Proceeding another mile, some extensive ruins are seen between the road of Nomentanum and that of Salaria, which are the remains of the country-house of Phaon, the freedman of Nero, where the last of the Cæsars committed suicide. Two hundred years intervened between the death of Nero and that of Aurelian, but they were hardly sufficient to bring all this space within the walls, which must have been the case to give the latter a circuit of fifty miles. Besides, where all the remains of this huge town, without the present wall, if it ever existed there? We see the remains of villas and camps and bridges all around us even to-day, but none of a city. The Anio would not be spanned by such rude arches, had Rome ever covered this spot. Let us now enter the town by the Porta Salaria, and ride through the vineyards and among the gardens of that quarter, towards that of St. John in Laterano. Ruins are scattered about on every side, and among them are aqueducts, from the arches of some of which, water still trickles. The circular wall on our left, as we approach the gate of St. John, is the remains of the amphitheatre of the camp, in which the soldiers fought with beasts. The exterior of this wall is better seen from without, for it has also been incorporated with that of the town. Of the vast palace and church of the Lateran I have nothing to say at present, except that it strikes the traveller with an imposing grandeur as he enters the city. Some devotees before the little church near it, however, will draw us in that direction, and you will be surprised to see men and women ascending a long plain flight of broad steps in it, on their knees. This is done because tradition hath it that these steps belonged to the palace of Pilate, and that they were transferred from Jerusalem to this spot because Christ descended them when he went from condemnation to the cross. You probably know that this church of St. John in Laterano is the first of the Christian world, and that the palace was long celebrated for its bulls and councils. The present edifices are about five centuries old, though the church is as fresh and rich as if just finished. The obelisk came from Thebes, and was brought to Rome in the fourth century, and placed in the great circus. Sixtus V. had it disinterred and brought to this spot. You will now follow the road to the Coliseum and the Forum. All this quarter of the town, with the exception of some broken fragments of suburbs (always within the walls,) is filled with ruins, more or less conspicuous. Here, indeed, the objects and recollections of the past crowd upon the senses oppressively, and it requires time and use to visit the place with a sufficiency of coolness and leisure to analyze the parts, and to separate the works of different ages and reigns.