deposited in sarcophagi; but after that period cremation became the
universal custom. The ashes and calcined bones were preserved in
_ollæ_, or little jars like common garden flower-pots, made of the
same kind of coarse red earthenware, with a lid attached. These jars
were deposited in rows of little niches sunk in the brickwork all
round the walls of the tomb, resembling the nests in a pigeon-house;
hence the origin of the name. One tomb was thus capable of containing
the remains of a large number of persons; no less than six thousand of
the freedmen of Augustus being deposited in the Columbarium which
bears their name. The entrance to these sepulchral chambers was from
the top, descending by an internal stair; and the passages and walls
were usually decorated with frescoes and arabesques, illustrating some
mythical or historical subject. The names of the dead were carved on
marble tablets fixed above the pigeon-holes containing the ashes.
Columbaria being only used for dependents and slaves, were generally
erected near the tombs of their masters; and hence all along the
Appian Way we see numerous traces of them side by side with the
gigantic monuments of the patrician families. The Columbaria near the
tomb of the Scipios are three in number, and contain the cinerary urns
of persons attached to the household of the emperors from the reign of
Augustus up to the period of the Antonines, when the system of burying
the bodies entire was again introduced. The last discovered
Columbarium is the most interesting of the group. Being only
thirty-three years exposed, the paintings on the walls and the vases
are remarkably well preserved. This tomb contains the ashes of the
dependents of Tiberius, the contemporary of our Lord. One pigeon-hole
is filled with the calcined bones of the court buffoon, a poor deaf
and dumb slave who had wonderful powers of mimicry, and used to amuse
his morose master by imitating the gesticulations of the advocates
pleading in the Forum. Another pigeon-hole contains the remains of the