CHAPTER VI.

PAGAN CEMETERIES.

Various modes of burial in Rome.--Inhumation and

cremation.--Gradual predominance of the

latter.--Columbaria.--Inscription describing the organization of

one of these, on the Via Latina.--The extent of the pagan

cemeteries outside of Rome, and the number of graves they

contained.--Curiosities of the epitaphs.--The excavations in the

garden of La Farnesina.--The Roman house discovered there.--The

tomb of Sulpicius Platorinus.--Its interesting contents.--The

"divine crows."--The cemetery in the Villa Pamfili.--Tombs on the

Via Triumphalis.--That of Helius, the shoemaker.--The tombs of

the Via Salaria.--That of the Licinii Calpurnii.--The unhappy

history of this family.--The tomb of the precocious

boy.--Improvvisatori of later times.--The tomb of Lucilia Polla

and her brother.--Its history.--The Valle della Caffarella.--Its

associations with Herodes Atticus.--His fortune and its

origin.--His monuments to his wife.--The remarkable discovery of

the corpse of a young woman, in 1485.--Various contemporary

accounts of it.--Its ultimate fate.--Discovery of a similar

nature in 1889.

Inhumation seems to have been more common than cremation in

prehistoric Rome; hence, certain families, to give material evidence

of their ancient lineage, would never submit to cremation. Such were

the Cornelii Scipiones, whose sarcophagi were discovered during the

last century in the Vigna Sassi. Sulla is the first Cornelius whose

body was burned; but this he ordered done to avoid retaliation, that

is to say, for fear of its being treated as he had treated the corpse

of Marius. Both systems are mentioned in the law of the twelve tables:

_hominem mortuum in urbe ne sepelito neve urito_, a statement which

shows that each had an equal number of partisans, at the time of the

promulgation of the law.

This theory is confirmed by discoveries in the prehistoric cemeteries

of the Viminal and Esquiline hills, which contain coffins as well as

cineraria, or ash-urns. The discoveries have been published only in a

fragmentary way, so that we cannot yet follow their development stage

by stage, and determine at what periods and within what limits the

influence of more civilized neighbors was felt by the primitive

dwellers upon the Seven Hills. One thing is certain; the race that

first colonized the Campagna was buried in trunks of trees, hollowed

inside and cut to measure, as is the custom among some Indian tribes

of the present day. In March, 1889, the engineers who were attending

to the drainage of the Lago di Castiglione--the ancient

Regillus--discovered a trunk of _quercus robur_, sawn lengthways into

two halves, with a human skeleton inside, and fragments of objects in

amber and ivory lying by it. The coffin, roughly cut and shaped, was

buried at a depth of fourteen feet, in a trench a trifle longer and

larger than itself, and the space between the coffin and the sides of

the trench was filled with archaic pottery, of the type found in our

own Roman necropolis of the Via dello Statuto. There were also

specimens of imported pottery, and a bronze cup. The tomb and its

contents are now exhibited in the Villa di Papa Giulio, outside the

Porta del Popolo.

When Rome was founded, this semi-barbaric fashion of burial was by no

means forgotten or abandoned by its inhabitants. We have not yet

discovered coffins actually dug out of a tree, but we have found rude

imitations of them in clay. These belong to the interval of time

between the foundation of the city and the fortifications of Servius

Tullius, having been found at the considerable depth of forty-two feet

below the embankment of the Servian wall, in the Vigna Spithoever.

They are now exhibited in the Capitoline Museum (Palazzo dei

Conservatori), together with the skeletons, pottery, and bronze

_suppellex_ they contained.

Nearly every type of tomb known in Etruria, Magna Græcia, and the

prehistoric Italic stations has a representative in the old cemeteries

of the Viminal and the Esquiline. There are caves hewn out of the

natural rock, with the entrance sealed by a block of the same

material; in these are skeletons lying on the funeral beds on either

side of the cave, or even on the floor between them, with the feet

turned towards the door, and Italo-Greek pottery, together with

objects in bronze, amber, and gold. There are also artificial caves,

formed by horizontal courses of stones which project one beyond

another, from both sides, till they meet at the top. Then there are

bodies protected by a circle of uncut stones; others lying at the

bottom of wells, and finally regular sarcophagi in the shape of square

huts, and cineraria like those described on page 29 of my "Ancient

Rome."

Comparing these data we reach the conclusion that inhumation was

abandoned, with a few exceptions, towards the end of the fifth century

of Rome, to be resumed only towards the middle of the second century

after Christ, under the influence of Eastern doctrines and customs.

For the student of Roman archæology these facts have not merely a

speculative interest; a knowledge of them is necessary for the

chronological classification of the material found in cemeteries and

represented so abundantly in public and private collections.

The acceptance of cremation as a national, exclusive system brought as

a consequence the institution of the _ustrina_, the sacred enclosures

in which pyres were built to convert the corpses into ashes. Several

specimens of _ustrina_ have been found near the city, and one of them

is still to be seen in good preservation. It is built in the shape of

a military camp, on the right of the Appian Way, five and a half miles

from the gate. When Fabretti first saw it in 1699, it was intact, save

a breach or gap on the north side. He describes it as a rectangle

three hundred and forty feet long, and two hundred feet wide, enclosed

by a wall thirteen feet high. Its masonry is irregular both in the

shape and size of the blocks of stone, and may well be assigned to the

fifth century of Rome, when the necessity for popular _ustrina_ was

first felt. When Nibby and Gell visited the spot in 1822 they found

that the noble owner of the farm had just destroyed the western side

and a portion of the eastern, to build with their materials a

_maceria_, or dry wall.

The _ustrina_ which were connected with the Mausoleum of Augustus and

the ara of the Antonines have already been described in chapter iv.

Another institution, that of _columbaria_, or _ossaria_, as they would

more properly be called, owes its origin to the same cause. Columbaria

are a specialty of Rome and the Campagna, and are found nowhere else,

not even in the colonies or settlements originating directly from the

city. They begin to appear some twenty years before Christ, under the

rule of Augustus and the premiership of Mæcenas. Inasmuch as the

Campus Esquilinus, which, up to their time, had been used for the

burial of artisans, laborers, servants, slaves, and freedmen, was

suppressed in consequence of the sanitary reforms described by

Horace,[121] and was buried under an embankment of pure earth, and

converted into a public park; as, moreover, the disappearance of the

said cemetery was followed closely by the appearance of columbaria, I

believe one fact to be a consequence of the other, and both to be part

of the same hygienic reform. No cleaner, healthier, or more

respectable substitute for the old _puticoli_ could have been

contrived by those enlightened statesmen. Any one, no matter how low

in social position, could secure a decent place of rest for a paltry

sum of money. The following inscription, still to be seen in the

columbarium discovered in 1838, in the Villa Pamfili,--

[Illustration:

T·PACIAECVS·T·L

ISARGVRVS _A·I·PINARIAe

Q·L·MVRTINI_]

has been interpreted by Hülsen to mean that Paciæcus Isargyros had

sold to Pinaria Murtinis a place for one _as_. Tombstones often

mention transactions of this kind, and state the cost of purchase for

one or more loculi, or for the whole tomb. Friedländer, in a

Königsberg Programm for October, 1881,[122] has collected thirty-eight

documents concerning the cost of tombs; they vary from a minimum of

two hundred sestertii ($8.25) to a maximum of one hundred and

ninety-two thousand ($8,000).

There were three kinds of columbaria: first, those built by one man or

one family either for their own private use, or for their servants and

freedmen; second, those built by one or more individuals for

speculation, in which any one could secure a place by purchase; third,

those built by a company for the personal use of shareholders and

contributors.

As a good specimen of the columbaria of the second kind we can cite

one built on the Via Latina, by a company of thirty-six shareholders.

It was discovered in 1599, not far from the gate, and its records were

scattered all over the city. As a proof of the negligence with which

excavations were conducted in former times, we may state that, the

same place having been searched again in 1854 by a man named Luigi

Arduini, other inscriptions of great value were discovered, from which

we learn how these burial companies were organized and operated. The

first document, a marble inscription above the door of the crypt,

states that in the year 6 B. C. thirty-six citizens formed a company

for the building of a columbarium, each subscribing for an equal

number of shares, and that they selected two of the stockholders to

act as administrators. Their names are Marcus Æmilius, and Marcus

Fabius Felix, and their official title is _curatores ædificii xxxvi.

sociorum_. They collected the contributions, bought the land, built

the columbarium, approved and paid the contractors' bills, and having

thus fulfilled their duty convened a general meeting for September 30.

Their report was approved, and a deed was drawn up and duly signed by

all present, declaring that the administrators had discharged their

duty according to the statute. They then proceeded to the distribution

of the loculi in equal lots, the loculi representing, as it were, the

dividend of the company. The tomb contained one hundred and eighty

loculi for cinerary urns, and each of the shareholders was

consequently entitled to five. The distribution, however, was not so

easy a matter as the number would make it appear. We know that it was

made by drawing lots, _per sortitionem ollarum_, and we know also that

in some cases the shareholders, as a remuneration to their chairmen,

administrators, and auditors of accounts, voted them exemption from

the rule, by giving them the right of selecting their loculi without

drawing (_sine sorte_). Evidently some places were more desirable

than others, and if we remember how columbaria are built, it is not

difficult to see which loculi must have been most in demand.

The pious devotion of the Romans towards the dead caused them to pay

frequent visits to their tombs, especially on anniversaries, when the

urns were decorated with flowers, libations were offered, and other

ceremonies performed. These _inferiæ_, or rites, could be celebrated

easily if the loculus and the cinerary urn were near the ground, while

ladders were required to reach the upper tiers. The same difficulty

was experienced when cinerary urns had to be placed in their niches;

and the funeral tablets and memorials containing the name, age,

condition, etc., of the deceased, which were either written in ink or

charcoal, or else engraved on marble, could not be read if too high

above the pavement. For these reasons, and to avoid any suspicion of

partiality in the distribution of lots, the shareholders trusted to

chance. The crypt discovered in the Via Latina contained five rows of

niches of thirty-six each. The rows were called _sortes_, the niches

_loci_. Now, as each shareholder was entitled to five _loci_, one on

each row, lots were drawn only in regard to the _locus_, not to the

row. The inscriptions discovered in 1599 and 1854 are therefore all

worded with the formula:--"Of Caius Rabirius Faustus, second tier,

twenty-eighth locus;" "Of Caius Julius Æschinus, fourth tier,

thirty-fourth locus;" "Of Lucius Scribonius Sosus, first tier,

twenty-third locus;"--in all, nine names out of thirty-six. The

allotment of Rabirius Faustus is the only one known entirely. He had

drawn No. 30 in the first row, No. 28 in the second, No. 6 in the

third, No. 8 in the fourth, No. 31 in the fifth.

