old woman who was so devoted to her
nursling. The epitaph is a plain marble slab containing only a name.
But this simple inscription, read amid the ruins of Phaon's villa,
with every detail of the scene of the suicide before one's eyes, makes
more impression on the feelings than would a great monument to her
memory. As she could not be buried within or near the family vault of
the Domitii on the Pincian, she selected the spot where Nero's remains
had been cremated.

"When Nero perished by the justest doom
Which ever the destroyer yet destroy'd,
Amidst the roar of liberated Rome,
Of nations freed, and the world overjoy'd,
Some hands unseen strew'd flowers upon his tomb,--
Perhaps the weakness of a heart not void
Of feeling for some kindness done, when power
Had left the wretch an uncorrupted hour."[100]

The original epitaph of Claudia Ecloge has been removed to the
Capitoline Museum, where it seems lost among so many other objects of
interest; but the student who will select the Vigne Nuove for an
afternoon excursion will find there a facsimile, placed by our
archaeological commission on the front wall of the Casino di Vigna
Chiari.

THE TOMB OF THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS. The Via del Quirinale-Venti
Settembre, which leads from the Quirinal Palace to the Porta Pia,
corresponds exactly to the old Alta Semita, which was a street of such
importance, on account of its length, straightness, and surroundings,
that the whole region (the sixth) was named from it. For our present
purpose we shall take into consideration only the first part, between
the Quirinal Palace and the Quattro Fontane. It was bordered on the
north side by the Temple of Quirinus, discovered and demolished in
1626, and by the Capitolium Vetus, the old Capitol, also destroyed in
1625, by Pope Barberini.

[Illustration: Plan of the Alta Semita.]

The opposite side of the street was lined with private mansions of
families who were eminent in the history of the republic and the
empire. The first belonged to Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Cicero,
and to his descendants the Pomponii Bassi. Cicero locates it between
the Temple of Quirinus and the Temple of Health, that is, near the
present church of S. Andrea al Quirinale; and precisely here, in
November, 1558, the house was discovered by Messer Uberto Ubaldini, in
such perfect condition that the family documents and deeds, inscribed
on bronze, were still hanging on th