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 in 2018 with funding from 
 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/pompeiancourtincOOscha 
 
THE 
 
 POMPEIAN COUET 
 
 IN THE 
 
 CRYSTAL PALACE. 
 
 DESCRIBED BY GEORGE SCHARE, Jus., 
 
 F.S.A., F.R.S.L., Ac. 
 
 CEYSTAL PALACE LIBEAEY; 
 
 AND 
 
 BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON. 
 1854. 
 
BRADBURY AND EVANS, 
 
 PRINTER TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE COMl'AN Y, 
 WHITE PEI AES, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN the following account of the Pompeian Court, my chief 
 aim has been to combine simplicity with truth; relying for 
 success on that interest which so alluring a subject is certain 
 to create. With much gratification I avail myself of the 
 privilege granted to an author, in his preface, of returning 
 my best thanks to those friends who have lent me their aid 
 in this arduous undertaking. Mr. Digby Wyatt is entitled 
 to the gratitude of all engaged in the works of art at the 
 Crystal Palace for the opportunities he has afforded to each 
 artist for the display of his particular talents, and I sincerely 
 thank him for his kindness in accompanying me through 
 the building and affording minute information to my numerous 
 enquiries when he could with difficulty spare the time. I 
 beg also cordially to thank Mr. Samuel Phillips for important 
 suggestions respecting the conduct of my work, and for his 
 interest and encouragement in its progress. Mr. Edward 
 Palkener is entitled to my best acknowledgments, not only 
 for the valuable assistance rendered in his published account 
 of a Pompeian house, but for his kindness in looking over the 
 proofs of these pages before they were committed to press. 
 It is to be hoped that many of his observations may appear 
 at greater length in the next edition of this Handbook, with¬ 
 out prejudice to the magnificent work he is contemplating on 
 the “ Domestic Architecture of Pompeii.” I sincerely thank 
 my friend, Mr. James Morant Lockyer for the benefit of his 
 
IV 
 
 ' PREFACE. 
 
 long architectural sojourn in Pompeii ; regretting, at the same 
 time, that the public has not had the advantage of his exten¬ 
 sive knowledge and experience. 
 
 The excellent paintings produced here in the Pompeian 
 Court, under the direction of Signor Abbate require no com¬ 
 mendation from me ; but I feel that I shall be only expressing 
 the sentiment of others in wishing that we may at some 
 future period see an extension of this ancient palace, or 
 another series of apartments in which the same abilities shall 
 afford us accurate copies of still more of the pictorial cele¬ 
 brities—such as the Theseus and the Minotaur, and Hercules 
 and Telephus, found at Herculaneum; the Sacrifice of 
 Iphigenia and the Anger of Achilles, from the House of the 
 Tragic Poet ; also the Zephyrus and Flora, and some of the 
 picture mosaics, the Choragus one, for instance, and the far- 
 famed Alexander and Darius at the battle of Issus. 
 
THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 DESCRIBED BY GEORGE SCHARF, Jun. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 DESTRUCTION - OF HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII. 
 
 “Many a calamity lias befallen the world ere now, yet none like this 
 replete with instruction and delight for remote generations.” —Goethe. 
 
 View of Naples and Mount Vesuvius. 
 
 Near the modem city of Naples, at the foot of Mount Vesu¬ 
 vius, once stood the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. 
 Whilst the former was considerably removed from the volcano, the 
 latter was seated immediately at the base of the mountain, on a 
 promontory projecting into the bay. 
 
6 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 Vesuvius was not considered dangerous by tbe ancient occupants 
 of the soil, as no eruption had ever been known to take place. 
 Strabo noticed the igneous character of its rocks, but the whole 
 district being covered with vines and plantations, undisturbed since 
 the memory of man, he thence assumed the fires to be extinct for 
 want of fuel. Even the sides of the mountain were overgrown 
 with trees, and the summit alone continued barren and rough. 
 The inhabitants of the neighbourhood were probably less inclined to 
 consider the possibility of danger to themselves from the existence 
 of two active volcanoes not far from them which seemed to serve 
 as a vent for all subterranean commotions—the one, Mount 
 ^tna ; the other, Mount Epopeus in the island now called Ischia. 
 -Etna, the majestic snowy mountain of Sicily, more than three 
 times the height of Vesuvius, has been known, from the earliest 
 times, as an active volcano ; and many passages in AEschylus, 
 Pindar, Thucydides, and Diodorus Siculus might be adduced, 
 commemorating particular eruptions, &c. Pausanias mentions an 
 instance of the piety of two youths who saved their parents at 
 Catana (Book 10., ch. xxviii.) during the descent of the lava 
 which threatened to surround them. In the year 73 b.c., Spar- 
 tacus, a fugitive slave, at the head of a troop of gladiators and 
 revolters, encamped on the summit of Vesuvius, where they were 
 blockaded. The natural ruggedness of the place, and the density 
 of the vines, favoured their subsequent escape. This is the earliest 
 mention of the actual appearance of the volcano. The natural 
 beauties of the district, then called Campania, are glorified by most 
 writers ; it was more particularly celebrated for its fertility and 
 the luxuriant magnificence of its scenery. 
 
 The convulsions of nature have indeed changed the outline of 
 the mountain, but the varied charms of the beautiful coast remain 
 in undiminished attraction. Deep shades and crystal streamlets, 
 sunny banks and refreshing groves, display the natural loveliness 
 of a locality, favoured with the most luxuriant vegetation, and 
 the finest climate in the world. These enable us fully to com¬ 
 prehend the pains and trouble bestowed by the ancient Homans 
 in building villas and marine residences in so charming a situation. 
 Thus, in the earliest times of the empire, the more wealthy and 
 luxurious Homans established what we modems should denominate 
 watering places, for fashionable resort, on the coast, Baise, 
 Dicaearchia, afterwards Puteoli, Cumae, Neapolis, and Hercula¬ 
 neum, but the warm springs of the first two rendered them the most 
 favourite resorts, and they became the Bath and Brighton of that era. 
 
VILLAS AT BALE.—EARTHQUAKES. 
 
 7 
 
 Lucullus, Pompey and Caesar, had villas at Baiae, Nero spent 
 much time there, and Caligula contributed to the celebrity of the 
 scene by his extraordinary bridge of boats. Hadrian died at Baiae; 
 and, at a later period, Alexander Severus erected many villas in the 
 same neighbourhood. Some of the most splendid palaces were 
 raised upon artificial foundations in the sea itself, and nothing 
 could exceed the luxury and indolence indulged in by the visitors 
 to these regions as depicted by some of the later poets. Horace 
 himself speaks of the pleasant Baiae as the most delicious place 
 in the world. * And so it may have been, and all the neigh¬ 
 bouring cities of the bay must have partaken more or less of 
 the same glories. Pompeii was somewhat removed from these 
 enchanting scenes, being on the other side of the bay of Naples, 
 and the situation was not so pleasant as that of its fellow- 
 sufferer Herculaneum. This city stood on a promontory, open, 
 as Strabo says, to the south wind, which made it especially 
 healthy. In fact, the art and style of everything found at Her¬ 
 culaneum show it to have been the resort of a superior class of 
 people. Pompeii is supposed to have stood on the banks of 
 the river Sarnus. The town itself was raised upon a consider¬ 
 able eminence so as to be protected in a great measure from 
 the floods that at certain times of the year devastated the sur¬ 
 rounding plain. 
 
 The peace and tranquillity of these beautiful regions were first 
 disturbed by natural convulsions in the year 63 a.d. A violent 
 earthquake on the 16th February, threw down many parts of 
 Pompeii, and seriously injured Herculaneum ; six hundred sheep 
 were swallowed up at once, statues were split, and many persons 
 became insane. From this period, the Pompeians were disturbed 
 by frequent shocks of earthquake ; between the first symptoms in 
 63 and the dreadful catastrophe which involved their destruction, 
 evidences still exist of the persevering endeavours of the inhabi¬ 
 tants at restoration and repair. Many mosaics have been found, 
 which display traces of a very different order of workmanship, in 
 the repair of damage caused by the earthquake, from that employed 
 in their original construction. 
 
 In the reign of the emperor Titus, a. d . 7 9, the celebrated erup¬ 
 tion of Vesuvius broke out, suddenly ejecting dense clouds of 
 ashes and pumice-stones, beneath which Herculaneum, Pompeii, 
 and Stabise were completely buried. Awful as such a phenomenon 
 
 * “ Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis prselucet amcenis.”—Ep. bk. i. 1, line 83. 
 
THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 must at all times appear, the event was still more appalling to the 
 inhabitants as they were unable, in the confusion of the moment, 
 to comprehend the source whence these horrors proceeded. An 
 eye witness has fortunately left a detailed account of the event 
 in two letters which are still preserved. We insert the greater part 
 of them as best exhibiting the realities of the scene and the excite¬ 
 ment of the unfortunate sufferers. 
 
 pliny’s letter to tacitus. 
 
 et Your request that I would send you an account of my uncle’s 
 death, in order to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, 
 deserves my acknowledgments ; for if this action shall be cele¬ 
 brated by your pen, the glory of it, I am well assured, will be 
 rendered for ever illustrious. And notwithstanding he perished 
 by a misfortune, which, as it involved at the same time a most 
 beautiful country in ruins, and destroyed so many populous 
 cities, seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance ; not¬ 
 withstanding he has himself composed many and lasting works, 
 yet I am persuaded the mentioning of him in your immortal 
 writings will greatly contribute to eternise his name. Happy I 
 esteem those to be whom Providence has distinguished with the 
 abilities either of doing such actions as are worthy of being re¬ 
 lated, or of relating them in a manner worthy of being read ; but 
 doubly happy are they who are blessed with both these uncommon 
 talents. In the number of which my uncle, as his own writings 
 and your history will evidently prove, may justly be ranked. 
 It is with extreme willingness, therefore, I execute your com¬ 
 mands ; and should indeed have claimed the task if you had not 
 enjoined it. 
 
