a neat Doric colonnade. The name has been given it on account of two
pedestals, one about 8 inches higher than the other, and a flight of
stone steps connected with them which rises above the highest. It may
have been of the nature of an auction room, but nothing that I know of
has been invented to account for the two pedestals thus placed, and for
the steps rising above both. Adjoining to this court is the Temple of
Isis, which was never perhaps very beautiful, but it is now difficult to
trace the original design under the incumbering load of more recent
stucco. An inscription assures us that this edifice was re-built in
consequence of an earthquake, and if, as seems probable, we may
understand this of the earthquake of the year 63, it will fix the date
of this bad stucco work. The columns of the cell are older, and of
stone, but not in their original positions; those of the court, brick;
all appear to have been stuccoed at the same time. This temple can
hardly be said to offer simplicity of design; variety of parts it
certainly has, and abundance of details; it finds many admirers, and in
its present state of ruin offers some striking effects, and probably did
so when perfect. It was a picturesque, rather than a beautiful object,
and the smallness of the court is an advantage to it.
Very near to the temple of Isis is a small square cell attributed to
Æsculapius, in which there are remains of a handsome pilaster capital,
resembling in style those of Tivoli, but of superior execution. A flight
of steps occurs at a little distance from the cell, leaving space for a
small tetrastyle portico. The god was probably out of fashion, for there
are no marks of restorations. At the foot of the steps is a tomb or
altar, ornamented with Doric triglyphs, and having much of the character
of the tomb of Scipio, of which I dare say you have seen engravings in
abundance. Next to this temple is a house belonging to a sculptor, known
by the tools found there, and by the unfinished works.
From this part of Pompei (all the objects I have hitherto mentioned
lying close together) are two streets which are now cleared out, leading
to the forum. In the way we meet only with private houses, of which by
and by I shall give you a general idea.
In spite of bad architecture, small parts, and many encumbering
pedestals placed for ornament, or to receive the statues of the gods and
benefactors of the city, the Forum certainly was magnificent. What then
may we imagine those of Rome to have been, where the size of the parts,
and of the whole, the materials and the architecture, were so much
superior. Magnificence in Italy is a very different thing from what it
is north of the Alps, but that of the Romans appears as much to have
surpassed modern Italy, as this latter surpasses that of the northern
nations. This Forum was an oblong above 500 feet in length, and about
140 in width. At the south end is a double range of columns. A single
row, but apparently supporting another above it, extended all along the
west side. On the east side there seems not to have been a continued
range, but a succession of detached porticos belonging to the different
public buildings; or if the range of columns was continued, it was
probably without a roof, since the space between it and the walls is
always great, though very unequal. Some remains of cornice exist,
complete on both faces, and there are plug-holes on the top of this
cornice, which render it probable that the whole was crowned by a range
of statues, or other ornaments. On the north, between two decorative
arches, are the remains of the temple of Jupiter. Here is a magnificent,
though somewhat irregular avenue, leading to a splendid object, and
though encumbered by too many pedestals and statues, yet these being
fine objects in themselves, were probably not very injurious to the
expression of magnificence. Their very number alone would produce a
striking effect, heightened rather than diminished by the irregular
manner in which they are placed, because this apparent confusion, like
that of the stars, would make the number appear greater. The surrounding
buildings were worthy of the situation they occupied. Near the southern
end we see very evidently the progress of restorations. The older
columns were a well-wrought Doric, of a dark coloured, volcanic stone,
much resembling peperino, the lower part of the shaft being cut into a
prism of twenty faces, while the upper part had as many flutes; the
capital was handsome, and the entablature by no means inelegant. The
later columns are of coarse limestone or travertine, clumsy in design
throughout the whole order, and very irregularly and unskilfully
executed. There are remains scattered about of an Ionic order, which
seems to have surmounted the Doric. On the south side of the forum there
are three large halls, which according to some persons were temples,
while others suppose them to have been courts of justice. They must have
been in great measure built or rebuilt after the earthquake, as most of
the brickwork still looks fresh and new, and they have never been
completed.
The first building on the western side is called the Basilica. It
consisted of a magnificent court surrounded by colonnades, the columns
of which were of considerable size. At the upper end are the remains of
the ornamented tribune, or seat of justice, adorned with smaller
columns, and faced and cased with marble. Some doubts arise as to the
disposition of some of the parts, but enough remains to furnish a very
interesting comment on what the ancients have left us respecting their
basilicas. The open court is about 37 feet wide and 141 feet long. The
columns surrounding it are twenty-eight in number; and of these, the
bases and lower parts of the shaft, curiously formed of bricks made for
the purpose, are still to be seen, together with some traces of the
stucco with which they have been covered. This stucco appears to have
been in great measure knocked off, probably in order to prepare for the
restoration of the brickwork after the earthquake. These columns are 3
feet 5½ inches in diameter measured in the brickwork on the angle of the
flutes, and could not have been less than 3 feet 7 inches in the stucco.
