burial-place was
considered by law a _locus religiosus_, as inviolable as a temple. In
this respect there was no distinction between Christians, pagans, and
Jews; all enjoyed the same privileges, and were subject to the same
rules. It is not easy to decide whether this condition of things was
an advantage to the faithful. It was certainly advantageous to the
Church that her cemeteries should be considered sacred by the law, and
that the State itself should enforce and guarantee the observance of
the rules (_lex monumenti_) made by the deceased in connection with
his interment, and tomb; but as the police of cemeteries, and the
enforcement of the _leges monumentorum_, was intrusted to the college
of high priests, who were stern champions of paganism, the church was
liable to be embarrassed in many ways. When, for instance, a body had
to be transferred from its temporary repository to the tomb, it was
necessary to obtain the consent of the _pontifices_; which was also
required in case of subsequent removals, and even of simple repairs
to the building. Roman epitaphs constantly refer to this authority of
the pontiffs, and one of them, discovered by Ficoroni in July, 1730,
near the Porta Metronia, contains the correspondence exchanged on the
subject between the two parties. The petitioner, Arrius Alphius, a
favorite freedman of the mother of Antoninus Pius, writes to the high
priests: "Having lost at the same time wife and son, I buried them
temporarily in a terra-cotta coffin. I have since purchased a burial
lot on the left side of the Via Flaminia, between the second and the
third milestones, and near the mausoleum of Silius Orcilus, and
furnished it with marble sarcophagi. I beg permission of you, my
Lords, to transfer the said bodies to the new family vault, so that
when my hour shall come, I may be laid to rest beside the dear ones."
The answer was: "Granted (_fieri placet_). Signed by me, Juventius
Celsus, vice-president [of the college of pontiffs], on the 3d day of
November [A. D. 155]."

The greatest difficulty with which the Christians had to deal was the
obligation to perform expiatory sacrifices in given circumstances; as,
for instance, when a corpse was removed from one place to another, or
when a coffin, damaged by any accidental cause, such as lightning,
inundation, fire, earthquake, or violence, had to be opened and the
bones exposed to view. But these were exceptional cases; and there is
no doubt that the