existing, of the parts and disposition of an ancient temple. The
skeleton of a priest was found in one of the rooms. Near his remains lay
an axe, from which it would appear, that he had delayed his departure
till the door was closed up, and so attempted to break through the walls
with his axe. He had already forced his way through two; but before he
could pass the third, was suffocated by the vapour. Within the sacred
precincts, doubtless, lay a number of skeletons; probably those of the
priests, who, reposing a vain confidence in their deity, would not
desert her temple, until escape was hopeless. Several paintings of the
priests of Isis, and the ceremonies of their worship, were found,
together with a statue of the deity herself.
One of the buildings, surrounding the forum, has received the
appellation of the Pantheon, from there having been found in the centre
of its area an altar encircled with twelve pedestals; on which, it has
been supposed, stood the statues of the mythological deities. The area
is one hundred and twenty feet in length, by ninety in breadth. Numerous
cells, attached to this building, have been found; these, in all
probability, were for the accommodation of priests. Near to this place
were discovered statues of Nero and Messalina, and ninety-three brass
coins.
Adjoining to the Pantheon[130] is a building, supposed to have been a
place for the meeting of the senate or town-council. In the centre is an
altar, and on each side of this, in two large recesses, stand two
pedestals, which most likely supported effigies of the gods to whom the
place was sacred. Near this is a small temple, elevated on a basement.
On the altar there is an unfinished bas-relief, representing a
sacrifice. In the cells attached to the building were found a number of
vessels in which wine was kept.
Adjoining to this is a large building, which, from various inscriptions,
appears to have been erected at the expense of a lady named Eumachia,
for the benefit of the public. Amongst other relics found, was a statue
of this lady, five feet four inches high.
The forum of Pompeii[131] is situated at the north-east corner of the
city, and is entered by a flight of steps, leading downwards through an
arch in a brick wall, still partly covered with stucco. Upon entering,
the spectator finds himself in a large area, surrounded by columns, the
ruins of temples, triumphal arches, and other public erections. There
are, also, a number of pedestals for the support of statues.
There is a subterranean wine-vault[132] near the city gates, which has
been examined with great attention. It is very extensive, and contains
the earthen vessels and bottles wherein the wine had been kept. They
were arranged in the same precise order as previous to the awful
eruption which desolated the city. The interior of this place much
resembles cloisters, the roof being arched with strong stones. It was in
these vaults where the unhappy inhabitants sought refuge from the sudden
and overwhelming shower of fire and ashes.
After such an amazing lapse of time[133], liquids have been found
approaching to a fluid state—an instance of which cannot be
sufficiently admired, in a phial of oil, conceived to be that of olives.
It is white, greasy to the touch, and emits the smell of rancid oil. An
earthen vase was found, in the cellars, containing wine, which now
resembles a lump of porous dark violet-coloured glass. Eggs, also, have
been found, whole and empty.
On the north side[134] of the Pantheon, there runs a street, named the
Street of Dried Fruits, from the quantity of fruits of various kinds,
preserved in glass vases, which have been found. Scales, money, moulds
for pastry and bread, were discovered in the shops, and a bronze statue
of Fame, small and well executed; having bright bracelets of gold upon
the arms. In the entrance which conducts from this street to the
Pantheon a box was found, containing a gold ring with an engraved stone
in it; also, forty-one silver, and one thousand and thirty-six brass,
coins.
On the walls are representations of Cupid making bread. The mill stands
in the centre of the picture, with an ass on each side; from which it
has been inferred, that these animals were employed in grinding corn.
Besides these, there are in this building a great number of very
beautiful paintings.
Three bakers’ shops[135] at least have been found, all in a tolerable
state of preservation. The mills, the oven, the kneading-troughs, the
vessels for containing water, flour, and leaven, have all been
discovered, and seem to leave nothing wanting to our knowledge. In some
vessels the very flour remained, still capable of being identified,
though reduced almost to a cinder. One of these shops was attached to
the house of Sallust; the other to that of Pansa. The third seems to
have belonged to a sort of capitalist: for instead of renting a mere
dependency in another man’s house, he lived in a tolerably good house
of his own, of which the bakery forms a part.
