the same man should bow at once before the cross of Christ, and pay homage to Janus, Ferculus, Limetinus, Cardia, the deities of the threshold, and the hinges of doors.  Perhaps at this time the cross was of a meaning unknown except to those who had embraced the Christian faith, which, placed here among the symbols of paganism, as if in testimony of gratitude, informed the faithful, that the truth had here found an asylum with a poor man, under the safeguard of all the popular superstitions”.  So far Mazois, whose opinion is embraced by the author of the interesting work on Pompeii published by the society for promoting useful knowledge:  but is it not probable, I may ask, or rather is it not certain that, at that early period, while some members of the same family were pagans, others were Christians? it is not then surprising if in the same house we find both Christian and Pagan emblems:  we may suppose, that some such persons may have been inmates of the same house as Mr. Bulwer’s pagan gladiator Lydon and his Christian father Medon.  Pompeii was overwhelmed by ashes in the year of Christ 79:  and if Vesuvius still occasionally lay waste the surrounding country, we are indebted to it for the preservation not only of a thousand classical monuments, but also of a representation of the cross of Christ, which cannot be of a much later date than the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.]

[Footnote 89:  St. Helen discovered the cross on which Christ suffered, and erected a church in Jerusalem, in which it was deposited.  “The bishop of that city every year, at the season of the paschal solemnity, exhibits it to be adored by the people, after he himself has first performed his act of profound veneration”.  S. Paulinus of Nola, A.D. 430, ep. 11 ad Sever.  “In the middle of Lent, the life-giving wood of the venerable cross is usually exposed for adoration”.  S. Sophronius patriarch of Jerusalem in 639. (Orat. in Exalt.  Crucis).  From this custom of the church of Jerusalem probably arose that of the Roman church, in which a crucifix, containing a particle of the true cross, was publicly venerated on good Friday.  In the Sacramentary of pope Gelasius (A.D. 402) we read in an account of the ceremonies of this day “The priest comes before the altar, adoring the Lord’s cross and kissing it—­all adore the holy cross and communicate”.  This ceremony is mentioned also in the Antiphonary of S. Gregory the great and the ancient Ordo Romanus.  Flecte genu, lignumque crucis venerabile adora, says Lactantius.  See bishop Poynter’s Christianity p. 151.  Of the Greeks Leo Allatius relates that “on good-friday, while they accompany as it were Christ himself to the tomb, they lead round through the cities and adore the sculptured body of Christ”.  De consensu utriusque Eccl. lib. 5. c. 15.  The Syrians also practise this ceremony, as we learn from documents published by Card.  Borgia and Nairon.  This rite is called the adoration of the cross.