and S. Maria dei Miracoli, similar in appearance, with oval domes and
tetrastyle porticoes that look like ecclesiastical porters' lodges.
The name of the Piazza del Popolo is derived, not from the people, as
is generally supposed, but from the extensive grove of poplar-trees
that surrounded the Mausoleum of Augustus, and long formed the most
conspicuous feature in the neighbourhood. The crescent-shaped sides of
the square are bounded on the left by a wall, with a bright fountain
and appropriate statuary in the middle of it, and a fringe of tall
cypress-trees, and on the right by a similar wall, adorned with marble
trophies and two columns rough with the projecting prows of ships
taken from the ancient temple of Venice and Rome, and rising in a
series of terraced walks to the upper platform of the Pincio. At the
foot of this _Collis Hortulorum_, "Hill of Gardens," which was a
favourite resort of the ancient Romans, Nero was buried; and in
earlier republican times it was the site of the famous Villa of
Lucullus, who had accumulated an enormous fortune when general of the
Roman army in Asia, and spent it on his retirement from active life in
the most sumptuous entertainments and the most prodigal luxuries. Here
he gave his celebrated feast to Cicero and Pompey. From Lucullus, the
magnificent grounds passed into the possession of Valerius Asiaticus;
and while his property they became the scene of a tragedy which
reminds one of the story of Ahab and Jezebel and the vineyard of
Naboth. The infamous Messalina, the wife of the Emperor Claudius,
coveted the grounds of Asiaticus. With the unscrupulous spirit of
Jezebel, she procured the condemnation to death of the owner for
crimes that he had never committed; a fate which he avoided by
committing suicide. As soon as this obstacle was removed out of her
way, she appropriated the villa; and in the beautiful grounds
abandoned herself to the most shameless orgies in the absence of her
husband at Ostia. But her pleasure and triumph were short-lived. The