small beside
all the huge palaces, and where are three halls comparatively intact,
with mural paintings of mythological scenes, flowers, and fruits, still
wonderfully fresh. As for the palace of Tiberius, not one of its stones
can be seen; its remains lie buried beneath a lovely public garden;
whilst of the neighbouring palace of Caligula, overhanging the Forum,
there are only some huge substructures, akin to those of the house of
Severus--buttresses, lofty arcades, which upheld the palace, vast
basements, so to say, where the praetorians were posted and gorged
themselves with continual junketings. And thus this lofty plateau
dominating the city merely offered some scarcely recognisable vestiges to
the view, stretches of grey, bare soil turned up by the pick, and dotted
with fragments of old walls; and it needed a real effort of scholarly
imagination to conjure up the ancient imperial splendour which once had
triumphed there.

* Begun by Vespasian and finished by Domitian.--Trans.

** Others assert it to have been the house of Germanicus,
father of Caligula.--Trans.

Nevertheless Pierre's guide, with quiet conviction, persisted in his
explanations, pointing to empty space as though the edifices still rose
before him. "Here," said he, "we are in the Area Palatina. Yonder, you
see, is the facade of Domitian's palace, and there you have that of
Caligula's palace, while on turning round the temple of Jupiter Stator is
in front of you. The Sacred Way came up as far as here, and passed under
the Porta Mugonia, one of the three gates of primitive Rome."

He paused and pointed to the northwest portion of the height. "You will
have noticed," he resumed, "that the Caesars didn't build yonder. And
that was evidently because they had to respect some very ancient
monuments dating from before the foundation of the city and greatly
venerated by the people. There stood the temple of Victory built by
Evander and his Arcadians, the Lupercal grotto which I showed you, and
the humble hut of Romulus constructed of reeds and clay. Oh! everything
has been found again, Monsieur l'Abbe; and, in spite of all that the
Germans say there isn't the slightest doubt of it."

Then, quite abruptly, like a man suddenly remembering the most
interesting thing of all, he exclaimed: "Ah! to wind up we'll just go to
see the subterranean gallery where Caligula was murdered."

Thereupon they descended into a long crypto-porticus, through the
bre