n their shoulders, leaving the city by the Porta Triumphalis. The
procession formed by the Senate, the high priesthood, the knights, the
army, and the whole population skirted the Circus Flaminius and the
Septa Julia, and by the Via Flaminia reached the _ustrinum_, or sacred
enclosure for cremation. As soon as the body had been placed on the
pyre the "march past" began in the same order, the officers and men of
the various army corps making their evolutions or _decursiones_. This
word, taken in a general sense, means a long march by soldiers made in
a given time and without quitting the ranks; when referring to a
funeral ceremony it signifies special evolutions performed three
times, in honor of distinguished generals. A _decursio_ is represented
on the base of the column of Antoninus Pius, now in the Giardino della
Pigna. In that which I am describing, officers and men threw on the
pyre the decorations which Augustus had awarded them for their bravery
in battle. The privilege of setting fire to the _rogus_ was granted to
the captains of the legions whom he had led so often to victory. They
approached with averted faces, and, uttering a last farewell,
performed their act of duty and respect. The cremation accomplished,
and while the glowing embers were being extinguished with wine and
perfumed waters, an eagle rose from the ashes as if carrying the soul
of the hero to Heaven. Livia and a few officers watched the place for
five days and nights, and finally collected the ashes in a precious
urn, which they placed in the innermost crypt of the mausoleum which
Augustus had built in the Campus Martius forty-two years before.

[Illustration: The Apotheosis of an Emperor; from the base of the
Column of Antoninus.]

Of this monument we have a description by Strabo, and ruins which
substantiate the description in its main lines. It was composed of a
circular basement of white marble, two hundred and twenty-five feet in
diameter, which supported a cone of earth, planted with cypresses and
evergreens. On the top of the mound the bronze statue of the emperor
towered above the trees.

This type of sepulchral structure dates almost from prehistoric times,
and was in great favor with the Etruscans. The territories of Vulci,
near the Ponte dell' Abbadia, and of Veii, near the Vaccareccia, are
dotted with these mounds, which the peasantry call _cocumelle_.
Augustus made the type popular among the Romans, as is proved by the
large num