men,--Phaon, Epaphroditus, Sporus, and
another whose name is not given.

[Illustration: Head of Nero, in the Capitoline Museum.]

[Illustration: The Ponte Nomentano.]

The incidents of the flight were terrible enough to deprive the
imperial fugitive of the last spark of hope. The sky was overcast, and
heavy black clouds hung close to the earth, the stillness of nature
being occasionally broken by claps of thunder. The earth shook just as
he was riding past the praetorian camp. He could hear the shouts of the
mutinous soldiers cursing his name, while Galba was proclaimed his
successor. Farther on, the fugitives met several men hurrying towards
the town in search of news. Nero heard some of them telling one
another to be sure to run in search of him. Another passer inquired
the news from the palace. Before reaching the Ponte Nomentano, Nero's
horse, frightened by a corpse which was lying on the roadside, gave a
start. The slouched hat and handkerchief, with which the emperor was
trying to conceal his face, slipped aside, and just at that moment a
messenger from the praetorian camp recognized him, and by force of
habit gave the military salute.

[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF PHAON'S VILLA]

Beyond the bridge the Via Nomentana divides: the main road, on the
right, leads to Nomentum (Mentana); the left to the territory of
Ficulea (la Cesarina). It is now called the Strada delle Vigne Nuove.
Nero and his followers took this country road. The particulars given
by Suetonius suit the present aspect and the nature of the district so
exactly that we can follow the four men step by step to the walls of
Phaon's villa. The slopes of the hills were then, as they are now,
uncultivated, and covered with bushes. There is still a path on the
banks of the Fosso della Cecchina, leading to the rear wall of the
villa, _aversum villae parietem_; and the hillsides are still
honeycombed with pozzolana quarries, the _angustiae cavernarum_ of
Suetonius. The villa extends on the tableland, or ridge, between the
valleys of la Cecchina and Melaina. Its main gate corresponds exactly
with the gate of the Vigna Chiari, the first of the "vigne nuove" on
the right as one goes from Rome, at a distance of six kilometres from
the threshold of the Porta Collina. For a radius of a thousand feet
around the gate, we meet with the typical remains of a Roman villa of
the first century,--porticoes, water tanks, and substructions, from
the platfo