Chap. IV.
HOMAN.
197
Cicero (De Leg. lib. ii.), observes, “ Ilomincm mortuum in Urbe nc sepelito neve urito.”Plutarch mentions as an exception to this general rule, that all who had gained a triumphmight be buried in the Forum, and the ashes of Trajan were deposited within his triumphalcolumn.
Mausoleum of Augustus , though ruined, still exhibits sufficient to indicate its former mag-nificence : in it was deposited the body of Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus , and those ofJ. Ca?sar, Augustus , and Ger-manicus. Strabo (lib. v.) in-forms us, that it was built uponimmense foundations of whitemarble, and covered with ever-greens ; on the top was a statueof Augustus in bronze ; in thevaults below, the ashes weredeposited, and around werenumerous groves. The sameauthor describes the placewhere the bodies were burnt:
“ in the centre of the plainstands the tomb itself, finishedin white marble, with ironpalisades round, and poplartrees planted within. Theinner circular wall still existswith the opus reticulatum,but formerly, as it seems, therewere three u’alls at equal dis-tances, the intervals betweenwhich were marked out intocertain spaces, so as to producea greater number of vaults,for the interment of each per-son separately.”
This tomb was circular ; fiveconcentric walls formed thefoundations, which were vault-ed to support the upper stories.
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Fig. 229.
TOMB OF AUGUST
Thirteen circular vaults composed the outer range, and inthe centre a cylindrical stairs conducted to the several chambers and gardens above.
Fig. 230.
The entrance was by a noble portico, and a passage conducted to the several corridors andstaircases ; on the outside, the walls were carried through the marble casing, and betweeneach circle were planted the evergreens alluded to by Strabo : the statue was elevated 400feet from the foundations on a pedestal, lifting it above the evergreen forest which coveredthe conical structure.
Little now remains of this once splendid mausoleum but a circular mass of brickwork, of
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