Beyond the fifth milestone, two circular mounds with basements of peperino, were considered by Canina to be the tombs of the Horatii and Curiatii.
On the opposite side of the road is the exceedingly picturesque mediæval fortress, known as Torre Mezza Strada, into which are incorporated the remains of the Church of Sta. Maria Nuova, or della Gloria. Behind this extend a vast assemblage of ruins, which form a splendid foreground to the distant mountain view, and whose size has led to their receiving the popular epithet of Roma Vecchia. Here was the favourite villa of the Emperor Commodus, where he was residing, when the people, excited by a sudden impulse during the games of the Circus, rose and poured out of Rome against him—as the inhabitants of Paris to Versailles—and refused to depart, till, terrified into action by the entreaties of his concubine Marcia, he tossed the head of the unpopular Cleander to them out of the window, and had the brains of that minister's child dashed out against the stones. This villa is proved by the discovery of a number of pipes bearing their names to have been that of the brothers Condianus and Maximus, of the great family of the Quintilii, which was confiscated by Commodus.
"L'histoire des deux frères est intéressante et romanesque. Condianus et Maximus Quintilius étaient distingués par la science, les talents militaires, la richesse, et surtout par une tendresse mutuelle qui ne s'était jamais démentie. Servant toujours ensemble, l'un se faisait le lieutenant de l'autre. Bien qu'étrangers à toute conspiration, leur vertu les fit soupçonner d'être peu favorables à Commode; ils furent proscrits et moururent ensemble comme ils avaient vécu. L'un d'eux avait un fils nommé Sextus. Au moment de la mort de son père et de son oncle, ce fils se trouvait en Syrie. Pensant bien que le même sort l'attendait, il feignit de mourir pour sauver sa vie. Sextus, après avoir bu sang du lièvre, monta à cheval, se laissa tomber, vomit le sang qu'il avait pris et qui parut être son propre sang. On mit dans sa bière le corps d'un bélier qui passa pour son cadavre, et il disparut. Depuis ce temps, il erra sons divers déguisements; mais on sut qu'il avait échappé, et on se mit à sa recherche. Beaucoup furent tués parce-qu'ils lui ressemblaient ou parce-qu'ils étaient soupçonnés de lui avoir donné asile. Il n'est pas bien sûr qu'il ait été atteint, que sa tête se trouvât parmi celles qu'on apporta à Rome et qu'on dit être la sienne. Ce qui est certain, c'est qu'après la mort de Commode, un aventurier, tenté par la belle villa et par les grandes richesses des Quintilii, se donna pour Sextus et réclama son héritage. Il paraît ne pas avoir manqué d'adresse et avoir connu celui pour lequel il voulut qu'on le prît, car par ses réponses il se tira très-bien de toutes les enquêtes. Peut-être s'était-il lié avec Sextus et l'avait-il assassiné ensuite. Cependant l'empereur Pertinax, successeur de Commode, l'ayant fait venir, eut l'idée de lui parler grec. Le vrai Sextus connaissait parfaitement cette langue. Le faux Sextus, qui ne savait pas le grec, répondit tout de travers, et sa fraude fut ainsi découverte."—Ampère, Emp. ii. 253.
On the left of the Via Appia, appears a huge monument, on a narrow base, called the Tomb of the Metelli. Beyond this, after the fifth milestone, are the tombs of Sergius Demetrius, a wine merchant; of Lucius Arrius; of Septimia Gallia; and of one of the Cæcilii, in whose sepulchre, according to Eutropius, was buried Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Cicero, whose daughter Vipsania was the first wife of Agrippa, and whose granddaughter Vipsania Agrippina was the first wife of Tiberius.
Close to the sixth milestone is the mass of masonry sometimes called "Casale Rotondo," or "Cotta's Tomb," from that name being found there inscribed on a stone, but generally attributed to Messala Corvinus, the poet, and friend of Horace, and believed to have been raised to him by his son Valerius Maximus Cotta, mentioned in Ovid.
"Te autem in turba non ausim, Cotta, silere,
Pieridum lumen, præsidiumque fori."
Epist. xvi.
This tomb was even larger than that of Cecilia Metella, and was turned into a fortress by the Orsini in the fifteenth century.
Beyond this are tombs identified as those of P. Quintius, tribune of the sixteenth legion; Marcus Julius, steward of Claudius; Publius Decumius Philomusus (with appropriate bas-reliefs of two mice nibbling a cake); and of Cedritius Flaccianius.
Passing on the left the Tor di Selce, erected upon a huge unknown tomb, are the tombs of Titia Eucharis, and of Atilius Evodus, jeweller (margaritarius) on the Via Sacra, with the inscription, "Hospes resiste—aspice ubi continentur ossa hominis boni misericordis amantis pauperis." Near the eighth milestone are ruins attributed to the temples of Silvanus and of Hercules,—of which the latter is mentioned in Martial's Epigrams, beyond which were the villas of Bassus and of Persius. The last tomb identified is that of Quintus Verranius. Near the ninth milestone is a tomb supposed to be that of Gallienus (Imp. 268), who lived close by in a villa, amid the ruins of which "the Discobolus" was discovered.
From the stream called Pontecello, near the tenth milestone, the road gradually ascends to Albano, passing several large but unnamed tombs. At the Osteria delle Frattocchie it joins the Via Appia Nuova. Close to the gate of Albano, it passes on the left the tall tomb attributed to Pompey the Great, in accordance with the statement of Plutarch, and in spite of the epigram of Varro Atacinus, which says:—