Corresponding in position with these columns, is a series of half
columns, against the walls of the building, but if measured likewise in
the brickwork, their diameter is only 2 feet 8¼ inches; too small
apparently to be carried up to the same height as the entire columns,
and too large to admit a gallery above them within the principal order.
A considerable number of capitals were found within the circuit of the
building, but it does not appear that any of them can be attributed with
certainty to either of these orders. They were of two sorts; the one an
Ionic, resembling that of the portico before mentioned, but with the
addition of a bold flower springing upwards and inwards from the base of
the volute. The diameter of the capitals of this nature, below the
necking, varies from 2 feet 5 inches to 2 feet 1 inch. It may be
considered quite as a new style (to us) of the Ionic order. The other is
Corinthian, in the style of Tivoli, which was without doubt that of
Italy, before the general employment of Greek artists and Greek taste.
The Corinthian column is 1 foot 6½ inches in diameter under the necking,
and fluted; whereas the shaft of the Ionic column appears to have been
quite plain. No entablature is found which can probably be attributed to
either of these orders, but we may conclude from other examples, as well
as from the authority of Vitruvius, that the dentilled cornice without
the modillions was used in both. The dentils here, as already observed,
bore a peculiar character. Both these capitals have been coated with a
fine stucco, rarely exceeding half an inch in thickness.
Besides these four kinds of columns, we have the remains of another set,
probably Corinthian, which adorned the tribunal; these are 1 foot 9
inches in the bottom diameter, and consequently not unsuitable for the
Corinthian capitals above described; but only six such entire capitals
would have been required, and above twenty exist of that size and
character; and besides we may observe stones which seem to form part of
the shaft under these capitals, 21½ inches in diameter, or rather more
than that of the remaining bases. Some of these capitals are attached to
square blocks of stone, but these differ from the others by a row of low
water-leaves, immediately under the volutes and caulicolæ.
The Basilica was closed in front by portcullises, the grooves for which
remain. It is remarkable that in this part we see the stucco of two
different operations. Each is in two coats. The earliest is very good
and firm, the two coats not occupying half an inch; but it has evidently
in most places been cut away to make room for the second, of which very
little remains, and that little is much inferior to the older work. The
two coats occupied about one inch.
Next to the basilica is the Temple of Venus, surrounded with a
colonnaded court, and standing itself on a lofty basement. This court is
very curious, as we find in it fragments of columns of the Ionic order
about 2 feet in diameter, resembling those of the basilica, but without
a central flower in the capital, and of a Doric entablature. The
capitals have been defaced in order to receive a poorly designed
Corinthian foliage of stucco, and the old lines and decorations of the
entablature were entirely hid by a plaster coating, full of ornaments,
painted in all the colours of the rainbow. I suspect that this
entablature in its original form belonged to some other building.
Perhaps it made part of that of the forum previous to the earthquake.
Before every other column there appear to have been a pedestal and a
statue. Nine columns occupy the entrance side, and the door was not in
the centre; but the Pompeians do not seem to have been in any respect
remarkable for the accuracy of their workmanship. The stucco walls of
this court have been elegantly painted. In one part this stucco is laid
on tiles, which by means of little feet are kept hollow from the walls.
An aqueduct at the back, probably rendered such a precaution necessary.
The temple seems to have been hexastyle and peripteral, though not only
the columns, but the external stones of the basement on which they
stood, have been displaced, so that it appears at first sight as if
there could have been no room for them. Some fragments remain below,
which probably formed parts of the shafts. Both the cell and the portico
were ornamented with mosaic pavements.
Returning to the forum, we find beyond this temple, a range of piers and
arches, built also after the earthquake, and opening into a large hall
or court, which exhibits no appearance of decoration.
On the east side of the forum, beginning again from the south end, we
have first a double portico, in front of a large decorated enclosure,
then a large building, which has been very richly ornamented. A range of
columns separated it from the forum, and the remains of a pedestal in
front of each column gives reason to suppose that there were an equal
number of statues. Behind is a wall ornamented with arches and niches,
which probably also contained statues. The whole of this work was faced
with marble, and the wide space between the wall and the columns
exhibits remains of a marble paving. Within, was a large court,
surrounded by columns, with a continued gallery on three sides, and
three niches at the end. A statue was found here, but the place appeared
to have been previously despoiled. This may have proceeded from the
researches of the inhabitants themselves, who probably returned after
the danger was over to seek for their property; or it may have been done
at a recent period; for many marbles have at intervals been dug up at
Pompei, but the different claims of the finder, the landlord, and the
government, occasioned the concealment of the place of discovery. It was
known however, that numerous fragments had been found here; and
acknowledged that some ancient city had probably occupied the site,
though for a long time the learned were perfectly agreed that it was not
Pompei. An inscription collected from the remaining portions of the
epistylium of the columns towards the forum, which is also repeated at a
smaller entrance from the _Via de’ mercanti_, informs us that this
chalcidicum and cryptoporticus, were built and dedicated by a certain
Eumachia. Here would seem to be the means of explaining two rather
obscure terms of architecture, but nothing has been made of them.
