^y ^1^ ■•-^_ f ■■ L FlsCHETTIr£. ROLFE, ^' ^•» POMPEII PAST AND PRESENT I I 1884 riiailfiMii riMfii Furcliheim >• English & German BOOKSELLER 59 Piaiza dei Martiri \a.'~ .■_ .—■. N A P L E S^ ^'»^:;-^:::.=>:: POMPEI I, PAST AND PRESENT POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. ILLUSTRATED BY Photographs of the Rtiins as they are, SKETCHES OF THEIR ORIGINAL ELEVATIONS. THE DRAWINGS BY LUIGI FISCHETTI, ARCHITECT; SPECIAL ARTIST EXTRAORDINARY TO THE EXCAVATIONS OF POMPEII ; PROFESSOR OF DRAWING IN THE GOVERNMENT NORMAL SCHOOLS ; DIRECTOR OF THE NAPLES MUNICIPAL SCHOOL OF ART, ETC. THE LETTERPRESS BY E. NEVILLE ROLFE, B.A., HEACHAM HALL, ENGLAND; EDITOR OF THE "ENGLISH HANDBOOK TO THE NAPLES MUSEUM." THE PHOTOGRAPHS, WHICH ARE COPYRIGHT, ARE TAKEM EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK, BY E. LAURO, 197 STRADA DI CHIAJA, NAPLES. PRICE 30 FRANCS. LONDON: WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited, 13, CHARING CROSS. 1884. \All rights reserved^ LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. INTRODUCTION. The object of this work is to give the general reader a popular idea of what Pompeii was before it was destroyed by the great eruption. Few people of the many thousands who annually visit the city have the time or the books necessary to enable them to understand what they see in the course of a morning's walk through the ruins, and we believe that to such, a work of this kind will be a real boon, by giving them a definite idea of the town such as they cannot obtain in the course of a cursory visit. Nor will those who have not seen the city, and whose knowledge of it is confined to that charming work 'The Last Days of Pompeii,' fail to enjoy a study of the localities which will enable them to realise the scenes where the dramatic incidents of that interest- ing book are laid. It should always be remembered, and it is nearly always forgotten, that although Pompeii was destroyed in a day, it was not built in one. It contains specimens of architecture as early at least as 500 B.C., and though its houses have to a certain extent all assumed the type of the Roman habitations of the day, because the city was rebuilt after the earthquake which occurred in 6;^ A.D., sixteen years before the eruption, signs are not wanting of the massive stonework of the Etruscan age, with which, the excavations near Florence have made all travellers familiar. The restoration sketches have been made on the spot ; first by carefully repro- ducing such of the work as is still standing, and then building up the remainder stone by stone according to evidence adduced in the course of the excavations, such evidence having been carefully collected as the work proceeded by Professor FiorelH and his able staff. The letterpress has been compiled with the assistance of Professor Fiorelli's work, Dr. Smith's Dictionaries, and Dr. Ramsay's ' Manual of Roman Antiquities,' iv INTRODUCTION. whose description of the various rites has enabled both the artist and the author to follow out their conceptions consistently with the historical accuracy that such a work requires. In treating of the Roman customs in their sacrifices, elections, and funerals, we must acknowledge our great obligations to the Authors mentioned above, and especially to ' Ramsay's Manual,' which we commend to all those who desire to understand the details of Roman habits and customs. We desire also to acknowledge the great assistance we have received from the Rev. J. C. Fletcher in the revision of the proof-sheets, and to thank him for the useful hints which his profound study of the subject has enabled him to place at our disposal. Proceeding thus upon the certain foundations of the ruins, and the history disclosed by them, there has been little left to the imagination, and the reader may rely upon seeing as faithful a representation of what Pompeii actually was, as is possible in the nineteenth century. INDEX TO THE PLATES oK«<= 1. Panorama of the Excavations 2. The Basilica or Law Court 3. A Lawsuit 4. The Temple of Venus 5. A Sacrifice in the Greater Forum 6. The Temple of Jove . 7. Elections in the Forum . 8. The Exchange of Eumachia 9. The Temple of Fortune . 10. The Arch of Caligula ir. The House of the Faun . 12. The House of the Balcony 13. The Stabian Baths . 14. Scene at the Baths . 15. The Temple of Isis . i6. Entrance to the Triangular or Lesser Forum 17. The Lesser Forum and Temple of Hercules 18. The Gate of Herculaneum 19. The Street of the Tombs 20. A Roman Funeral 21. The Amphitheatre . 22. The Nucerine Riot . 23. The Destruction to face page I J5 8 » 9 J> 10 >? 12 )J 14 It 15 >J 17 J> 18 ■>■) 19 11 20 11 23 11 24 11 26 11 27 11 29 11 30 11 32 11 33 11 36 >> 38 11 40 » 42 'V^'i'-^v %^ X'\ r"^'*W^^W ^^ i^ ' POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. o»jo TOPOGRAPHY OF POMPEII. The walls of Pompeii are in the shape of an irregular hexagon enclosing about a hundred and forty acres, of which something like fifty have been excavated, so that nearly two-thirds yet remain to be laid bare, which it is calculated will engage the excavators about thirty more years at the present rate of progress. The city was a seaport standing at the mouth of the river Sarno, which has formed a new channel about half a mile further South, and is no longer navigable. The sea has undoubtedly retreated, and is now about a mile and a half off, and it is probable that it never came quite up to the walls of the town, but that the estuary of the river formed the port of Pompeii. Strabo tells us that Pompeii was the port for the neighbouring towns of Nola, Nuceria, and Atella, to which the Sarno may in those days have formed a waterway. It was entered by eight gates, of which the most important was that of Herculaneum, leading into the Street of the Tombs outside the walls on the North side of the town. Next in order came the Vesuvian and the Capuan Gates, also towards the North ; the Nolan and the Sarnian towards the East ; the Nucerine and the Stabian to the South, and the Sea Gate to the West. These gates have been called, without classical authority, after the names of the neighbouring towns towards which they opened, and towards which wide roads were constructed ; but as the great eruption covered the whole region, these roads are still buried many feet below the surface of the soil, their presence having been ascertained by experimental borings, which have disclosed the ancient pavements. There is one exception to this, in the case of the Street of the Tombs, which has been excavated for some five hundred yards outside the Herculaneum gate, and has derived its name from the Mausolea of distinguished personages which line it on either side, after the manner of the Appian Way at Rome. B POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. The city itself lay on a south-western slope, the upper half of it being practically flat, and the lower rising gradually from the Stabian Gate towards Vesuvius. The main streets led towards the gates and divided the city into nine districts, while a labyrinth of smaller streets gave access to the various dwellings. The public buildings appear to have been grouped on the western side of the town, where, no doubt, the aristocracy had their houses, so that we are justified in assuming that the wealthiest quarter has been hit upon by the explorers, and that only the poorer portion remains undiscovered. The Amphitheatre appears to be the only public building remote from the West end, and it is natural that the aristocracy should have preferred to have such a building at a distance, because its vaults were tenanted by wild beasts, and the gladiators who frequented its purlieus were the lowest and most brutal class of the population. ( 3 ) THE HISTORY OF POMPEH. According to the best authorities, the city of Pompeii was founded by the Oscans about 6oo B.C., and was afterwards inhabited by the Tyrrheno-Pelasgi and the Samnites. It became an important city on account of its populous neighbours, Nola, Nuceria, and Atella, all of which drew their supplies from its port. In early times the Oscans were the only inhabitants of Campania, but they were driven out by the Etruscans and Pelasgi, who formed a Campanian confederation of twelve cities, of which Pompeii was one. This powerful con- federation was at length overthrown by the Samnites, who dominated the South Italian populations for several centuries, but were driven out by the Romans about 80 B.C. From this period to the time of their destruction in 79 A.D., Pompeii and Herculaneum became summer pleasure seats of the Roman aristocracy, who introduced into them all the vices and luxury of the capital. A scientific survey of the ruins enables us to trace out the evolution of the city from the time when its walls were little more than a place of security for the flocks and herds of the pastoral Oscans, to the time when Emperors and Consuls celebrated their banquets and orgies within its walls, conceding privileges to the townspeople to make them bear contentedly the Roman yoke, and submit in quietness to the dissolute misrule of the later days of the Empire. Augustus, who died at Nola, can hardly fail to have been familiar with Pompeii ; it was here that Drusus, the son of Claudius, died, choked by a pear, and there is every probability that the triumphal arches to Caligula and Nero were erected in commemoration of visits paid to the town, or of special privileges accorded to it by them, although there is no record of the fact. It was from the time that she became a Roman city, that Pompeii became what we find her. The Empire was an age of wealth and luxury, and though religion was in a state of decadence among the educated classes, it was so interwoven with the State, so useful to the ruling classes, so necessary to the magistrates, B 2 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. that there was no way in which public money, Imperial extravagance, or private munificence, could be more usefully expended than in enriching a city with costly temples, encouraging the citizens to spend fabulous sums in sacrifices to the gods, and thus blinding the populace by the feasting and revelry which always accompanied the rites. Hence we see a collection of temples and public buildings in Pompeii of a magnificence out of all proportion to the size of the city, all testifying to enormous wealth, great progress, and exquisite culture. On the 5th of February, A.D. 6^), a violent earthquake was felt over the whole of Campania, damaging many of her cities, but working its worst ravages upon Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Nuceria. A great part of these cities was razed to the ground, and nearly all the public buildings in Pompeii were irretrievably damaged. The statues in the Forum were wrenched from their pedestals, and many of the inhabitants went mad with fear. The city was for a time completely deserted, as many of the houses were insecure, and large numbers of them had actually fallen. But confidence was eventually restored, the citizens returned to their homes, and set to work to repair their dwellings. There seems at first to have been considerable debate whether the public buildings should be rebuilt, but eventually the panic passed off and the Decurions gave orders for their re-construction — premising that even in the case of private houses, the shattered edifices should be rebuilt from their foundations. This rebuilding can be clearly traced in numerous instances ; the debased fashion of the day, and the hurried, careless work of the artificers standing out in strong contrast to the architectural unity and classic style of the older buildings which Greek taste had erected in a happier age of art. This may specially be seen in the Forum, where some of the Doric stone pillars