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tions, where it is applied to those who had participated in the mystic rites of the Mater Deum Magna Idea or of Mithras, known as the *Taurobolium and Criobolium. Thus we have percepto Taurobolio Criobolioque, in an inscription, given by De Rossi n. 24, of the date 319 A. D.; in Orelli's n. 2130, of the date 390 A. D.; in his n. 2335, of the date 376 A.D.; in Henzen's n. 6040, of the date 370 A.D.; in Muratori's n. 4, p. 389, of the date 383 A. D.; and also in Reinesius, Cl. 1, 40 (without date), whose note is worth reading. In Muratori's n. 2, p. 371, of the date 305 A. D., we have the words Taurobolium percepi feliciter).

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The oldest example of the taurobolium, of which I am aware, was in 175 A.D. See Fleetwood, p. 11; Fabretti, p. 665; and Reinesius, as

above.

Another term, in which there is a strange agreement, is renatus, applied by Christians to the baptized as in De Rossi's n. 270, (ca) elesti renatus (aq)ua qui vivit in (aevum) (see also n. 36-natus est in æternum)—and by Pagans to the Tauroboliati. Thus Taurobolio Criobolioque in aeternum renatus, in Orelli's n. 2352, of the date 376 A.D.; and arcanis perfusionibus in æternum renatus Taurobolium Crioboliumque fecit in Henzen's n. 6040. These mystic rites seem to have been a mixture of the cults of the Magna Mater and Mithras, with the addition of some Christian principles and terms.

1. 6. XI Calendas Maius. From the words Octavas Pascha, and Basilio Consule, it is evident that this day-scil. April 21st was Easter-day in the year 463 A. D., and that Severus was baptized, according to custom, on its vigil, the day being counted, as usual, from Saturday to Sunday evening. But here a great difficulty presents itself. According to the tables of Noris, Easter-day should in this year, conformably to Roman calculation, have been celebrated on IX Calendas Apriles, i. e. March 24th. The learned Cardinal discusses the subject

III, M. V, Dies XXI. Fide percepit mesorum VII. Aur. Fortunius pater filiæ. Henzen regards fide as used for fidem; I am inclined to take it as an adverb.

*The Taurobolium and Criobolium were respectively sacrifices of a bull and a ram, on the occasion of initiations. The persons who received them (qui per ceperunt) descended into a deep pit, which was covered over with a wooden platform composed of pierced planks. On this platform the animal was killed, and the persons beneath presented their bodies to receive the blood, as it descended through the holes. The result was believed to be purification that lasted for twenty years, or everlasting regeneration.

ad fastos consulares anonymi and de pasch. Lat. cyclo, where he suggests two solutions, both of which have been proved to be erroneous, one by Van der Hagen, and the other by De Rossi. The latter shows that by the old Roman calculation of the cycle of 84 years, before it was amended by Prosper, and also by the Victorian correction, Easterday was observed in the year 463 A.D., on the XI Calendas Maias, i. e. April 21st, not on the IX Calendas Apriles, or March 24th.

11. 6, 7. albas suas Octabas Pascæ ad sepulcrum deposuit. White dresses (alba) were worn by those receiving baptism. On the Sunday next after Easter Sunday, i. e. the Octave of Easter-day, these dresses were laid aside, whence this Sunday was called Dominica in Albis. Paschasius was buried on the day on which, according to usage, he should have laid aside his albs or white clothes.

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(See Plate IV, 3.)

89.

(In Mus. Lateran.; De Rossi, n. 1.)

[A]ug(ustas) Vespasiano III Consule.—Jun(uarias.)

before the Calends (?) of August, in the third Consulship of Vespabefore the Calends of January."

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sian" (i. e. 71 A.D.) This fragment has been received as a part of a Christian epitaph by Reggi, Marini, and De Rossi. It is the most ancient of all such that bear dates. The chief grounds on which it has been regarded as Christian are that the slab is of the same kind as those used to close the tombs in the Catacombs, and that it had adhering to it the mortar by which such slabs were fixed in their places. To these grounds De Rossi has made an important addition, by his reading IAN as Januarias, thus showing that the stone closed a locus bisomus, containing the bodies of one who had died—before the Calends [?] of August, and of another who had died-before the Calends of January.

In the year 71 Vespasian was Consul for the third time, with Cocceius Nerva as his colleague. On the 1st of March or April he resigned the office, and, on the 1st of July, L. Flavius Fimbria and Attilius Barbarus were made consules suffecti. The year then is marked here, as in other Christian epitaphs, not by the names of the suffecti, but by that of one of the ordinarii.

PLATE, IV

Epitaph, No 89.

VGVESPASIA NO:ÏIL COS

VAN

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Epitaph N9 99.

PETRONIAE DIGNAE COIVGI Q
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(b) Unexplained numerals:

N.XXX.

90.

SVRA ET SENEC COSS.

(E coemet. Lucina; De Rossi, n. 2.)

N.XXX Sura et Senecione Consulibus.

"In the Consulship of Sura and Senecio,” i. e. 107 a. d.

The numeral III is omitted after SVRA and II after SENEC. See De Rossi's note.

I have not attempted to translate "N XXX," as their meaning is unknown. The interpretation that has been generally received is that they stand for numero XXX, indicating that martyrs were buried there in number thirty. This view has been taken by Visconti, Cavedoni, Raoul Rochette, and Wiseman. Roestel also assents, but regards the inscription as commemorative of a past age. De Rossi objects, in my judgment with good reason, to this interpretation. He calls in question the genuineness or analogy of the other inscriptions usually compared with this as confirming the sense assigned to it, and points out the improbability that the stone marked a loculus in the Catacombs, as the greatest number of bodies contained in such is 4. He suggests that the inscription may be imperfect, and that thus N may be regarded as the last letter of ANN. i.e. annorum, scil. annorum XXX, the person, whose name preceded, being of thirty years of age. It is remarkable that in this De Rossi was anticipated by Maitland, who (p. 58) "reads the words as the fragment of qui vixit ann. XXX Syrra et Senec. coss, who lived thirty years. In the Consulate of Syrra and Senecio; that is, A.D. 102." I cannot concur in this expla. nation. It suits this particular case, but is wholly inapplicable in others e. gr. in Fabretti, p. 574, 61, we have the epitaph of Leopardus, a boy whose age is stated to have been 7 years and 7 months. At the commencement of it are the letters-DMASACRVM XL, i. e. Dis Manibus Sacrum. 40. Again, in the Catacomb of St. Agnes, De Rossi found LIX on the loculus of an infant. Nor can

* This view might seem to be as old as the time of Prudentius (scil. the 4th century), for he writes::

Sunt et multa tamen tacitas claudentia turbas,

Marmora quæ solum significant numerum.

But the reference here seems to be to Polyandria-pits containing many dead bodies-not to loculi, of which, so far as I am aware, there is no example of their containing more than four.

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