vineyard of a priest named degli Effetti, many relics of martyrs have
been found, a beautiful set of the rarest medallions (_bellissima
serie di medaglioni rarissimi_), works in metal and crystal, engraved
stones, jewels, and other curios and interesting objects, many of
which were sold by the workmen at low prices." And again: "The opening
of a catacomb was discovered by accident under the Casaletto of Pius
V., outside the Porta S. Pancrazio. Although the crypt had never been
entered, and promised to be very rich, no excavations were attempted,
owing to the dangerous condition of the rock. One object only was
extracted from the ruinous cavern; a polychrome cameo of marvellous
beauty (_di meravigliosa bellezza_) representing a Bacchanalian. The
stone measured sixteen inches in length by ten in width. It was given
to cardinal Massimi."[157]

The number of catacombs has been greatly exaggerated. Panvinius and
Baronius stated it as forty-three; Aringhi and his followers raised
this number to sixty. De Rossi, however, in vol. i., p. 206, of the
"Roma sotterranea" proves that the number of catacombs excavated
during the first three centuries, within a radius of three miles from
the walls of Servius Tullius, is but twenty-six; besides eleven of
much less importance, and five which were excavated after the Peace of
Constantine.

It would be impossible to give even a summary description of these
forty-two cemeteries, within the limits of the present chapter. De
Rossi's account of Lucina's crypts in the Cemetery of Callixtus
occupies one hundred and thirty-two folio pages, and has required
thirty-five plates of illustration. I must confine myself to the
mention of the few discoveries, connected with the history and
topography of underground Rome, which have come within my personal
experience, or which I have had occasion to study.

THE CATACOMBS OF GENEROSA. In 1867, while watching with my friend
commendatore Visconti (the present director of the Vatican Museum) the
excavations of the Sacred Grove of the Arvales, on the Via Campana,
five miles outside the Porta Portese, I witnessed for the first time
the discovery of a catacomb. The experience could not have been more
pleasant, nor the history of the first occupants of these crypts more
interesting.

In the persecution of Diocletian two brothers, Simplicius and
Faustinus, were tortured and put to death for their faith, and their
bodies were thrown into the Tiber from the