of the Greek period were replaced by marble ones of Roman style and the poorest proportions. Moreover, the restorers modified the architecture of the public buildings very materially. They covered the columns, capitals, and cornices with ornamental reliefs in stucco, picked out with many-coloured devices ; they departed from the grand simplicity of the Greek originals, and introduced the tawdry style of the Decadence ; they rebuilt their houses fantastically, and decorated them grotesquely, in violation of every canon of Greek taste, and in defiance of all the recognised laws of the aesthetic code. Still, notwithstanding that they thus completely changed the character of their city for the worse, they could not, and did not, sweep away Greek art altogether, but left us (besides a strong colouring of Greek survival) a perfect THE HISTORY OF POMP EH. 5 Roman city according to the fashion of the age of Vespasian, Things seem to have gone pretty smoothly with them for some sixteen years after this great earthquake, when new shocks began to be experienced, and the superstitious asserted that giants had been seen in the plain and upon the mountain. It was on the 23rd of August, A.D. 79,* during some sports that were being held in the Amphitheatre, that Vesuvius was seen to send up a column of black smoke, spreading itself like the giant umbrella pines with which every one who has visited Naples is so familiar — this column was dense with volcanic matter thrown up from the crater beneath, and spread itself gradually far and wide like a vast black cloud, until it descended upon the doomed city with a gloom as impenetrable as the darkness of the blackest night. The volcano meanwhile emitted without cessation, and with a loud roaring noise, a cloud of ashes, pumice, and red-hot black stones ; rain fell in torrents from time to time, and the whole city was convulsed by a succession of violent earthquakes. The dense cloud of ashes fell thick and fast, driven on by a strong wind which bore it to the shores of Egypt and Syria, and even darkened the daylight in Rome itself The best account we have of the catastrophe is written by the younger Pliny who witnessed it from Misenum, and who contributed two letters on the subject to the historian Tacitus for insertion in his Annals. His uncle, the elder Pliny, lost his life in an heroic endeavour to render assistance to the city. According to Pliny the younger, the earthquakes and darkness experienced at Misenum were scarcely less alarming than those at Pompeii itself He describes * We give the 23rd of August as the date of the eruption, because it has ahvays hitherto been accepted as correct, and it is the date stated in all the usual books of reference ; but there is little doubt that the real date was the 23rd of November. No writer except Pliny gives the day and month, and the MSS. of his writings vary between the two days we have mentioned. There can, we think, be no doubt that the November date was the correct one, as chestnuts in their husks, dried grapes, and walnuts have been found in the excavations, and it is manifest that these would not be gathered so early as the 29th of August, and that the grapes would not be artificially dried until the vintage was over, and they became more plentiful than they could ever be in the month of August. That the population of Pompeii was in the Amphitheatre at the time of the disaster is also a time-honoured legend, due in part to Dion Cassius, who says they were in the " theatre "; but mainly to the genius of the writer of the ' Last Days of Pompeii,' whose magnificent description of the eruption must be familiar to all our readers. The actual words of Dion Cassius are that " Herculaneum and Pompeii were buried while the people were sitting in the theatre." Now (as far as we know) Herculaneum had no ajnphi- theatre, and the prevailing conjecture is, that Dion Cassius meant that the cities were destroyed " at theatre time," that is, in the afternoon, which answers to Pliny's account. The perform- ances in the theatre were frequent, those in the amphitlieatre were comparatively rare. Our readers must judge for themselves. We cannot do more than give them a summary of the discussion which has been threshed out in the works of the leading writers. POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. the flight of the terror-stricken population, the cries of the women as they searched wildly in the darkness for their families, whom they could only recog- nise by the sound of their voices. It seemed, he says, as if everything had come to ruin and must be engulfed by the earth or the flames. On the third day the darkness began to disappear, the sun shone pale as through a fog, or as in an eclipse ; the ruins were covered with ash and pumice- stone, and from time to time fresh earthquakes led the population to think that their danger was not yet over. When confidence was restored, the survivors set to work to recover such of their lost property as they could reach, and it is evident that they succeeded in finding a good deal that was valuable, as there can be no doubt that many of the principal houses were rifled of their chief treasures. Whether the owners were the only persons to profit by these early excavations is a matter of doubt, several indications having been found which lead us to suppose that many thieves searched the ruins with the view of obtaining booty, and of this there is a notable example in the case of a skeleton found in the Street of Stabiae with a lantern and pickaxe, the remains of a man who it is assumed was buried alive while engaged in a clandestine excavation. Titus, who was the reigning Emperor at the time of the catastroj^he, came with laudable energy to the assistance of the cities. He sent down some senators to organise the relief of the destitute, and ordered the town to be cleared and re-built, but whether the gigantic nature of the undertaking baffled him, or the cares of the State diverted his mind to other matters, has never yet been satisfactorily shown. At all events the idea was abandoned, and the site of the city was lost, not to be found again for many hundred years. But although the site of the city was lost, its history remained, and the wall of the great theatre had never been completely covered, nor had the shape of the Amphitheatre been altogether obliterated. These signs were neglected in the lapse of centuries, and no one seems to have troubled himself to search for the lost city, till the architect Fontana in cutting an aqueduct that was to convey the waters of the Sarno to Torre dell' Annunziata, discovered the foundations of some ancient buildings and a few inscriptions. But even then it occurred to no one that Pompeii had been hit upon, the solution being that some remains of the ancient Stabiae had come to light. It was not till 1748, in the reign of Charles III., the Bourbon King, and after the discovery of Herculaneum had drawn the attention of learned men to the matter, that some statues found by some peasants led to the assumption that the site of Pompeii had been discovered, and some convicts were set to work upon the earliest excavations. I THE HISTORY OF POMP EH. It may readily be imagined that these early excavations were not very well or very scientifically executed, and we are not surprised to find Barthelemy and Winckelmann, the greatest antiquaries of their day, loud in their complaints of the slowness and carelessness with which the work was being carried on. Winckelmann (who visited Pompeii in 1757) asserted that four generations after, we should still be searching in the ruins. His words have been more than fulfilled, for we are the fifth generation, and only about one-third of the city is yet excavated ! Notwithstanding the protests of these experts, things went on as before, and it was not till i860 that the matter was taken scientifically in hand, and a regular plan formed for grappling with the difficulty and reducing the plan of the excavations into a definite order. From this date everything was changed, and the excavations are now conducted by qualified persons, and on a regular system. Every work of art is con- scientiously preserved, and a careful record is kept of all that is archasologically interesting. Nothing is so small that it does not receive its due share of attention, and wherever the name of Pompeii is scientifically known, there too will the names of Professors Fiorelli and Ruggiero be held in honour as the men who have conceived and are carrying out this truly magnificent undertaking. To sum up the condition of Pompeii at the time of her destruction, we may say that she was an ancient provincial town which had been recently in great part rebuilt, that she contained splendid buildings and exquisite remains of ancient art. She was a wealthy and luxurious city, partly owing to her commerce, partly to the extreme fertility of the adjacent hills and plains, which are reckoned to this day as productive as any in Italy. POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE BASILICA, OR LAW COURT. The Romans undoubtedly derived this name from the Greeks, and borrowed the shape of the building from Athens. The inscriptions found in the Pompeian Basilica are unusually interesting, and show that the date of the main building was B.C. 164, and that the portico was earlier still, having been constructed by the Quaestor Vibius Popidius ; that is to say, before Pompeii was made a colony and the office of Quaestor was abolished. The judgment-seat at the western end was erected later, probably by the architect of the larger theatre. Beneath it is a cell which is thought by some to have been used to confine prisoners awaiting their trial ; but is considered by others to have been the depository of the archives of the Court. The main entrance to the Basilica was from the S.W, angle of the Forum. It was approached by a portico and four stone steps adorned by two statues of which only the pedestals remain, and closed by five sliding doors of which the grooves are still visible. The building was divided into three naves by Ionic columns in brick, of beautiful construction, of which the central and widest nave was open to the sky, the other two being covered by a ceiling, above which was a gallery divided into tribunes for spectators, and approached by an outside staircase. The Basilica was adorned with many statues of which fragments only remain, and verses from Virgil, Ovid, and Propertius were found scribbled upon the walls, together with memoranda from disappointed suitors, abusing the judges, complaining of the cost of litigation, and invoking imprecations upon the august head of Justice herself The Basilica seems to have been a recognised lounging place of the more educated classes. Some went to hear the decisions and arguments before the judges, others to meet their friends and converse in the cool colonnade. It seems probable too that the building was used for purposes of political meetings as well as for the administration of justice. Our illustration shows the Basilica as viewed from the Forum, with the judgment-seat at the extreme end. rr.