of the Freedmen and Slaves of Livia Augusta. 403 



to hope for the discovery, under the ruins of the ancient edifice, of 

 something precious, which would reimburse him for the expense of 



\ 



the excavations, and for the injury which it would do to the vine- 

 yard^ accepted a proposal made him for the undertaking of the 

 work.^^ . 



^^The work was begun in November 1725, but nothing of im- 

 portance was found till January 1726, when an entrance was made 

 into a hall, filled, not indeed with such treasures fCs was expected, 



L 



but with several ranges of cinerary urns, each urn with its inscrip- 

 tion, from which great light is thrown on the study of antiquity. 

 Several pieces of marble were also found, with various sculptures 

 in has relief and the^j^ement was an entire work in Mosaic. But 

 the haste, with which the work was done, and the sparing scale 

 with respect to expense, contributed much to the destruction of the 

 building and its ornaments."* 



Such is the account of the discovery of this monument. At 



present it is quite dilapidated. All the fragments of marble have 

 disappeared, as they would naturally be among the first objects 

 transported to the museums, or sold. The tablets of marble con- 

 taining the inscriptions are all gone, the fronts of many of the 

 little niches, in which the urns were deposited, broken down, and 

 a few only .of the urns left in their places. The Columbarium 

 consisted of three large apartments, one of which serves at present 

 as a wine vault. Though much decayed, its original form and ar- 

 rangement can be plainly seen, and pots partly filled with ashes 

 are still in some of the niches. It is probable that this dilapida- 

 tion commenced at early periods ; and that every thing valuable or 

 thought valuable was plundered from this, as from the other ancient 

 monuments, by barbarous invaders, or contending barbarous factions 



* Bianchini, p. v.— vii 



