The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

“The Appian way, near to Pompeii, but outside of the walls and immediately contiguous to them, is, as at Rome, bordered on both sides by tombs. and in general they are in good condition, having been preserved during seventeen centuries equally from injuries by the weather and by wanton violation. They are of marble, and their Latin inscriptions still commemorate their tenants. One tomb, constructed in the manner of the columbaria, is dedicated to the gladiators, and is decorated with bas-reliefs representing their combats. Near the tombs, and outside of the walls, we saw sheds for the horses of those who arrived after the gates of the city were closed. No stables have been discovered in the town, but skeletons of horses were found at this place, where there was a large tavern.

“Pompeii was first discovered in 1748. It lies about twelve miles south-east from Naples. The town was extremely compact, and appears to have been only three-fourths of a mile long by half a mile wide. The houses were joined together. Twenty streets, which are only fifteen feet wide, had been uncovered twenty years since. Although only one-third part of the city has been cleared of its covering, five or six hours were industriously employed by us, with our two guides, in visiting the most interesting private dwellings and the public buildings. We were indeed richly rewarded for our effort. Here we were, walking in the very streets and on the very pavements on which the ancient Romans trod; we were surveying the very houses in which they dwelt: we saw the vestibules, the impluvium (an interior and central receptacle for the rain-water from the roofs;) their triclinia, or dining-halls; their colonnades, surrounding an interior open area, in which they walked and conversed with their families and friends; the fish-ponds, also in an open area; the private marble baths; the kitchens and other arrangements for culinary purposes; the gardens in the rear of the houses, the halls and colonnades opening into the garden; the whole forming a domestic dominion secure from public inspection. All these arrangements were perfectly intelligible to us; and as we walked from house to house, it was not difficult to imagine that we were making calls, and that the people were not at home.

“Everywhere, even in the smaller houses, the floors were adorned with mosaic; many of the best designs have been sent to Naples, but, including what is still covered, much more remains in place, and not essentially injured. When it is considered that no melted lava flowed into Pompeii, but that it was covered solely by a volcanic shower of comminuted pumice and other pulverulent materials, which accumulated until the roofs were crushed inward by the weight, it will be easily understood that the mosaic floors may have remained for seventeen or eighteen hundred years, substantially uninjured. The mosaic of Pompeii is uncovered in many places, and when the dust is brushed away and the surface is wiped with a wet cloth, as was done for our gratification, all the original brightness and beauty of the figures shine forth, and in the finest patterns, the execution was in a high degree tasteful and elegant. At the door of the mansion of the edile Glaucus, which was one of the largest and best in the city, there was, in the vestibule and before entering the house, a very startling mosaic figure of a large and powerful dog, secured by a chain around his neck, but crouching and fierce, as if about to spring upon the visitor; and immediately before this vigilant sentinel, you read in large Roman letters, CAVE CANEM—beware of the dog! The inscription is preserved in the original place where we saw it, but the dog has been removed to the museum at Naples. It is still a perfect figure of a Roman dog.

“The frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum, have put us in possession of very perfect specimens of the skill of the Romans in the art of painting. The only examples of their pictorial talent previously known, were the comparatively imperfect decorations in the baths of Titus at Rome. In these buried cities nearly all the walls of the houses are frescoed, and among these, have been found many superb specimens of ancient art. Most of the best have been removed to the museum of Naples, but some of considerable merit still remain in place, and no doubt further excavations will show numerous others now unknown. The colors are somewhat faded, but are bright when wet. The copies in water-colors, sold at Naples, give very perfectly the idea of these frescoes, but with more brilliancy than is possessed by the original. Many of these figures are nude, although many are draped. We were particularly struck with the singularity of some of the figures on the walls, having shoes very much like our modern ones. As the great object of art is to present Nature in her forms of greatest purity and grace, these nude figures can not meet with more objections than their modern representatives. We saw nothing in Pompeii or Herculaneum, worthy of so much criticism in point of taste, as may be seen in almost any of the European galleries of modern painting. Titian’s Loves of the Gods in Blenheim palace, certainly surpass the ancients in this respect.

“An expected visit of the Duke d’Aumale (son of Louis Philippe, and allied by marriage to the royal family of Naples) has been made the occasion of an additional excavation, which is now being carried on by order of the king. We thought it rare good fortune, that we could stand by and see the moving of materials which had not been disturbed since the catastrophe. They are entirely unconsolidated, and are easily moved by the shovel. The accumulations did not appear to be more than ten feet above the tops of the houses, but if measured from the level of the streets, they might have been twenty feet in thickness. In it were distinctly visible the alternation of fine pumice, coarse pumice, lapilli and dark colored sand, before mentioned.