It took at least thirty-one years for the members of the company to

gain the full benefit of their investment; the last interment

mentioned in the tablets having taken place A. D. 25. This late comer

is not an obscure man; he is the famous charioteer, or _auriga

circensis_, Scirtus, who began his career A. D. 13, enlisting in the

white squadron. In the lapse of thirteen years he won the first prize

seven times, the second thirty-nine times, the third forty times,

besides other honors minutely specified on his tombstone.[123]

The theory that Roman tombs were built along the high roads in two or

three rows only, so that they could all be seen by those passing, has

been shown by modern excavations to be unfounded. The space allotted

for burial purposes was more extensive than that. Sometimes it

extended over the whole stretch of land from one high-road to the

next. Such is the case with the spaces between the Via Appia and the

Via Latina, the Labicana and Prænestina, and the Salaria and

Nomentana, each of which contains hundreds of acres densely packed

with tombs. In the triangle formed by the Via Appia, the Via Latina,

and the walls of Aurelian, one thousand five hundred and fifty-nine

tombs have been discovered in modern times, not including the family

vault of the Scipios.[124] Nine hundred and ninety-four have been

found on the Via Labicana, near the Porta Maggiore, in a space sixty

yards long by fifty wide. The number of pagan tombstones registered in

volume vi. of the "Corpus" is 28,180, exclusive of the _additamenta_,

which will bring the grand total to thirty thousand. As hardly one

tombstone out of ten has escaped destruction, we may assume as a

certainty that Rome was surrounded by a belt of at least three hundred

thousand tombs.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A COLUMBARIUM IN THE VIGNA CODINI]

The reader may easily imagine what a mass of information is to be

gathered from this source. In this respect, the perusal of parts II.,

III., and IV. of the sixth volume of the "Corpus" is more useful to

the student than all the handbooks and "Sittengeschichten" in the

world; and besides, the reading is not dry and tiresome, as one might

suppose. Many epitaphs give an account of the life of the deceased; of

his rank in the army, and the campaigns in which he fought; of the

name of the man-of-war to which he belonged, if he had served in the

navy; of the branch of trade he was engaged in; the address of his

place of business; his success in the equestrian or senatorial career,

or in the circus or the theatre; his "état civil," his age, place of

birth, and so on. Sometimes tombstones display a remarkable eloquence,

and even a sense of humor.

Here is an expression of overpowering grief, written on a sarcophagus

between the images of a boy and a girl: "O cruel, impious mother that

I am: to the memory of my sweetest children. Publilius who lived 13

years 55 days, and Æria Theodora who lived 27 years 12 days. Oh,

miserable mother, who hast seen the most cruel end of thy children! If

God had been merciful, thou hadst been buried by them." Another woman

writes on the urn of her son Marius Exoriens: "The preposterous laws

of death have torn him from my arms! As I have the advantage of years,

so ought death to have reaped me first."

The following words were dictated by a young widow for the grave of

her departed companion: "To the adorable, blessed soul of L.

Sempronius Firmus. We knew, we loved each other from childhood:

married, an impious hand separated us at once. Oh, infernal Gods, do

be kind and merciful to him, and let him appear to me in the silent

hours of the night. And also let me share his fate, that we may be

reunited _dulcius et celerius_." I have left the two adverbs in their

original form; their exquisite feeling defies translation.

The following sentence is copied from the grave of a freedman:

"Erected to the memory of Memmius Clarus by his co-servant Memmius

Urbanus. I know that there never was the shade of a disagreement

between thee and me: never a cloud passed over our common happiness. I

swear to the gods of Heaven and Hell, that we worked faithfully and

lovingly together, that we were set free from servitude on the same

day and in the same house: nothing would ever have separated us,

except this fatal hour."

A remarkable feature of ancient funeral eloquence is found in the

imprecations addressed to the passer, to insure the safety of the tomb

and its contents:[125]--

"Any one who injures my tomb or steals its ornaments, may he see the

death of all his relatives."

"Whoever steals the nails from this structure, may he thrust them into

his eyes."

A grumbler wrote on a gravestone found in the Vigna Codini:--

"Lawyers and the evil-eyed keep away from my tomb."

* * * * *

It is manifestly impossible to make the reader acquainted with all the

discoveries in this department of Roman archæology since 1870. The

following specimens from the viæ Aurelia, Triumphalis, Salaria, and

Appia seem to me to represent fairly well what is of average interest

in this class of monuments.

VIA AURELIA. Under this head I record the tomb of Platorinus, which

was found in 1880 on the banks of the Tiber, near La Farnesina,

although, strictly speaking, it belongs to a side road running from

the Via Aurelia to the Vatican quarters, parallel with the stream. The

discovery was made in the following circumstances:--

A strip of land four hundred metres long by eighty broad was bought by

the state in 1876 and cut away from the gardens of la Farnesina, to

widen the bed of the Tiber. It was found to contain several ancient

edifices, which have since become famous in topographical books. I

refer more particularly to the patrician house discovered near the

church of S. Giacomo in Settimiana, the paintings of which are now

exhibited in Michelangelo's cloisters, adjoining the Baths of

Diocletian.

[Illustration: Ancient house in the Farnesina Gardens.]

These paintings have been admirably reproduced in color and outline by

the German Archæological Institute,[126] but they have not yet been

illustrated from the point of view of the subjects they represent.

They are divided into panels by pilasters and colored columns, each

half being distinguished by a different color: white (Nos. 1, 5, 6, of

the plan), red (Nos. 2, 4), or black (No. 3). The frieze of the

"black" series represents the trying of a criminal case by a

magistrate, very likely the owner of the palace, with curious details

concerning the evidence asked and freely given to him.

Near the frieze, the artist has drawn pictures as though hung to the

wall, with folding shutters, some wide open, some half-closed. They

are genre subjects, such as a school of declamation, a wedding, a

banquet; and though the figures are not five inches long, they are so

wonderfully executed that even the eyebrows are discernible.

The pictures in the centre of the panels are of larger size. Those of

the "white" room are painted in the style of the Attic lekythoi, or

oil-jugs. The figures are drawn in outline with a dark, subtle color,

each space within the outline being filled in with the proper tint;

though a few only are drawn without the colors. One of these

remarkable pictures represents two women,--one sitting, the other

standing, and both looking at a winged Cupid. Another represents a

lady playing on the seven-stringed lyre, each of the strings being

marked by a sign which, perhaps, corresponds to the notes of the

scale. In one of the panels from room No. 4 is still visible what we

suppose to be the signature of the artist: [Greek: SELEUKOS EPOEI]

(_sic_). It seems as if Baldassarre Peruzzi, Raphael, Giulio Romano,

il Sodoma, il Fattore, and Gaudenzio Ferrari, to whom we owe the

wonders of the Farnesina dei Chigi, must have unconsciously felt the

influence of the wonders of this Roman house which was buried under

their feet. It is a great pity that the two could not have been left

standing together. What a subject for study and comparison these two

sets of masterpieces of the golden ages of Augustus and Leo X. would

have offered to the lover of art!

[Illustration: DETAIL FROM THE CEILING OF THE HOUSE DISCOVERED IN THE

FARNESINA GARDENS]

The ceiling of the room No. 2, carved in stucco, is worthy of the

paintings. The reliefs are so flat that the prominent points do not

stand out more than three millimetres. The artist might have modelled

them by breathing over the stucco, they are so light and delicate. One

of the scenes represents the borders of a river, with villas,

temples, shrines, and pastoral huts scattered under the shade of

palm or sycamore trees, the foliage of which is waving gently in the

breeze. The people are variously occupied,--some are fishing with the

rod, some bathing, some carrying water-jars on their heads. The gem of

the reliefs is a group of oxen, grazing in the meadow, of such

exquisite beauty as to cast into shade the best engravings of

Italo-Greek or Sicilian coins.

[Illustration: Specimen of outline designs in the ancient house in the

Farnesina Gardens.]

Next in importance to the Roman house comes the tomb of Sulpicius

Platorinus, discovered in May, 1880, at the opposite end of the

Farnesina Gardens, near the walls of Aurelian. A corner of this tomb

had been exposed to view for a couple of years, nobody paying

attention to it, because, as a rule, tombs within the walls, having

been exposed for centuries to the thieving instincts of the populace

in general, and of treasure-hunters in particular, are always found

plundered and barren of contents. In this instance, however, it was

our fortune to meet with a welcome exception to the rule.

From an inscription engraved on marble above the entrance door, we

learn that the mausoleum was raised in memory of Caius Sulpicius

Platorinus, a magistrate of the time of Augustus, and of his sister

Sulpicia Platorina, the wife of Cornelius Priscus. The room contained

nine niches, and each niche a cinerary urn, of which six were still

untouched. These urns are of the most elaborate kind, carved in white

marble, with festoons hanging from bulls' heads, and birds of various

kinds eating fruit. Some of the urns are round, some square, the

motive of the decoration being the same for all of them. The cover of

the round ones is in the shape of a _tholus_, a building shaped

something like a beehive, the tiles being represented by acanthus

leaves, and the pinnacle by a bunch of flowers.