-^^ %. ^ ,M- ^^' ( 9 ) A LAWSUIT. Our illustration represents the western end of the Basilica with the judgment- seat ; the upper galleries thronged with spectators, and the colonnade below with idlers. A ^' cause celibTe" is being adjudicated, and all Pompeii is interested in the result. The drawing for this photograph is made from the south-western corner, and like all those in this work represents exactly every detail of the building. Apart from the interest that always attaches itself to litigation where the plaintiff and defendant are persons whose affairs and whose quarrels are known to the inhabitants of the locality, there was another circumstance that would naturally lead the citizens to contemplate with interest the sentences given in their Basilica. Sundry enactments had been made to prevent, or rather to check, the enormous waste of human life that was occasioned by the debasing games of the Amphitheatre. Citizens might no longer have their slaves butchered wholesale to delight a bloodthirsty populace, but when a criminal was con- demned to death, there was a shout of triumph as the words " To the Lions ! " passed from mouth to mouth. It was mainly to satisfy this popular craving for unhealthy excitement that the persecution of the early Christians was taken in hand. The Jews shared the same fate for the same reason, and there can be no doubt that, justly proud as the Romans were of their system of jurisprudence, the general public hailed the conviction of a prisoner to death with no feelings of compassion, but rather with a keen interest in the issue of the combat of which the arena of their Amphitheatre would shortly be the scene. It is interesting to note that the Basilica of Pompeii was 220 feet in length and 80 feet in width, and is estimated (between its area and its galleries) to have been capable of containing about five thousand people. lo POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE TEMPLE OF VENUS. Venus was the goddess of beauty, the mother of love, the queen of laughter, and the mistress of graces and pleasures. She sprung from the foam of the sea, and was wafted in a fairy shell to Cyprus, whence she was taken on account of her beauty into the sacred circle of the Olympian gods. The rose, the apple- blossom and the myrtle, were her favourite flowers ; the dove, the sparrow, and the swan, the birds attributed to her. Victims were seldom offered to her, that her altars might not be stained with blood, but her worship was extremely popular, especially at Pompeii, where pleasure and license reigned supreme. She was worshipped as the patroness of the city, and her temple, which stands near the Sea Gate and directly opposite to the Basilica, is one of the most sumptuous of Pompeii. There can be no doubt that it was erected in very early times, and that originally it had an open colonnade all round it, like the Greek temples of the pre-Roman period. Eventually, and probably when the Forum was built, the northern wall took the place of the outer row of pillars, and the temple being surrounded by houses on the southern and western sides, the east end was built up by Holconius Rufus and Ignatius Postumus, to shut out curious passers-by from the rites. It seems probable that Maia and Mercury had each of them a shrine within the precincts of the temple, which was an exceedingly rich edifice, highly decorated with marbles and mosaics, and some of the paintings have led archseologists to assert that the worship of Bacchus found a place within its walls. It was originally built in the severe Doric style of the Samnite monuments, but an attempt was made later to introduce the more elegant Ionic, by painting the walls, and adding, where it was possible, the later style of ornamentation. As now seen, the temple consists of a considerable court surrounded by a portico of forty-eight columns. The cella, or shrine, stands in the centre of the court, surrounded by Corinthian columns upon a broad Ionic base, six columns being to the front and ten to each side. Of these, however, only the bases remain, with here and there a few fragments of the j^illars. lm^:^: THE TEMPLE OF VENUS. ir The inner shrine, in which no doubt stood the image of the goddess, has a handsome pavement of marble mosaic, and its elaborate stucco-work shows clearly with what elegance it was decorated. Thirteen steps of white marble lead up to the vestibule, and in front of them stands a large altar, also of white marble, which bears two inscriptions stating the names of the Duumvirs who erected it. On the left of the steps is an Ionic column, upon which stood a sun-dial, placed there, as the inscription informs us, by the Duumvirs Sepunius and Erennius. Very many fragments of statues were found scattered about the temple, and amongst them a good Venus in marble, which was taken to the Naples Museum. Many interesting inscriptions were discovered in this temple, some of them recording the building of the outer walls to shut the temple out from the neighbouring houses ; and many of the celebrated mural frescoes were taken from its colonnade. Among these were Achilles drawing his sword against Agamemnon ; Hector being dragged round the walls of Troy ; Priam begging for the body of Hector ; the rape of the Palladium ; and the Achaean ambassa- dors presenting themselves to Achilles. Such of these paintings as have not been removed are in a deplorable condition and can scarcely be recognised. Our elevation of the temple is taken from the main entrance to the outer court. 12 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. A SACRIFICE IN THE GREATER FORUM. The side-door, which leads from the priests' chambers of the Temple of Venus, opens into the centre of the greater Forum, a large open space originally- surrounded by a colonnade of which we observe the fragments in the photograph of the ruins. This photograph (which looks north) shows Vesuvius in the background and the ruins of the temple of Jove, with the two triumphal arches in the middle. The restoration of this Forum has been rendered easy, because, besides that the remains are unusually complete, we have some frescoes in the Naples Museum representing portions of the colonnade. The Forum was the largest open space in the city, and was used by hucksters and small traders, who exposed their wares upon the pavement, after the fashion still so common in Southern Italy. It must have had a noble appearance in the middle of the first century, when the many bases we see were decorated with the statues of illustrious citizens. The excavation of this area was undertaken in 1813, and conducted with the carelessness too prevalent in that day, so that no doubt much that is interesting was lost to us. Besides being a place of business, the Forum was also a lounge for the well-to-do, and the centre of political and religious life in the city. Round it stood the Pantheon, the Curiae, the Temple of Mercury, the Basilica, and the Temple of Venus ; the elections were held in it ; and the sacrifices to Jove, the most important of the public festivals, were celebrated there. Such a sacrifice would be held on any great occasion ; as for instance, if a General were about to set out upon an expedition ; or a Governor were about to start for a distant province ; or a new Magistrate were elected to control the destinies of the town itself It would be conducted by one of the higher Flamines, and the individual offering the sacrifice would be some high official personage acting as representative of the people. The Flamen would have various attendants, whose duty was to bring the victim to the altar (and it was of ill-omen if the victim approached the altar r'' t r.-3rW| Wi »w • t. J! iltiiiiiiiiii I A SACRIFICE IN THE GREATER FORUM. 13 unwillingly), to slaughter and dismember it, hand the entrails to the haruspex that he might deduce the auguries from them, and in general to perform all the menial offices connected with the rites. Two other persons of importance assisted at the ceremony. A prcBCo or herald, who called upon the multitude to preserve a solemn silence, and a tibicen or flageolet player, who played during the rites, so that no sound of ill-omen might be heard by those offering the sacrifice, whose faces, too, were veiled, that no ill-omened sight might meet their eyes. On great occasions all the dignitaries of the city would be present — in white garments with chaplets of leaves on their heads. The priests wore a sacred band of white wool wreathed with white ribbons on their brows, and a similar decoration was attached to the gilded horns of the victim, and to the altar. After a prayer from the Flanien, wine, incense, and flour were sprinkled upon the victim, he v/as felled with a mallet and stabbed with a knife. The blood was poured upon the altar and the entrails examined by the liaritspex, after which they too were burned with wine and incense. On public occasions the flesh was reserved for a priestly banquet, but in private sacrifices it was eaten by the family of the person who offered it* * For a detailed account of the rites, see Ramsay's * Manual of Roman Antiquities,' " Sacrijicia.'" 14 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE TEMPLE OF JOVE AND THE ARCH OF NERO. Our illustration shows these two important buildings, which stood at the northern end of the Forum. The Temple of Jove was the largest in Pompeii, and was raised above the Forum upon a fine base approached by steps on either side, at the foot of which stood two equestrian statues. The columns of the temple are in Corinthian style, six to the front and three on each side of the vestibule. The shrine was surrounded by walls and decorated with small Ionic columns. At the end of it stands the pedestal of a colossal Jove of which only the head was found by the excavators. It seems probable that there was a sacerdotal tribune within the shrine, and an upper story to which access was gained by a staircase. Beneath the shrine were some strong-rooms where the archives and treasure of the temple were probably preserved. The height of this fine temple caused it to be much injured by the earth- quake of A.D. 63, and it was in process of repair at the time of the destruction of the city, the restorers having collected in the underground chambers a large number of ornaments, capitals and fragments of statues, which no doubt formed part of the original decoration. Adjoining the temple is a triumphal arch, which we know by the inscription found upon it was dedicated to Nero Caisar, the son of Germanicus. This arch is now merely of rough brickwork, but originally it was faced with marble, of which only a few pieces still adhere to the bricks, the remainder having been destroyed by the earthquake or the eruption. On the side facing the Forum are niches which contained two statues, and on the reverse side are recesses and tanks for two fountains, the leaden pipes of which are visible. Looking through the arch we see the Street of Mercury in perspective leading on as far as the city wall, and a second arch, known as that of Caligula, upon which stood an equestrian statue in bronze which is now in the Naples Museum. The colonnade on the right formed the portico of the Pantheon or Temple of Augustus, a vast building with the pedestals of numerous statues in the centre of its court and rich fresco decoration upon the walls. This temple had very spacious accommodation for the priests, which leads to the inference that they were very numerous, and that the rites they presided over were very popular with the inhabitants. i^ i/ "p^. ^■»^-s Tm: TF^n•i,F -^f .Jovk I'i !*MMwn«<«wi'WiMinsM^ H iiBII IflF^ 4- ^ ,■ «"■" AV>|^ B 4H-,,i..». ' — I-St^ — 1 Jbl Sf^BfT^^. ^HB^SK^^. ■ITZ' BH!|,, --iir-- SSt* *s.