in the
Forum and washed in this stream. In the valley of the Almo the poet
Terence possessed a little farm of twenty acres, given to him by his
friend Scipio AEmilianus.

After crossing the Almo, two huge shapeless masses of ruins may be
seen above the vineyard walls: that on the left is said to be the
tomb of Geta, the son of the Emperor Severus, who was put to death in
his mother's arms by order of his unnatural brother. Geta's children
and friends, to the number, it is said, of twenty thousand persons,
were also put to death on the false accusation of conspiracy; among
whom was the celebrated jurist Papinian, who, when required to compose
a defence of the murder--as Seneca was asked by Nero to apologise for
his crime--nobly replied that "it was easier to commit than to justify
fratricide." But so capricious was Caracalla that he soon afterwards
executed the accomplices of his unnatural deed, and caused his
murdered brother to be placed among the gods, and divine honours to be
paid to him. It was in this more humane mood that the tomb whose ruins
we see on the Appian Way was ordered to be built. The tomb on the
right-hand side of the road is a most incongruous structure as it
appears at present, having a circular medieval tower on the top of it,
and a common osteria or wine-shop in front; but the old niches in
which statues or busts used to stand still remain. It was long
supposed to be the mausoleum of the Scipios; but it is now ascertained
to be the sepulchre of Priscilla, the wife of Abascantius, the
favourite freedman of Domitian, celebrated for his conjugal affection
by the poet Statius. Covered with ivy and mural plants, the monument
has a very picturesque appearance.

The road beyond this rises from the valley of the Almo, and passes
over a kind of plateau. It is hemmed in on either side by high ugly
walls, shaggy with a profusion of plants which affect such situations.
The wild mignonette hangs out its pale yellow spikes of blossoms, but
without the fragrance for which its garden sister is so remarkable;
and the common pellitory, a near ally of the nettle, which haunts all
old ruins, clings in great masses to the crevices, its leaves and
ignoble blossoms white with the dust of the road. Here and there a
tall straggling plant of purple lithospermum has found a footing, and
flourishes aloft its dark violet tiara of blossoms; while bright tufts
of wall-flower send up their tongues of flame from an old tomb peer