But the wish sometimes takes the form of a prayer _for_ the beloved one, as ΜΝΗϹΘΗϹ ΙΗϹΟΥϹ Ο ΚΥΡΙΟϹ ΤΕΚΝΟΝ ΕΜ ...--“Remember, O Lord Jesus, our child;” ΔΕΟΥϹ ΧΡΙϹΤΟΥϹ ΟΜΝΙΠΟΤΕϹ ϹΠΙΡΙΤ ... ΤΟΥ ΡΕΦ.ΙΓΕΡΕ ΙΝ ☧, (Latin in Greek characters,)--“May the Almighty God Christ 443 refresh thy spirit in Christ.” ΝΗΜΝΗΘΗ ΕΑΥΤΟΥ Ω ΘΕΟϹ ΙϹΤΟΥϹ ΑΓΝΑϹ (_sic_)--“Remember him, O God, among thy lambs;” ΜΝΗϹΘΗΤΙ ΚΥΡΙΕ ΤΗϹ ΚΟΙΜΗϹΕΩϹ ΤΗϹ ΔΟΥΛΗϹ ϹΟΥ ΑΝΑΠΑΥϹΟΝ ΤΗΝ ΨΥΧΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΔΟΥΛΟΥ ϹΟΥ ΕΝ ΤΟ ΦΩΤΙΝΩ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΑΝΑΨΥΞΕΩϹ ΕΙϹ ΚΟΛΠΟΝ ΑΒΡΑΑΜ,--“Remember, O God, the sleep of thy servant; give rest to the soul of thy servant in the light, in the refreshment in Abraham’s bosom:” DOMINE NE ADVMBRETVR SPIRITVS--“O Lord! let not (this) soul be brought into darkness;” ΜΝΗϹΘΗ ΑΥΤΟΥ Ο ΘΕΟϹ ΕΙϹ ΤΟΥϹ ΑΙΩΝΑϹ--“May God remember him forever.”[721] These intense expressions of affection of the ardent Italian nature[722] that would fain follow the loved object--“though lost to sight to memory dear”--beyond the barrier of the tomb, are surely a slight foundation on which to build the vast system of mercenary masses for the dead. And yet they are the only evidences that keen Roman controversialists can adduce from these Christian inscriptions of the first six centuries.[723] And, be it remembered, these inscriptions were not a formulated and authoritative creed framed by learned theologians, but the untutored utterances of humble peasants, many of whom were recent converts from paganism or Judaism, in which 444 religions such expressions were a customary sepulchral formula. The accompanying examples indicate the prevalence of this practice in pagan epigraphy: AVE or HAVE VALE--“Hail, farewell;” DI TIBI BENEFACIANT--“May the gods be good to thee;” OSSA TVA BENE QVIESCANT--“May thy bones rest well;” SIT TIBI TERRA LEVIS--“May the earth be light upon thee;” ΧΑΙΡΕ ΕΥΠΛΟΕΙ--ΕΥΔΡΟΜΕΙ--“Rejoice, a safe voyage, a prosperous journey;” ΕΥΨΥΧΕΙ ΚΥΡΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΔΩΗ ϹΟΙ ΟϹΙΡΙϹ ΤΟ ΨΥΧΡΟΝ ΥΔΩΡ--“Be of good cheer, O lady, and to thee Osiris give to quaff the cooling water;”[724] ΕΝ ΜΥΡΟΙϹ ϹΟΙ ΤΕΚΝΟΝ Η ΨΥΧΗ--“In precious odours be thy soul, my child;” HIC MANES PLACIDA NOCTE QVIESCANT ET SVPER IN NIDO MARATHONIA CANTET AEDON--“Here may the manes rest throughout the placid night, and above thee in her nest may the Marathonian nightingale sing;” BENE VALEAS MATER ROGAT TE VT ME AD TE RECIPIAS VALE--“Farewell, thy mother prays, O take me to thyself again, farewell.”[725] In the Jewish epitaphs these acclamations are much more common than in the Christian inscriptions. The following is an example: MARCIA BONA IVDEA DORMITIO IN BONIS--“Marcia, a good Jewess, thy sleep be among the good.” On many modern Hebrew tombstones are the words, “Let his soul be bound up in the bundle of life.”