Note 120 — PART I

It was in the year of grace 1578 that some workmen digging out sand in a vineyard about a mile from Rome on the Via Salaria came upon the gallery of a subterranean cemetery, with dim paintings and many ancient inscriptions upon the walls.

This striking discovery excited much curiosity at the time, and the world of Rome, recalling to mind the long-forgotten story of the Catacombs, became suddenly conscious that beneath its suburbs lay a vast unexplored City of the Dead.