ve noted on the tombstones as I passed. I have observed a lion, a pig,
an ass, a cobbler's last, carpenters', masons', and wool-combers'
implements; a fish, a ship, an anchor, and the like--all scratched or
painted on the stone slabs. They have no religious significance,
surely?"

[Illustration: TOMB OF THE BISHOPS, CATACOMB OF ST. CALIXTUS.

Seven of the Bishops of the early Christian Church in Rome fell in
succession by the hand of the headsman, five of them in the space of
eight years. In this chamber are buried several of those heroic martyrs
of Jesus.]

"Well, no, not all of them," said Hilarus, with a smile. "You see, many
of the Christians being lowly craftsmen, are unable to read, so the
tools or emblems of their calling are inscribed on the tombs of their
friends, that they may recognize and find them again in this vast
cemetery."

"But the ship, anchor, and fish are not signs of a handicraft, unless
that of sailor or fisherman."

"No, the fish has another and a secret meaning. I need not tell a
scholar like you, that the first letters of the Greek names for Jesus
Christ, Son of God, the Saviour, make up the word Ichthus, or fish, so
it is used as a secret symbol of our faith. The ship is the emblem, I
have been told, even in your own country, of a well-spent life, and to
us it signifies a soul entering into the haven of eternal rest. While
our holy hopes are the anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
entering into that within the veil."

"Well, and the lion, ass, and pig? What about them?"

"These," said the fossor, with a laugh, which seemed as incongruous to
him as it would be to a modern sexton, for such his office virtually
was, "these are a sort of play upon the names of Leo, Onager, and
Porcella, the latter was a sort of pet name, I suspect--'Little Pig'--by
which their friends, who could not read, could find their tombs."

"What wives these Christians must have had," continued the
keenly-observing Greek. "I have noticed several inscriptions, in which
they are said to have passed ten, twenty, thirty, and one even fifty
years of married life--SINE IVRGIO, SINE AEMVLATIONE, SINE DISSIDIO,
SINE QVERELA--'Without contention, without emulation, without
dissension, without strife.' There are no such wives in Rome now, I'll
be bound--at least in the Rome I am acquainted with."

"Yes," said the old man, with a sigh, "come with me into yonder chapel.
I always, in passing this way, stop there to s