The entrance is near the ancient church in which Pope Damasus, who died A.D. 384, was buried. Descending the steps we enter the vestibule, the walls of which are covered with the names of pilgrims; a narrow gallery conducts us to the Chapel of the Bishops--Lucius, A.D. 232; Anterus, A.D. 235; Fabianus, A.D. 236; Eutychianus, A.D. 275. Following the names of Lucius and Fabianus are the words, "Epis, martyr." Urbanus, A.D. 223, and Sixtus, A.D. 258, were both buried here. In front of the grave of the latter is the inscription put up by Damasus, engraved in beautiful characters:-- INSCRIPTION OF POPE DAMASUS IN THE CHAPEL OF THE BISHOPS. HERE, IF YOU WOULD KNOW, LIE HEAPED TOGETHER A NUMBER OF THE HOLY, THESE HONOURED SEPULCHRES ENCLOSE THE BODIES OF THE SAINTS, THEIR LOFTY SOULS THE PALACE OF HEAVEN HAS RECEIVED. HERE LIE THE COMPANIONS OF XYSTUS, WHO BEAR AWAY THE TROPHIES FROM THE ENEMY; HERE A TRIBE OF THE ELDERS WHICH GUARDS THE ALTARS OF CHRIST; HERE IS BURIED THE PRIEST WHO LIVED LONG IN PEACE;[18] HERE THE HOLY CONFESSORS WHO CAME FROM GREECE;[19] HERE LIE YOUTHS AND BOYS, OLD MEN AND THEIR CHASTE DESCENDANTS, WHO KEPT THEIR VIRGINITY UNDEFILED. HERE I, DAMASUS, WISHED TO HAVE LAID MY LIMBS, BUT FEARED TO DISTURB THE HOLY ASHES OF THE SAINTS. In front was the altar. From here a gallery leads to the Crypt of S. Cecilia, where her body was placed after martyrdom by Priest Urban, A.D. 203. From this resting-place it was removed in 820 by Paschal I. (See p. 140.) The body was found "fresh and perfect as when it was first laid in the tomb, and clad in rich garments mixed with gold, with linen cloths stained with blood rolled up at her feet." On the wall is a fresco of S. Cecilia attired in a dress of Byzantine character. Below are two others--on the left, Christ, with a nimbus; on the right, Urban in full pontifical dress: they are of the ninth century. After traversing some passages, we enter the cubicula of a family. On the walls are roughly executed frescoes of the Baptism of Christ in Jordan by John, the story of Jonah and the Large Fish, Moses striking the Rock, the Woman at the Well of Samaria, the Paralytic Man walking with his Bed--doves, emblems of immortality, on the sides. At the end are two fossori, or grave-diggers, between whom are three subjects in fresco, representing two men, one on either side of a tripod on which something is cooking; and next it, seven people seated at a table, beyond which are two figures and some sheep or lambs. These frescoes seem to us to represent the scenes at the Lake of Tiberias, after the resurrection of our Lord, as recorded in the twenty-first chapter of S. John. They certainly agree with the story: "There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples" (ver. 2)--"But when the morning was now come, Jesus