S. PETER’S, ROME--THE CONFESSION 281 Photo, S. J. BECKETT A REPLICA OF MADERNO’S EFFIGY OF S. CECILIA--AS SHE WAS FOUND--IS IN THE NICHE OF THE S. CALLISTUS CHAMBER, WHERE THE BODY ORIGINALLY WAS DEPOSITED 293 Photo, S. J. BECKETT SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE ROMAN CATACOMBS 310 Photo, S. J. BECKETT THE TEMPLE--JERUSALEM--THE HOLY PLACE 330 From the _Jewish Encyclopædia_. By permission of FUNK & WAGNALLS CO. THE “WAILING-PLACE” OF THE JEWS, BEFORE THE RUINED WALLS OF THE TEMPLE 332 Photo, THE PHOTOCHROM CO. THE TEMPLE, JERUSALEM, BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION BY TITUS, A.D. 70 340 From a drawing in the _Jewish Encyclopædia_. By permission. “Assured the trial, fiery, fierce, but fleet, Would, from his little heap of ashes, lend Wings to that conflagration of the world Which Christ awaits ere He makes all things new: So should the frail become the perfect, rapt From glory of pain to glory of joy.” BROWNING, _The Ring and the Book_, x. 1797 BOOK I THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIANITY IN ROME PART I INTRODUCTORY THE JEWISH COLONY IN ROME At the beginning of the first century of the Christian era the Jewish colony in Rome had attained large dimensions. As early as B.C. 162 we hear of agreements--we can scarcely call them treaties--concluded between the Jews under the Maccabean dynasty and the Republic. After the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey, B.C. 63, a number more of Jewish exiles swelled the number of the chosen people who had settled in the capital. Cicero when pleading for Flaccus, who was their enemy, publicly alludes to their numbers and influence. Their ranks were still further recruited in B.C. 51, when a lieutenant of Crassus brought some thousands of Jewish prisoners to Rome. During the civil wars, Julius Cæsar showed marked favour to the chosen people. After his murder they were prominent among those who mourned him. Augustus continued the policy of Julius Cæsar, and showed them much favour; their influence in Roman society during the earlier years of the Empire seems to have been considerable. They are mentioned by the great poets who flourished in the Augustan age. The Jewish Sabbath is especially alluded to by Roman writers as positively becoming a fashionable observance in the capital.