Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-12-18
The CatacUmbS at Rome.
BY PROFESSOR JOHN E. carp.

Long before the day that Romulus slew
his brother Remus, there dwe,t III various
parts Of Italy race of mcn,-shrewd,
enterprising, commercial. They were
~trong-imbed, broad-headed, Industrious
They built their cities in high places, and
delighted in pure air. These people We
cali Etruscans.
Their history is gone. Their language
remains, but is unread-a sealed tongue
The Roman Cardinal who boasts himself
master of hundred languages, asks to be
REUSED when you name the Etruscan.
How, then, do we know their existence
and character By their monuments
As we know that once in the Mississippi
Valley there dwelt race different from
the historic race of American Indians, be.
cause of the mounds which the latter never
built, so we know the Etruscans apart from
the Romans Their tombs and temples
represent distinct people, such as have
never elsewhere been found. Different from
the Romans in every thing, they resembled
the English In their commercial character.
the Yankees in their versatility, and the
Egyptians in their architecture.
The temple of Postum, one Of their
structures, standing to this day, the
Romans regarded as antiquities two thou
sand years ago. Nothing like it is to be
found throughout the length and breadth
of the geographical Boot from straps to
toe.
They built below ground too; liked to
excavate passages beneath the earth that
would hide million men. Their tombs,
temples, aud excavations extend up and
down Italy, among the islands of the
Mediterranean Sea, and as far east as
Asia Minor. These are the peOple-we
know not whence they came or where they
went to-these are the people that dug out
the numberless passages Of the Catacombs.
so far as can be determined.
| Beneath the surface, south of Rome, is
to be ound sort of rock called tuta. a
hard, porous, volcanic material, which
these Erruscans dug out for building pur-
poses, while the E>qulline Hill was under
mined for sand, as We learn from so good
author ty as Cicero. But when the stone
had been quarried, these long subterraoean
galleries remained uDoccupled, and ready
tor any use to which they might chance to
be appropriated.
III tllne came the ADVENT OF the Christian
religion The sand-diggers and quarry
men, a people of humble rank, were among
the first, it is believed, among whom the
religion found loIgment One Of the
m st commonly found figures among the
paintings on the walls OF the Catacombs
IS that Of man carrying some impemen
Of labor for excavatiDg. and wearing the
short tunic, or gown, and scanty dress OF
the slave. Having no hope Of worldly
comfort and happiness, scarcely daring to
call their lives their own, il is not I'm.
rea sonable that they should readily EN-.
brace faith which held out such bright
prOmifes of peace and happiness hereafter.
In times of persecution they knew where
to fee for safety. The more prominent
personsges 10 the Church. who would first
be pursued by the prosecutors, would be-
take themselves TO the quarries, where
their brethren would be able to shield them
from discovery. At one time the Govern
ment sentenced soldiers, who embraced the
Christian faith, to dig sand. Thus it was