169. The epitaph of Marcellus is to be found in Gruter,
Inscrip. p. 1172, No. 3, and it contains all that we know of
his history. Marcellinus and Marcellus, whose names follow
in the list of popes, are supposed by many critics to be
different persons; but the learned Abbe de Longuerue was
convinced that they were one and the same.
Veridicus rector lapsis quia crimina flere
Praedixit miseris, fuit omnibus hostis amarus.
Hinc furor, hinc odium; sequitur discordia, lites,
Seditio, caedes; solvuntur foedera pacis.
Crimen ob alterius, Christum qui in pace negavit
Finibus expulsus patriae est feritate Tyranni.
Haec breviter Damasus voluit comperta referre:
Marcelli populus meritum cognoscere posset.
We may observe that Damasus was made bishop of Rome, A.D.
366.