DESCRIPTION OF THE QUARTER OF THE THEATRES, FORUM NUNDINARIUM, ADJOINING EDIFICES, AND AMPHITHEATRE. At the distance of about a mile and a half from Torre dell’Annunziata, on the road from Naples to Salerno, a narrow way branches off to the left, leading the traveller to the Street of the Tombs, which forms one of the approaches to the City of Pompeii. Continuing, however, along the high road, an elevated bank of earth is soon apparent, surmounted by the habitation of the proprietor of the vineyards, which surround it. This casino is seen in the First View of this chapter, entitled THE APPROACH TO POMPEII. The lofty hills to the right form part of the range more immediately over-hanging Castellamare and the ancient Stabia ; and beyond those, in the centre of the plate, is the city of Salerno. At the foot of the mound above-mentioned, is a small Inn or Osteria, from which the first view is caught of the substructions of Pompeii. The modern entrance on this side of the town is through an opening formed near the comer of the Forum Nundinarium, otherwise called the Soldiers’ Quarters. The latter name was given to the quadrangle, at the time of its excavation, on account of there having been found in a chamber near the south-west angle, irons and stocks, still attached to the leg bones of some skeletons ; and in another, a brass trumpet, with ivory flutes ; and various weapons and portions of armour : but, from its contiguity to the theatre, by which means its porticoes afforded shelter to the spectators during the suspension of the representations caused by a sudden shower, or s tonus, and for which purpose Vitruvius requires that the theatre should be near the Forum—modem antiquarians have been induced to suppose this quadrangle to have been the Forum Nundinarium, or Vegetable Market, in contradistinction to the principal Forum, in the middle of the city, which we shall have to consider in a subsequent chapter. Mazois, however, considers the original name to be the more correct. PLAN OF THE CITY OF POMPEII, EXCAVATED TO THE YEAR 1819. This Plan shows the state of the excavations at that period. The portion first discovered was the quarter of the theatres, and in the year 1755, some houses near the Amphitheatre ; which latter were again covered with earth, as soon as the various moveable objects had been taken away. This injudicious proceeding is to be the more regretted, as this edifice, which belonged to a certain Julia Felix, was one of the most important yet cleared of the volcanic matter. It consisted of a large square building, to which a Corinthian portico served as a vestibule ; the walls were decorated with grotesque paintings, and in the lateral niches were marble and terra cotta statues—most of them hollow, to contain water, and perforated with tubes. Various baths, recesses, and a temple to Isis, were also discovered—in the centre of the latter, a bronze tripod, with the earthen chafing dish, and supported by three satyrs. The excavations then commenced at the Street of the Tombs, which was principally laid open during the reign of Murat. The whole circuit of the walls was ascertained, and the dwellings immediately within the Roman Gate attached to the Street of the Tombs. In the year 1819, the Forum was but imperfectly cleared. GENERAL PLAN OF THE EXCAVATIONS, TO THE YEAR 1825, AFTER BIBENT. This Plate is but a portion of a most accurate and minute plan, laid down by a French architect, who for a long period resided on the spot, and by a laborious and constant examination of the several parts, and by faithful measurement of every building, produced a plan, which should be possessed by all interested in the study of antiquity. The reader will perceive the progress made since the year 1819. The Civil Forum has been completely excavated, and the adjoining edifices, in connexion with it, form an assemblage of buildings unequalled in any other authentic example. The communication through the city is now uninterrupted ; and thus the Theatres, Market, and Amphitheatre; the Forum, Temples, and Public Baths; the Private Dwellings, Shops, and Manufactories ; and the City Walls, Tombs, and Suburban Villa, offer a series of illustrations of the public and private life of the ancients, which the descriptions of the ancient writers, and the researches of intelligent modem authors, had failed to develop with equal truth and perspicuity. PLAN OF THE FORUM NUNDINARIUM, OR SOLDIERS’ QUARTERS, THEATRES, AND ADJOINING EDIFICES. This Forum is 183 feet long by 148 feet wide, and surrounded by a Doric colonnade, having twenty-two columns on the longer sides, and seventeen on the shorter. Under this colonnade are a number of small chambers, which were supposed to have been occupied by butchers, and vendors of vegetables, meats, and liquors : in one were discovered the utensils requisite for the manufactory of soap in another, an oil mill ; the one in which the stocks were found is supposed to have been the prison ; and the guards probably occupied that in which the arms were. The columns are constructed of volcanic tufo, fluted two-thirds of their height, covered with stucco, and painted—the lower part red, the upper alternately red and yellow, except the two centre ones of the east and west sides, the upper parts of which are blue. Various inscriptions are traced with a hard point on the surface of the ninth column of the east side, and the representation of a fighting gladiator, with these letters—X X VALERIVS. The surrounding walls were covered also with stucco, painted red below, with yellow above ; the lower chambers had red lines and ornaments rudely executed upon a yellow ground. VIEW OF THE FORUM NUNDINARIUM, OTHERWISE, THE SOLDIERS’ QUARTERS. The door in the left angle of the colonnade forms the present entrance to the Forum: attached to it, are the rooms now occupied by the keepers, or custodi, of the city ; above which is a range of chambers, probably similar to those that were there in former times, and communicating with each other by means of a balcony or gallery, restored upon the authority of various indications in the construction. In the left comer is a portion of the covered theatre, in the centre of the picture the mountains which back Salerno, and to the right Monte St. Angelo. BRONZE HELMETS, FOUND IN THE SOLDIERS’ QUARTERS AT POMPEII, SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN USED IN THE GAMES ; AND BRONZE HELMET AND GREAVES FOR THE GLADIATORS, FOUND AT POMPEII. These two Plates represent objects of the highest interest, the subject sculptured on the former being the principal events of the taking of Troy, and the latter recording the triumph of Rome in the midst of her vanquished enemies and captives ; both admirably executed in relievo. This second helmet, it will be perceived, has a vizor, like those of the lower ages, with square and round holes to see through. From their size and weight, these portions of armour have been supposed by some not to have been really worn, but only intended as ornaments for trophies ; but Sir W. Hamilton, our minister at the Court of Naples, and who was present at their excavation, states distinctly, that he saw, at the time of their discovery, part of the linings, which were then adhering to them, but which are now fallen out, and he says he has no doubt as to their having been worn. The masques on the greaves allude decidedly to the dramatic representations—the triple-faced masque representing the tragic, comic, and the satyric pieces. VIEW OF THE GREEK TEMPLE, ADJOINING THE GREAT THEATRE. From the north-west angle of the Forum Nundinarium a flight of steps leads to an elevated court, surrounded by Doric columns, and in the centre of which are the ruins of a Temple, evidently of a very remote period of art, and supposed to be dedicated to Hercules, from its proximity to the theatres. The general form of this courtis triangular, one side of it being elevated considerably above the level of the country, overlooking the plain beneath, and commanding a beautiful view of the whole coast of that side of the Bay of Naples, embracing in its range Castellamare, Vico, Sorrento, the promontory of Minerva, Capri, and the island of Hercules. Near the northwest angle of the Temple is an exedra or seat, placed there for the purpose of affording the frequenters of the Temple the full enjoyment of the extensive view : it is of a semi-circular form, and the horns terninated by ornamental winged Griffins’ legs. The walls of the city appear to have formed the boundary wall to this side of the court. The Temple, in the centre, from its size, arrangement, and style of art, is one of the most important edifices in Pompeii ; the Count de Clarac dates its erection about eight hundred years before the Christian era. The few indications that can be relied on seem to prove that it had an entire peristyle of columns, three feet ten inches and a half in diameter, having seven on die north and south fronts, and on each of the sides eleven columns. This is one of the few instances of an edifice with an odd column in the centre of the front, and of which another example occurs in the Basilica of Paestum. The capital of the order approaches in character the Grecian Doric: the floor was paved with mosaic, of which there are still considerable traces. In front of the temple is an enclosure, apparently the pen for the victims about to be sacrificed on the altars at the side ; and near it is a circular edifice of eight little columns, having in die centre the puteal or well, from which the water may perhaps have been drawn for the sacrifices ; though, indeed, some authors consider it a locus fulminatus, or a spot where a thunderbolt had fallen : such places were held in particular awe by the ancients, and set apart as consecrated ground to Pluto and the infernal Deities. At the further end of the court, towards the propyltea or entrance from the street, is a pedestal, on which a statue once stood, dedicated, according to the inscription, to the memory of a certain Marcus Claudius Marcellus, son of Caius, patron ot the colony. Attached to one of the columns of this end of die court, was a marble basin, into which water was conducted by means of pipes still existing in the centre of the columns. This peculiar circumstance, and the proximity of the fountain for domestic uses just without the propylaea, seems to indicate the use of holy water, as practised by the Roman Catholics and Mahometans, for the pui-pose of lustration, when entering the sacred precincts. A restored portion of the outer wall of the theatre, enclosing the cavea, rises up in the centre of the Plate ; and towards the left hand, is the entrance to the curia or schools. VIEW OF THE PORTICO TO THE GREEK TEMPLE. The principal entrance to the peribolus, or court, of the Temple of Hercules from the street, was by this porch,called by the Greeks propylea, forming a decastyle portico of the Ionic order, the members of which still exist, and exhibit a curious variety of detail.—A peasant leans against a fountain of marble, decorated with a sculptured head, from the mouth of which issued the water ; to the right are to be observed stepping-stones, to afford foot passengers the facility of crossing from one side of the street to the other, without the inconvenience of stepping down the high curb, or soiling their feet in rainy weather. The street to the right leads to a house excavated during a visit of the Emperor Joseph the Second to Pompeii. The house was attached to the walls of the city, and consisted of three floors —the uppermost on a level with the Temple of Hercules, but the lowermost of the other two was on a level with the plain extending to the ancient shore of the bay, which, it is supposed, in this part approached to within a short distance of the walls. There are several chambers decorated with painted stuccoes ; as also a bath and a stove, near which was found the skeleton of a female, who was issuing, it is supposed, from the bath. A strong vapour of carbonic gas renders it dangerous to approach near the spot. Various domestic vases, and other utensils, were likewise dug up, of different sizes: many of the more pleasing stuccoes have been detached from the walls, and deposited in the Royal Museum. On quitting the entrance porch to the sacred precinct of Hercules, and turning to the right, at the distance of about five and twenty yards, is a lateral entrance to the CURIA, OR SCHOOLS. This building consists of a court, surrounded on three sides by a portico of graceful Doric columns, with two rooms at one end, and an elevated pulpitum, or pedestal with steps, on one side of the open space : the general dimensions of the court may be given as seventy-nine feet long by fifty-seven feet wide between the walls. In the absence of more satisfactory evidence, Romanelli, on the authority of Vitruvius, who requires that the Curia should be near the Forum, considers it likely to have been the Curia, a place set apart for the deliberations on public affairs. The elevated pedestal in the centre indicates this quadrangle at all events to have been the scene of public disputation or instruction, and may have been the Schools, a name given to it by some authors. There is, however, an inscription over one of the doors of the theatre, from which we may infer that it may have been the Tribunal — M • M • IIOLCOnI • RVFVS • ET . CELER CRYPTAM- TRIBVNAL • THEATRVM • S • P AD . DECVS • COLONIAE • The crypt appears to be the square mass of construction, having a circular basin in the centre, as though it were for the purpose of a reservoir, and lies between the theatre and the edifice we are now describing. As there is no other building near, which at all answers to the Tribunal alluded to in the inscription, it is not improbable that this may be the place. VIEW OF THE TEMPLE OF ISIS. Returning to the street, a door on the same side of the way, at a short distance, opens into the peribolus, or court, of the Temple of Isis—one of the most complete existing examples of the parts and disposition of the objects used in the worship of the Heathen Deities. The frequent relations of ancient authors enumerate the various chapels, treasuries, monuments, statues, within the consecrated precincts of their temples, and convey to us descriptions and applications of parts for which no similar authority is to be found in the religion of the present times. Here however, the narrations of the ancient writers are confirmed by examples perfectly illustrative of their descriptions. A colonnade of a rude Corinthian order surrounds the whole area of the court. The columns are about one foot nine inches in diameter, with the shafts painted : attached to the two columns, near the entrance, were found two lustral marble basins, now in the Museum of Naples, and a wooden box, reduced to charcoal, the supposed depository of the contributions of the pious. The fane itself rises isolated in the middle of the court, nobly elevated upon a continued pedestal, with a flight of seven steps leading to the level of the four columned portico in front. On each side of the steps and of the portico are altars ; the one to the left of the portico used for the burning of the victims—that to the right set aside for the reception of the sacred ashes, of which a considerable quantity were found within it: the smaller altars flanking the steps were for the continual burning of the incense, calculated by its effects to increase the sacred solemnity of the ritual ceremonies. The portico is flanked by two wings, having niches for the reception of statues. The whole of the exterior is faced with stucco decorations, capricious in style and disfigured by a strange mixture of the very commonest species of ornament. Within the Temple, at the further end, a smaller portion is divided off, so as to allow the priests the opportunity of introducing with greater effect the various fittings-up, and perhaps to impose, by some artifice, upon the credulity of those ignorant of the vacant space behind. Over the door was found the following inscription, now preserved in the Royal Museum : — N • POPIDIVS • N F . CF.LSINVS AEDEM • ISIDIS . TERRAEMOTV COLLAPSAM A. FVNDAMENTIS - P- S- RESTITVIT IIVNC • DF.CVRIONES. OB - LIBERA LITATEM CVM • ESSET- ANNOlt • SEXS ORDINI • SVO • GRATIS • ADLEGERVNT from which we learn that “ N. Popidius Celsinus, son of Numerius, restored from the foundation the Temple of Isis, overthrown by an earthquake ; him the decurions, on account of his liberality, when he was sixty years of age, elected to be one of their order.” The earthquake alluded to was probably that of the year sixty-three, which occurred sixteen years before the eruption which totally destroyed the city. The building to the left of the Plate is an enclosure, grotesquely decorated with elegant, though capricious, stuccoes. The ground colour of the space between the pilasters is yellow—that of the frieze above, red— and that of the flat surface between the arch and the pediment, green ; within, the arch is yellow. A small staircase in the interior leads to a lower level, which was apparently used for the purification by lustration ; various bas reliefs decorate the walls. On the wall of the court, immediately in front of the Temple, is a niche, in which was a painted figure of Sigalion or Harpocrates, called by the Egyptians Orus, son of Isis, represented as pressing the fore finger on his lips, to indicate silence, and intimate that the mysteries of the precinct ought never to be revealed to the uninitiated. Beneath the niche was found a shelf, and under it, a kneeling- board, supposed to have been placed there to facilitate the devotional posture. On the side of the court, immediately opposite the entrance from the street, are two chambers and a kitchen ; the latter still retaining all the constructive parts regularly arranged, in the same manner as the stoves of modern Italy and France, and on the stoves were found the bones of animals and fishes. In the furthermost room was discovered a skeleton, supposed to be that of one of the priests, who had begun to feel the fatal influence of the accumulating ashes and the density of the atmosphere ; unable to escape by the door, he had with an axe already broken through two walls, but ere he could pass the third, the smoke and vapour had extended him a lifeless corse; the axe was lying near him. Behind the Temple is a large chamber, forty-two feet long by twenty-five deep, supposed to have been the penetralia of the priests ; in it was discovered the remains of a priest, who, it is imagined, had been eating, as near him were some chicken-bones, egg-shells, and earthen vases. In the precinct were found many other skeletons of priests, who, either unwilling to quit the protection of the Deity, or deferring till too late their escape, were prevented by the accumulation of volcanic matter from accomplishing their flight. On the pictures found in this edifice, these priests are represented with the head closely shaved, robed in white linen, and stockings of a tissue which shewed the feet ; these were their ceremonial robes, typical of the introduction of the use of linen among the Egyptians by their Goddess Isis. They were bound by their vows to observe perpetual chastity ; they never ate onions ; they abstained from salt with their meat; were forbidden the flesh of sheep or hogs; and were employed constantly day and night in unremitting devotion around the statue of their Deity. Before we quit the court of the Temple, it is necessary to remark, that the aqueduct conveying the waters of the Samo to Torre dell'Annunziata, runs through this court, where it was obliged to diverge, and be arched over, in consequence of the edifices above ground. Another chamber opens into the south-west corner of the court, situate immediately behind the enclosure-wall of the theatre, and which, it is supposed, was set apart for the preservation of the sacred wardrobe, and the utensils represented in the next Plate. ALTAR, MARBLE TABLE, AND SACRED UTENSILS, FOUND IN THE TEMPLE OF ISIS. The altar in the centre of the lower division stands in the middle of the court, as may be seen by reference to the last View : neither the style of arrangement nor the ornamented detail is pure in taste. The small bronze chest, of which the section and elevation are given apart, received the sacred fire ; the small pedestal to the left was one of those flanking the steps, surmounted by a bronze vase. The candelabra to the right is very peculiar ; it is of bronze ; on the summit is a rude representation of the lotus, the indigenous plant of Egypt, sacred to Isis, and indicates its appropriation to the rites of the Goddess. Independently of the objects above enumerated, were found, in various parts of the edifice, several termini, or small square columns, surmounted by the heads of various divinities ; statues of Bacchus, Priapus, and Venus, the last one with the arms and neck gilt ; also a figure of Isis, in the Egyptian style, having in her hand an instrument in the shape of a T, which probably represented the sistrum of which she was the inventress. There were also two pictures of the ceremonials; many paintings, detached from the walls, representing architectural designs ; an anubis with the head of a dog ; various priests, with palms, ears of corn, and one who held in his hand a lamp ; the hippopotamus, ibis, lotus, various birds, and dolphins, on a pilaster ; and all the apparatus, in bronze, of the sacrifices. NICHE IN THE TEMPLE OF ISIS, A GRIFFIN PAINTED IN A PANEL, AND STEPPING STONES IN A STREET AT POMPEII. In the centre subject of this Plate, Isis is represented under her various characters, with the attributes peculiar to each ; and accompanied by Anubis with the dog's head. The middle figure is holding the sistrum, which was of bronze in the form of a racket with three bars across the centre, left loose in the holes they traverse, so as to produce a noise when shaken about. The lowermost subject of this sheet illustrates a curious peculiarity in the streets of Pompeii, all of which, it will be perceived, are very narrow, and have on one side, at least, and generally on both, a foot pavement for passengers, and at certain distances, stepping stones from one footway to the other, to allow passengers the facility of crossing the streets in dirty weather without soiling their feet. The foot pavement is very restricted in width, seldom exceeding three feet, and sometimes narrower than a foot ; the carriage way in none of the streets exceeds ten feet, which appears to have been sufficiently wide, as the wheels of their cars, according to the ruts perceptible on the pavement, did not require a width of more than four feet six inches ; and the Romans, who imagined wide streets inimical to health, were not likely to give more space than required by absolute necessity. The whole of the pavement was composed of blocks of lava ; but the carriage way was formed of polygonal masses, with the angles slightly rounded, the interstices caused by which were filled with pieces of granite, iron wedges, or flints, forcibly driven in, and which thus retained the whole compactly together. The rain water was carried off to the exterior of the city by means of drains, constructed under the footpaths. VIEW IN THE GREAT THEATRE, FROM THE UPPER CIRCLE. Among the customs of the ancients more particularly interesting to the classical scholar, are those usages relating to the dramatic representations, which, from originating in the rude chorus of peasants, celebrating the conclusion of their labours in the fruitful harvest by unpretending processions in honour of Ceres and Bacchus, became mixed up with the more important ffites of the Pater Liber, and with the Romans, who zealously emulated the example of the Grecians, became a source of the utmost enjoyment and extravagance. No customs of different nations or remote times, in institutions of similar tendency, can be so opposite as the ancient and moderm Theatre. With the ancients, the representations took place by day, and generally in an uncovered space—with the modems, by night, in a roofed building ; with them the stage was shallow and the scene fixed—with us the scenes are moveable, and recede behind each other to a vast depth ; with them the representations were gratis—with us the spectators pay ; with them the face of tire actor was hid behind a mask but with us the tragedian gives force to his acting by shewing the varied expression of feature ; the end of the drama with them was declamation rather than action—while with us all the charm of scenery, grouping, and variety of action, add to the illusion of the drama. In order to enable the reader fully to understand the parts delineated in this view and the details of the following plate, we must recur to the plan of the Quarter of the Theatre and Forum Nundinarium. The general form of the Theatre was that of a half circle, the base line of which formed the front of the stage ; the former division, called the cavea, was occupied by the spectators, but the latter was appropriated to the scenic representations. The healthiest part of the city was chosen, and where the site was favourable to the transmission of sound; the slope of a hill, as facilitating the construction, and saving a considerable expence, was selected wherever possible. We have before alluded to its position near the public porticoes of the surrounding edifices, and especially the Forum, in order to allow the spectators shelter when the representations were suspended by sudden showers. In size the Theatres of course varied, as we see in the two of Pompeii. Pliny, in his mention of the Theatre of Scaurus, makes the number of spectators amount to 80,000, which, however, is scarcely possible, as then the Theatre must have been about seven hundred feet in diameter. The cavea was composed of a