a Roman soldier, witnessing a
good confession before Pontius Pilate. In the central niche are two
soldiers, types of the Christian warriors, whose only place of safety is
beneath the cross; while above are the wreath of victory, the doves of
peace, and the sacred monogram, made up, I need not tell you, who are a
Greek, of the two first letters of the word Christos. To the left you
observe a Roman soldier, putting on Jesus the crown of thorns, and in
the last, Simon the Cyrenian, guarded by a soldier, bearing His
cross."[22]

"And for whom are all these funeral tablets," said Isidorus, pointing to
a number of slabs partly executed--some with the engraved outline of a
dove, or fish, or anchor, or olive branch upon them--leaning against the
wall.

"For whom God pleases," said the old man, devoutly. "I keep them ready
to suit purchasers, and then I have only to fill the name and age, or
date."

"But see here," said the Greek, touching with his foot one on which were
effigies of Castor and Pollux, the "great twin brethren" of the Roman
mythology, and the letters, "DIS MANIBVS--To the Divine Spirits;" "this
is a pagan inscription. How come you to use that?"

"Oh, we turn up such slabs by scores, in ploughing the fields hereabout.
They may be hundreds of years old, for