8 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. Chap. I. the second figure he may note the unalterable lineaments of the apostle Paul. Nimbi already proclaim their saintly character, nor will it be found that any sensible difference existed between the technical execution of the Naples catacombs and that of the artists of Rome. In both capi tals painters followed the rules of their pagan predecessors whose works still adorn the ruins of Pompeii. 1 A glance will suffice for a female figure of later date with outstretched arms in a niche in the same catacomb. Her name Vitalia and the words “in pace” indicate the commemorative nature of the picture, and this is con firmed by the costume and the drapery which covers the head as well as the frame. 2 The tomb of a most famous Neapolitan Saint — Januarius — possibly of the fifth or sixth century is close by, protected by a figure of the Saviour erect in a recess with outstretch ed arms and dressed in a tunic and sandals. A youthful beardless face, surrounded by a nimbus with the Greek P. the alpha and omega, two candelabra above, reveal the intention of the painter to depict the Redeemer. Two females on each side of him with their arms held up before them complete a composition which, taken as a whole, betrays the same progress of decline at Naples as was noticed at Rome. The decline was not however as rapid as might have been expected, and at Rome in the end of the fifth or first half of the sixth century, the painters of the catacombs still produced works which testified how deeply the classic forms were impressed upon them and how hard it would be to supplant them by others of a character more suited to the development of the Christian idea. S.S. Peter, Goroonius, Marcellinus and Tiburtius were represented in the walls of a vault in the catacomb of S.S. Marcellino 1 The letter J? indicates the the high lights and shadows are name of both apostles. S. Paul put in with body, is in a mantle of blue. The flesh tints have a general reddish tone, 2 The head of this figure and