We do not pretend to enumerate here all the subjects from the Old and New Testaments that were painted in the Catacombs. We are but naming those that were used most frequently, that seem most interesting, or whose signification can be most precisely determined. Those who have seen the Catacombs themselves will call to mind others of which we have not spoken, but we think their meaning is generally obvious so as to need no explanation. We will name one class only of these paintings; those in which our Lord and His Blessed Mother appear. Our readers will hardly expect to find anything that pretends to be a portrait of either one or the other. We have seen that the disposition in primitive Christian art was to represent facts rather than persons, and the mystery which the facts signified rather than the facts themselves. Christ, therefore, appears most commonly in the typical character of the Good Shepherd, and as such is represented in appropriate form and with suitable accessories, or He sits in the midst of His Apostles, with a chest of volumes at His feet, as the Great Teacher of the world. Once, indeed, His head and bust form a medallion occupying the centre of a roof in a chamber of the Cemetery of St. Domitilla, the same in which appear Orpheus and his lyre. It is a work of the third century; there is more evidence of an intention to give a definite individual type of countenance, neither is the type altogether unlike that which the practice of later ages has consecrated by traditional usage. Nevertheless others of the fourth century are evidently not copies of the same model, so that it is clear that in those early days there was no uniform agreement upon the subject. [Illustration: _The B. Virgin and Isaias, from Cemetery of St. Priscilla._] Our Blessed Lady appears principally in the scene of the Adoration of the Magi. Two, three, or four of these men (according to the arrangement of the group and the space at the artist’s disposal) stand in their Oriental dress, presenting their gifts to Christ who sits on Mary’s knee. Once or twice also the Holy Child appears in His Mother’s arms, or before her breast, without reference apparently to any particular event in their lives, but either absolutely alone, or standing opposite to Isaias, as though presenting in themselves the fulfilment of his prophecies. One of these paintings in the Catacomb on the Via Nomentana belongs to the fourth century; but for another of far higher artistic merit, to be seen in the Catacomb of St. Priscilla, the most competent judges do not hesitate to claim almost apostolic antiquity; and the claim is supported by many and weighty arguments. We cannot, however, discuss them here, for we have already exceeded the limits we had proposed to ourselves. [Illustration: _The B. Virgin and Magi._] [Illustration: _The B. Virgin, from the Cemetery on Via Nomentana._]