succession of seats, rising one above the other, as steps ; and the whole body of seats was subdivided into large masses by horizontal galleries, called precinctiones or belts, and again into wedge-like masses, called cunei, by flights of stairs, which afforded communication to the different seats. The seats themselves were about one foot three inches high, and two feet four inches and a half broad, and a width of one foot three inches and a half was allowed to each spectator, as may be ascertained at a part of the large Theatre, where the divisions are marked off, and numbered : there is sufficient space to contain about five thousand persons. The orchestra was the lowest part of the cavea, and being nearest the scene was the most desirable part for seeing the performers, and therefore appropriated to the senators, patricians, and other dignitaries of the city, who were generally seated on chairs of state carried there by their slaves ; while the middle orders sat on cushions, which they brought with them. In the uppermost portion of the cavea, the seats over the corridor were divided off like our boxes, and were occupied by the women, to whom was allotted this distinct part of the Theatre. Flanking the orchestra, and elevated considerably above it, are observable two divisions, one of which was appropriated to the proconsul or duumvirs, and their officers ; and the other to the vestals. The approaches to the Theatre are so managed as to afford every facility of access : the corridor is on a level with the Schools and the Temple of Hercules, and had four entrance doors, and six inner doors called vomitoria, opening into the cavea ; while three sets of stairs (marked A A A on the plan) led to the seats for the women, and two other small flights of steps (marked BB) afforded access to the vacant space above them. From this general view of the part of the Theatre appropriated to the audience, it might be imagined that the spectators were exposed to much inconvenience, both from the sun or any sudden shower. We are informed by ancient authors, that they defended themselves from the sun by means of broad-brimmed hats, called causiaj, or pilei Thessalici, and from the rain, by mantles or hoods, which were generally white. But the Campanians, a people who carried every luxury of life to the highest pitch of refinement, even to a proverb, invented large awnings, which on important occasions covered the Theatre, by means of cords stretched across the cavea and attached to masts, which passed through perforated blocks of stone, let into the solid constructions of the outer walls of the cavea. But if by chance a sudden gust of wind shattered the awning, then the audience resumed their hats and hoods. Having thus described the parts of the cavea—which we have seen to be composed of three general divisions, the lowest, middle, and uppermost, appropriated to the patricians, the plebeians, and the women, and very lowest orders, —we now shall examine the details of the scene, which consisted of a decorated wall, having in front a stage called pulpitum, elevated about five feet above the orchestra. The scene wall always had a marble decoration of three ranges of columns, with pedestals and entablatures ; in it were three doors. The central was called the Royal Door, through wheh the principal personage of the drama, called the Protagonist, entered on the stage, as though he came from the palace ; the door to the right represented the habitation of the second actor, called the Deuteragonist and the hospitalia to the left was for the Tritagonist, or third performer. There were also flanking the scene two doors, through which persons entered from the port or city, and before which entrances were triagonal side slips, called trigones versatiles by the Romans, and «p«« by the Greeks. There were three distinct species of decorations, called the tragic, comic, and satyric or pastoral. The tragic scene was represented by the fixed decoration of columns, and was supposed to represent the hall of a palace, with frontispieces, statues, and other regal ornaments. The comic scenes were moveable, and assumed the forms of private edifices, apartments, corridors but the satyric or pastoral scenes, which were also moveable, were adorned with trees, caves, mountains, and other rural objects. Behind the scene was a space divided into three or more rooms, for the accommodation of the actors; over which were smaller chambers: this was called the Postscenium. Such were the general divisions of the antique Roman Theatre, in which, although at so remote a period, were employed all the adventitious circumstances calculated to give effect to the drama. Nor were they deficient in mechanical expedients. In the hollow space beneath the stage were placed instruments for thunder, trap-doors, and other artificial contrivances; and the divinities of Olympus descended from above, borne in cars or on clouds suspended in the air. The expense of a single representation has been known to exceed the annual contribution of one of their important provinces. To pursue our description of the view : the highest wall to the right is the enclosure wall of the cavea, with the restoration of one of the masts for the awning ; beneath it are the women's seats, and under it the corridor, from which is the vomitorium or door affording access to the body of the Theatre. The five lowermost ranges of senatorial seats are particularly distinguishable—they were covered with Parian marble ; at the end of the circle, to the right, are two low arches, over which was the box of the proconsul or vestal virgins. The scene, with the substructions of the stage, occupies the centre of the picture ; in the former are the three doors already enumerated. Above the door to the right is the flight of steps leading from the Forum Nundinarium to the Temple of Hercules; and to the left of the Plate, in the distance, are the rooms now occupied by the superintendents of the ruins. Three marble statues occupied a central situation just above the precinctio; by an inscription cut on the steps we learn that one of them was placed there in honour of M. Olcinius Rufus, a military tribune of the people’s election. PLAN AND SECTION OF THE SMALL OR COVERED THEATRE. The same form, the same parts, the same distribution that we have just described, prevail also in the smaller Theatre, by some supposed to be the Odeon. One great peculiarity, however, distinguishes it from the large Theatre' which is its having been covered—a fact ascertained beyond doubt by the following inscription :— C • QVINCTIVS • C • F • VALG M • PORCIVS • M • F • DVOVIR DEC • DECR • THEATRVM • TECTVM FAC • LOCAR ' EIDEMQVE • PROBAR Which states, that the decemvirs, Caius Quinctius Valgus, son of Caius, and Marcus Porcius, son of Marcus, by a decree of the decurions, assigned the sum for the erection of the covered Theatre, and approved it. The Theatre is supposed to have been erected shortly after the conclusion of the social or Italic war, and in decoration and construction was inferior to the other. The pavement of the orchestra is laid with slabs of variegated marbles, and the base line to the semicircle is formed of a band of white marble, inlaid with the following inscription, in bronze letters, eight inches and a quarter high, flush with the upper face of the pavement M OCVLATIVS M • F VERVS II VIR PRO LVDIS The only access to the cavea is by means of a passage behind, which also communicates with the orchestra of the larger Theatre. It has been computed that there is sufficient accommodation for fifteen hundred spectators. The four lower ranges of patrician seats are backed by a raised parapet, the ends of which are decorated with winged griffins' legs ; and behind these are two sculptured stoutly proportioned figures, represented as bearing a great weight; and above which were formerly placed ponderous candelabra of bronze, to illumine the Theatre. A door leads from the small Theatre into the street, and pursuing a northerly direction, a door to the left presents itself, leading into the court of a house, called the sculptor’s residence, one of the most interesting discoveries of this city, there having been found in it statues of marble, some merely begun, others half finished ; with blocks of marble for other statues, and all the tools necessary for the artist. Among these, thirty-two mallets, many compasses, curved and straight, an infinity of chisels, three or four levers and jacks for raising blocks, saws, &c. &c. In the small chamber marked on the Plan is discoverable, at a few feet under ground, the course of the aqueduct leading to Torre dell’Annunziata. A flight of steps leads to a peristyle above, surrounded by several chambers. Immediately beyond the house is the Court and Temple supposed to be dedicated to /Esculapius ; in the centre is a noble altar, delineated in the following Plate. ALTAR IN THE COURT OF THE TEMPLE .ESCULAPIUS, AND OTHER ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS. On this sheet are collected together various interesting details, mostly found in this quarter of the city. The large altar has an imposing effect ; it is possible, from its size, that large animals were sacrificed on it, such as bulls, goats, and pigs, which were sacred to Aesculapius, as well as the cock and the serpent. A monument similar in the character of its architecture, exists in Rome, at the Vatican Museum, called the Tomb of the Scipios : the resemblance in form and style of art is most striking. The pedestal taken from the Civil Forum stands opposite the granaries, and forms one of a continued range it was probably once sunnounted by a statue of some member of the family of Pansa, which appears to have been one of the most distinguished in the city. The situation of the figure will be perceived by reference to the preceding Plate ; there are two of them, which, as well as the griffin’s leg, flank the ends of the prajcinctio. The other griffin’s leg forms the termination to the circular seat or exedra just without the city gate, in the Street of the Tombs; the ends of the circular seat in the court of the Temple of Hercules are decorated in a similar manner; these winged legs are of frequent application in Pompeii, and are remarkable for the strongly marked veins. In the description of the Temple of Hercules, a puteal or well-hole has been noticed near the Temple, surrounded by columns, and supposed to have been by some a “ locus fulminatus.” An example is given of these puteals from the house of Pansa, from which the many others found in the city little vary ; they are of marble, and form an elegant part of the decorative distribution in the courts of the private houses. Next to the puteal is a monopodium, or one-legged table, on which the suppliants placed their offerings before the statue, or near the altar of the divinity. VIEW OF THE AMPHITHEATRE. By reference to the general plan of the city, the reader will perceive, that at the easternmost extremity of the city, just within the walls, and at some distance from the Quarter of the Theatres, is situated the Amphitheatre, which was an edifice of a completely oval form, set apart for the combats of gladiators and wild beasts. This view represents the outer circuit of arcades, through which the spectators entered into the building, according to their tickets of admission, which had numbers or marks on them, corresponding with similar signs on the particular arches through which they were to enter. Those who were seated on the lower ranges of°seats passed through the perforated arcades of the lower order ; but the spectators in the upper portion of the Cavea ascended by the exterior staircases, seen in this view, to a broad terrace, from which they passed into the body of the Amphitheatre to their seats, or again ascended to the upper tier, divided off like boxes, and appropriated to the women. The construction in general consists of opus incertum, with quoins of squared stones and some trifling restorations of rubble. This rude mass was probably once covered with a more sumptuous facing of stone, but there are now no other traces of it than a few of the keystones ; one of them has a chariot and two horses, and another a head sculptured in relief, besides which there are a few stars on the wedge stones. The longest axis, from outside to outside of the exterior arcade, is four hundred and thirty feet ; the transverse diameter of the outer oval equals three hundred and thirty-five feet. ENTRANCE TO THE AMPHITHEATRE, BRONZE COINS, AND TOMB OF VELASIUS. At each end of the ellipse were entrances into the arena for the combatants, and through which they dragged their victims, when they had conquered them in the conflict. These two passages are the principal approaches to the lower ranges of seats, occupied by the senators, magistrates, and knights, by means of corridors to the right and left, which followed the entire circuit of the edifice. The ends of these passages towards the arena were secured by metal gratings, which effectually prevented the escape of the wild beasts. The reader will perceive a high parapet, or podium, which bounds the area of the arena, and divides it from the seats of the spectators ; the face of this parapet has several inscriptions, containing the names of the Duumvirs who had presided at the shows, and various representations painted in fresco of a horse engaged with a lion, a tigress combatting with a wild boar, a timid stag chaced by a lioness, and a bull urged to the contest with a bear. There are also paintings of candelabras, a distribution of palms among the gladiators, winged genii, minstrels, and musicians ; but all these have disappeared soon after exposure to the atmosphere. The upper lines of the Amphitheatre represent the boxes or lodges for the women, to which there was a communication by means of a narrow way in front; under this way are the entrances from the outer terrace; every third box had a door behind corresponding with the arcades below. In this view the summit of Vesuvius is seen in the distance emitting a volume of smoke. The Romans in their funereal ceremonies were guided by the age, rank, or attainments of the deceased; and a distinction was made between those who had not yet attained the toga virilis and those arrived at manhood. The sepulchral stele erected to Velasius Gratus in the street of tombs is an instance of this distinction; he not beino- arrived at that age allowed by the laws to be commemorated by a more important monumental edifice. VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE AMPHITHEATRE. The erection of the Amphitheatres appears to have originated in the desire of the chiefs of the Roman Republic to acquire the favour of the people by the introduction of games, which were rendered familiar to the army by their extended conquests in the East, where they had seen the preserves of the Persian monarchs well stored with all kinds of quadrupeds and birds, both wild and tame, the chace of which afforded diversion to the members of the Imperial family. Instead of being semicircular like the Theatres, the Amphitheatres were oval in form ; and the sloping sides of the cavea were completely occupied by seats, to which access was afforded by means of passages and staircases in the substructions beneath, which led to vomitoria, regularly disposed in the whole circuit, and equally distributing the spectators in every part, according to their tribes, or their rank in the state, without trouble or confusion. In the centre was a clear space, called the arena, strewed with the finest sand, and successively assuming the most varied appearance. At one moment it seemed to rise out of the earth, like the garden of the Hesperides, thick set with groves of trees, or diversified with rising mounds ; and was afterwards broken into the rocks and caverns of Thrace. This was the scene of combats between gladiators and wild beasts, and was elongated into the oval form in order to allow greater room for the nature of the games, in which the combatants advanced or retreated, encircled their adversaries or kept at bay the wild beasts, as the occasion offered, or as the courage or fear of the gladiators made them bold or timid. Under the seats were constructed various cells for the wild beasts, which were let loose through iron gratings, as they were required. In the arena, man not only combated with the leopard, the lion, the panther, the tiger, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the crocodile, brought from Numidia’s plains, or from the banks of the Euphrates, the Indus, and the Nile—but man against man offered the ferocious spectacle of homicide, for a people s sport. Humanity now turns with horror from such scenes of blood ; but the unspotted vestal, the retiring maiden, the chaste matron, could, in those days, equally with the veteran warrior, dwell with pleasure on this wanton sacrifice of human life. On other occasions a variety of game, consisting of a thousand ostriches, a thousand stags, a thousand fallow deer, and a thousand wild boars, was abandoned to the riotous impetuosity of the multitude. In some of the Amphitheatres subterraneous pipes conveyed an inexhaustible supply of water ; and what had just before appeared a level plain might be suddenly converted into a wide lake, covered with armed vessels, and replenished with the monsters of the deep. QUARTER OF THE CIVIL FORUM, ADJOINING EDIFICES, AND BATHS. Before we proceed to the individual examination of the public edifices of the Civil Forum of Pompeii, it may be useful briefly to consider the manners and customs of the people in regard to their public life, upon which depended so materially not only the disposition and arrangement of the edifices in themselves, but in effect their relation to one another. The life of the ancients was essentially public : they rose with the dawn, left their bouses at an early hour to pay visits, or look after their affairs ; they then performed their religious duties in the Temples, and thence went to the Forum, Basilica, under the porticoes, or to the other places of public resort, and only returned home at the hour of their principal repast, which took place towards the evening. Thus all their affairs were transacted apart from their habitations ; and the Forum was the scene where they united business and religion, and collected in one spot the monuments of their industry and of their piety. The assemblage of edifices surrounding the Forum possessed an almost exclusive share of magnificence and splendor ; and while their domestic buildings were composed of small apartments, and were restricted in their accommodation, their public edifices rose majestically among the humbler dwellings, and by their external pomp claimed all the admiration of the stranger. Not that their habitations were devoid of enrichment : on the contrary, the interior united every embellishment and every luxury, that art could contribute—that the passions or the senses could desire; and the splendor of their daily scenes of business was in the evening relieved by all the elegance of the most voluptuous refinement. The Fora were of two classes; Civilia or Judiciaria, and Venalia or Nundinaria : the former devoted to the transaction of the business of the state or city, the dispensation of justice, the elections and the public spectacles, the weightier matters of commerce and the more important worship of the principal deities ; while the latter were similar to our markets, and appropriated to the sale of the necessaries of life, such as meats, grain, fish, vegetables, and fruits. The Venalia consisted merely of a simple quadrangular court, surrounded by a colonnade and shops ; the same disposition of parts was repeated above ; and attached to this court, a Temple or two, a public prison, and ouard-room similar to those of the Forum Nundinarium, already described. As, however, the Forum Civile was the scene of more important matters, it was of course surrounded by all the edifices appertaining to public business, and was further enriched by votive monuments to the memory of those distinguished individuals whose power excited their fear, or whose virtues had acquired their esteem. Such was the general distribution in most of the Italian cities of any consequence; but in those of less rank, both the Judiciaria and Venalia were combined in one while in Rome some authors enumerate seventeen distinct Fora. We learn that the Italian Fora, in contradistinction with those of the Greeks, were oblong instead of square, an arrangement considered necessary for the gladiatorial shows, which, in the earlier periods of the Roman history, took place within the area of the Forum. The size of the quadrangle was proportionate to the number of the inhabitants : not so large, in a town of inferior rank that the buildings should appear deserted, from the few persons frequenting them, nor so small in a principal city as to offer only a confined space to the numerous population. The width equalled in general two-thirds of the length, and all the sides were surrounded by ample porticoes, two stories high, sufficiently wide to afford accommodation and shelter to the spectators of the public shows, and having under them shops of silversmiths, goldsmiths, jewellers, money brokers, and merchants. The streets leading to the Forum were not permitted to traverse it, and the openings into them were defended with gates, which were closed at night for the protection of the valuable commodities in the shops, and the rich utensils in the public edifices. The grand entrances into the Forum were through triumphal arches, faced with the most splendid materials, enriched with architectural embellishments, and decorated with sculpture. The Basilica seems to have been the principal civil edifice, adapted to the double purpose of our exchange and county hall, and in extent and magnificence vieing with the sacred buildings. It consisted of a hall, whose proportions varied according to the site or other peculiarity of circumstance, but its most symmetrical proportion was considered to be in width equal to the half or two-thirds of the length. The interior was decorated with a circumambient colonnade, the intermediate space being left open. At the further end was the platform for the Duumvirs, or Judges ; and in order that no interruption might occur in the public business, nor inconvenience arise from the mixed concourse of people engaged in different pursuits, there was a gallery above, running round the whole building, for the bankers and money changers. Attached to the Forum, according to Vitruvius, were the treasury, prison, and Curia, corresponding in size and arrangement with the Forum, and proportioned to the dignity and importance of the Municipium or city. Their height and architectural embellishment were so arranged, that the excess of the one and the improper projections of the other could not interrupt the voice of the speaker, and render it indistinct to his auditors. Besides these edifices, there were the Senaculum, Comitium, and Record Office, libraries, the academies, schools, and numberless other edifices. The Senaculum was for the assembly of the magistrates and patricians in senate, and the Comitium for the popular meetings of the body of the people for the election of the civic officers and the passing of laws. The Senate, however, did not confine its place of assembly to the Senaculum, but on extraordinary and even ordinary occasions they met in any of the consecrated edifices. We have now to consider the Temples, which form an important portion of the forensic buildings ; and which from their situation and destination claim a greater share of magnificence and more imposing dimensions. It may be supposed, that in a city like Pompeii, where the whole is upon a level, this place of public resort would be selected for the Temple of Jupiter, as the most conspicuous situation ; we learn from Vitruvius, that the Temple of Mercury was generally in the Forum, and that of Isis and Serapis in the Market. For the other edifices round the Forum we have no specific authority ; the additions of porticoes, or other buildings, intended for public benefit, depended upon the munificence, ambition, piety, or pride of individuals, and of course varied in extent and embellishment, according to the means of the benefactors. PLAN OF THE CIVIL FORUM, AND ADJOINING EDIFICES. The street now laid open, and which forms the line of communication between the Quarter of the Theatres and the Civil or principal Forum, enters the latter at the south-east corner. The paving of the carriage way continues to within a very short distance of the portico, where it stops ; and the high curb-stone of the foot pavement prevents the entrance of the carriages, the admission of which would have incommoded those transacting business in the Forum. On entering the Forum, a magnificent assemblage of architectural embellishment opens upon the view—an assemblage which our usages render it impossible ever to realise in the application of architecture to the customs of modem times. The first building to the right in the Forum is the subject of the first Plate. VIEW OF THE GRAND FORUM AND BASILICA, TAKEN FROM THE PORTICO OF EUMACHIA. So called from the following inscription on the architrave over the columns, and repeated on the architrave on the door on the south side : — EVMACHIA • L ‘ F ' SACERD PVB ’ NOMINE SVO • eT 'm • NVMIsTrI • FROnToNIS . FILI • CHALCID1CVM • CRYpTaM • PORTICVS CONCORUIAE • AVGVSTAE . PIeTaTI • SVA • PEQVNIA • FEClT . EADEMQVE • DEUICAVIT. From this we learn that “ Eumachia, daughter of Lucius, public priestess, in her own name and in the name of “ her son, Lucius Fronto, had erected, with her own money the chalcidicum, crypt, and portico, and had dedicated “ them to the august worship of Concord.” The edifice consists of a