Excavations At Ostia.

Beyond the ample threshold stone , sole remnant of the gateway , stand the ruins of a large mansion supposed a military station or guard-house . We have hence in view a long perspective of paved street flanked with houses , now but low and roofless , among which lie strewn fragments of

sculpture and of marble architecture ; but no conspicuous front rises , no characteristically designed elevation attracts the eye . One more imposing ruin , however , is that of a palace , in whose chambers are pavements of geometric desings in mosaic , aud others of the richest coloured marbles inlaid in cubes . A walk across the fields brins-s us to a more

interesting rum-group ( opened shortly before our last visit ) , presenting several tombs , now roofless interiors and corridors lined with masonry , still firm and solid , partly in brick , partly in reticulated work of tufa , —the plan of this whole structure complicated , several of its interiors

containing files of niches in which the terra cotta olloi , for ashes , still occupy their places ; ancl other large recesses are seen , evidently for sarcophagi , —proof of the contemporaneous practices of interment and cremation ; the former further attested , by numerous skullsfound here and elsewhereamong

, , the Ostian sepulchres . Within one of these recesses , under a vaulting , is a- painting of a banquet-scene , with large couch , table , garlands suspended above ; but no guests introduced . In one chamber are figures of animals , painted with some skillon a stucco surface of deep red . These

, remains are far surpassed in interest by a superblydecorated tomb , into whose vaulted interior we descend from the level below which it had been buried ; measuring 12 ft . 8 in . by 11 ft . 3 in ., with walls and vault entirely painted over , —the chief colours reel aud yellow , —the floor

slopingupwards to a level centre occupied by a marble sarcophagus ( now in a magazine of such relics at the village ); ample niches , -with their ollce along a single file on the lateral walls ; at the end wall , a kind of asdicula , with painted pilasters and cor-, nices , containing four larger arched recesses , ancl

surmounted by ornamental painting , under the springing of the vault , rich ancl graceful in style . Upon the ceiling a row of griffins and candelabra forms a species of frieze , in white on a yellow ground : animals and a few human figures , much defaced , are here and there recognisable on the

warm-tinted walls . A single funereal slab set into the masonry , near the entrance , gives the name of a child—Sicia Semina , deceased in the second year of her age . Eeturning within the area of the cit y , and proceeding iu the direction sea-Avard , we reach the last and by far the most

important group of buildings , wliich covers a ' considerable extent , divided into numerous interiors , noAV prsenting a vast labyrinth , amidst whose complications it is most difficult to form anything like a ground-plan to the mind ' s eye , or to determine the specific appropriation of every part .

One fact , however , is certain , and serves as guide for the apprehension of this great aggregatethat we have here before us three systems , distinct , but in communication : a temple of Mithra ' s , Avith forecourt and other sacred purlieus ; the residence of the priesthood who here officiated ; and thermae ,

that may have belonged to the same sacerdotal body , no doubt wealthy and powerful whilst this once fashionable Oriental worship prevailed under the Empire . These ruined structures are all alike roofless , divided either by partition walls- at different heightsome reduced very lowor by massive

, , brick pilasters , among which lie several shafts of marble , green-veined Carystian ( eipollvno ) , or Other kinds . We first enter a spacious quadrangle , entirely paved ivith black and white mosaic , designed in a graceful ornamental pattern" ( without figures ) like carpet-work . From this centre

, opens , to the left , a series of quadrate chambers , various in size , at once recognizable as baths , all containing mosaic pavement ; and two provided with terra cotta flues , for admission of hot air from a hypocanst , into which we can look , stooping low , from a lower area of ruins still encumbered with

soil and weeds . The mosaics m these interiors are curious ancl varied ; in one example ( where a series of diamonds ancl borders is adorned with a species of braid , like intertwining ribbons ) , coloured ; tho others , in black and white , their designs including several figures of spirited character , —

athletes combating with the cestus , or holding the palm of victory ; one in the act of crowning himself with a ponderous diadem-like wreath ; a little Cupid mounted on a dolphin , which he drives ivith a long whip ; a bull terminating in a monstrous dragon , & c . From these pavements one of the

finest specimens in coloured mosaic has been recently transferred to the Vatican ; the central of five panels , in its design presenting a beautiful group of birds and flowers , the subordinate detail consisting of foliage , meanders , & c . Leaving- these baths , ive enter the principal court , au ample quadrangle surrounded by

parallel chambers and the temple buildings ; the pavement of this court presenting a very curious design in black ancl white mosaic , intended for a kind of palm of the city and its port ; in the centre a rude representation of a lighthouse with flame at the summit ; around this the moles and

inclosures of a harbour ; beyond , the wider extent of fortifications and gates round the city , whose streets are simply indicated by black ancl white squares in chess-board style . Off one side of this quadrangle opens a sei-ies of halls , oblong and j > arallel to each other , all in a very ruinous state ,

ivith the lower flight of a staircase nearly at the centre ; one of these interiors containing mosaic pavement ( geometric ) and two square elevations , that probably ( as seems indicated by the pipes carried through one side of each ) served for fountains , as perhaps required for lustrations in the Mithraic Avorship . At one extremity of this