ed by
means of a corridor. The Christians scattered the relics of the first
occupants, knocked down their busts, built arcosolia in the three
recesses of the Greek cross, and honeycombed with loculi the side
walls of the corridor. The transformation was so complete that, when
we first entered the corridor, in July, 1886, we thought we had found
a wing of the catacombs of S. Saturninus. Some of the loculi were
closed with tiles, others with pagan inscriptions which the _fossores_
had found by chance in tunnelling their way into the crypt. Two
loculi, excavated near the entrance outside the corridor, contained
bodies of infants with magic circlets around their necks. They are
most extraordinary objects in both material and variety of shape. The
pendants are cut in bone, ivory, rock crystal, onyx, jasper, amethyst,
amber, touch-stone, metal, glass, and enamel; and they represent
elephants, bells, doves, pastoral flutes, hares, knives, rabbits,
poniards, rats, Fortuna, jelly-fish, human arms, hammers, symbols of
fecundity, helms, marbles, boar's tusks, loaves of bread, and so on.

The vicissitudes of the mausoleum did not end with this change of
religion and ownership. Two or three centuries ago, when the fever of
discovering and ransacking the catacombs of the Via Salaria was at its
height, some one found his way to the crypt, and committed purely
wanton destruction. The arcosolia were dismantled, and the loculi
violated one by one. We found the bones of the Christians of the
fourth century scattered over the floor, and, among them, the marble
busts of Lucilius Paetus and Lucilia Polla, which the Christians of the
fourth century had knocked from their pedestals. Such is the history
of Rome.

[Illustration: THE APPIAN WAY AND THE CAMPAGNA]

VIA APPIA. A delightful afternoon excursion in the vicinity of the
city can be made to the Valle della Caffarella from the so-called
"Tempio del Dio Redicolo" to the "Sacred Grove" by S. Urbano. Leaving
Rome by the Porta S. Sebastiano, and turning to the left directly
after passing the chapel of Domine quo vadis, we descend to the valley
of the river Almo, now called the Valle della Caffarella, from the
ducal family who owned it before the Torlonias. The path is full of
charm, running, as it does, along the banks of the historical stream,
and between hillsides which are covered with evergreens, and scented
with the perfume of wild flowers. The place is secluded and quiet,
and the s