The covers of these urns were fastened with molten lead. The unsealing

of them was an event of great excitement; it was performed in the

coffee-house of the Farnesina, in the presence of a large and

distinguished assembly. I remember the date, May 3, 1880. They were

found to be half full of water from the last flood of the Tiber, with

a layer of ashes and bones at the bottom. The contents were emptied on

a sheet of white linen. Those of the first had no value; the second

contained a gold ring without its stone,--which was found, however,

in the third cinerarium; a most extraordinary circumstance. It can be

explained by supposing that both bodies were cremated at the same

time, and that their ashes were somehow mixed together. The stone,

probably an onyx, was injured by the action of the fire, and its

engraving nearly effaced. It seems to represent a lion in repose.

Nothing was found in the fourth; the fifth furnished two heavy gold

rings with cameos representing respectively a mask and a bear-hunt.

The last urn, inscribed with the name of Minasia Polla,--a girl of

about sixteen, as shown by the teeth and the size of some fragments of

bone,--contained a plain hair-pin of brass.

Having thus finished with the cineraria and their contents, the

exploration of the tomb itself was resumed. Inscriptions engraved on

other parts of the frieze gave us a full list of the personages who

had found their last resting-place within, besides the two Platorini,

and the girl Minasia Polla, just mentioned. They are: Aulus Crispinius

Cæpio, who played an important part in court intrigues at the time of

Tiberius; Antonia Furnilla; and her daughter, Marcia Furnilla, the

second wife of Titus. She was repudiated by him A. D. 64, as described

by Suetonius.[127] Historians have inquired why, and found no clew,

considering what a model man Titus is known to have been. If the

marble statue found in this tomb, and reproduced in our illustration,

is really that of Marcia Furnilla, and a good likeness, the reason for

the divorce is easily found,--she looks hopelessly disagreeable.

The bust represented in the same plate, one of the most refined and

carefully executed portraits found in Rome, is probably that of

Minasia Polla, and gives a good idea of the appearance of a young

noble Roman lady of the first half of the first century. Another

statue, that of the emperor Tiberius, in the so-called "heroic" style,

was found lying on the mosaic floor. Although crushed by the falling

of the vaulted ceiling, no important piece was missing.

Both statues, the bust, the cinerary urns, and the inscriptions, are

now exhibited in Michelangelo's cloisters in the Museo delle Terme.

It is difficult to explain how this rich tomb escaped plunder and

destruction, plainly visible as it was for many centuries, in one of

the most populous and unscrupulous quarters of the city. Perhaps when

Aurelian built his wall, which ran close to it, and raised the level

of Trastevere, the tomb itself was buried, and its treasures left

untouched.

[Illustration: WORKS OF ART DISCOVERED IN THE TOMB OF SULPICIUS

PLATORINUS]

Beginning now the ascent of the Janiculum, on our way towards the

Porta S. Pancrazio and the Villa Pamfili, I must mention a curious

discovery made three centuries ago near the church of S. Pietro in

Montorio; that of a platform, lined with terminal stones inscribed

with the legend: DEVAS CORNISCAS SACRVM ("this area is sacred to the

divine crows"). The place is described by Festus (Ep. 64). It is a

remarkable fact that in Rome not only men but animals should remain

faithful to old habits and traditions. Some of my readers may have

noticed how regularly every day, towards sunset, flights of crows are

seen crossing the skies on their way to their night lodgings in the

pine-trees of the Villa Borghese. They have two or three favorite

halting-places, for instance the campanile of S. Andrea delle Fratte,

the towers of the Trinità de' Monti, where they hold noisy meetings

which last until the first stroke of the Ave-Maria. This sound is

interpreted by them as a call to rest. Whether the area of the sacred

crows described by Festus was planted with pines, and used as a rest

at night, or simply as a halting-place, the fact of their daily

migration to and from the swamps of the Maremma, and of their evening

meetings, dates from classical times.

And now, leaving on our right the Villa Heyland, the Villa Aurelia,

formerly Savorelli, which is built on the remains of the mediæval

monastery of SS. John and Paul, and the Villa del Vascello, which

marks the western end of the gardens of Geta, let us enter the Villa

Pamfili-Doria, interesting equally for the beauty of its scenery and

its archæological recollections. We are told by Pietro Sante Bartoli

that when he first came to Rome, towards 1660, Olimpia Maidalchini and

Camillo Pamfili, who were then laying the foundations of the casino,

discovered "several tombs decorated with paintings, stucco-carvings,

and _nobilissimi_ mosaics." There were also glass urns, with remains

of golden cloths, and the figures of a lion and a tigress, which

were bought by the Viceroy of Naples, the marchese di Leve. Some

years later, when Monsignor Lorenzo Corsini began the construction

of the Casino dei Quattro Venti (since added to the Villa Pamfili

and transformed into a sort of monumental archway), thirty-four

exquisite tombs were found and destroyed for the sake of their

building-materials. One cannot read Bartoli's account[128] and examine

the twenty-two plates with which he illustrates his text, without

feeling a sense of horror at the deeds which those enlightened

personages were capable of perpetrating in cold blood.

He says that the thirty-four tombs formed, as it were, a small

village, with streets, sidewalks, and squares; that they were built

of red and yellow brick, exquisitely carved, like those of the Via

Latina. Each retained its funeral _suppellex_ and decorations almost

intact: paintings, bas-reliefs, mosaics, inscriptions, lamps, jewelry,

statues, busts, cinerary urns, and sarcophagi. Some were still closed,

the doors being made not of wood or bronze, but of marble; and

inscriptions were carved on the lintels or pediments, giving an

account of each tomb. These records tell us that in Roman times this

portion of the Villa Pamfili was called _Ager Fonteianus_, and that

the inclined tract of the Via Aurelia, which runs close by, was called

_Clivus Rutarius_. Bartoli attributes the extraordinary preservation

of this cemetery to its having been buried purposely under an

embankment of earth, before the fall of the empire. Since the

seventeenth century many hundreds of tombs have been found and

destroyed in the villa, especially in April, 1859. The only one still

visible was discovered in 1838, and is remarkable for its _painted_

inscriptions, and for its frescoes.[129] There were originally one

hundred and seventy-five panels, but scarcely half that number are now

to be seen. They represent animals, landscapes, caricatures, scenes

from daily life, and mythological and dramatic subjects. One only is

historical, and, according to Petersen, represents the Judgment of

Solomon (see p. 271). This subject, although exceedingly rare, is by

no means unique in classical art, having already been found painted on

the walls of a Pompeian house.

VIA TRIUMPHALIS. The necropolis which lined the Via Triumphalis, from

Nero's bridge near S. Spirito, to the top of the Monte Mario, has

absolutely disappeared, although some of its monuments equalled in

size and magnificence those of the viæ Ostiensis, Appia, and Labicana.

Such were the two pyramids, on the site of S. Maria Traspontina,

called, in the Middle Ages, the "Meta di Borgo" and the "Terebinth of

Nero." Both are shown in the bas-reliefs of Filarete's bronze door in

S. Peter's (see p. 272), in the ciborium of Sixtus IV. (now in the

Grotte Vaticane), and in other mediæval and Renaissance

representations of the crucifixion of the apostle. The pyramid is

described by Ruccellai and Pietro Mallio as standing in the middle of

a square which is paved with slabs of travertine, and towering to the

height of forty metres above the road. It was coated with marble, like

the one of Caius Cestius by the Porta S. Paolo. Pope Donnus I.

dismantled it A. D. 675, and made use of its materials to build the

steps of S. Peter's. The pyramid itself, built of solid concrete, was

levelled to the ground by Pope Alexander VI., when he opened the Borgo

Nuovo in 1495.

[Illustration: The Judgment of Solomon.]

The "Terebinth of Nero" is described as a round marble structure, as

high as Hadrian's tomb. It was also dismantled by Pope Donnus, and

its materials were used in the restoration and embellishment of the

"Paradisus" or quadriportico of S. Peter's.

[Illustration: Panel from the bronze door of S. Peter's, by Filarete.]

Next to the "terebinth" was the tomb of the favorite horse of Lucius

Verus. This wonderful racer, belonging to the squadron of the Greens,

was named Volucris, the Flyer, and the emperor's admiration for his

exploits was such that, after honoring him with statues of gilt-bronze

in his lifetime, he raised a mausoleum to his memory in the Vatican

grounds, after his career had been brought to a close. The selection

of the site was not made at random, as we know that the Greens

themselves had their burial-ground on this Via Triumphalis.

* * * * *

Proceeding on our pilgrimage towards the Clivus Cinnæ, the ascent to

the Monte Mario, we have to record a line of tombs discovered by

Sangallo in building the fortifications or "Bastione di Belvedere."

One of them is thus described by Pirro Ligorio on p. 139 of the

Bodleian MSS. "This tomb [of which he gives the design] was discovered

with many others in the foundations of the Bastione di Belvedere, on

the side facing the Castle of S. Angelo. It is square in shape, with

two recesses for cinerary urns on each side, and three in the front

wall. It was gracefully decorated with stucco-work and frescoes. Next

to it was an _ustrinum_ where corpses were cremated, and on the other

side a second tomb, also decorated with painted stucco-work. Here was

found a piece of agate in the shape of a nut, so beautifully carved

that it was mistaken for a real nutshell. There was also a skeleton,

the skull of which was found between the legs, and in its place there

was a mask or plaster cast of the head, reproducing most vividly the

features of the dead man. The cast is now preserved in the Pope's

wardrobe."[130]

Finally, I shall mention the tomb of a boot and shoe maker, which was

discovered February 5, 1887, in the foundations of one of the new

houses at the foot of the Belvedere. This excellent work of art, cut

in Carrara marble, shows the bust of the owner in a square niche,

above which is a round pediment. The portrait is extremely

characteristic: the forehead is bald, with a few locks of short curled

hair behind the ears; and the face shaven, except that on the left of

the mouth there is a mole covered with hair. The man appears to be of

mature age, but healthy, robust, and of rather stern expression.

Above the niche, two "forms" or lasts are represented, one of them

inside a _caliga_. They are evidently the signs of the trade carried

on by the owner of the tomb, which is announced in his epitaph: "Caius

Julius Helius, shoemaker at the Porta Pontinalis, built this tomb

during his lifetime for himself, his daughter Julia Flaccilla, his

freedman Caius Julius Onesimus and his other servants."