Continuing our progress along the east side of the forum, we arrive at
another enclosure surrounded with pilasters and niches, and a little
temple or sanctuary in the middle of the side opposite to the entrance.
It appears unfinished, and it is very probable that this and the
building just mentioned were ruined by the earthquake, and not restored.
There is a platform in front of the cell, the steps to which are behind
the platform, and on the flank of the cell; in front of this platform
there is a very beautiful marble pedestal, or altar. This building is
called the Temple of Mercury. The angles of the court are all oblique:
there are many little irregularities of this sort in the edifices of
Pompei.
Beyond this we come to a spacious recess, 59 feet wide, which seems to
have been open in front. It had a large niche at the bottom, a pedestal
in the middle, and a secondary recess, with an altar at each side. There
are small niches, as if for eight other altars, in this edifice, but if
all fragments of brick or rubble that carry to us the appearance of
altars, were really dedicated to the worship of their divinities, the
Pompeians must have been a very religious people. This building was
incrusted with marble, and whatever may have been its destination, it
was evidently a magnificent and highly finished structure. Further on
are some small rooms, with a marble portico in front, with the
peculiarity already noticed, of a cornice which projects, and is
complete on both sides, so as to render it doubtful if it were not a
mere screen of single columns rather than a portico.
The northern end of the forum is occupied by the Temple of Jupiter,
which is prostyle and pseudoperipteral, with six Corinthian columns in
front, above 3 feet in diameter: this is large for Pompei: those of the
portico of the forum are little more than two, and when we consider that
the temple is elevated on a high basement, and that being of the
Corinthian order, these columns were probably considerably higher in
proportion than the others, as well as more ornamented, we shall find
that the temple preserved its due superiority as the leading object in
the place. The capitals are lying on the ground, and we may observe in
them the original coat of stucco following the stone, and over that
another thicker, not precisely in the same disposition, and much
inferior both in drawing and execution. As it seems probable that these
were thrown down by the earthquake and not restored, they would indicate
an earlier date than that before obtained for this miserable stucco; and
perhaps we may attribute it to the colony introduced by Sylla. This
temple was hexastyle, prostyle, and hypæthral. The internal opening was
surrounded by Ionic columns, and there are three little cells at the
extremity, the use of which is unknown but their masonry is not bonded
with that of the building, and they may therefore have been additions.
There is a triumphal arch on each side of this temple. Both have been
ornamented with marble, and probably with statues, but one more richly
than the other. They are not in corresponding positions, the plainest
being brought forward to the front of the portico of the temple of
Jupiter, while the more ornamented is kept back, and even partly behind
it.
The streets towards the Amphitheatre are not cleared out, and this
monument stands quite detached from any other object of interest. It
resembles in essentials other amphitheatres, and seems to have been
almost without external ornament. There are some peculiarities of
construction and of access, but nothing of importance.
I shall not enter into a particular description of each private house,
but endeavour to give you a general idea of their disposition and
effect. There are of course a great many which have no architecture,
properly so called, but are merely built to occupy a little ground, and
at little expense; even these had each an internal court. In the larger
edifices, the parts towards the streets were let out for shops, except
that the owner preserved one division to give an entrance into the
principal apartment. This entrance was wide and lofty, and adorned with
pilasters; through it you pass into the atrium, which was usually an
oblong on the plan, with one or three recesses towards the end, the
whole forming, together with the entrance, a sort of Latin cross; the
middle part of the cross being open to the sky. Sometimes the projection
of roof, which covered everything but this opening, was supported by
columns, forming in that case, the Tuscan atrium of Vitruvius, and the
recesses are the exhedræ, or perhaps the alæ. Even in this part there is
considerable variety, as the design was modified to suit the
convenience, the taste, or the caprice of the proprietor. Small
apartments are disposed round the atrium, and receive their light from
it, not by means of windows, though there are also a few windows to be
found, but by the doors, which are very high, and of which the upper
part was probably left open for that purpose. In most of the houses
there was nothing more, or the back of the atrium opened merely into a
little garden; but in the larger mansions, beyond the atrium, we find
the cavædium, a court surrounded with columns, with exhedræ similar to
those of the atrium, and giving light to other apartments. In the house
of Pansa, the exhedra at the bottom of the cavædium opened into a
colonnade towards the garden. The effect, looking through two courts,
and in fact through all the principal parts of the edifice, must have
been very striking, and it is so still; but you would not like to live
in a house, even in a warm climate, where all the sitting rooms were
exposed, and no retirement or privacy to be obtained, but in a badly
lighted bed-chamber. In spite of this reflection, one cannot see this
arrangement without longing to produce something of the same effect,
consistently with our customs and our climate, but it is, I am afraid
impossible. The exhedræ, or intermediate spaces between the atrium and
cavædium, or either of these and the garden, are among the most richly
decorated parts of the house. This openness both ways would produce an
agreeable coolness in hot weather. There is always a little passage on
the side to provide against their becoming thoroughfares for the family,
and there are sometimes traces of a balustrade, and of provision for a
temporary division by a curtain, which might be occasionally drawn
either for warmth or privacy.
