terranean abodes, they found their only place of
refuge from persecution. They could not seek foreign countries nor fly
beyond the sea, because for them there were no countries of refuge, and
no lands beyond the sea held out a hope. The imperial power of Rome
grasped the civilized world in its mighty embrace; her tremendous police
system extended through all lands, and none might escape her wrath. So
resistless was this power, that from the highest noble down to the
meanest slave, all were subject to it. The dethroned emperor could not
escape her vengeance, nor was such an escape even hoped for. When Nero
fell, he could only go and kill himself in a neighboring villa. Yet
here, amid these infinite labyrinths, even the power of Rome was
unavailing, and her baffled emissaries faltered at the very entrance.

Here, then, the persecuted Christians tarried, and their great numbers
peopled these paths and grottoes, by day assembling to exchange words of
cheer and comfort, or to bewail the death of some new martyr; by night
sending forth the boldest among them, like a forlorn hope, to learn
tidings of the upper world, or to bring down the blood-stained bodies of
some new victims. Through the different persecutions, they lived here so
secure that although millions perished throughout the empire, the power
of Christianity at Rome was but slightly shaken.

Their safety was secured and life preserved, but on what terms? For what
is life without light, or what is the safety of the body in gloom that
depresses the soul? The physical nature of man shrinks from such a fate,
and his delicate organization is speedily aware of the lack of that
subtle renovating principle which is connected with light only. One by
one the functions of the body lose their tone and energy. This weakening
of the body affects the mind, predisposing it to gloom, apprehension,
doubt, and despair. It is greater honor for a man to be true and
steadfast under such circumstances than to have died a heroic death in
the arena or to have perished unflinchingly at the stake. Here, where
there closed around these captives the thickest shades of darkness, they
encountered their sorest trial. Fortitude under the persecution itself
was admirable; but against the persecution, blended with such horrors as
these, it became sublime.

The cold blast that forever drifted through these labyrinths chilled
them, but brought no pure air from above; the floors, the walls, the
roofs,