The epitaphs on the catacomb graves tell us with no uncertain voice how intensely real among the Christian folk was the conviction of the future life--They talk, as it were, with the dead as with living ones--Dogmatic allusions in these short epitaphs necessarily are very brief, but yet are quite definite--The supreme divinity of Jesus Christ constantly asserted--The catacombs are full of Christ--Of the emblems carved on the graves--Jesus Christ as “the Good Shepherd” most frequent--The “Crucifixion” became a favourite subject of representation only in later years 314 APPENDIX On the wish to be interred close to a saint or martyr--Quotation from S. Augustine here 321 BOOK V THE JEW AND THE TALMUD INTRODUCTORY The story of the Jew--his past--his condition now, is the weightiest argument that can be adduced in support of the truth of Christianity--What happened to the “sad remnant” of the people after the exterminating wars of Titus and Hadrian, A.D. 70 and 134-5, is little known; yet the wonderful story of the Jew, especially in the second and third centuries, is a piece of supreme importance--How Rabbinic study and the putting out of the Talmud have influenced the general estimate of the Old Testament among Christian peoples 325 I THE LAST THREE GREAT WARS OF THE JEWS _The First War_, A.D. 66-70--Revolt of the Jews--The dangerous revolt was eventually crushed by Vespasian, and when he succeeded to the Empire his son Titus completed the conquest--Fate of the city of Jerusalem, A.D. 70--Why was the Temple burned?--The recital of Sulpicius Severus gives the probable answer--The account in question was apparently quoted from a lost book of Tacitus--The Roman triumph of Titus--The memories of the conquered Jews on the Arch of Titus in the Forum--The great change in Judaism after A.D. 70, when the Temple and city were destroyed--The change was completed after the war of Hadrian in A.D. 134-5 (the third war)--Brief account of the _second and third wars_--The bitter persecution after the third war soon ceased, and the sad Jewish remnant was left virtually to itself 329 II RABBINISM (_a_)