“We had the pleasure of seeing apartments that had been recently opened, and of going into several of them. In these, the pictures are fresh, and far less faded than in those that have been long exposed. In one of these houses, all the marble figures found around the impluvium, and colonnade, and fountain, have been allowed to remain intact, as the Romans left them, when they fled for their lives. Around the fountain in one of these houses, there were numerous grotesque jets formed of marble, in the shape of miniature bulls, ducks and dolphins, and associated with them was a Bacchus. A leaden tube which formerly conveyed water for the fountain, remains in place as it passed through the wall. We observed, as illustrating the condition of the art of working this metal among the Romans, that the pipe was not drawn nor cast, but was made by folding up a sheet into the tubular form, and closing the joint by a lap without solder. In this house was a large vaulted music room, the walls of which are nearly perfect. The object for which the room was constructed, was sufficiently indicated by figures of musical instruments, and of persons playing upon them. Columns were in general use in the better houses, around the included area, in the gardens, and in other places. In the best dwellings they are of polished marble, in many they are stuccoed. Some of the Roman houses, in their most perfect and uninjured condition, must have been very beautiful, although their accommodations were much more limited than those of modern times. The rooms, the dormitories especially, were much smaller, and the houses were low, and rarely rose above two stories. They were so constructed as to admit of the most perfect domestic seclusion: no eye could scrutinize the family privacy from the street, or from another house. Various names have been given to several of the larger and more beautiful houses in Pompeii, sometimes fanciful, but more frequently from some statue, mosaic, painting, or other distinctive work of art found in them, referring, as is sometimes supposed, to the owner. Thus we saw the houses of the Faun, of the Medusa, of the three Fountains, and those of Pansa, of Glaucus, of Sallust, and of Cicero. It is doubtful whether Cicero had a house at Pompeii, and still more doubtful whether the one called by his name had any connection with him. The three fountains in the house of that name, are decorated with modern sea-shells, such as now abound in the Mediterranean, and in a style of patterns still prevalent in Naples. The fountains in the two houses newly exposed were very elegant, and in perfect condition.

“The forum was large and handsome, and surrounded with double rows of columns for a covered colonnade. In connection with it, was a temple of Jupiter, and another opposite to it, of Venus, both decorated with massive monolithic columns. Half-dressed blocks of marble and portions of columns lie on the ground in the forum, where they were in process of preparation, to repair the injuries done to the building by the shocks of an earthquake, before the destructive eruption. Numerous dislocated and propped walls in the city bear testimony to the same event, which occurred in the year 63. Connected with the forum, was the basilica or hall of justice, a structure adorned with columns, and provided with an elevated tribune for the judges. Vaulted apartments beneath, were used as a prison, communicating by a circular opening in the crown of the arch, with the hall above. In this prison, which we entered, were found three skeletons of prisoners, ironed to the floor, doubtless waiting their examination at the time of the catastrophe, which so unexpectedly changed the venue of their trial to another bar! Many acres are inclosed by the various structures of the forum, whose very ruins, with their numerous columns, make a grand appearance. Among the ruins, are those of a temple to Esculapius, one for Hercules, and another for Fortune.

“Numerous monuments and inscriptions in Pompeii, indicate the Greek origin of the original colony, and the Egyptian customs and society which preceded the Roman dynasty. The temple of Isis still shows its sacrificial altar, and inscriptions in Egyptian characters cover the columns. Some of the largest and most beautiful of the silver vessels in the museum at Naples, were found in this temple. Curiously enough, as we entered these ancient precincts, in which the serpent was held sacred, a snake, reputed by the guide as venomous, crossing our path, was made a victim, which we offered on the altar.

“Beneath a superb portico in the street of the tombs, the skeletons of a female and several children were discovered; in the street near the temple of Isis, another skeleton was found at the depth of ten feet, and below it, a large collection of gold and silver medals in perfect preservation, chiefly of the reign of Domitian.

“The theaters, whose remains are distinct, are the comic, the tragic, and the amphitheater. They were lined with polished marble, and were, in every way, highly finished and elegant. Of the two former, the entire plan and the greater part of the structure are visible, and most of the seats are in place.