[Illustration: Tomb of Helius, the shoemaker.]

Julius Helius was therefore a shoe-merchant with a retail shop near

the modern Piazza di Magnanapoli on the Quirinal. Although the

qualification of _sutor_ is rather indefinite and can be applied

indifferently to the _solearii_, _sandaliarii_, _crepidarii_,

_baxearii_ (makers of slippers, sandals, Greek shoes), etc., as well

as to the _sutores veteramentarii_ or menders of old boots, yet Julius

Helius, as shown by the specimen represented on his tomb, was a

_caligarius_, or maker of _caligæ_, which were used chiefly by

military men. Boot and shoe makers and purveyors of leather and

lacings (_comparatores mercis sutoriæ_) seem to have been rather

proud men in their day, and liked to be represented on their tombs

with the tools of their trade. A bas-relief in the Museo di Brera

represents Caius Atilius Justus, one of the fraternity, seated at his

bench, in the act of adjusting a _caliga_ to the wooden last. A

sarcophagus inscribed with the name of Atilius Artemas, a local

shoemaker, was discovered at Ostia in 1877, with a representation of a

number of tools. The reader is probably familiar with the fresco from

Herculaneum representing two Genii seated at a bench; one of them is

forcing a last into a shoe, while his companion is busy mending

another. Class XVI. of the Museo Cristiano at the Lateran contains

several tombstones of Christian _sutores_ with various emblems of

their calling.

The shoemakers formed a powerful corporation from the time of the

kings; their club called the _Atrium sutorium_ was the scene of a

religious ceremony called _Tubilustrium_, which took place every year

on March 23. They seem to have been also an irritable and violent set.

Ulpianus[131] speaks of an action for damages brought before the

magistrate by a boy whose parents had placed him in a boot-shop to

learn the trade, and who, having misunderstood the directions of his

master, was struck by him so heavily on the head with a wooden form

that he lost the sight of one eye.

VIA SALARIA. Visitors who remember the Rome of past days will be

unpleasantly impressed by the change which the suburban quarters

crossed by the viæ Salaria, Pinciana and Nomentana have undergone in

the last ten years. In driving outside the gates the stranger was

formerly surprised by the sudden appearance of a region of villas and

gardens. The villas Albani, Patrizi, Alberoni, and Torlonia, not to

speak of minor pleasure-grounds, merged as they were into one great

forest of venerable trees, with the blue Sabine range in the

background, gave him a true impression of the aspect of the Roman

Campagna in the imperial times.

The scene is now changed, and not for the better. Still, if any one

has no right to grumble, it is the archæologist, because the building

of these suburban quarters has placed more knowledge at his disposal

than could have been gathered before in the lapse of a century. I

quote only one instance. Famous in the annals of Roman excavations are

those made between 1695 and 1741 in the vineyard of the Naro family,

between the Salaria and the Pinciana, back of the Casino di Villa

Borghese. It took forty-six years to dig out the contents of that

small property, which included twenty-six graves of prætorians and one

hundred and forty-one of civilians.

In 1887, in cutting open the Corso d' Italia, which connects the Porta

Pinciana with the Salaria, eight hundred and fifty-five tombs were

discovered in nine months. The cemetery extends from the Villa

Borghese to the prætorian camp, from the walls of Servius Tullius to

the first milestone. The gardens of Sallust were surrounded by it on

two sides; a striking contrast between the silent city of death on the

one hand, and the merriest and noisiest meeting-place of the living on

the other.

Although the cemetery was mostly occupied by military men, the

high-roads which cross it were lined with mausolea belonging to

historical families. Such is the tomb of the Licinii Calpurnii,

discovered in 1884, in the foundations of the house No. 29, Via di

Porta Salaria, the richest and most important of those found in Rome

in my lifetime.[132] Its history is connected with one of the worst

crimes of Messalina.

There lived in Rome in her time a nobleman, Marcus Licinius Crassus

Frugi, ex-prætor, ex-consul (A. D. 27) ex-governor of Mauritania, the

husband of Scribonia, by whom he had three sons. There was never a

more unlucky family than this. The origin of their misfortunes is

curious enough. Licinius Crassus, whom Seneca calls "stupid enough to

be made emperor," committed, among other fatuities, that of naming his

eldest son Pompeius Magnus, after his great-grandfather on the

maternal side: a useless display of pride, as the boy had titles

enough of his own to place him at the head of the Roman aristocracy.

Caligula, jealous of the high-sounding name, was the first to threaten

his life; but spared it at the expense of the name. Claudius restored

the title to him, as a wedding-present, on the day of his marriage

with Antonia, daughter of the emperor himself by Ælia Pætina. His

splendid career, his nobility and grace of manners, and his alliance

with the imperial family, excited the hatred of Messalina, a foe far

more dangerous than Caligula. She extorted from her weak husband the

sentence of death against Pompeius and his father and mother. The

execution took place in the spring of 47.

The second son, Licinius Crassus, was murdered by Nero in 67.

The third son, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus, who was only

eleven at the time of the executions of 47, spent many years in

banishment, while the extermination of his family was slowly

progressing. Being left alone in the world, at last Galba took mercy

upon him, adopted him as a son, and heir to the Sulpician estates, and

lastly, in January, 69, named him successor to the throne. If he had

but spared him this honor! Only four days later he was murdered,

together with Galba, by the prætorian rebels; and his head, severed

from his body, was given to his young widow, Verania Gemina.

History speaks of a fifth unfortunate member of the family, who died a

violent death even under the mild and just rule of Hadrian. His name

was Calpurnius Licinianus, ex-consul A. D. 87. Having conspired

against Nerva, he, and his wife, Agedia Quintina, were banished to

Tarentum. A second conspiracy against Trajan brought upon him

banishment to a solitary island, and an attempt to escape from it was

the cause of his death.

Such was the fate of the seven occupants of this sepulchral chamber.

When I first descended into it, in November, 1884, and found myself

surrounded by those great historical names of murdered men and women,

I felt more than ever the vast difference between reading Roman

history in books, and studying it from its monuments, in the presence

of its leading actors; and I realized once more what a privilege it is

to live in a city where discoveries of such importance occur

frequently.

I wish I could tell my readers that my hands did actually touch the

bones of those murdered patricians, and the contents of their cinerary

urns. They did not, however, because the spell of adversity seems to

have pursued the Calpurnii even into their tombs, and there is reason

to believe that their last repose was troubled by persecutors, who

followed them to their graves. Their cippi were found broken into

fragments, their names half erased, and their ashes scattered to the

four winds.

The inscriptions, silent on the main point at issue, that of their

violent death, are worded with marvellous dignity, coupled with a sad

touch of irony. That engraved on the urn of Pompeius Magnus says:--

CN · POMP_eius_

CRASSI F · MEN

MAGNVS

PONTIF · QVAEST

TI · CLAVDI · CAESARIS · AVG

GERMANICI

SOCERI · SVI

"[Here lies] Cnæus Pompeius Magnus, son of Crassus, etc., quæstor of

the Emperor Claudius, _his father-in-law_." When we remember that it

was precisely the alliance with the imperial family that caused the

death of the youth; that his death sentence was signed by Claudius,

who was his father-in-law, we cannot help thinking that the names of

the murdered man and his murderer were coupled purposely in this short

epitaph.

In a second and much larger chamber ten marble sarcophagi were

discovered, precious as works of art, but devoid of historical

interest, because no name is engraved upon them. Perhaps the

experience of their ancestors warned the Calpurnii of later

generations not to tempt obnoxious fate again, but to adhere to

obscurity and retirement, even in the secrecy of the family vault. As

a work of art, each of the coffins is a choice specimen of Roman

funeral sculpture of the second century of our era. Some are simply

decorated with festoons, winged genii, scenic masks, or chimeras;

others with scenes relating to the Bacchic cycle, such as the infancy

of the god, his triumphal return from India, and his desertion of

Ariadne in the island of Naxos. The finest sarcophagus, of which we

give an illustration, represents the rape of the daughters of

Leukippos by Castor and Pollux.

[Illustration: Sarcophagus of the Leukippides.]

The collection of sarcophagi, inscriptions, urns, portrait-heads,

coins, and other objects belonging to the tombs, and the tombs

themselves, ought to have become public property, and to have been

kept together as a monument of national interest. Until recently the

marbles were to be seen on the ground floor of the Palazzo Maraini in

the Via Agostino Depretis, but some of them have now been removed to

No. 9 Via della Mercede.

Proceeding two hundred yards farther, on the same side of the Via

Salaria, we find the base of the tomb of the precocious boy Quintus

Sulpicius Maximus, the tomb itself having been discovered in 1871, in

the interior of the right tower of the Porta Salaria, while this was

being rebuilt after the bombardment of September 20, 1870.[133] The

tomb had formed the core of the tower, just as that of Eurysaces, the

baker, found in 1833, had been imbedded in the left tower of the Porta

Prænestina.

The tomb is composed of a pedestal, built of blocks of travertine,

with a marble cippus upon it, ornamented with a statue of the youth,

and the story of his life told in Greek and Latin verse. The story is

simple and sad.

On September 14, A. D. 95, the anniversary of his accession to the

throne, Domitian opened for the third time the _certamen

quinquennale_, a competition for the world's championship in

gymnastics, equestrian sports, music, and poetry, which he had

instituted at the beginning of his reign.[134] Fifty-two competitors

in Greek poetry were present. The subject, drawn by lot, was: "The

words which Jupiter made use of in reproving Apollo for having trusted

his chariot to Phaeton." Quintus Sulpicius Maximus improvised, on this

rather poor theme, forty-three _versus extemporales_. The meaning of

the adjective is doubtful. We are not certain whether the boy spoke

his verses extemporaneously, his words being taken down by shorthand;

or whether he and his fifty-one colleagues were allowed some time to

consider the subject and write the composition, as is now the practice

in literary examinations. Ancient writers speak of "improvvisatori"

who manifested their wonderful gift at a premature age;[135] still, it

seems almost impossible that fifty-two such prodigies could have been

brought together at one competition. Sulpicius Maximus was crowned by

the emperor with the Capitoline laurels and awarded the championship

of the world. The verses by which he won the competition are really

very good, and show a thorough knowledge of Greek prosody. The

victory, however, cost him dearly; in fact, he paid for it with his

life. The following inscription was engraved on his tomb:--

"To Q. Sulpicius Maximus, son of Quintus, born in Rome, and lived

eleven years, five months, twelve days. He won the competition, among

fifty-two Greek poets, at the third celebration of the Capitoline

games. His most unhappy parents, Quintus Sulpicius Eugramus and

Licinia Januaria, have caused his extemporized poem to be engraved on

this tomb, to prove that in praising his talents they have not been

inspired solely by their deep love for him (_ne adfectibus suis

indulsisse videantur_)."

