The Scipios were buried in stone sarcophagi in a subterranean chamber, which has been but recently discovered. A curious monument was that of the Horatii, consisting of a rectangular block of masonry, containing the sepulchre, surmounted by four stone cones, grouped around a fifth and higher one. These probably had a symbolical meaning, as a similar structure, called the tomb of Porsenna, is said to have existed in Etruria. By far the most magnificent building of the kind was the Mausoleum, or Mole of Hadrian, the ruins of which now go by the name of the Castel St. Angelo. The tomb rose conspicuously on the banks above the Tiber, on a square foundation; its two upper stories were circular in plan, and decorated with colonnades and statuary, and the whole was capped by an immense roof, terminated by a pineapple of bronze. The tombs of St. Helena and St. Costanza were circular structures similar to that of Cæcilia Metella, the cone of earth, however, being replaced by a dome. The interior of the tomb of St. Costanza was divided by columns which sustained a vault connecting with the outer wall. The practice of burning bodies and preserving their ashes gave rise also to the building of columbariums, rectangular structures containing in their walls receptacles for funereal urns. In the valley of Jerusalem the hypogee was the form of sepulchre commonly adopted, its entrance being decorated with a colonnade of one of the Roman orders. Basilicas were the law courts of the Roman people and places of assembly for the transaction of their daily affairs. On the exterior, these buildings were surrounded by numerous courts and porticos, where the merchants assembled daily to discuss their affairs or to await the result of the trials conducted within. In the interior they contained a large hall or nave flanked by side aisles, preceding a transept or further room which was terminated by a semicircular apse. This apse was occupied by the magistrate while presiding in the cases submitted to his decision. The ruins of the basilicas of Titus and Maxentius remain, at the present day, in sufficient preservation to show that in the one a flat ceiling of timber was employed, and in the other a system of intersecting vaults similar in construction to those of the baths of Caracalla. There are traces of several ancient buildings of this kind, but it is supposed that many were pulled down by the Christians, who erected churches on their sites, using the old basilica as their model. The plan was, in reality, but an improvement on that of the Roman temple, the side aisles and transepts being naturally developed additions to the older cella to which the apse had been added previously in many examples.