passage are covered
with _graffiti_ and other records of pilgrims. The cubiculum contains
two graves: one empty, in the arcosolium, the place of honor; the
other, in front of it, of a much later date. The front of the
arcosolium is closed by a wall, on the surface of which is an
interesting fresco, which is here reproduced.

[Illustration: Petronilla and Veneranda.]

The younger figure, on the right, is Petronilla Martyr; the elder is a
matron named Veneranda, buried January 7 (DEP_osita_ VI. IDVS.
IANVARIAS), in the sarcophagus below the picture. There is no doubt
that Petronilla was buried in close proximity to this cubiculum. The
story of her relationship to S. Peter has no foundation whatever; it
rests on an etymological mistake, by which the name Petronilla is
treated as a diminutive of Petrus, as is Plautilla of Plautius or
Plautia, and Domitilla of Domitius or Domitia. Petrus is not a Latin
name; it came into use with the spreading of the gospel, and only in
rare and exceptional cases. The young martyr was named after a member
of the same Flavian family to which this cemetery belonged, Titus
Flavius Petron, an uncle of Vespasian. Her kinship with the apostle
must consequently be taken in a spiritual sense.

Towards the end of 1881 another remarkable discovery took place in
these catacombs: that of a cubiculum which in style of decoration is
unique. It looks more like the room of a Pompeian house than a
Christian crypt. Its architectural paintings with groups of frail
columns supporting fantastic friezes, and enclosing pastoral
landscapes, might be compared to the frescoes of the Golden House of
Nero, or those of the house of Germanicus on the Palatine; but they
find no parallel in "subterranean Rome."

The name of the owner of this conspicuous tomb is engraved above the
arcosolium: AMPLIATI. The size and the beauty of the letters, the
peculiarity of a single cognomen in a possessive case, the fact that a
man of inferior condition[160] should own such a tomb; that at a later
period, a staircase had been cut through the rock, to provide a direct
communication between the Via Ardeatina and the tomb, for the
accommodation of pilgrims; the care used to keep the tomb in good
order, as shown by later restorations,--all these circumstances make
us believe that Ampliatus was a prominent leader of our early
Christian community.

Such being the case, the mind runs at once to the paragraph of S.
Paul's Epistle to the