chamber is an inscription, which fixes the date of rebuilding by the names of the Consuls under Tiberius, A.D. 22.

These two small compartments cannot possibly have constituted the whole chief public prison of Rome, and researches made further to the north-east of the "Prison of S. Peter," shew a series of much larger chambers, which evidently formed part of the great Mamertine dungeons. These are situated westward of the wall which is taken to be the western limit of the Forum of Julius Cæsar, as mentioned in the notice of that Forum, and begin at the distance of about a hundred-and-twenty feet from the small prison just described. There are six chambers, now cellars under the houses, those of them that remain perfect being forty feet long by fourteen in width, and twenty in height, and though much divided and mixed up with later additions, the large blocks of tufa clearly distinguish the original walls. They are vaulted with brickwork of the time of the Empire, and, as in the vestibule, there is an opening in the centre for letting down the prisoners. It is evident that the floor has been raised since the original construction about six feet, as shewn by the bed of plaster now covering it; and this was done probably when the prison was partly rebuilt under Tiberius, in order to raise it above the reach of ordinary floods in the Tiber: a very high flood brings the water into these dungeons still. As it seems extremely improbable that there should have been two distinct prisons so near each other, the solution is that the smaller of them was a vestibule and guard-room to the rest on the western side of the quadrangle formed by the whole block of buildings, the southern side being open to the Forum, the main body of the prison occupying the north side, and another wing the east, of which last the six chambers are a portion.

Between the two divisions of the prison a communication exists in a subterranean passage, which has underneath it a drain. Out of this long sub-way a short branch turns at right angles up to the lower chamber in "S. Peter's Prison," and there are other cross-ways from it, evidently communicating with the different substructures of the buildings. The main passage has been followed downwards along the whole front of the Tabularium and beneath the Forum, and is found to terminate in a branch of the Cloaca Maxima. It is of exceedingly early construction, being quite Etruscan in character, of massive squared stones, and identical in style and form with the original parts of the great Cloaca of the Kings. One object of this passage was to enable the Aquarii to gain access to the drain beneath, for the purpose of removing obstructions; and another use of it probably was to carry along it the bodies of strangled prisoners, and throw them into the Cloaca, the copious stream of water which runs through this would carry them into the Tiber through its mouth in the Forum Boarium. The most northern of these cells has one wall of the time of Servius Tullius, and was part of the Robur Tullianum; the rest of that appears to have been destroyed. The walls of that king are known to have been built of the usual large blocks of tufa, connected by iron clamps, the holes for which remain at the edges of each stone.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MAUSOLEA AND TOMBS OF ROME.

THE magnificence displayed in the public buildings of the Romans, was extended in full measure to their sepulchral monuments; in grandeur of dimensions, excellence of materials, and beauty of ornamentation, such structures equalled the other architectural works of that people. This chapter aims at giving a notice of the more remarkable among the remains of Roman tombs within and without the present walls.

It will be remembered that the ancient law of the Republic, contained in the XII. Tables, forbade interment within the city; and this regulation was closely observed. But it must be understood that the term City is to be taken very strictly as signifying the area of the Seven Hills enclosed by the third Wall of the Kings, that of Servius Tullius. It is important to observe this, which enables us to understand how the Esquiliæ was for centuries a great burying-place for the people, outside the limits of the city proper, but within the external line of fortification. In like manner, the Campus Martius, being without the inner wall, was used for the interment of the higher classes, and was studded with their tombs. The position of a tomb enables us in certain instances to determine the limits of the city; as, for instance, in the case of the Lateran fortress, the existence of a monument between it and the Cœlian Hill, shews that it was an outwork, not included in inner Rome; and that this distinction was maintained in early Imperial times, and in fact till the reign of Aurelian.

MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS. - The site of the remains of

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this great structure answers to the position assigned to it by Suetonius, as lying between the Via Flaminia and the Tiber. That road, corresponding to the modern street, the Corso, ran nearly due north through the Campus Martius, which is bounded by the Tiber on the west. Strabo's account of this great burial-place, reared by Augustus for himself and others of the family of the Cæsars, is as follows:- "The most remarkable of all the tombs in the Campus is that called the Mausoleum, which consists of a huge mound of earth, raised upon a lofty base of white marble, near the river-bank, and planted to the summit with evergreen trees. Upon the top is a bronze statue of Cæsar Augustus; and under the mound are the burial-places of Augustus, his family, and friends; while behind it is a spacious wood containing admirably-designed walks. In the middle of the Campus is the enclosure made by Augustus for burning the corpses, also of white marble, surrounded by an iron railing, and planted with poplartrees." The mound had become a vineyard in the fifteenth century, and still went by the name of Augusta; but in the next century had disappeared.

The gardens behind stood northward from the Mausoleum, the principal entrance to which from the side of the city faced the south: here there was a vestibule flanked by two obelisks, one of which stands before the Quirinal Palace, and the other in the square of S. Maria Maggiore. In the vestibule were fastened the bronze plates engraved with the Gesta Augusti, of which the Monumentum Ancyranum is a copy in marble. The main body of the building was circular, about 220 feet in external diameter: the interior consists of a great central vault, 130 feet in diameter, for Augustus himself; and thirteen smaller cells arranged round it for the members of the family; each of these cells measures 35 feet by 20. The material used is concrete, faced with reticulated-work; and the walls are of immense thickness. The first person buried in the Mausoleum was M. Claudius Marcellus, the favourite nephew of Augustus, and intended for his successor, who died B.C. 23, at the age of 20; and the last was Nerva, A.D. 98. Cippi of other Cæsars interred here, with inscriptions, have been found; amongst them of Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, of three of their sons, and one daughter; and of a son of Drusus. The inscription to the Emperor Nerva was thus briefly expressed: HÆC.SUNT. OSSA. ET. CINIS. NERVÆ . IMPERATORIS: with his burial the Mausoleum was full. Trajan, his successor, was buried beneath the triumphal column in his Forum; and the next Emperor, Hadrian, reared the second great Mausoleum, bearing his name.

THE HADRIANUM, OR MOLES HADRIANI. - This vast structure stands in the Transtiberine region, near the river, in a position corresponding to that of the work of Augustus on the opposite bank. It is a circular building, nearly 1000 feet in circumference, and standing on a square basement. Begun by Hadrian about A.D. 130, at the same time as the new bridge bearing the name Pons Ælius, after that of the family of the Emperor, it was carried on and finished by one of the Antonines, probably Commodus, to whom an inscription was placed upon the wall of the Mausoleum. As usual, the main core of the building is of concrete, faced with large blocks of peperino stone; but originally it was cased with Parian marble, and crowned at the top with statues in the same material, of men and horses; such is the account of Procopius, who saw it before it was despoiled. In the centre of the interior is the sepulchral chamber in the form of a Greek cross; and here the remains of the Emperors, from Hadrian to Septimius Severus, were interred. In later times, when Rome