IVDICIS IMPERIVM SERVANS BONITATE MAGISTRA
CVM TIBI SVBIECTIS TV QVOQVE MILES ERAS
VRBANOS FASCES GAVDENS TIBI ROMA PARABAT. (A. D. 533.)
A Senator, coming from a long line of ancestors, thou didst dignify thy family by nobility of mind, preserving the authority of the judge by the power of goodness. Thou wast also a soldier with those subject to thee, and Rome rejoicing, was preparing for thee the fasces of the city.
We have also such examples as SCRINARIVS PATRICIAE SEDIS, “Secretary of the Patrician order;” PRIMICERIVS MONETARIORVM, “Chief of the bankers;” ARGENTARIVS, “A money dealer;” VIATOR AD AERARIVM, “Sergeant to the Exchequer;” PRAEFECTVS ANNONAE, “Prefect of the market;” VESTITOR IMPERATORIS, “Master of the imperial wardrobe;” MAGISTER SCOLAE TERTIAE, “Master of the Third School;” MEDICVS, “A physician,” etc.
The great body of the Christians, however, were of lowly rank, many of them probably slaves, as most of the arts of life were carried on by that oppressed class. It was the sneer of Celsus that “wool-workers, leather-dressers, cobblers, the most illiterate of mankind, were zealous preachers of the Gospel;” but Tertullian retorts that every Christian craftsman can teach truths loftier than Plato ever knew.[749] The inscriptions of the Catacombs indicate that not many wise, not many mighty, joined that phalanx of heroic souls; but they teach, too, that the lowliest toil may be dignified and ennobled by being done to the glory of God. We have seen represented on the tombs emblems of the occupation of the carpenter, mason, currier, wool-comber, shoemaker, vine-dresser, and fossor. We find also such records of trade as PISTOR REGIONIS XII, “A baker of the Twelfth District;” ORTVLANVS, for hortulanus, “A gardener;” PATRONVS CORPORIS PASTILLARIORVM, “Patron of the Corporation of Confectioners;”
PRIMICERIVS CENARIORVM, “Chief of the cooks;” HORREARIVS, “A granary-keeper;” CARBONARIVS, “A charcoal seller;” POPINARIVS, “A victualler;” BVBVLARIVS DE MACELLO, “A flesher from the shambles;” CAPSARARIVS (sic) DE ANTONINIA, “A keeper of clothes at the Antonine Baths;” QVADRATARIVS, “A stone-dresser;” POLLICLA QVI (H)ORDEVM BENDIT (sic) DE BIA NOBA (sic,) “Pollicla, who sells barley in the New Street;” IOHANNES VH. OLOGRAFVS (sic) PROPINE ISIDORI, “John, a respectable man, a book-keeper in the tavern of Isidorus;” also, less reputable still, VRBANVS VH. TABERNARIVS, “Urban, a respectable man, a tavern keeper.” This, however, was in the year A. D. 584, when purity of faith and practice had greatly degenerated. These lowly records are preserved and studied with interest, when many of Rome’s proudest monuments have crumbled away.[750]
Very often some phrase expressive of the Christian character or distinguished virtues of the deceased is recorded in loving remembrance by his sorrowing friends. These testimonies are calculated to inspire a very high opinion of the purity, blamelessness, and nobility of life of the primitive believers; all the more striking from its contrast with the abominable corruptions of the pagan society by which they were surrounded. With many points of external resemblance to heathen inscriptions there is in these Christian epitaphs a world-wide difference of informing spirit. Instead of the pomp and pride of pagan panegyric, we have the celebration of the modest virtues, of lowliness, gentleness, and truth. The Christian ideal of excellence, as indicated by the nature of the praises bestowed on the departed, is shown to be utterly foreign to that of heathen sentiment. The following are characteristic examples:
FELIX SANCTAE FIDEI VOCITVS (sic) IIT IN PACE
CVIVS TANTVS AMOR ET CARITAS RETENETVR AB AMICIS IN AEVO