_Entering_ through an avenue of cypresses, we arrive at the ODEUM, the skeleton of which only remains; this was for musical performances. _Following the path beyond the modern Casino, to the left_, by the NYMPHÆUM, then along the brink of the valley, we mount up to some chambers, formerly a reservoir from which the water poured in a cascade to the stream Peneas below. _From the edge_ of this ruin we look down upon a valley, made in imitation of the VALE OF TEMPE. A stream runs through it, named, after the river in Thessaly, PENEAS. _On the opposite_ slope of the valley was the LATIN THEATRE. We now enter the IMPERIAL PALACE, with the ruins of the Temples of Diana and Venus adjoining; _passing through which_, at the farthest extremity, is the TEMPLE OF CASTOR AND POLLUX. _Near this_ are some subterranean passages, called the TARTARUS. _Beyond_ were the ELYSIAN FIELDS. Elysium, or the Elysian Fields, was the region where the souls of the dead were supposed to go to if they had been good. There, happiness was complete, and the pleasures were innocent and refined; the air was serene and temperate, the bowers ever green, and the meadows watered with perennial streams, and the birds continually warbled in the groves. Tartarus was the region of punishment in the nether world of the ancients. _On the farther side_ of Tartarus is the ROMAN THEATRE; _beyond_ was the LYCEUM. _Returning_, we come upon the ACADEMY. The Academy at Athens was an open meadow, given to the city by Academus, from whom it took its name. It was afterwards formed into a grove. It was the resort of Plato, and hence his disciples took the name of _academic_ philosophers. _Beyond is the_ SERAPEON of CANOPUS, with the SACRARIUM of JUPITER SERAPIS at the end, built in imitation of the canal connecting Alexandria with Canopus, a city of Lower Egypt, twelve miles east of Alexandria, at the west or Canopic mouth of the Nile. _On the right_ are some remains of the HIPPODROME; _and towards the_ entrance of the Serapeon, the BATHS. _From here we reach_ the STADIUM, where the foot races were held. _We now come upon_ a lofty wall of _opus reticulatum_, nearly six hundred feet long. This was one of the walls of the POECILE STOA, in imitation of the grand portico at Athens of that name, famed for its fresco-paintings of the battle of Marathon by Polygnotus, and as the seat of the school of Zeno the philosopher, who took the name Stoic from frequenting this portico. This portico was built on an artificial platform, and the wall can be traced all round; _underneath_ are the HUNDRED CHAMBERS of the GUARDS. _From our right_ of the wall, we enter the PRYTANEUM, in imitation of the council hall of that name at Athens, where the fifty deputies of the republic lived and held office, each five weeks in turn. _Through this we reach_ the AQUARIUM, a circular edifice with an octagonal platform in the centre, with openings for fountains and statues; to the left of this were the GREEK and LATIN LIBRARIES.