and the hunger of the soul for communion with the dear departed in the 441 loving tryst of the silent land are pathetically expressed in the following prayer of Furia Spes: PETO VOS MANES SANCTISSIMAE (_sic_) ... MEVM CONIVGEM HORIS NOCTVRNIS VT VIDEAM ET ETIAM VT EGO DVLCIVS ET CELERIVS APVD EVM PERVENIRE POSSIM--“I beseech you, most holy spirits, that I may behold my husband in the midnight hours; and also that I may more sweetly and swiftly go to him.” More common, however, is the feeling of hopeless severance expressed by the frequent valediction, VALE VALE LONGVM VALE--“Farewell, farewell, a long farewell;” or, sadder still, VALE AETERNVM--“Farewell forever.” There occur in the Catacombs frequent examples of acclamations addressed to the departed, expressive of a desire for their happiness and peace. These acclamations have been quoted by Romanist writers as indicating a belief in the doctrine of purgatory, and in the efficacy of prayers on behalf of the dead. The importance of this subject will justify its careful examination. Many of the examples quoted by Roman controversialists are not precatory at all, but simply declarative.[720] But there are others in which the expression assumes a distinctively optative form. Some of these may be of comparatively 442 late date, as the _graffiti_, or inscriptions of pilgrims near the more celebrated shrines, of which we have seen examples at the so-called “papal crypt.” But others are unquestionably part of the original epitaphs. We find, for instance, such expressions as VIVAS--“May you live;” VIVAS IN DEO, ΖΗϹ ΕΝ ΘΕΩ--“May you live in God;” VIVAS IN ETERNVM--“May you live forever;” ETERNA TIBI LVX--“Eternal light to thee;” ESTOTE IN PACE--“Be in peace;” VIVAS INTER SANCTOS--“May you live among the holy ones;” VIVAS IN NOMINE XTI--“May you live, in the name of Christ;” ΖΗϹΗϹ (_sic_) ΙΝ ΔΕΟ ΧΡΙϹΤΟ--“May you live in God Christ;” VIVAS IN DOMINO ZEZV--“May you live in the Lord Jesus;” VIVAS VINCAS--“May you live, may you conquer;” DORMITIO TVA INTER DICAEIS, (ΔΙΚΑΙΟΙϹ)--“May your sleep be among the just;” DEVS TIBI REFRIGERET--SPIRITVM TVVM REFRIGERET--“God refresh thee, refresh thy spirit;” ΕΙΡΗΝΗ ϹΟΙ--“Peace to thee;” EN ΕΙΡΗΝΗ ΣΟΥ ΤΟ ΠΝΕΥΜΑ--“In peace be thy spirit;” Ο ΘΕΟϹ ΑΝΑΠΑΥϹΗ ΤΗΝ ΨΥΧΗΝ ΕΝ ϹΚΗΝΑΙϹ ΑΓΙΩΝ--“God give thy soul rest in the tents of the holy.” These, it will be perceived, are not intercessions _for_ the dead, but mere apostrophes addressed _to_ them, as is apparent in the following: ΖΩΤΙΚΕ ΖΗϹΑΙϹΕΝ (_sic_) ΚΥΡΙΩ ΘΑΡΡΙ, (_sic_)--“Zoticus, mayest thou live in the Lord. Be of good cheer.” They were no more prayers for the souls of the departed than is Byron’s verse, “Bright be the place of thy rest.”