Valentinian died A.D. 375, and Antoninus Martyr, in his _De Locis Sanctis_ (sec. 20), written about A.D. 570, ſays he ſaw the inſcription which had been placed on the Croſs, and that the words were, “Ieſus Nazarenus Rex Iudæorum.” He ſays that he held it in his hand, and kiſſed it, in the Church of Conſtantine at _Jeruſalem_. Hence it is evident that either tradition is incorrect, or that Antoninus did not tell the truth. But the claim is that it is, and always has been, in Rome, and Boſius, in his _Crux Triumphans_ (p. 60), gives an account of its re-diſcovery. He ſays that in February, 1492, Monſeigneur Pedro Gonſalvo de Mendoza, Cardinal Sanctæ Crucis, was repairing and cleanſing his church, and on the firſt day of that month, when the workmen reached the top of the arch which was in the middle of the baſilica, and near the roof, they ſaw two ſmall columns; and finding a ſpace, they diſcovered a niche in which they found a leaden box, well cloſed, and on its lid was a tablet of marble, on which were engraved theſe words: HIC EST TITVLVS VERÆ CRUCIS. In this box was found a little board, about a hand’s breadth and a half, much corroded on one ſide by time, and bearing, in grooved, engraved characters, which were coloured red, the following inſcription: IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDÆORVM. But the word IVDÆORVM was not entire, the laſt two letters VM having crumbled to pieces by reaſon of old age. The firſt line was written in Latin characters, the ſecond in Greek, and the third in Hebrew. All the city went to ſee it; and three days afterwards, Pope Innocent went alſo, and ordered the relic to be preſerved in its box, and covered with a ſheet of glaſs. Every one was convinced that they had before their eyes the inſcription which Pilate placed upon the Croſs over our Saviour’s head, and which Saint Helena had depoſited in the church at the time of its building. The relic, as now ſeen, is very worm-eaten, but the letters are ſtill viſible, and have been cut with a ſmall gouge. They read from right to left, as Hebrew does, thus lending great plauſibility to the idea that it was done by ſome Jewiſh artificers; and it ſeems to be of ſome cloſe-grained wood. Taking the piece now at Santa Croce, the whole inſcription, if reſtored, would be thus: [Illustration: _The Inſcription at Santa Croce, reſtored._] [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] _Notes on the Woodcuts._ [Illustration] THE Hiſtory of the Legend of the Holy Croſs which is here reproduced, is ſomewhat fuller than the Golden Legend of Caxton, there being particulars about Moſes, David, and Solomon not to be found therein; but they may be found in other verſions of the Legend, ſome in the Latin of Jacobus de Voragine, others in two MSS. in the Britiſh Muſeum.[M]