Pompeii, Its Life and Art

by August Mau

One tomb (2) has the form of a niche, resembling those of the two children near the end of the Street of Tombs ([p. 425]), but larger and more costly than they. The corners are embellished with three-quarter columns, which have Doric flutings and composite capitals. On the walls at the entrance we see, modelled in stucco, doorposts with double doors swung back. Two marble bust stones, the places of which are indicated on the plan, show where the urns of the two most important members of the family, Apuleius and his wife Veia, were buried; their names doubtless appeared in an inscription on the front of the monument. In one of the urns was found a coin of Tiberius of the year 10 A.D. The other was enclosed in a lead case, and a lead libation tube was extended from the ashes through both covers to the surface.

The names of Apuleius and Veia are obtained from two other bust stones, in front of the niche. One reads, Festae Apulei f[iliae] vix[it] ann[os] XVII,—'To the memory of Festa, daughter of Apuleius, who lived seventeen years.' The other has simply [C]onviva Veiaes vix. an. XX,—'Conviva, slave of Veia, lived twenty years.' An as of the time of the Republic was found in the urn of Conviva; and a square tile, the upper end of which was closed by a piece of marble, served as a libation tube for the urn of Festa.

Fig. 248.—Two other tombs east of the Amphitheatre.
Nos. 5, 6 on the plan.

The two remaining tombs are of the temple type, one (3; [Fig. 247]) having pilasters at the corners, the other half-columns at the corners and on the sides (6). The first has a vaulted sepulchral chamber, entered from the rear. On the inside of the wall next the street are three low niches, the top of which is nearly on a level with the sidewalk; each of them contained an urn. Directly over the inner niches, in the outside of the wall and opening toward the street, are three other niches, shown in the illustration, in the bottom of which were libation tubes leading to the urns below. Relatives could thus pour their offerings of wine or oil upon the urns without entering the sepulchral chamber. Lava bust stones were placed against the back of the outer niches. The hair on one of them is treated in a manner to indicate that a woman is represented. The entrance of the tomb was closed by a large block of lava. On account of the arrangement for offering libations from the outside, it was not necessary to make the burial vault easy of access.

The entrance to the other tomb (6; [Fig. 248]) was in front, and closed by a door of limestone. It led, not to a sepulchral chamber, but to a stairway by which one ascended to the second story. Here statues were placed, but the exact form of the upper part cannot be determined. The finding of five tufa capitals suggests that the second story may have been a columnar structure, like that of the tomb of the Istacidii; when the excavations are carried further east enough other fragments will perhaps be found to make a complete restoration possible. One of the statues is of a man holding a roll of papyrus in his hand, with a round manuscript case, scrinium, at his feet.

Among the inscriptions painted on these tombs were two, relating to gladiatorial combats, which have already been mentioned ([p. 221]). One of the election notices, oddly enough, refers to a candidate for an office in Nuceria: L. Munatium Caeserninum Nuceriae II vir. quinq. v. b. o. v. f. (for duumvirum quinquennalem, virum bonum, oro vos, facite),—'Make Lucius Caeserninus quinquennial duumvir of Nuceria, I beg of you, he's a good man.' As long as the relations of the Pompeians and Nucerians were friendly, the highway between the two towns was doubtless much travelled by the citizens of both places.

If the visitor pauses to think of the religious feeling which the ancients manifested generally in relation to their burial places, it gives somewhat of a shock to see notices even of a semi-public character painted in bright red letters upon tombs. All such inscriptions, however, are surpassed in ludicrous incongruity with the purpose of the monument by the following advertisement regarding a stray horse: Equa siquei aberavit cum semuncis honerata a. d. VII Kal. Septembres (corrected into Decembres), convenito Q. Deciu[m] Q. l. Hilarum ... L. l. ... chionem, citra pontem Sarni fundo Mamiano,—'If anybody lost a mare with a small pack-saddle, November 25, let him come and see Quintus Decius Hilarus, freedman of Quintus Decius, or ... (the name is illegible), freedman of Lucius, on the estate of the Mamii, this side of the bridge over the Sarno.' The two freedmen were very likely in partnership, working a farm belonging to the family, one representative of which we have already met, Mamia the priestess ([p. 410]).

A more serious desecration of burial places, after offerings to the dead ceased to be made by relatives, or a family became extinct, was probably not uncommon. Different families had different gods, and those of one household were quite independent of those of another. Ordinarily a man had no reason to fear or respect the gods of his neighbor; notwithstanding the associations of worship connected with tombs, the general feeling toward them was very different from that manifested toward temples, where local divinities or the great gods were worshipped. The most stringent regulations of the emperors could not prevent the ransacking of the tombs about Rome for objects of value, and the removal of their materials of construction for building purposes. The superstructure of two of the monuments near the Herculaneum Gate had disappeared apparently before the destruction of the city, and of the tomb of Porcius only the core remained.