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ROMAN TRADITIONS OF PETER AND PAUL. 247
not been so instinct with feeling. Not a breath of wind
moved in the tops of the pines and plane-trees, not the
faintest cloud was to be descried in the deep blue sky,
tinged at the horizon with violet.
In the midst of this silence, lies the old church Sta.
Prisca—commonly closed, but now by chance open. Its
age is a thousand and five hundred years ; but older still
are the ancient columns, that support its roof, and the
crypt over which it is built ; for the walls and floor of
this crypt, tradition declares, are remains of the house
once owned by Peter’s landlord and his wife, the devout
couple, Aquila and Prisca, also called Priscilla. A large
antique capital, hollowed out, is yet to be seen there, from
which the apostle is said to have administered holy bap-
tism. The altar-piece in the church represents Peter bap-
tizing Prisca and her household. There is otherwise not
much to see here ; for the old sanctuary has in later times
more than once been repaired and " improved "
—that is
to say, in this, as in so many other cases, marred and dis-
figured by a deplorable taste.
Prisca and Aquila are known to the reader, through
the New Testament. " Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my
helpers in Christ Jesus: who have for my life laid down
their own necks ; unto whom not only I give thanks, but
also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise greet
the church that is in their house." So writes Paul, in the
sixteenth chapter of his epistle to the Romans ; and al-
ready this greeting is enough to give us exalted ideas of
this couple’s devotion to the faith. But our respect for
them still farther increases, when we recollect what Luke
tells us in the Acts of the Apostles ; that Apollos, namely
—one of the most learned and eloquent among the first
heralds of Christianity, and probably author of the Epis-
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