"Or join our brethren in martyrdom, as is His will," devoutly added Primitius. "He doeth all things well."
But we must go back a little to learn the cause and means of this armed invasion of the Catacombs.
FOOTNOTES:
[52] See Eusebius, Hist. Eccl, vii., 16 and 22. Eutychianus, a Roman Christian, is recorded to have buried three hundred and forty-two martyrs with his own hands.
[53] See [Chapter VI.]
[54] Through the long lapse of ages this memorial has been preserved, and may still be read in Grater's great collection of ancient inscriptions. It is also referred to in Gibbon. In the epitaph occur the following fine lines:
INTEMERATA FIDE CONTEMPTO PRINCIPE MVNDI
CONFESSVS XRM CAELESTIA REGNA PETISTI.
"With unfaltering faith, despising the lord of the
world, having confessed Christ, thou dost seek the
celestial realms."
[CHAPTER XXVIII.]
THE BETRAYAL—THE PURSUIT.