Fig. 273.—Zeus and Hera on Mt. Ida.
Wall painting from the house of the Tragic Poet.
PART VI
THE INSCRIPTIONS OF POMPEII
CHAPTER LVI
IMPORTANCE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS.—MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS AND PUBLIC NOTICES
The inscriptions discovered at Pompeii number more than six thousand. They cover a wide field, ranging from commemorative tablets put up at public expense to the scribblings of idlers upon the plastered walls. It would be an exaggeration to say that they contribute to our knowledge of antiquity much that is new; their value lies rather in the insight which they give into the life of the city and its people.
In one respect the evidence derived from inscriptions, though often of the most fragmentary character, is especially satisfactory. We feel that we are handling original documents, without the intervention of that succession of copyists which stands between the author of a Greek or Roman masterpiece and the modern reader. The shapes of the letters and the spelling are just as they were left by the stonecutter or the scribbler; the various handwritings can still be as plainly distinguished on the charred tablets of Caecilius Jucundus as though the signatures were witnessed only yesterday. Through the inscriptions we are brought into contact with the personality of the Pompeians as in no other way.
The inscriptions may be classified either according to the subject matter or according to the form in which they appear, whether cut in stone, or painted, or scratched upon a smooth surface with a stylus. No detailed classification need be given here; it will be sufficient for our purposes to discuss the main divisions briefly under four heads,—monumental inscriptions and public notices, graffiti, and inscriptions relating to business affairs.
Monumental inscriptions include those which are cut in hard material and are intended to be read by all who see them. They are found at Pompeii chiefly in or upon public buildings, on pedestals of statues and on sepulchral monuments. They are characterized by extreme brevity. A few are in the Oscan language, the rest are in Latin. The more important examples have been presented in the preceding pages in connection with the monuments to which they belong. A list of them is given in the Index under "Inscriptions."