Not far from Rome are ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, towns where many of the Romans had their country homes. In the year 79, more than eighteen hundred years ago, Vesuvius burst forth in a terrible eruption and destroyed the two cities. Pompeii was buried under a sheet of “ashes,” while Herculaneum was overflowed by streams of lava. For centuries no one knew that underneath these layers of “ashes” and lava a great part of the two cities lay undestroyed. Recently, by digging away the covering, they have discovered many curious and interesting things. House walls, paintings, tools, weapons, ornaments, all remain to tell us how the ancient Romans worked and lived.
But later Rome was also great. It was the central city of Christendom, the seat of the Pope’s power, the location of the Vatican. For this reason it was the place where master minds dealt with great problems, where great architects designed wonderful cathedrals, where painters produced the famous pictures of the world. Nor is Rome small to-day. She is no longer the mistress of the world; the temporal power of the church has been lessened; but modern Rome is still the capital of a great nation, a centre of enlightenment, a hive of industry; a shrine to which the lovers of art and beauty make their pilgrimage.
Even the poorest and meanest in Italy love music, painting, and statuary. Everywhere in public places one sees sculptures in fine marble. Such works in our own land would run some risk of injury or destruction, but in Italy no one thinks of harming them. The Italians all love music, and most of them know how to play some instrument.
Italian mosaics and cameos are famous. At Florence particularly the making of mosaics is important. Mosaics are pictures made by fitting together wee bits of stones, enamels, or glasses of bright colors. A pair of cuff buttons or a brooch may bear a spray of flowers, which looks like delicate painting, but is really made by the fitting together of these bits of stone. Cameos are cut from shell or onyx. Many sea shells are composed of layers of different colors of shelly matter. Onyx is a stone which is layered with different colors. A cameo is a piece of carving cut in such materials so that the different colored layers give different parts of the design. The work is beautiful and delicate. Perhaps the finest cameo cutting is done at Naples.
The Italian enjoys games. Several kinds of ball games are favorites with him. He delights in throwing dice and other games of chance. Boys are fond of morra. There are two players: at a given signal each extends one hand with a certain number of fingers stretched out; at the same moment each calls how many fingers he thinks both will have out. If either guesses right, he wins. This is a very old game, and was played in the time of Rome’s imperial grandeur.
The gayest time of the year for young and old is the Carnival. Every one is on the streets. They wear masks and are hideously dressed—like clowns, deformed and distorted beings, devils, animals. They make a great din and play all kinds of pranks. They throw flowers and paper cut to bits on one another and sprinkle passers-by with water. Men, women, and children all take part in this wild fun. The more ignorant Italians are superstitious. They fear witchcraft and the evil eye, and most of the lower class carry some lucky stone or other object to protect them against such dangers.
VIII.
BASQUES.
On both sides of the Pyrenees Mountains, in France and in Spain, there dwells a people which does not speak an Aryan language, the Basques. Many writers who have studied the Basque language have wondered how it came to exist alone in the midst of so many languages that have no relation to it.
The people who speak this language are called French Basques or Spanish Basques according to which side of the Pyrenees is their home. They differ somewhat. The Spanish Basques are usually short, clear-complexioned, with rather long and narrow heads and brown or black hair. The French Basques are frequently quite tall, have much broader heads, and sometimes light hair. Neither French nor Spanish Basques are pure in blood, being much mixed with their neighbors. Still, it is said that a Basque can generally be known by his face. The upper, forward part of his head is wide and bulging, while his face is long, narrow, and ends in a pointed chin.
The Basques are famous for their good health, their fine forms, and their quick and graceful movements. They are industrious, hard workers. In the uplands the men are shepherds, in the lowlands farmers and herders, and on the coast fishermen and sailors. In the cities they work at the docks, loading and unloading vessels. Women work at this hard work just the same as men. Formerly the men engaged much in piracy. Basque women are much employed as nurses in Spanish families.