red columns.

We have seen works of perhaps greater importance accomplished in our
age; but, as Baron de Huebner remarks, in speaking of another great
man, Sixtus V., they are the joint product of government, national
credit, speculation, and public and private capital; and they are
facilitated by wonderful mechanical contrivances. The transformation
of Rome at the time of Augustus was the work of a few wealthy
citizens, whose names will forever be connected with their splendid
creations.

The gates of the Mausoleum of Augustus were opened for the last time
in A. D. 98, for the reception of the ashes of Nerva. We hear no more
of it until the year 410, when the Goths ransacked the imperial
vaults. No harm, however, seems to have been done to the building
itself at that time. Like the mausolea of Metella, on the Appian Way,
and Hadrian, on the right bank of the Tiber, it was subsequently
converted into a stronghold, and occupied by the Colonnas. Its
ultimate destruction, in 1167, marks one of the great occurences in
the history of mediaeval Rome.

Between the counts of Tusculum, partisans of the German Empire, and
the Romans, devoted to their independent municipal government, there
was a feud of long standing, which had resulted occasionally in open
violence. In 1167, Alexander III. being Pope, the Romans decided to
strike the decisive blow on the Tusculans, as well as on their allies,
the Albans. The cardinal of Aragona, the biographer of Alexander III.,
states that towards the end of May, when the cornfields begin to
ripen, the Romans sallied forth on their expedition against Count
Raynone, much against the Pope's will; and having crossed the frontier
of his estate, set fire to the crops, uprooted trees and vineyards,
ruined farmhouses, killed cattle, and laid siege to the city itself.
Raynone, knowing how precarious his position was, implored the help of
the emperor Frederic, who was at that time encamped near Ancona. The
request was granted, and a body of German warriors returned with the
ambassadors to the rescue of Tusculum. They soon perceived that,
although the Romans had the advantage of numbers, they were so
imperfectly drilled and so insubordinate that the chances were equal
for both sides. The battle was opened at nine o'clock on the morning
of Whit-Monday, May 30, 1167. The twelve hundred Germans, led by
Christian, archbishop of Mayence, and three hundred Tusculans, led by
Raynone, gallantly attacked the