* K ISJ^ f-^\ ,-^^«? ( 15 ) ELECTIONS IN THE FORUM. This illustration represents one of the important incidents of urban life among the Romans, namely, the holding of the coviitia, a constitutional assembly- convened for some special purpose, such as to elect a magistrate or to enact a law. For the former purpose the comitia were held annually, for other purposes they were held as occasion might require. They could be summoned only by the magistrate, and he might only hold them after the proper auspices had been secured. For this purpose he rose at midnight of the day before that on which the comitia were to be held, and with an Augur to assist him, marked off a region of the sky, and a space of ground, within which the auspices were to be observed. Any irregularity in these rites would vitiate the acts of the assembly, and any magistrate elected by such an assembly would be required at once to resign his office. The auguries were taken sometimes by the flight of birds across the part of the heavens enclosed within the allotted space, sometimes by the cries of certain birds which were esteemed of good or evil omen, and sometimes by the feeding of chickens, who decided the matter, if the signs were auspicious, by feeding ravenously, and if they were unfavourable, by refusing to feed altogether. If the omens were unfavourable, the comitia were put off to another day. Again, in case of thunder or lightning being heard or seen, the displeasure of the gods would be assumed, and the assembly would be dispersed. Cicero explains that these elaborate precautions were taken so that the decision of the people might never be unduly hurried, and that a certain time might always be made to intervene between the decision to hold the comitia and the actual assembly. As soon as the people had assembled, the presiding magistrate informed them of the purpose for which they had been called together, and the votes were recorded sometimes by ballot, small pebbles {calculi^ being used by the voters, and sometimes viva voce. We represent the ballot boxes guarded by lictors in the centre of the picture, and the population thronging the vast Forum, the chief open space of the town. 1 6 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. It seems certain that the elections were held here, and not, as some contend, in the Basilica — first, because the Basilica would not have been large enough to contain so great a concourse of people, and secondly, because the walls of the Forum were covered with electioneering inscriptions asking the suffrages of the people for the candidate named, and setting out his political creed, after the manner of the addresses which aspiring politicians circulate nowadays in our own country on the eve of a municipal election. Those of our readers who have visited Pompeii can hardly fail to have noticed these political inscriptions, which occur all over the town upon the walls of the houses. They are usually painted in large red letters, and many of them end with the words '' Rogat nt faveat," which may be freely translated, "Your suffrages are requested." The letters O. V. F. are also frequently found at the end of these inscriptions, and puzzled Sir William Gell and the early writers on Pompeii. The more recent excavations have disclosed the meaning of these letters in the words, 0}'0 vos facetis — " I pray you to do it ; " or, in our electioneering language, " Plump for him." I ;>;■ KxcHA.NaE OK hlrM.UHiA K. ( 17 ) THE EXCHANGE OF EUMACHIA. We represent the side entrance to this building in order to show the Fountain of Abundance, which gives its name, though without classical authority, to the principal street of Pompeii. It is a square marble trough originally adorned with two " ctppi" or short marble columns like tombstones, of which only one remains, which represents a figure of Abundance in bas-relief holding the emblematic cornucopia, and appears to have provided the shops of this street and the inferior houses with water. All the better class houses had water laid on in lead pipes. The large building at the back of the fountain is popularly known as the Exchange ; the technical name of it being '' Porticns Concordia Atigtistcs." This Exchange was in course of construction, or perhaps of re-construction, at the time of the catastrophe, and was being built up at the cost of a priestess named Eumachia, whose statue was erected at the western end of it by the Fullers of Pompeii. It was an important building, and contained several interesting inscriptions commemorating statues of yEneas and Romulus, Julius and Augustus Caesar, besides a very complete one giving the history of its dedication by Eumachia. The Fullers were evidently a rich and important guild at Pompeii, and this is accounted for by the fact that the clothes worn by the Romans were almost entirely woollen, and almost universally white. Such clothes would require fre- quent fulling to keep them clean, hence nearly all the washing of the town would be done by fullers, as linen was very little used and silk was extremely costly. The principal entrance to the Exchange was at the north-western end of the Forum, and was decorated with sixteen travertine columns. The centre of the court was open, but a broad covered corridor ran all round it, and a semi- circular tribune, adorned with many statues, occupied the western end. There were also some large tanks at this end, which makes it possible that it was used for some purpose connected with the trade of fulling. Sundry conjectures have been formed as to the use of the building, some critics asserting that it was a cloth market, others an Exchange and Chamber of Commerce. C iS POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNE. This fine building was erected by the Duumvir Marcus TuUius at his own cost, and dedicated about A.D. 3. It was splendidly adorned with marble, and from the height of its basement affords a commanding view of the Street of Mercury, which leads from the Forum to the city walls. The altar stood upon the basement in front of the temple, and was surrounded by a perpendicular iron railing. The vestibule was adorned by four Corinthian columns, behind which stood the image of the goddess on a pedestal flanked with columns which upheld a pediment on which was an inscription recording the dedication of the temple. There were four other statues in the shrine, one of which is conjectured to have been of Augustus, from the inscription found upon the plinth. It is almost certain that the original statues of this temple were destroyed by the earthquake, and that the two found in it (one of which is thought to represent Cicero) were put in place of others that probably represented TuUius and his family. Four marble inscriptions found in the temple (and now in the Naples Museum) make mention of the ministers of "Fortnna AngustaP The earliest of these dates to the year 756 A.U.C., and the second is of the reign of Tiberius. The third contains a permission to L. Statius Faustus to adorn the temple with two marble bases instead of the statue which he ought to have erected according to the decree of the ministers of Fortuna Augusta ; and the fourth inscription gives the names of the ministers for A.D. 61, and of the duumvirs and sediles to whom they were subordinate. This temple faced towards the west, and our drawing of it shows the facade and the broad street which led out to the Nolan Gate and runs parallel to the Street of Abundance. ... ^ M ( 19 ) THE STREET OF MERCURY AND THE ARCH OF CALIGULA. The Street of Mercury is the largest in Pompeii, running northwards from the Forum, and besides being spanned by a triumphal arch is flanked by several important houses. It runs from the Forum to one of the principal fortresses on the city walls, and was no doubt from a strategical point of view a very important thoroughfare. It is said to have been named after a picture of Mercury found near a fountain decorated with a head of Medusa, but Sir William Gell, who is a very great authority, gives an illustration of this fountain with a bronze statue of Mercury upon it. The street is spanned by a fine arch built in brick upon a foundation of Nucerine stone, upon the top of which was a bronze statue of Caligula on horseback, found in many fragments which have been carefully joined together and may be seen in the Naples Museum, Like that of Nero, this arch was faced with marble and decorated with cornices. It seems to have served the purpose of a water tower to supply the neighbouring houses and public fountains, and the leaden pipes may still be observed imbedded in the masonry. This street contains a fulling or dyeing establishment, where the vats may be seen in which the dyers washed the clothes with their feet, as is known by the very interesting and well-preserved fresco on the " Fullers' Pillar " now in the Naples Museum. The floor of an adjoining room is covered with soap to a depth of several inches, showing that they must have got it in in very considerable quantities. C 2 20 POMPEII PAST AND PRESENT. THE HOUSE OF THE FAUN. The city of Pompeii gives us a unique opportunity to study the various kinds of Greek and Roman habitations, and although, as we have already explained, most of the houses had acquired the prevailing type of the Roman dwellings of that day, there are not wanting traces in many of them of the fashion of a remoter age. Hitherto, some eight or ten very large houses have been discovered consist- ing of twenty-five to thirty rooms each ; twelve consisting of twenty-five rooms each ; one hundred and twenty-two having from ten to fifteen rooms ; one hundred and thirty having five to ten rooms ; and twenty-five with less than five. In all two hundred and ninety-seven houses — properly so called, besides a vast number of shops, stores, warehouses, and other buildings. Among these houses, which are more or less perfect accordingly as they have been more or less carefully excavated, there are some that show clearly that they were originally the small and simple houses of the Oscans and Samnites, subsequently enlarged and modernised. The Oscan houses, which we may treat as the earliest, had their foundations made of stone from the Sarno, and were constructed in massive blocks without mortar. They consist of a corridor, a courtyard with a few small chambers round it, and a wall garden. The houses of the next or Samnite period, though divided up much as were those of the Oscan period, had generally a portico with painted stucco pillars running round the court, and often a second court similar to the outer one, a larger garden, and such other offices as would be required for a larger establishment. These Samnite houses were in the Roman period still further enlarged and decorated, and show the increasing wants and luxuries of the later age. The reception-rooms were enlarged ; separate apartments, something in the style of the Eastern harem, were added for the ladies; offices, kitchens, and spacious dinincr-rooms were built on, the floors were paved with mosaics, the courts adorned with fountains, and the walls with frescoes. The House of the Faun, which is one of the best examples extant of the THE HOUSE OF THE FAUN. 21 country mansion of a wealthy Roman, was excavated in 1830, and appears to have belonged to the family of Cassius, who was Prefect of Caligula in Pompeii. It was named the house of the Faun or of the Large Mosaic from the two masterpieces of art found in it, the first being the statuette of the Dancing Faun, thirty-two inches high, which was found on a pedestal in the centre of the impluvium ; and the second, the large mosaic representing Alexander and Darius at the battle of Issus, which formed the pavement of the reception-room in the inner court, and is now exhibited in the Naples Museum. The main entrance is in the Street of the Temple of Fortune, and it has four shops in its fagade, in which it is probable that its owner exposed the produce of his estate for sale. Upon the pavement in front of the house is the word " Have " in mosaic letters (this salutation being written wdth or without the H in this period). There was another entrance to the house further on, which is thought to have been for the use of the ladies. The main entrance is beautifully ornamented, and at the top of each wall is a small shrine which served for the Lares and Penates. The hall, which we place in the foreground of our sketch, was pannelled out in stucco and painted with bright colours, the pavement was of marble, and the large impluvium caught the rain from the roofs, which