imes, not including the family
vault of the Scipios.[124] Nine hundred and ninety-four have been
found on the Via Labicana, near the Porta Maggiore, in a space sixty
yards long by fifty wide. The number of pagan tombstones registered in
volume vi. of the "Corpus" is 28,180, exclusive of the _additamenta_,
which will bring the grand total to thirty thousand. As hardly one
tombstone out of ten has escaped destruction, we may assume as a
certainty that Rome was surrounded by a belt of at least three hundred
thousand tombs.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A COLUMBARIUM IN THE VIGNA CODINI]

The reader may easily imagine what a mass of information is to be
gathered from this source. In this respect, the perusal of parts II.,
III., and IV. of the sixth volume of the "Corpus" is more useful to
the student than all the handbooks and "Sittengeschichten" in the
world; and besides, the reading is not dry and tiresome, as one might
suppose. Many epitaphs give an account of the life of the deceased; of
his rank in the army, and the campaigns in which he fought; of the
name of the man-of-war to which he belonged, if he had served in the
navy; of the branch of trade he was engaged in; the address of his
place of business; his success in the equestrian or senatorial career,
or in the circus or the theatre; his "etat civil," his age, place of
birth, and so on. Sometimes tombstones display a remarkable eloquence,
and even a sense of humor.

Here is an expression of overpowering grief, written on a sarcophagus
between the images of a boy and a girl: "O cruel, impious mother that
I am: to the memory of my sweetest children. Publilius who lived 13
years 55 days, and AEria Theodora who lived 27 years 12 days. Oh,
miserable mother, who hast seen the most cruel end of thy children! If
God had been merciful, thou hadst been buried by them." Another woman
writes on the urn of her son Marius Exoriens: "The preposterous laws
of death have torn him from my arms! As I have the advantage of years,
so ought death to have reaped me first."

The following words were dictated by a young widow for the grave of
her departed companion: "To the adorable, blessed soul of L.
Sempronius Firmus. We knew, we loved each other from childhood:
married, an impious hand separated us at once. Oh, infernal Gods, do
be kind and merciful to him, and let him appear to me in the silent
hours of the night. And also let me share his fate, that we may be
reunited _dulcius et