Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/841

 ROMA. 821 ARCH OF DRUSUS. with mentioning a few which were contained within the actual boundaries of the city. They appear to liave commenced immediately outside the Porta Capena (" An tu egressus porta Capena, cum Ca- latini, Scipionum, Servilioram, Sletellorum sepulcra vides, miseros pufas illos?" Cic Ttisc. i. 7); and hence many of them were included in the larger circuit of the walls of Aurelian. The tomb of Horatia, slain by the hand of lier victorious brother, seems to have been situated just outside the gate. (Liv. i. 2 6.) Fortunately the most interesting of those mentioned by Cicero — the Tomb of the Scipios — is still in existence. It was discovered in 1780 in the Viyna Sassi, on the left-hand side of the Via Appia, a little beyond the spot where the Via Latina branches off from it, and about 400 paces within the Porta S. Sobastiano. Its entrance is marked by a single tall cypress tree. In Livy's time the tomb was still adorned with three statues, said to be those of Publius and Lucius Scipio, and of the poet Ennius, who was interred in the sepulchre of his patrons. (Hieron. Chron. p. 379, Rone.) It was here that the sarcophagus of L. Scipio Barbatus, consul in b. c. 298, now preserved in the Vatican, was discovered, together with several monumental stones with inscriptions relating to other members of the family, or to their connections and freedmen. The originals were carried off to the Vatican and copies inserted in their stead. The most remarkable of these inscriptions are that of Scipio Barbatus ; of his son Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the conqueror of Corsica, consul in b. c. 259; of Publius Scipio, son of Africanus Major, whose feeble state of health is alluded to by Cicero {Cato Maj. 11), and whose touching epitaph shows that he died young; of L. Cornelius Scipio, grandson of the conqueror of Spain, gathered to his fathers at the early age of 20; and of another of the same name, the son of Asiaticus, who died aged 33, whose title to lionour is summed up in the laconic words, " Pater regem Antiochum subegit." A complete account of this tomb will be found in Visconti (^Mon. deyli Scipioni, Rom. 1785) and in the Bescltreilnmg Horns (vol. iii. p. 612, seq.), where the various epitaphs are given. Also on the left-hand side of the Via Appia in going from the Porta Capena was the Mausoleum of Septimius Severus, which he caused to be erected for himself in his lifetime, in imitation of his Septi- zonium, but probably on a reduced scale. (Spart Geta, 7.) In the same neighbourhood are some of those Columbaria, or subterranean chambers, which formed the common resting-places for the ashes of persons of a lower condition. One of these, not flir from the tomb of the Scipios, is said to contain the remains of the courtiers and domestics of the Caesars, from Julius to Nero. Among others there is an inscription to M. Valerius Creticus, with a bust. The walls, as well as a large pier in the middle, are hollowed throughout with vaulted recesses like large pigeon-holes, — whence the name, — in which are contained the ashes of the dead. The Mauso- leum of Caecilia Meteli^, which stands on the Via Appia, about 2 miles outside the Porta S. Sebastiano, though it does not properly belong to our subject, demands, from the magnificence of its construction, as well as from Byron's well-known lines {Childe Harold, canto iv.), a passing word of notice here. The remaining part of the district, or that form- ing the 12th Regio, and lying to the V. of the Via Appia, does not present many monuments of interest. The most striking one, the Thermae An- toninianae, or baths of Caracalla, will be spoken of under its proper head. We have already treated of the Bona Dea Subsasanea and of the Isium. Close to the baths just mentioned Caracalla built the street called Nova Via, reckoned one of the hand- somest in Rome. (Spart. Carac. 2 ; Aur. Vict. Cues. 21.) Respecting the Foutuna JIammosa, we know nothing more than that the Basis Cajiitolina mentions a street of the same name in this neigh- bourhood. In the later period of the Empire this district appears to have contained several splendid palaces, as the Ski'tem Domus Partuokum, tho 3g 3