 “He was at that time with the fleet under his command at 
 Misenum. On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, 
 my mother desired him to observe a cloud which appeared of a 
 very unusual size and shape. He had just returned from taking 
 the benefit of the sun, and after bathing himself in cold water, 
 and taking a slight repast, was retired to his study. He imme¬ 
 diately arose and went out up on an eminence from whence he 
 might more distinctly view this uncommon appearance. It was 
 not at that distance discernible from what mountain this cloud 
 issued, but it was found afterwards to ascend from Mount 
 Vesuvius. I cannot give you a more exact description of its figure, 
 than by resembling it to that of a pine tree, for it shot up a great 
 
PLINY’S LETTER TO TACITUS. 
 
 9 
 
 height in the form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top 
 into sort of branches, occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust 
 of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced 
 upwards, or the cloud itself being pressed back again by its own 
 weight, expanded in this manner :—it appeared sometimes bright 
 and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was either more or less 
 impregnated with earth and cinder. This extraordinary phenomenon 
 excited my uncle’s philosophical curiosity to take a nearer view of 
 it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me the 
 liberty, if I thought it proper, to attend him ; I rather chose to 
 continue my studies ; for, as it happened, he had given me an 
 employment of that kind. As he was coming out of the house he 
 received a note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the 
 utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her ; for 
 her villa being situated at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was 
 no way to escape but by sea ; she earnestly entreated him, there¬ 
 fore, to come to her assistance. He accordingly changed his first 
 design, and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued with 
 an heroical turn of mind. He ordered the galleys to put to sea, 
 and went himself on board with an intention of assisting, not only 
 Rectina, but several others ; for the villas stand extremely thick 
 upon that beautiful coast. When hastening to the place from 
 whence others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his direct 
 course to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and 
 presence of mind, as to be able to make and dictate his observa¬ 
 tions upon the motion and figure of that dreadful scene. He was 
 now so nigh the mountain, that the cinders, which grew thicker 
 and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, together 
 with pumice stones, and black pieces of burning rock. They were 
 likewise in danger not only of being aground by the sudden retreat 
 of the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled down 
 from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he stopped 
 to consider whether he should return back again ; to which the 
 pilot advising him, 4 Fortune,’ said he, 4 befriends the brave ; 
 carry me to Pomponianus.’ Pomponianus was then at Stabise, 
 separated by a gulf, which the sea, after several insensible wind¬ 
 ings, forms upon the shore. He had already sent his baggage on 
 board ; for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet 
 being within the view of it, and indeed extremely near, if it 
 should in the least increase, he was determined to put to sea as 
 soon as the wind should change. It was favourable, however, 
 for carrying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom he found in 
 
10 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 the greatest consternation. He embraced him with tenderness, 
 encouraged and exhorted him to keep up his spirits, and the 
 more to dissipate his fears, he ordered, with an air of unconcern, 
 the bath to be got ready ; when, after having bathed, he sat 
 down to supper with great cheerfulness, or at least, what is 
 equally heroic, with all the appearance of it. In the meanwhile, 
 the eruption from Mount Vesuvius flamed out in several places 
 with much violence, which the darkness of the night contributed 
 to render still more visible and dreadful. But my uncle, in order 
 to soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was only 
 the burning of the villages, which the country people had aban¬ 
 doned to the flames ; after this he retired to rest, and it is most 
 certain he was so little discomposed as to fall into a deep sleep, 
 for being pretty fat, and breathing hard, those who attended with¬ 
 out, actually heard him snore. The court which led to his apart¬ 
 ment being now almost filled with stones and ashes, if he had 
 continued there any time longer, it would have been impossible for 
 him to have made his way out ; it was thought proper therefore to 
 awaken him. He got up and went to Pomponianus and the rest 
 of his company, who were unconcerned enough to think of going 
 to bed. They consulted together whether it would be most 
 prudent to trust to the houses, which now shook from side to side 
 with frequent and violent concussions, or fly to the open fields, 
 where the calcined stones and cinders, though light indeed, yet 
 fell in large showers, and threatened destruction. In this distress 
 they resolved for the fields, as the less dangerous situation of the 
 two. A resolution which, while the rest of the company were 
 hurried into by their fears, my uncle embraced upon cool and 
 deliberate consideration. They went out then having pillows tied 
 upon their heads with napkins, and this was their whole defence 
 against the storm of stones that fell round them. It was now 
 day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than 
 in the most obscure night ; which, however, was in some degree 
 dissipated by torches and other lights of various kinds. They 
 thought proper to go down farther upon the shore, to observe if 
 they might safely put out to sea, but they found the waves still run 
 extremely high and boisterous. There my uncle having drank a 
 draught or two of cold water, threw himself down upon a cloth 
 which was spread for him, when immediately the flames, and a 
 strong smell of sulphur, which was the forerunner of them, dis¬ 
 persed the rest of the company, and obliged him to arise. He 
 raised himself up with the assistance of two of his servants, and 
 
PLINY’S LETTER TO TACITUS. 
 
 11 
 
 instantly fell down dead, suffocated, as I conjecture, by some 
 gross and noxious vapour, having always had weak lungs, and 
 frequently subject to a difficulty of breathing. As soon as it was 
 light again, which was not till the third day after this melancholy 
 accident, his body was found entire, and without any marks of 
 violence upon it, exactly in the same posture that he fell, and 
 looking more like a man asleep than dead. 
 
 ‘ ‘ During all this time my mother and I, who were at Misenum— 
 but as this has no connection with your history, so your inquiry 
 went no farther than concerning my uncle’s death ; with that 
 therefore I will put an end to my letter. Suffer me only to add, 
 that I have faithfully related to you what I was either an eye¬ 
 witness of myself, or received immediately after the accident 
 happened, and before there was time to vary the truth. 
 
 ‘ ‘ You will choose out of this narrative such circumstances as shall 
 be most suitable to your purpose ; for there is a great difference 
 between what is proper for a letter and a history—between writing 
 to a friend and writing to the public. Farewell. ” 
 
 TO CORNELIUS TACITUS. 
 
 “ The letter which, in compliance with your request, I wrote 
 concerning the death of my uncle, has raised, it seems, your 
 curiosity to know what terrors and dangers attended me, while I 
 continued at Misenum ; for there, I think, the account in my 
 former broke off. Though my shocked soul recoils, my tongue shall 
 tell. My uncle having left us, I pursued the studies which 
 prevented my going with him, till it was time to bathe. After 
 which I went to supper, and from thence to bed, where my sleep 
 was greatly broken and disturbed. There had been for many 
 days before some shocks of an earthquake, which the less surprised 
 us as they are extremely frequent in Campania ; but they were so 
 particularly violent that night, that they not only shook every 
 thing about us, but seemed indeed to threaten total destruction. 
 My mother flew to my chamber, where she found me rising, in 
 order to awaken her. We went out into a small court belonging 
 to the house, which separated the sea from the buildings. As 
 I was at that time but eighteen years of age, I know not whether 
 I should call my behaviour in this dangerous juncture courage or 
 rashness ; but I took up Livy and amused myself with turning 
 over that author, and even making extracts from him, as if all 
 about me had been in full security. While we were in this 
 
12 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 posture, a friend of my uncle’s who was just come from Spain to 
 pay a visit, joined us, and observing me sitting by my mother with 
 a book in my hand, greatly condemned her calmness, at the same 
 time that he reproved me for my careless security ; nevertheless I 
 still went on with my author. Though it was now morning, the 
 light was exceedingly faint and languid ; the buildings all around 
 us tottered, and though we stood upon open ground, yet as the 
 place was narrow and confined, there was no remaining there without 
 certain and great danger ; we therefore resolved to quit the town. 
 The people followed us in the utmost consternation, and (as to the 
 mind distracted with terror, every suggestion seems more prudent 
 than its own) pressed in great crowds about us in our way out. 
 Being got at a convenient distance from the houses, we stood still, 
 in the midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. The chariots 
 which we had ordered to be drawn out, were so agitated backwards 
 and forwards, though upon the most level ground, that we could 
 not keep them steady, even by supporting them with large stones. 
 The sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its 
 banks by the convulsive motion of the earth ; it is certain, at least, 
 the shore was considerably enlarged, and several sea animals were 
 left upon it. On the other side a black and dreadful cloud, 
 bursting with an igneous serpentine vapour, darted out a long train 
 of fire resembling flashes of lightning, but much larger. Upon 
 this our Spanish friend, whom I mentioned above, addressing 
 himself to my mother and me with greater warmth and earnestness, 
 1 If your brother and your uncle,’ said he, c is safe, he certainly 
 wishes you may be so too ; but if he perished, it was his desire, 
 no doubt, that you might both survive him. Why, therefore, do 
 you delay your escape a moment?’ ‘We could never think of 
 our own safety,’ we said, ‘ w hil e we were uncertain of his.’ 
 Hereupon our friend left us, and withdrew from the danger with 
 the utmost precipitation. Soon afterwards the cloud seemed to 
 descend and cover the whole ocean ; as indeed it entirely hid the 
 island of Caprea and the promontory of Misenum. My mother 
 strongly conjured me to make my escape at any rate, which, as I 
 was young, I might easily do ; as for herself, she said, her age and 
 corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort impossible ; however, 
 she should willingly meet death, if she could have the satisfaction 
 of seeing that she was not the occasion of mine. But I absolutely 
 refused to leave her, and taking her by the hand, I led her on : 
 she complied with great reluctance, and not without many 
 reproaches to herself for retarding my flight. The ashes now 
 
PLINY’S LETTER TO TACITUS. 
 