Beneath the oven is an ash-pit. To the right is a large room, which is
conjectured to be a stable. The jaw of an ass, and some other fragments
of a skeleton, were found in it. There is a reservoir for water at the
farther end, which passes through the wall, and is common both to this
room and the next, so that it could be filled without going into the
stable.
In another place[136] there is an oil-mill; in a third, supposed to have
been a prison, stocks were found; and in a fourth were pieces of armour,
whence it has been called the Guard-room. In this quarter of the city a
bronze helmet was found, enriched with bas-reliefs, relating to the
principal events of the capture of Troy. Another helmet found represents
the Triumph of Rome; greaves of bronze, highly ornamented, also were
found.
Contiguous to the little theatre, the house of a sculptor has been
cleared. There were found statues; some half finished; others just
begun: with blocks of marble, and all the tools required by the
sculptor.
The walls, in the interior of the buildings, are generally adorned with
fresco paintings, the colours of which are in a state of perfect
preservation, and have all the freshness of recent finishing. The
shells, also, which decorate some of the public fountains, have
sustained no injury from the lapse of ages, or the volcanic products in
which they were buried.
During the progress of excavation,[137] at Pompeii, a painting was found
in the Casa Carolina, which scarcely held together to be copied, and
fell to pieces upon the first rain. It was of grotesque character, and
represented a pigmy painter, whose only covering was a tunic. He is at
work upon the portrait of another pigmy, clothed in a manner to indicate
a person of distinction. The artist is sitting opposite to his sitter,
at an awful distance from the picture, which is placed under an easel,
similar in construction to ours. By the side of the artist stands his
palette, which is a little table with four feet, and by it is a pot to
wash his pencils in. He therefore was working with gum, or some sort of
water-colours: but he did not confine himself to this branch of the
arts; for to the right we see his colour-grinder, who prepares, in a
vessel placed over some hot coals, colours mixed with wax and oil. Two
amateurs enter the studio, and appear to be conversing with respect to
the picture. On the noise occasioned by their entrance, a scholar,
seated in the distance, turns round to look at them. It is difficult to
explain the presence of the bird in the painting-room. The picture is
not complete: a second bird, and, at the opposite side, a child playing
with a dog, had perished before Mazois (an artist who has preserved some
of the most valuable remains at Pompeii) copied it. This picture is very
curious, since it shows how few things, in the mechanical practice of
painting, have changed during two thousand years.
There is another picture[138] preserved at Pompeii, representing a
female, employed in making a copy of a bearded Bacchus. She is dressed
in a light green tunic, without sleeves, over which she wears a dark red
mantle. Beside her is a box, such, as we are told by Varro, as painters
used, divided into compartments, into which she dips her brush.
Among the recent discoveries at Pompeii[139], may also be enumerated a
bronze vase, encrusted with silver, the size and form of which have been
much admired, and a bronze statue of Apollo, of admirable workmanship.
The deity is represented as sacrificing, with his avenging arm, the
family of Niobe; and the beauty of its form, and the life of the figure,
are so fine, that it is said to be the finest statue in the Bourbon
Museum. “As to the furniture,” says Mr. Mathews, “they illustrate
Solomon’s apophthegm, that there is nothing new under the sun; for there
is much, that, with a little scouring, would scarcely appear
old-fashioned at the present day.”
“It was a source of great amusement,” says Mr. Blunt, “to observe the
doors of café-keepers, barbers, tailors, tradesmen, in short, of every
description, surmounted by very tolerable pictures, indicating their
respective occupations. Thus, at a surgeon and apothecary’s, for
instance, I have seen a series of paintings displaying a variety of
cases, to which the doctor is applying his healing hand. In one he is
extracting a tooth; in another applying an emetic; in a third bandaging
an arm or a leg.” In 1819, several surgical instruments were discovered
in the ruins of a house near the gate adjoining to the
burial-ground[140].
