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  διορθῶσαι or ϹΥΝΑΓΩΓ (Greek)
  שָׁלוֹם (Hebrew)

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                       THE CATACOMBS OF ROME.




                                 THE
                         CATACOMBS OF ROME,
                                 AND
        Their Testimony Relative to Primitive Christianity.


                            BY THE REV.
                        W. H. WITHROW, M.A.


                   _WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS._


                              London:
                       HODDER AND STOUGHTON,
                        27, PATERNOSTER ROW.

                           MDCCCLXXXVIII.




    Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Ld. Printers, London and Aylesbury.




                              PREFACE.                                     5


The present work, it is hoped, will supply a want long felt in the
literature of the Catacombs. That literature, it is true, is very
voluminous; but it is for the most part locked up in rare and costly
folios in foreign languages, and inaccessible to the general reader.
Recent discoveries have refuted some of the theories and corrected
many of the statements of previous books in English on this subject;
and the present volume is the only one in which the latest results of
exploration are fully given, and interpreted from a Protestant point
of view.

The writer has endeavored to illustrate the subject by frequent pagan
sepulchral inscriptions, and by citations from the writings of the
Fathers, which often throw much light on the condition of early
Christian society. The value of the work is greatly enhanced, it is
thought, by the addition of many hundreds of early Christian
inscriptions carefully translated, a very large proportion of which
have never before appeared in English. Those only who have given some
attention to epigraphical studies can conceive the difficulty of this
part of the work. The defacements of time, and frequently the original
imperfection of the inscriptions and the ignorance of their writers,
demand the utmost carefulness to avoid errors of interpretation. The       6
writer has been fortunate in being assisted by the veteran scholarship
of the Rev. Dr. McCaul, well known in both Europe and America as one
of the highest living authorities in epigraphical science, under whose
critical revision most of the translations have passed. Through the
enterprise of the publishers this work is more copiously illustrated,
from original and other sources, than any other work on the subject in
the language; thus giving more correct and vivid impressions of the
unfamiliar scenes and objects delineated than is possible by any mere
verbal description. References are given, in the foot-notes, to the
principal authorities quoted, but specific acknowledgment should here
be made of the author’s indebtedness to the Cavaliere De Rossi’s
_Roma Sotterranea_ and _Inscriptiones Christianæ_, by far
the most important works on this fascinating but difficult subject.

Believing that the testimony of the Catacombs exhibits, more
strikingly than any other evidence, the immense contrast between
primitive Christianity and modern Romanism, the author thinks no
apology necessary for the somewhat polemical character of portions of
this book which illustrate that fact. He trusts that it will be found
a contribution of some value to the historical defense of the truth
against the corruptions and innovations of Popish error.




                             CONTENTS.                                     7


                            Book First.

            THE STRUCTURE AND HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS.

  CHAPTER                                                       PAGE

    I. THE STRUCTURE OF THE CATACOMBS                             11
   II. THE ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE CATACOMBS              49
  III. THE DISUSE AND ABANDONMENT OF THE CATACOMBS               120
   IV. THE REDISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION OF THE CATACOMBS          150
    V. THE PRINC