175. View of Cocumella, Vulci.
This tumulus, with its principal remaining features thus standing on one side of the centre, may possibly assist us to understand the curious description found in Pliny[[163]] of the tomb of Porsenna. This description is quoted from Varro, being evidently regarded by Pliny himself as not a little apocryphal. According to this account it consisted of a square basement 300 ft. each way, from which arose five pyramids, united at the summit by a bronze circle or cupola. This was again surmounted by four other pyramids, the summits of which were again united at a height of 300 ft. from the ground. From this point rose still five more pyramids, whose height Varro (from modesty, as Pliny surmises) omits to state, but which was estimated in Etruscan traditions at the same height as the rest of the monument. This last statement, which does not rest on any real authority, may well be regarded as exaggerated; but if we take the total height as about 400 ft., it is easy to understand that in the age of Pliny, when all the buildings were low, such a structure, as high as the steeple at Salisbury, would appear fabulous; but the vast piles that have been erected by tomb-building races in other parts of the earth render it by no means improbable that Varro was justified in what he asserted.[[164]]
Near the gate of Albano is found a small tomb of five pyramidal pillars rising from a square base, exactly corresponding with Varro’s description of the lower part of the tomb of Porsenna. It is called by tradition the tomb of Aruns, the son of Porsenna, though the character of the mouldings with which it is adorned would lead us to assign to it a more modern date. It consists of a lofty podium, on which are placed five pyramids, a large one in the centre and four smaller ones at the angles. Its present appearance is shown in the annexed woodcut (No. [176]).
Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.
Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
176. Tomb of Aruns, Albano.
There are not in Etruria any features sufficiently marked to characterise a style of architecture, nor any pillars with their accessories which can be considered to constitute an order. It is true that in some of the rock-cut tombs square piers support the roof; and in one or two instances rounded pillars are found, but these are either without mouldings or ornamented only with Roman details, betraying the lateness of their execution. The absence of built examples of the class of tombs found in the rock prevents us from recognising any of those peculiarities of construction which sometimes are as characteristic of the style and as worthy of attention as the more purely ornamental parts.
From their city gates, their aqueducts and bridges, we know that the Etruscans used the radiating arch at an early age, with deep voussoirs and elegant mouldings, giving it that character of strength which the Romans afterwards imparted to their works of the same class. The Cloaca Maxima of Rome (Woodcut No. [104]) must be considered as a work executed under Etruscan superintendence, and a very perfect specimen of the class.
At the same time the Etruscans used the pointed arch, constructed horizontally, and seem to have had the same predilection for it which characterised the cognate Pelasgian race in Greece. A gateway at Arpino (Woodcut No. [177]) is almost identical with that at Thoricus (Woodcut No. [126]), but larger and more elegant; and there are many specimens of the same class found in Italy. The portion of an aqueduct at Tusculum, shown in Woodcut No. [178], is a curious transition specimen, where the two stones meeting at the apex (usually called the Egyptian form, being the first step towards the true arch) are combined with a substructure of horizontal converging masonry.