sloped inwards towards it. Six small bedrooms for the gentlemen of the family opened into it, of which two communicated with the peristyle, where were rooms for the use of the ladies. It was this hall which was used as a reception-room for visitors and clients, of whom so rich a man as Cassius would have a great number. No furniture at all was found in the tablinuni or muniment room, which usually contained a strong-box or safe for the custody of important documents. On each side of it were the narrow passages {Fauces) usual in Roman houses, the one leading to the principal dining-hall, the other to the inner court, which had a garden and fountain in the centre, and a portico running all round it. Further on still was the garden, surrounded by an elegant Ionic portico, from which, through another corridor, there was an exit to the adjoining street. The servants' rooms and offices were all grouped round this garden; and against the western wall seventy aniphorce were found, of which several may still be seen in their original places. They were empty when found in 1830, but Professor Call, who made a chemical analysis of their inner surfaces, asserts that they contained new wine made that year, and that they were exposed under the portico of the peristyle merely to await their subsequent transfer to the cellar. Professor Ruggiero deduces from this another argument against the 23rd of August as the date of the destruction of the city — for of course no wine is ever 22 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. made in South Italy before the end of September. There was a first floor to the main part of the house, as shown by the remains of the stairs, but it is probable that the upper rooms were only used by slaves, as they would be low and uncomfortable. The house was completely detached, having streets on every side of it, and thus forming in itself one of the islands or blocks into which the city has been divided for purposes of reference. It contained numerous very rich mosaics, and a good deal of beautiful furniture of all sorts, which have been removed to the Naples Museum. The walls bore some interesting inscriptions, among them one in the Samnite character found beneath the stucco which a later age had placed upon the wall. This inscription, which must probably have been written up during the siege of Sylla, pointed out to the inhabitants of the street the point of the wall they were expected to defend, and the names of the commandants of the posts. It is as follows ; — " The citizens belonging to this circuit are to go between the tenth and elevoitli tozver, ivhere Titus Fisanius the sou of Oppiiis is statiojied!^ A humorous ^^ graffito " * on one of the pillars expresses the wish that a young lady named Victoria " may sneeze without effort {suaviter) wherever she goes" a striking illustration of the antiquity of good wishes to those who sneeze. Several skeletons were found in this house, and amongst them one of a woman wearing a ring with the name " Cassia " engraved upon it, two massive gold bracelets weighing a pound apiece, some gold rings, pendants, and coins — all of which are in the Naples Museum. * " Graffito " is a word used in archceology for a rudely-scratched inscription. Many of the graffiti in Pompeii are very interesting, and have been pubhshed. I lit Ijoi'M 111 I III I* \l.« MN^ THE HOUSE OF THE BALCONY. This is an example of one of the smaller houses of the town, and it is one of the few in which it has been possible to preserve the upper story. It is certain from the remains of staircases, that nearly all the houses had an upper story, but in most cases it fell in with the roof, or possibly remained above ground to crumble away in the lapse of ages. Had this House of the Balcony been discovered in the earlier excavations, this interesting specimen of Roman domestic architecture would certainly have been lost to us, as the early excavators sought merely to obtain valuable specimens by their researches, and not to preserve the ruins conscientiously. As good luck would have it, this unique house was not discovered till 1863, when it was excavated with the greatest possible care and precision. The timbers which supported the upper story and formed the overhanging balcony, had of course to be replaced by new beams, which were made on the pattern of the remains of the old ones. Such a house would probably be tenanted by a family of the middle class of moderate means, as the staircase was of wood and the rooms were small. The fountain and the marbles round it were, however, very handsome, and it is supposed that householders attached great importance to these decorations, because their doors were left open in the daytime, and they liked to secure a pretty vista into the house from the street. And certainly the larger streets of Pompeii must have been very beautiful, if the doors of the houses were left open, as nearly every court would display an impliivium surrounded with flowering creepers and pretty fountains playing in all directions. There is one very general misconception about the Pompeian houses ; namely, that the rooms in them are extremely small. This is true of the bedrooms, but it must be remembered that rooms in ruins look very much smaller than they really are ; and it will be found on measurement that very many of the reception and dining rooms of Pompeii are as much as thirty feet long, which is large enough to form a very handsome apartment. 24 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE STABIAN BATHS. The Baths were very important institutions in the social economy of Imperial Rome, and the fact that Pompeii boasted three public Thermal establishments, besides several private ones in the more important houses, shows that the provincial cities followed the example of the metropolis. The Stabian Baths, which stand in the Street of Abundance, were the richest and most elaborate, the establishment behind the Temple of Venus being smaller, and the remaining one (which was intended to be the largest of all) was unfinished, being in course of construction when the city w^as destroyed. Our illustration shows the large court or palcestra at the entrance of the baths. On the left is a building which formed a smaller court {sphcBristeriiivi) for the game of bowls, a very favourite pastime wuth the ancients. Two stone balls were found in this court. Adjoining this is a large open-air swimming- bath, occupying the remaining portion of the western side of the court. It will be seen that the walls were gaily decorated with frescoes and reliefs in stucco, presenting, of course, a very bright and pleasant "coup d'ceil." The court was used for gymnastic exercises, to prepare the bather for the baths by opening the pores of the skin. The baths proper were divided into two sections for the two sexes ; that for the women being the further from the entrance-door, and having been identified by the word MULIER over the door, and by a number of brooches and ornaments that were found in it. Between the male and female sections stand the furnaces, which cast streams of hot air beneath the floors of the hot chambers and between the inner casings and the main walls, the walls of these chambers being hollow, and the inner casings constructed of large tiles with nipples to keep them away from the solid brickwork. These hot chambers opened laterally into a cool vaulted chamber, where niches were built in the walls for the bathers to deposit their clothes, and a handsome marble bath stands in an adjoining chamber for a refreshing dip after the processes in the hot chambers. The Roman balnea were the recognised rendezvous of Roman society, and the ladies and gentlemen of the time spent THE STABIAN BATHS. 25 many hours of each day within their walls ; but they were used also to a great extent by the populace, to whom no doubt they were opened at special hours, as the price of admission to the plebs was only a qiiadrans, a coin equivalent to our farthing. The complete bath consisted of sitting on benches in the Stidarium, or hot chamber, until a profuse perspiration supervened. The bather was then scraped with a strigil, a concave bronze or silver hook, and rubbed over with linen towels, after which he was shampooed with ointments, and took a plunge into the cool water. In the climate of Italy these baths must have been a great luxury, and it is strange that so salubrious a custom should have completely died out in that country, while it has been preserved in the Levant, where every town has its Turkish bath, which is largely patronised by every section of the community. Amongst many interesting relics found in these baths was a sun-dial of great antiquity, bearing an Oscan inscription stating that it had been erected by Marius Atinius with money arising from fines. Monnier, in his book* ^ Ponipei ed i powpejani,' p\xh\is\).Q6. at Milan in 1873, quotes a humorous malediction on sun-dials, which we reproduce here, though we are not aware of its existence in Pompeii : — " May the gods bring bad luck to the first man who invented the hours and put up a sun-dial in this town ! The ribald man who divided the day into parts to annoy me ! From my childhood I had no clock but my stomach, and that told me the time most accurately, excepting when I had nothing to eat. Nowadays, however well the larder may be furnished, one may not touch food except by permission of the sun. Hence, now that the town is full of sun-dials, the citizens go about lean and hungry ! " (Signed) A Parasite of Plautus. The Stabian Baths had an upper story, which was furnished with a large water-tank estimated to have contained about 50,000 gallons. This no doubt supplied the whole establishment as well as the swimming-bath, which between them must have required no ordinary quantity of water. * We have quoted from the Itahan translation of Monnier's work, which appeared originally, we beheve, in the ' Revue des deux Mondes^ and was subsequently reprinted in various editions, of which one was "a Ihisage des jeuties JUles." The work is one of the most sprightly and amusing ever written on Pompeii, but not always trustworthy in its information. The inscrip- tion is stated by Breton to be attributed to AthenEeus. 