 13 
 
 begun to fall upon us, though in no great quantity ; I turned my 
 head, and observed behind us a thick smoke, which came rolling 
 after us like a torrent. I proposed, while we had yet any light, 
 to turn out of the high road, lest we should be pressed to death in 
 the dark, by the crowd that followed us. We had scarce stepped, 
 out of the path, when a darkness overspread us, not like that of a 
 cloudy night, or when there is no moon, but of a room when it is 
 shut up, and all the lights extinct. Nothing then was to be heard 
 but the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the cries 
 of men ; some calling for their children, others for their parents, 
 others for their husbands, and only distinguishing each other by 
 their voices ; one lamenting his own fate, another that of his 
 family ; some wishing to die, from the very fear of dying ; some 
 lifting up their hands to the gods ; but the greater part imagining 
 that the last and eternal night was come, which was to destroy 
 both the gods and the world together. Among these there are 
 some who augmented the real terrors by imaginary ones, and made 
 the frighted multitude falsely believe that Misenum was actually 
 in flames. At length a glimmering light appeared, which we 
 imagined to be rather the forerunner of an approaching burst of 
 flames (as in truth it was), than the return of day ; however, the 
 fire fell at a distance from us : then again we were immersed in 
 thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes rained upon us, which 
 we were obliged every now and then to shake off, otherwise we 
 should have been crushed and buried in the heap ; I might boast 
 that, during all this scene of horror, not a sigh or expression of 
 fear escaped from me ; had not my support been founded in that 
 miserable, though strong consolation, that all mankind were 
 involved in the same calamity, and that I imagined I was perishing 
 with the world itself. At last this dreadful darkness was dissipated 
 by degrees, like a cloud of smoke ; the real day returned, and even 
 the sun appeared, though very faintly, and as when an eclipse is 
 coming on. Every object that presented itself to our eyes 
 (which were extremely weakened) seemed changed, being covered 
 over with white ashes as with a deep snow. We returned to 
 Misenum, where we refreshed ourselves as well as we could, 
 and passed an anxious night between hope and fear, though, 
 indeed, with a much larger share of the latter ; for the earth¬ 
 quake still continued, while several enthusiastic people ran up and 
 down, heightening their own and their friend’s calamities, by 
 terrible predictions. However, my mother and I, notwithstanding 
 the danger we had passed, and that which still threatened us, had 
 
14 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 no thoughts of leaving the place till we should receive some 
 account of my uncle. 
 
 “ And now you will read this narrative without any view of 
 inserting it in your history, of which it is by no means worthy ; 
 and indeed you must impute it to your own request, if it shall 
 appear scarce to deserve even the trouble of a letter. Farewell.” 
 
 Shortly after the catastrophe all memorials of the devoted cities 
 were lost; discussions on the places they had once occupied were 
 excited only by some obscure passages in classical authors. Five 
 successive eruptions contributed to bury them still deeper under 
 the surface, and the sixth, which occurred in the year 1036, is the 
 first instance of an emission of lava. Before that time the only 
 agents of desolation were showers of sand, cinders, and scoriae, 
 together with loose fragments of rock. Yolcanic ashes poured out 
 in a current have been known to darken the air for hours, and 
 even for days. Such must have been the nature of the phenomenon 
 which the younger Pliny saw and compared to a lofty pine. Dion 
 Cassius states that the ashes of this eruption were carried as far as 
 Africa, and that the dust was so abundant as even to darken the 
 air in the neighbourhood of Borne. Steam poured out in vast 
 quantities, and uniting with the ashes that fell upon Herculaneum, 
 formed a torrent of mud, imbedding all in solid tufa, whilst the 
 ashes of Pompeii were not impregnated, and all lay in this city 
 loose and unconsolidated. Stones of eight pounds weight fell on 
 Pompeii, whilst Stabise was overwhelmed with fragments of about 
 an ounce in weight, which must have drifted in immense quantities. 
 During a later eruption fine ashes were borne by the wind as far 
 as Constantinople. Whilst the ancient cities thus lay buried and 
 forgotten, Neapolis, the residence and burial-place of Virgil,* grew 
 into the great modem city of Naples, extending its suburban 
 villages along the shore, and connecting itself by a chain of 
 houses to the very roots of Vesuvius. The next town to Naples 
 is Portici. It contains 6000 inhabitants. Immediately adjoining 
 Portici is the still larger town of Besina, with a population of 
 11,000 souls. These bustling and much frequented places are 
 built upon the lava which covers Herculaneum. 
 
 See Portrait Gallery, No 121. 
 
GEOLOGICAL FORMATION. 
 
 15 
 
 DISCOVERY OF THE ANCIENT CITIES. 
 
 In the year 1689, during some excavations in the plain at the 
 foot of Vesuvius, where it was subsequently proved that Pompeii 
 had flourished, a workman observed the regularity with which 
 successive layers of earth and volcanic matter had been deposited. 
 
 Part of the Bay of Naples, showing the relative positions of Naples, Herculaneum, 
 Pompeii, and Stabise to Mount Vesuvius. 
 
 He compared them to pavements one upon the other ; with remains 
 of burnt vegetation, charcoal, and common earth beneath each 
 volcanic deposit. Under one of these dense masses of scoria, 
 dust, and pumice stone, he found large quantities of carbonised 
 timber, locks, and iron work, evidently the remains of habitations, 
 which, together with some old keys, and inscriptions giving the 
 name of the locality, satisfied the learned of the day that they 
 belonged to the ancient city of Pompeii. (Venuti, p. 37. Mem. de 
 l’Academie Fran. ; Mem. de Litterature, tom. xv. Des Embrasemens 
 du Mont Vesuve, and also Bianchini, Istoria Universale, Roma, 
 1699, p.246. Cochin, p. 31). The discovery created little excitement 
 at the time; the government was indisposed to prosecute the research, 
 and no farther excavation was carried on till the year 1749. 
 
 Meanwhile, the accidental sinking of a well in another place 
 brought to light such treasures of art as to induce a systematic 
 
16 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 exploration in a more profitable locality. This was in tbe neigh¬ 
 bourhood of Naples, where after seventeen centuries the city of 
 Herculaneum was once more rescued from oblivion. The circum¬ 
 stances which led to the discovery are briefly these. The prince 
 D’Elboeuf, of the house of Lorraine, came to Naples in 1706 (Cochin, 
 p. 35), and ordered the construction of a marine villa for himself 
 at Portici, in 1711. (Yenuti, p. 38. Gori, Admiranda, p. 39.) 
 He had a Frenchman in his service, who possessed the art of making 
 a durable stucco from pulverised marble, and as many fragments of 
 antique marbles as possible were collected for the manufacture of 
 his composition. One day a countryman presented himself, assert¬ 
 ing that in sinking a well at Resina (Yenuti, p. 39), he had dis¬ 
 covered a variety of precious marbles, some of which he had 
 brought with him as specimens. These marbles were so beautiful 
 and rare, that the prince was induced to purchase of the man the right 
 of further excavation, and he immediately commenced a systematic 
 course of exploration upon that spot. The stucco prepared by 
 the Frenchman was not only an imitation of precious marbles, but 
 also a cement similar to that employed by the ancients. Most 
 of the antique buildings were so plastered internally, as it was 
 harder and more durable than marble in its natural state. The 
 excavators, therefore, were more delighted when they found large 
 plain slabs and shafts of columns than elaborately carved foliage 
 and statues, because the latter afforded them a smaller quantity of 
 actual material. Stendardo was appointed to direct the works which 
 were carried on branching sideways from the well, just above the 
 level of the water ; (Gori, p. 40. Yenuti, p. 39. Cochin, p. 37 ;) 
 at the expiration of two days, they found a statue of Hercules, evi¬ 
 dently from a Grecian chisel, and they remarked with astonishment 
 that it had formerly been restored (Gori, p. 40). Some days after 
 this they came upon a female statue, which was at once pronounced 
 to be a Cleopatra (Gori, p. 40). They next extricated a large square 
 mass of marble, and upon removing a crust of bituminous matter 
 it was found to be the architrave of a gateway, with letters of 
 bronze inlaid into the surface. The inscription was 
 
 APPIVS. PVLCHER. CAII. FILIVS. 
 
 vie,, epvlonvm. (Yenuti, p. 39.) 
 
 Many columns of variegated alabaster were next discovered, and 
 this led to the excavation of a circular temple, with twenty-four 
 columns, and statues of Greek marble between them (Gori, p. 41). 
 The pavement of this building was constructed of that rich yellow 
 
DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT CITIES. 
 
 17 
 
 marble, called Giallo antico , and many columns of tbe same material 
 lay in the vicinity. Seven of the twelve figures belonging to the 
 temple were female, executed in a superior Grecian style. Prince 
 Elboeuf dispatched them to Vienna as a present to Prince Eugene 
 of Savoy (Venuti, p. 39). The best of these statues were after¬ 
 wards sold to the King of Poland for 60,000 scudi ; they are now 
 at Dresden, and engraved in plates 19 to 26 of Becker’s 
 <c Augusteum ” (Winckelmann, Werke, vol. ii. p. 135). The prince 
 evidently knew very little of the real value of his discoveries, and 
 during the next five years continued disinterring pieces of mosaic 
 alabaster slabs, and a few statues, some of which decorated his villa, 
 and the rest were sent over to France. Upon the discovery of 
 a beautiful statue of one of the daughters of Balbus, the state 
 interfered, and the Neapolitan government prohibited any further 
 excavations. For thirty years the site was almost forgotten. In 
 1736, the King Carlo III. (Borbone) resolved to build a palace at 
 Portici, and the ancient well was once more resorted to. The excava¬ 
 tions were resumed, and very important results followed. 
 