In a street, which conducts to the Forum, called the Street of Fortune,
an immense number of utensils have been found. Amongst other articles,
were vases, basins with handles, bells, elastic springs, hinges, buckles
for harness, a lock, an inkstand, gold ear-rings, a silver spoon, an
oval caldron, a saucepan, a mould for pastry, and a weight of alabaster
used in spinning, with its ivory axis remaining; a number of lamps,
three boxes, in one of which were found several coins of Titus,
Vespasian, Domitian, &c. Among the most curious things found, were seven
glazed plates, packed in straw; a pair of scales and steelyard were also
discovered.
Fishing-nets[141], some of them quite entire, have been found in great
numbers in Herculaneum as well as in Pompeii. Linen, also, with the
texture well defined. In the shop of a baker a loaf was found, still
retaining its form, with the baker’s name stamped upon it, and which, to
satisfy the curiosity of modern professors of the art, we shall give: it
was “Eleris J. Crani Riser.” On the counter of an apothecary’s shop was
a box of pills; and by the side of it, a small cylindrical roll,
evidently ready for cutting up.
Along the south-side of another building runs a broad street, which,
from various articles of jewellery being found there, is called the
Street of the Silversmiths. On the walls of the shops several
inscriptions appear, one of which has been thus translated: “The Scribe
Issus beseeches Marcus Cerrinius Vatia, the Ædile, to patronise him; he
is deserving.”
Near to the small theatre, a large angular inclosure has been excavated,
which has been called the Provision Market by some, by others the
Soldiers’ Quarters. It contains a number of small chambers, supposed to
have been occupied by butchers, and vendors of meats, liquors, &c. In
one of these was discovered utensils for the manufacture of soap.
If we again fancy for a moment the furniture[142], implements, and
utensils, which would be brought to light in our own houses and shops,
supposing them to be overwhelmed, and thus laid open some centuries
hence, we might conjecture that many of the same description must have
belonged to those of a nation so civilised as the Romans; but still it
is pleasing to ascertain, from a testimony that cannot deceive us, the
evidence of the relics themselves, that they had scales very little
different from our own; silver spoons, knives (but no forks), gridirons,
spits, frying-pans, scissars, needles, instruments of surgery, syringes,
saws, and many more, all made of fine brass; that they had hammers, and
picks, and compasses, and iron crows, all of which were met with in a
statuary’s shop; and that they had stamps which they used, as well for
other purposes, as for impressing the name of its owner on bread before
it was sent to the oven. Thus on a loaf, still preserved, is legible:
_Siligo C. Glanii_:—This is Caius Glanius’ loaf.
Many of their seals were preserved in this manner; consisting of an
oblong piece of metal, stamped with letters of the motto; instruments
very similar to those used in England for marking linen. Thus possessed
of types and of ink, how little were the Romans removed from the
discovery of the art and advantages of printing!
At the end of one of the streets[143], was discovered a skeleton of a
Pompeian, who, apparently for the sake of sixty coins, a small plate,
and a saucepan of silver, had remained in the house till the street was
already half filled with volcanic matter. From the situation in which he
was found, he had apparently been arrested in the act of escaping from
the window. Two others were also found in the same street.
Only sixty skeletons[144] have been discovered in all; it is, therefore,
clear, that the greater part of the inhabitants had found time to
escape. There were found in the vault of a house in the suburbs, the
skeletons of seventeen individuals, who appear to have sought refuge
there from the showers of ashes which poured from the sky. There was
also preserved, in the same place[145], a sketch of a woman, supposed to
have been the mistress of the house, with an infant locked in her arms.
Her form was imprinted upon the work, which formed her sepulchre; but
only the bones remained. To these a chain of gold was suspended; and
rings, with jewels, were upon her fingers. The remains of a soldier,
also, were found in a niche, where, in all probability, he was
performing the office of sentinel. His hand still grasped a lance, and
the usual military accoutrements were also found there.
In one of the baths[146], as we have before stated, was found the
skeleton of a female, whose arms and neck were covered with jewels. In
addition to gold bracelets, was a necklace; the workmanship of which is
marvellous. Our most skilful jewellers could make nothing more elegant,
or of a better taste. It has all the beautiful finish of the Moorish
jewels of Granada, and of the same designs which are to be found in the
dresses of the Moorish women, and of the Jewesses of Tetuan, on the
coast of Africa.
