untouched.

[Illustration: WORKS OF ART DISCOVERED IN THE TOMB OF SULPICIUS
PLATORINUS]

Beginning now the ascent of the Janiculum, on our way towards the
Porta S. Pancrazio and the Villa Pamfili, I must mention a curious
discovery made three centuries ago near the church of S. Pietro in
Montorio; that of a platform, lined with terminal stones inscribed
with the legend: DEVAS CORNISCAS SACRVM ("this area is sacred to the
divine crows"). The place is described by Festus (Ep. 64). It is a
remarkable fact that in Rome not only men but animals should remain
faithful to old habits and traditions. Some of my readers may have
noticed how regularly every day, towards sunset, flights of crows are
seen crossing the skies on their way to their night lodgings in the
pine-trees of the Villa Borghese. They have two or three favorite
halting-places, for instance the campanile of S. Andrea delle Fratte,
the towers of the Trinita de' Monti, where they hold noisy meetings
which last until the first stroke of the Ave-Maria. This sound is
interpreted by them as a call to rest. Whether the area of the sacred
crows described by Festus was planted with pines, and used as a rest
at night, or simply as a halting-place, the fact of their daily
migration to and from the swamps of the Maremma, and of their evening
meetings, dates from classical times.

And now, leaving on our right the Villa Heyland, the Villa Aurelia,
formerly Savorelli, which is built on the remains of the mediaeval
monastery of SS. John and Paul, and the Villa del Vascello, which
marks the western end of the gardens of Geta, let us enter the Villa
Pamfili-Doria, interesting equally for the beauty of its scenery and
its archaeological recollections. We are told by Pietro Sante Bartoli
that when he first came to Rome, towards 1660, Olimpia Maidalchini and
Camillo Pamfili, who were then laying the foundations of the casino,
discovered "several tombs decorated with paintings, stucco-carvings,
and _nobilissimi_ mosaics." There were also glass urns, with remains
of golden cloths, and the figures of a lion and a tigress, which
were bought by the Viceroy of Naples, the marchese di Leve. Some
years later, when Monsignor Lorenzo Corsini began the construction
of the Casino dei Quattro Venti (since added to the Villa Pamfili
and transformed into a sort of monumental archway), thirty-four
exquisite tombs were found and destroyed for the sake of their
building-materials. One cannot re