large parallelogram, in the centre of which is a court surrounded by a peristyle of columns, and the covered crypt : the front towards the Forum is decorated with large and small circular niches, and to the right and left are square recesses, with elevated platforms, having a staircase for ascent to each : behind these niches are several small chambers and a staircase, for the purpose of communicating with a higher level. Within one of these small chambers were found at the time of excavation some thin slabs of marble piled together and leaning against the wall. It is on the top of the ruined wall, above the square recess nearest the street, that the spectator is supposed to stand in this view. At the further end of the court are three hemicycles, the centre one by far the largest ; within it is a pedestal, which probably had on it a statue to Concord. In the centre of the court are various sinkings in the pavement to a slight depth, and some other slabs of marble rising a few inches above the level of the pavement ; their use continues still a mystery, although a certain Signor Bechi, in a treatise on the subject, wished to prove it a court for the works of the society of fullers. The recent discovery of a fuller’s house has superseded the Signor Bechi’s hypothesis. The crypt was covered, and seems to have received light by openings left in the wall of the portico, and which were probably inclosed with glazed sash frames. The walls were painted to the height of three or four feet with flowers, and above, representations of sacrifices and landscapes on a red and yellow ground within various compartments gracefully separated by arabesque ornaments. Behind the centre niche is a square recess, in which is a beautiful statue of Eumachia, elevated on a pedestal three feet high, bearing the inscription — EUMACHIAE • L • F • SACERD • PVB . FVLLONES This statue is about five feet nine inches high, and executed with the most exquisite taste ; the expression of the features announces benevolence, benignity, and piety : the whole figure is dressed in the tunic down to the feet, which are covered with the cothurni or buskins. The toga is thrown gracefully over the tunic, the ends hanging over the left arm, which is slightly raised from the side, while with her right hand, which touches her breast, she gracefully grasps it in another part. The form of the statue is simple and dignified, and impresses the spectator with feelings of reverence and admiration. Near this niche is a flight of steps, leading into the street by a doorway ; at the bottom of the stairs is a small chamber, having an opening into the street, and one on the landing at the foot of the staircase ; the walls of this chamber are embellished with various paintings on a black ground, among which is remarkable a landscape, having in the distance lofty mountains, a river winding through verdant meadows, with herds, and shepherds, and views of villas, and in the foreground a statue, before which is a group offering sacrifices. There is a fountain in the street, immediately opposite the door of the staircase. The outer elevation of the walls towards the two streets is decorated in stucco with pilasters, cornices, and pediments, lightly relieved, and not inelegant in detail. Returning to the Forum, through the street with the fountain, a large enclosure is to the left, which it is difficult to appropriate satisfactorily, on account, of the absence of inscriptions, or any other peculiarity which might suggest its use. Near the angle is the end of another street, having a fountain at the termination of the carriage pavement and closed by gates towards the Forum. The whole length of this street offers on each side only ruins of private edifices, a few mosaics and fragments of paintings, another fountain towards the middle, and on the right hand side a small altar of white marble. At the further extremity of this street, where it is crossed by another, was found the skeleton of one of the Priests of Isis ; he was covered with five feet of pumice stones, and two feet and a half of other volcanic matter ; he carried in his hand a bag of coarse linen, which had still preserved some decree of consistency, containing three hundred and sixty silver coins, forty-two copper and six of gold ; and near him were discovered several Isiac figures, small silver forks, cups, pateras in gold and silver, a cameo representing a satyr striking a tambourine, rings set with stones, and vases of copper and bronze. The government is now clear- ing away the ashes from behind the houses on the west side of this street, and behind the south side of the Forum. Three halls of imposing dimensions, separated from each other by narrow passages, occupy, with the street, the whole of the south side of the Forum ; and at the first glance seem to indicate the eerarium, prison, and curia, required by Vitruvius to be near each other ; but further researches having given reason to suppose that the prison was in another part of the Forum, and the decorations being of an ornamental and a sumptuous style, it seems very probable that they are the aerarium, curia, and tribunal, or senaculum. At the side of the first of these edifices, towards the street, is a staircase leading to the upper galleries ; and in the third building are preserved a great' collection of sculptured fragments of the higher style of art discovered in the Forum. Close to the colonnade, in front of these three edifices, are various pedestals, and a species of arch; on the former were at one time pedestrian and equestrian figures and groups, but only some fragments of these have been found, and the pedestals themselves are despoiled of the marbles with which they were once faced. At the south-west angle is a narrow street, or vicus, at the entrance to which is another staircase, leading to the upper galleries of the Forum and Basilica. This vicus is bounded on the right by the Basilica, and on the left by two houses, which are known by the name of General Championet, they having been cleared of the ashes by his directions ; in them were found some skeletons of females, with rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other gold ornaments, besides a vast quantity of coins. We shall have occasion, in the following chapter, to examine minutely the private dwellings of the Pompeians, and shall, therefore, reserve till then any description of the houses, merely observing that in these there are subterraneous chambers, a peculiarity that does not obtain in any of the houses in the centre of the city, but which were perhaps adopted in this part to suit the inequality of level on the slope of the hill. Returning by the vicus into the Forum, and turning to the left, the propyhea, or porch of the Basilica, first presents itself. VIEW OF THE BASILICA. This view is taken from the portico of the Forum, and includes the vestibule at the entrance, which was formerly inclosed by wooden doors ; the interior peristyle ; and the tribunal at the further end, having the altar in front. The columns were of the Ionic and Corinthian orders; but it is difficult to determine with certainty the arrangement of the numberless fragments now within the area of this building. Against the walls were attached half-columns ; and these, as well as the face of the wall, were covered with stucco, the surface between the half-columns being divided into compartments like the divisions of regular architecture, such as the podium, courses of stone, and architraves to the door, and relieved by very deep tints of variegated colours of marbles, imitating the rosso and giallo antico, breccia, and green. At the further end of the Basilica, is the tribune, or platform for the magistrates, and other officers of justice in their suite ; it is decorated with a less order of columns, and raised considerably above the level of the Basilica. There were no steps constructed in masonry to enable persons to attain this upper level, but the deficiency was probably obviated by a moveable flight of wooden steps. Immediately in front is the pedestal of the Deity by whom die witnesses swore to the truth of their allegations. There is a small recess on each side of the tribunal, leading by staircases to a vaulted cell beneath the tribune, supposed with great probability to have been the temporary prison for those about to be brought before the judge, as various iron fastenings are visible in the walls, and gratings were attached to the windows. The general dimensions of the Basilica are seventy-eight feet nine inches between the walls, and thirty-seven feet between the columns in the width; and about one hundred and fifty-four feet for the whole length. The centre part was left open to the sky, and between the columns were found some puteals. DETAILS OF THE IONIC AND CORINTHIAN ORDERS, FROM THE BASILICA. The. upper capital is that of the order of the peristyle, and offers a remarkable specimen of the Ionic, of which there is a similar example in a tomb called that of Theron at Agrigentiun. The contour of the volutes is graceful and bold, the general disposition of the parts judicious, and the small mouldings contrast well with the massiveness ofthe other parts ; the extraordinary style of the egg and tongue, of which there are many instances in Pompeii, will be remarked. These capitals are of stone, covered with a thin coat of stucco ; the shafts are composed of courses of bricks cut to the shape of the (lutings, and then covered with a thick coat of plaster. In the centre is a circular tile of the same thickness as the course, ten of which equal one foot, nine inches and three quarters in height ; there are small bricks to mark out the fillets, and the courses are laid in such a manner that the point of a large tile in the upper course comes over the points of the smaller in the course below. The Corinthian capital has the same characteristics as the orders of Tivoli and Praeneste, but in its proportions and design more delicately and minutely detailed. The Basilica is by far the most conspicuous edifice in the Forum, and is comparatively a very entire example ; but, from the immense quantity of contradictory details, a satisfactory restoration would require the talents of the most experienced architect. TEMPLE OF VENUS, OTHERWISE CALLED THAT OF BACCHUS. On the south side of the Basilica is a door leading into the viculus of General Championet’s house, and on the north side another one leading into the street which divides it from the Temple of Venus. On the other side of this street is the entrance into the peribolus of that Temple, and immediately within it is taken the view here represented. In extent this is the largest Temple near the Forum, and in magnificence of decoration, taken as a whole, appears to have eclipsed every other edifice. The court between the walls is one hundred feet wide by one hundred and eighty long ; a noble range of columns surrounded the whole area, rendered still more imposing by numerous pedestals and statues : in the centre is the cella of the Temple, which was once adorned with a magnificent peristyle, elevated almost nine feet above the pavement of the court, and to which a broad flight of marble steps afforded an easy access. In describing this monument of heathen worship, we shall in illustration observe that the public sacrifices, on the “festi dies,” when the great concourse of people assembled in honour of the divinity, were offered on the altar outside and in front of the iEdes, by which means the great body of the people witnessed the solemnity, which otherwise the confined space of the cell itself would have precluded. The private offerings of individuals, the votive tribute of pious gratitude, were received within the Temple, and placed on a table attached to the smaller altar near the statue of the god or goddess. Close to the column on the right is a small monopodium or one-legged pedestal ; upon it was formerly placed a basin, into which a small pipe through the centre of the column carried the water for the lustrations ; of these there are two. However splendid in their general arrangements, the rolnmns nf the perihohis are capricious in taste and decoration. The capitals are of stucco, of the Corinthian order, with a single row of leaves covering a capital originally Doric ; the entablature is of tufo, once Doric, but converted to accord with the capital by a thick coat of plaster, in a grotesque style and painted. The walls of the court are covered with paintings of the most interesting description. They are in vivid colours, and represent generally landscapes, views of country houses, interiors of rooms with male and female figures : in several compositions figures are drawn sporting among themselves, sacrificing to Priapus, contending with crocodiles, or occupied in domestic duties : nor must we omit a painting of Hector tied to the car of Achilles, and one of Agamemnon and Achilles. The sanctuary itself now presents only its four dark walls, raised on its elevated and dismantled basement, in former times enriched with marbles : the portico completely surrounded the cella, having six columns in front, and in all probability eleven on the flanks, agreeing in this respect with the rules of Vitruvius. Withinside is the rough construction for the altar, and the pavement is a very elegant mosaic, the centre compartment consisting of green, white, and black marbles, and the border of a Greek meander of black, white, and red mosaic. The walls, as well as the steps, retain every appearance of the fatal effects of the earthquake of the year fifty-eight, being shattered, out of level, and displaced. At the end of the court, opposite the entrance, is a small chamber, which possesses an invaluable picture of Bacchus and Silenus, the former holding the thyrsus in one hand and a vase in the other ; Silenus appears with his lyre instructing the god. A small niche is in the wall, apparently for the reception of a statue or lares. For some years this Temple was supposed, upon the evidence of this picture, to be dedicated to Bacchus. But the fragments of two statues of Venus, and a.very remarkable inscription, have given reason for the adoption of the present name : it is as follows — M . UOLCON1VS • RVFVS • D . V • I • D • TER e • EGNATIVS . POSTVMVS • D • V • I • D • TER EX • D • D IVS • LVMINVM OPSTRVENDORVM • HS • CO CO CO REDEMERVNT • PARIETEMQVE PRIVATVM . CO I. • VEN • COR VSQVE • AD • TEGVLAS FACIVND • COERAKVNT and appears to bear this interpretation :—M. Olconius Rufus, Duumvir of Justice for the third time, and C. “Egnatius Postumus, Duumvir of Justice for the third time, by a decree of the Decurions, bought again “ the right of closing the openings for three thousand sesterces, and took care to erect a private wall to the “College of the incorporated Venereans, up to the roof.” The openings mentioned in this inscription are supposed to allude to certain windows in the Basilica, which may have overlooked the sacred precincts, and which by former contracts were agreed to be closed. The chief difficulty in this inscription consists in the abbreviated words COL • VEN • COR, which in the interpretation are rendered, “ of the College of incorporated Venereans,” upon the authority of Romanelli. After quitting the Venereum, near the chamber with the painting of Bacchus and Silenus, there is a narrow passage leading into the Forum, and on one side of it, a staircase, which apparently led to the upper ranges of shops; in one of the recesses formed by the inclosing wall of the Temple of Venus is preserved an oblong block of tufo, in which are sunk the public measures for liquids and grain. There are five large measures, of various sizes, and four less at the angles ; the latter were apparently for the liquids, on account of a small tube at the lower part of the side, whereas the others had the bottom perforated for the escape of the grain ; all of them appear to have had lids. There are faint traces of the letters of the inscriptions which marked the quantities of each measure. On the same side of the Forum are two large halls, which were apparently the public granaries, and built posterior to the earthquake. Still further on is a small chamber, which is considered to have been the prison of the Forum, as there were found in it manacles and irons attached to arm and leg bones of prisoners, who in all probability shared the same fate as their fellow sufferers in the Forum Nundinarium, being confined to the walls by strong fastenings. At the end of this portico is one of the entrances to the Forum ; and close to it another of wider opening : the pavement of the Forum being here considerably below the level of the street, flights of steps lead from the street into the Forum. In front of one of the granaries is a triumphal arch, part of the marble decorations of which still remain. A noble Temple occupies this end of the Forum, which, from its situation, and fragments of a statue, is conceived to have been sacred to Jupiter. A magnificent Corinthian portico of six columns in front and four on the flanks, advances beyond the body of the sanctuary, and is elevated more than eight feet above the level of the pavement of the Forum ; a double flight of steps led up half the height to a landing, whence a single flight, of the whole breadth of the edifice, affords access into the portico ; to the right and left of those flights are pedestals for equestrian groups. The cella of the Temple is decorated with Ionic columns, and has at the further end an arrangement somewhat similar to that of the Temple of Isis, composed of three small chambers, the sanctum sanctorum probably, from which the oracles were delivered ; and behind it is a flight of steps leading above, for purposes which no investigation can now ascertain. The tufo columns and walls are all stuccoed ; and in the interior, the walls are divided into compartments, tinted, and the floor enriched with marble and figured mosaic. On the east side of the Temple of Jupiter is a triumphal arch, much more magnificent in size and decoration than the one before noticed. It appears extraordinary that these arches should be placed in a situation where carriages did not pass, and having close to them other entrances : the probability is, that on certain stated occasions these openings, otherwise closed with gates, were thrown open, and the sacred processions, and perhaps the Proconsul drawn in his chariot passed through, and thus gave additional dignity to the festive pomp. The porticoes on the other side of the Forum hitherto described were all of the Doric order, some of tufo, covered with a thin stucco, and others of travertine. We have now to notice a portico of marble columns of the Corinthian order, with pedestals attached to each ; immediately behind them was a range of shops ; in the centre space was an altar, flanked by two doors, leading into an edifice discovered in the year 1822. This building, like so many others in this city, contained a peristyle, surrounding an open space ; but the covered part occupied a larger portion than usual. In the open space are twelve pedestals, disposed in a circle or dodecagon, which probably supported statues ; and as the number suits with that of the Dii Majores Gentium, the whole building has obtained the name of Pantheon. On the right hand side, (supposing the spectator to enter from the Forum), is a range of small chambers or cells, which, however, appear to have been open in front. They do not at all correspond with the position of the columns. Over these, we may presume, there have been as many others, as there are holes to receive the joists of the floor ; and we also discover the place of the timbers, which supported a wooden gallery of communication to these upper rooms ; but there are no indications of stairs. The side opposite the entrance is divided into three large compartments, the central one of which is elevated, and seems to have been an aediculum ; and here, in two side niches, were found statues, said to be those of Nero and Messalina. At the entrance of the left hand apartment is a small inclosure, just wide enough for a man to enter, and about seven feet high according to the holes, which apparently were made to receive the joists of the covering. The singularity of this is, that the stucco both of this enclosure and of the wall behind, are painted, though the latter, according to all appearance, must have been entirely concealed, and is injured also by the above-mentioned holes. The compartment on the right hand is remarkable for a raised podium on three sides, detached about two feet from the walls. The top of this podium is inclined towards the middle space, and there is a marble gutter at its foot. This arrangement has made some antiquaries conclude that the animals offered for sacrifice were here cut up and exposed to view, and perhaps for sale ; while others can see nothing but the arrangements of a refectory. Some of the walls of this edifice are ornamented with fine paintings, perhaps in fresco, but the colour peels off in a thin coat, in an unusual manner. The paintings have never been finished, and it is evident, from several circumstances, that the building itself was incomplete. The painting seems to have been executed at once, and not first with a common ground, on which figures were afterwards introduced; so that while parts are quite finished, and have their full relief and effect other portions of the wall exhibit the naked plaster. The next building in the Forum is a spacious hall, about sixty feet wide and sixty-five deep, independent of a semicircular recess or hemicycle at the further end, forty feet wide. On the right hand and left are two square recesses, with pedestals for altars or statues, and a large square one in the centre. The walls and pedestals are totally despoiled of their marbles, and the absence of inscriptions completely conceals from us the positive destination of this edifice ; but from its size, form, and its being open to the Forum, we may be justified in supposing it to have been the Comitium, being well adapted for the assembly of a numerous concourse of people. Next to it is a court with a small Temple, which, from various indications, is supposed to have been sacred to Mercury. The porch consisted of a colonnade at the entrance from the Forum, the columns of which have disappeared ; but the restricted space of the court preventing the continuance of the portico all round, the walls were enriched with pilasters and slightly sunk recesses. The remains of this decoration announce a depraved style of art. There is a central altar for the public sacrifices in the middle of the court, with the marble cornices still remaining, and a beautiful bas-relief representing a sacrifice. The sanctuary itself had a four-columned portico in front, to which there was an ascent on each side of the cella; behind are three rooms, with traces of a staircase in the middle one, proving that there were other chambers above. A remarkable feature occurs in the plan of this precinct : it is not rectangular in plan ; this obliquity, however, is scarcely perceptible withinside the court, and a slight optical illusion is produced by the multiplicity of the divisions. The entrance to the court is now closed by a gate, and numerous fragments, found within the Temple and other parts of the Forum, are preserved in it, and form the subjects of the succeeding Plate. DETAILS OF FRAGMENTS IN THE TEMPLE OF MERCURY. The two Corinthian pilaster caps are of marble, and exhibit pleasing examples of that variety of detail and taste which may be introduced, when the destination of the edifice does not require a more severe style of art. The acanthus leaf of the one and the prickly character of the foliage of that with the dolphin, harmonise admirably with their accompaniments. In geometrical elevation the one to the left appears too tall, but perhaps the restricted nature of the site, and the height at which it might have been placed above the eye, would make it assume a different proportion to the spectator. The terra cotta under this capital affords a happy instance of the ability with which the ancients availed themselves of every circumstance which might disguise the more unsightly parts of buildings, and constitute as an ornamental appendage what was merely intended as a screen. This fragment belongs to a gutter, and formed a species of parapet, which concealed the tiled roof, and behind which the rain water flowed and discharged itself, through the perforations in the face of the parapet, upon the pavement below. These perforations were generally ornamented with masks of heads of tigers, or other animals, specimens of which occupy the centre of this Plate, taken from the Temple of Venus. A similar head in bronze, with the hollowed elongation of the tongue, is given in the first volume of the Bronzi di Ercolano, p. 57, pi. XIII. and XIV. : eleven of them exist in the Royal Museum, which were found in the excavation at Resina, placed around a piscina, or large reservoir of water lined with lead, and a small leaden pipe corresponded with each mouth. Above is a lion's head, forming the inner angle of a compluvium or opening in the roof, and the first examples of which are those found at Pompeii. The pedestal under the tiger’s head is from the Temple of Venus ; there are about four of them in the court of that Temple, of the same size and general proportion, but all differing in the profile of their mouldings and the rosette. They may possibly have been used as tables for the less offerings, which were usually placed before the altars. The torch and the composition with the globe are taken from paintings on the walls of the house behind the Temple of Mercury. In the former will be perceived the artist’s extraordinary departure from the rules of perspective,—a deficiency which prevails in most