val and Renaissance
representations of the crucifixion of the apostle. The pyramid is
described by Ruccellai and Pietro Mallio as standing in the middle of
a square which is paved with slabs of travertine, and towering to the
height of forty metres above the road. It was coated with marble, like
the one of Caius Cestius by the Porta S. Paolo. Pope Donnus I.
dismantled it A. D. 675, and made use of its materials to build the
steps of S. Peter's. The pyramid itself, built of solid concrete, was
levelled to the ground by Pope Alexander VI., when he opened the Borgo
Nuovo in 1495.

[Illustration: The Judgment of Solomon.]

The "Terebinth of Nero" is described as a round marble structure, as
high as Hadrian's tomb. It was also dismantled by Pope Donnus, and
its materials were used in the restoration and embellishment of the
"Paradisus" or quadriportico of S. Peter's.

[Illustration: Panel from the bronze door of S. Peter's, by Filarete.]

Next to the "terebinth" was the tomb of the favorite horse of Lucius
Verus. This wonderful racer, belonging to the squadron of the Greens,
was named Volucris, the Flyer, and the emperor's admiration for his
exploits was such that, after honoring him with statues of gilt-bronze
in his lifetime, he raised a mausoleum to his memory in the Vatican
grounds, after his career had been brought to a close. The selection
of the site was not made at random, as we know that the Greens
themselves had their burial-ground on this Via Triumphalis.

* * * * *

Proceeding on our pilgrimage towards the Clivus Cinnae, the ascent to
the Monte Mario, we have to record a line of tombs discovered by
Sangallo in building the fortifications or "Bastione di Belvedere."
One of them is thus described by Pirro Ligorio on p. 139 of the
Bodleian MSS. "This tomb [of which he gives the design] was discovered
with many others in the foundations of the Bastione di Belvedere, on
the side facing the Castle of S. Angelo. It is square in shape, with
two recesses for cinerary urns on each side, and three in the front
wall. It was gracefully decorated with stucco-work and frescoes. Next
to it was an _ustrinum_ where corpses were cremated, and on the other
side a second tomb, also decorated with painted stucco-work. Here was
found a piece of agate in the shape of a nut, so beautifully carved
that it was mistaken for a real nutshell. There was also a skeleton,
the skull of which was found between