832 Notices respecting New Books. 



gnmes and festivals ; that this honour was decreed in the name 

 of the people by a decree of the Decuriones j that it was obtained 

 by public services or by acts of munificence; finally, that he who 

 received the honour was afterwards entitled to the appellation 

 of Bisellarius. M. Millin observes that all the persons men- 

 tioned in the inscriptions as having obtained the honour of the 

 bisellium were Aiigusfales, or Priests of Augustus, and he is in- 

 clined to think with Fabretti that this honour was peculiar to 

 them. Tills kind of distinction, he adds, was absolutely muni- 

 cipal ; it gave no rank, no prerogative, and even no distinction 

 out of the city where it was decreed; this is the reason w-hy no 

 author h;is mentioned it, although it is contained on a great 

 number of inscriptions. 



The principal iront of t'le tomb is agreeably decorated with 

 mouldings wbicli surround the inscription, and leaves of the 

 palm tree eiuvreathed form festoons around, the extremities being 

 adorned with rams' hec^ds. The two lateral fronts are ornamented 

 with crowns of oak leaves tied together with fillets. Lastly, 

 on the small pyramids raised on tlie outer wall there are stucco 

 figures, the most interesting of which M. Millin has engraved 

 in his fifth plate. Among them is Victory on a globe, holding 

 a garland or fillet : CEdipus v.lio unravels the riddle of the 

 sphinx, and probably the same hero who rests after having ex- 

 plained it. Beliind him there is a column on which his sword 

 is suspended by a belt, and this column is surmounted by a sphere. 

 These figures are emblems of the employment of life, the uncer- 

 tainty of the future, death, and finally the mystical doctrine oT 

 the ancients. 



The fourth tomb, as figured in the sixth plate, has an inclosure 

 similar to the foregoing ; but the pyramids which terminate the 

 cubical stones ^v'^th which this wall is decorated are without 

 sculptures. Tiie form of the edifice itself is nearly the same 

 with that of the tombs ofAmpliatus and Calventius. In the 

 middle of the principal front we read this inscription; 



NAEVOI.EIA LIB TYCHE SIBI ET 



C M VNATiO FAVSTO AVG ET PAGANO 



CVI DECVRIONES CONSENSV POPVJ,I 



BISELEIVM OB MERITA E!VS DECREVERV.NT 



HOC MONVMENTVM NAEVOLEIA TYCHE 



LIBERTIS SVIS 



LIBEATABVS Q ET C MVNAT. P FAVST F VIVA 



PEC ;t 

 *' Naevolia Tyche, a freed woman, to herself and to C. Muna^ 

 tills Fausliis, Aitgtisl .lis and Paganus, to whom the Decurions, 

 with the consent of the people, have decreed th^ bisellium, on 



account 