of the architectural paintings in Pompeii. The other shews a graceful combination of ornament, carelessly drawn, but remarkable as living the semblance of our modern globes, with the zones marked oft': the colour is black on a red ground, the interior lines left light. The Temple of Fortune, it will be perceived by reference to the Plan of the Forum, is situate at the angle of the street which is opposite the principal triumphal arch : it stands on an elevated basement, which seems to have been a favourite arrangement of the Pompeians ; it is remarkable that in general the churches of Naples have the same peculiarity. The flights of steps are disposed in a manner somewhat similar to those of the Temple of Jupiter. At the top of the first flight there are portions still remaining of an iron railing, with gates, which inclosed the landing, and, when shut, prevented further access to the portico. The niches inside are square-headed, and the altar at the further end was decorated with marble columns, raised upon a high pedestal, and surmounted by a pediment. Several inscriptions found in the interior prove the dedication to the Goddess Fortuna. The angular pilaster and fragments of the columns have afforded authority for the restoration of the portico, which, however, might perhaps have had only two intercolumniations on the flanks, instead of three, as given in the plan. The continuation of the street leading from the Forum has two piers at the end, opposite the N. W. angle of the Temple of Fortune, which appear to have belonged to an arch. The poet’s house, which is one of the latest discoveries, is distinguished by the elegance of its decoration and its commodious disposition of plan. At the threshold is boldly executed in mosaic the figure of a house dog on guard, and fastened by a chain, with the words “ CAVE • CANEM,’’—beware of the dog,—under it. This and other beautiful pieces of mosaic, representing a female performing on the tibia, an old man producing tragic masks, and two actors preparing to play, have all been removed to the Studii of Naples. The paintings on the walls are now inclosed in frames, to preserve them from the atmosphere : the best represents a little composition of a poet or actor reciting from a manuscript to three elegant and beautiful females. The Public Baths occupy a considerable portion of the mass of buildings which immediately face the Temple of Fortune. The very general use of these institutions is accounted for by Seneca, who states, that the ancients considered the health to depend materially on a well-ordered digestion, which they supposed promoted by strong perspiration, and for this the baths afforded every facility ; but in addition, it appears also that their loose robes and the open sandals on their feet easily admitted the dust in summer and the dirt in winter, and thus rendered frequent ablutions necessary. Many indulged in the luxury of the bath not only once, but several times in the course of the day. Baths were called Balnea, or Thermo: : the former signified the private ; but the latter term, which is derived from the Greek word hot, was applied, in general, to that mass of buildings, which the Romans erected under the Emperors, not only for the purpose of bathing, but also with gardens, spacious courts, long porticoes, ample halls, libraries, xysti, stadia, and in fact with every convenience to be found in the gymnasia and palestra: of the Greeks ; each one being sufficiently capacious for the accommodation of a province. Although the Pompeian baths cannot boast an arrangement on an equal scale of magnificence, it will be found that they were not deficient in any convenience essential to the full enjoyment of this indulgence. The public baths were opened at the dawn of day for the indiscriminate use of all ranks ; few, however, of the higher orders found either leisure or inclination, at that early period, to frequent these buildings ; they rather reserved themselves for the interval immediately preceding their principal repast, between noon and sunset, when crowds flocked to these stately edifices : but the dissolute deferred till after supper, and a more advanced hour of the night, their visits to their private bath, seeking thus to enhance their illicit pleasures. Perhaps the principal entrance to these baths was originally through the court ; at present, access is gained by a tolerably wide passage, which leads into the apodyterium or spoliatorium ; here are small holes in the wall, which received the pegs or projecting bars for hanging up the clothes of the bathers ; and it is said, that some of the charcoal of the pegs was found still remaining. A few passages in the writings of some ancient authors seem to indicate a custom, similar to that of the Turkish baths of the present day, in which the entrance hall is surrounded by couches for the convenience of undressing, which, being enclosed by curtains, are rendered sufficiently private. The clothes were deposited in boxes, or left hanging up under the immediate care of the attendant, called Capsarius, whose vigilance was generally sufficient to prevent thefts, so liable to occur in a place of such general resort, where the patrician and the plebeian had equal right of access ; but the laws, in order to establish confidence, and to afford to private property that protection so necessary in a public institution of this nature, visited with the utmost severity the culprit who should transgress the inviolability of the place. Those who frequented the bath rather with a view to health than as a mere luxury, seldom went beyond the frigidarium, called by the Greeks AourjoK, which, in the more extensive therma; contained a large pool or piscina for swimming ; and even here the false refinement of a vitiated taste could not always be content with the transparent freshness of the pool, for we learn that Heliogabalus never bathed his limbs unless the water were previously colored with purple or other rare tint. In general, however, the tepidarium was the second apartment visited, in which the temperature was a gentle mean between that of the entrance hall and the sudatorium beyond, and hence called by Pliny the younger, cella media. Here the bather remained fora short period, some parts of it being warmer than others, which enabled him to prepare himself gradually for the inner rooms. A gentle perspiration covered the body, and the mind was kept in a calm state of exercise by a light conversation with the philosophers, who frequented the baths as a favourable opportunity for the dissemination of their doctrines; or the bather was amused by the tricks, gambols, or feats of the mimic, the tumbler, or rhapsodist, who, by a slight contribution from each visitor, earned an easy subsistence. An enormous brazier of bronze gave warmth to this apartment ; and this and two benches of the same material, found in this bath, were made by Flaminius Vacca, who has stamped them with the figure of a cow, in allusion to his own name. The stucco of the lower part is on a coat of tiles, detached from the walls, but on the upper part, and on the vaulting, it is against the masonry : the precaution of using tiles may have been taken in order to secure the plaster from the damp. At the height of above seven feet, is a range of cells, the divisions of which are ornamented with little caryatides, resembling those of the small theatre or odeon, except that they are standing and not kneeling, with projecting elbows supporting the cornice. These cells do not entirely surround the room ; they are of different depths, and in some parts the spaces between the caryatides are not at all recessed ; the antiquarians have supposed them formed for the reception of the unguents, but no attempt has been made to explain the cause of their inequality. From this room the bathers passed on to the calidarium or laconicum, in which, on the right hand, we find the hot bath with the flues underneath it. It is raised a little above the floor, and has one side sloping, while a step runs along the other, as indicated in a corner of the Plate. The bathers seem to have been seated with their backs against the sloping side, and with their legs extended across the bath. It is calculated that about six persons might be accommodated at one time. At the other end of this apartment is a semicircular recess, which was, perhaps, the sudatio or laconicum : here were five windows, very irregularly disposed, in which, as well as in one in the cold bath, were plates of very thick glass, which were found either in their places or on the ground immediately below. These windows probably, in addition to their affording light to the chamber, also facilitated the escape of the air, and thus answered the purpose for which Vitruvius suggests the application of the clypeus or shield in the centre of the ceiling, when the room is circular. The lower part of the wall of this room, like that of the tepidarium, is stuccoed on detached tiles, while that of the upper part and of the vaulting is on the wall. Beyond the sudatorium is the hypocaust, containing the stoves, which boiled the water, and heated the air. DOMESTIC BUILDINGS BETWEEN THE CIVIL FORUM AND THE HERCULANEAN GATE. Having in the preceding sections examined, as far as the restricted nature of such a work as the present will allow, those edifices appertaining to the magnificence and public utility of the city, it is now necessary to enter into the details of the domestic usages of the ancients, the buildings depending upon them being necessarily modified, as were the public edifices, by their situation in the city, and their destination, whether as the residence of the patrician or private citizen, or as the shop and dwelling of the tradesman or mechanic. The houses of the ancients possess indispensable peculiarities, marking the degrees of civilization and the epoch of erection, unveiling a mass of intelligence illustrative of the different periods, and offering a speaking picture of the private life of the simple citizen. The more massive solidity of the public edifices of the ancients preserved those structures from the depredations of a series of ages ; but from the more temporary construction of their houses, these frail erections had almost entirely disappeared. Thus a few scattered ruins of houses, whose destination and use were but slightly conjectured, and the fragments of the Roman plan, preserved in the Capitol, were the only indications of private dwellings of the Romans that were known, and they remained almost unintelligible, until the fortunate discovery of the buried city of Pompeii satisfactorily cleared up every difficulty. To render our explanation of the following Plates easy of comprehension, and as little fatiguing as possible to the reader, we shall commence with a short preliminary dissertation upon the dwellings of the ancients and their manners and customs in private life, which may probably supersede the necessity of tedious reference, and embody at once all the information possible, which the labours of numerous writers and a personal investigation of the ruins enable us to offer. PLANS OF HOUSES CALLED THOSE OF PANSA AND ACTEON. A narrow street near the south-east angle of the Forum, and nearly at right angles to it, leads to the House of Pansa; and at a short distance beyond it is the House of Actaeon, both which afford very complete illustrations of the arrangement of the Pompeian dwellings. We shall therefore, in describing the plans of these two houses, enlarge upon the various domestic usages, and in the other Plates merely notice the similar parts, or explain any peculiarity. The House of Pansa is surrounded on all sides by streets ; the mass of buildings thus included was called by the ancients insula. The centre of this insula is occupied by the house itself ; but on three of its sides are a number of shops and small houses, the rents of which yielded a considerable income to the proprietor ; nor was this an unusual practice, for we learn that Cicero, and many other principal characters of the Roman senate, derived a vast revenue from the rents of their shops, for the superintendence of which they appropriated certain of their slaves called insularii. From a Pompeian inscription, which will be given in the course of this chapter, we may deduce an inference of the wealth arising to these proprietors from this species of property : it states that Julia Felix offered to let nine hundred shops, with their appurtenances, for six years. In the present plan is to be remarked the baker’s shop, consisting of four rooms and an oven : in one of these are indicated a number of com mills in the place they occupied, and also a kind of table for mixing the dough : in a panel over the front of the oven is the bas-relief of a phallus, with the words HIC • HABITAT • FELICITAS. The other shops consist of one or more rooms, with staircases leading to a floor above. One of the shops in front communicates with the interior of the house ; in this a slave, called dispensator, sold the wine, oil, and other products of the proprietor’s estates : it is worthy of remark, that, in a similar manner, the produce of the poden of the modem Italian nobles, is vended in retail in a small room on the entrance door of their palaces. The entrance to the house is decorated with two pilasters of the Corinthian order, surmounted by capitals, and by an entablature, which was probably much ornamented : immediately within these is the outer door, and at the further end of the passage another door, both of brass and rare woods, and opening into the first cavcedium or atrium ; the space between those doors was called prothyrum and vestibulum. The doors were required by law to open inwards, but, by a decree of the Senate, Lucius Verus Publicola and his brother were allowed the distinguished privilege of having their doors to open towards the public way. The effects of superstition were visible even at the very entrance of the dwellings of the heathens ; a nail taken from the sepulchres, and fastened to the lintel of the door, was supposed to expel visions and nightly horrors ; or the cabalistic figure of magic, traced on the wall, relieved the occupier from the dread of fire. A slave called ostiarius acted as porter, but in some houses the entrance was defended by a fierce dog; in others, unwelcome intruders were threatened by the vivid representation of the dog painted on the wall, and the words “CAVE CANEM or the friends of the proprietor were welcomed with the salutation of “ SALVE, worked in the mosaic pavement of the threshold. In the vestibule the humbler suitors awaited the pleasure oftheir patron, while the clients of rank, or the friends of the master, pressed on to the atrium, awaiting the hour of audience. From the dawn of day groups of persons filled the atria of the patricians and distinguished citizens, and, till they were received, occupied the rooms at the side of the atrium set apart for their reception, walked up and down, or conversed together in groups. The small chamber to the right, nearest the door, was the cella ostiaru, occupied by the porter The walls of the atrium were decorated with arabesque paintings, and the doors were lined with marble dressings. Light was admitted through the compluvium or opening in the roof, which in the Tuscan courts was upheld by beams crossing the hall. In the centre of the pavement was an impluvium or sunk space, left to receive the rain water from the roof, which fell from the spouts, and was led thence by conduits into a reservoir beneath : to render this supply applicable to domestic uses, a puteal or well was attached, with a bronze bracket and cord, to draw up the water when required. The pavement was of mosaic, or formed of marble slabs. At the further end of the atrium is the tablinum, which in the houses of the great contained public documents of their titles and distinctions, genealogical tablets, inscriptions commemorative of their public acts as magistrates, trophies, statues and busts of their ancestors in marble, wax or bronze, pictures, and portraits, in such profusion, that they sometimes entirely filled the tablinum, and served as decorative embellishments to the walls of the atria and alee : for, these being the most frequented parts of the house, great splendour was exhibited, in order to convey to strangers a favourable impression of the possessor’s wealth and consequence. The apartments and parts hitherto described compose the public portion of the dwelling, beyond which strangers were not allowed to pass. In the earlier periods of Roman history, the atria were appropriated to the domestic occupations, and the family took their repast in the front portion of the house ; but when the advance of luxury had corrupted the simplicity of ancient manners, the atria were abandoned to the crowds of clients, freedmen, and flatterers. These visitors were distinguished by particular names the salutatores came merely to pay their respects to the master of the house ; the deductores accompanied him to the general assemblies and the assectatores never quitted him in public : all had their distinct views in their services, and seized the favourable opportunities of consulting him upon matters of law or affairs of interest, recommending themselves by their assiduities to his protection, or acquiring importance in the eyes of the public by their apparent familiarity with the great. The communication between the public and private part of the house is by means of a passage, called fauces, on one side of the tablinum ; for although the further end of the tablinum was in the construction left open, so as to allow a view of the peristyle, yet a temporary inclosed wooden trellis or bronze work inclosed that part, and through it the master of the house alone had access. The private dwelling was divided into the apartments for the men and women, which were kept distinct, so that if the confined space did not allow of an inner gynaeceum on the ground-floor, the women’s apartments occupied the upper story over the atrium. The peristylium itself consists of an oblong court, considerably larger than the atrium, surrounded by columns, whose height equals the width of the colonnade : in the centre was a. small garden, in the middle of which was a fishpond or piscina, lined with marble, for the reception of gold and silver fish, which became so tame as to receive crumbs of bread from the hands of the master or his visitors. The garden was planted with choice flowers or shrubs ; and at the angles were placed slabs of marble, upon which the rain water fell from the roof, and was led by metal conduits into the basin. In some houses, as in that of the sculptor, near the small Theatre, there is a dwarf wall between the columns, about two feet high, called pluteum, on which were placed boxes of flowers and plants. The columns of the peristyle are of the Corinthian order, fluted, and painted with various colors ; the walls were embellished with encaustic arabesques ; and the beams and panelling of the ceiling also were relieved by color, and harmonised with the rest of the court. Above the lower range of apartments were other chambers, to which there was a communication by a continued balcony. Around the peristylium were distributed the various living apartments, which opened into it by doors, and were lighted by trellissed apertures over. The cubicula or bedrooms were less spacious than ours, as they were merely used for sleeping in, and only large enough to contain the bedstead, which was usually of bronze : where the space allowed, the cubiculum was preceded by an anti-room, called procceton. The bibliotheca or library was small, being a mere deposit for the manuscripts, which were read in the sitting apartment. The ol'CUs in this house is a very complete illustration of the principles of Vitruvius, who directs that it should be square in plan, have a northern aspect, and open into the garden, of which it should command a full view ; in size it should be able to contain two triclinia, with ample space between them. He enumerates two sorts of ceci, the Corinthian and Egyptian, named according to their enrichments, and varying with the circumstances of the master, who received his particular friends in these, as the moderns do in the drawing-room. The exedra answered the purpose of a sitting-room. Not the least important apartment was that of the triclinium or dining-room, the fixed proportions of which were, that the width should equal half the length : the name of this chamber was derived from the couches on which the persons reclined during the repast : the servants whose duty it was to attend were called tricliniarchie. In the houses of individuals of less affluence, the dinner took place on the upper floor, in a part called caenaculum. The customs we have hitherto noticed mark the decided difference between the usages of those times and the manners of die present period ; but, perhaps, no circumstance defines more strongly the contrast than the routine of one of their social repasts, of which die reader may form some idea from the following short sketch. The dominus usually received his guests in the bath, of which they partook with him, and thence passed on to the triclinium, where slaves took off their sandals, brought them robes adapted to the season of the year, as also ewers and basins with napkins, to perform the necessary previous ablutions, in the same manner as is still the custom in the East- The triclinium or couch itself was placed at the further end of the room, the other part being left for the attendant slaves during the repast, and for the dancers, musicians, buffoons, or gladiators, after it. The walls were decorated with frescos analagous to the site. Pendant from the ceiling, or standing on bronze tripods, lamps of exquisite workmanship, of which the most esteemed were those from fEgina, cast a broad glare of light throughout the chamber. The size of the room varied, of course, according to the means of the dominus, and some were large enough to contain four triclinia. The couches in the interior were of wood or bronze : Lampridius mentions that Heliogabalus had silver triclinia or couches : in the gardens, or in an uncovered space, they were faced with marble. The mattresses and cushions were made of precious stuffs, and not unfrequently fringed with gold. Archistratus, die Syracusan poet, recommended three, four, or at most live, as the number of guests ; whereas Varro prefers the number of the Graces or Muses. On ordinary occasions, when there was no guest of very elevated dignity, the host took the centre place, and the guests were ranged right and left according to their rank : but on state occasions the master and mistress occupied the places A and B, the consul the seat C, and the other guests PEF; “ the shadows,” or uninvited companions of the guests, G H I. In the centre was a single or triple legged table, of citron, ebony, ivory, or bronze— Et citrum vetus iudicosque denies. Martial, Sat. 1. on which the meats were placed in order : as soon as all were reclined, each was presented with a crown of artificial flowers, scented with perfume. After the usual sacred libations, and preliminary invocations to the hospitable deities, the company, either by choice or by lot, selected one of the number as symposiarch or king of the feast,— „ , .. „ „ _ Quem Venus arbitrum dicet bibendi. non. nib. 11. car. /. For the time he had absolute authority, which he enforced by appropriate fines. The repast consisted generally of three services ; the first consisting of fresh eggs, olives, oysters, salad, and other light delicacies the second, of ragouts, fish, and roast meats;— the third, of pastry, sweets, and fruits. A remarkable painting lately discovered at Pompeii gives a curious idea of a complete feast. It represents a table, set out with every requisite for a grand repast. In the middle is a large dish, upon which four peacocks are placed, one at each corner, forming a magnificent dome with their tails. All round are lobsters ; one holding in his claws a blue egg, a second an oyster, another a stuffed rat, and a fourth a little basket filled with grasshoppers. Four dishes offish decorate the bottom ; and above them are several partridges, hares, and squirrels, each holding its head between its paws. A sort of German sausage surrounds the whole; after which a row of yolks of eggs; then one of peaches, small melons, and cherries ; and finally a row of vegetables, of different sorts : the whole covered with a green-colored sauce, of which it is difficult to guess the composition. The wines were named from the consulate in which they were made, and esteemed according to their age ; during the heat of summer they were refreshed and cooled by ice or snow, and in the winter the chill was softened by immersing the flasks in hot water, or by exposure to a warm temperature. During the repast musicians played melodious airs, or dancers performed feats upon the cord ; rhapsodists recited favourite passages from the most esteemed authors, or pantomimes expressed without the aid of words the various fables of their gods and heroes. A complete course of the most exquisite dishes was sometimes let down through the ceiling, and often during the repast a shower of the most fragrant essences shed a perfume through the air. In the interval a well sustained conversation on philosophy, literature, politics, science, or art, was carried on, to which each guest contributed a fund of anecdote or profound reflection. Such was the nature of those repasts given by the rich citizens of antiquity, and it is only when extravagance, sensuality, and excess usurped the place of temperance and frugality, that censure can justly condemn them. The repasts of the nobility were considered imperfect unless succeeded by scenes, where either humanity was shocked by the ferocious combats of gladiators, who stained the floor with their blood, or decency was offended by an unbridled licentiousness, over which it is more becoming to cast the veil of silence than by description to perpetuate their infamy. On the eve of departure the cup went round, sacred to Mercury, the god of sleep, and to propitiate his influence on their repose they invoked his favour. The host then distributed presents to his guests, or slaves carried them to their houses ; hence Martial, 1. xiv. epig. 1 — Divitis alternas et pauperis accipe sortes j Premia convivae det sua quisque suo. Beyond the oecus is the hortus or garden ; to it is attached a covered promenade, under which the family might enjoy in unfavourable weather the refreshing colors or fragrance of various shrubs and flowers, such as the labemum, the arbutus, the box, the plane, the cypress, the laurel and the myrtle, the lily, the violet, the tulip, and the rose, which were planted in regular beds, and producing by their variety and beauty a “ rus in urbe. On the authority of the example in the house called that of Actaeon, the garden is restored, after the manner of the ancients, with a stibadium or garden triclinium at the farther end, covered by a pavilion open at the sides, under which the party took their repast, in full enjoyment of every natural and artificial luxury. Fountains with running waters supplied with a constant stream the marble channels, which ran along the borders of each bed, and by a continual irrigation produced an unchanging verdure. Rustic seats and statues, altars, and niches, sacred to Flora, Priapus, and the other sylvan deities, added to the charm of the situation, and by their variety completed the illusion of the scene. Access to the garden was gained by a lateral passage or fauces, running parallel with the oecus, and lying between the oscus and culina or kitchen, from which latter a door opened into the vestibulum. On the wall of this kitchen is a painting representing two enormous serpents, the guardians of health, protecting the altar sacred to Fornax, and above it a sacrifice. On either side are represented a ham, a hare, a boar, fishes, ribs of meat, and a boar’s head. At the time of excavation were discovered various earthenware and bronze vases, and an elevated stove as used at that time for stews ; attached to this is a pantry ; the stairs have been indicated in a naiTow place as the probable communication to the ergastulum or servants' rooms above. There is a large room attached, possibly the servants’ hall, opening into the street. Such is the distribution of the lower range of apartments in this interesting house. Conjecture can alone complete the arrangement of those above, the principal of which must have been those appropriated to the gynajconitis, the objects composing the furniture of which and the “mundus muliebris,” or ladies’ toilet, have been found in several houses, consisting of bracelets, ear-rings, necklaces, chains, cords, rings, looking-glasses, gold and silver pins, little perfume pots, tooth-picks, scissors, needles, and even small glasses, filled with red salve. From this insula were excavated the skeletons of four females, recognized by their gold ear-rings, a candelabrum, two vases, a fine marble head of a fawn, gold bracelets, rings, with engraved stones, and thirty-two small silver coins. House of Action or Caius Sallustius.