It is generally supposed, that the destruction of this city was sudden
and unexpected; and it is even recorded, that the people were surprised
and overwhelmed at once by the volcanic storm, while in the theatre.
(Dionys. of Hal.) But to this opinion many objections may be raised,
amongst which this; that the number of skeletons in Pompeii does not
amount to sixty; and ten times this number would be inconsiderable, when
compared with the extent and population of the city.
The most perfect and most curious object, however, that has yet been
discovered, is a villa at a little distance from the town. It consists
of three courts; in the third and largest is a pond, and in the centre a
small temple. There are numerous apartments of every description, paved
in mosaic, coloured and adorned with various paintings on the walls; all
in a very beautiful style. This villa is supposed to have belonged to
Cicero.
“The ruins of Pompeii,” says Mr. Eustace, “possess a secret power, that
captivates and melts the soul! In other times, and in other places, one
single edifice, a temple, a theatre, a tomb, that had escaped the wreck
of ages, would have enchanted us; nay, an arch, the remnant of a wall,
even one solitary column, was beheld with veneration; but to discover a
single ancient house, the abode of a Roman in his privacy, the scene of
his domestic hours, was an object of fond, but hopeless longing. Here,
not a temple, nor a theatre, nor a house, but a whole city rises before
us, untouched, unaltered—the very same as it was eighteen hundred years
ago, when inhabited by Romans. We range through the same streets; tread
the very same pavement; behold the same walls; enter the same doors; and
repose in the same apartments. We are surrounded by the same objects;
and out of the same windows we contemplate the same scenery. In the
midst of all this, not a voice is heard—not even the sound of a
foot—to disturb the loneliness of the place, or to interrupt his
reflections. All around is silence; not the silence of solitude and
repose, but of death and devastation:—the silence of a great city
without one single inhabitant:
‘Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent.’
“Perhaps the whole world does not exhibit so awful a spectacle as
Pompeii; and when it was first discovered, when skeletons were found
heaped together in the streets and houses, when all the utensils, and
even the very bread, of the poor suffocated inhabitants, were
discernible, what a speculation must this ill-fated city have furnished
to a thinking mind! To visit it even now, is absolutely to live with the
ancient Romans; and when we see houses, shops, furniture, fountains,
streets, carriages, and implements of husbandry, exactly similar to
those of the present day, we are apt to conclude, that customs and
manners have undergone but little alteration for the last two thousand
years.”
“In walking through this city of the dead,” says Chateaubriand, “one
idea has pursued me. As the labourers clear the different edifices, they
remove whatever they discover,—household utensils, implements of divers
trades, pieces of furniture, statues, MSS., &c., all of which are
promiscuously carried to the Portici Museum. In my opinion, people might
have employed their time better. Why not have left these things as they
found them, and where they found them? Instead of their removal, they
should have preserved them on the spot;—roofs, ceilings, floors, and
windows, should have been carefully restored, in order to prevent the
destruction of the walls and paintings. The ancient inclosure of the
town should be rebuilt, the gates repaired, and a guard of soldiers
stationed there, together with some individuals well versed in the arts.
Would not this have been the most interesting museum in the world? A
Roman town preserved quite entire, as if its inhabitants had issued
forth but a quarter of an hour before!”
“I am filled with astonishment,” says Dupaty, “in walking from house to
house, from temple to temple, from street to street, in a city built two
thousand years ago, inhabited by the Romans, dug out by a king of
Naples, and in perfect preservation. I speak of Pompeii.
