Our interest in Pompeii was heightened by our previously having visited the Naples Museum, where a multitude of articles found during the excavations were on exhibition. There we had examined hundreds of objects of art, marble statues, bronze statues, mosaics, vases, frescoes, and paintings; we had seen thousands of ornaments for personal adornment, necklaces, cameos, bracelets, rings, chains, and toilet accessories and had looked at numberless articles for household use, such as stoves, lamps, dishes, and kitchen utensils. Even food was not lacking in the exhibition, being represented by olives in a jar, oil in bottles, charred walnuts, almonds, figs, wheat, and eggs. These things, abandoned by the fugitives in their wild flight, helped us to imagine the taste and manner of living of the Pompeians before the destruction of their city.
"This is the Amphitheatre," said the guide, as we assembled around him in the arena of a large structure. "Here fights between wild beasts, gladiatorial combats, and other great spectacles took place. Underneath the seats on one side are the dens where the lions and tigers were kept in a starving condition to make them ferocious, and underneath on the other side are the dungeons where prisoners were confined until forced into the arena to meet the wild beasts. On the hill nearby are the barracks where the gladiators lived and trained for combats." An announcement of an oldtime entertainment remains inscribed on one of the stone walls. It reads as follows:
Twenty pairs of gladiators, at the expense of Decimus, a priest, and ten pairs of gladiators, at the expense of Lucretius, will fight at Pompeii on the eleventh of April. There will be a complete hunting scene, and the awnings will be spread.
Another inscription on the wall stated:
On the dedication of the baths, at the expense of Maius, there will be a hunt, athletic sports, showering of perfumes, etc., at the Amphitheatre.
"There was also a Tragic Theatre in Pompeii," continued the guide. "It was reserved for dramatic performances. The stone tiers seated an audience of five thousand. The Amphitheatre and the Tragic were open to the sky, but both were provided with awnings that could be spread above the seats to protect the people from the sun."
I. LATELY EXCAVATED ARE CAREFULLY PROTECTED.
II. PUBLIC BATHS WITH ARCADES.