'Thou, goddess, with thy present help
Our sore distress relieve.'
Another unsuccessful suitor found the lines of a single poet inadequate to express his feelings, and joined together a couplet from Ovid (Am. I. viii. 77-78) and one from Propertius (IV. v. 47-48) in order to voice his complaint against a miserly mistress who barred her door upon all except wealthy lovers. But the climax is reached in four lines of irregular verse in which the rejected lover proposes to vent his anger on the goddess of love herself: 'All lovers, come! I purpose to break the ribs of Venus and to smash the small of her back with clubs; if she can bore a hole in my tender breast, why can I not break her head with a cudgel?' From the psychological point of view the complete identification of the goddess with a statue representing her is noteworthy.
Occasionally a pair of lovers left on a wall a record of a meeting; thus, Romula hic cum Staphylo moratur,—'Romula tarried here with Staphylus.' Staphylus, however, was apparently a flirt; in the house of Caecilius Jucundus a similar meeting with another maiden is recorded on a column of the peristyle: Staphilus hic cum Quieta. But Staphylus does not seem to have gained the confidence of the fair sex to the extent that another Pompeian gallant did, of whom we find it written: Restitutus multas decepit saepe puellas,—'Restitutus has many times deceived many girls.'
The names of husband and wife are sometimes joined together, as in a room of a house in the ninth Region: L. Clodius Varus, Pelagia coniunx; there is a similar example in a house ruined by the earthquake of the year 63, [Ba]lbus et Fortunata, duo coiuges.
We find a pleasing instance of marital affection in a graffito in which a lonely wife sends a greeting to an absent husband and other relatives: Hirtia Psacas C. Hostilio Conopi coniugi suo manuductori et clementi monitori et Diodot[a]e sorori et Fortunato fratri et Celeri suis salutem semper ubique plurimam, et Primigeniae suae salutem,—'Hirtia Psacas at all times and in all places sends heartiest greeting to Gaius Hostilius Conops, her husband and guide and gentle adviser, and to her sister Diodota, her brother Fortunatus and her Celer; and she sends a greeting to her Primigenia, too.' The names of both husband and wife are Greek, psacas signifying 'dewdrop,' and conops 'gnat.'
Many happenings are chronicled on the walls; and there are memoranda of every description. The programmes of gladiatorial combats have already been mentioned ([p. 223]). One man records the result of a trip to Nuceria, where he won at the gaming table—without cheating, he takes pains to add—a sum amounting to $130: Vici Nuceriae in alia (for alea) 𐆖 DCCCLVS, fide bona,—'At Nuceria, I won 855.5 denarii by gaming, fair play.'
Another Pompeian counted the steps as he walked up and down the colonnade at the side of his garden (in the house VII. ii. 41) for exercise; he recorded 640 paces for ten turns back and forth.
In the peristyle of a house in the first Region the advent of young pigs, or of puppies, is noted: XV K[alendas] Nov[embres] Puteolana peperit mascl[os] III, femel[as] II,—'On October 17 Puteolana had a litter consisting of 3 males and 2 females.'
The inscriptions relating to business transactions are reserved for another chapter. We may notice here, however, that memoranda of accounts were sometimes scratched on walls, usually containing only the figures indicating measure or price, as in the shops on the south side of the Macellum. The following is from a bakery in the first Region (I. iii. 27): Oleum, l[ibra], a[ssibus] IV; palea a. V; faenum a. XVI; diaria a. V; furfure a. VI; viria I a. III; oleum a. VI,—'Oil, a pound, 4 asses; straw, 5 asses; hay, 16 asses; a day's wages, 5 asses; bran, 6 asses; one wreath for the neck, 3 asses; oil, 6 asses.' The value of the as varied; in the Early Empire it was nearly equivalent to 1½ pence, or 3 cents.