The first obelisk was brought to Rome from Egypt by Augustus, and now stands on Monte Citorio. The obelisk of Ramcscs is the loftiest that was ever brought from Egypt. Though now patched together, it rises to a hundred feet in front of the Lateran church.— The two obelisks that stood at the entrance of the mau soleum of Augustus, were brought to Rome by Clau dius. One of them stands in front of Santa Maria Maggiore, and the other on Monte Cavallo. The obelisk found in the circus of Caracalla stands on the Fountain of the Piazza Navona. The obelisk in the grand piazza of St. Peter's is in the most perfect pre servation, and was brought from Egypt by Caligula. The obelisk which stood in the circus of Sallust, occupies the summit of the Pincian hill.
On the Appian way are many remains of the ancient tombs of the Romans. The tomb of the Scipios is one of the most celebrated: The inscriptions have been placed in the Vatican. On the opposite side of the road to this tomb is that of the Maniglia family. The tomb of Cecilia Metella, the wife of Crassus, is reckoned one of the most beautiful of sepulchral monuments. It consists of a round tower of immense blocks of Tiburtine stone, adorned with a Doric marble frieze, on which are sculptured ram's heads, festooned with garlands of flowers. This beautiful tower rests upon a square basement, partly buried. The interior of the wall is built of brick, and the wall itself is at least twenty feet thick. The sepulchral vault was opened in the time of Paul V. and the beautiful marble sarco phagus of Cecilia Metella, was carried to the Farnese palace.
The grey pyramidal tomb of Caius Cestius, near the Porta San Paolo, is more than a hundred feet high, and is entirely built of marble. Within this tomb may be seen by the light of torches some specimens of an cient painting. One foot of the colossal statue in bronze of Caius Cestius is now in the Museum of the Capitol, and is all that remains of it. The mausoleum of Augustus, erected on the banks of the Tiber, was encircled with three ranges of vaults. The remains of it consist of small sepulchral cells, communicating with each other. In one of them, said to have con tained the ashes of Augustus, was a heap of charcoal.
About two miles from Rome, on the Via Nomcntina, is the mausoleum of Santa Constatttia, the daughter of Constantine the Great, which was converted into a church. In the inside there is a double range of gra nite columns. The sarcophagus, now in the Vatican,
is of porphyry. This building has been called the Temple of Bacchus. At the same distance from Rome, beyond the Porta Maggiore, on the Via Labicana, is the tomb of the empress Helena, the mother of Con stantine. A part only of its immense ruined circle now remains. It contains a small neglected church. The immense porphyry sarcophagus which it enclos ed, is placed in the Vatican. From this church the catacombs may be entered, which extend miles under ground. At the church of St. Sebastian, they have been explored for fifteen miles. Theie excavations seem to have been gradually formed by the digging out of puzzolano. The cavities for the dead are hollowed out horizontally in the soft puzzolano rock, three or four tiers, one above another. All of them arc empty, and almost all seem from their size to be for children. Hence it is probable that they were places of burial for pagan children.
On the Via Appia, there are still some interesting antiquities to be described. The fountain of the nymph Egeria lies in a little green valley, about a mile from Rome. The grotto is excavated on the steep side of the bank, in a long and deep recess, with a vaulted roof, and niches at the side for statues. At the top is the reclining marble statue of a river god, from which flows the most delicious water. The capiliaire plant overhangs the sides of the grotto. On the hill above is a temple of brick, with a portico of four marble corin thian columns of white marble, which was supposed to have been the temple of the Muses; but a votive altar having been dug up, containing the name of a priest of Bacchus, it is now believed to have been the temple of Bacchus. In redescending the hill, there is seen in a green valley a neat little brick building, de corated with Corinthian pilasters of red and yellow brick, which has been called the temple of Rediculus, who.persuaded Hannibal to retreat from Route.
On the Via Latina, the road to Frascati, on an emi nence to the right, stands a brick building, adorned with brick pilasters, supposed to have been the xclicola of Fortuna Muliebris, erected in commemoration of the patriotism of Veturia and Volumnia. It probably therefore stands on the spot occupied by Coriolanus's camp. This temple resembles that of Rediculus. It has several small windows in the upper apartment. It commands a fine view of the broken arches of the Claudian and Martian aqueducts.