26 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. SCENE AT THE BATHS. This vestibule, with the adjoining colonnade which ran round the eastern and southern sides of the open court of the Stabian Baths, was a great meeting-place for the well-to-do citizens. Horace, when he writes of a man who wished to keep out of the way, speaks of him as a man who "seeks secluded places and avoids the baths ; " thus proving, if proof had been necessary, that the baths were the great rendezvous of the Roman citizens. The magnificent Thermae of Caracalla and Titus at Rome, adorned as they were with unrivalled works of art, and built by the munificence of emperors who above all desired to conciliate the population of their capital, are enough to show the popularity of these establishments with all ranks of the people, and whether the purpose of the bather was to brace his system with the exercises of the palcestra, to refresh himself with a swim in the large basin of the natatio, or to dawdle away his day in the effeminate luxuries of the tepidarmm, he would find in the TJiermcB the means of gratifying his taste, and of passing his day in that gentle idleness which ''in otia natam Parthenopeii" ("Naples born for luxury ") seemed created expressly to gratify. " ^^' w^ ( 27 ) THE TEMPLE OF ISIS. Although the worship of Isis had been forbidden by a decree of the Roman Senate in B.C. 57, and was only tolerated in the first century of our era, it is evident that it was very fashionable in Pompeii, which together with the neighbouring seaports had much traffic with Egypt, whose merchants are supposed to have introduced their worship into Italy. Diodorus states that Isis was the daughter of Saturn and Rhea, and was the goddess of agriculture in Egypt, representing the moon in their ancient mythology, as her husband Osiris represented the sun. The cow was the symbolical animal attributed to this goddess, and she was supposed in Egypt to cause the inundation of the Nile. Her temple is one of the most complete in Pompeii, having been destroyed in the earthquake of A.D. 6^, and rebuilt from its foundations by Popidius with money belonging to his son Celsinus, who, although he was only six years old, was thereupon elected a Decurion without payment. This is recorded in an inscription found upon the gate of the temple, and now in the Naples Museum. The temple contained several altars and very elaborate floral devices painted on the walls, as well as the picture of the dog-headed figure of Anubis (one of the gods of the dead among the Egyptians), and emblematic figures of priests holding sacred utensils for the performance of religious ceremonies. In the portico was a shrine in the wall which contained a painting of Har-pa-khrat with the lotus flower on his head, the horn of abundance in his left hand, and his right forefinger as usual on his lips, a gesture intended by the early Egyptians to typify infancy, but which the Greeks mistook for an indication of silence, and re-named the infant " Harpocrates, the god of silence." The beautiful bronze laver now in the Naples Museum was found by the door of the temple, and near it a marble pillar, upon which it is conjectured that a money box for oflerings to the goddess was placed. The temple contained a charming small statue of Isis in marble, of Egyptian style, but of Roman workmanship, holding the key of the Nile and the sistrwn, a bronze rattle used in the celebration of her rites. This statue bore an 28 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. inscription stating that it was erected by Lucius Caecilius Phoebus in fulfilment of a decree of the Decurions. In its general construction the temple differs little from the others, but the main statue of the goddess is said to have pronounced oracles, and it is assumed that the priest who caused this pretended phenomenon was concealed in the hollow substructure upon which the statue stood. The hands, feet, and head of this statue were of marble, the body of wood, and the drapery of cloth. The door of the shrine closed on the inside, but the priests had access to it by a private staircase by which they retired when the rites were completed. A handsome marble statuette of Bacchus was found in one of the niches in the front of the temple, and in the other, a small statuette of Isis. In the conduit in the court, where the water of the Sarno may be seen running by, a large quantity of carbonised fruits and other remains of offerings were discovered. The shrine opposite had a narrow staircase leading down to a small sub- terranean vault which contains a stone seat and platform. It is decorated with reliefs in stucco, representing Mars, Venus, Mercury, and other deities. The pictures represented subjects connected with Egyptian mythology, such as lo, guarded by Argus and delivered by Mercury, and lo arriving in Egypt borne by the Nile and received by Isis. On two pillars opposite the shrine two marble Ibises, with bronze beaks and legs, were discovered. These were sacred birds in Egypt, and were the scavengers of the country. The large hall at the back was handsomely decorated, and no doubt used for initiations. Its erection is recorded by an inscription in the mosaic of the pavement. There was considerable accommodation for the priests in the rear of the temple, and several skeletons were found in these apartments, amongst them that of the priest mentioned in the ' Last Days of Pompeii,' who cut through two walls with the sacrificial axe, and died while attempting the third, which would have given him his freedom. The excavation of this temple was made at various times between 1764 and 1798, and many very beautiful things were found in it. It is one of the few cases in which the early excavators made careful and valuable memoranda of their discoveries, which were published in Pompeii, Ant. Hist., vol. i. TO TlIF 1 KIA.NH-U'uAU OK Le>.SEH I'v'KL'M KSTPA.N( K io TUF TKiANi*UiAl. ( 29 ) THE ENTRANCE TO THE TRIANGULAR OR LESSER FORUM. This very fine Ionic portico adjoined the Temple of Isis, and consisted of eight massive stone columns. To give an idea of its handsome proportions, Professor Fiorelli caused some of the j^illars forming the fagade to be set up again. Where portions of them were missing their places were supplied with blocks of plain stone, so that no attempt should be made at a fraudulent restoration. Our photograph of the ruin represents it as it now stands, repaired as above. Beneath the portico were six small marble tables upon which stood busts of illustrious citizens. In front stood a public fountain of the usual description bearing a head of Medusa upon its pillar. The columns and pilasters are of Nucerine stone, and probably very ancient, though the degraded taste of a later age had covered them with stucco and paint to match the walls of the recess within. Most of this has, however, perished with time and the careless handling of the early excavators, so that the columns are now almost restored to their pristine beauty. The cornice and architraves were built in massive blocks of the same Nucerine stone without mortar or iron clamps, and are remarkable for their proportion and decoration, as are both the bases and capitals of the columns, which show that dignified simplicity which is characteristic of Greek architecture and renders it so superior to any other style. The fragments of tiles found in the excavations make it certain that at the time the city was destroyed, the portico had a tiled roof ; one large tile measuring 19^ in. X 31 2 i"-, and a few copings of similar proportions, evidently made on purpose for this building, escaped the general destruction, and were found whole among the ruins. The entire building was in a tolerable state of repair when discovered in 1769, but was much damaged by the excavators, who used up large fragments of the cornice and columns to repair other buildings. They heaped up the remainder in a corner of the Forum, from which it was rescued a few years ago and placed as we now find it. 30 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE LESSER FORUM AND TEMPLE OF HERCULES. This large open space is variously known as the Triangular Forum from its shape ; the Hecatonstylon from its being surrounded with a portico of a hundred columns ; the Forum Boariwn because it is thought to have been used as a cattle market ; and the Lesser Forum in relation to the larger space of the same name in the centre of the city. Its main entrance was through the fine portico already described, but it had a doorway into the Temple of Isis, three into the theatre, and one by a flight of steps into the Liidiis Gladiatorius or Fencing-school. The colonnade was built of elegant Doric columns covered with stucco and painted. Originally no doubt this colonnade was merely the sacred enclosure of the Temple of Hercules which stands in the middle of the Forum, and was considerably modified when the space was converted into a market and the larger theatre was erected. A chief feature of the apex of this Forum was a statue of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who, according to the inscription on the base, was patron of the institution. The Temple of Hercules, built in the same style as the Temple of Neptune at Paestum, shows some very good remains of Greek architecture of a very early date. There is little doubt that it is the oldest building in Pompeii, dating back probably to B.C. 600, and dedicated to Hercules, under whose auspices, according to the tradition preserved to us by Servius, a Greek colony established itself on this spot in very early times. There can be but little doubt that the temple was in ruins when the city was destroyed, and that the stones of it had been largely used by the Romans for the construction and repair of other buildings. The similarity of the building to the Temple of Neptune at Psestum has led to the inference that this too was dedicated to the same deity, but Professor Fiorelli declines to accept this conjecture. The temple is built upon a rectangular base surrounded by five high steps. The facade was supported by twelve Doric pillars, and the sides by eleven (the corner pillar being counted twice over). In front of the temple were three THE LESSER FORUM AND TEMPLE OF HERCULES. 31 altars, and a sacred enclosure in which it is thought that the remains of the burnt offerings were collected. A little beyond the temple are the ruins of a small circular shrine with a well in front of it, built upon the site where, according to an inscription, a thunderbolt had fallen. Behind the temple was a semicircular seat with a sun-dial and an inscription recording the names of the Duumvirs who erected it. From the base, the finest view of the mountains of Stabise and of the Sorrentine promontory can be obtained, and the visitor should on no account fail to ascend the steps. 32 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE GATE OF HERCULANEUM. This gate stands on the top of the incline which leads down the Street of the Tombs, and was the main northern entrance to the town. It is probably- less ancient than the other gates, and consists of three openings ; the centre one for wheel traffic, and the two side ones for foot-passengers. The centre opening closed with a portcullis ; the others with iron doors. All had large wooden doors on the city side of the archway, which was of brick covered with plain stucco, upon which the passers-by had scribbled sundry inscriptions which have been allowed to perish unrecorded. The wide road which leads to it and the deep ruts in the pavement make it probable that much traffic passed into the town from this direction ; and the largest hotel yet discovered stood close by it outside the walls of the town, which seems to prove that the gates were closed at night. The city walls have been completely unearthed at this point, and as it is the highest part of the city it is from here that the best view can be had of the excavations. No study can be more interesting than that of these fortifications, which clearly date back in parts to the Oscan times, though no doubt they were modified in later times as the arts of warfare became better understood. The blocks of stone which compose them are many of them very large, admirably joined together, and engraved in places with Oscan characters. There was an inner as well as an outer parapet, and towers which covered the whole breadth of the wall were erected every few yards. The walls on the inner side were built into steps to make them easy of approach to the defenders, and the towers could be entered from the city side. It seems probable that the fortifications were never properly rebuilt after the siege of Sylla, though we find many places where the breaches made by other sieges had been hastily repaired. The wall on the sea side has almost entirely disappeared, but the remainder, as far as it has been ex- cavated, is in very fair preservation. Several important houses stood just within the Gate of Herculaneum, notably the House of the Surgeon, which was clearly of Oscan construction, being faced with large blocks of stone without mortar. It was here that most of the surgical instruments now in the Naples Museum were discovered. Its owner must evidently have been a physician of considerable wealth, as the house was elaborately decorated. The Gatk ok Iiek^-li.anft ""^MmM-^- MiliiSMHfiSSl I'JIK