Let the fate of this boy be a warning to those parents who,

discovering in their children a precocious inclination for some branch

of human learning, encourage and force this fatal cleverness for the

gratification of their own pride, instead of moderating it in

accordance with the physical power and development of youth.

[Illustration: TOMB OF THE BOY Q. SULPICIUS MAXIMUS]

The world's competition, instituted by Domitian, had a long and

successful career, and we can follow its celebration for many

centuries, to the age of Petrarca and Tasso. An inscription discovered

at Vasto, the ancient Histonium, describes the one which took place A.

D. 107 in these words: "To Lucius Valerius Pudens, son of Lucius.

Being only thirteen years old, he took part in the sixth _certamen

sacrum_, near the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus; and won the

championship among the Latin poets by the unanimous vote of the

judges." These last words show that special jurors were appointed by

the emperor for each section of the competitions. In the year 319

Constantine the Great and Licinius Cæsar celebrated with great

solemnity the fifty-eighth _certamen_. Ausonius of Burdigala, the

great poet of the fourth century, speaks of an Attius Delfidius, an

infant prodigy (_pæne ab incunabulis poeta_), who gained the prize

under Valentinian I. The mediæval and Renaissance custom of

"laureating" poets on the Capitol was certainly derived from

Domitian's institution.

The race of the "improvvisatori" has never died out in central and

southern Italy. One of the most celebrated in the sixteenth century,

named Silvio Antoniano, at the age of eleven could sing to the

accompaniment of his lute on any argument proposed to him, the poetry

being as graceful and pleasing as the music. One day, while sitting at

a state banquet in the Palazzo di Venezia, Giovanni Angelo de' Medici,

one of the cardinals present, asked him if he could improvise "on the

praises of the clock," the sound of which, from the belfry of the

palace, had just struck his ears. The melodious song of Silvio, on

such an extraordinary theme, was received with loud applause; and when

Giovanni Angelo de' Medici was elected Pope in 1559, under the name of

Pius IV., he raised the young poet to the rank of a cardinal in

recognition of his extraordinary talent.

The mausoleum of Lucilia Polla and her brother Lucilius Pætus was

discovered in May, 1885, in the Villa Bertone, opposite the Villa

Albani, at a distance of seven hundred metres from the gate. It is the

largest sepulchral structure discovered in my time, and worthy of

being compared in size to the mausoleum of Metella on the Appian Way,

and the so-called Torrione on the Labicana. It was originally composed

of two parts: a basement, one hundred and ten feet in diameter, built

of travertine and marble, which is the only part that remains; and a

cone of earth fifty-two feet high, covered with trees, in imitation of

the Mausoleum of Augustus, with which it was contemporary. The cone

has disappeared. The inscription, sixteen feet long, is engraved on

the side facing the Via Salaria, in letters of the most exquisite form

to be found in Rome. It states that Marcus Lucilius Pætus, an officer

who had the command of the cavalry and the military engineers in one

or more campaigns, in the time of Augustus, had built the tomb for his

sister Lucilia Polla, already deceased, and for himself.

The fate of the monument has been truly remarkable. I believe there is

no other in the necropolis of the Via Salaria which has undergone so

many changes in the course of centuries. The first took place in the

reign of Trajan, when the monument was buried under a prodigious mass

of earth, together with a large section of an adjoining cemetery. In

fact, columbaria dating from the time of Hadrian have been found built

against the beautiful inscription of Lucilia Polla; and the

inscription itself was disfigured by a coating of red paint, to make

it harmonize with the color of the three other walls of the crypt. The

whole tract between the Salaria and the Pinciana was raised in the

same manner twenty-five feet; and contains, therefore, two layers of

tombs,--the lower belonging to the republican or early imperial epoch,

the upper to the time of Hadrian and later.

Where did this enormous mass of earth come from?

A clew to the answer is given on page 87 of my "Ancient Rome," where,

in describing the construction of Trajan's forum, and the column which

stands in the middle of it, "to show to posterity how high rose the

mountain levelled by the emperor" (_ad declarandum quantæ

altitudinis mons et locus sit egestus_), I stated that I had been able

to estimate the amount of earth and rock removed to make room for the

forum at 24,000,000 cubic feet, and concluded, "I have made

investigations over the Campagna to discover the place where the

twenty-four million cubic feet were carted and dumped, but my efforts

have not, as yet, been crowned with success." The place is now

discovered. None but an emperor would have dared to bury a cemetery so

important as that which I am now describing; and if we remember that

it was the open space which was nearest of all to Trajan's

excavations, easy of access, that the burying of a cemetery for a

necessity of state could be justified by the proceedings of Mæcenas

and Augustus, described on page 67 of the same book, and that the

change must have taken place at the beginning of the second century,

as proved by the dates, and by the construction and type of tombs

belonging respectively to the lower and upper strata, I think that my

surmise may be accepted as an established fact.

Thus vanished the mausoleum of the Lucilii from the eyes and from the

memory of the Romans of the second century. Towards the end of the

fourth century the Christians, while tunnelling the ground near it,

for one of their smaller catacombs, discovered the crypt by accident,

and occupied it. The shape of this crypt may be compared to that of

Hadrian's mausoleum; that is, it was a hall in the form of a Greek

cross, in the centre of the circular structure, and was reached by

means of a corridor. The Christians scattered the relics of the first

occupants, knocked down their busts, built arcosolia in the three

recesses of the Greek cross, and honeycombed with loculi the side

walls of the corridor. The transformation was so complete that, when

we first entered the corridor, in July, 1886, we thought we had found

a wing of the catacombs of S. Saturninus. Some of the loculi were

closed with tiles, others with pagan inscriptions which the _fossores_

had found by chance in tunnelling their way into the crypt. Two

loculi, excavated near the entrance outside the corridor, contained

bodies of infants with magic circlets around their necks. They are

most extraordinary objects in both material and variety of shape. The

pendants are cut in bone, ivory, rock crystal, onyx, jasper, amethyst,

amber, touch-stone, metal, glass, and enamel; and they represent

elephants, bells, doves, pastoral flutes, hares, knives, rabbits,

poniards, rats, Fortuna, jelly-fish, human arms, hammers, symbols of

fecundity, helms, marbles, boar's tusks, loaves of bread, and so on.

The vicissitudes of the mausoleum did not end with this change of

religion and ownership. Two or three centuries ago, when the fever of

discovering and ransacking the catacombs of the Via Salaria was at its

height, some one found his way to the crypt, and committed purely

wanton destruction. The arcosolia were dismantled, and the loculi

violated one by one. We found the bones of the Christians of the

fourth century scattered over the floor, and, among them, the marble

busts of Lucilius Pætus and Lucilia Polla, which the Christians of the

fourth century had knocked from their pedestals. Such is the history

of Rome.

[Illustration: THE APPIAN WAY AND THE CAMPAGNA]

VIA APPIA. A delightful afternoon excursion in the vicinity of the

city can be made to the Valle della Caffarella from the so-called

"Tempio del Dio Redicolo" to the "Sacred Grove" by S. Urbano. Leaving

Rome by the Porta S. Sebastiano, and turning to the left directly

after passing the chapel of Domine quo vadis, we descend to the valley

of the river Almo, now called the Valle della Caffarella, from the

ducal family who owned it before the Torlonias. The path is full of

charm, running, as it does, along the banks of the historical stream,

and between hillsides which are covered with evergreens, and scented

with the perfume of wild flowers. The place is secluded and quiet,

and the solitary rambler is unconsciously reminded of Horace's stanza

(Epod. II.):--

"Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis,

Ut prisca gens mortalium,

Paterna rura bobus exercet suis,

Solutus omni foenore,

* * * * *

Forumque vitat, et superba civium

Potentiorum limina."

In no other capital of the present day can the sentiment expressed by

Horace be felt and enjoyed more than in Rome, where it is so easy to

forget the worries and frivolities of city life by walking a few steps

outside the gates. The Val d'Inferno and the Via del Casaletto,

outside the Porta Angelica, the Vigne Nuove outside the Porta Pia, and

the Valle della Caffarella, to which I am now leading my readers, all

are dreamy wildernesses, made purposely to give to our thoughts

fresher and healthier inspirations. Sometimes indistinct sounds from

the city yonder are borne to our ears by the wind, to increase, by

contrast, the happiness of the moment. And it is not only the natural

beauty of these secluded spots that fascinates the stranger: there are

associations special to each which increase its interest tenfold. At

the Vigne Nuove one can locate within a hundred feet the spot in which

Nero's suicide took place. The Val d'Inferno brings back to our memory

the two Domitiæ Lucillæ, their clay-quarries and brick-kilns, of which

the products were shipped even to Africa; the Valle della Caffarella

is full of souvenirs of Herodes Atticus and Annia Regilla, who are

brought to mind by their tombs, by the sacred grove, by the so-called

Grotto of Egeria, and by the remains of their beautiful villa.

Herodes Atticus, born at Marathon A. D. 104, of noble Athenian

parents, became one of the most distinguished men of his time.