—The upper plan of this sheet is another interesting example of the domestic economy of the ancients, and offers a pleasing variety of arrangement, required by the peculiarity of the site. The name of Actaeon has been given it on account of a picture, representing the fate of that unfortunate youth, which is painted on the walls of the Venereum; but some writers give it the name of the house of Caius Sallust. The entrance is by the prothyram, on one side of which is the shop for the sale of the produce of the proprietor s vineyards, and on the other is a large hall, supposed to have been the vestibule, having an immediate entrance to the atrium, and a communication also by the cella ostiarii : so that at night, when the entrance doors of the atrium were closed, none could gain admittance except through the porter’s room. Attached to the impluvium, or basin of the atrium for the reception of the rain water, is a small pedestal for the lares ; and in the centre of the basin was found a bronze hind, on which was seated a Hercules ; from the mouth of the hind the water fell into a vase of Greek marble. The paintings on the walls of the two chambers to the left represent comic masks, birds, and quadrupeds, on a back ground of different colours, encircled with frames. A small passage on the right hand leads to the venereum, which, from indications on the wall of the right ala, appears at a former period to have had an entrance there also. This retired spot among the Romans was appropriated to those scenes of unbridled passion which the ancients mixed up with their religious feelings by consecrating them to the Paphian Goddess ; and is, by means of this vestibule, and double doors, rendered particularly private. It consists of a small court, partially surrounded by a portico of octagonal columns, to which are attached two small cabinets, a triclinium, and small kitchen ; near this latter is a staircase, which afforded access to the apartments above. The picture of Acteoon is painted on the inclosure wall between the two cabinets, and represents him discovering Diana, the horns starting from his head, and tom by his dogs. The niche in the cabinet nearest the triclinium contained a small idol, a gold vase, a gold coin, and twelve bronze medals of the reign of Vespasian; near this cabinet were found eight small bronze columns, which appeared to have formed part of the bed. Beyond the oscus is the garden, following the inclosure wall in the form of an L, and separated from the house by a portico. In this house we have a striking instance of the alterations which had taken place from its former arrangement of plan, and which it is probable were made subsequently to the earthquake that occurred in the year sixty-three. The columns of the portico to the left ala are now inclosed in walls, which at present form three additional small chambers on this side of the house, but which have been omitted in order to retain the pristine elegance of distribution. The fauces communicate between the atrium and garden, and a private entrance is also gained by a door which opens into the back street. There is a baker’s shop or pistrinum attached to this house, as in the example of the house of Pansa, with the mills and oven complete, and a large jar near the mouth of the oven. Between the thermopolium and shop attached is a well, which, by means of a hole in the party wall, supplies both houses with water. VIEW IN THE HOUSE OF PANSA. The spectator is supposed to stand at the end of the entrance passage or prothyrum, nearest the atrium. The impluvium, or central basin for the reception of the rain water, occupies the centre of the foreground. In the middle of the Plate is the tablinum, through which is seen the peristyle of the second court : and in the further distance the summit of Vesuvius. On one side of the tablinum, to the right, is the fauces or passage communicating between the atrium and peristylium ; and to the left, on the other side, the entrance to the exedra. STREET-SCENE, WITH A FOUNTAIN, NEAR THE HOUSE OF PANSA, COLOURED FROM A PICTURE PAINTED ON THE SPOT BY C. HULLMANDELL. There is scarcely a streeet of Pompeii in which there is not a fountain ; and several may be noticed on the plans of the Theatres and Forum Civile. These fountains were supplied by conduits, which brought the water from a distant point without the city, and distributed it through the streets, public edifices, and private dwellings. The original source of this supply could not have been the Samus, its level being considerably below that of the city ; and as it is not probable that any stream could be derived from Vesuvius, it appears that an aqueduct must have brought the water from the mountain overhanging Stabia. The conduits within the city are generally constructed of regular masonry, but sometimes consist of tiles, and not unfrequently of metal tubes. The bivium or angle represented in this Plate shews one of these fountains, consisting of a square basin, which receives its water by means of a pipe, passing through a block of travertine rudely sculptured with a bas-relief, representing an eagle bearing away in its talons a hare or monkey, the former being a type found on the Agrigentine medals. This subject has been supposed by the authors of Pompeiana to represent in allegory an emblem of divine vengeance, which would with retributive justice seize and punish those, who should impiously pollute one of the great necessaries of life. The shop immediately behind the fountain is supposed to have been a thermo polium for the sale of warm drinks, with the counter elevated at a convenient height : large amphone, or jars, are let into the solid construction. At the further end of the counter is a higher mass, and hollowed, as if for the reception of a brazier with fire to keep the liquors warm : this elevated part, as well as the counter, is faced and covered with marble ; and it is probable that the cups or goblets were ranged upon it in rows, ready for those who wished to be served, and thus forming a decorative appearance to the counter. Some of these warm drinks were taken as drams, and some as strong irritants, which discharged the loaded stomach, and thus enabled the epicures to return with renewed appetite to the feast. On the counters of some of the numerous thermopolia discovered at Pompeii, marks remain of the cups, produced by the liquor on the bottom, and which, from the corrosive appearance, is supposed to have contained honey. On the pier to the left the reader will perceive some inscriptions, a peculiar custom of the ancients which could only have been preserved by the lamentable catastrophe which has bestowed on this city so melancholy an interest. Whether these inscriptions were partially required by law, to assist the government in its police regulations, or wholly adopted by the people for their own convenience, cannot be positively determined. They were generally written with red color, in rude characters like the type now used, or in a species of running or graphic hand. Many were in Oscan letters, and not a few composed of signs, the meaning of which has hitherto eluded the researches of the learned. There are some which claim the protection of one or more powerful patrons, such as the following — M • HOLCONIVM • PRISCVM • C • CAVIVM • RVFVM • II • VIR • PHOEBVS • CVM • EM PTORIBVS • SVIS • UOG • in which, it will be observed, the names of the duumvirs are in the accusative case, whence the Herculanean Academicians have concluded, that such inscriptions were the congratulatory acclamations of the citizens to the elected aedile, duumvir, or other magistrate, or soliciting their protection, which may the more particularly be inferred from the concluding word ROG, or “ rogat,” for which are sometimes substituted the letters O V F, the abbreviation of orat utfaveat orfaciat. Others however designated the name of the possessor of the house , in the present instance the word FORTVNATA has caused it to be called the house of Fortunata. By these means were made public the names of the inhabitants, public notices of sale, houses to let, theatrical representations, combats of gladiators, and announcements of feasts and huntings. We have already alluded to the notice by a certain Julia Felix offering for sale nine hundred shops, to which the same inscription adds a bath, venereum, booths, and upper stories in houses for six years, allowing from the 8th to the 13th of August for tenders, and concluding with letters which Romanelli supposes to have meant, Si Quis Domi Lenocinium Exercent, Non Conducito ; no one need apply who exercises a trade of infamy. Winckelman interprets these initials differently, and even adds another line, A • SVETTIVM • VERVM * AED, which perhaps has been since destroyed. The version of the German antiquarian is thus — Si Quis Dominant Loci Ejus Non Cognoverit, Adeat Suettium Verum AEdilem ; if any one do not know the name of the proprietor, let him apply to the ajdile Suettius Verus. According to Mazois the original is as follows : — IN • PRAEDIS IVLI-AE • SP • F FELICIS LOCANTVR BALNEVM • VENERIVM • ET • NONGENTVM TABERNAE PERGVLAE COENACVL A • EX • IDIBVS • AVG • PRIMIS • IN • IDVS • AVGVS SEXTAS • ANNOS • CONTINVOS QVINQVE S Q D L E N C The next inscription is from the gladiatorial family of N. Festus Ampliatus, and gives notice of a gladiatorial fight or chase, and that the awning would be stretched across the amphitheatre : — N • FESTI • AM PHATI F AM I LI A • GLADIATORIA • PVGNA • ITERVM • PVGNA • XVI • K • IVN • VENAT • VELA . The exterior wall of the Portico of Eumachia, in the Forum, has been already described as being decorated with a series of pilasters, surmounted by circular and triangular pediments. Some of these divisions were used as tablets for the inscription of these notices, and were called by the ancients alba : they were frequent throughout the city in the places of most public resort, and particular portions of them were set apart for the proclamations and notices of the duumvirs, prastors, and judges. It appears that inscriptions of this nature were from time to time effaced, to make room for others ; and many traces of former letters are still distinguishable under those of a subsequent period. The end of the street to the right is bounded by the city walls, and contains various dwellings ; the one to the left conducts to the gate of the Street of the Tombs. VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF AN OIL SHOP. This will give the reader a more perfect idea of the interior of the shop which has been described in the last Plate, as a thermopolium, but which has been supposed by some to ha,re been an oil shop. This view shows more distinctly the counter and inserted jars, as also the elevated portion, which, it is supposed, received the brazier in the thermopolia, for the purpose of keeping the liquors continually warm. In the line of this street, which leads to the city gate, are several very interesting houses, the general features of which may be traced upon the general plan, taken from Monsieur Bibent’s accurate survey. One of these houses is called the Academy of Music : it is spacious and highly decorated : several of the chambers contained paintings representing musical instruments, among which are distinguished the sistrum, trumpet, double pipe, flutes, crotalum, and others to which the names could only be applied by conjecture. Another residence beyond the Academy of Music, belonged to a smith, if we may so conclude from several iron hoops, axletrees, and farrier’s instruments, such as pincers and hammers ; the workshop occupied merely the first room of a large house, to which were attached a bath, a wine shop, and public bakehouse. VIEW OF THE HOUSE CALLED THAT OF ACTEON. The first Plate of this chapter contained the plan of this interesting house : to the right is the vestibulum between the pilasters, in the centre of the foreground, is the principal entrance and prothyrum leading into the atrium, with the compluvium in the middle : beyond the atrium is the oecus, and in the further distance the columns of the portico in the garden, and the painted inclosure wall. To the left is the shop attached to the house, and in which were sold the produce of the proprietor’s vineyards and olive groves. VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF AN OIL SHOP, WITH BROKEN JARS, ADJOINING THE HOUSE OF ACTEON. The situations of the various amphorae containing the wine, oil, honey, or other produce of the poderi, are distinctly shown : in the distance are distinguishable the impluvium of the atrium, the oscus, and pseudo garden. The xyst or parterre is elevated some feet above the level of the portico and oecus, access being gained to it by means of narrow flights of marble steps. The garden not being sufficiently large to receive trees, there were merely small beds for flowers. The walls of the inclosure are faced with stucco, painted with representations of trees, branches, and foliage, interspersed with gushing fountains and innumerable birds of the rarest kinds and most brilliant plumage. The stibadium, or fixed triclinium, at the further end is in an angle, having two of its sides inclosed by a wall, on the surface of winch are painted fish and various dishes of a repast ; it was covered by a trellised roof, supported on the walls and by a pier at one end : in the centre is the monopodium of marble, which once sustained the table : to the right, is a circular pedestal ; on it was once placed a basin, into which flowed a stream of water, used in summer time to keep the wine cool and furnishing an abundant supply for the guests. On the altar near this pedestal without doubt were poured the libations before the repast ; so intimate among the heathens was the association of their religious rites with every circumstance of business or pleasure, of public or of private life. The water, which was used in the garden for botanical purposes, was drawn from a cistern of rain water by means of the puteal indicated on the plan. Considering the confined space of this plot of ground, nothing can be conceived more agreeable than this charming little garden : defended from the glowing rays of the declining sun by the inclosure walls, embosomed in a bower where the vine hung bending with abundant fruit, with the portico of the house to the right, the flower garden in front, the elegantly painted walls to the left, with the rippling fountain and its pleasing murmur,—nature and art combined to enhance those pleasures, which are derived from the society of a select number of friends. It cannot be denied that the ancients, though ignorant of many of the comforts of modern life, carried to the utmost pitch of refinement those enjoyments, which the serenity of their climate and the perfection of art enabled a cultivated mind to turn to the highest advantage. VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF A BAKER’S SHOP. Corn was from the earliest period the basis of the food of the Italian people, and before the war with Perseus, the Macedonian king, there where no bakers at Rome ; each family, therefore, baked their own bread ; in less houses the women undertaking that department, but in the greater establishments the men cooks. At first, the wheat was reduced by pounding to Hour ; hence the bakers were called pistores, and the bakehouses pistrina ; but mills were long known to the Greeks and Asiatics before they were used in Italy. The mills are of a grey stone : the lower part consists of a cylindrical stone, on which stands an immoveable cone ; on this revolves a hollowed stone in the form of a dice-box or hour-glass : into the upper cavity the corn was thrown, while the slaves, by means of levers, turned the upper stone round upon the other, and the flour fell into a sunk groove, whence it was removed as quickly as it was ground. The interior face of the moveable hollowed block was lined with iron, and worked on an iron pivot fixed on the solid cone, pierced so as to allow the grain gradually to pass. These mills were not in general use in Home until after the triumph of Paulus AEmilius, and were probably one of those arts borrowed from the Greeks. They were turned by human labour, the inferior slaves and malefactors being employed in the public mills, and in the private houses the female slaves. Plautus, it is said, reduced to the meanest poverty, hired himself to a baker, and composed some of his matchless productions, while occupied in the menial service of grinding corn. The advance of science improved this invention also, and in later times beasts of burden and machinery superseded the employment of human labour. VIEW OF A LIQUOR SHOP SEEN FROM THE STREET; The different parts of these views have been fully described already in our notice of the former thermopolium. The tiles on the top of the walls, in the view from the street, are modem, placed there to preserve them from decay. Just without the shop is a bench for the convenience of the customers, having a southern aspect. The key is of bronze, and is preserved in the Royal Museum. At a short distance beyond this shop is a building called tire anatomical cabinet, a name which it has acquired on account of the numerous surgical instruments found in it. They amount to forty ; some of them are like those now in use, others are very peculiar in form, and were probably adapted to cases for which we have different instruments ; in many the description of Celsus is realised, as, for instance, in the “ specillum,” hollow on one side, flat on the other : the “ scalper excisorius, in the shape of lancet points on one side, and on the other like a mallet ; the “ uncus" for midwifery cases ; surgical needles, “ forceps,” “ circini excisorii" like our compasses, and various others, all of them of the purest brass, with bronze handles, and generally found in brass or box-wood cases. One of the most interesting domestic edifices of Pompeii is a triple residence, called La Casa dei tre Caneelli, or delle Vestali, in which are found all the different apartments enumerated in the description of the house known by the name of Pansa. The paintings and mosaics equal in interest any in the city ; among the former were some representing females at the toilet, and of the latter not the least remarkable is one with the word SALVE worked on the threshold of the door. The skeleton of a man in one chamber and of a little dog in another, various gold trinkets in a third, and a small bronze statue of Apollo with silver cords to his lyre, rewarded the labours of the excavators. A small picture was found on the floor leaning against the wall, from which it appears to have been suspended. STREET SCENE IN THE CITY OF POMPEII, ON PASSING THE GATES LEADING TO ROME. This view is taken immediately within the gates leading from the street of the tombs, and the reader will be enabled to form an accurate idea of the arrangement of the streets of Pompeii in general, the restricted width of which has made the authors of the Pompeiana observe, that “ Pompeii bore the semblance of a city of lanes rather than of streets." On the piers of many of the shops are signs of the trade carried on within, either painted in red color or modelled in relief: in one instance a milk shop is indicated by a cow ; in another a baker's shop has the sign of an ass turning a mill ; a school is humorously represented by a painting of an enraged schoolmaster flogging a boy mounted on the back of another. In fact so numerous are such signs, that to notice them all would be unnecessarily fatiguing to the reader. An instance occurs on the pier to the right, where the rudely sculptured phallus in a panel seems to point out the manufacture carried on of little figures and amulets of that nature. Many antiquaries have endeavoured to explain satisfactorily the frequent occurrence of these figures among the paintings and plastic forms of antiquity, and some writers have endeavoured to infer from them a satisfactory evidence of the purity of the ancient morals. Amulets of this shape, in bronze, silver, gold, and coral, many of which were found in this shop, were worn by both sexes hanging from the neck, and were considered a powerful charm against sterility : such was the degradation of human nature, debased by the loose morality of pagan superstition. The dwellings in general near the gate are supposed to have been small inns, and eating and drinking shops for the travellers of the lower orders. It is necessary to observe, that many of the houses cleared of the ashes appeared to have been already visited since the eruption, as the earth had evidently been removed ; and it is supposed that those who could point out the site of their former residence, and others on speculation in spots not claimed, were allowed to excavate for the purpose of recovering their lost property. Several of the houses show the ruinous state they were in from the previous earthquake, and the greater number had evidently been repaired. Interesting as have been the discoveries made in the buried cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, by increasing our knowledge of the public life of the ancients, additional value attaches to these excavations from bringing us more intimately acquainted with their domestic usages. Several sorts of utensils have been already enumerated, but to these may be added various articles of food burnt to cinders, some of them inclosed in their metal vessels, and most of them still retaining their original shape; among these were fruits, loaves of bread, olives, and in particular a pie in a metal pan about fifteen inches in diameter within an oven, and which on being touched fell in pieces. This plate contains various fragments and details, some of which have already been alluded to in the present and preceding chapters. The reader will find a description of the corn mill at page 11. The details of the oven make us acquainted with the process followed by the ancients in baking. The oven itself, 1, had a chamber on each side, 5 and 6, in the former of which the dough was mixed, kneaded, and properly prepared ; thence it was passed, when ready, by the opening 3 to the man in the chamber 7, who then put it into the oven : when it had remained in the requisite time he drew it out, and passed it through the aperture 4 to the slave in the chamber 6, where it was left, to cool. Beneath the shelf 2 is a small door opening into the receptacle for the ashes, deposited