[198] The effects of this practice are apparent at _S. Agnese fuori le Mura_, erected over the tomb of the virgin martyr, and at San Lorenzo, where the galleries of the Catacomb of Cyriaca have been exposed and in part destroyed. [199] In extending the Catacombs for the purpose of burial it was sometimes found easier to cut new galleries at a higher level, using the bed of earth in the old as the floor of the new. Sometimes the new galleries cut right through the _loculi_ of the old. [200] Chap. i, p. 11. To the same period belongs the description of the Catacombs by Jerome, quoted on page 36. Jerome at one time acted as secretary to Damasus. [201] St. Ambrose, about this time, censures the constructing of costly sepulchres, as if they were to be the receptacle of the soul instead of the body.--Frustra struunt homines pretiosa sepulchra, quasi ea animæ, nec solius corporis, receptacula essent.--_De Bono Mortis._ Basil urges men to prepare their funeral by works of piety while they live. “For what need have you,” he asks, “of a sumptuous monument, or a costly entombing?”--_Hom. in Divites._ [202] Ignat., _Ep. ad Rom._, § iv. Euseb., _Hist. Eccles._, iii, 36. [203] Acts of Martyrdom, § xii. [204] _Hist. Eccles._, iv, 15. [205] Plerique vestem linteam Stillante tingunt sanguine, Tutamen ut sacrum suis Domi reservent posteris.--_Peristeph._, v. [206] Hic humeros, truncasque manus et brachia, et ulnas, Et genua, et crurum fragmina nuda legit.--_Ibid._, iv. [207] Euseb., _Hist. Eccles._, v, 1. [208] _Ibid._, iv, 15. [209] Nos martyribus nostris non templa sicut diis, sed memorias sicut hominibus mortuis, quorum apud Deum vivant spiritus, fabricamus; nec ibi erigimus altaria, in quibus sacrificemus martyribus, sed uni Deo et martyrum et nostro.--_De. Civ. Dei_, xxii, 10. [210] _Hist. of Christianity_, book iv, c. 2. [211] Hence called _Natalitia_, Γενέθλια. [212] Euseb., _Hist. Eccles._, iv, 15. [213] _De Coron. Mil._, c. ii. [214] Diesque festos, post eos, quos relinquebant, alienos in honorem sanctorum martyrum vel non simili sacrilegio, quamvis simili luxu celebrantur.--Augustin., _Epis._ xxix. See also Boldetti, _Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri dei SS. Martiri_, p. 46. [215] Diisque hominibusque odiosa nomina.--Aug., _Epis._, xvi. [216] _Ibid._ [217] See Figs. 12 and 76. [218] “Intra limina sanctorum, quod multi cupiunt et rari accipiunt.” [219] “At Ippolytu super arcosohu,” (_sic_.) [220] “Ad Santum Cornelium.” See also the epitaph on p. 132. [221] “Apud sancti alicujus memoriam.” [222] _De Curâ pro Mortuis Gerendâ_, written about A. D. 421. [223] _Bullettino_, 1864, 33.