Fig. 240.—Bust Stone of Tyche, slave of Julia Augusta.
The reference is plainly to a female slave of Livia, the wife of Augustus; how her ashes came to be deposited here it is not worth while, in default of information, to conjecture. In sepulchral inscriptions of women Iunoni sometimes takes the place of genio in men's epitaphs. Tyche was seemingly a member of a sisterhood for the worship of Venus, to which, as to the organization of the 'Servants of Mercury and Maia,' and of the 'Servants of Fortuna Augusta,' slaves were admitted.
The tomb of Umbricius Scaurus (17) is conspicuous by reason of its size and noteworthy on account of its decoration. The inscription on the front of the altar-shaped superstructure gives interesting details in regard to the man the memory of whom is here perpetuated: A. Umbricio A. f. Men. Scauro, II vir i. d.; huic decuriones locum monum[ento] et 𐆘 ∞ ∞ in funere et statuam equestr[em in f]oro ponendam censuerunt. Scaurus pater filio,—'To the memory of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus son of Aulus, of the tribe Menenia, duumvir with judiciary authority. The city council voted the place for a monument to this man and two thousand sesterces toward the cost of the funeral; they voted also that an equestrian statue in his honor should be set up in the Forum. Scaurus the father to the memory of his son.'
Why these honors were conferred upon Scaurus, who probably became a duumvir early in life and died soon after his term of office, is not clear. The upper part of the base of the tomb in front was adorned with stucco reliefs—now for the most part gone—in which gladiatorial combats and a venatio were depicted; but a painted inscription along the edge of one of the scenes indicates that the show thus commemorated was given by another man, N. Fistius Ampliatus; Munere [N. Fis]ti Ampliati die summo. Perhaps the last two words mean that 'on the last day' the younger Scaurus, a relative or friend of Ampliatus, shared the cost of the exhibition under some such arrangement as that between Lucretius Valens and his son ([p. 222]). If this be the correct explanation, it is evident that Scaurus could have given no shows in the Amphitheatre during his duumvirate, else the father would have taken pains to mention the fact in the inscription. His term of office may have come after the year 59, when such exhibitions were prohibited at Pompeii for ten years ([p. 220]).
The gladiatorial scenes, if space permitted, would merit a detailed presentation—they are so full of human interest. Two gladiators are fighting on horseback, the rest on foot. The vanquished with uplifted thumbs are mutely begging for mercy. The plea of some of them is heeded by the populace; in other groups we see the victor preparing to give the death thrust. Beside each gladiator was painted his name, school, and number of previous combats, as in a programme; and letters were added to give the result of this fight. One combatant, who was beaten and yet by the vote of the audience permitted to live, died on the sand from his wounds. We see him resting on one knee, faint from loss of blood; the letter M beside his name, for missus, is followed by the death sign Θ, the first letter of the Greek word for death, ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ.
The animals shown in the venatio are mainly wild boars and bears, but we recognize also a lion and a bull. Lions were doubtless much more rarely seen in such exhibitions at Pompeii than at Rome.
As more attention came to be given to the outward appearance of tombs, less was bestowed upon the adornment of the sepulchral chamber. So in the tomb of Scaurus the burial vault is low, cramped, and with plain white walls. A massive pillar, as in the tomb of the Istacidii, supports the vaulted ceiling. It is pierced by two openings, forming four niches, two on each side. Three of these, when the tomb was opened, were closed by panes of glass, and there were traces of a curtain that hung over the one opposite the entrance. There were fourteen other niches in the walls at the sides.
No name is associated with the third tomb (18 on the plan) which, as shown by [Plate X], is simply a large cylinder of masonry, the top of which probably had the shape of a truncated cone; the material is brick, with a facing of white stucco lined off to give the appearance of blocks of marble. The base is square; the enclosing wall is adorned with miniature towers. The structure illustrates in its simplest form the type of the massive tomb, or mausoleum, found at Rome; we are at once reminded of the imposing monument of Caecilia Metella on the Appian Way, and of Hadrian's Mausoleum in the city.
A blank tablet was placed by the builder on the front of the enclosing wall to receive an inscription after his death. The heirs, however, preferred to put the memorial on the tomb itself, where the place of an inscription is plainly seen, the slab itself having disappeared. The sepulchral chamber is in the superstructure; it was decorated with simple designs in the fourth style on a white ground. There were only three niches, perhaps for father, mother, and child; the urns were let into the bottoms of the niches, as often in the Roman columbaria.
One of the miniature towers on the enclosing wall is ornamented with a relief presenting a singular design; a woman in mourning habit is laying a fillet on a skeleton reclining on a heap of stones ([Fig. 241]). The scene may be interpreted as symbolizing the grief of a mother for a dead son.