[296] The legend asserts that as the Apostle Peter was leaving Rome in the early dawn, in order to escape martyrdom, he met Our Lord bearing his cross, and, throwing himself at his feet, exclaimed, _Domine quo vadis_--“Lord, whither goest thou?” In accents of tender rebuke the Master answered, _Venio Romam iterum crucifigi_--“I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” Stung with contrition and remorse, the disciple, according to the tradition, returned to the city, and there was crucified--by his own request with his head downwards, as unworthy to share the same mode of death as the Lord whom he had denied. In the neighbouring church of St. Sebastian is a white marble slab bearing impressions _said_ to have been made by the feet of Our Lord. The story is first mentioned by Origen, who applies it to St. Paul. St. Ambrose substitutes St. Peter, but the precise spot was not fixed till the fifteenth century; and Aringhi, in the seventeenth century, is the first who mentions the impression of the feet in “that stone most worthy, more valuable than any precious jewel.” This white marble slab is certainly very unlike the dark gray porphyry of the Appian pavement, and the irregular depression in its surface bears slight resemblance to human feet. But no historical difficulties are too great for the devout credulity of Rome. [297] _Rom. Sott._, ii, 367. [298] _De Resurrect. Carnis._, c. 27. [299] _Rom. Sott._, i, 210. [300] The Council of Elvira, A. D. 305, forbade the burning of wax tapers by day in the cemeteries of the dead--Cereos per diem placuit in coemeterio non incendi. _Conc. Elib._, can. 34. [301] He was killed by being thrown out of the window of his house in a popular tumult in Rome. His body was cast into a well, and afterwards secretly conveyed to the cemetery of Calepodius, on the Via Aurelia, in the immediate vicinity. [302] See section of this stairway in Fig. 22. [303] Here were also found a number of polygonal basalt paving-stones, evidently from the roadway above. [304] Pp. 81-83. [305] Pp. 85, 86. [306] The old brick building with three apsides and a vaulted roof, near the entrance to this crypt, long used as a gardener’s storehouse, has been claimed as the basilica which Damasus provided for the burial of himself, his mother, and sister; but it was more probably the _fabricia_ for worship or the celebration of the agape, or simply for the guardian of the Catacomb. [307] About A. D. 230, say the Acts, although the Christians then enjoyed profound peace. [308] An antique fresco at St. Cecilia represents the apparition of the martyr to the pontiff as he slept in his throne on St. Peter’s day.