A Years Journey through France and Part of Spain | Page 6

now, you will excuse my mentioning what is said of this great man _below_; but speaking of light, I must not omit to mention, that there are men of veracity now living in this town, who affirm, that they have seen, upon opening some of the ancient monuments here, the eternal lamps burning. The number of testimonies we have of this kind puts the matter past a doubt, that a flame has appeared at the lip of these lamps when first the tombs have been opened; one was found, you know, on the Appian way, in the tomb of _Cicero_'s daughter, which had burnt more than seventeen centuries; another at Padua, which had burnt eight hundred years, and which was found hanging between two little phials, one of gold, the other of silver, which were both quite full of liquor, extremely clear, as well as many others; but as it is impossible to believe that flame can exist, and not consume that which feeds it, is it not more natural to conclude that those lamps, phials, &c. contained a species of phosphorus, which became luminous upon the first opening of the tombs and the sudden rushing in of fresh air; and that the reverse of what is generally supposed is the fact, that they are not extinguished, but illuminated by the fresh air they receive? I have seen several of these lamps here and elsewhere, most of which are of baked earth. It has been said, that there is an oil to be extracted from gold, which will not consume, and that a wick of asbestos has burnt many years in this oil, without consumption to either. I have seen a book written by a German Jesuit, to confirm this fact; so there is authority for you, if not conviction.
As I know your keen appetite after antiquities, I will send you a few other inscriptions, and leave you to make your own comments; and voila.
D M L. HOSTIL. TER. SILVANI. ANN. XXIIII. M. II. D. XV MATER FIL PIJSSIMI MISERA ET IN LVCIV. AETERNALI BENIFICI. O NOVERCAE.
The following inscription is cut upon a marble column, which stands near the Jesuits' church:
SALVIS D.D.N.N. THEODOSIO, ET VALENTINIANO. P.F.V. AC TRIVM. SEMPER AUG. XV. CONS. VIR. INL. AUXILIARIS PR?. PR?T, GALLIA. DE ARELATE MA, MILLIARIA PONI. S. M.P.S.
In the ancient church of _St. Honore_, which stands in the center of all these Heathen and Christian monuments, are to be seen nine Bacchanalians of very ancient workmanship; where also is the tomb of _St. Honore_, employed as the altar of the church; and beneath the church are catacombs, where the first Christians retired to prayer during the persecution by the Emperors, and where is still to be seen their altar and seven ancient sepulchres, of beautiful marble, and exquisitely worked; the first is the tomb of _St. Genet_; the second of _St. Roland_, Archbishop of _Arles_; the third of _St. Concord_, with an epitaph, and two doves with olive branches in their beaks, cut in bass relief, and underneath are the two letters X and P; on this tomb is the miraculous cross seen in the heavens by Constantine, who is represented before it on his knees; and on the cover of this tomb are the heads of Constantine, Faustina, and his son; and they say the Emperor saw this miracle in the heaven from the very Cimetiere in which this monument stands, i.e. in the year 315; the fifth is the tomb of _St. Dorothy_, Virgin and Martyr of _Arles_; the sixth _St. Virgil_, and the seventh _St. Hiliare_, (both Archbishops of Arles,) who has borrowed a Pagan sepulchre, for it is adorned with the principal divinities of the ancients in bass relief.--It seems odd to see on a Christian Bishop's tomb Venus, and the three Destinies. The people here say, that this tomb represents human life, as the ancients believed that each God contributed something towards the being. Be that as it may, the tomb is a very curious one, and much admired by the Connoisseurs, for its excellent workmanship; but what is more extraordinary than all these, is, that this catacomb, standing in the middle of the others, with its cover well and closely fixed, has always water in it, and often is quite full, and nobody can tell (_but one of the priests perhaps_) from what source it comes. There is also in this church the tomb and a long Latin Epitaph of _St. Trophime_, their first Bishop; but the characters are very Gothic, and the Cs are square, [Image: E E with no mid bar]; he came here in the year 61, and preached down that abominable practice of sacrificing three young men annually. He died in the year 61, at 72 years of age. On the front of