Philostratos, the biographer of the Sophists, gives a detailed account

of his life and fortunes at the beginning of Book II. Inscriptions

relating to his career have been found in Rome, on the borders of the

Appian Way, the best-known being the _Iscrizioni greche triopee ora

Borghesiane_, edited by Ennio Quirino Visconti in 1794.[136] His

father, Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes, lost his fortune by

confiscation for reasons of state, and was therefore obliged, at the

beginning of his career, to depend upon the fortune of his wife,

Vibullia Alcia, for his support. Suddenly he became the richest man in

Greece, and probably in the world. Many writers have given accounts of

his extraordinary discovery of treasure, which was made in the

foundations of a small house which he owned at the foot of the

Akropolis, near the Dionysiac Theatre. He seems to have been more

frightened than pleased at the amount found, knowing how complicated

was the jurisprudence on this subject, and how greedy provincial

magistrates were. He addressed himself in general terms to the emperor

Nerva, asking what he should do with his discovery. The answer was

that he could make use of it as he pleased. Even then he was not

reassured, and wrote again to the emperor declaring that the fortune

was far beyond his condition in life. Nerva's answer confirmed him

emphatically in the full possession of this wealth. Herodes did much

good with it, as a noble revenge for the persecutions which he had

undergone in his younger days; and at his death his son inherited,

with the fortune, his generous instincts and kindliness.

Curiosity leads us to inquire where this amount of gold and treasure

came from, who it was that concealed it in the rock of the Akropolis,

and when, and for what reason. Visconti's surmise that it was hidden

there by a wealthy Roman, during the civic wars, and the proscriptions

which followed them towards the end of the Republic, is obviously

incorrect. No Roman general, magistrate, or merchant of republican

times could have collected such a fortune in impoverished Greece. I

have a more probable suggestion to make. When Xerxes engaged his fleet

against the Greek allies in the straits of Salamis, he was so

confident of gaining the day that he established himself comfortably

on a lofty throne on the slope of Mount Ægaleos to witness the fight.

And when he saw Fortune turn against his forces, and was obliged to

retire in hot haste, trusting his own safety to flight, I suppose that

the funds of war, which were kept by the treasurer of the army at

headquarters, may have been buried in a cleft of the Akropolis, in the

hope of a speedy and more successful return. The amount of money

carried by Xerxes' treasury officials for purposes of war must have

been enormous, when we consider that 2,641,000 men were counted at the

review held in the plains of Doriskos.

Whatever may have been the origin of the wealth of Atticus it could

not have fallen into better hands. His liberality towards men of

letters, and needy friends; his works of general utility executed in

Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy; his exhibitions of games and

entertainments in the Circus and in the Amphitheatre, did not prevent

him from cultivating science to such an extent that, on his arrival in

Rome, he was selected as tutor of the two adopted sons of Antoninus

Pius,--Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Here he married Annia

Regilla, one of the wealthiest ladies of the day, by whom he had six

children. She died in childbirth, and Herodes was accused, we do not

know on what ground, of having accelerated or caused her death by

ill-treatment or violence. Regilla's brother, Appius Annius Bradua,

consul A. D. 160, brought an action of uxoricide against Herodes, but

failed to prove his case. Still, the calumny remained in the mind of

the public. To dispel it, and to regain his position in society,

Herodes, although stricken with grief, made himself conspicuous almost

to excess in honoring the memory of his departed wife. Her jewels were

offered to Ceres and Proserpina; and the land which she had owned

between the Via Appia and the valley of the Almo was covered with

memorial buildings, and also consecrated to the gods. On the boundary

line of the property, columns were raised bearing the inscription in

Greek and Latin:--

"To the memory of Annia Regilla, wife of Herodes, the light and soul

of the house, to whom these lands once belonged."[137]

The lands are described in other epigraphic documents as containing a

village named Triopium, wheat-fields, vineyards, olive-groves,

pastures, a temple dedicated to Faustina the younger under the title

of the New Ceres, a burialspace for the family, placed under the

protection of Minerva and Nemesis, and lastly a grove sacred to the

memory of Regilla.

[Illustration: Tomb of Annia Regilla (fragment).]

Many of these monuments are still in existence. The first structure we

meet with is a tomb of considerable size built in the shape of a

temple, the lowest steps of which are watered by the Almo. Its popular

name of "Temple of the God Rediculus" is derived from a tradition

which points to this spot as the one at which Hannibal turned back

before the gates of Rome, and where a shrine to the "God of Retreat"

was subsequently raised by the Romans. The Campagna abounds in

sepulchral monuments of a similar design, but none can be compared

with this in the elegance of its terra-cotta carvings, which give it

the appearance and lightness of lace. The polychrome effect produced

by the alternate use of dark red and yellow bricks is particularly

fine.

Although no inscription has been found within or near this heroön,

there are reasons to prove that it was the family tomb of Regilla,

Herodes, and their six children. A more beautiful and interesting

structure is hardly to be found in the Campagna, and I wonder why so

few visit it. Perhaps it is better that it should be so, because its

present owner has just rented it for a pig-pen.

Higher up the valley, on a spur of the hill above the springs of

Egeria, stands the Temple of Ceres and Faustina, now called S. Urbano

alla Caffarella. It belongs to the Barberinis, who take good care of

it, as well as of the sacred grove of ilexes which covers the slope to

the south of the springs. The vestibule is supported by four marble

pillars, but, the intercolumniations having been filled up by Urban

VIII. in 1634, the picturesqueness of the effect is destroyed. Here

Herodes dedicated to the memory of his wife a statue, minutely

described in the second Triopian inscription, alluded to above. Early

Christians took possession of the temple and consecrated it to the

memory of Pope Urbanus, the martyr, whose remains were buried close

by, in the _crypta magna_ of the Catacombs of Prætextatus. Pope

Paschal I. caused the Confession of the church to be decorated with

frescoes representing the saint from whom it was named, with the

Virgin Mary, and S. John. In the year 1011 the panels between the

pilasters of the cella were covered with paintings illustrating the

lives and martyrdoms of Cæcilia, Tiburtius, Valerianus and Urbanus,

and, although injured by restorations, these paintings form the most

important contribution to the history of Italian art in the eleventh

century. We have therefore under one roof, and within the four walls

of this temple, the names of Ceres, Faustina, Herodes and Annia

Regilla, coupled with those of S. Cæcilia and S. Valerianus, of

Paschal I., and Pope Barberini; decorations in stucco and brick of the

time of Marcus Aurelius; paintings of the ninth and eleventh

centuries; and all this variety of wealth intrusted to the care of a

good old hermit, whose dreams are surely not troubled by the

conflicting souvenirs of so many events.

I need not remind the reader that the name of Egeria, given to the

nymphæum below the temple, is of Renaissance origin. The grotto in

which, according to the legend, and to Juvenal's description, Numa

held his secret meetings with the nymph Egeria, was situated within

the line of the walls of Aurelian, and in the lower grounds of the

Villa Fonseca, that is to say, at the foot of the Cælian Hill, near

the Via della Ferratella. I saw it first in 1868, and again in 1880

when collecting materials for my volume on the "Aqueducts and Springs

of Ancient Rome."[138] In 1887 it was buried by the military

engineers, while they were building their new hospital near Santo

Stefano Rotondo. The springs still make their way through the

newly-made ground, and appear again in the beautiful nymphæum of the

Villa Mattei (von Hoffmann) at the corner of the Via delle Mole di S.

Sisto and the Via di Porta S. Sebastiano.

As regards the Sacred Grove, there is no doubt that its present

beautiful ilexes continue the tradition, and flourish on the very

spot of the old grove, sacred to the memory of Annia Regilla, CVIVS

HAEC PRAEDIA FVERVNT.

[Illustration: The Sacred Grove and the Temple of Ceres; now S. Urbano

alla Caffarella.]

To come back, however, to the "Queen of the Roads:" among the many

discoveries that have taken place in the cemeteries which line it,

that made on April 16, 1485, during the pontificate of Innocent VIII.,

remains unrivalled.

There have been so many accounts published by modern writers[139] in

reference to this extraordinary event that it may interest my readers

to learn the truth by reviewing the evidence as it stands in its

original simplicity. I shall only quote such authorities as enable us

to ascertain what really took place on that memorable day. The case is

in itself so unique that it does not need amplification or the

addition of imaginary details. Let us first consult the diary of

Antonio di Vaseli:--

(f. 48.) "To-day, April 19, 1485, the news came into Rome, that a body

buried a thousand years ago had been found in a farm of Santa Maria

Nova, in the Campagna, near the Casale Rotondo.... (f. 49.) The

Conservatori of Rome despatched a coffin to Santa Maria Nova

elaborately made, and a company of men for the transportation of the

body into the city. The body has been placed for exhibition in the

Conservatori palace, and large crowds of citizens and noblemen have

gone to see it. The body seems to be covered with a glutinous

substance, a mixture of myrrh and other precious ointments, which

attract swarms of bees. The said body is intact. The hair is long and

thick; the eyelashes, eyes, nose, and ears are spotless, as well as

the nails. It appears to be the body of a woman, of good size; and

her head is covered with a light cap of woven gold thread, very

beautiful. The teeth are white and perfect; the flesh and the tongue

retain their natural color; but if the glutinous substance is washed

off, the flesh blackens in less than an hour. Much care has been taken

in searching the tomb in which the corpse was found, in the hope of

discovering the epitaph, with her name; it must be an illustrious one,

because none but a noble and wealthy person could afford to be buried

in such a costly sarcophagus thus filled with precious ointments."

Translation of a letter of messer Daniele da San Sebastiano, dated

MCCCCLXXXV:--

"In the course of excavations which were made on the Appian Way, to

find stones and marbles, three marble tombs have been discovered

during these last days, sunk twelve feet below the ground. One was of

Terentia Tulliola, daughter of Cicero; the other had no epitaph. One

of them contained a young girl, intact in all her members, covered

from head to foot with a coating of aromatic paste, one inch thick. On

the removal of this coating, which we believe to be composed of myrrh,

frankincense, aloe, and other priceless drugs, a face appeared, so

lovely, so pleasing, so attractive, that, although the girl had

certainly been dead fifteen hundred years, she appeared to have been

laid to rest that very day. The thick masses of hair, collected on the

top of the head in the old style, seemed to have been combed then and

there. The eyelids could be opened and shut; the ears and the nose

were so well preserved that, after being bent to one side or the

other, they instantly resumed their original shape. By pressing the

flesh of the cheeks the color would disappear as in a living body. The

tongue could be seen through the pink lips; the articulations of the

hands and feet still retained their elasticity. The whole of Rome,

men and women, to the number of twenty thousand, visited the marvel of

Santa Maria Nova that day. I hasten to inform you of this event,

because I want you to understand how the ancients took care to prepare

not only their souls but also their bodies for immortality. I am sure

that if you had had the privilege of beholding that lovely young face,

your pleasure would have equalled your astonishment."