 Animated discussions were still maintained respecting the name of 
 the ancient city, for a city the excavations had already proved it 
 to be. A communication to the Royal Society by a Mr. Sloane, 
 in 1740, exhibits the matter as still in a state of uncertainty. The 
 Marquis Venuti, keeper of the Famese library which Carlo Borbone 
 had inherited from Rome, was appointed superintendent of the excava¬ 
 tions at Resina. He has left minute records of his proceedings both 
 in the “ Admiranda Notizia,” 2 et. seq., of Gori, and in his own 
 work published at Venice and London, 1750. He commenced 12th 
 November, 1738, by carrying on a kind of tunnel laterally from the 
 old well. In a short time (Venuti, p. 40. Gori, p. 42) two bronze 
 equestrian statues were found, and soon after three full length 
 marble figures, larger than life, of Roman dignitaries, dressed in 
 the toga, with massive piers of brick between, plastered with stucco, 
 and painted with arabesques in various colours. The excavators 
 had now reached the interior of the theatre, which the numerous 
 seats and steps clearly indicated. An inscription, moreover, on 
 the architrave contained part of the word Theatre, the name of 
 the person at whose cost the building was erected, and that of 
 the architect. A second inscription on the corresponding architrave 
 of the opposite side is almost a repetition :— 
 
 L. ANNIVS. L. F. MAMMIANVS. RVFVS. IIVIR. QVINQ. TiEaTe . . . O. . . . 
 
 P. NVMISIVS. ARC. . . TEC. . . 
 
 (Gori, p. 42, Venuti, p. 42.) 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 These architraves covered the side entrances to the orchestra, 
 and both of them supported a colossal group in bronze of a chariot 
 and two horses. The central group of the building was a 
 quadriga, and probably represented the emperor in his chariot 
 with four horses. All these bronze statues had been gilt. Some 
 fine columns of rosso antico were transported to the cathedral of 
 Naples, and others to the Royal Palace ; they appear to have 
 adorned the proscenium (Venuti, p. 71). The theatre was one 
 of the most perfect specimens of ancient architecture. It 
 had, from the floor, upwards of eighteen rows of seats (Gori, 
 44), and above these three other rows which seem to have been 
 intended for the female part of the audience, and were covered 
 with a portico to screen them from the rays of the sun. Statues 
 of Drusus and Antonia, and of the nine Muses, were found in 
 other parts of the building. A bronze colossal statue of Titus 
 filled with lead (Gori, p. 45) was so heavy that twelve men were 
 unable to move it. Many other bronze statues of municipal autho¬ 
 rities and benefactors were found with their respective inscriptions. 
 
 The theatre was capable of containing 8000 persons. Nearly the 
 whole of its surface, as well as the arched walks leading to the 
 seats, was cased with marble. The area or pit was floored with 
 thick squares of giallo antico , the beautiful marble of a yellowish 
 hue. The pedestal, of white marble, which supported a chariot 
 and four bronze horses, is still to be seen in its place ; but the 
 group itself had been crushed and broken in pieces by the immense 
 weight of lava which fell on it. The fragments having been 
 collected, might have been easily reunited, but they were carelessly 
 thrown into a corner, like old iron, and part of them were stolen. 
 The body of one horse and part of the charioteer, being deemed 
 useless, were accordingly fused, to be converted into two large 
 framed medallions of their Neapolitan Majesties. The remaining 
 fragments were cast into the vaults of the royal palace ; and, at 
 last, it was resolved to make the best use of what was left ; 
 which was, to convert the four horses into one, by taking a fore leg 
 of one of them, a hinder leg of another, the head of a third, and 
 where the breach was irremediable, to cast a new piece. To this 
 contrivance, the famous bronze horse now in the Museum owes its 
 existence ; and, considering its patchwork origin, still conveys a high 
 idea of the skill of the ancient artist. A pompous inscription 
 upon its pedestal records the circumstances of its construction 
 (Bronzi di Ercolano, vol. ii., page 255). 
 
 On the south side of the theatre, stood a basilica or public 
 
HERCULANEUM. 
 
 19 
 
 building which contained the celebrated equestrian statues of the 
 Balbi—of one block of marble (Gori, p. 59),—These fine statues 
 possess the additional value of having finally set at rest the ques¬ 
 tion respecting the proper name of the city. On the front of the 
 pedestals is inscribed— 
 
 M. NONIO. M. F, 
 
 BALBO. PR. PRO. COS. 
 
 HERCVLANENSES. 
 
 (Gerhard, Heapel. p. 22. Gori. p. 167. Venuti. p. 59.) 
 
 The certainty of this city having been the ancient Herculaneum 
 is said to dlavematerially increased the energy of the excavators. 
 In the/same basilica were found the famous pictures of Hercules 
 and Telephus, Theseus and the Minotaur, and many others, 
 together with bronze statues of Hero and Germanicus, and a 
 Vespasian, with two sitting figures of marble, nine feet high. 
 The streets of the city were paved with blocks of lava, they were 
 flanked with causeways, and lined with porticos. The private 
 buildings, which resembled those of Pompeii, were very difficult 
 of access, from the nature of the material that overwhelmed them, 
 and could only be examined in small portions at a time. Ho maps 
 of sufficient accuracy have been laid down of the earliest excava¬ 
 tions, and it will be better to reserve all accounts of domestic 
 arrangements till we can illustrate them by the Pompeian remains. 
 One large villa, however, seems to have been a very important 
 structure. It was surrounded by a garden enclosed within a square 
 wall and ditch. The floors were ornamented with beautiful mosaics 
 and the halls contained a rich variety of busts and statues. One 
 of the chambers served the purpose of a bath ; another, supposed 
 to have been a sacrarium, was painted with serpents, and within it 
 was found a brazen tripod, containing cinders and ashes ; but 
 the mbst curious discovery of all, was an apartment in this villa 
 used as a library, and fitted up with wooden presses around the 
 walls, about six feet in height ; a double row of presses stood in the 
 middle of the room, so as to admit of a free passage on every side. 
 The wood of which the presses had been made was burned to a 
 cinder, and gave way at the first touch ; but the volumes, composed 
 of a much more perishable substance, the Egyptian or Syracusan 
 papyrus, were, although completely carbonised, through the effect 
 of the heat, still so far preserved as to admit of their removal. 
 A number of these supposed pieces of charcoal were at first 
 carried off, which by accidental fracture exposed the remains of 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 letters and proved to be so many ancient manuscripts. The 
 Greek manuscripts consisted of rolls scarcely a foot in length, and 
 but two or three inches in thickness. Some had a label in front, 
 at one end of the roll, with the name of the work or the author, 
 which was visible from its place in the library. # 
 
 The sixteen centuries during which the substances had been 
 crushed together, rendered it almost hopeless to unroll, and still 
 less to decipher them ; but Camillo Paderni devoted twelve days 
 to the occupation underground, and succeeded in carrying away 
 337 manuscripts. Almost all are in Greek, very few in Latin, 
 and some of the rolls are forty or fifty feet in length. The lines 
 are arranged in columns across the shortest surface, as in our news¬ 
 papers, each line extending only about two or three inches in 
 length. The greater part of the works in this collection relate 
 to Epicurean philosophy. Their decipherment has naturally occu¬ 
 pied much of the attention of the learned, and many of the 
 manuscripts have been published at Oxford. 
 
 The condition of Herculaneum was at the period of its discovery 
 more interesting and much more worthy the notice of the traveller 
 than it is at present. The object of its excavation having unfor¬ 
 tunately been confined to the discovery of statues, paintings, and 
 other curiosities, and not carried on with a view to lay open the 
 city, and thus to ascertain the features of its buildings and streets, 
 most of the latter were again filled up with rubbish as soon as they 
 were divested of everything moveable. Even the marble was tom 
 from the temples. 
 
 Herculaneum may therefore be said to have been overwhelmed 
 a second time by its modern discoverers ; and the appearance it 
 previously presented can now only be ascertained from the accounts 
 of those who beheld it in a more perfect state. The existence of 
 the large towns of Portici and Pesina overhead render it impos¬ 
 sible for many parts of the excavations to remain open to the sky; 
 one portion, however, was allowed to be so until the sinking of the 
 main road, subject to incessant traffic, compelled the government 
 to have the undercuttings filled in, and the apertures blocked up. 
 A part of the city nearer to the mountain has been thrown open 
 and the sun is again permitted to shine upon gardens and 
 habitations now desolate and mouldering. 
 
 From the hard nature of the rock at Herculaneum, the city was 
 for a long time supposed to have been buried in lava, and the 
 
 * See a Pompeian painting described at p. 50, Cubicuhim 3. 
 
EXCAVATIONS. 
 
 21 
 
 darkness and obscurity of the passages prevented the discovery of 
 the truth. But now, since daylight has been admitted, the whole 
 mass is found to be nothing more than hard tufa, rendered, at the 
 lower parts, still more compact by the percolation of water, which 
 in all cases leaves the finest possible sediment. Lava is stone 
 that has been actually melted, and flows over the surface in the 
 same way as molten iron issues from a furnace. The beds of real 
 lava may be easily distinguished in the upper levels of the earth 
 laid open in these excavations. All the timber of the houses 
 has been completely reduced to charcoal, but every beam was 
 found perfect as to shape and in its proper position ; many of the 
 bronzes, however, were melted. These effects seem to be the 
 result of an intense heat diffused through the entire mass at a sub¬ 
 sequent period ; for, at the time of the first eruption, great quan¬ 
 tities of boiling water appear to have been mixed with the fine dust 
 and scoria, the same materials that fell dry and loose upon Pompeii. 
 
 An entrance from the road at Resina to the excavations was 
 formed in 1750. It is still the only means of access to the most 
 important buildings, and consists of a narrow passage cut through 
 the solid lava. The ancient city lies at a depth of seventy feet 
 below the modem level. 
 
 The great difficulty of excavating Herculaneum, on account of 
 the soil above being occupied by crowded habitations, induced the 
 government to turn their attention more particularly to Pompeii. 
 
 “ Nearly seventeen centuries had rolled away when the City of 
 Pompeii was disinterred from its silent tomb, all vivid with 
 undimmed hues ; its walls fresh as if painted yesterday, not a hue 
 faded on the rich mosaic of its floors ; in its forum the half-finished 
 columns as left by the workman’s hands ; in its gardens the sacri¬ 
 ficial tripod ; in its halls the chest of treasure ; in its baths the 
 strigil ; in its theatres the counter of admission ; in its saloons the 
 furniture and the lamp ; in its triclinia the fragments of the last 
 feast ; in its cubicula the perfumes and the rouge of faded beauty; 
 and everywhere the bones and skeletons of those who once moved 
 the springs of that minute, yet gorgeous machine of luxury and 
 of life. 
 
