Circus and in the Amphitheatre, did not prevent
him from cultivating science to such an extent that, on his arrival in
Rome, he was selected as tutor of the two adopted sons of Antoninus
Pius,--Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Here he married Annia
Regilla, one of the wealthiest ladies of the day, by whom he had six
children. She died in childbirth, and Herodes was accused, we do not
know on what ground, of having accelerated or caused her death by
ill-treatment or violence. Regilla's brother, Appius Annius Bradua,
consul A. D. 160, brought an action of uxoricide against Herodes, but
failed to prove his case. Still, the calumny remained in the mind of
the public. To dispel it, and to regain his position in society,
Herodes, although stricken with grief, made himself conspicuous almost
to excess in honoring the memory of his departed wife. Her jewels were
offered to Ceres and Proserpina; and the land which she had owned
between the Via Appia and the valley of the Almo was covered with
memorial buildings, and also consecrated to the gods. On the boundary
line of the property, columns were raised bearing the inscription in
Greek and Latin:--

"To the memory of Annia Regilla, wife of Herodes, the light and soul
of the house, to whom these lands once belonged."[137]

The lands are described in other epigraphic documents as containing a
village named Triopium, wheat-fields, vineyards, olive-groves,
pastures, a temple dedicated to Faustina the younger under the title
of the New Ceres, a burialspace for the family, placed under the
protection of Minerva and Nemesis, and lastly a grove sacred to the
memory of Regilla.

[Illustration: Tomb of Annia Regilla (fragment).]

Many of these monuments are still in existence. The first structure we
meet with is a tomb of considerable size built in the shape of a
temple, the lowest steps of which are watered by the Almo. Its popular
name of "Temple of the God Rediculus" is derived from a tradition
which points to this spot as the one at which Hannibal turned back
before the gates of Rome, and where a shrine to the "God of Retreat"
was subsequently raised by the Romans. The Campagna abounds in
sepulchral monuments of a similar design, but none can be compared
with this in the elegance of its terra-cotta carvings, which give it
the appearance and lightness of lace. The polychrome effect produced
by the alternate use of dark red and yellow bricks is particularly
fine.

Although no in