"Sisto viator
Tot ibi trophæa, quot ossa
Quot martyres, tot triumphi.
Antra quæ subis, multa quæ cernis marmora,
Vel dum silent,
Palam Romæ gloriam loquuntur.
Audi quid Echo resonet
Subterraneæ Romæ!
Obscura licet Urbis Coemetria
Totius patens Orbis Theatrium!
Supplex Loci Sanetitatem venerare,
Et post hac sub luto aurum
Coelum sub coeno
Sub Româ Romam quærito!"

_Roma Subterranea_, 1651, tom. i. p. 625.

(Inscription abridged.)

Stay, wayfarer--behold
In ev'ry mould'ring bone a trophy here.
In all these hosts of martyrs,
So many triumphs.
These vaults--these countless tombs,
E'en in their very silence
Proclaim aloud Rome's glory:
The echo'd fame
Of subterranean Rome
Rings on the ear.
The city's sepulchres, albeit hidden,