COPY OF INSCRIPTION OF DAMASUS ON AN INSCRIPTION TO CARACALLA.
HERACLIUS FORBADE THE LAPSED TO GRIEVE FOR THEIR SINS; EUSEBIUS TAUGHT THOSE UNHAPPY ONES TO WEEP FOR THEIR CRIMES. THE PEOPLE WERE RENT INTO PARTIES, AND WITH INCREASING FURY BEGAN SEDITION, SLAUGHTER, FIGHTING, DISCORD, AND STRIFE. STRAIGHTWAY BOTH WERE BANISHED BY THE CRUELTY OF THE TYRANT, ALTHOUGH THE BISHOP WAS PRESERVING THE BONDS OF PEACE INVIOLATE. HE BORE HIS EXILE WITH JOY, LOOKING TO THE LORD AS HIS JUDGE, AND ON THE SHORE OF SICILY GAVE UP THE WORLD AND HIS LIFE.
The Chapel of S. Cornelius was originally distinct from these catacombs. His tomb is marked "Cornelius Martyr. Ep." on the side-wall fresco of Cornelius and Cyprian; in front is a pillar on which stood the lamp burning before the shrine.
INSCRIPTIONS NEAR THE GRAVE OF BISHOP CORNELIUS.
BEHOLD! A WAY DOWN HAS BEEN CONSTRUCTED, AND THE DARKNESS DISPELLED: YOU SEE THE MONUMENTS OF CORNELIUS, AND HIS SACRED TOMB. THIS WORK THE ZEAL OF DAMASUS HAS ACCOMPLISHED, SICK AS HE IS, IN ORDER THAT THE APPROACH MIGHT BE BETTER, AND THE AID OF THE SAINT MIGHT BE MADE CONVENIENT FOR THE PEOPLE; AND THAT, IF YOU WILL POUR FORTH YOUR PRAYERS FROM A PURE HEART, DAMASUS MAY RISE UP BETTER IN HEALTH, THOUGH IT HAS NOT BEEN LOVE OF LIFE, BUT CARE FOR WORK, THAT HAS KEPT HIM HERE BELOW.
AT THE TIME WHEN THE SWORD PIERCED THE HEART OF OUR MOTHER, I, ITS RULER, BURIED HERE, WAS TEACHING THE THINGS OF HEAVEN. SUDDENLY THEY CAME, THEY SEIZED ME SEATED AS I WAS. THE SOLDIERS BEING SENT IN, THE PEOPLE GAVE THEIR NECKS. SOON THE OLD MAN SAW WHO WAS WILLING TO BEAR AWAY THE PALM FROM HIMSELF, AND WAS THE FIRST TO OFFER HIMSELF AND HIS OWN HEAD, FEARING LEST THE BLOW SHOULD FALL ON ANY ONE ELSE. CHRIST, WHO AWARDS THE REWARDS OF LIFE, RECOGNIZES THE MERIT OF THE PASTOR; HE HIMSELF IS PRESERVING THE NUMBER OF HIS FLOCK.
Beyond are two crypts, with a fresco of the Good Shepherd, in good preservation, on the ceiling, and other Christian emblems. We emerge into daylight by means of the original stairs, of an early construction.
A little lower down the road, on the left, are the Jewish Catacombs, which, perhaps more than any other, would illustrate that these catacombs were formerly quarries, because they are rather wide.
A little further on we turn down a rough road on the left, leading to what has been called the "antiquary's despair," the