THE ARCH OF DRUSUS
next draws our attention.
The aqueduct which supplied the Thermæ of Caracalla crossed the road a few steps before the Aurelian Gate of the city, the Porta Appia (now called the Porta S. Sebastiano), where an arch of travertine, adorned with white marble and pillars of various colours (still standing) was employed to convey the aqueduct over the road. The arch itself is evidently much older than the aqueduct, and has, consequently, been pronounced by antiquaries to be the triumphal arch awarded to Drusus by a decree of the senate, and said to have been erected to him on the Appian Way. It was supported by four columns of African marble, relieved by four niches and an attic above a small pediment; the whole was surmounted by an equestrian statue between two trophies, as shown upon a coin. "The senate likewise decreed for Drusus a triumphal arch of marble, with trophies, over the Appian Way, and gave him the cognomen of Germanicus" (Suetonius, "Claudius," i.).
Passing under, we come to