of religion gathers into one vast crowd both Latins and strangers."—Translated from Prudentius, "Peristephanôn," Passion of S. Hippolytus.
The close proximity of the Cemetery and Basilica of S. Laurence (above described) as years passed on was fatal to the memory of S. Hippolytus. From very early times S. Laurence, the deacon of Sixtus II, received extraordinary honour. He suffered, as we have stated, in the persecution of Decius, circa A.D. 258, and occupies the place of S. Stephen in the Church of the West. It was of this famous and popular saint that Augustine wrote: "Quam non potest abscondi Roma, tam non potest abscondi Laurentii corona." In the prayer of the oldest Roman sacramentary we read, "De beati solemnitate Laurentii, peculiaris præ ceteris Roma lætatur." "No marvel," writes Bishop Lightfoot, "that the aureole which encircled the heads of other neighbouring saints and martyrs, even of the famous Hippolytus himself, should have faded in the light of his unique splendour."
As years rolled on, the neighbouring Basilica of S. Laurence grew larger and grander. The Basilica of S. Hippolytus built over his cemetery faded away, comparatively uncared for; the great scholar was forgotten in the fame which gathered round the neighbouring popular saint. Paul I, A.D. 756-67, removed the sacred relique of the saint scholar to the well-*known City Church of S. Silvester in Capite.
The Cemetery and Basilica of Hippolytus after the remains of the saint had been translated were quickly forgotten, and the very site was in time confused with that of the Cemetery and stately Church of S. Laurence on the other side of the Via Tiburtina. It was only in 1881 that De Rossi discovered the ancient cemetery and the ruined subterranean basilica above briefly described,—the basilica and catacomb visited by Prudentius in the last years of the fourth century, and so vividly painted by him in his hymn in the Peristephanôn.
Outside Rome there are traces of the fame of the great scholar, but not many. There is a ruined church in Portus bearing his name; its tower, still noticeable, is a conspicuous landmark in the desolate Campagna. Arles possesses a
