until the commencement of the nineteenth century, an image of our
Saviour was annually brought from the Church of Santa Martina in the
Forum and washed in this stream. In the valley of the Almo the poet
Terence possessed a little farm of twenty acres, given to him by his
friend Scipio Æmilianus.

After crossing the Almo, two huge shapeless masses of ruins may be
seen above the vineyard walls: that on the left is said to be the
tomb of Geta, the son of the Emperor Severus, who was put to death in
his mother's arms by order of his unnatural brother. Geta's children
and friends, to the number, it is said, of twenty thousand persons,
were also put to death on the false accusation of conspiracy; among
whom was the celebrated jurist Papinian, who, when required to compose
a defence of the murder--as Seneca was asked by Nero to apologise for
his crime--nobly replied that "it was easier to commit than to justify
fratricide." But so capricious was Caracalla that he soon afterwards
executed the accomplices of his unnatural deed, and caused his
murdered brother to be placed among the gods, and divine honours to be
paid to him. It was in this more humane mood that the tomb whose ruins
we see on the Appian Way was ordered to be built. The tomb on the
right-hand side of the road is a most incongruous structure as it
appears at present, having a circular medieval tower on the top of it,
and a common osteria or wine-shop in front; but the old niches in
which statues or busts used to stand still remain. It was long
supposed to be the mausoleum of the Scipios; but it is now ascertained
to be the sepulchre of Priscilla, the wife of Abascantius, the
favourite freedman of Domitian, celebrated for his conjugal affection
by the poet Statius. Covered with ivy and mural plants, the monument
has a very picturesque appearance.