e took no soldiers with him. Starting forth from
the Pretorian barracks, he walked out of the city and down the Appian Way.

This famous road was lined on both sides with magnificent tombs, all of
which were carefully preserved by the families to whom they belonged.
Further back from the road lay houses and villas as thickly clustered as
in the city. The open country was a long distance away.

At length he reached a huge round tower, which stood about two miles
from the gate. It was built with enormous blocks of travertine, and
ornamented beautifully yet simply. Its severe style and solid
construction gave it an air of bold defiance against the ravages of time.

At this point Marcellus paused and looked back. A stranger in Rome,
every view presented something new and interesting. Most remarkable was
the long line of tombs. There were the last resting-places of the great,
the noble, and the brave of elder days, whose epitaphs announced their
claims to honor on earth, and their dim prospects in the unknown life to
come. Art and wealth had reared these sumptuous monuments, and the pious
affection of ages had preserved them from decay. Here where he stood was
the sublime mausoleum of Caecilia Metella; further away were the tombs
of Calatinus and the Sarvilii. Still further his eye fell upon the
resting-place of the Scipios, the classic architecture of which was
hallowed by "the dust of its heroic dwellers."

The words of Cicero recurred to his mind, "When you go out of the Porta
Capena, and see the tombs of Calatinus, of the Scipios, the Sarvilii,
and the Metelli, can you consider that the buried inmates are unhappy?"

There was the arch of Drusus spanning the road: on one side was the
historic grotto of Egeria, and further on the spot where Hannibal once
stood and hurled his javelin at the walls of Rome. The long lines of
tombs went on till in the distance it was terminated by the lofty
pyramid of Caius Cestius, and the whole presented the grandest scene of
sepulchral magnificence that could be found on earth.

On every side the habitations of men covered the ground, for the
Imperial City had long ago burst the bounds that originally confined it,
and sent its houses far away on every side into the country, till the
traveler could scarcely tell where the country ended and where the city
began.

From afar the deep hum of the city, the roll of innumerable chariots,
and the multitudinous tread of its many feet, greeted h