In the private houses as well as the public buildings, we may see
examples of the depraved taste of the period, and bad plaster preferred
to good stone-work, but in general the columns in the houses are of
brick covered with stucco, and all the ornaments are of painted stucco.
All the houses seem to have been ornamented with painting, and even the
outside of the gate of the city has been stuccoed and painted. These
painted decorations are of a light, fantastic architecture, but
frequently of graceful forms. A similar style occurs in the baths of
Titus at Rome, and the subjects have often been published. In the panels
formed by these architectural representations, we find paintings of
figures, of men and animals, of buildings, and of landscapes. The
architectural part I am little inclined precisely to imitate even in
painting, yet I think something may be extracted from it, and applied to
the decoration of rooms with great advantage; and many hints may be
gained from it. The paintings of buildings (as objects) which sometimes
occur, are done without taste, and without any just perspective; they
may give hints to the antiquary, rather than to the artist. You have
heard the paintings of the figures compared to the compositions of
Raphael or Guido. The comparison is ridiculous; they might more
reasonably be put in competition with those of Polydore Caravaggio. The
composition is very simple, but almost always good, hardly ever
comprising more than two or three figures. The details of drawing are
defective, but the form and attitude are graceful; the action lively and
spirited, the colouring at once rich and natural. In short the effect is
almost always pleasing; and without pretending to consider them as
rivalling the first-rate productions of modern art, one may safely
assert, that if we were to compare them with the decorations of the
walls of any city of modern Europe, the advantage would be greatly, very
greatly in favour of Pompei. The landscapes are much inferior to the
figures.
You know that in these houses almost every utensil of the kitchen has
been found, and of the other domestic establishments and toilet of the
ancients, even to the little vessels of rouge with which the ladies
heightened their colour. These are removed to the museum of Portici, or
most of them now to that at Naples. It was the best thing which could be
done, they would not have borne exposure to the air, and it would be too
much to expect that a whole city should be converted into a covered
museum. The same may be said of the best paintings; but enough is left
to shew how they were disposed, and a few of them have sheds erected to
protect them from the injurious effects of the atmosphere. Several
narrow and inconvenient steps are remaining in various parts, which
prove the occasional existence at least of an upper story, and some have
vaults underneath, where the inequality of the ground required it.
Just out of the best preserved gateway, on the north-west of the city,
is a long avenue of tombs. The most usual form is that of a large,
oblong pedestal, surmounted with a scroll at each end, and placed on a
high basement; but some of them are square buildings, ornamented with
columns or pilasters, the foliage of whose capitals is in the style of
those of Tivoli; and one is round. Two of the first sort remain nearly
perfect, and are really very handsome; a great many others, stripped of
their marble casings, offer to the eye mere masses of rubble-work; yet,
damaged and imperfect as they are, they produce a powerful impression;
perhaps however, rather because there is enough remaining to guide the
imagination to the rest, than from the combinations which actually
remain. In one of these tombs there was a marble door turning on pivots,
a method which seems to have been generally adopted in the doors of the
ancients: this door has been repaired. In another the cinerary urn,
lamps, &c. are left in their niches, just as they were discovered: even
these we find ornamented with stucco and painting in the same style as
the houses. Besides the tombs, there are in the same street, three
exhedræ, or semicircular benches of stone, each with a stone back; and
the bench is terminated at each end with the winged leg of a lion; a
favourite ornament at Pompei. One of these exhedræ is covered, but the
covering seems not to have made part of the original design. We find
also here a Triclinium, supposed to be for the lectisternium. It
consists of a small court, about 19 feet by 13. The couch surrounding
three sides of the table is a mass of rubble-work covered with stucco,
the surface sloping from a small, oblong table, which is placed in the
middle. Immediately in front of this table is a still smaller circular
pedestal.
Many marble fragments are scattered about this part of the excavations,
some of them are capitals, with a row of eight leaves at bottom, a
flower or head above the leaves, and a kind of winged ornament; and a
volute at the angle, formed of a sort of water-leaf, with a long curled
point. Capitals exactly similar, are not unfrequent among the Athenian
fragments, and as these at Pompei are of Pentelic marble, it is probable
that they were brought from Athens.