Adjoining to this is a large building, which, from various inscriptions, appears to have been erected at the expense of a lady named Eumachia, for the benefit of the public. Amongst other relics found, was a statue of this lady, five feet four inches high.
The forum of Pompeii[131] is situated at the northeast corner of the city, and is entered by a flight of steps, leading downwards through an arch in a brick wall, still partly covered with stucco. Upon entering, the spectator finds himself in a large area, surrounded by columns, the ruins of temples, triumphal arches, and other public erections. There are, also, a number of pedestals for the support of statues.
There is a subterranean wine-vault[132] near the city gates, which has been examined with great attention. It is very extensive, and contains the earthen vessels and bottles wherein the wine had been kept. They were arranged in the same precise order as previous to the awful eruption which desolated the city. The interior of this place much resembles cloisters, the roof being arched with strong stones. It was in these vaults where the unhappy inhabitants sought refuge from the sudden and overwhelming shower of fire and ashes.
After such an amazing lapse of time[133], liquids have been found approaching to a fluid state—an instance of which cannot be sufficiently admired, in a phial of oil, conceived to be that of olives. It is white, greasy to the touch, and emits the smell of rancid oil. An earthen vase was found, in the cellars, containing wine, which now resembles a lump of porous dark violet-coloured glass. Eggs, also, have been found, whole and empty.
On the north side[134] of the Pantheon, there runs a street, named the Street of Dried Fruits, from the quantity of fruits of various kinds, preserved in glass vases, which have been found. Scales, money, moulds for pastry and bread, were discovered in the shops, and a bronze statue of Fame, small and well executed; having bright bracelets of gold upon the arms. In the entrance which conducts from this street to the Pantheon a box was found, containing a gold ring with an engraved stone in it; also, forty-one silver, and one thousand and thirty-six brass, coins.
On the walls are representations of Cupid making bread. The mill stands in the centre of the picture, with an ass on each side; from which it has been inferred, that these animals were employed in grinding corn. Besides these, there are in this building a great number of very beautiful paintings.
Three bakers’ shops[135] at least have been found, all in a tolerable state of preservation. The mills, the oven, the kneading-troughs, the vessels for containing water, flour, and leaven, have all been discovered, and seem to leave nothing wanting to our knowledge. In some vessels the very flour remained, still capable of being identified, though reduced almost to a cinder. One of these shops was attached to the house of Sallust; the other to that of Pansa. The third seems to have belonged to a sort of capitalist: for instead of renting a mere dependency in another man’s house, he lived in a tolerably good house of his own, of which the bakery forms a part.
Beneath the oven is an ash-pit. To the right is a large room, which is conjectured to be a stable. The jaw of an ass, and some other fragments of a skeleton, were found in it. There is a reservoir for water at the farther end, which passes through the wall, and is common both to this room and the next, so that it could be filled without going into the stable.
In another place[136] there is an oil-mill; in a third, supposed to have been a prison, stocks were found; and in a fourth were pieces of armour, whence it has been called the Guard-room. In this quarter of the city a bronze helmet was found, enriched with bas-reliefs, relating to the principal events of the capture of Troy. Another helmet found represents the Triumph of Rome; greaves of bronze, highly ornamented, also were found.
Contiguous to the little theatre, the house of a sculptor has been cleared. There were found statues; some half finished; others just begun: with blocks of marble, and all the tools required by the sculptor.