 <c In the house of Diomed, in the subterranean vaults, twenty 
 skeletons (one of a babe) were discovered in one spot by the door, 
 covered by a fine ashen dust, that had evidently been wafted 
 slowly through the apertures, until it had filled the whole space. 
 There were jewels and coins, candelabra for unavailing light, and 
 wine hardened in the amphorae for a prolongation of agonised life. 
 
22 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 The sand, consolidated by damps, had taken the forms of the 
 skeletons as in a cast; and the traveller may yet see the impression 
 of a female neck and bosom of yonng and round proportions. 
 
 cc It seems to the inquirer as if the air had been gradually changed 
 into a sulphurous vapour ; the inmates of the vaults had rushed to 
 the door to find it closed and blocked up by the scoria without, 
 and, in their attempts to force it, had been suffocated with the 
 atmosphere. 
 
 In the garden was found a skeleton with a key by its bony 
 hand, and near it a bag of coins. This is believed to have been 
 the master of the house, who had probably sought to escape by 
 the garden, and been destroyed either by the vapours or some 
 fragment of stone. Beside some silver vases lay another skeleton, 
 probably of a slave. 
 
 “ The houses of Sallust and of Pansa, the temple of Isis, with the 
 juggling concealments behind the statues—the lurking place of its' 
 holy oracles—are now bared to the gaze of the curious. In one of 
 the chambers of that temple was found a huge skeleton with an 
 axe by the side of it : two walls had been pierced by the axe—the 
 victim could penetrate no farther. In the midst of the city was 
 found another skeleton, by the side of which was a heap of coins 
 and many of the mystic ornaments of the fane of Isis.”* 
 
 Linen and fishing nets ; loaves of bread with the impress of the 
 baker’s name ; even fruits, as walnuts, almonds, peach-stones, and 
 chestnuts, were distinctly recognisable. Eggs have been found 
 whole and empty, and a jar of oil had olives still floating in it; the 
 oil burnt upon application of flame, but the fruit was flavourless. 
 Very few jewels were discovered, which shows that the inhabitants 
 had time to escape ; a wooden comb was found with teeth on 
 both sides, closer on one side than the other. Lace fabricated of 
 pure gold, a folding parasol similar to those now in use, a case of 
 surgeon’s instruments, balances, sculptors’ tools, chisels and com¬ 
 passes, writing materials, vessels of white cut and coloured glass, 
 coals collected for fuel, and wine still remaining in jars, may all be 
 found in the curious catalogue of articles that had braved the lapse 
 of time. Other circumstances there are which claim our better 
 feelings. At the city gate, the sentinel, faithful to his trust, was 
 found in his sentry box, a skeleton, clothed in 
 
 41 The very armour he had on,” 
 
 when his dreadful doom overtook him ; in the barracks, near the 
 * Bulwer’s “ Last Days of Pompeii.” 
 
AMPHITHEATRE AT POMPEII. 
 
 23 
 
 triangular forum, malefactors were found in tlie public stocks ; the 
 crumbling remains of prisoners were discovered in the dungeons 
 near the temple of Jupiter, no one in that hour of general horror 
 and confusion having thought of them or of their wretchedness, 
 in being thus immured alive. The bones of the ass, that worked 
 the baker’s mill, were found there ; the skeletons of horses re¬ 
 mained in the cribs in which they had been stabled for the last time. 
 
 The discoveries that had been made long before the arrival of Prince 
 Elboeuf, and which were communicated to the French Academy of 
 Science7T©8^vrere rem embered by the N eapolitan Government, and 
 in the beginning dfthe year 1749 we have the first authentic refer¬ 
 ence to the ancient city of Pompeii. ‘ 4 On the 18th of January, 
 at a place called Civita,” so runs the official announcement, “not 
 far from Torre dell’ Annunciata, where the ancient Pompeii may 
 have been, was found an apartment decorated with sixteen charming 
 little dancing females brightly coloured, two centaurs and figures, 
 bands of arabesques forming panels with Cupids in the midst, and 
 twelve fauns dancing on a rope, all upon a black ground.” (Pitture 
 d’Ercolano, vol. i., p. 93, tavole 17 to 28, and vol. iii., tavole 
 28 to 35 inclusive.) They are very small figures, and have since 
 been removed to the Museo Borbonico. About the same time a 
 labourer, whilst ploughing in the neighbouring fields, found a 
 statue of brass. 
 
 Among the earliest buildings excavated at Pompeii was the 
 Amphitheatre ; it was cleared in 1755, and seems to have been 
 capable of holding ten thousand people (Pompeiana, p. 259). In 
 the amphitheatre, games were held, gladiators fought for their 
 lives with wild beasts, or with one another, and these savage 
 spectacles were under the particular superintendence of an edile. 
 We are informed by Dion Cassius, that the eruption came on whilst 
 the populace were assembled in the theatre, but which of the 
 theatres is meant, as there were several, remains doubtful. Thus far 
 is certain, that sufficient time was left for escape, as no skeletons 
 were found in either of them. From the seats of this amphitheatre 
 may certainly be obtained the grandest view of the mountain, and 
 if, as Bulwer’s admirable romance “the Last Days of Pompeii” 
 depicts it, the assembly was held on this spot, the first signs of the 
 coming destruction would have been seen by all the multitude. An 
 announcement connected with these performances has since been 
 discovered upon the walls of the Basilica. A placard—the play¬ 
 bill of those times—announced that the troops of gladiators belong¬ 
 ing to Ampliatus would contend in the amphitheatre on the 17th 
 
24 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 of May, and that another exhibition would take place on the 31st, 
 exactly three months before the destruction of the city. 
 
 The Temple of Isis was accidentally discovered in 1765, by some 
 workmen employed in making a subterraneous aqueduct to Torre 
 dell’ Annunciata. These discoveries induced Charles III. to transfer 
 his attention exclusively to Pompeii (Pompeiana, p. 5). The 
 Triangular Forum, the Temple of AEsculapius, and the two great 
 theatres were all laid open in the course of two or three successive 
 years. These buildings are all in the same quarter of the town, 
 but quite remote from the great forum and public buildings which 
 were not discovered until 1816. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that Fontana, the great architect, 
 carried a subterraneous canal in 1592 directly under the court of 
 the Temple of Isis. He was employed to convey the waters of the 
 river Sarno to the town of Torre dell’ Annunziata ; and it seems 
 wonderful that the existence of this interesting city was not made 
 known at the time. 
 
 The situation of Pompeii, as it originally stood upon an elevation 
 surrounded by a fertile plain, is well shown in the accompanying 
 view. The eminence marked in the woodcut by the long pale light 
 mounds on the right between the tower of a farm-house and the 
 base of the volcano, is the site of the city. Pompeii was never 
 buried beneath the surface of the ground ; on the contrary, many 
 of its walls were always conspicuous , as, for instance, that at the 
 back of the tragic theatre. The locality seems to have been known 
 to the peasants of the vicinity by the name of civita (city). The 
 rains of successive seasons may probably have carried away most of 
 the stones and ashes that fell around the city, whilst the walls of 
 the houses themselves would serve to retain all that had fallen 
 upon them. 
 
 Other villas also were excavated at Gragnano, the ancient Stabise. 
 and most of their decorations were removed to the Museo Borbonico. 
 The baths discovered at Stabise, in 1827, were very interesting. 
 They are described in “ Gell’s Pompeiana,” 2nd series, vol. i. 
 pp. 131 and 140. 
 
 For our present purpose, the public buildings and temples of 
 Pompeii and Herculaneum require a less detailed account ; a slight 
 enumeration of them, however, is necessary to show the extent 
 and importance of the community, whose taste and refinement 
 required such dwellings for their private enjoyment, and also to 
 prove that the buildings, from which many of the designs on the 
 walls of the Pompeian Court have been taken, do not owe their origin 
 
VIEW OF VESUVIUS, FROM BETWEEN CASTELLAMARE AND GRAGNANO. 
 
26 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 to tlie slight and flimsy taste prevailing among the frequenters of 
 a seaside town in the modern sense of the word, but to the higher 
 refinement and habits of those who, leaving Rome in the heat of 
 a summer sun, sought the ease and indulgence of a life such as 
 Campania alone afforded, and yet could not tolerate the contrast of 
 an inferior art around them. This is proved by a comparison of the 
 Pompeian decorations with those of the same period in the baths 
 of Titus, at Rome. The same style and the same peculiarities of 
 taste are evident, and they perfectly illustrate the remarks of 
 Vitruvius, which will be considered in a future place. 
 
 When the French occupied Naples, the walls surrounding the 
 city were entirely cleared ; this was in October, 1812, and in the 
 March following the street of tombs. Murat defrayed most of 
 the expenses of excavation, and in a short time the Forum and 
 Basilica, with the adjacent buildings, were laid open. At one time 
 3000 men were employed in the work of exploration. 
 
 The Forum (1816) is the largest and by far the grandest spot in 
 Pompeii. It is surrounded by a Grecian Doric colonnade, the 
 Temple of Jupiter, two triumphal arches, forming the north end, 
 and the Temple of Venus and Basilica on the west. Facing the 
 Temple of Jupiter were large buildings, profusely decorated with 
 statues, called the Curiae and AErarium, and the remaining side 
 of the forum was occupied by various buildings, among them the 
 Pantheon and the Chalcidicum of Eumachia ; these were excavated 
 between 1817 and 1821. The discovery of the public baths did 
 not take place till 1824. These contributed materially to a better 
 comprehension of many passages in ancient authors, being more 
 perfect examples than the vast ranges for similar purposes still 
 existing at Rome. 
 
