peaks of an Attius Delfidius, an
infant prodigy (_paene ab incunabulis poeta_), who gained the prize
under Valentinian I. The mediaeval and Renaissance custom of
"laureating" poets on the Capitol was certainly derived from
Domitian's institution.

The race of the "improvvisatori" has never died out in central and
southern Italy. One of the most celebrated in the sixteenth century,
named Silvio Antoniano, at the age of eleven could sing to the
accompaniment of his lute on any argument proposed to him, the poetry
being as graceful and pleasing as the music. One day, while sitting at
a state banquet in the Palazzo di Venezia, Giovanni Angelo de' Medici,
one of the cardinals present, asked him if he could improvise "on the
praises of the clock," the sound of which, from the belfry of the
palace, had just struck his ears. The melodious song of Silvio, on
such an extraordinary theme, was received with loud applause; and when
Giovanni Angelo de' Medici was elected Pope in 1559, under the name of
Pius IV., he raised the young poet to the rank of a cardinal in
recognition of his extraordinary talent.

The mausoleum of Lucilia Polla and her brother Lucilius Paetus was
discovered in May, 1885, in the Villa Bertone, opposite the Villa
Albani, at a distance of seven hundred metres from the gate. It is the
largest sepulchral structure discovered in my time, and worthy of
being compared in size to the mausoleum of Metella on the Appian Way,
and the so-called Torrione on the Labicana. It was originally composed
of two parts: a basement, one hundred and ten feet in diameter, built
of travertine and marble, which is the only part that remains; and a
cone of earth fifty-two feet high, covered with trees, in imitation of
the Mausoleum of Augustus, with which it was contemporary. The cone
has disappeared. The inscription, sixteen feet long, is engraved on
the side facing the Via Salaria, in letters of the most exquisite form
to be found in Rome. It states that Marcus Lucilius Paetus, an officer
who had the command of the cavalry and the military engineers in one
or more campaigns, in the time of Augustus, had built the tomb for his
sister Lucilia Polla, already deceased, and for himself.

The fate of the monument has been truly remarkable. I believe there is
no other in the necropolis of the Via Salaria which has undergone so
many changes in the course of centuries. The first took place in the
reign of Trajan, when the monument was burie