Chap. I. THE CATACOMBS. 5 and in the centre the Virgin holds the infant Saviour be fore the Magi. On a neighbouring wall, Daniel stands in a recess between two lions, whilst above on the right Moses ties his sandals. On the opposite space traces of Elijah’s ascent to heaven in a classic biga. — Above, a female with op4n arms. — Further Noah, looking out of the window of the ark, and Lazarus rising from the grave in the presence of the Saviour. On the fourth wall, traces of a figure remain, and in the medallion centre of the vaidted roof the feeble remnants of a bust representing a man with long hair divided in the centre, a small beard and a piece of drapery covering his left shoulder. 1 A doubt may exist as to whether the painter intended to portray the features of the Redeemer or those of a person whose piety might have rendered him conspicuous in life and worthy of commemoration after death. But the Christians had now completely overcome the scruples which forbade them to represent the visible form and features of the Saviour in his manhood. As an im fant in the arms of his mother he had already been ex hibited. It now became meritorious rather than sacri legious to delineate his countenance and frame. We may admit that a pious forgery 2 helped the artists of the fourth century in the difficult task of representing the Saviour, yet in the types which were at first adopted the antique was closely imitated, whilst a little later, when more im portance was given to the head, it was thought sufficient to present the regular forms of a man in the vigour of 1 These paintings are rapidly disappearing. The adoration of the Magi is almost gone, the faint lines ot the Virgin still remaining. The figure of a prophet right of Daniel above the second recess is obliterated. A square orifice for a grave has been pierced in the recess where Orpheus sits. The ascension of Elijah is only explained by parts of figures, a chariot and headless horses. The episodes of Moses striking the rock and Lazarus rising from the dead are almost gone. On de 4 th wall are vestiges of but one figure. — The remains show no change in technical execution from that no ticed in the first paintings of the catacombs. The ground is still white, the flesh tints reddish and the shadows a deeper shade of the same tone. 2 See as to the letter of the Consul Lentttlus the historians of the Empire.