_Prati del Popolo Romano_, on the western side of the Aventine Hill.
This ancient monument remains entire, an advantage which it owes
partly to its form, well calculated to resist the action of the
weather, and partly to its situation, as it is joined to the walls of
the city, and forms part of the fortification. Its base is about 90
feet square, and it rises, according to Eustace, about 120 feet in
height. It is formed, or at least encrusted, with large blocks of
white marble; a door in the base opens into a gallery terminating in a
small room, ornamented with paintings on the stucco, in regular
compartments. In this chamber of the dead, once stood a sarcophagus
that contained the remains of Cestius. "At the base of the pyramid
stand two marble columns, which were found beneath the ground, and
re-erected by some of the popes. One foot, which is all that remains
of the colossal statue in bronze of Caius Cestius, that formerly stood
before his tomb, is now in the Museum of the Capitol."[19]

[19] Rome, &c., vol. ii.--From the monument we learn that he
was the contemporary of Caesar and Augustus, but his name
does not appear in the annals, or the literature of that
eventful and enlightened period; of his wealth, and of
his pride, this magnificent tomb is a sufficient record:
but of his merits or his virtues, no trace remains. The
inscription only tells us he was one of the seven
Epulones, whose office was to furnish and to eat the
sacred banquets offered to Jupiter and the Gods.

The situation of this tomb is one of melancholy picturesqueness. The
meadows in which it stands are planted with mulberry-trees. They were,
as implied by their name, formerly a resort of the Roman people in
hours of gladness: they are no longer devoted to the enjoyment of the