 The general result of the Pompeian excavations up to the 
 present time may be thus summed up ; three forums, nine temples, 
 a basilica, a chalcidicum, three piazze, an amphitheatre, two 
 theatres, a prison, double baths, nearly one hundred houses and 
 shops, several villas, town walls, six gates, and twelve tombs. 
 
 The impression likely to be produced on the mind of a spectator 
 from the scene in its present condition, may be gathered from the 
 following passages extracted from my own journal, recording my 
 first visit to Pompeii, September 16th, 1843. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM EDITOR’S JOURNAL. 
 
 27 
 
 JOURNAL. 
 
 “By half-past ten we were at the railway.station, just outside 
 the gates of Naples, and immediately started for Pompeii. The 
 line of rail continues along the shore of the bay ; nothing can 
 exceed the bustle, confusion, and want of system on this amusing 
 road. There exists neither distinction of classes nor limitation of 
 luggage, so that fruit-stalls and puppet-shows—Polichinello, by the 
 way, is here in his native land—are heaped together in the carriages. 
 The first station we reached was Portici, the next Resina, accom¬ 
 panied by the classic cry of Ercolano—signore, Porta d’Ercolano— 
 then Torre del Greco, where heaps of lava piled one upon the 
 other, attest the awful eruption of the last century. Torre dell’ 
 Annunciata being the nearest station to Pompeii we alighted here, 
 and proceeded along a dusty road, lined with cactus, poplar, stone 
 pine, and the castor-oil tree. Festoons of the richest vines hung 
 from tree to tree, and the black clusters peeped out beneath the 
 broad-spread leaves, already beginning to change into the gold of 
 the approaching Autumn. The fields were teeming with corn, hemp, 
 and cotton. No beggars, the pest of Naples, crowded round our 
 carratella, and the dust which rolled in dense clouds was our 
 only annoyance. We now turned our thoughts to Pompeii. A 
 small guard house of soldiers marked the entrance to these 
 classic precincts, and for some distance further the road was 
 planted with willows, producing a rich and solemn effect, and 
 well preparing us for the street of tombs which soon broke upon 
 our view. The road was lined with tombs for a considerable 
 distance before we approached the city gate, called Porta 
 d’Ercolano, on the Herculaneum side ; but previously to ex¬ 
 amining the tombs, we diverged to the right to explore the villa 
 of Diomed, where we found everything in exact accordance with 
 the description of Sir William Gell and Mr. Malkin’s work, 
 £ Pompeii,’ by the Society of Entertaining Knowledge. 
 
 “ The tombs are all small but minutely ornamented, the upper 
 parts still remain, and they appear altogether much more complete 
 than I had expected. The gate of Herculaneum, with its grooves, 
 sentry box, and road-pavements, corresponds exactly with prints 
 and descriptions given by numerous travellers. 
 
 “ At this point of view, little is really wanting. The eye pursues 
 a long line of ascending road, with tombs and thick trees on each 
 side, broken only by the gate of the city, through the arch of 
 which a long continuation of houses is clearly visible. We entered 
 
28 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 the city; everything is on a small scale, but the walls at this entrance 
 to the city seem high in proportion ; the footway and carriage-road 
 remain undisturbed, and still retain the track of chariot wheels. 
 The motion and noise of inhabitants alone seem wanting—no 
 decay is visible, and the impression produced by the scene was 
 that of a populous city during church time. We wandered on 
 through streets and lanes, prying into buildings both public and 
 private, after the manner of that wonderful prince mentioned in 
 the 4 Arabian Nights Entertainments,’ who explored a city, the 
 inhabitants of which had been turned into stone. 
 
 44 In the shops, many of the walls remain perfect, roofs alone have 
 disappeared, but counters, doorways, and depositaries are just such 
 as we see daily at Naples, and scarcely inferior in point of freshness. 
 
 44 The mosaic strewn floors are wonderfully perfect—a little patch¬ 
 ing and inequality of level caused by the previous earthquake are 
 here and there perceptible ; the chief difficulty at first is to know 
 the floor from the pavement, that is, to distinguish the inside of a 
 house from the courtyard. All external walls were plastered and 
 coloured, so that a mistake might easily arise. 
 
 44 The Houses of the Quaestor, Sallust, and the Faun, are exquisite 
 specimens of proportion and arrangement in domestic building. 
 The beautifully painted walls, columns, and inlaid marble or 
 mosaic floor, combine with the deep blue sky, forming so glorious 
 a whole that the rooflessness is forgotten, and the eye reposes with 
 delight on the assembled harmonies. 
 
 44 The whole city is encompassed by enormous mounds of debris, 
 under which it was formerly buried. These lumps are now caked 
 together, and in their sloping sides trees have already sprung 
 up, so that all appearance of rubbish is fortunately concealed. 
 
 4 4 1 was greatly disappointed with the scale of many objects, 
 especially the Baths. Sir William Gell’s views are very correct, 
 but the living figures introduced are on an utterly false scale. 
 The Telamons, a series of terra-cotta figures, tinted red, with yellow 
 hair and drapery, supporting the frieze, seem, in his pictures, the 
 size of life, whereas they are only two feet high, one-third in fact 
 of the size they are made to appear in his drawings. 
 
 Modern roofs are extended over all parts retaining ornament, 
 stucco, or paintings; some of the finest mosaics are carefully boarded 
 over—the famous lion, for instance—whilst others are protected by 
 coarse glass frames with slides such as we use for cucumber-beds 
 in kitchen gardens. A beautiful marble pavement attracted our 
 attention, in the house of Actseon or Sallust, but the great mosaic 
 
EXTRACTS FROM EDITOR’S JOURNAL. 
 
 29 
 
 of Darius is not visible, being plastered over preparatory to its 
 removal to Naples. The borders alone remain uncovered. The 
 Forum, with its Basilica, temples of Jupiter, Yesta, and Yenus, 
 are only realisations of my previous conception, allowing, as before, 
 for the reduction of size. The best mosaics, paintings, statues and 
 bronzes have been removed to Naples, but their place is frequently 
 supplied by copies, which serve equally well to illustrate their effect. 
 
 “The tragic theatre is complete in form; the stone seats, however, 
 have nearly all disappeared. The amphitheatre is considerably 
 distant from the rest of the excavations ; it is remarkably perfect, 
 and the view of Yesuvius from the summit of this building is 
 surprisingly grand. It contrasts strangely with the beautiful lime¬ 
 stone range of mountains on the other side of the bay. Yesuvius 
 appears more rugged and frowning in this aspect—beheld from the 
 remains of its victim—than from the more-frequently painted scene, 
 the Chiaja of Naples. The deep blue and gray-brown of the 
 volcano is studded with white dots, each of which is a villa or 
 hermitage, creeping up to the mouth of the crater, regardless of 
 the warnings of the buried cities, and the devastation at its roots 
 in Torre del Greco, and in Nola of the plain beyond. They seem 
 like flies settled on the head of a sleeping monster, or, to speak in 
 better phrase, like white sails on the calm and azure sea, which, 
 at the moment I am writing, seems incapable of harbouring the 
 terrors and destruction which mankind so frequently experience, 
 and which two days ago we saw in all their sublimity. 
 
 “In the baths of Pompeii a slight refreshment was offered us, and 
 at a little farm-house in the neighbourhood of the amphitheatre, 
 we enjoyed a more substantial meal. The comic theatre is small, 
 but much more perfect than the one previously visited. In all the 
 public buildings a commencement of restoration after the earthquake 
 was clearly visible, especially in the forum. 
 
 “ Yegetation takes root, at every opportunity, between cracks of 
 stones, or wherever mould is collected ; grass there is none. The 
 wild fig and the luxuriant fern are the most frequent intruders, 
 but they do not spread sufficiently to afford shelter, and the walls 
 themselves are not high enough to serve as protection against the 
 scorching sun. As the sun neared the horizon, we were warned to 
 depart, and, mounting our car in preference to the railway, we 
 rattled off along the high road, well pleased with a journey that, 
 after defraying all expenses, did not exceed the cost of 3s. 4 d. 
 So ended my first day at Pompeii, 1843. 
 
 “I could not help contrasting all this with our first visit to 
 
30 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 Herculaneum, which is entirely underground, imbedded in hard 
 tufa, and exposed only in small portions protruding here and there, 
 where we threaded long caverns and galleries cut in the wet, cold, 
 and dripping material, the bad vapours of which are very dangerous. 
 I would compare Herculaneum to a geological fossil half worked 
 out of the compact material which surrounds it. There is an 
 important difference in the overwhelming of the two cities. 
 Pompeii was covered solely with fine dust and powdered scoria, all 
 dry but rendered compact by the great pressure of the fallen mass. 
 Herculaneum was filled up by a dense rolling liquid, or rather 
 paste of fine powder mixed with boiling water strongly impregnated 
 with sulphur, and forming what has now become a perfectly hard 
 compact stone, and only to be removed with the axe. In Pompeii 
 all excavations are carried on with the shovel, as the dry powder 
 easily gives way.” 
 
 The private houses of Pompeii have been variously named, some¬ 
 times from an inscription on the door post, or from the subject of 
 some principal painting, at other times from the supposed occupa¬ 
 tion or condition of the owner, or from a peculiar object found in 
 the dwelling; and not unfrequently the presence of some distin¬ 
 guished person at the time of excavation has conferred a lasting 
 title on some particular remains. The application of these names 
 will be seen in the houses of Pansa, of Meleager, the Quaestor, the 
 Surgeon, the Fountain, and that of Queen Caroline. Some of the 
 houses have had the names changed, as that of the Tragic Poet is 
 now called the House with Homeric Paintings. All the houses 
 seem to have been buried somewhat higher than the top of the 
 ground floor. Upon this bed of ashes is found a layer of ashes 
 mixed with mould, and remains of buildings to the depth of 
 seven feet. The moisture retained in the vegetable mould had 
 destroyed the surface of the paintings, and not unfrequently the 
 pattern was seen on the mould to which the stucco still adhered. 
 In this manner has the decoration of the upper apartments been 
 destroyed, and the pressure of superincumbent masses has crum¬ 
 bled the woodwork. That the houses had upper ranges of cham¬ 
 bers is evident from the remains of staircases leading to them 
 both within and without. The first floors were nobly paved, 
 mosaics having been found at various levels one above the other. 
 Ceilings also were variously decorated with paintings like the walls, 
 and sometimes composed of stucco. Mr. Falkener (pp. 66 and 67) 
 observed a gorgeously ornamented ceiling to a tablinum. It con¬ 
 sisted of a large circle in a square panel boldly moulded, and 
 
COLOURING ON POMPEIAN WALLS. 
 
