one which was left standing on the site of the Circus of Nero.)

Having given some idea of the topography of Rome, we will now give a sketch of its ANTIQUITIES, presuming that the attention of most tourists will first be directed to them. We shall follow, in our brief descriptions, the usual order, which divides them into three classes: 1st, those of the PERIOD OF THE KINGS; 2nd, those of the PERIOD OF THE REPUBLIC; and 3rd, those of the EMPIRE.

OF THE TIME OF THE KINGS.THE MAMERTINE PRISONS, upon the declivity of the Capitoline Hill, near the arch of Septimius Severus, are entered through a chapel beneath the flight of steps leading to the church of San Guiseppe dei Falegnami. They consist of a large vault, which appears originally to have had no other entrance than a square aperture at the top in the vaulted roof; and a lower cell called the Tullium, in which is a spring said to have been produced miraculously by St. Peter when confined here, although historically mentioned long before his time in connection with Jugurtha, who was starved to death in this prison. Amongst other historical personages who have perished here may be named the accomplices of Catiline, strangled by order of Cicero; Vercingetorix, the Gaulish chief, put to death by command of Julius Cæsar; Sejanus, the favorite of Tiberius; and Joras the son of Simeon the Jewish general, in the reign of Vespasian. The construction of these vaults in every way proves their high antiquity, and there is no reason to doubt the correctness of their present appellation. The pillar to which St. Peter was bound is still shown.3 The CLOACA MAXIMA, the great sewer, was built by Tarquinius Priscus, 150 years after

the building of the city, for the purpose of draining the marshes between the Palatine and Capitoline hills into the Tiber. The best point of examination is near the Arch of Janus, from which it is perfect to the river. The point of discharge into the Tiber is still to be seen at a short distance from the Temple of Vesta,1

PERIOD OF THE REPUBLIC. Of this period very few relics remain. We may mention only, the Via Appia and other great roads which led from Rome; some vestiges of Pompey's Theatre; perhaps the Temple of Fortuna Virilis; and above all the Tomb of the Scipios, the site of which is to be seen on the Appian Way near the gate of San Sebastian, and of which the sarcophagus is to be seen in the Vatican.

None of its ancient works remain on THE CAPITOL, except a corner of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, and a foundation wall behind the Senators' Palace, forming a portion of the ancient Tabularium or Record-office. These remains, which consist of enormous uncemented blocks of Peperine stone, are of great antiquity, having been laid down as a basement for the Capitol in the year of Rome 367. Livy, who notices the work, speaks of it as being considered a remarkable performance even in the magnificence of his day.

The two summits of the Capitoline hill, formerly distinguished by the names Arx and Capitolium, are still sufficiently well marked. That which was termed Arx-the loftier of the two-was on the south side of the hill, looking towards the river, the Theatre of Marcellus, and the Aventine Hill. This summit, to which the modern Romans have given the name of Monte Caprino, is supposed to have been

formerly attributed to the Temple of Jupiter Stator, the position of which is still the subject of much controversy; -on the left, proceeding towards the Coliseum; the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina (now columns of the portico of the church of San Lorenzo in Miranda); (the columns, partially uncovered, only rise half their height above the level of the soil.)9

Further on is the Temple of Romulus and Remus, a circular building serving as the vestibule to the Church of Saints Cosmo and Damiano; on the side are three gigantic arches (the Temple of Peace, or Basilica of Constantine); 10 behind the Church of Santa Francesca Romana, are the ruins of the TEMPLE OF VENUS AND OF ROME, built by Hadrian."1 Near the capitol, on the south, is the TARPEIAN ROCK,12 best seen from the garden of the Casa Tarpeia, or the Via di Tor di Specci.