StKI-.ET of THh i('Ml^>. ( 53 ) THE STREET OF THE TOMBS. This is the only one of the public roads outside the walls which has hitherto been excavated. It leads steeply down from the Gate of Herculaneum towards the N.W., and formed in fact a part of the great paved highway from Pompeii to Rome. The excavation of it was begun in 1763, and has been since carried on at long intervals, nothing having been done there since 181 1. It acquired its name from the handsome tombs with which it is flanked on both sides, and judging from the fact that nearly all these tombs have monuments declaring that the deceased held public office, it is assumed that sepulture in this locality was an honour granted only to citizens of importance. The street itself seems to have been a promenade, because it has wide foot-pavements and handsome public seats erected in niches, some open and some covered over, while the hillocks hard by were graced with pretty villas and beautiful gardens. The excavations have been carried some five hundred yards beyond the gate, and are thought to have disclosed all the tombs that exist in this locality. On the right, about half-way down, are the remains of some houses and shops, the principal of which is thought to have been an inn. On the opposite or left side of the way is the Villa of Cicero, so called because he speaks of his Pompeian villa in one of his letters to Atticus, and states that had his sight been keen enough he could have seen it from Baiae or Misenum, which would be truer of this site than of any other. In this house many valuables were discovered, but in common with the house of Julia Felix which joins it, it was filled up again after being excavated and considerably damaged in the process. The excavation of the street terminates with the house of Diomede, one of the largest and richest houses yet discovered. It was a three-story house, of which the upper floor is completely gone, and it is clear that its owner was a man of great wealth, from the handsome furniture which was discovered in the excavations. He had a vast subterranean corridor running all round his garden, where he kept his wine, and in which his unfortunate family took refuge at the time of the eruption. Eighteen skeletons were found there, one of which D 34 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. had an infant in its arms, and five other skeletons were found in the garden and upper apartments, with a lantern, a key, and some rich gold ornaments. To describe the tombs of this interesting street, and to give the inscriptions which render it archaeologically of such great interest is beyond the scope of a popular work, but it will be interesting to note that many of the chief monu- ments stand on ground presented by the municipality, showing probably that a public funeral had been voted to the deceased. Thus an inscription on the western side of the street states that the Decurions had decreed to Aulus Umbricius Scaurus an equestrian statue, to be placed in the Forum, two thousand sesterces for the expenses of his funeral, and the ground for his sepulchre. The monument consists of a cohinibariuvi with fourteen niches, besides a large pilaster supporting the roof, which had a niche on each face of it, capable of containing a larger-sized urn. There were two rows of stucco bas-reliefs on this tomb, the upper one having an inscription painted on it, stating that it represented the gladiatorial spectacle given on the last day of the games by the family of Ampliatus, who are thought to have been gladiators. It represented eight pairs of gladiators, of whom two were on horseback and fighting, and two were looking on, two who had done fighting awaited the decision of the spectators — two secutores and two retiarii in the act of slaughter- ing one another, and another pair, one of whom was mortally wounded, and finally four gladiators and an assistant, staying the arm of a companion who was about to despatch his fallen enemy. Over each figure was an inscription stating the name, quality, and merit of each gladiator, and the fate that befell him. The second row represents a hunting scene, in which several hestiarii, or wild beast fighters, are contending with lions, panthers, wild boars, bulls, and smaller animals. All but two of these bas-reliefs were destroyed by frosts in 1 8 14 and in 18 16, but fortunately drawings of them had been made by Mazois in 18 1 2. Next to this tomb is a small court, which is thought to have been one of the spaces in which funeral pyres were erected for burning the bodies. Next to this is the important tomb of Calventius Quietus, an Augustal, who (according to his epitaph) was granted the distinction of the biselliuni by the decree of the Decurions and the consent of the people, on account of his munificence. This is a fine marble monument, displaying piUvinaria* adorned with rams' * The pulvinar was a seat upon which the gods were placed at the Icdistcrnia, important festivals, when the household gods were set down at the banquet as though they partook of it. The bisellium was a seat of honour, the right to which was granted as a mark of distinction to important personages by the magistrates and people in provincial towns. THE STREET OF THE TOMBS. 35 heads, leaves, and palm branches, above the epitaph, and beneath it, the hisellmni. The sides are adorned with chaplets of oak leaves. An interesting court will be found close to the house of Diomede, containing a funeral triclinium or couch upon which the Romans used to recline at feasts given in honour of their dead. At such a feast a vacant place was always left for the deceased. This triclijiiiim has a central table, couches in brickwork of the usual pattern, and a small pedestal, which may have been used as a stand for a bust of the deceased, or perhaps as an altar for libations and offerings to his Manes. An inscription over the door states that it was dedicated by the freedman Callistus to Cneius Vibrius Saturninus. On the other side of the way are the tombs of the Diomede family, which gave its name to the house opposite to them. These tell us that Marcus Arrius Diomedes was a freedman of Julia, and patron of the suburb of Augusta Felix, the village outside the gates of Pompeii. 2,6 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. A FUNERAL. The Romans, in common with many ancient nations, thought that the happiness of the spirit after death depended in a great measure upon the rites that were celebrated by the survivors. Many of their funeral rites were no doubt survivals of those originally introduced into Italy by the early nations who had conquered and colonised it ; some of them arose as different customs necessitated a departure from established usage. Cremation seems to have been general at the time of the destruction of Pompeii, and there can be no doubt that the burning of the body of any important personage would cause great excitement in the town as soon as the herald's voice had been heard inviting the public to the ceremony and to the general distribution of food which was made on these occasions. As soon as a person died, those in the room set up a lamentation, and a messenger was sent for the undertakers, an official class whose duty it was to carry out the necessary arrangements. The corpse was then laid out, and a Cyprus tree placed before the door as an emblem of death. Our illustration represents the obsequies of an important personage, which in those times would have been conducted as follows : — The procession would be headed by the lictors, behind them would come the tibicines or flageolet players, and other musicians. Next would follow a group of actors, one of whom would personate the deceased and imitate his peculiarities. After these, a band of hired female mourners, who tore their hair, wailed, praised the deceased, and incited the female slaves to join in their cries. Then came the high officials of State, the Magistrates and Decurions dressed in black marching before the bier, which was usually carried by those of his slaves to whom the deceased had bequeathed their freedom. Upon the bier lay the corpse, the head crowned with a wreath of flowers, and the body covered with white linen, purple, and garlands. Next to the remains came the family, dressed in black, the friends and the clients, and last of all the populace with more musicians and mountebanks, who pla}-ed and danced in honour oi the deceased. When the cortege arrived at A FUNERAL. 37 the nstrinmn or crematorium the body was placed upon the funeral pile, the trumpets sounded, and the chief, mourner with averted face set light to the pyre. Wine and incense were poured upon the flames, sacrifices were offered to the Infernal gods, the actors and mountebanks plied their avocations, and sometimes human blood was shed in a gladiatorial contest, as a sacrifice for the soul of the deceased. Then the ashes were collected in a cinerary urn, money or some article of value was put in with them, and they were deposited in the niche prepared for them with an appropriate epitaph. Nine days after, the funeral feast was celebrated by the relations, either at the tomb itself, or perhaps in the funeral triclinium we have already described, which it is conjectured may have been kept more or less for the use of all families whose interments took place in this locality. At the conclusion of the feast, each guest repeated three times the words " P'arewell, and may the earth lie light upon you." * The ceremonies were then complete ; the dead man was forgotten, except when the skeleton at the feast incited to further gluttony, or the feralia — an annual festival in honour of the dead — caused his relations to gather round their family burial-place. * We quote this expression because it was undoubtedly the usual valedictoiy wail in Roman times, and is frequently found on tombstones. But it occurs to us that as cremation seems to have been usually adopted at Pompeii, the expression would be singularly inappropriate. It would be interesting to know whether the expression survived although cremation had taken the place of burial. 38 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE AMPHITHEATRE. There is nothing specially remarkable in the Amphitheatre of Pompeii. It is built wholly without substructions, differing thus from the Roman Coliseum and the more important Amphitheatre of Pozzuoli, both of which were originally designed for the performance of the " Na?nnachia," or sea-fight, in which the combatants fought in boats launched from either end of the arena, which was filled with water for the purpose, and slaughtered one another wholesale for the delectation of the spectators. Excellent as was the water supply of Pompeii, her Amphitheatre could never have been put to this terrible use, and seems to have been confined to gladiatorial contests and wild-beast shows. In the former, two or more gladiators would meet in fair fight, hand to hand, armed with the best weapons. These contests would be conducted till one or other fell before his adversary, who would then appeal to the audience whether or not he should be despatched. Had he fought well and bravely, his life would sometimes be spared, but if the verdict of the audience was against him, they turned their thumbs downwards and stretched out their hands as the sign that he must die. The sports with wild beasts were somewhat different in their nature. Here the chance of the victim's life was reduced to an absolute minimum. He was either unarmed, or armed only with the stylus, a small pointed implement, which scarcely could do more than goad on the enraged beast to greater fury against him. Pliny, Suetonius, Dion Cassius, and many other writers, have described the games of their times, and have told us how the ignorant populace thought that these games were pleasing to the gods, and did honour to the manes of the departed by the lavish effusion of human blood. The spectacle usually commenced with a boxing match between gladiators armed with the ca^stus, a loaded boxing-glove or "knuckle-duster." Then followed contests on foot, on horseback, and even occasionally in chariots. The Andabati, who fought on horseback, rode white chargers, and were clad in splendid armour, with gilded helmets and handsome trappings. Those who fought in chariots were ■■*N •^SJt, '^'»**. e^ — ■ THE AMPHITHEATRE. 