The Voyages, Travels, and Experiences
of Thomas Trotter.
CHAPTER XIX.
Visit to Herculaneum.—Singular position of that city.—Account of the manuscripts discovered there.—Visit to Pompeii, and description of the curiosities of that place.
No traveller can visit this region without being attracted to those remarkable places, Herculaneum and Pompeii, two Roman cities, which, as every reader of history well knows, were overwhelmed by an eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79, and, after lying buried, totally forgotten, for seventeen hundred years, were accidentally discovered about a century ago, by digging a well.
I first visited Herculaneum, which is nearest to Naples. This city lies seventy or eighty feet under ground, and the towns of Portici and Resina are built over it. I went down a dark passage with steps, like the descent into some enormous dungeon, till I reached an open space resembling a cavern, very wide and lofty, but as dark and dismal a spot as one would desire to visit. On examining the side of this great chamber by the light of torches, we could discover the stone walls and other masonry of the structure, all showing it to be an ancient theatre. In this place were originally found three fine marble statues, which are now to be seen in the museum at Naples. Round about the building are various dark passages and galleries dug through the hard earth; but the whole city of Herculaneum lies at such a depth below the surface, that very little of it besides the theatre has been explored, on account of the labor and expense attending the operation. The city was overwhelmed first by a shower of ashes, and then by a torrent of hot water. The ashes and water have hardened into a compact mass, which, after a consolidation of seventeen hundred years, is found very difficult to dig through.
There is very little to be seen in Herculaneum; but it causes the strangest sensations to stand in that gloomy subterranean theatre, once enlivened by the bustling throngs and noisy gayety of a city populace. Now all is silent and dreary, and no sound falls upon the ear save the echoing footstep of a lonely visiter, or the rumbling of a carriage-wheel overhead! It is not probable that the city will ever be laid open to the light of day, as this could hardly be done without serious injury to the territory above it.
The most remarkable objects hitherto found here have been the manuscripts. These were rolls of papyrus, but so completely charred by the hot ashes, that they could not be handled without danger of crumbling to pieces. By very delicate management, however, assisted by machinery, a series of these have been unrolled. They contained a treatise, in the Greek language, on music, by Philodemas. Most of the others that have been examined are also in Greek; but no writings of any great intrinsic value have yet come to light.
A few miles further along the shore of the Bay of Naples brought me to Pompeii. This city was buried under a shower of ashes, but was not covered so deep as Herculaneum; and as no town was built over it after the catastrophe, there has been no difficulty in excavating it. About a third part has now been opened, and the work is still going on. The excavated parts are not subterranean, as at Herculaneum, but completely uncovered to the sky; so that the visible portion of the city presents the appearance of a succession of deserted streets and roofless houses, as if a violent storm of wind had suddenly blown away the house-tops and the inhabitants with them. Before coming to the gate of the city, I passed through long lines of tombs;—the grave-yards of the Romans being always outside the city walls. Many of these tombs were adorned with beautiful sculptures in marble; and the interiors were painted with pictures of gladiators fighting, and other subjects. Just before reaching the gate, I saw a niche in the wall, which served as a sentry-box for the soldier who stood sentry at the gate. It is a most striking proof of the strictness of military discipline among the Romans, that the skeleton of this sentinel was found on the spot:—the terrible convulsion which destroyed the city could not drive him from his post, and he remained faithful to his trust to the last moment of his life!
The main street, on entering, is about as wide as Washington street, with sidewalks two feet high. The buildings are mostly of brick, and commonly not more than one story high. The main street is full of shops, with the names of the shopkeepers coarsely painted over the doors. There is a baker’s shop, which contained a great many loaves of bread, rather overdone. The loaves are stamped with the baker’s name. The shop also contained a hand-mill, which shows that the labor of grinding was also done by the baker. In one of the liquor-shops you may see on the stone counter the marks of the glasses which were thumped down by hard drinkers. I went into the cellar of one of the houses, where I found the wine-jars left standing just as they were in 79; they were dry, of course. Some of the houses had upper chambers, but without windows. The large rooms, dining-halls, parlors, &c., have the walls painted with landscapes, flowers, drapery, and figures like our paper-hangings. Many of these are of great beauty; and in all of them we are struck with wonder to observe the freshness and brilliancy of the coloring, which, after a lapse of 1700 years, appears as bright as the day it was laid on. These paintings are executed upon plaster, and the composition either of the paint or stucco appears to contain borax, which is known to be one of the most indestructible of all substances. The prevailing colors are bright red and yellow.
A great many of these paintings have been cut out of the walls and carried to Naples, where they may be seen at the museum. This indeed is the fact with regard to almost all the movable articles that have been found at Pompeii. In the gateway of a yard to one of the houses is a bolt in the pavement, to which a dog was chained, and on the stone is sculptured the words, Cave Canem—“Beware of the dog!” In another part is an apothecary’s shop, which contained a great number of glass bottles and phials, with knives, lancets, and other instruments of surgery. These latter are not of steel, but bronze; and it is singular that hardly any other metal than bronze has ever been found here, which shows either the scarcity of iron at that period, or a great want of skill in working it.