land of
Pandataria, now called Ventotiene, where she spent the last three
years of her life in solitude and grief. In 33 A. D.--the most
memorable date in Christian chronology--she either starved herself to
death voluntarily, or was starved by order of her persecutor. On
hearing of her death the emperor eulogized his own clemency, because,
instead of strangling the princess and exposing her body on the
Gemonian steps, he had allowed her to die a peaceful death in that
island. No honors were paid to her memory, but as soon as Caligula
succeeded Tiberius in the government of the empire, he sailed to
Pandataria, collected the ashes of his mother and relatives, and
ultimately placed them in the mausoleum. The cippus represented in the
illustration below is manifestly the work of Caligula, because mention
is made on it of his accession to the throne. The hole excavated in it
in the Middle Ages is capable of holding three _hundred_ pounds of
grain, as shown by the legend RVGIATELLA DE GRANO, engraved in Gothic
letters above the municipal coat of arms. The three armorial shields
below belong to the three syndics, or conservatori, by whose authority
the standard measure was made. Another inscription, engraved in 1635
on the opposite side, says: "The S. P. Q. R. pay honor to the memory of
the noble and courageous woman who voluntarily put an end to her life"
(and here follows a witticism of doubtful taste on the _bread_ which
she denied herself, and on the _breadstuffs_, for the measurement of
which her tomb had been used).

[Illustration: The Cippus of Agrippina the Elder, made into a measure
for grain.]

The other cippi found in the _ustrinum_ mention four other children of
Germanicus, among them Caius Caesar, the lovely child who was so much
beloved by Augustus, and so deeply regretted by him. A statue
representing the youth with the attributes of a Cupid was dedicated by
Livia in the temple of the Capitoline Venus, and another one was
placed by Augustus in his own bedroom, on entering and leaving which
he never missed kissing the cherished image.

The Mausoleum of Augustus and its precious contents have not escaped
the spoliation and desecration which seem to be the rule both in past
and modern times. The building is used now as a circus. Its basement
is concealed by ignoble houses; the urn of Agrippina is kept in the
courtyard of the Palazzo dei Conservatori; three others have been
destroyed, and six belong to the Vatic