“The inhabitants of this city were asleep, when suddenly an impetuous
wind arose, and, detaching a portion of the cinders which covered the
summit of Vesuvius, hurried them in whirlwinds through the air over
Pompeii, and within a quarter of an hour entirely overwhelmed it,
together with Herculaneum, Sorento, a multitude of towns and villages,
thousands of men and women, and the elder Pliny. What a dreadful
awakening for the inhabitants? Imprudent men! Why did you build Pompeii
at the foot of Vesuvius, on its lava, and on its ashes? In fact, mankind
resemble ants, which, after an accident has destroyed one of their
hillocks, set about repairing it the next moment. Pompeii was covered
with ashes. The descendants of those very men, who perished under those
ashes, planted vineyards, mulberry, fig, and poplar trees on them; the
roofs of this city were become fields and orchards. One day, while some
peasants were digging, the spade penetrated a little deeper than usual;
something was found to resist. It was a city. It was Pompeii. I entered
several of the rooms, and found in one of them a mill, with which the
soldiers ground their corn for bread; in another an oil-mill, in which
they crushed the olives. The first resembles our coffee-mills; the
second is formed of two mill-stones, which were moved by the hand, in a
vast mortar, round an iron centre. In another of these rooms I saw
chains still fastened to the leg of a criminal; in a second, heaps of
human bones; and in a third, a golden necklace.
“What is become of all the inhabitants? We see nobody in the shops! not
a creature in the streets! all the houses are open! Let us begin by
visiting the houses on the right. This is not a private house; that
prodigious number of chirurgical instruments prove this edifice must
have had some relation to the art in which they are used. This was
surely a school for surgery. These houses are very small; they are
exceedingly ill contrived; all the apartments are detached; but then
what neatness! what elegance! In each of them is an inner portico, a
mosaic pavement, a square colonnade, and in the middle a cistern, to
collect the water falling from the roof. In each of them are hot-baths,
and stoves, and everywhere paintings in fresco, in the best taste, and
on the most pleasing grounds. Has Raffaele been here to copy his
arabesques?
“Let us pass over to the other side of the street. These houses are
three stories high; their foundation is on the lava, which has formed
here a sort of hill, on the declivity of which they are built. From
above, in the third story, the windows look into the street; and from
the first story, into a garden.
“But what do I perceive in that chamber. They are ten death’s-heads. The
unfortunate wretches saved themselves here, where they could not be
saved. This is the head of a little child: its father and mother then
are there! Let us go up stairs again; the heart feels not at ease here.
Suppose we take a step into this temple for a moment, since it is left
open. What deity do I perceive in the bottom of that niche? It is the
god of Silence, who makes a sign with his finger, to command silence,
and points to the goddess Isis, in the further recess of the
_sacrarium_.
“In the front of the porch there are three altars. Here the victims were
slaughtered, and the blood, flowing along this gutter into the middle of
that basin, fell from thence upon the head of the priests. This little
chamber, near the altar, was undoubtedly the sacristy. The priests
purified themselves in this bathing-place.
“Here are some inscriptions: ‘Popidi ambleati, Cornelia celsa.’ This is
a monument erected to the memory of those who have been benefactors to
Isis; that is to say, to her priests.
“I cannot be far from the country-house of Aufidius; for there are the
gates of the city. Here is the tomb of the family of Diomedes. Let us
rest a moment under these porticoes, where the philosophers used to sit.
“I am not mistaken. The country-house of Aufidius is charming; the
paintings in fresco are delicious. What an excellent effect have those
blue grounds! With what propriety, and consequently with what taste, are
the figures distributed in the panels! Flora herself has woven that
garland. But who has painted this Venus? this Adonis? this youthful
Narcissus, in that bath? And here again, this charming Mercury? It is
surely not a week since they were painted.
“I like this portico round the garden; and this square covered cellar
round the portico. Do these amphoræ contain the true Falernian? How many
consulates has this wine been kept?
“But it is late. It was about this time the play began. Let us go to the
covered theatre: it is shut. Let us go to the uncovered theatre; that
too is shut.
“I know not how far I have succeeded in this attempt to give you an idea
of Pompeii.” Excellently[147].
NO. XX.—RAMA.
Rama is supposed to have been built with materials, furnished by the
ruins of Lydda, three miles distant; and it is the spot in which our
titular saint, St. George, is said to have suffered martyrdom; although,
according to most authors, his remains repose in a magnificent temple at
Lydda.