gustus, in the year 17 B. C.,
the others to those celebrated under Septimius Severus and Caracalla,
in the year 204 A. D. Later researches led to the discovery of
ninety-six other fragments, making a total of one hundred and
thirteen, of which eight are of the time of Augustus, two of the time
of Domitian, and the rest date from Severus.

[Illustration: Pillar commemorating the _Ludi Saeculares_.]

The fragments of the year 17 B. C., fitted together, make a block
three metres high, containing one hundred and sixty-eight minutely
inscribed lines. This monument, now exhibited in the Baths of
Diocletian, was in the form of a square pillar enclosed by a
projecting frame, with base and capital of the Tuscan order, and it
measured, when entire, four metres in height. I believe that there is
no inscription among the thirty thousand collected in volume vi. of
the "Corpus" which makes a more profound impression on the mind, or
appeals more to the imagination than this official report of a state
ceremony which took place over nineteen hundred years ago, and was
attended by the most illustrious men of the age.

The origin of the saecular games seems to be this: In the early days of
Rome the northwest section of the Campus Martius, bordering on the
Tiber, was conspicuous for traces of volcanic activity. There was a
pool here called Tarentum or Terentum, fed by hot sulphur springs, the
efficiency of which is attested by the cure of Volesus, the Sabine,
and his family, described by Valerius Maximus. Heavy vapors hung over
the springs, and tongues of flame were seen issuing from the cracks of
the earth. The locality became known by the name of the fiery field
(_campus ignifer_), and its relationship with the infernal realms was
soon an established fact in folk-lore. An altar to the infernal gods
was erected on the borders of the pool, and games were held
periodically in honor of Dis and Proserpina, the victims being a black
bull and a black cow. Tradition attributed this arrangement of time
and ceremony to Volesus himself, who, grateful for the recovery of his
three children, offered sacrifices to Dis and Proserpina, spread
_lectisternia_, or reclining couches, for the gods, with tables and
viands before them, and celebrated games for three nights, one for
each child which had been restored to health. In the republican epoch
they were called _Ludi Tarentini_, from the name of the pool, and were
celebrated for the purpose of avertin