. . . . In one or two places there was the round mark in
the stone or plaster, where a bottle had been deposited. This was said
to have been the token of a martyr's burial-place, and to have contained
his blood. After leaving the Catacomb, we drove onward to Cecilia
Metella's tomb, which we entered and inspected. Within the immensely
massive circular substance of the tomb was a round, vacant space, and
this interior vacancy was open at the top, and had nothing but some
fallen stones and a heap of earth at the bottom.
On our way home we entered the Church of "Domine, quo vadis," and looked
at the old fragment of the Appian Way, where our Saviour met St. Peter,
and left the impression of his feet in one of the Roman paving-stones.
The stone has been removed, and there is now only a fac-simile engraved
in a block of marble, occupying the place where Jesus stood. It is a
great pity they had not left the original stone; for then all its
brother-stones in the pavement would have seemed to confirm the truth of
the legend.
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