amed Annius
Ser......, whose lamps were exported to many provinces of the empire.
These lamps are generally ornamented with the image of the Good
Shepherd; but they show also types which are decidedly pagan, such as
the labors of Hercules, Diana the huntress, etc. It has been surmised
that Annius Ser...... was converted to the gospel, and that the
adoption of the symbolic figure of the Redeemer on his lamps was a
result of his change of religion; but to explain the case it is not
necessary to accept this theory. I believe he was a pagan, and that
the lamps with the Good Shepherd were produced by him to order, and
from a design supplied to him by a member of the local congregation.

[Illustration: Lamp of Annius Ser......, with figure of the Good
Shepherd.]

Another question concerning the behavior of early Christians has
reference to their military service under the imperial eagles, and to
the cases of conscience which may have arisen from it. On this I may
refer the reader to the works of Mamachi, Lami, Baumgarten, Le Blant,
and de Rossi,[13] who have discussed the subject thoroughly. Speaking
from the point of view of material evidence, I have to record several
discoveries which prove that officers and men of the _cohortes
praetoriae_ and _urbanae_ could serve with equal loyalty their God and
their sovereign.

In November, 1885, I was present at the discovery of a marble
sarcophagus in the military burial-grounds of the Via Salaria,
opposite the gate of the Villa Albani. It bore two inscriptions,
one on the lid, the other on the body. The first defies
interpretation;[14] the second mentions the name of a little girl,
Publia AElia Proba, who was the daughter of a captain of the ninth
battalion of the praetorians, and a lady named Clodia Plautia. They
were all Christians; but for a reason unknown to us, they avoided
making a show of their persuasion, and were buried among the gentiles.

Another stray Christian military tomb, erected by a captain of the
sixth battalion, named Claudius Ingenuus, was found, in 1868, in the
Vigna Grandi, near S. Sebastiano. Here also we find the intention of
avoiding an open profession of faith. A regular cemetery of Christian
praetorians was found in the spring of the same year by Marchese
Francesco Patrizi, in his villa adjoining the praetorian camp. It is
neither large nor interesting, and it seems to prove that the gospel
must have made but few proselytes in the imperial barracks.