Even in distinctively Christian subjects it is sometimes apparent that the artist had not freed himself from the influence of pagan types. Thus the Good Shepherd is represented with the short tunic and buskins of the Roman peasant, and often with the classic syrinx or rustic pipes, probably from some reminiscence of the popular rural deity, the god Pan. In the Lateran Museum is a manifest example--the sarcophagus of Paulina--of a pagan sculpture having been adapted as a Christian Good Shepherd. In a bas-relief of Jonah, in the Vatican Library, the classic influence is seen in the Triton blowing his horn, and Iris floating over the vessel with her fluttering scarf, to indicate the 214 subsidence of the storm. The ship is like the barges that navigate the Tiber, and the sea-monster that swallows the recreant prophet is like that which menaced Andromeda. Christianity thus preserved amid the wreck of ancient civilization some germs of classic art, over which she brooded till they quickened under the more genial influences of later times. She became thus, as Dr. Lübke remarks, the mediator between the antique heathen life and the art of modern Christendom. That distinguished critic, Raoul-Rochette, has, however, attributed to pagan types too great an influence on the art of the Catacombs, and almost denies the latter all originality or distinctiveness of treatment; and he is certainly quite in error in speaking of the almost pagan physiognomy of the decorations of the Catacombs.[340] He was misled in forming these opinions in part by certain monuments in the Catacomb of Prætextatus, discovered and described by Bottari, and at first supposed to be of Christian origin.[341] This opinion, however, has been since refuted in an able monograph on the subject by Padre Garrucci.[342] The exceptional and unique character of these monuments deserves a somewhat detailed examination. They occur in a gallery of the Catacomb, not far from the Appian Way. In the vault of an _arcosolium_ is a representation of Venus--a subject never found in early Christian art--accompanied by two genii as infants. Near these 215 are the following epitaphs of a pagan priest and his wife: NVMENIS ANTISTES SEBASIS VINCENTIVS HIC [EST] QVI SACRA SANCTA DEVM PIA MENTE CO[LVIT]. Here lies Vincentius, a priest of the deity Sebasis, who with pious mind has observed the sacred rites of the gods. VINCENTI HOC OLIM FREQVENTES QVOD VIDES[343] PLVRES ME ANTECESSERVNT OMNES EXPECTO MANDVCA BIBE LVDE ET VENI AD ME CVM VIVES BENEFAC HOC TECVM FERES. O Vincentius, many formerly in crowds, as you here see, have gone before me; I await all. Eat, drink, play, and come to me. While thou livest act well: this thou shalt bear with thee.