there as they were withdrawn from the oven ; the smoke passed through the hole 8. The figures A B C D E represent different modes of construction used in the buildings of Pompeii. The first consists of rubble work formed of shapeless pieces of volcanic stone roughly united by mortar, and tied in by occasional layers of tiles, which act as bond ; over the apertures are slight wooden lintels. The next example is that species called by Vitruvius “ isodomus,” composed of squared blocks of stone, every second course of which is here surmounted by a double course of tile bond. Fig. C is also of rubble work, faced with wedge-shaped bricks, which assume on the face a net-like appearance, and thence called “ opus reticulatum” by the ancients ; the quoins are strengthened by a solid construction of tiles. D is composed of isodomus and opus incertum with intermediate piers of more solid construction. The example E is a mixture of the methods already enumerated. The materials used consist of the following varieties—volcanic stone of a grey color, very hard and capable of receiving a high polish ; volcanic and ferruginous scoriae ; tufo varying in color and compactness, mixed with small particles of vitrification and pumice stone ; pumice stone, fine grained and compact, or grey and porous, apparently the species called by Vitruvius “ pumex Pompeianus hard grey pipemo ; calcareous stones ; and travertine. The mortar varies in quality, and is generally composed of pozzolano ; some of the mortar in the walls is very bad, and has, perhaps, been decomposed by the ashes under which it has been so long buried ; but the stucco in general is fine in quality, and hard in substance ; indeed the walls of the houses in general, which very seldom exceed eighteen inches in thickness, and are oftener less, owe their preservation rather to the stucco on the surface than to the mortar within the walls. Wood was much used : the principles of their carpentry appear to have been very simple. In the more important edifices, where the walls were intended to be covered with valuable paintings, and there was any liability to damp, great precaution was taken, as may be remarked in the inclosure walls of the peribolus of the Temple of Venus, and the walls in the public baths. The face of the wall is covered by a course of tiles, fixed to it by iron nails, and between which and the wall is a hollow space, produced by four projecting feet on the back of the tiles. Thus a constant circulation of air is kept up behind the tiles, and the painted stucco on the face of them is preserved uninjured by damp. The capitals, with the festoons and enriched frieze beneath, belong to two tombs immediately without the Herculanean Gate. The apiarium or bee-hive is in bronze, and is in the Museum at Naples. A description of the mode of paving the streets has already been given in the first BRONZE TRIPOD, FROM THE MUSEUM AT NAPLES. Numerous as are the examples of the utensils of the ancients dug from the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, each of them has some peculiar beauty and value, whether on account of its elegance of form, the material of which it is composed, or the exquisiteness of the execution. In the whole collection of the Studii of Naples, rich as it is in bronzes of every description, none attracts a greater share of admiration than the graceful tripod here delineated by Mr. Parke. These tripods, it is supposed, were used as a species of brazier or portable fire-place, to contain fire for warming the apartments. The same mode is still in use at Naples, but the modern article of furniture adapted to the same purpose is neither so elegant in form nor costly in material. BRONZE SITULA, TRIPOD, AND MARBLE VASE, FROM THE MUSEUM AT PORTICI. The situla has two handles, which lift up and down; the situlae were used for conveying water, the more ornamental most probably being used in the apartments of the houses. The bronze tripod was dug from the house of Julia Felix, near the Amphitheatre. The immorality of the ancients was disgustingly exhibited in the figures, but the offensive parts have been omitted in the present drawing. The body of the marble vase is sculptured with a representation of a group of Bacchanalian figures dancing in a circle in honor of a bearded Bacchus, who, with his thyrsus in his hand, is looking on. All the ornaments are rich, elegant, and chaste, in composition, style, and execution. INSTRUMENTS AND UTENSILS FOUND AT POMPEII, AND DEPOSITED IN THE MUSEUM AT PORTICI. This Plate contains a variety of objects, in glass, earthenware, iron, brass, and bronze, found in several parts of the buried city ; and will explain to the reader in a satisfactory manner several of the customs and manners, both sacred and profane, of the ancients. It will be remarked, that, several of the agricultural implements greatly resemble those now in use ; and although the ancients do not appear to have been acquainted with glass mirrors, yet they supplied the deficiency with mirrors of highly polished metal. The various objects, where their application allowed, are, almost without exception, of the most graceful form, pleasingly ornamented and extremely well executed. MOSAIC PAVEMENTS FOUND AT POMPEII, AND DEPOSITED IN THE MUSEUM AT PORTICI. These three Plates, which conclude this chapter, offer the plans of three of the most interesting mosaics, or tessellated pavements, in Pompeii ; and, to afford the reader a more complete idea of the magnificence of the ancients in regard to this species of decoration, the last one is colored with the tints of the original. The use of this sort of pavement is very general in Pompeii, whether in the public edifices or in the private dwellings, in which latter it was confined probably to the atria and rooms on a level with the street, where timber floors would have been subject to damp from being so near the soil. It is supposed that this art was invented by the Phoenicians, but the process of its formation, and the beauty it afterwards attained in point of design, we owe to the Greeks, by whom it was called “ lithostrotos.” The floor was originally formed of stucco, tinted with general broad masses of color ; to this succeeded the adoption of colored marbles, and the small fragments left from larger works were collected and encrusted with the stucco, until at length they were disposed into regular pictures, which vied in outline and excelled in splendor of color the productions of the painter. In general the tessellated pavements are composed of black and white dies, regularly disposed in geometrical figures : in the temples, however, the compositions were of a severer and higher order, and represented subjects taken from the heathen mythology, surrounded by a border of the meander or Grecian fret. One pattern, extremely ingenious and very generally esteemed, although not the most intellectual, was that of the “ oicos asarotos,” or unswept cecus, which represented the floor as though it were unswept, and strewed with the fragments of a recent repast. The gorgon's head, which forms the central object in the first of these four plates, appears to have been a favourite subject, as it is often repeated in mosaic pavements in distant parts of Italy. The celebrated one taken from Otricoli, and now preserved in the Vatican Museum, has a Medusa’s head displayed on a shield in the centre. DESCRIPTION OF THE STREET OF THE TOMBS, SUBURB OF AUGUSTUS FELIX. As the principal objects in the Street of the Tombs, which we shall examine in this chapter, have reference to the last solemn rites paid to the memory of the dead, it will be necessary, for the clearer elucidation of the subject, to give a slight sketch of the ceremonies observed at the funerals of the ancient Romans. The earliest records of Grecian history mention the practice both of burning and interring the dead as having been observed by that people from the remotest times. Servius, in his Commentaries on the Sixth Book of Virgil, informs us, that it was originally the custom of the Romans to bury their dead, quietly, without pomp, within their own residence, or else in a public burying ground without the city walls ; and never to consume the corpse with fire. After the time of Sylla, however, the practice of the Greeks was very generally adopted, for then a greater intercourse with that enlightened people had rendered their customs familiar to the less polished inhabitants of Italy. A distinction was made in peculiar cases, for it appears that the bodies of infants and of persons struck by lightning were denied the honor of the funeral pyre : the latter were buried at the spot where they had received the stroke of lightning, unless it were within the city ; and the former, who had not lived forty days, were interred in a place called “ suggrundarium.” In cases of mortal illness, when the patient seemed on the point of dissolution, the friends and nearest relations present embraced and kissed him till he breathed his last. The rings were then withdrawn from his fingers, the eyes were closed, the body was washed with warm water by women, and anointed by the “pollinctores,” who were men. A censer, fed with the most delicious and fragrant odours, was placed near the body, and kept continually burning ; but all other fires in the house were extinguished. The funeral robes were next put on the corpse : the toga of the lower orders being white, of coarse linen or cloth ; magistrates were clothed with the pratexta ; the censors, in purple ; those who had triumphed, in gold ; and if the deceased had gained a crown for any distinguished act of civil or military virtue, it was put on the head. The body was carried by the brothers, heirs, or nearest relatives, to the vestibule or very threshold, and there continued with the feet so turned that it should face the door, and thus indicate its departure thence : while thus exposed, the body was attended by young lads, who constantly fanned it to chase away the flies. The corpse remained thus exposed at the threshold, visited by the relations, friends, and neighbours, until the eighth day : during this period the house was hung with all the apparatus of mourning, and branches of cypress or pine were suspended from the door posts, lest any charged with sacred functions should contaminate himself by entering a house visited by death. Such were the rites observed previous to the departure of the corpse from the house to the sepulchre, and which may be considered under the heads of removal and sepulture. The ceremony was more or less splendid according to the means or rank of the individual, and if, as in the case of Valerius Publicola, the well-deserving patriot died so poor as to preclude the possibility of a public funeral from his personal estate, the Senate undertook the expence. Funerals were of two sorts, “indictiva” and “tacita,” public and private; at the former the people attended, as was the case at the funerals of magistrates, generals, and emperors, which were conducted with great pomp, and solemnized with a public eulogy, games, and gladiatorial combats ; but the latter were quite private, and followed merely by the friends of the deceased. On the eighth day the tributary coin to Charon was put into the mouth of the corpse, which was then conveyed to the place of sepulture ; by day if the person had been of eminent rank, or if of inferior order by night : —by this arrangement the magistrates or priests, to whom it was considered profane and of ill omen to meet a funeral, were protected from the chance of pollution. In the indictiva or tacita, whether by day or night, torches and wax candles were borne by the greater number of the mourners. The designator arranged and conducted the procession, which was preceded by singers, who to the accompaniment of music recited elegies in honour of the dead, and plaintive odes expressive of their grief the number of flute players by a sumptuary law was restricted to ten. To these succeeded a band of women, who accompanied the shrill notes of the pipe with their voices, in strains of anguish ; on very important occasions a company of players and dancers next followed, the former of whom recited eulogies, and the latter by appropriate action expressed the general sorrow. After these were borne several couches, on which were the effigies of the deceased in wax or wood, and busts affixed to the ends of spears : at the funerals of generals and emperors the images and spoils of conquered nations, as also the insignia of their rank, were carried in procession, accompanied by the lictors with their fasces inverted. The bier itself was either borne by some distinguished friends, by near relations, or by hired bearers, called “ vespillones biers were of two sorts, “ lectica” and “ sandapila”—the former for the rich, the latter for the poor; sometimes closed, but more generally open, that all might be assured that the deceased had not fallen a victim to treachery. The bier of an emperor or highly distinguished member of the state was followed by the magistrates, senators, knights, and all ranks of the people, arranged according to their tribes. The next group consisted of women, who with shrieks and tears loudly proclaimed their grief : their hair dishevelled, in loose and negligent attire, they tore their cheeks with their nails, beat their exposed breasts, threw ashes on their heads ; with loud reproaches on their gods, they reviled their decrees as unjust and cruel, and excited all ranks to lay waste their temples, overturn their altars, and break down their statues, not respecting even their tutelary deities. The men, less clamorous in the expression of their sorrow, evinced it in ways no less decided : some let their hair and their beards grow to an unsightly length ; while others, to mark still more deeply their grief, shaved themselves entirely, not leaving even their eyebrows. The sons and daughters of the deceased observed on this occasion a practice quite different from that of ordinary life, the former being veiled, and the latter having the head exposed. The people in general laid aside their rings or any trinkets they were accustomed to wear, and the magistrates were unaccompanied by the insignia of /their office : the men wore black, but, under the Emperors, the women were clothed in white. The procession, swelled by the number of freedmen and slaves, advanced in this order to the Forum, where the body was detained some time before the rostra, and the wax, marble, or metal busts of the deceased were held up to public admiration. A funeral oration, brief, and free from the blandishments of art, was pronounced by his son or nearest relative, enumerating the virtues of the deceased and the most conspicuous acts of his public and domestic life. The oration concluded, the procession quitted the Forum, and went to the spot where the body was to be burnt or buried, without the city, as the ancients esteemed it polluted if the dead were interred within it. Exception, however, was made in favour of those who, having deserved well of the state, received the honorable tribute of their country’s estimation, by being allotted a plot of ground within the walls. The funeral, when arrived without the gates, proceeded to the pile, which, if near and adjoining the sepulchre, was called “ bustum,” if distant from it “ ustrina ;” here the corpse was placed upon the pyre, which, according to some ancient medals published by Erizzo, seems to have resembled a lofty tower or altar, square, circular, or polygonal in plan, and consisting of several heights, each of which was decorated with appropriate architecture. The lowermost represents a continued podium or pedestal hung with festoons ; above this were two or three stories, regularly adorned with columns, niches, and statues, enriched with ivory and gold, and the whole was surmounted with a gilt triumphal chariot, containing a statue of the deceased : on each story were planted cypress trees, the burning of which perfumed the air, and thus prevented any unpleasant effluvia from the corpse. With such magnificence were these temporary piles erected, that even the mausoleums of Adrian and Augustus appear to have been designed with the same arrangement of plan and disposition of decoration. The friends having embraced the body for the last time, and unclosed the eyes, it was placed with the litter on the pyre, and the nearest relations, with averted eyes — Aversi tenuere faces, Virgil. to mark this as an act of necessity and not of choice—set fire to the pile. With tears and prayers invoking favorable gales, they repeated “vale! vale! vale!” to greet the departing soul. With the deceased were consumed a considerable number of his clothes ; arms and several various costly gifts were cast into the burning mass, together with myrrh, frankincense, saffron, and other precious odours. Sisters for their brothers, mothers for their sons, wives for their husbands, having cut off’ their hair, laid it on the bosom of the dead, or threw it into the flames. To these rites were added offerings of blood to propitiate the infernal deities and the manes of the dead ; hecatombs of animals were immolated on the pyre, and the sacrifice of human life added a terrible solemnity to the scene. The custom of gladiatorial exhibitions seems to have been derived from the ancient practice of slaying captives at the funerals of generals ; but this being considered at length a cruel usage, gladiators were afterwards hired, who were called “bustuarii,” from the word “bustum,” the place for the pyre. These shows were on the occasion of the funerals of emperors, consuls, and other celebrated characters of the state, but private individuals also, in imitation of those more distinguished by their talents and rank, often left by will certain sums for the celebration of gladiatorial fights. When the whole pyre was consumed, the embers were extinguished by libations of wine. These ceremonies being completed, the pontiff or presiding priest sprinkled the congregated throng with a branch of olive or laurel dipped in pure water, in order to purify them from the contamination they were supposed to have contracted from having officiated in the offices to the dead ; they were then dismissed with the term “ ilicet,” and departed, repeating this sentence—“ Adieu for ever ; we shall follow you in the order prescribed by nature.” The “ ossilegium,” or collection of the ashes, was next performed by the principal mourner, his feet uncovered and his vest left ungirded. The ashes of the body were preserved distinct from those of the pyre and animals consumed by some peculiar arrangement, or by a covering of asbestos in which it was enveloped. The precious relics were with many tears cast into wine, milk, and odoriferous liquors ; after which they were pressed in linen to free them from the moisture, and placed in the cinerary urn. On the ninth day they were deposited in the tomb. The urns were either of simple earth, plain, or having mythological subjects drawn on their surface ; or were of marble, alabaster, or other rare stone, chased with sculptured subjects in high relief. If the body were not burned, it was, together with the vest, arms, and other objects, deposited in the grave or sepulchre, and there left, with a “ salve !” or “ vale !” twice repeated. — Salve Eeternum raihi, maxime Palla, iEternumque vale. Virgil, Lib. XI. The days of sorrow, called “ feralia,” for any private calamity, were appointed to be observed in the month of February, which with the Romans was the close of the year ; but the anniversary of any private loss in a family was commemorated on any day, and on it relations were peculiarly privileged, so as not to be denied the opportunity of paying this sacred duty to the dead. Sacrifices, feasts, and games were solemnised on that occasion : the sacrifices consisted of water, wine, milk, blood, and ointments—the blood not only of animals but men ; and the tomb was hung with wreaths, chaplets, and festoons of flowers ; to which customVirgil alludes in his celebrated passage to the memory of Marcellus : — Tu Marcellus erls : manibus date lilia plenis ; Purpureos spargere flores, animamque nepotis His saltern accuraulem donis. The feasts were either public or private : the latter, properly called “ silieemia,” were of two kinds : the one consisting of offerings of food placed on the tombs, and there left, and of which it was considered sacrilegious and ill-omened to partake ; the others were those private feasts at the tomb, at which the relations and chief friends of the deceased were present, for they hoped, by this participation of the sacred rite, not only to relieve the family from any misfortune, but also to offer an agreeable homage to the dead. On the day appointed, the friends met at the sepulchre, which they strewed with flowers, and offered the appropriate oblations ; they then retired to the triclinium to partake of the feast, which consisted of particular dishes, such as beans, parsley, lettuces, bread, eggs, lentils, salt, cakes of honey, meal, and oil, meats, and pottage : the wine was drunk out of earthen vessels. It was not customary to join these feasts clad in black or in sad-colored apparel, but the guests were usually dressed in white. On such occasions the tomb was too often the scene of the wildest excesses. The public feasts were called “ lacerationes,” consisting of distributions among the body of the people of the largesses left by any distinguished citizen ; and which were also accompanied on many occasions by fights of gladiators in the amphitheatre, hunts of wild beasts in the circus, dramatic representations in the theatre, and banquets in the forum. These, however, were not the only honours paid to the memory of the dead, for others, still more futile, are mentioned by the historians. Dio records, that after the death of M. Marcellus, his curule chair still continued to be carried to the theatre, in the same manner as when he lived ; and Severus caused the three seats of Pertinax to be placed in the theatre even after his decease. PLAN OF A PORTION OF THE WESTERN SUBURB OF THE CITY OF POMPEII. We have hitherto contemplated the arrangement of the interior of the city ; we shall now take occasion to examine the buildings in this suburb, previously, however, noticing the city walls, which are in this part much better preserved than in any other. The general form of the city is an oval, and it is supposed that it stands on a bed of lava, which to the north-east and south is on a level with the surrounding country, but on the west it presents a rugged bank considerably elevated above the plain. The whole of the city was surrounded by walls, which to the west were apparently of inconsiderable height, as the inequality of the level on this side already afforded protection ; on the others the inclosure walls assume a more imposing appearance, and although inadequate to offer an effectual opposition to the tactics of modern times, they formed, at that early period of military science, an almost insurmountable barrier. In those provinces, where city warred against city, and the country, distracted by jealous rivalry of each petty state, was exposed to the predatory excursions of any band of daring wanderers, the first care of the inhabitants of any newly-formed colony was necessarily the city walls, which were o-enerally constructed in the most solid manner, in order to afford security to the rising state. The inclosure walls of Pompeii continue in an almost uninterrupted line, offering no decided angle ; the outline is occasionally broken by the slightly projecting towers, and is pierced by five gates, which antiquarians have distimmished by the names of the gates of Stabia, of the Samus, of Nola, of Vesuvius, and of Herculaneum. The fortifications were formed of two walls about twenty feet apart, the intermediate space forming a terreplein, or “agger” of the ancients, over which was elevated a terrace about five and twenty feet high. The outside wall equalled the height of the terrace, but the inner one towards the city rose about eight feet higher. The ramparts were so arranged, that the warriors were protected by the battlements in front and returned parapets on the flanks of each. At distances varying from one hundred to five hundred paces apart, were square towers, which probably rose at one time to a great height, composed of three or four stories, communicating by staircases; there were also small sally-ports to allow of sudden attacks from the city, and other precautions incidental to the nature of fortifications. The constructions are composed of travertine to a small height above the ground, from which upwards they are formed of large trapezoidal blocks of volcanic matter, put together without cement, and carefully worked ; they seem to have been frequently repaired, the breaches of latter times being filled up with “ opus incertum” or with brick-work, the date of which appears subsequent to the siege of Sylla, or after the earthquake of sixty-three, which caused much devastation to the whole city. Various inscriptions found in the Street of the Tombs give the name of Pagus Augusti Felicis to this suburb : the word “ pagus” signifies a district hence the word “ paganus” or magistrate of a district, which we shall find so often to occur. The etymology of the name Augustus Felix is by the Herculanean Academicians derived from the new colony established in Pompeii by Octavius Augustus, and which they infer from the analogy of the colonies of Nola, Capua, and Beneventum, which received the same appellation. THE GATE OF POMPEII LEADING TO ROME. This entrance is also called the Herculanean Gate, as the road leads to that city ; its insignificant appearance does not certainly announce that importance, which the city derives from its extent and the magnificence of its monuments. It was