Translation of a letter, dated Rome, April 15, 1485, among Schedel's

papers in Cod. 716 of the Munich library:

"Knowing your eagerness for novelties, I send you the news of a

discovery just made on the Appian Way, five miles from the gate, at a

place called Statuario (the same as S. Maria Nova). Some workmen

engaged in searching for stones and marbles have discovered there a

marble coffin of great beauty, with a female body in it, wearing a

knot of hair on the back of her head, in the fashion now popular among

the Hungarians. It was covered with a cap of woven gold, and tied with

golden strings. Cap and strings were stolen at the moment of the

discovery, together with a ring which she wore on the second finger of

the left hand. The eyes were open, and the body preserved such

elasticity that the flesh would yield to pressure, and regain its

natural shape immediately. The form of the body was beautiful in the

extreme; the appearance was that of a girl of twenty-five. Many

identify her with Tulliola, daughter of Cicero, and I am ready to

believe so, because I have seen, close by there, a tombstone with the

name of Marcus Tullius; and because Cicero is known to have owned

lands in the neighborhood. Never mind whose daughter she was; she was

certainly noble and rich by birth. The body owed its preservation to a

coating of ointment two inches thick, composed of myrrh, balm, and oil

of cedar. The skin was white, soft, and perfumed. Words cannot

describe the number and the excitement of the multitudes who rushed to

admire this marvel. To make matters easy, the Conservatori have agreed

to remove the beautiful body to the Capitol. One would think there is

some great indulgence and remission of sins to be gained by climbing

that hill, so great is the crowd, especially of women, attracted by

the sight.

"The marble coffin has not yet been removed to the city; but I am told

that the following letters are engraved on it: 'Here lies Julia Prisca

Secunda. She lived twenty-six years and one month. She has committed

no fault, except to die.' It seems that another name is engraved on

the same coffin, that of a Claudius Hilarus, who died at forty-six. If

we are to believe current rumors, the discoverers of the body have

fled, taking with them great treasures."

And now let the reader gaze at the mysterious lady. The accompanying

cut represents her body as it was exhibited in the Conservatori

palace, and is taken from an original sketch in the Ashburnham Codex,

1174, f. 134.

[Illustration: The body of a girl found in 1485.]

Celio Rodigino, Leandro Alberti, Alexander ab Alexandro and Corona

give other particulars of some interest:--

The excavations were undertaken by the monks of Santa Maria Nuova

(now S. Francesca Romana), five miles from the gate. The tomb stood on

the left or east side of the road, high above the ground. The

sarcophagus was imbedded in the walls of the foundation, and its cover

was sealed with molten lead. As soon as the lid was removed, a strong

odor of turpentine and myrrh was remarked by those present. The body

is described as well arranged in the coffin, with arms and legs still

flexible. The hair was blonde, and bound by a fillet (_infula_) woven

of gold. The color of the flesh was absolutely lifelike. The eyes and

mouth were partly open, and if one drew the tongue out slightly it

would go back to its place of itself. During the first days of the

exhibition on the Capitol this wonderful relic showed no signs of

decay; but after a time the action of the air began to tell upon it,

and the face and hands turned black. The coffin seems to have been

placed near the cistern of the Conservatori palace, so as to allow the

crowd of visitors to move around and behold the wonder with more ease.

Celio Rodigino says that the first symptoms of putrefaction were

noticed on the third day; and he attributes the decay more to the

removal of the coating of ointments than to the action of the air.

Alexander ab Alexandro describes the ointment which filled the bottom

of the coffin as having the appearance and scent of a fresh perfume.

These various accounts are no doubt written under the excitement of

the moment, and by men naturally inclined to exaggeration; still, they

all agree in the main details of the discovery,--in the date, the

place of discovery, and the description of the corpse. Who was, then,

the girl for the preservation of whose remains so much care had been

taken?

Pomponio Leto, the leading archæologist of the age, expressed the

opinion that she might have been either Tulliola, daughter of Cicero,

or Priscilla, wife of Abascantus, whose tomb on the Appian Way is

described by Statius (Sylv. V. i. 22). Either supposition is wrong.

The first is invalidated by the fact that the body was of a young and

tender girl, while Tulliola is known to have died in childbirth at the

age of thirty-two. Moreover, there is no document to prove that Cicero

had a family vault at the sixth milestone of the Appian Way. The tomb

of Priscilla, wife of Abascantus, a favorite freedman of Domitian, is

placed by Statius near the bridge of the Almo (Fiume Almone,

Acquataccio) four and a half miles nearer the gate; where, in front of

the Chapel of Domine quo vadis, it has been found and twice excavated:

the first time in 1773 by Amaduzzi; the second in 1887, under my

supervision. The only clew worth following is that given in Pehem's

letter of April 15, now in the Munich library; but even this leads to

no result. The inscription, which was said to mention the name and age

of the girl, is perfectly genuine, and duly registered in the "Corpus

Inscriptionum," No. 20,634. It is as follows:--

D·M

IVLIA·L·L·PRISCA

VIX·ANN·XXVI·M·I·D·I

Q·CLODIVS·HILARVS

VIX·ANN·XXXXVI

NIHIL·VNQVAM·PECCAVIT

NISI·QVOD·MORTVA·EST

"To the infernal gods. [Here lie] Julia Prisca, freedwoman of Lucius

Julius, who lived twenty-six years one month, one day; [and also] Q.

Clodius Hilarus, who lived forty-six years. She never did any wrong

except to die." Pehem, Malaguy, Fantaguzzi, Waelscapple and all the

rest of them, assert unanimously that the inscription was found with

the body on April 16, 1485, and they are all mistaken. It had been

seen and copied, _at least twenty-two years before_, by Felix

Felicianus of Verona, and is to be found in the MSS. collection of

ancient epitaphs, which he dedicated to Andrea Mantegna in 1463. The

number of spurious inscriptions concocted for the occasion is truly

remarkable. Georges of Spalato (1484-1545) gives the following version

of this one in his MSS. diary, now in Weimar: "Here lies my only

daughter Tulliola, who has committed no offence, except to die. Marcus

Tullius Cicero, her unhappy father, has raised this memorial."

The poor girl, whose name and condition in life will never be known,

and whose body for twelve centuries had so wonderfully escaped

destruction, was most abominably treated by her discoverers in 1485.

There are two versions as to her ultimate fate. According to one, Pope

Innocent VIII., to stop the excitement and the superstitions of the

citizens, caused the _conservatori_ to remove the body at night

outside the Porta Salaria, and bury it secretly at the foot of the

city walls. According to the second it was thrown into the Tiber. One

is just about as probable as the other.

How differently we treat these discoveries in our days! In the early

morning of May 12, 1889, I was called to witness the opening of a

marble coffin which had been discovered two days before, under the

foundations of the new Halls of Justice, on the right bank of the

Tiber, near Hadrian's Mausoleum. As a rule, the ceremony of cutting

the brass clamps which fasten the lids of urns and sarcophagi is

performed in one of our archæological repositories, where the contents

can be quietly and carefully examined, away from an excited and

sometimes dangerous crowd. In the present case this plan was found

impracticable, because the coffin was ascertained to be filled with

water which had, in the course of centuries, filtered in, drop by

drop, through the interstices of the lid. The removal to the Capitol

was therefore abandoned, not only on account of the excessive weight

of the coffin, but also because the shaking of the water would have

damaged and disordered the skeleton and the objects which, perchance,

were buried inside.

The marble sarcophagus was embedded in a stratum of blue clay, at a

depth of twenty-five feet below the level of the city, that is, only

four or five feet above the level of the Tiber, which runs close by.

It was inscribed simply with the name CREPEREIA TRYPHAENA, and

decorated with bas-reliefs representing the scene of her death. No

sooner had the seals been broken, and the lid put aside, than my

assistants, myself, and the whole crowd of workmen from the Halls of

Justice, were almost horrified at the sight before us. Gazing at the

skeleton through the veil of the clear water, we saw the skull

covered, as it were, with long masses of brown hair, which were

floating in the liquid crystal. The comments made by the simple and

excited crowd by which we were surrounded were almost as interesting

as the discovery itself. The news concerning the prodigious hair

spread like wild-fire among the populace of the district; and so the

exhumation of Crepereia Tryphæna was accomplished with unexpected

solemnity, and its remembrance will last for many years in the popular

traditions of the new quarter of the Prati di Castello. The mystery of

the hair is easily explained. Together with the spring-water, germs or

seeds of an aquatic plant had entered the sarcophagus, settled on the

convex surface of the skull, and developed into long glossy threads of

a dark shade.

[Illustration: OBJECTS FOUND IN THE GRAVE OF CREPEREIA TRYPHÆNA]

The skull was inclined slightly towards the left shoulder and towards

an exquisite little doll, carved of oak, which was lying on the

scapula, or shoulder-blade. On each side of the head were gold

earrings with pearl drops. Mingled with the vertebræ of the neck and

back were a gold necklace, woven as a chain, with thirty-seven

pendants of green jasper, and a brooch with an amethyst intaglio of

Greek workmanship, representing the fight of a griffin and a deer.

Where the left hand had been lying, we found four rings of solid gold.

