THE

ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS.

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VOL. I--MARCH, 1858.--NO. V.

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THE CATACOMBS OF ROME.


--------parti elette
Di Roma, che son state cimitero
Alla milizia che Pietro seguette.

PARADISO, c. ix.

"Roma Sotterranea,"--the underground Rome of the dead,--the buried city
of graves. Sacred is the dust of its narrow streets. Blessed were those
who, having died for their faith, were laid to rest in its chambers.
_In pace_ is the epitaph that marks the places where they lie.
_In pace_ is the inscription which the imagination reads over the
entrance to the Christian Catacombs.

Full as the upper city is of great and precious memories, it possesses