laid open in 1763, and consists of three openings or archways, constructed of brick, covered with stucco, which was ornamented with divisions representing courses of stone, by which it acquired a certain elegance of appearance. The central large opening was inclosed by a portcullis, but on the side towards the city, by folding gates : the lateral small entrances had also doors. The face of the stucco, which is now almost entirely destroyed, was covered with inscriptions and notices similar to those described in the preceding chapter ; and, indeed, this situation was one of the most favourable for giving publicity to those announcements which would be of general interest. It is supposed, from the inferior style of construction, and the general arrangement of the whole gate, that it was erected subsequently to the walls, as in buildings of this public consequence the most careful and sound construction was always employed. Immediately on quitting the city, and passing the gates, this magnificent view offers itself. The pavement descends rapidly from the gate towards the plain, and the highway is lined on each -side with tombs, richly decorated ; thus at every step the admiration and sympathy of the traveller are excited, as he reads each succeeding inscription, commemorative of those, who enjoyed, so many centuries since, distinctions and influence in the state. Veneration for the memory of the dead was one of the chief moral points in the pagan religion, which may be considered as a species of worship of the manes, as their gods for the most part were only men deified after a useful and glorious life : hence the quantity of funereal monuments which remain, and the care they took in decorating and preserving them. The shades of their relations and friends were with them but so many familiar deities ; the tombs they built to them they considered as their temples, near or within which they placed altars, constantly supplied with flowers, fruits, and other offerings. These tombs were not only tributary mementoes of grateful affection on the part of the survivors, but often originated in the vanity of the deceased, who left sometimes considerable sums in their wills for the erection of tombs, hoping by this means to transmit their names to posterity. The first tomb that presents itself immediately without the gates is the large one to the right, at the base of which lie fragments of columns and entablatures, by some supposed to have formed part of the decoration of the City Gates, but more probably they are the fragments of some sepulchre or cenotaph. To the left, is seen a portion of the second exedra, with the three last letters, ETO, of the inscription. The covered seat or hemicycle, surmounted by a tiled roof, stands immediately beyond the tomb with the three pilasters and festoons, which latter are allusive to the practice of decorating the sepulchres with flowers at stated periods of the year. VIEW OF THE CIRCULAR SEATS NEAR THE GATES LEADING TO ROME. In the description of the Civil Forum we have already alluded to that spirit of piety and regard for the public good, which induced wealthy individuals to vie with each other in erecting edifices tending to the embellishment of the city and the convenience and comfort of the citizens, and of which circumstance we have further confirmation in the two circular seats seen in this plate. The “ columbarium” or sepulchral chamber, which received the ashes of the dead, occupies but a portion of the site set apart for the commemoration of departed worth ; the rest is appropriated to the circular seat for the ease and recreation of the citizens or strangers ; and from this resulted a consequence, perhaps not altogether unpremeditated, that the citizen would be accustomed to connect the remembrance of the spot with the memory of the individual in honor of whom it was consecrated. These seats were called exedrae, and the horns of the semicircle were elegantly terminated with winged griffons' legs, the drawing of which is on the same plate with the altar from the Temple of iEsculapius, in our first chapter : the exedra in the court of the Oreek 1 emple of Hercules is similar in arrangement and design. In these circular seats the weary traveller could for a while rest, before he entered the streets of the city, or the citizen might recreate himself by an easy walk to this spot, which is immediately without the gates, and observe the passers by as they thronged to the city. Between the gate to the right and the furthermost circular seat is a small niched recess or alcove, which Mazois supposes to have been dedicated to the deities of the ways, “ dii viales,” but possibly it was sacred to Apollo, who was supposed to preside over the ways and roads, from which circumstance he was called by the Greeks ArriErs ; the altar raised to him under this name was generally circular, with a pointed summit, and near it was placed the table for the consecrated cakes and sweetmeats. Mazois mentions, that the recess was at one time adorned with paintings now destroyed ; in the niche at the further end was represented the figure of the divinity, in front of which was a cubical stone, whereon it was customary to deposit flowers and fruits ; it was also adapted for the purpose of consuming perfumes, and of sacrificing small birds : it was destroyed by an ignorant workman, in order to repair some dilapidation in an adjoining part. According to the author of Pompeiana, a very elegantly worked tripod was found in this alcove, as also a skeleton, the hands of which still grasped a lance ; it is conjectured that this was the remains of the centinel appointed to guard the gate, who preferred dying at his post to quitting it for the more ignominious death which, in conformity with the severe discipline of his country, would have awaited him. On each side of the “ asdiculum” was a small bench, to facilitate the devotions of the pious traveller, who, in passing, offered a slight homage to the presiding god. Behind the nearest circular seat to the right are seen two columns, and a part of the wall of the sepulchral chamber of Mammia. VIEW OF THE TOMB OF THE PRIESTESS MAMMIA ; ELEVATIONS AND SECTIONS OF THE COVERED SEAT OR HEMICYCLE Tiie uppermost subject of this plate is a view of the sepulchre mentioned in the preceding plate, taken from the back, and looking towards the Street of the Tombs. By reference to the general plan of the suburb at the head of this chapter, the reader will perceive that the sepulchre is situated behind the inscribed exedra, and recedes a short distance from the line of the street. It is placed in the middle of an elevated terrace, to which access is gained from the lower level by an adjoining court. It consists of a square building, decorated with four attached columns on each of its elevations ; and the terrace itself is inclosed by a. low parapet wall pierced with a series of small arcades. The interior of the columbarium has eleven small niches sunk in the thickness of the wall, and in the centre of the room is a massive square pedestal, by some supposed to have once supported the vaulting, but by Mazois considered to have been used for placing the cinerary urn of Mammia upon it ; some marble statues roughly worked were found within this chamber, and were removed to the Royal Museum. The walls are constructed of rubble work, the columns are of brick covered with a thick coat of stucco. The two masks seen in this view are supposed to have formed part of the decoration of the roof ; they are a species of tiles called “ antifixse,” and which when thus sculptured received the name of “ personae.” The covered seat or hemicycle is situated about twenty yards from the Tomb of Mammia, down the Street of the Tombs, on the opposite side of the way ; its depth exceeds the width, and a fixed seat runs quite round the interior : its southern aspect must have rendered it a place of most agreeable resort in winter, and in summer its great depth would afford sufficient protection against the rays of the sun. May we not hazard, with an elegant writer so often before quoted, the supposition, that perhaps within this hemicycle the successive philosophers of Pompeii may have here discoursed on the immortality of the soul and the instability of human life, enforcing their arguments still more strongly by reference to the sepulchral monuments around. The style of decoration is capricious and impure : all the ornaments and architectural details are in stucco, executed in a spirited but negligent manner. The painting is superior : the ground of the ceiling is blue ; the shell white ; the ornaments between the panels gold on a black ground ; the ground of the panels red ; and the animals painted according to nature. The absence of inscriptions precludes other than mere conjecture on the destination of this singular example of ancient taste, and its position alone authorises the supposition of its being connected with the sepulchral edifices. The tomb to Lucius Libella and his son is a square solid mass of masonry about fifteen feet high, elegant and imposing in its form and arrangement. These solid monuments were called cenotaphs, in contradistinction to those which had “ columbaria,” or chambers, within for the reception of the ashes of the deceased. The profile of the cornice is deficient in character, from the mouldings preponderating too much over the plain faces. The inscription is repeated on the opposite side, the only deviation from it being in the last word, and which is written FILO, instead of FILIO. “To Marcus Alleius Luccius Libella, the father, asdile, duumvir, quinquen- “ nial prefect ; and to M. Alleius Libella, his son, decurion, aged seventeen years. The site of this monument has been given by the public. Alleia Decimilla, daughter of Marcus, public priestess of Ceres, erected “ this monument to her husband and son.” The Temple to Ceres has not hitherto been discovered in the city VIEW OF THE COVERED SEAT OR HEMICYCLE IN THE STREET OF THE TOMBS. The reader will perceive the stepping stone in front of the hemicycle, for reaching the elevated pavement ot the seat, which, being thus raised above the level of the footpath, prevented any inconvenience to the passengers, or annoyance to those within the hemicycle. The high tomb to the right, decorated with pilasters, is marked 1 1 on the plan of the suburb, beyond which is the inclosure, No. 12, the destination of which, in the absence of all inscriptions, cannot be ascertained. On the bank above may be distinguished the different beds or strata of ashes, from which it is inferred, that the city was not overwhelmed by one continued shower of ashes, but by intermittent falls of volcanic matter, the variety of which are distinguishable by these layers. Not far from this seat was disinterred the skeleton of an unhappy mother, who held an infant in her arms : near her were two other children ; their bones were found united, indicating that this hapless family breathed their last closely embiaced in each other's arms. Among the bones were found three gold rings, and two pair of earrings, with pearl pendants of great value : one of the rings had the form of a serpent in several folds, with the head following the line of the finger. Almost immediately in face of the covered hemicycle, on the other side of the street, is the entrance to a suburban villa, excavated in 1764, but afterwards filled up. VIEW OF THE STREET OF TOMBS, TAKEN NEAR THE ARCADES IN FRONT OF SHOPS. At the distance of about thirty paces beyond the hemicycle the street begins to widen and diverge oft to the right, and a series of arcades front the street, under which are shops, or, as others suppose, a large inn for the accommodation of travellers. The angle of the bivium is formed by the “ ustrinum,” within which were burned the bodies of the dead, and a tomb with a marble door. The angle of these arcades is the object to the right in the foreground, and the “ ustrinum” and tomb beyond are in the middle distance. The left side of the street is occupied by a series of tombs, erected to the memory of Scaurus, Quietus, the Nistacidii, and Naevoleia Tyche. VIEW OF AN UNKNOWN TOMB WITH A MARBLE DOOR These two plates mark the position and form of this interesting monument, which illustrates several peculiarities of usages and of construction. It is built of tufo, the centre part being of the mode called by Vitruvius “ reticulatum, or net work, and the angles and some regular layers of the same material cut into the shape of tiles. The whole was probably faced with stone or marble, of which latter material is the door, by which it is now distinguished, as there remains no inscription to denote its dedication to the memory of any individual, though it must doubtless have been erected to some distinguished member of the state. In the centre of the solid mass of construction is a square chamber, partly sunk below the level of the street, to which light was admitted by an opening opposite the door : under this opening is a niche, decorated with two Doric pilasters, having an entablature and pediment over : within this niche stands the vase of oriental alabaster containing the bones and ashes of the deceased : a large gold ring was also found in this columbarium, in which was set a sapphirine agate, eight lines long by six wide, on which was engraved a stag scratching himself with his left hoof. A projection of solid masonry runs round this chamber, for the reception of other vases, cinerary urns, and terra cotta lamps ; the vases are of glass, marble, and red earth : several amphora: of large dimensions were also found within this tomb. The door is about three feet high, two feet nine inches wide, and four inches and a half thick, and turns upon two bronze pivots, which work in sockets of the same metal ; there was a metal handle to draw it to, and it was fastened by a lock, the traces of which still remain. VIEW OF THE ROUND TOMB AND TOMB OF SCAURUS. Otr the opposite side of the street, and almost immediately in face of the “ ustrinum," are these two tombs, both of which possess the highest interest • they are separated from each other by a mere division wall. The further one rises immediately above the front inclosure wall, and access is gained to it through the door at the side, decorated with fluted Corinthian pilasters ; within is the court, from which a door opens into the body of the sepulchre. The inclosure towards the street was once covered with representations of the combats of gladiators and the chase of wild animals, executed in low relief, but they are now almost entirely defaced. The circular sepulchre recedes from the street, and is placed at the further end of the inclosure appropriated to it. It is to be remarked that almost every tomb has a raised bench or seat in front, apparently for the convenience of the foot passengers; and we may hence infer that, instead of connecting with the contemplation of their departed friends those overpowering feelings of sorrow and regret which we do, the ancients considered, that the ghosts of the dead still hovered around the tomb and welcomed those, who were induced to visit it with hallowed feelings; thus they derived pleasure and satisfaction from using as a spot of frequent resort the site appropriated to the memory of so many departed citizens. ELEVATION OF THE CIPPUS OF THE TOMB OF SCAURUS, CALLED THE TOMB OF THE GLADIATORS; The chases and gladiatorial combats, which took place round the pyre to propitiate the manes of the dead, have already been mentioned in the preliminary dissertation, descriptive of the ceremonies observed by the ancient Romans at the funerals. The most interesting illustration of these rites occurs in this tomb ; for however full and descriptive the narrations of ancient authors are, yet many of the minor details, so necessary to the complete comprehension of the usages and customs observed, are not described in a manner sufficiently circumstantial to enable us to form correct conceptions of the events they record. In this tomb, however, the plastic art has preserved to us these valuable details, which serve as a commentary upon several of the most difficult passages of the historians. The cippus or square pedestal, which was probably once surmounted by a statue of Scaurus, is raised upon a square basement, in the centre of which was a columbarium, about seven feet square, having four small niches for urns sunk in the thickness of the walls, and in the middle of the chamber a pillar or pier, which partly sustained the roof and superstructure of the cippus. At the height of about three feet this pillar was pierced by four small arcades, three of which were closed by glass, and the other apparently by some sort of a curtain ; hence it is conjectured that here was placed the principal urn, seen through the glass, and easily got at by removing the curtain for the purpose of annual libations. All the urns have been taken away ; the only relicts that were found in the niches being a few fragments of burnt bones, and a little terra cotta lamp. The inscription records that the monument was erected “To ricius, Son of A of the Menenian tribe, duumvir of justice. “ The decurions have granted the site of the monument, two (or three) thousand sesterces for the funeral, and “ that an equestrian statue should be placed in the Forum. Scaurus father to his son.” The face of the three steps towards the street was once enriched with bas-reliefs representing the venationes of the ancients ; of these the most entire are delineated in this plate. The uppermost bas-relief shows a man unarmed between a lion and a panther. On the one below a wild boar appears ready to attack another man, naked, and almost prostrate. It is, however, to be remarked, that this figure is in such an attitude that, by a slight effort, he could raise himself, and escape the fury of his antagonist. It is not improbable that these two figures are a species of combatants like those who figure at this day in the arena of the mausoleum of Augustus at Rome, and who, instead of attacking the beasts with offensive weapons, merely excite their rage, urge them to the contest, and then, by their rapid and agile movements, elude the fury of the exasperated animal. In the centre of the bas-relief is a wolf, who furiously grinds between his teeth a lance by which he is wounded ; beyond which is a stag destroyed by two dogs or wolves ; attached to his horns is a cord, by which he was confined to a stake. Beneath are two combatants attacking a bull and a panther, whose efforts to retort upon their opponents are neutralised by means of a cord that unites them. These bestiarii, who are armed with lances, and one of them protected by a helmet and armour, appear to be quite youths, and perhaps may be training to the more dangerous exercise of their skill by being opposed to animals, whose attempts to destroy them are somewhat counteracted by the cord, which however affords them more play than if they were attached to a stake or other fixed point. The lowermost basrelief represents a combat between a bear and a man, armed with a short sword in one hand and having a short mantle in the other. The introduction of this mantle seems to point out the tera of the erection of this tomb, for Pliny mentions that it never was in use prior to the reign of Claudius, whence it may be inferred, that the tomb was built in the period preceding the year fifty-nine, or posterior to sixty-nine, asduring that interval all public spectacles had been interdicted, on account of the fatal tumult which occurred in the Amphitheatre between the Pompeians and their neighbours : some later restorations seem to give greater weight to the earlier period. TOMB OF SCAURUS. Tiie face of the basement towards the street is divided into two horizontal compartments, the upper one of which, continuing along the vacant space over the door, shows eight pairs of gladiators, while the lower division exhibits a venatio or chase. Over each pair of gladiators certain words have been painted with a pencil, in the same manner as the inscriptions described in the previous chapter, distinguishing the names of the bustuarii or funeral gladiators, their country, and the number of their previous victories. The first pair to the left are equites or equestrian gladiators, armed with lances and round targets or scuta, the centre of which was composed probably of several thicknesses of hides on a wooden frame, covered with a skin, and edged with metal. They are clothed lightly with a short tunic and small chlamys, and their arms are apparently defended with metal bands, so disposed as to leave them at full liberty for every movement, whether of attack or defence : the thighs of the second are protected with similar bands, and the heads of both are covered with helmets and vizors, which effectually inclose the face. The horses are covered with a cloth called “ saguna.” The two combatants are in the heat of a very vivid attack, and the horses by their energy seem to join in the spirit of their riders; the second appears to have parried a thrust of his adversary, and to be on the point of charging his antagonist, who is endeavouring to elude the vivacity of his retort. But the most interesting point is the inscription over each, which, according to Monsieur Millin, who at a very early period of their excavation traced the letters, should be thus read —BEBRIX • IVL • XV • V,— in which he slightly differs from Mazois, as well as in the second, which he considers to be NOBIL • FOR • IV - XII, instead of NOBILIORTVT XI, as given on our plate after Mazois. This variation is easily accounted for when we consider the loose manner in which the cursive writing was traced on the wall, and the very slight and almost imperceptible indications which distinguished the I, T, L, F, and E from each other. Bebrix is the barbaric name of the former, who was a foreigner, inhabitant of some colony or town which had assumed the name of JVLIA, probably from Julius Caesar. The letters XV and the V following mark that he has already conquered (Vicit) fifteen times (XV). His opponent, NOBILIS or NOBILIOR, has been also successful eleven times. The inscriptions over the two following bustuarii are almost entirely effaced ; the letters which remained at the first opening of the volcanic ashes seemed to indicate the first as having been fifteen (XV) times victorious, whereas his dangerous adversary appeared to have been successful in thirty (XXX) contests. Millin suggests that they seem as though they were preparing for combat, and regard with looks of wonder and admiration the two equites ; but Mazois considers that there are indications of a wound on the chest of the first, which is apparently bleeding, and that he has lowered his buckler, and elevated his finger towards the spectators to implore their favour, which was the usual mode with those who solicited their life ; the other awaits the decision of the people, either to leave his enemy or dispatch him, as they may indicate. The first of these two is defended with a casque, having a vizor richly decorated, and a “ scutum” or long buckler ; he has, in common with all the others, a “ subligaculum,” or piece of red or white drapery, fastened to the waist by a girdle. On the right leg he has a « cothurnus” or species of buskin, which was ordinarily of colored leather : the left leg is defended by an “ocrea” or bronze boot, in order to protect this leg, which was the most advanced, and left uncovered by the buckler ; the rest of the body is quite naked. The gladiator opposed to him has a casque ornamented with wings, a smaller buckler, and consequently his thighs are protected with plates of leather or metal, and his legs by bronze greaves. The dress of these two indicates the former to be one of the velites or light-armed, and the other a Samnite, a name given to those gladiators, who, according to Livy in his ninth book, were armed by the Campanians in this manner out of hatred to that people. We have in the third group a Thracian opposed to Hippolytus, the Myrmillon ; the former, who has again triumphed in this deadly strife, has a round target, and awaits the public voice in regard to his opponent, who, being wounded in the breast, has cast away his javelin and shield, and on his knees earnestly entreats to be remanded with his upraised hand ; but the ©, attached to the inscription, indicates that his supplication was in vain ; this record marks him as having fallen a sacrifice, and the first letter of the Greek word or of some other derivative from Aww*, I die, denotes his melancholy end. The band round the right knee serves to distinguish the Myrmillon from the velites ; although conqueror on fifteen former occasions, on this he adds another triumph to the thirty-five preceding ones of his adversary. The next croup consists apparently of two pairs of gladiators opposed to each other, each pair consisting of two secutores and two retiarii, the latter being armed with “ fuscinte” or tridents, and totally unprotected by any other defensive armour than plates of metal or thongs of skin bound round the left arm, and the shoulder covered by a shoulder-guard, and the left side of the body by a half cuirass. Their opponents, however, have helmets, quite devoid of ornament, in order not to afford any hold to their adversary’s trident or net; they also have a shoulder-guard on the right arm, and round bucklers. The secutor Hippolytus seems to be upon the point of dispatching his vanquished foe, who, having been wounded on the leg, thigh, right arm, and right flank, and despairing of pardon, presents his breast to the adversary, and casts himself upon his sword: they have both thrown away their shields : Nepimus, five times victorious, the companion retiarius of Hippolytus, is in the act of pushing the unfortunate bustuarius to his fate ; while