Callista : a Tale of the Third Century

by John Henry Newman

  Here the Acta end: and though they seem to want their conclusion, yet theysupply nearly every thing which is necessary for our purpose. The onesubject on which a comment is needed, is the state prison, which, thoughso little is said of it in the above Report, is in fact the real _medium_,as we may call it, for appreciating its information; a few words willsuffice for our purpose.

  The state prison, then, was arranged on pretty much one and the same planthrough the Roman empire, nay, we may say, throughout the ancient world.It was commonly attached to the government buildings, and consisted of twoparts. The first was the vestibule, or outward prison, which was a hall,approached from the praetorium, and surrounded by cells, opening into it.The prisoners, who were confined in these cells, had the benefit of theair and light, which the hall admitted. Such was the place of confinementallotted to St. Paul at Caesarea, which is said to be the "praetorium ofHerod." And hence, perhaps, it is that, in the touching Passion of St.Perpetua and St. Felicitas, St. Perpetua tells us that, when permitted tohave her child, though she was in the inner portion, which will next bedescribed, "suddenly the prison seemed to her like the praetorium."

  From this vestibule there was a passage into the interior prison, calledRobur or Lignum, from the beams of wood, which were the instruments ofconfinement, or from the character of its floor. It had no window oroutlet, except this door, which, when closed, absolutely shut out lightand air. Air, indeed, and coolness might be obtained for it by the_barathrum_, presently to be spoken of, but of what nature we shall thensee. The apartment, called Lignum, was the place into which St. Paul andSt. Silas were cast at Philippi, before it was known that they wereRomans. After scourging them severely, the magistrates, who neverthelesswere but the local authorities, and had no proper jurisdiction in criminalcases, "put them in prison, bidding the jailer to keep them carefully;who, on receiving such a command, put them in the inner prison, andfastened them in the lignum." And in the Acts of the Scillitane Martyrs weread of the Proconsul giving sentence, "Let them be thrown into prison,let them be put into the Lignum, till to-morrow."

  The utter darkness, the heat, and the stench of this miserable place, inwhich the inmates were confined day and night, is often dwelt upon by themartyrs and their biographers. "After a few days," says St. Perpetua, "wewere taken to the prison, and I was frightened, for I never had known suchdarkness. O bitter day! the heat was excessive by reason of the crowdthere." In the Acts of St. Pionius, and others of Smyrna, we read that thejailers "shut them up in the inner part of the prison, so that, bereavedof all comfort and light, they were forced to sustain extreme torment,from the darkness and stench of the prison." And, in like manner, othermartyrs of Africa, about the time of St. Cyprian's martyrdom, that is,eight or ten years later than the date of this story, say, "We were notfrightened at the foul darkness of that place; for soon that murky prisonwas radiant with the brightness of the Spirit. What days, what nights wepassed there no words can describe. The torments of that prison nostatement can equal."

  Yet there was a place of confinement even worse than this. In the floor ofthis inner prison was a sort of trap-door, or hole, opening into the_barathrum_, or pit, and called, from the original prison at Rome, theTullianum. Sometimes prisoners were confined here, sometimes despatched bybeing cast headlong into it through the opening. It was into this pit atRome that St. Chrysanthus was cast; and there, and probably in othercities, it was nothing short of the public cesspool.

  It may be noticed that the Prophet Jeremiah seems to have had personalacquaintance with Vestibule, Robur, and Barathrum. We read in one place ofhis being shut up in the "atrium," that is, the vestibule, "of the prison,which was in the house of the king." At another time he is in the"ergastulum," which would seem to be the inner prison. Lastly his enemieslet him down by ropes into the lacus or pit, in which "there was no water,but mud."

  As to Callista, then, after the first day's examination, she was thrownfor nearly twenty-four hours into the stifling Robur, or inner prison.After the sentence, on the second day, she was let down, as thecommencement of her punishment, that is, of her martyrdom, into theloathsome Barathrum, lacus, or pit, called Tullianum, there to lie foranother twenty hours before she was brought out to the equuleus or rack.