While these good souls were kneeling in silent sorrow before the cross, Quintus walked homewards through the darkness with a throbbing heart; his head ached and a mighty struggle, such as he had never before experienced, seemed to rend his heart. At the top of the Esquiline he came to a stand-still, and as he leaned against the basin of a fountain graced with spouting tritons, he gazed westwards over the night-wrapped city, which lay spread abroad at his feet, like a colossus prone in rest. He could scarcely distinguish the huge buildings--the Flavian Amphitheatre, the palaces and the capitol. Mons Janiculus[280] stood out like a darker storm-cloud against the blue-black sky, and a dull moan and murmur rose upon the air like the breathing of the sleeping giant. A sense of infinite desertedness, of unspeakable longing and inexplicable dread fell upon him. “Yes, ye noble souls!” he groaned, covering his face with his hands. “I will return--I will soon rejoin your peaceful and blissful circle! By all the anguish I ever suffered, by all the torment that gnaws at my heart, I swear I will return!” And with a sigh of relief like that of a man, who finds himself well again after long sickness, he went down into the valley. FOOTNOTES: [261] THE CIRCUS FLAMINIUS. Located in the ninth district, of the same name, built 221 B.C. [262] AELIAN BRIDGE. (_Pons Aelius_,) now the Angel Bridge. [263] AQUEDUCTS. The magnificent water-works formed one of the principal ornaments of ancient Rome. “The mountain springs, conveyed for miles in subterranean pipes or over huge arches to the city, poured plashing from artificial grottos, spread out into vast, richly adorned reservoirs, or mounted in the jets of superb fountains, whose cool breath refreshed and purified the summer air.” (Friedländer, I, 14.) [264] ALTA SEMITA corresponds with tolerable accuracy to the modern _Via di Porta Pia_. [265] TORCHES. Street lamps were unknown in ancient times, as well as throughout nearly the whole of the middle ages. [266] THE OLD WALL. (_Agger Servii Tullii_) extended from the Porta Collina to the Porta Esquilina. The neighboring region was considered the most corrupt in all Rome. The “wenches of the city wall” were often mentioned. (See for instance, Mart. _Ep._ III, 82, 2.) [267] THE MUDDY WINE OF VEII. The wine made in the neighborhood of the little city of Veii, (northwest of Rome) was little prized. (See Mart. I, 103, 9, where the red Veian is called thick and full of lees.) [268] GAME OF ODD AND EVEN. This game of chance, which is still very common, was extremely popular under the name _ludere par impar_. The opponent had to guess whether an odd or even number of gold pieces or other objects was held in the closed hand.