One is an engagement-ring, with an engraving in red jasper

representing two hands clasped together. The second has the name

PHILETVS engraved on the stone; the third and fourth are plain gold

bands. Proceeding further with our exploration, we discovered, close

to the right hip, a box containing toilet articles. The box was made

of thin pieces of hard wood, inlaid _alla Certosina_, with lines,

squares, circles, triangles, and diamonds, of bone, ivory, and wood of

various kinds and colors. The box, however, had been completely

disjointed by the action of the water. Inside there were two fine

combs in excellent preservation, with the teeth larger on one side

than on the other: a small mirror of polished steel, a silver box for

cosmetics, an amber hairpin, an oblong piece of soft leather, and a

few fragments of a sponge.[140] The most impressive discovery was made

after the removal of the water, and the drying of the coffin. The

woman had been buried in a shroud of fine white linen, pieces of which

were still encrusted and cemented against the bottom and sides of the

case, and she had been laid with a wreath of myrtle fastened with a

silver clasp about the forehead. The preservation of the leaves is

truly remarkable.

Who was this woman, whose sudden and unexpected reappearance among us

on the twelfth of May, 1889, created such a sensation? When did she

live? At what age did she die? What caused her death? What was her

condition in life? Was she beautiful? Why was she buried with her

doll? The careful examination of the tomb and its contents enable us

to answer all these questions satisfactorily.

Crepereia Tryphæna lived at the beginning of the third century after

Christ, during the reigns of Septimius Severus and Caracalla, as is

shown by the form of the letters and the style of the bas-reliefs

engraved on the sarcophagus. She was not noble by birth; her Greek

surname _Tryphæna_ shows that she belonged to a family of freedmen,

former servants of the noble family of the Creperei. We know nothing

about her features, except that she had a strong and fine set of

teeth. Her figure, however, seems to have been rather defective, on

account of a deformity in the ribs, probably caused by scrofula.

Scrofula, in fact, seems to have been the cause of her death. In spite

of this deformity, however, there is no doubt that she was betrothed

to the young man Philetus, whose name is engraved on the stone of the

second ring, and that the two happy lovers had exchanged the oath of

fidelity and mutual devotion for life, which is expressed by the

symbol of the clasped hands. The story of her sad death, and of the

sudden grief which overtook her family on the eve of a joyful wedding,

is plainly told by the presence in the coffin of the doll and the

myrtle wreath, which is a _corona nuptialis_. I believe, in fact, that

the girl was buried in her full bridal costume, and then covered with

the linen shroud, because there are fragments of clothes of various

textures and qualities mixed with those of the white linen.

And now let us turn our attention to the doll. This exquisite _pupa_,

a work of art in itself, is of oak, to which the combined action of

time and water has given the hardness of metal. It is modelled in

perfect imitation of a woman's form, and ranks amongst the finest of

its kind yet found in Roman excavations. The hands and feet are carved

with the utmost skill. The arrangement of the hair is characteristic

of the age of the Antonines, and differs but little from the coiffure

of Faustina the elder. The doll was probably dressed, because in the

thumb of her right hand are inserted two gold keyrings like those

carried by housewives. This charming little figure, the joints of

which at the hips, knees, shoulders, and elbows are still in good

order, is nearly a foot high. Dolls and playthings are not peculiar to

children's tombs. It was customary for young ladies to offer their

dolls to Venus or Diana on their wedding-day. But this was not the end

reserved for Crepereia's doll. She was doomed to share the sad fate of

her young mistress, and to be placed with her corpse, before the

marriage ceremony could be performed.

FOOTNOTES:

[121] See chapter iii., p. 67, of _Ancient Rome_

[122] _De titulis in quibus impensæ monumentorum sepulcralium indicatæ

sunt._

[123] See Luigi Grifi: _Sopra la iscrizione antica dell' auriga

Scirto_, in the _Accademia archeologica_, 1854, v. xiii.

[124] See the _Corpus inscriptionum latinarum_, vol. vi., part 2, nos.

4327-5886.

[125] See Walch: _Ad Gorii Xenia_, p. 98.--Orelli-Henzen: vol. 2, no.

4789, etc.

[126] _Monumenti inediti dell' Instituto di correspondenza

archeologica_, Supplemento, 1891.

[127] _Titus_, 4.

[128] See:--Pietro Sante Bartoli: _Gli antichi sepolcri_. Roma: de

Rossi, 1727.--_Corpus inscriptionum latinarum_, vol. vi., part ii.,

pp. 1073, 1076.--_Villa Pamphylia, ejusque palatium cum suis

prospectibus: statuæ, fontes, vivaria_. Romae: fol. max.--Ignazio

Ciampi: _Innocenzo X Pamfili e la sua corte_. Roma: Galeati, 1878.

[129] See:--Otto Jahn: _Die Wandgemälde des Columbariums in der Villa

Pamfili_, in the _Abhandlungen der bayerischen Akademie_, 1857.--Eugen

Petersen: _Sitzungsberichte des Archäologischen Instituts_, Römische

Abtheilung, March 18, 1892.

[130] A discovery of the same kind has come within my experience. In

1885, while excavating near the city walls, between the Porta S.

Lorenzo and the Porta Maggiore, we found an amphora of great size,

containing the corpse of a little child embedded in lime. He had

probably died of a contagious disease. The corpse had been reduced to

a handful of tiny bones; and the impression of them was so spoiled by

dampness and age that it was found impossible to cast the form of the

infant.

[131] _Digest_, ix., 2, 5, § 3.

[132] See:--_Notizie degli Scavi_, 1884, p. 393.--Henzen: _Bullettino

dell' Instituto_, 1885, p. 9.--Stevenson: _idem_, 1885, p.

22.--Geffroy: _Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome_, 1885, p. 318,

pl. vii-xiii.

[133] See C. Ludovico Visconti: _Il sepolcro del fanciullo Quinto

Sulpicio Massimo._ Roma, 1871.--Wilhelm Henzen: _Sepolcri antichi

rinvenuti alla porta salaria_, in the _Bullettino dell' Instituto_,

1871, p. 98.--Luigi Ciofi: _Inscriptiones latinæ et græcæ, cum carmine

græco extemporali Quinti Sulpicii Maximi_. Roma, 1871.--J. Henry

Parker: _Tombs in and near Rome_. Oxford, 1877. (Plate X.)

[134] On the subject of this competition see:--Suetonius: _Domitian_,

4.--Stefano Morcelli: _Sull' Agone Capitolino_. Dissertazione postuma.

Milano, 1816.--Joachim Marquardt: _Handbuch der römischen

Alterthümer_, iv., 453.

[135] See Cesare Lucchesini: _Esame della questione se i latini

avessero veri poeti improvvisatori_. Lucca, 1828.

[136] The bibliography on Herodes Atticus and his villa at the second

milestone of the Appian Way is so rich that I can mention but a few of

the leading works, besides Visconti's.--Claude Saumaise: _Mémoires sur

la vie d'Herodes Atticus_, in _Académie des inscriptions et belles

lettres_, xxx. p. 25; _Corpus inscriptionum græcarum_: vol. iii.

no. 6280, p. 924.--Wilhelm Dittenberger: _Die Familie des Herodes

Atticus_.--Richard Burgess: _Description of the Circus on the Via

Appia_. Italian translation, p. 89. Rome, 1829.--Ludovico Bianconi:

_Descrizione dei circhi e particolarmente di quello di Caracalla_.

Roma, 1786.--Antonio Nibby: _Del circo volgarmente detto di

Caracalla_. Roma, 1825.

[137] When Maxentius repaired the Appian Way in 309, one of these

commemorative columns was converted into a milestone, the seventh from

the Porta Capena. The column was removed in the Middle Ages to the

Church of S. Eusebio on the Esquiline, where it was seen and

purchased, at the beginning of the last century, by cardinal

Alessandro Albani. It now belongs to the Capitoline Museum.

[138] _I comentari di Frontino intorno le acque e gli acquedotti_:

Opera premiata dalla r. Accademia dei Lincei col premio reale di lire

10,000. Roma, Salviucci, 1880.

[139] Among the modern writers on the subject are:--Christian Hülsen:

_Die Auffindung der römischen Leiche vom Jahre_ 1485, in the

_Mittheilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtforschung_,

Band iv., Heft 3.--J. Addington Symonds: _History of the Renaissance_,

i. 23.--Giovanni Antonio Riccy: _Dell' antico pago Lemonio_. Roma,

1802 (p. 109).--Gregorovius: _Geschichte der Stadt Rom im

Mittelalter_, vii., 3, p. 571.--_Corpus inscriptionum latinarum_, vol.

vi., no. 20,634.

Contemporary documents:--Stefano Infessura: _Diario_, edited by

Tommasini. Rome, 1890.--Notarius a Nantiportu: in _Cod. Vatic._,

6,823, f. 250.--Raffaele Maffei da Volterra (Volterranus, born 1451,

died 1522): _Commentarii rerum Urbanarum_, column 954 of the Lyons

edition, 1552.--Bartolomeo Fonte (Humanist, born 1445, died 1513):

letter to Francesco Sassetto, published by Janitschek: _Gesells. der

Rénaissance_, p. 120.--Letter from Laur Pehem, dated April 15, 1475,

in the _Cod. Munich_, 716 (among the papers collected by Hartman

Schedel).--Copy of a letter from messer Daniele da San Sebastiano to

Giacomo di Maphei, citizen of Verona, in the _Cod. Marciano_ (Venice),

xiv. 267.--Alexander ab Alexandro (born at Naples, 1461, died in Rome,

1523): _Genialium Dierum_, iii. 2.--Fragment of the diary of Antonio

di Vaseli (1481-1486), in the _Archives of the Vatican_, Armar. XV.

fasc. 41.--Fragment of the diary of Corona (first entry Jan. 30, 1481;

last July 25, 1492) in the possession of H. D. Grissel, Esq.--Anonym

ap. Mountfaucon, _Diarium Italicum_, xi. 157.

[140] Sponges are most frequently found in the _cistæ_ at Palestrina,

which were nothing else but toilet-boxes. I have had the opportunity

of examining the contents of twelve of them, lately discovered. These

include sponges, combs of various kinds and shapes, hairpins, wooden

boxes with movable lids, still full of excellent powders, cosmetics,

and ointments, and other articles of the _mundus muliebris_.