cres of ground, and had its porticoes, race course, &c.,
surrounded by a wall. The total area of the grounds is nearly 27 acres!

The Baths of Diocletian, erected in the 4th century, were 6,000 feet in
perimeter and its number of daily bathers were 3,000.

The Pyramid of Cestius.

"The Egyptian pyramidal form was not unfrequently employed by the Romans
in the construction of their tombs." That of Cestius, who died within the
last thirty years before Christ, is 116 feet high and 98 feet square at
the base. It is constructed with bricks and covered with marble blocks.

Upon the Cemetery of St. Lorenzo, "the great modern burial-ground of
Rome," I saw one or several small monuments or head stones which were in
the form of pyramids. Here, as in Catholic burial-grounds generally in
Europe, crosses take the place of memorial stones, except some of the
latest interments are marked by marble slabs and monuments.

The Catacombs

or underground burial-places of Rome, are not quite as interesting as many
suppose who have read large chapters and heard long addresses upon the
subject. The passages are almost innumerable, intersecting each other in
every direction and ranging in some places many stories above each other,
but still, as you pass along in the dim light of a little taper, it
appears much like a subterranean stone-quarry containing pigeon-holes for
the dead.

The Temple of Vesta.

The little round temple referred to on page 244, was once supposed to have
been the temple of Vesta, but it is now quite certain that this was a
mistake. It is 50 feet in diameter and each of its 20 Corinthian columns
which constitute the circular colonnade around it, is 32 feet high.
Wherever the Temple of Vesta may have stood, it is evident that from its
eternal fires was borrowed the custom, still extant in Catholic churches,
of keeping up a perpetual flame by means of tapers. Six Vestal Virgins
sworn to perpetual virginity, used to watch the sacred flame upon the
altar in the Temple of Vesta, and it is an impressive sight to see the
same sacred and eternal flame still burning around the High Altar in St.
Peter's. From what may still be seen in Europe in general, and at Rome in
particular, it is evident that all or nearly all of the emblems, forms
and ceremonies of the _early_ Catholic Church were borrowed from ancient
mythology.

Obelisks and Fountains.

The many magnificent fountains of Rome are all adorned