of any of the peculiar doctrines of the Roman Church. There is no reference to the doctrine of the Trinity to be found among them; nothing is to be derived from them in support of the worship of the Virgin; her name even is not met with on any monument of the first three centuries; and none of the inscriptions of this period give any sign of the prevalence of the worship of saints. There is no support of the claim of the Roman Church to supremacy, and no reference to the claim of the Popes to be the Vicars of Christ. As the third century advances to its close, we find the simple and crude beginning of that change in Christian faith which developed afterward into the broad idea of the intercessory power of the saints. Among the earlier inscriptions prayers to God or to Christ are sometimes met with, generally in short exclamatory expressions concerning the dead. Thus we find at first such words as these:--
AMERIMNVS
RVFINAE COIV
GI CARISSIME
BENEMEREN
TI SPIRITVM
TVVM DEVS
REFRIGERET
Amerimnus to his dearest wife Rufina well-
deserving. May God refresh thy spirit!
And, in still further development,--
[Greek: AUR. AIANOS PAPHLAGON THEOU
DOULOS PISTOS
EKOIMNON EN EIPNIN MINSON
AUTOU
O THEOS EIS TOUS AIONAS]
Aurelius Aelianus, a Paphlagonian, faithful
servant of God. He sleeps in peace. Remember
him, O God, forever!
Again, two sons ask for their mother,--
DOMINE NE QVANDO
ADVMBRETVR SPIRITVS
VENERES
O Lord, let not the spirit of Venus be shadowed
at any time!
From such petitions as these we come by a natural transition to such as are addressed to the dead themselves, as being members of the same communion with the living, and uniting in prayers with those they had left on earth and for their sake.
VIBAS IN PACE ET PETE PRO NOBIS
Mayst thou live in peace and ask for us!
Or, as in another instance,--
PETE PRO PARENTES TVOS
MATRONATA MATRONA
QVE VIXIT AN. I. DI. LII.
Pray for thy parents, Matronata Matrona!
Who lived one year, fifty-two days.
And as we have seen how in the fourth century the desire arose of being buried near the graves of those reputed holy, so by a similar process we find this simple and affectionate petition to the dead passing into a prayer for the dead to those under whose protection it was hoped that they might be. In the multitude of epitaphs, however, these form but a small number. Here is one that begins with a heathen formula:--
SOMNO HETERNALI
AVRELIVS GEMELLVS QVI BIXIT AN--
ET MESES VIII DIES XVIII MATER FILIO
CARISSIMO BENAEMERENTI FECIT IN PA--
[C]ONMANDO BASSILA INNOCENTIA GEMELLI
In Eternal Sleep. Aurelius Gemellus, who
lived --- years, and eight months, eighteen
days. His mother made this for her dearest
well-deserving son in peace. I commend to
Basilla the innocence of Gemellus.
Basilla was one of the famous martyrs of the time of Valerian and Gallienus.
Here again is another inscription of a curious character, as interposing a saint between the dead and his Saviour. The monogram marks its date.
RVTA OMNIBVS SVBDITA ET ATFABI
LIS BIBET IN NOMINE PETRI
IN PACE
Ruta, subject and affable to all, shall live in
the name of Peter, in the peace of Christ.
But it would seem from other inscriptions as if the new practice of calling upon the saints were not adopted witho
