Thus, spite of the ruin and the neglect of ages, and spite of the work of restoration which has been thereby made necessary in our own time, many clear traces still remain both of its original condition and of the reverent care with which successive generations of the ancient Church did their best to adorn this chamber. The cause of this extraordinary and long-continued veneration is revealed to us, in part, by a few grave-stones which have been recovered from amid the rubbish, and which are now restored, if not to the precise spots they originally occupied (which we cannot tell), yet certainly to the _walls_ in which they were first placed; in part also by an inscription of Pope Damasus, which, though broken into more than a hundred pieces, has yet been put together from the fragments discovered in this chamber, the few words or letters that have not been found being supplied in letters of a different colour; the whole, therefore, may now again be read just where our forefathers in the faith read it when it was first set up 1500 years ago. The tombstones are of St. Anteros and St. Fabian, who sat in the chair of Peter from A.D. 235 to 250; of St. Lucius, A.D. 252; and of St. Eutychianus, who died nearly thirty years later. No one having an intimate acquaintance with Christian epigraphy doubts that these are the original grave-stones of the Popes whose names they bear; and it is certain that other Popes of the same century were buried here also; but as their tombstones are not before our eyes, we will say nothing about them in this place, but go on to speak of the inscription of Pope Damasus. It runs in this wise:— HIC CONGESTA JACET QUÆRIS SI TURBA PIORUM, CORPORA SANCTORUM RETINENT VENERANDA SEPULCHRA, SUBLIMES ANIMAS RAPUIT SIBI REGIA CŒLI: HIC COMITES XYSTI PORTANT QUI EX HOSTE TROPÆA; HIC NUMERUS PROCERUM SERVAT QUI ALTARIA CHRISTI; HIC POSITUS LONGA VIXIT QUI IN PACE SACERDOS; HIC CONFESSORES SANCTI QUOS GRÆCIA MISIT; HIC JUVENES, PUERIQUE, SENES CASTIQUE NEPOTES, QUÏS MAGE VIRGINEUM PLACUIT RETINERE PUDOREM. HIC FATEOR DAMASUS VOLUI MEA CONDERE MEMBRA, SED CINERES TIMUI SANCTOS VEXARE PIORUM. “Here, if you would know, lie heaped together a whole crowd of saints. These honoured sepulchres enclose their bodies, Their noble souls the palace of Heaven has taken to itself. Here lie the companions of Xystus, who triumphed over the enemy; Here a number of rulers, who keep the altars of Christ; Here is buried the Bishop, who lived in a long peace; Here the holy Confessors whom Greece sent us; Here lie youths and boys, old men, and their chaste relatives, Who chose, as the better part, to keep their virgin chastity. Here I, Damasus, confess I wished to lay my bones, But I feared to disturb the holy ashes of the saints.”