Tomb of Caius Cestius
The only sepulchral pyramid in Rome is situated close to the Porto di San Paolo (St. Paul’s Gate), and is well known to English-speaking travelers as being near the old Protestant cemetery, of which Shelley wrote: “The cemetery is an open spot among the ruins, covered in winter with violets and daisies. It might make one in love with death to think that one should be buried in so sweet a place.” The heart of Shelley is buried in the new Protestant cemetery near by. Here lies Keats, with the flowers he loved growing over him, and his own inscription, “Here lies one whose name was writ in water,” above him. The pyramid-tomb rises above the quiet place, adding to the atmosphere of repose. “The tomb of Cestius” says Rogers, “that old majestic pile, * * * has stood there till the language spoken round about it has changed, and the shepherd born at its foot can read the inscription no longer.” Caius Cestius was a Roman prætor and tribune of the people who died about 30 B. C., and Agrippa, his executor, erected this tomb to his memory, with two colossal statues, which are not now in existence. Another man died not far away whose grave is unknown, but his monuments stand in every Christian land. Of him Dean Houson writes: “St. Paul was led to execution beyond the city walls on the road to Ostia. As he issued forth from the gate his eyes must have rested for a moment upon that sepulchral pyramid which stood beside the road, and still stands unsheltered mid the wreck of so many centuries. Among the works of man that pyramid is the only surviving witness of the martyrdom of Paul, a monument unconsciously erected by a pagan to the memory of the martyr.” The tomb is one hundred and twenty-five feet high and one hundred feet wide at its upper base. It is of brick, covered with marble slabs.
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