decaying corpse of the old religion. Great Pan was hopelessly dead!

At a short distance on the same side of the road is the Catacomb of
Sts. Nereus and Achilles, which contained the remains of these saints,
and are interesting to us as the most ancient Christian cemetery in
the world. The masonry of the vestibule is in the best style of Roman
brickwork; and the frescoes on its walls, representing Christ and His
apostles, the Good Shepherd, Orpheus, Elijah, etc., indicate a period
of high artistic taste. This Catacomb contains the oldest
representation extant of the Virgin and Child receiving the homage of
the Wise men from the East, supposed to date from the end of the
second century, and was often made use of in support of Roman
Mariolatry. Several days might be profitably spent by the antiquarian
in investigating the contents of the different tiers of galleries;
while the geologist would find matter for interesting speculation in
the partial intrusion of the older lithoid tufa here and there into
the softer and more recent volcanic deposits in which the passages are
excavated, and in which numerous decomposing crystals of leucite may
be observed. On the same side of the way, farther on, is the Jewish
Catacomb, the tombs of which bear Jewish symbols, especially the
seven-branched golden candlestick, and are inscribed, not with the
secular names and occupations of the occupants, but with their sacred
names, as office-bearers of the synagogue, rulers, scribes, etc. The
inscriptions are not in Hebrew, but in Greek letters. It is supposed
that in this Catacomb were interred the bodies of the Jews who were
banished to the valley of Egeria by Domitian.

About a quarter of a mile beyond the Catacombs you come to a descent,
where there is a wide open space with a pillar in the centre, and
behind it the natural rock of a peculiarly glowing red colour,