th on the
one hand, and the merriest and noisiest meeting-place of the living on
the other.

Although the cemetery was mostly occupied by military men, the
high-roads which cross it were lined with mausolea belonging to
historical families. Such is the tomb of the Licinii Calpurnii,
discovered in 1884, in the foundations of the house No. 29, Via di
Porta Salaria, the richest and most important of those found in Rome
in my lifetime.[132] Its history is connected with one of the worst
crimes of Messalina.

There lived in Rome in her time a nobleman, Marcus Licinius Crassus
Frugi, ex-praetor, ex-consul (A. D. 27) ex-governor of Mauritania, the
husband of Scribonia, by whom he had three sons. There was never a
more unlucky family than this. The origin of their misfortunes is
curious enough. Licinius Crassus, whom Seneca calls "stupid enough to
be made emperor," committed, among other fatuities, that of naming his
eldest son Pompeius Magnus, after his great-grandfather on the
maternal side: a useless display of pride, as the boy had titles
enough of his own to place him at the head of the Roman aristocracy.
Caligula, jealous of the high-sounding name, was the first to threaten
his life; but spared it at the expense of the name. Claudius restored
the title to him, as a wedding-present, on the day of his marriage
with Antonia, daughter of the emperor himself by AElia Paetina. His
splendid career, his nobility and grace of manners, and his alliance
with the imperial family, excited the hatred of Messalina, a foe far
more dangerous than Caligula. She extorted from her weak husband the
sentence of death against Pompeius and his father and mother. The
execution took place in the spring of 47.

The second son, Licinius Crassus, was murdered by Nero in 67.

The third son, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus, who was only
eleven at the time of the executions of 47, spent many years in
banishment, while the extermination of his family was slowly
progressing. Being left alone in the world, at last Galba took mercy
upon him, adopted him as a son, and heir to the Sulpician estates, and
lastly, in January, 69, named him successor to the throne. If he had
but spared him this honor! Only four days later he was murdered,
together with Galba, by the praetorian rebels; and his head, severed
from his body, was given to his young widow, Verania Gemina.

History speaks of a fifth unfortunate member of the family, who died a
violent dea