39 called Essedarii. Both these classes were professional prize-fighters ; and besides these, and before the passing of the Petronian law, slaves were butchered wholesale for the amusement of the people. It must be added in justice that innocent games were sometimes held in the amphitheatre, when the sports would consist of hunting scenes and rope-dancing. The Amphitheatre of Pompeii seems to have been begun about B.C. lOO, the sports up to that time having been held in the Forum. It was built by degrees, and chiefly with the public money, which would ordinarily have been spent upon the games themselves. Numerous inscriptions found upon the walls show when and by whom the various parts were erected. The Pansas (father and son) seem to have patronised it largely, and their statues were erected in the northern or principal entrance. The lower ring was topped with a strong iron grating, to prevent the beasts getting in among the spectators ; and the dens for the wild beasts, and rooms for the dead when they were drawn out of the arena, were entered by small doors beneath the seats of the spectators, and opening into the ring. 40 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE NUCERINE RIOT. This illustration represents the celebrated Nucerine riot, which appears to have arisen in 59 A.D. between the inhabitants of Pompeii and the neighbouring town of Nuceria, on the occasion of some games held in the Amphitheatre of the former town. The exact history of the riot is unknown ; but one Livinius Regulus appears to have been the cause of it, and blows seem to have been pretty freely exchanged. The matter was referred to Nero, who was then Emperor, and he decided that the Pompeians were in the wrong, and that no performances should be permitted in their Amphitheatre for ten years ; an interdict that expired about eight years before the destruction of the city. One of the most interesting records of this riot may be seen among the frescoes in the entresol of the Naples Museum. This fresco, though it has no artistic merit, and was found in a small house, thought to have belonged to a gladiator, presents several features of paramount interest. First, the awnings are represented as spread on the eastern side ; showing, of course, that the entertainment was a morn- ing one. We know they used awnings, because the words " vela ernnt " at the bottom of their play-bills [libelli) could mean nothing else ; but it was by means of this picture that we were able to understand the use of the mast-holes in the upper part of the great theatre at Pompeii. Secondly, we see that there is an important building to the right of the Amphitheatre which has not yet been excavated ; and upon which may be read a part of an inscription beginning '■' Decinius Lucretius!' This same inscription, or one at any rate commencing with the same words, has been found in the town, upon a wall close to the " Casa del Centenarior It is as follows : — " Ttventy pairs of gladiators paid by Decinius Lucretius Satrius Valeus, priest, (flamen), in the time of Nero, the son of Ccesar Augustus ; and ten pairs of gladia- tors paid by Decimus Lticretius, the son of Decinius Valens, zvill fight at Pompeii on the lOth, nth, 12th, i^th, and I4.th of April. There will be a realistic hunting scene (legitima venatio), and the aivnings luill be spread. Written by Celer — Emilius Celer, writer of inscriptions, zurote this by moonlight.''^ It does not seem unfair to argue from the appearance of a portion of this 4^' ''iiS^ *i THE NUCERINE RIOT. 41 inscription upon a painting made to commemorate the riot that it was during these very games that the quarrel arose. And lastly, we learn from this picture that the Amphitheatre itself was situated in a boulevard, upon which itinerant sellers of refreshments erected their stalls, precisely after the modern Neajjolitan fashion. Our sketch represents a free fight taking place in one of the " Voniitoria,^' or large arched passages which led to the seats. This point of view has enabled us to show the vast arena, and the arrangement of the seats and entrances on the further side. It is estimated that the Amphitheatre of Pompeii would contain twenty thousand spectators, and it may be readily granted that a discussion or chaffing match, such as Tacitus describes to have taken place between the Pompeians and the country bumpkins of Nuceria, might very easily degenerate into a serious riot, and end in terrible loss of life. 42 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. THE DESTRUCTION OF POMPEII. In our sketch of the history of the city in the early part of this volume we have given some account of the phenomena attending the destruction of Pompeii. We now give a sketch of such a scene as must have occurred in every part of the crowded town ; a scene such as Lord Lytton has so graphically described in the ' Last Days of Pompeii.' It is for our readers to judge of the artistic merit of the picture. It has been our endeavour to place before them a representation as historically accurate as possible. The point selected is the large cross-way where the Street of Mercury runs down to the Forum, which would be the main road to the sea from the upper part of the city. It is clear that the inhabitants would fly from the mountain, and that the part of the city adjoining the Gate of Herculaneum would be promptly deserted. We have taken the liberty of following Lord Lytton in putting some biga; or chariots into the picture, although it is thought by some that vehicles drawn by horses did not enter the city, and could not have passed over the large stepping-stones in the streets if they had. Such critics attribute the wheel-ruts in the principal streets to cars drawn by slaves. In our opinion the horses would soon have become accustomed to find their way over the stones, and a skilful driver would have passed his wheels between them without difficulty. Lord Lytton infers from Dion Cassius that the population was assembled in the Amphitheatre at the time of the calamity, and if this was the case they would have better opportunities of flight from thence than from any other part of the town, while the fact that comparatively few skeletons have been discovered supports the theory that a large proportion of the population escaped. Certain it is that the catastrophe was as sudden as it was apjDalling. We find bread in the ovens, meat upon the fire, a sucking-pig in a pan ready for the day's dinner, and every sign in the houses of a resident population. The skeletons of soldiers in the stocks of the guard-room, the dog tied to the kennel the lady flying with her jewels in her hand, the household gods standing in the buildings they had been powerless to defend — all point in the same direction, and justify the assumption that the busy life of that fashionable city was THE DESTRUCTION OF POMPEII. ^ 43 suddenly brought to a standstill by a calamity only second to the destruction of the Cities of the Plain in the early ages of the history of the world. Any one who will visit the new excavations . and carefully observe the perpendicular cutting made through the matter that fell down from the mountain, will notice that it fell in alternate layers. The top layer is of course surface soil, which has been cultivated for centuries, and assumes the appearance of ordinary mould, but beneath that are five distinct layers of mud and lapilli, or small fragments of pumice-stone. An examination of the layers of mud shows that they are composed of hard pellets about the size of a pea, and completely round. No satisfactory solution has yet been arrived at as to the nature of these mud layers. Some have asserted that a mud torrent ran from the mountain, as has been frequently the case in other eruptions, but this will hardly account for the singular granulation of the particles. Others, again, assert that the city was deluged by a mud rain such as fell upon the neighbouring town of Nola in 163 1, and this appears to us by far the more probable solution of the difficulty. At all events, the fact remains that the city of Pompeii was covered with pumice- stone and mud in alternate layers. Added to this, it must be remembered that the earthquakes were almost continuous, the lofty buildings were tottering to their very foundations, and in many instances large blocks of stone from the massive cornices were thrown many yards from the buildings they belonged to, crashing through the roofs of dwelling-houses, or imperilling the lives of the fugitives as they crowded in the darkness through the crumbling remains of their devastated city. Much discussion has arisen on every detail concerning the destruction of the town. There is no doubt that some red-hot stones thrown from the mountain reached the city, and these, falling through the roofs, may have caused small fires in various localities. Again, as the roofs fell in, it is very likely that the kitchen and other fires may have set light to the falling woodwork, but there is no doubt that the city was not, generally speaking, consumed by fire in any sense of the word. Professor Ruggiero, in a most exhaustive article, speaks of the fusion of a glass bottle (now in the Naples Museum), and says it looks as if it had been caused by lightning, and he adds, that in his lengthened study and experience of the matter he has found neither wood nor lead, fruit nor cloth, carbonised by the action of fire — that the marble was not calcined excepting in a few very exceptional cases — and that the human remains prove that the victims of the catastrophe were suffocated and not burnt. Out of a population of some twelve thousand souls within the walls, and 44 POMPEII, PAST AND PRESENT. probably as many more in the suburbs, no doubt the main portion escaped. Some six hundred skeletons and fragments of human bodies have been dis- covered in the excavations, many of them no doubt skeletons of the sick and aged who could not escape, some of them, perhaps, the remains of obstinate citizens who believed the calamity to be transitory and expected to find safety beneath the vaulted roofs of the stronger dwellings. A word here will not be out of place to describe the process by which the plaster casts of the bodies now in the Pompeii Museum are obtained. These persons (who, with one exception, evidently died in great agony) were covered with the soft liquid mud as it came upon the devoted city. This mud completely enveloped the bodies, and, hardening, formed an accurate mould, displaying every feature of the corpse. The flesh gradually wasted away, and the bones remained within the mould made by the bodies. When the hollows were come upon by the excavators the happy idea occurred to Professor Fiorelli to pour in some liquid plaster of Paris, and allow it to harden. When it was hard, the now dry mud was removed from it, and a perfect cast was obtained, consisting of the bones of the deceased Roman citizen, clad no longer in flesh, but in plaster of Paris, which had assumed the exact shape, not only of his face and body, but of every fold of his clothes. THE END. London: printed by wili.iam clovvks and sons, limited, si amford street and charing crobs. ^ /QJ^^CLV. THE GETTY CENTER UBRARV HrtfiBHil^HMHi fjl^jlg^gS^gisjisi^glijg^^ ^^^&^^ ^D. X \ OGxs'^ ; .^