(Fiume Almone,
Acquataccio) four and a half miles nearer the gate; where, in front of
the Chapel of Domine quo vadis, it has been found and twice excavated:
the first time in 1773 by Amaduzzi; the second in 1887, under my
supervision. The only clew worth following is that given in Pehem's
letter of April 15, now in the Munich library; but even this leads to
no result. The inscription, which was said to mention the name and age
of the girl, is perfectly genuine, and duly registered in the "Corpus
Inscriptionum," No. 20,634. It is as follows:--

D.M
IVLIA.L.L.PRISCA
VIX.ANN.XXVI.M.I.D.I
Q.CLODIVS.HILARVS
VIX.ANN.XXXXVI
NIHIL.VNQVAM.PECCAVIT
NISI.QVOD.MORTVA.EST

"To the infernal gods. [Here lie] Julia Prisca, freedwoman of Lucius
Julius, who lived twenty-six years one month, one day; [and also] Q.
Clodius Hilarus, who lived forty-six years. She never did any wrong
except to die." Pehem, Malaguy, Fantaguzzi, Waelscapple and all the
rest of them, assert unanimously that the inscription was found with
the body on April 16, 1485, and they are all mistaken. It had been
seen and copied, _at least twenty-two years before_, by Felix
Felicianus of Verona, and is to be found in the MSS. collection of
ancient epitaphs, which he dedicated to Andrea Mantegna in 1463. The
number of spurious inscriptions concocted for the occasion is truly
remarkable. Georges of Spalato (1484-1545) gives the following version
of this one in his MSS. diary, now in Weimar: "Here lies my only
daughter Tulliola, who has committed no offence, except to die. Marcus
Tullius Cicero, her unhappy father, has raised this memorial."

The poor girl, whose name and condition in life will never be known,
and whose body for twelve centuries had so wonderfully escaped
destruction, was most abominably treated by her discoverers in 1485.
There are two versions as to her ultimate fate. According to one, Pope
Innocent VIII., to stop the excitement and the superstitions of the
citizens, caused the _conservatori_ to remove the body at night
outside the Porta Salaria, and bury it secretly at the foot of the
city walls. According to the second it was thrown into the Tiber. One
is just about as probable as the other.

How differently we treat these discoveries in our days! In the early
morning of May 12, 1889, I was called to witness the opening of a
marble coffin which had been discovered two days before, under the
foundations of the new