r men to live in, or to stay in even for a
few days. The tradition that Antonio Bosio spent seventy or eighty
consecutive hours in their depths is unfounded. When we hear of Popes,
priests, or their followers seeking refuge in catacombs, we must
understand that they repaired to the buildings connected with them,
such as the lodgings of the keepers, undertakers, and local clergymen.
Pope Boniface I., when molested by Symmachus and Eulalius, found
shelter in the house connected with the Cemetery of Maximus on the Via
Salaria. The crypts themselves were sought as a refuge only in case of
extreme emergency. Thus Barbatianus, a priest from Antiochia,
concealed himself in the Catacombs of Callixtus to escape the wrath of
Galla Placidia.

Many attempts have been made to estimate the extent of our catacombs,
the length of their galleries, and the number of tombs which they
contain. Michele Stefano de Rossi, brother of the archaeologist, gives
the following results for the belt of catacombs within three miles of
the gates of Servius:[150]--

(A) Surface of tufa beds, capable of being excavated into catacombs,
67,000,000 square feet.

(B) Surface actually excavated into catacombs, from one to four
stories deep, 22,500,000 square feet,--more than a square mile.

(C) Aggregate length of galleries, calculated on the average
construction of six different catacombs, 866 kilometres, equal to 587
geographical miles.

The sides of the galleries contain several rows of loculi, sometimes
six or eight. Some bodies are buried under the floor, or in the
cubiculi which open right and left at short intervals. Assuming these
galleries to be capable of containing two bodies per metre, the
number of Christians buried in the catacombs, within three miles from
the gates of Servius, may be estimated at a minimum of 1,752,000.

The construction of this prodigious labyrinth required the excavation
and removal of 96,000,000 cubic feet of solid rock.

With regard to the number of inscriptions, I quote the following
passage from Northcote's "Epitaphs," page 3: "Of Christian
inscriptions in Rome, during the first six centuries, de Rossi has
studied more than fifteen thousand, the immense majority of which were
taken from the catacombs; and he tells us there is still an average
yearly addition of about five hundred, derived from the same source.
This number, vast as it is, is but a poor remnant of what once
existed. From the collections made in the