THE ARCH OF TITUS is at the culminating point of the Via Sacra, adorned with low reliefs, the finest monument of its kind which has come down to our times; 13 and still further on, the Arch of Constantine, the low reliefs and inferior sculptures of which attest the rapid decline of art.14 The COLISEUM, 15 is an immense amphitheatre, commenced by Vespasian, on his return from his war against the Jews, continued, and dedicated by his eldest son Titus, A.D. 80, and completed by his youngest son, Domitian, who succeeded Titus. It was calculated to hold from 80,000 to 100,000 people to witness the exhibition of those gladiatorial and wild-beast combats which so much delighted the Roman populace. At its inauguration by Titus, 5,000 wild beasts, and 10,000 captives are said to have been slain. The early Chris

tians stained it with their blood. The destruction of the pile is said to have been commenced by Totila in 526 for the sake of the metal clamps of its stones, but it was still nearly entire in the 8th century; in the 14th and later it was worked as a quarry. It is built principally of travertine, and presents externally four orders of architecture superimposed one upon the other in the four stages or stories. The lower one is Tuscan or Doric, the second Roman lonic, the third and fourth of the foliated Corinthian or composite order, but all the architectural decorations indicate a degraded style. The lower stages consist of arcades of semicircular arches, separated by 80 pilasters, each with its proper entablature, but the roof of the upper is flat. Some of the consoles which supported the awning poles still remain. The northern portion is the best preserved, and enables us to restore in imagination the whole. Its form is elliptic, the extreme length of its longer axis being about 584 ft., and of its shorter, 468 ft.; the arena is 278 by 177 ft. The arches of the four principal entrances correspond with the axes of the building above mentioned, are wider than the others, and probably led to the seats of distinguished visitors in the podium, or place of honour, in which a particular place, called the suggestum, was set apart for the emperor. The nature of the connection between the corridors of the lower stages, the concentric rows of seats which sloped down from the gallery to the arena, and the arena itself, will be apparent to the visitor; but the uses of the substructures are purely conjectural, although it is quite possible that they may have served as dens for wild beasts, and as dungeons

To a new Gladiator!'"

The PANTHEON was built by Agrippa, the son-in-law of Augustus. The portico is decorated with sixteen columns of the Corinthian order; the bases and capitals are of white marble, and the shafts of single blocks of black and white oriental granite, nearly 5 feet in diameter and 46 feet in height. The Corinthian capitals are the finest which have come down to us from ancient time. The Pantheon was divested of its bronze-gilt tiles by the Emperor Constans II., and was further despoiled by Pope Urban VIII. The interior is a perfect circle of 142 feet diameter, which is about equal to the height, half of which is that of the dome. The building is lighted by a circular opening 28 ft. in diameter, in the centre of the vault. The walls are 23 ft. in thickness between the recesses. It is to the fact that Pope Boniface IV. obtained permission from the Emperor Phocas to convert it into a Christian church so early

as 608, dedicated to Santa Maria ad Martyres, that its perfect preservation is due. The two bellturrets were added by Bernini. Raphael, Balthazar, Peruzzi, Pierino del Vaga, and Annibale Caracci are buried in it.16

The Theatre of Marcellus. There are some remains of arcades which are admired as architectural models, but the site of this theatre is occupied by the Orsini palace. Eleven Corinthian columns in marble, much damaged, and of which the original destination is uncertain, now form the façade of the dogana di terra.

The columns of Trajan and Antoninus belong to the list of the most remarkable monuments of ancient Rome. The finest, the column of Trajan, is situated in the Forum of Trajan. It is 141 ft. high, and the shaft is composed of twenty-three blocks of Carrara marble, presenting externally a series of low reliefs spirally arranged, representing subjects taken from the wars of Trajan against the Dacians, and comprising 2,500 human figures, besides horses, fortresses, &c. The summit may be reached by an internal staircase. The statue of Trajan, by which it was originally surmounted, has been replaced by one of St. Peter.17

The shaft of the Column of Antoninus is formed of twenty-eight blocks of marble, and, including its base and capital, and excluding the pedestal of the statue, is the same height as that of Trajan, of the general conception of which it is an inferior reproduction.18

Another celebrated ruin is that of a small circular temple, for a long time known as THE TEMPLE OF VESTA (piazza della bocea della Verita). One of the twenty marble Corinthian columns by which it was surrounded is