Such was the population which Paul would find at Rome at the time of his visit. We learn from the Acts of the Apostles that he was detained at Rome for " two whole 3'ears," "dwelling in his own liired house with a soldier that kept him" (Acts xxviii, 16, 30), to whom apjiarently, according to Roman custom (Seneca, Ep.v; Acts xii, 6, quoted by Brotier, Ad Tac. Ann. iii, 22), he was bound with a chain (Acts xxviii, 20 ; Eph. vi, 20 ; Phil, i, 13). Here he preached to all that came to him, no man forbidding him (Acts xxviii, 30, 31). It is generally believed that on his " appeal to Csesar" he was acquitted, and, after some time spent in freedom, was a second time imprisoned at Rome (for proofs, see Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paid, ch. xxvii, and Alford, G?\ Test. vol. iii, ch. vii). Five of his epis- tles, viz. those to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, that to Philemon, and the Second Epistle to Timoth}', were, in all probability, written from Rome, the latter shortly before his death (2 Tim. iv, 6), the others during his first imprisonment. See also Hebrews, Epistlk TO THE. It is universally believed that he suflFered martyrdom at Rome.
2. The localities in and about Rome especially con- nected with the life of Paul are — (1) The Appian Waj-, by which he approached Rome (Acts xxviii, 15). See Appii Forum. (2) " The palace," or " Cresar's court" (to irpairujpiov, Phil, i, 13). Tliis may mean either the great camp of the Prajtorian guards which Tiberius established outside the walls on the north-east of the citj' (Tacitus, Ann. iv, 2; Suetonnis, Tib. 37), or, as seems more probable, a barrack attached to the imperial residence on the Palatine (Wieseler, as quoted by Cony- beare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, ii, 423). There is no sufficient proof that the word " prietorium" was ever used to designate the emperor's palace, though it is used for the official residence of a Roman governor (John xviii, 28 ; Acts xxiii, 35). The mention of " Caisar's household" (Phil, iv, 22) confirms the notion that Paul's residence was in the immediate neighborhood of the emperor's house on the Palatine.
3. The connection of other localities at Rome with Paul's name rests only on traditions of more or less probability. We may mention especially — (1) The Maniertine prison, or Tullianum, built b_v Ancus Marcius near tlie Forum (Liv. i, 33), described by Sallust (Cat. 55). It still exists beneath the Church of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami. Here it is said that Peter and Paul were fellow-prisoners for nine months. This is not the place to discuss the question whether Peter was ever at Rome. It may be sufficient to state that though there is no evidence of such a visit in the New Test., unless Babylon in 1 Pet. v, 13 be a mystical name fiir Rome, yet early testimony (Dionysius, ap. Euseb. ii, 25) and the universal belief of the early Church seem sufficient to establish the fact of his having suft'ered martyrdom there. The story, however, of the imprisonment in the
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IMamertine prison seems inconsistent with 2 Tim., espe- cially iv, 11. (2) The chapel on the Ostian Road which marks the spot where the two apostles are said to have separated on their wa_v to martyrdom. (3) The sup- posed scene of Paul's martyrdom, viz. the Church of San Paolo alle tre Fontane, on the Oslian Koad. (See the notice of the Ostian Road in Caius, ap. Euseb. I/. K. ii, 25.) To these may be added, (4) The supposed scene of Peter's martyrdom, viz. the Church of San Pietro in Montorio, on the Janiculum. (5) The chapel " Do- mine quo Vadis," on the Appian Road, the scene of the beautiful legend of our Lord's appearance to Peter as he was escaping from martyrdom (Ambrose, Ej). 33). (6) The places where the bodies of the two apostles, after having been deposited first in the Catacombs (/coijujjr/j- pia) (Euseb. //. E. ii, 25), are supposed to have been finally buried — that of Paul by the Ostian Road, that of Peter beneath the dome of the famous basilica which bears his name (see Caius, ap. Euseb. //. E. ii, 25). All these and many other traditions will be found in the Annuls of Baronius, under the last year of Nero. " A'al- iieless as may be the historical testimony of each of these traditions singly, yet collectively they are of some importance as expressing the consciousness of the 3d and 4th centuries that there had been an early contest, or at least contrast, between the two apostles, which in the end was completely reconciled ; and it is this feel- ing which gives a real interest to the outward forms in ■which it is brought before us — more or less, indeed, in all the south of Europe, but especially in Rome itself" (Stanley, Sermons and Essat/s, p. 101).
4. We must add, as sites unquestionably connected with the Roman Christians of the apostolic age — (1) The gardens of Nero in the Vatican, not far from the spot where St. Peter's now stands. Here Christians, wrapped in the skins of beasts, were torn to pieces by dogs, or, clothed in nitlammal)le robes, were burned to serve as torches during the midnight games. Others were crucified (Tacitus, Ann. xv, 44). (2) The Cata- combs. These subterranean galleries, commonly from eight to ten feet in height, and from four to six in width, and extending for miles, especially in the neigh- borhood of the old Appian and Nomentan ways, were unquestionably used as places of refuge, of worship, and of burial by the early Christians. It is impossible here to enter upon the difficult question of their origin, and their possible connection with the deep sand-pits and subterranean works at Rome mentioned by classical writers. See the story of the murder of Asinius (Cice- ro, Pro Cluent. 13), and the account of the concealment offered to Nero before his death (Suetonius, Nero, 48). A more complete account of the Catacombs than any previously given may be found in (i. B. de liossi's Roma Sotteriana Christiana (1864 sq.). Some very interesting notices of this work, and descriptions of the Roman Cata- combs, are given in Burgon's Letters from Rome, p. 120- 258. " De Rossi finds his earliest dated inscription A.D. 71. From that date to A.D. 300 there are not known to exist so many as thirty Christian inscriptions bearing dates. Of undated inscriptions, however, about 4000 are referable to the period antecedent to the em- peror Constantine" (Burgfm, p. 148). See Catacombs. IX. -H