The largest cave, and the first we enter from the church above, is about forty feet long. At one end of it there is let into the pavement a large silver star with the inscription, _Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est_, “Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.” [Illustration: THE ALTAR OF THE NATIVITY In the floor beneath is seen the Silver Star] If the inscription is true, there is no other spot on earth so sacred as this, save only Calvary and the Garden Tomb. And it is quite probable that the stable was really in a cave; for in hilly Judea it often happens that a house or an inn is built on a slope, with the living quarters entirely above ground, but with the stable beneath partly excavated in the rock. Sometimes, indeed, there is a natural cavern which, with very little alteration, can be used for housing the animals. Tradition concerning the place of the Nativity goes back to the very early ages of Christianity. In the middle of the second century Justin Martyr states that Christ was born in a cave. In the third century Origen says, “There is shown at Bethlehem the cave where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And this site is greatly talked of in surrounding places, even among the enemies of the faith, it being said that in this cave was born that Jesus who is worshipped and reverenced by the Christians.” In the fourth century Eusebius tells of the building of this very church by St. Helena, who “dedicated two churches to the God whom she adored, one at the grotto which was the scene of the Saviour’s birth, and the other on the mount of His ascension. For He who was ‘God with us’ had submitted to be born even in a cave of the earth, and the place of His nativity was called Bethlehem by the Hebrews.” And from the fourth century on, there is an unbroken chain of testimony concerning the identification of this particular cavern with the scene of the Nativity. The star is in a little recess at the end of the cave, and above it is an altar, small but very richly furnished. Of the fifteen altar-lamps of gold and silver which hang around the star, six belong to the Greek, five to the Armenian and four to the Latin monks, who divide in this way the ownership of most of the shrines in the church. The floor of the entire cave is of marble, upon its walls are marbles and rich tapestries, and many lamps hang from the ceiling; yet, on coming from the bright transepts above, the first impression is one of deep gloom. The low roof can hardly be distinguished, and the back of the cave is lost in impenetrable darkness. The smoking lamps give to the atmosphere a heavy, reddish color. The chanting of the priests in the choir overhead is heard only as a dull murmur. We are the only visitors to-day, except that in front of the little altar there kneel four French nuns, great tears rolling down their pallid faces as they pray in a frightened whisper.