the other retiarius flies affrighted from the scene of slaughter. The sixth pair of combatants have already fought ; one of them has cast away his shield, and implores his remission (missio), and his adversary turns towards the seats of the presiding magistrates to learn the fate of his adversary, ready, if so directed, to pursue his fatal advantage. The inscriptions hitherto noticed relate to each separate group, but there is another in larger characters above, that more particularly defines the destination of the whole, but which unfortunately is above half destroyed : the remaining letters, however, may be thus completed—MVNERE • QVINTI ' AMPLIATI • P • F • SVMMO whence may be inferred, that the shows had been given in honor of Quintus Ampliatus, son of Publius ; the remainder it would be useless to attempt to conjecture. The bas-relief No. 2 occupies the space between the two Corinthian capitals over the door, and is composed of five figures, in which two Samnites are opposed to two MyrmiUons. The last combatant of this group is falling beneath the blows of the Samnite, at which the other Myrmillon, enraged, is about to immolate his adversary, the other Samnite, without reference to the spectators, and thus avenge the death of his companion ; but his impetuosity is restrained by the “ lanista,” or regulator of the combat ; from which we may infer, that the Samnite has obtained his pardon, having honourably, though unsuccessfully, sustained the attacks of his more fortunate adversary. No. 3, the last, the venatio or chase, represents a spectacle less repugnant to humanity : its ferocity consists merely in the destruction of animals, and not in that unnecessary waste of human blood, which distinguished the barbarous contests of the gladiators. Two hares and a hind are chased by dogs in the uppermost range under which a wild boar is closely attacked by a ferocious and large dog, by whom he is dreadfully mangled. In the centre, a “bestiarius,” clothed in a light tunic without sleeves tied round the waist, and his legs bound with leather thongs, has slain a bear with a stroke of his lance. The other bestiarius has transfixed a bull with his spear, who, notwithstanding, still retains sufficient strength to turn with a threatening air upon his adversary, at which he is evidently alarmed on account of his own defenceless condition. ELEVATION, SECTION, AND DETAILS OF THE ROUND TOMB. The sepulchral monuments which we have hitherto examined have been square in plan, but the present example offers a pleasing variety of design and arrangement, consisting of a circular tower placed within an inclosed terrace. The external faces of all the walls are covered with ornamental stucco, and the interior decorated with paintings. The lateral inclosure walls are divided into large compartments, and surmounted by six acroteria, each of which has a bas-relief allusive to the funeral rites. The perpendicular division of the two central compartments is inteiTupted to receive a panel, in which was inserted the inscriptive dedication of the site : but the heat of the ashes has totally destroyed the marble slab containing the name of the deceased. A narrow, low door-way, three feet three inches high, affords admission into the inclosure. At the back of the tomb a flight of steps leads to the door which opens into the chamber ; the interior of the columbarium is circular, with a curiously domed ceiling : there are five niches, the largest one in the centre is circular, and doubtless contained the urn of the chief of the family. The urns are worked into the solid constructions of the walls. From the bank of the adjoining sepulchretum or inclosed space, marked 22 on the plan of the suburb, is taken the subject of the following plate. VIEW OF THE BACK OF THE TOMB OF CALVENTIUS QUIETUS, WITH VESUVIUS IN THE DISTANCE. The tomb of Quietus occupies the centre of the plate, and to the left of it is that of Naevoleia Tyche. The tomb to the right is the one of Libella and his Son already described ; against it reclines a fragment of a statue ; the mass beyond is the monument to Ceius and Labeon. Several small funeral mementoes are observable, which were doubtless the tributes of some individuals of the humbler classes of life to the manes of those they once loved. VIEW OF THE TOMBS OF CALVENTIUS QUIETUS AND NAEVOLEIA TYCHE. Both these monuments are placed within an inclosure or “ septum,” the walls of which, as in the preceding instance of the round tomb, are surmounted by acroteria. The one to the memory of Quietus is supposed to be a solid mass of construction, or properly a cenotaph, as no signs of an opening into a chamber are perceptible, and the reader will remark that there is no door in the inclosure wall, as there is in that of Naevoleia Tyche, which has a columbarium. The square cippi are of marble, but the rest of the construction is roughly executed, and covered with stucco divided into regular compartments. The inscription in front of the elevated pedestal announces that this tomb was erected “To C. Calventius Quietus, “ Augustal ; to him on account of his munificence, by a decree of the decurions, and by consent of the people, “ the honour of the bisellium was granted.” The bisellium alluded to is figured in the bas-relief below the inscription, and affords another instance of the value of these discoveries at Pompeii. The many writers, who had endeavoured to explain the meaning of the word bisellium, previously found in numerous inscriptions in various parts of Italy, had but obscured the subject, and left it still undecided. We here see that the bisellium was a double seat appropriated to one individual, who enjoyed the privilege of this distinguished seat at the circus, amphitheatre, theatres, forum, and other places of public assembly ; it was granted in the name of the people, by a decree of the decurions, to the most distinguished among the Augustals, for services rendered, or largesses presented, to the state. The vacant space in the centre of the cuneus, opposite the pulpitum, in the large theatre, was probably for a bisellium granted to M. Olconius Rufus. The title of Augustal was given to the members of the college of priests of Augustus, who formed an intermediate class between the decurions and the people, corresponding with the rank of knights at Rome. The enrichments of this pedestal, which is about five feet six inches square, are profuse, but mark the decline of art. The acroteria, which surmount the inclosure walls, were once ornamented with bas-reliefs in stucco, destroyed partly by the ashes and partly by the wanton curiosity of those thoughtless travellers who, for the sake of carrying away with them some memento of these interesting ruins, despoil the most valuable documents that still remain. The figure of fame, standing on a globe, decorates two of these pinnacles : on another (l.dipus is represented on the point of solving the enigma of the Sphinx, who is seated on the edge of the precipice, at the foot of which lie the corpses of her last victims : to this corresponds the representation of Theseus reposing, holding the club of Periphetes, which he never quitted ; he is further characterized by his sword, suspended on a column, which was the cause of his being recognized by iEgeus. By these allegories it is possible that allusion was intended to the sagacity, courage, and perseverance, crowned by victory, which marked the career of Quietus. ELEVATION AND FRONT OF THE TOMB AT LARGE OF NAEVOLEIA TYCHE ; The present sepulchre differs from all the preceding ones, as being appropriated to the sepulture of a whole family. The inscription commemorates its dedication by “ Naevoleia Tyche, freedwoman, to herself and C. “ Munatius Faustus, Augustal and pagan, to whom the decurions, with the consent of the people, have decreed “ a bisellium on account of his merits. Naevoleia Tyche, during her life, erected this monument for her freedmen “and freedwomen, and those of C. Munatius Faustus.” The portrait of Naevoleia, with pendants in her ears, occupies a small panel above the inscription, below which is a bas-relief, representing the consecration of this monument. On one side are the municipal magistrates, on the other the family and household of Naevoleia, and in the middle an altar, on which a youth is placing an offering of fruit or a victim. The lateral face of the pedestal is ornamented with a bisellium, more simple in its decoration than the one last described ; the other face has a bas-relief of a vessel about to cast anchor: the prow or “corymbus” is distinguished by a head of Minerva, and the stern or “ cheniscus” assumes the graceful form of a swan’s neck ; there is a man at the helm, and several young lads or genii are furling the sails ; two square flags or ensigns, “ aplustra,” float to the wind. Millin supposes this to be an allegorical bas-relief relating to Munatius, who, at the close of a long life, with joy approached the tomb, as the haven of his labours, where he anticipated a rest from the storms of life ; but Mazois, perhaps with greater propriety, considers the subject as simply alluding to the profession of Manutius, who was probably a seafaring man. The back of the tomb has no other decoration than the architectural mouldings. The interior of the chamber is square ; opposite the door is a large square niche, flanked by two smaller ones ; within the columbarium were found some vases, of a red earth, with figures in relief, and three large glass urns, about fifteen inches high, each of which was inclosed in a leaden vase of a similar form, and containing a liquor composed of wine, water, and oil. In two of these unis the liquid is of a reddish color, but in the other yellow, oily, and transparent : near each urn was found a lamp, and a coin to pay the tribute to Charon. In a comer were found several other lamps, which may perhaps have been left there for future occasions. VIEW OF THE TOMB OF LUCIUS LIBELLA AND OF HIS SON. The details of this tomb have already been given in the same Plate with the covered hemicycle ; the fragment lying against it is one of two roughly worked statues of volcanic stone, which were dug up near. There was also discovered a large marble fragment, which, it is supposed, belonged to the statue that surmounted the cenotaph. In the distance, the summit of Vesuvius is sending forth a volume of smoke, divided by two opposite currents of wind. VIEW OF FUNERAL TRICLINIUM IN THE STREET OF THE TOMBS, Near the monument of Naevoleia Tyche is a quadrangular inclosure, which opens into the street by means of a low square door : instead of a tomb, this proves to be a triclinium, built of brick, and covered with stucco, now almost destroyed, and the compartments of which were agreeably painted with light and graceful subjects ; for as the ancients regarded the cessation of life with far different emotions from those we entertain, the decoration of their sepulchral edifices, instead of representing a gloomy aspect, appeared rather to mark them as consecrated to more joyful occasions. Within this inclosure were celebrated the annual commemorations of the dead by funeral repasts, or “ silicernia,” of which mention is so often made in antique inscriptions, and to which we have already alluded in the preliminary discourse to this chapter. The triclinium, table, and circular pedestal are of solid construction, covered with stucco : on the latter was probably placed the bust of the individual in whose honor the feast was held, or perhaps it was the altar for the preliminary libations. GENERAL VIEW OF THE STREET OF THE TOMBS, FROM NEAR THE TOMB OF DIOMEDES. The spectator is supposed to be looking up the street, towards the city gate. The first tomb to the right is the one erected by Naevoleia Tyche ; the second, to the left, is that of Lucius Libella and his son ; the large mass in the foreground, on the left, is the monument to Ceius and Labeon, erected to their memory by their freedman, Menomachus. The numerous costly cenotaphs and tombs erected by freedmen in this street prove that they often acquired great wealth. The summit is much damaged by the roots of the trees and vines, which have insinuated themselves into the body of the construction, and by their vegetation completely decomposed the upper part. VIEW UP THE STREET OF TOMBS, LOOKING TO THE GATES. Almost all the objects seen in this view have been already described, except the one to the left, which bears an inscription to Arrius Diomedes, and was appropriated to the sepulture of himself and family. This tomb, being almost immediately opposite the suburban villa, has given rise to the opinion, that the villa belonged to Arrius Diomedes ; and as no suggestion founded upon less questionable authority has yet been offered, it still continues to bear that name. This cenotaph and the one adjoining to L. Ceius stand on a continued pedestal, considerably elevated above the pavement of the street. The low entrance, near which is seen the fragment of a statue, leads into the funeral triclinium. In the furthest distance are the city gates, close to which appears the covered hemicycle, with its modern tiled roof. PLAN OF THE SUBURBAN VILLA, CALLED THAT OF ARRIUS DIOMEDES. Tiie present plan shews the whole extent of the villa; both the distribution of the apartments on a level with the Street of the Tombs above, and of the garden and chambers on the lower level, are laid down and distinguished by the varied tint. In the preceding chapter we have seen that the town houses were so arranged, and divided into two parts, as to keep the business and professional cares of the master or dominus distinct from the inner accommodations for the family. The country houses vary from this distribution of parts, and as the suburban villas, especially, were appropriated to the enjoyment rather than the cares of life, the atrium or first court of the town house was omitted, and the peristylium alone preserved a common feature between the two residences. A greater degree of liberty and absence of restraint distinguish the country house, as also a more decided dependence upon the resources within its walls for those comforts, which in the city are generally attainable at a short distance from the dwelling. Hence the chambers are of more general resort, and not so much divided into particular suites ; and the baths, extensive wine cellars, granaries, and similar appurtenances, could not be dispensed with, as they sometimes were in the more restricted limits of the town house. Porticoes, terraces, gardens, belvederes, and fountains become more frequent and more extended ; and in these designs a greater play is allowed to the imagination of the architect, for the space is generally unrestricted, and each mass of building groups with the graceful or sublime scenes of nature, and architecture is identified with landscape. This villa is situate at a very short distance from the gates, and consequently the dominus could seize every leisure moment to devote to rural pleasures, and avoid the graver cares of his numerous clients. The entrance is by a small porch, immediately opening into the Street of Tombs, and is decorated with two small brick columns covered with stucco. This porch communicates with the peristylium, having its impluvium and puteals as in the town houses, and affording access to several chambers. Immediately to the right is a staircase, marked A on the plan, which leads to a subterraneous door communicating, by means of a corridor, with the servants’ offices below. The cubiculum, under which passes the corridor, was probably the bedchamber for two slaves ; the places for the beds are indicated by a raised “ dais” in each alcove. To the left is the entrance to the baths, which consist of the regular suite of apartments, similar to those already enumerated in the dissertation of the second chapter, where the thermae near the Forum were described. The cubiculum with the bow window was doubtless the principal one in the villa; having the end towards the country circular, it continued to receive the full influence of the sun from the dawn to the close of the day ; when the shutters were closed, light was admitted by bull’s eyes over the windows. The alcove in the middle of the chamber was once inclosed by a curtain, the bronze rings of which were found on the ground ; on one side is a recess hollowed out of the solid construction ; this was probably the toilet, as in it. were found several vases, which apparently had once contained perfumes and unguents. An antichamber, “ procceton,” precedes the cubiculum, with a bedroom for the cubicularis or slave of the bed- chamber attached to it. In the exedra the friends of the family and all visitors were received ; it was probably ornamented with pictures and busts of the ancestors of the family, and would thus answer the purpose of a tablinum : a large opening, which in all probability was originally closed by a folding door, perhaps glazed, opens into the gallery, having a room at each end, and lighted by windows opening on the terrace in front. This gallery communicates with a noble apartment, the arrangement of which coincides with that of the (Ecus Cyzicenus, which is described by Vitruvius as being always placed facing the garden, wide and long enough to contain two triclinia, with ample space around, and having on all sides windows down to the floor, to afford the guests a full view of the garden, even when reclining upon the triclinia. Tire view from the cecus and the adjoining terraces must have been most enchanting ; for, situated as the villa is on the elevated ridge of the bed of lava, from this spot the eye could wander over the whole extent of the Bay of Naples, observe the towns, villages, and country houses lying on the slope of the range of Mounts Lactarius and Vesuvius, and command the whole of the plain beneat h, through which winds the road from Naples to Salerno. Above the several rooms, which surround the peristyle, there was doubtless another range of apartments, similar in distribution, but of course adapted to the various wants of the family. The letter B indicates the principal staircase, which led to the chambers of the lower story and to the garden surrounded by porticoes. Most of these subterraneous apartments are very richly decorated with elegant paintings, and seem adapted to the summer months, when their retired situation would afford a cool and refreshing retreat from the overpowering effects of that warm climate. In the centre of the garden is a large piscina, and near it a pavilion : at the further end of the garden, behind the pavilion, is a door, leading from the villa into the fields attached. An opening in the wall to the left leads to the stairs, which communicate with the subterraneous chambers by means of the corridor. Near this opening is the entrance to the villa from the Street of Tombs ; one of the columns of the porch is seen beyond, and the bank of ashes on the further side of the street. The square pier is modern, to sustain the architrave. To the right is the door of the procoston leading into the cubiculum, and the puteal is between the two last columns. The pavement is laid with mosaic. These two plates will give the reader a complete idea of the plan of the court of the baths, and of the paintings which decorate the walls. On the other side of the painted wall is the Street of Tombs ; on this side is a basin, sunk four feet four inches below the pavement of the court, and lined with stucco : over this basin was formerly a pediment supported on two columns, the shafts of which partly remain, as also the holes for the beams. The painting over the basin represents various sorts of fishes swimming in water ; each fish was executed with extraordinary art ; for twelve years this painting had been exposed, and on being wetted showed the tints in all their original force and transparency, but its exposition to the south aspect, and the inclemency of the seasons, soon discolored it, and now few traces remain of this interesting picture. In the centre is the hole whence was taken the mask, through which the water flowed into the basin. The paintings, which decorate both the exterior and interior of the houses of Pompeii, shed a lively and striking character over those edifices, peculiar to them. The capricious arrangement of design, variety of decoration, brilliancy of color, and boldness of execution, concur to render these paintings worthy of the interest they excite. It is supposed that the practice of coloring the walls of houses was general even in the time of Tarquin ; but until the reign of Augustus it does not appear that the pretensions of the earlier Romans went beyond a simple tint. Under that emperor, however, art assumed a bolder aspect, and a depraved taste prevailed for covering the walls with panels of varied colors, interspersed with landscapes, animals, and figures, until the primitive simplicity degenerated to the most luxurious profusion. The Pompeians appeared to have admired gaudy colors to excess ; and even when the walls of the court, the hall, or the temple were divided into apparent courses of stone, each block was painted with the most vivid tints. More generally the walls were divided, above a lofty marble plinth, into simple compartments, the ground of which was some dark tint, inclosed in lines of a lighter color, and the centre occupied by a panel, or a small object, such as a bird, an animal, or instrument. The walls of gardens or open porticoes were sometimes decorated to the height of three or four feet with a trellis, above which arose shrubs, trees, and flowers, interspersed with numerous birds of the rarest plumage. A third species combined more complex subjects, and the introduction of a certain capricious and artificial system of architectural arrangement, composed of slender pillars, diminutive entablatures and pedestals, with the addition of figures, festoons, birds, reptiles, and creeping lichens : such is the character of the paintings delineated in these five Plates, which, with the ones described in the former section, will give the reader a general idea of all the paintings that decorate the Pompeian houses. No other circumstance can convey to the reader a higher idea of the wealth and taste of the possessor of this suburban villa than these eight mosaics, which further illustrate our casual description of this species of decoration in the former chapter. The subject of the one in the lower range is difficult to explain, as it is doubtful whether it represents a labyrinth or plan of a city ; the intricate lines may be meant to indicate the passages of the labyrinth or the streets of the city, and this latter supposition acquires strength from the gates, towers, and city walls which form the border. The whole of this range of porticoes is below the level of the entrance floor of the villa, and of the Street of Tombs. The two large buttresses or piers, which support the portico to the left, are modem, and were placed there in order to resist the destruction which appeared to threaten the constructions, from the decay of the timber and the decomposition of the mortar, which had resulted from the long time they had been buried in the volcanic matter. The oecus cyzicenus was situate over the central openings of this portico, and had on each side the terrace marked upon the plan. The pavilion with the six columns is raised upon a plinth a little above the level of the garden, and has in front the sunk piscina. This villa has acquired a melancholy interest from the dreadful fate which attended the whole family, amounting to nineteen persons. We are led to suppose, that, struck with fear at the phenomenon which appeared to threaten such fatal consequences, the mistress, her daughter, and fifteen other individuals, retired into the cellar under the passage, marked C on the plan : there, protected by the thick and solid vaulting of this crypt, and well supplied with provisions that they had conveyed thither, they hoped that a temporary confinement would release them from all danger, little apprehending the inevitable destruction which awaited them. The strong heat, which carbonised the wood, and volatilised the more subtle part of the cinders, in a short time must have reached the subterraneous chamber, which too soon, alas ! proved their tomb. The atmosphere, charged with a sulphureous smoke, and a scorching dust, must quickly have made respiration difficult ; to relieve themselves, they seem to have made one desperate effort to force the door choakedup with ruins, ashes, and dust, and in that last struggle suffocation put an end to their suffering. The father, on the contrary, considering flight more safe, or, perhaps, anxious to procure some means of escape for his family, hurried away with a slave, charged with some valuable articles, by which he probably hoped to purchase assistance. But his retreat was stopped at the door, which opens from the garden into the adjoining field, as there the two skeletons were found, as well as the silver vases and other precious objects they were carrying away. The Royal Museum contains a portion of the volcanic matter that formed the bed on which the unhappy -victims of the larger group expired : the form of a most exquisite female bosom is left imprinted on the ashes, with the indication of a thin veil of gauze, which appears to have covered it. Undistinguished as are the inhabitants of Pompeii in the page of history by any superiority in science or literature, or by any renown as a politic or martial body, which might, like the annals of Athens or Rome, shed additional lustre over the sad rums of its admirable edifices, such scenes of anguish and unparalleled suffering, as the one we have just contemplated, speak no less impressively to the feelings of the traveller, and give to instruction the rarer charm of interest and sympathy.