 31 
 
 enriched with stucco ornament, with ultramarine, vermilion, and 
 purple colouring, together with a profusion of gilding. Fragments 
 of equally elaborate ceilings were found in such a position as to 
 lead to the conviction that they belonged to apartments of 
 different stories, one above the other. 
 
 The visitor to Pompeii is generally struck with the intensity and 
 crudeness of the colours on the walls. This is easily accounted 
 for in the necessity for the exclusion of light in hot countries ; 
 for with light heat comes also, and all who have visited Italy will 
 remember the care with which the modern sitting rooms are 
 darkened during daytime. The strength of these colours would 
 thus be always toned down by shade. * With all the variegation of 
 colour in these Pompeian walls, one pervading principle may be 
 observed, viz., that the strongest and darkest colours are confined 
 to the bottom of the room. Thus if the dado, or lower part of the 
 wall, be black, the rest will be red or yellow, and the ceiling white; 
 and if the dado be red, the rest of the wall yellow or blue. If the 
 dado be yellow, all the rest of the room will be white. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF A POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 Painted Garden. 
 
 Peristyle. Fauces. Ala, Cubiculum 
 
 Tablinum. Impluvium. 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE ATRIUM OF THE HOUSE OF THE TRAGIC POET, ACCORDING 
 TO THE RESTORATION OF SIR WILLIAM GELL. 
 
 The principal divisions of a Poman house consist of three 
 * See page 65. 
 
32 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 square chambers, leading one into the other ; the first and last of 
 these are lighted by a square opening in the middle of the ceiling, 
 but the central apartment is destitute of any means for the 
 entrance of the daylight ; in fact, it receives only such light as 
 can be communicated from the rooms on either side ; still as there 
 was no actual partition between these chambers, beyond that made 
 by curtains,* sufficient light must have obtained entrance, which 
 could be modulated at pleasure. The name of this central room 
 was the Tablinum. The first room, which is generally the largest, is 
 called the Atrium , and has a square tank or basin in the middle of 
 the floor to collect the water dropping from the roof, and to receive 
 the falling rain, as the apartment is directly open to the sky. The 
 aperture in the roof is not very large, and this arrangement for 
 the free descent of rain affords two essential luxuries to the inhabit¬ 
 ant of a southern climate—shade and moisture. In a country like 
 our own it is scarcely possible to estimate their value. 
 
 The further room had a larger aperture above, and the open 
 space below was laid out with plants like a garden, bordered with 
 columns, so that the narrow covered space left on each side formed 
 a miniature cloister. It was called Peristyle, from the Greek words, 
 meaning surrounded by columns. In the' map of ancient Rome, 
 made in the time of Septimius Severus, this arrangement in the 
 private houses is distinctly visible. As in our modern houses, the 
 proportions varied both according to the caprice of the owner, or 
 the limitations of space. Some had a greater number of apartments, 
 and others a double set. Not a few added an extensive series of 
 domestic offices, dining-rooms, and bed chambers, some of them up 
 stairs. Many houses had a second and third story of bed-rooms 
 above the common level, but in all well constructed houses, what¬ 
 ever the rank of the owner, these three apartments, Atrium, 
 Tablinum, and Peristyle, remain the essential portions. Here, as 
 much of the life of a leading citizen was public, he received his 
 clients and allowed the slaves to wait upon him. It was only in 
 the inner apartment, such as the oeci and triclinia, that he could 
 indulge in privacy. 
 
 In the better class of houses, the Atrium was generally sur¬ 
 rounded by smaller rooms, called cubicula, and the square of the 
 Atrium was broken by the further part being widened on each side 
 X fashion, into alee or wings, which correspond to the transepts of 
 
 * Sir William Gell (vol. i. p. 160 of Pompeiana, Second Series) states that 
 the iron rods on which curtains or draperies were suspended from column 
 to column were discovered perfect in an excavation at Herculaneum in 1828. 
 
A POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 33 
 
 our cathedrals. The tablinum, again, was narrowed by a partition 
 which took off a side passage, called fauces, through which the ser¬ 
 vants passed from one end of the house to the other without disturbing 
 those occupied in the middle chamber. The floor of this tablinum 
 was frequently ornamented with elegant pictures, in mosaic, as 
 that of the Tragic Poet’s House, by the choragus teaching his actors, 
 and distributing his masks (Gell, vol. i. pi. 45). The famous large 
 mosaic, the Battle of Issus, in the House of the Faun, has already 
 been mentioned. In some houses, but very rarely, there was a 
 passage on both sides of the tablinum ; as in the reproduction 
 described in these pages, the House of the Coloured Capitals, and 
 a few others, but the majority have one only. 
 
 The reader may derive a clearer and certainly a more poetical idea 
 of an ancient house from the following extracts from Sir Bulwer 
 Lytton’s “Last Days of Pompeii.” The house which he describes 
 is taken from a personal examination and the assistance of his 
 antiquarian friend, Sir William Gell :— 
 
 “ You enter then usually by a small entrance passage, called 
 vestibulum, into a hall sometimes with—but more frequently 
 without—the ornament of columns ; around three sides of this 
 hall are doors communicating with several bedchambers—among 
 which is the porter’s—the best of these being usually appropriated 
 to country visitors. At the extremity of the hall on either side 
 to the right and left, if the house is large, there are two small 
 recesses, rather than chambers, generally devoted to the ladies of 
 the mansion ; and in the centre of the tessellated pavement of the 
 hall is invariably a square shallow reservoir for rain water—classi¬ 
 cally termed impluvium—which was admited by an aperture in the 
 roof above, the said aperture being covered at will by an awning. 
 Hear this impluvium, which had a peculiar sanctity in the eyes of 
 the ancients, were sometimes—but at Pompeii more rarely than at 
 Borne—placed images of the household gods. The hospitable hearth 
 often mentioned by the Roman poets, and consecrated to the Lares, 
 was at Pompeii almost invariably formed by a moveable brazier ; 
 Avhile in some corner, often the most ostentatious place, was 
 deposited a huge wooden chest, ornamented and strengthened by 
 bands of bronze or iron, and secured by strong hooks upon a stone 
 pedestal, so firmly as to defy the attempts of any robber to detach 
 it from its position. It is supposed that this chest was the money¬ 
 box, or coffer, of the master of the house ; though as no money 
 has been found in any of the chests discovered at Pompeii, it is 
 probable that it was sometimes rather designed for ornament than 
 
 i) 
 
34 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 use. In this hall—or atrium, to speak classically—the clients and 
 visitors of inferior rank were usually received. In the houses of 
 the more 4 respectable/ an atriensis, or slave peculiarly devoted 
 to the service of the hall, was invariably retained, and his rank 
 among his fellow-slaves was high and important. The reservoir in 
 the centre must have been rather a dangerous ornament; but the 
 centre of the hall was like the grass plot of a college, and inter¬ 
 dicted to the passers to and fro, who found ample space in the 
 margin. Right opposite the entrance at the other side of the hall, 
 was an apartment (tablinum), in which the pavement was usually 
 adorned with rich mosaics, and the wall covered with elaborate 
 paintings. Here were usually kept the records of the family or 
 those of any public office that had been filled by the owner ; on 
 one side of this saloon, if we may so call it, was often a dining¬ 
 room or triclinium ; on the other side, perhaps, what we should 
 now term a cabinet of gems, containing whatever curiosities were 
 deemed most rare and costly ; and invariably a small passage for 
 the slaves to cross to the further parts of the house without pass¬ 
 ing the apartments thus mentioned. These rooms all opened on a 
 square or oblong colonnade, technically termed peristyle. If the 
 house was small its boundary ceased with this colonnade, and in 
 that case its centre, however diminutive, was ordinarily appropriated 
 to the purpose of a garden, and adorned with vases of flowers placed 
 upon pedestals ; while under the colonnade, to the right and left, 
 were doors admitting to bedrooms, to a second triclinium, or eat¬ 
 ing-room—for the ancients generally appropriated two rooms at 
 least to that purpose, one for summer and one for winter, or 
 perhaps one for ordinary, the other for festive occasions—and if 
 the owner affected letters, a cabinet dignified by the name of 
 library—for a very small room was sufficient to contain the few rolls 
 of papyrus which the ancients deemed a notable collection of books. 
 
 4 4 At the end of the peristyle was generally the kitchen. Supposing 
 the house was large, it did not end with the peristyle, and the 
 centre thereof was not, in that case, a garden, but might be 
 perhaps adorned with a fountain or basin for fish ; and at its end, 
 exactly opposite to the tablinum, was generally another eating 
 room, on either side of which were bed rooms, and perhaps a 
 picture saloon or pinacotheca. These apartments communicated 
 again with a square or oblong space, usually adorned on three sides 
 with a colonnade like the peristyle, and very much resembling the 
 peristyle, only usually longer. This was the proper viridarium or 
 garden, being commonly adorned with a fountain or statues, and a 
 
A POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 35 
 
 profusion of gay flowers ; at its extreme end was the gardener’s- 
 house; on either side beneath the colonnade were sometimes, if the 
 size of the family required it, additional rooms. 
 
