FOOTNOTES:
[21] Just such a peasant's house the writer visited on the Appian Way, near this spot, and just such a repast he shared at the entrance of this very catacomb. "The wine," said the guide, "is necessary to guard against a chill." The contrast between the temperature above ground and below was about 30°.
[22] This sarcophagus, with many others resembling it the writer studied minutely in the Lateran Museum at Rome.
[23] The writer has some of these earthen lamps which once did service in the Catacombs. They bear Christian symbols, inscribed before baking—a dove, anchor, olive branch, fish, and the like.
[CHAPTER VIII.]
WITH PRIMITIUS, THE PRESBYTER.
The venerable presbyter laid his hand familiarly on the young man's shoulder and conducted him into a smaller, but much more elegantly finished, apartment. It contained no graves, save an arched tomb which had never been used; at one side was a shelf for lamps. The whole surface of the wall was covered with hard white stucco, which was divided into panels by bands and borders of brilliant red and blue, as shown in the cut on next page. The vaulted ceiling was similarly divided. The angles were filled in with elegant floral designs, and the panels with Biblical and symbolical paintings, which Primitius began now to explain.
Painted Chamber in the Catacombs