As De Rossi proceeded to examine these graves in detail, he could hardly believe his eyes when he read around the edge of one of them these words and fragments of words:--_Mi Refrigeri Januarius Agatopos Felicissim Martyres_--'Januarius, Agapetus, Felicissimus, martyrs, refresh the soul of....' The words had been scratched upon the mortar while it was yet fresh, fifteen centuries ago, as the prayer of some bereaved relative for the soul of him whom they were burying here, and now they revealed to the antiquarian of the nineteenth century the secret he was in quest of--viz. the place of burial of the saints whose aid is here invoked; for the numerous examples to be seen in other cemeteries warrant us in concluding that the bodies of the saints, to whose intercession the soul of the deceased is here recommended, were at the time of his burial lying at no great distance."--_Roma Sotterranea._ The St. Januarius buried here was the eldest of the seven sons of St. Felicitas, martyred July 10, A.D. 162. St. Agapitus and St. Felicissimus were deacons of Pope Sixtus II., who were martyred together with him and St. Pretextatus[217] in this very catacomb, because Sixtus II. "had set at nought the commands of the Emperor Valerian."[218] A mutilated inscription of St. Damasus, in the Catacomb of Calixtus, near the tomb of Cornelius, thus records the death of this pope: "Tempore quo gladius secuit pia visura Matris Hic positus rector cælestia jussa docebam; Adveniunt subito, rapiunt qui forte sedentem; Militibus missis, populi tunc colla dedere. Mox sibi cognovit senior quis tollere vellet Palmam seque suumque caput prior obtulit ipse, Impatiens feritas posset ne lædere quemquam. Ostendit Christus reddit qui præmia vitæ Pastoris meritum, numerum gregis ipse tuetur." "At the time when the sword pierced the heart of our Mother (Church), I, its ruler, buried here, was teaching the things of heaven. Suddenly they came, they seized me seated as I was;--the soldiers being sent in, the people gave their necks (to the slaughter). Soon the old man saw who was willing to bear away the palm from himself, and was the first to offer himself and his own head, fearing lest the blow should fall on any one else. Christ who awards the rewards of life recognises the merit of the pastor, he himself is preserving the number of his flock." An adjoining crypt, considered to date from A.D. 130, is believed to be the burial-place of St. Quirinus. Above this catacomb are ruins of two basilicas, erected in honour of St. Zeno; and of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, companions of Sta. Cecilia in martyrdom.