 44 At Pompeii, a second or third story was rarely of importance, 
 being built only above a small part of the house and containing 
 rooms for the slaves ; differing in this respect from the more 
 magnificent edifices of Rome, which generally contained the 
 principal eating-room (or coenaculum) on the second floor. The 
 apartments themselves were ordinarily of small size ; for in those 
 delightful climes they received any extraordinary number of visitors 
 in the peristyle (or portico), the hall, or in the garden ; and even 
 their banquet rooms, however elaborately adorned and carefully 
 selected in point of aspect, were of diminutive proportions ; for the 
 intellectual ancients being fond of society, not of crowds, rarely 
 feasted more than nine at a time, so that large dinner rooms were 
 not so necessary with them as with us. But the suite of rooms 
 seen at once from the entrance, must have had a very imposing 
 effect : you beheld at once the hall richly paved and painted—the 
 tablinum—the graceful peristyle, and if the house extended further, 
 the opposite banquet-room, and the garden which closed the view 
 with some gushing fount or marble statue. 
 
 44 The reader will now have a tolerable notion of the Pompeian 
 houses, which resembled in some respects the Grecian, but mostly 
 the Roman fashion of domestic architecture. In almost every 
 house there is some difference in detail from the rest, but the 
 principal outline is the same in all. In all, you find the hall, the 
 tablinum, and the peristyle, communicating with each other ; in 
 all you find the walls richly painted ; and in all the evidence of a 
 people fond of the refining elegances of life. The purity of the 
 taste of the Pompeians in decoration is, however, questionable ; 
 they were fond of the gaudiest colours, of fantastic designs ; they 
 often painted the lower half of their columns a bright red, leaving 
 the rest uncoloured : and where the garden was small, its wall was 
 frequently tinted to deceive the eye as to its extent, imitating 
 trees, birds, temples, <fec., in perspective ; a meretricious delusion 
 which the graceful pedantry of Pliny himself adopted with a 
 complacent pride in its ingenuity.” 
 
 The novelist then proceeds to describe the house known by the 
 name of the Tragic Poet. (See plan No. 2 on page 38.) 
 
 “You enter by a long and narrow vestibule, on the floor of which 
 is the image of a dog in mosaic, with the well-known 4 Cave 
 canem,’ or 4 Beware the dog.’ On either side is a chamber of some 
 
 d 2 
 
36 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 size : for the interior part of the house not being large enough to 
 contain the two great divisions of private and public departments, 
 these two rooms were set apart for the reception of visitors who, 
 neither by rank nor familiarity, were entitled to admission in the 
 penetralia of the mansion. 
 
 “ Advancing up the vestibule, you enter an atrium that, when 
 first discovered, was rich in paintings, which in point of expression 
 would scarcely disgrace a Raphael. You may see them now 
 transplanted to the Neapolitan Museum ; they are still the admira¬ 
 tion of connoisseurs—they depict the parting of Achilles and 
 Briseis, 
 
 “ Who does not acknowledge the force, the vigour, the beauty, 
 employed in delineating the forms and faces of Achilles and the 
 immortal slave ? 
 
 “ On one side of the atrium, a small staircase admitted to the 
 apartments for the slaves on the second floor ; there also were two 
 or three small bedrooms, the walls of which portrayed the Rape of 
 Europa, the battle of the Amazons, &c. 
 
 “ You now enter the tablinum, across which, at either end, hung 
 rich draperies of Tyrian purple, half withdrawn. On the walls was 
 depicted a poet reading his verses to his friends ; and in the pave¬ 
 ment was inserted a small and most exquisite mosaic, typical of the 
 instructions given by the director of the stage to his comedians. 
 
 “You passed through the saloon, and entered the peristyle ; and 
 here, as I have said before was usually the case with smaller 
 houses of Pompeii, the mansion ended. From each of the seven 
 columns that adorned this court hung festoons of garlands ; the 
 centre, supplying the place of a garden, bloomed with the rarest 
 flowers, placed in vases of white marble, that were supported on 
 pedestals. At the left hand of this small garden was a diminutive 
 fane, resembling one of those small chapels placed at the sides of 
 roads in Catholic countries, and dedicated to the Penates ; before it 
 stood a bronze tripod ; to the left of the colonnade were two small 
 cubicula or bedrooms ; to the right was the triclinium, in which 
 the guests were now assembled. 
 
 “ This room is usually termed by the antiquaries of Naples, e The 
 Chamber of Leda ; ’ and in the beautiful work of Sir William Gell, 
 the reader will find an engraving from that most delicate and graceful 
 painting of Leda presenting her new-born to her husband, from 
 which the room derives its name. This charming apartment opened 
 upon the fragrant garden. Round the table of citrean wood, 
 highly polished and delicately wrought with silver arabesques, were 
 
PLANS OF POMPEIAN HOUSES. 
 
 37 
 
 placed the three couches, which were yet more common at Pompeii 
 than the semicircular seat that had grown lately into fashion at 
 Rome ; and on these couches of bronze, studded with richer metals, 
 were laid thick quiltings, covered with elaborate broidery, and 
 yielding luxuriously to the pressure.” 
 
 The following plans, pp. 38 and 39, are collected into one group 
 to afford a more easy view of the differences in their general con¬ 
 struction. They are not drawn to scale, and have no pretensions to 
 detail. The principal apartments only are named upon them, and the 
 following is a list of their chief peculiarities, together with the dates 
 when they were excavated, .aid the various names by which they have 
 been known. The first numbers correspond with those on the plans. 
 
 1. House of the Emperor Joseph IT. (1767-69), was a mansion 
 of great magnificence, of three stories. It was beautifully situated 
 on the side towards the sea. This house had a suite of baths ; and 
 in the furnace-room the skeleton of a female was discovered. The 
 regularity of plan is very remarkable ; but, unfortunately, the exca¬ 
 vations were filled in again, so that nothing now remains to be seen. 
 
 2. House of the Tragic Poet (1824-26) is called in the Museo 
 Borbonico, “ Casa Omerica ,” the Homeric House : the same which 
 Bulwer describes as the house of Glaucus. Remarkable for the 
 beauty and dignified character of its paintings, most of them 
 illustrating Homeric subjects. 
 
 A list of a few of the principal paintings and mosaics in this 
 house will suffice to show the taste of its occupant. 
 
 Cave Canem. Mosaic at entrance. 
 
 In atrium, on right wall, next to entrance, The Marriage of 
 Peleus and Thetis. On side wall, right hand, The Parting of Achilles 
 and Briseis. On same wall, separated only by a door, The Depar¬ 
 ture of Chryseis. Opposite to the parting of Achilles and Briseis 
 was represented The Fall of Icarus. In a cubiculum on this side 
 was the small frieze of Battle of Amazons (copied in the Atrium of 
 Pompeian Court, page 47). The tablinum was adorned with a 
 picture of A Poet reading , and the mosaic pavement representing 
 The Choragus and Actors. In a little chamber to the left of tablinum 
 was a small picture of Venus fishmg. At the end of ambulatory 
 of peristyle near triclinium was the famous picture of The Sacrifice 
 of Iphigenia , painted on the wall adjoining the oven of the Fullonica. 
 The Deserted Ariadne (page 57) adorned a small chamber to the left 
 of the peristyle. The opposite side of the peristyle was occupied 
 by the kitchen, latrina, and triclinium, which latter contained the 
 exquisite picture of Ledapresenting her Inf ant Progeny to Tyndareus ; 
 
3. House of Queen 
 Caroline. 
 
 GREAT MOSAIC. SMALL SHELL. 
 
 6. Houses of the Mosaic Fountain, and of the 
 Shell Fountain. 
 
40 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUBT. 
 
 hence this apartment is sometimes called the Chamber of Leda. 
 Other pictures in the same room are Venus, Cupid, and Adonis, 
 and an elaborate composition of Theseus deserting Ariadne. He is 
 in the act of stepping on board a ship, where sailors are making 
 ready for departure. Ariadne lies asleep on the shore ; her head is 
 surrounded with a blue circular glory, which is not uncommon in 
 Pompeian paintings. Many of these pictures are on a compara¬ 
 tively large scale, and only equalled in artistic excellence by those 
 which have been discovered in the houses of the Dioscuri and 
 of Ceres, one of the smallest houses in Pompeii. It has only one 
 ala (plan given in Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 55, and in Gell, vol. i.. 
 pi. 35, p. 143). 
 
 3. House of Queen Caroline (1813), now called that of 
 Adonis, remarkable for the width of Atrium when viewed from 
 vestibule. The kitchen has windows opening to the street. In 
 an open court is a permanent semicircular couch of stone, the 
 sigma of Martial, and so called from the shape that the Greek letter 
 had at this period acquired. (See notice on the changes in the Greek 
 alphabet, in the Catalogue of Greek Court, p. 22). In the Atrium, 
 plants were painted on the wall, as if sprung up out of the ground. 
 A celebrated caricature painting of the studio of a portrait painter 
 was discovered by Mazois in this house. 
 
 4. House of the Meleager or Apollo (1830-31), called also 
 the House of Isis, or of the Nereids. The house is very extensive, 
 and the various apartments are arranged in a different manner 
 from what is generally seen at Pompeii. The block plan, No. 4, 
 will sufficiently explain the distribution of the various parts. The 
 vestibulum is very long and narrow. 
 
 5. House of Sallust (1809). Known also as the House of 
 Actseon. The venereum is the peculiar feature of this house. 
 The skeleton of a young female, 'with four rings on one of her 
 fingers, was discovered as if just in the act of escaping ; five 
 gold bracelets, two ear-rings, and thirty-two pieces of money were 
 lying near her. The skeletons of three other females, probably 
 slaves, were found near her. The doorway of the Prothyrum was 
 very broad, and was closed with a quadrivalve door, folding back 
 like our shutters. 
 
 6. Two houses side by side, called from the features of their 
 peristyles, the Greater and the Smaller Fountain (1826). The small 
 fountain itself made of shells, the greater one encrusted with 
 mosaics. In the former house a remarkable painting of a sea-port, 
 supposed to represent Dictearchia, or Puteoli, was discovered. Two 
 
PLANS OF POMPEIAN HOUSE'S. 
 
 41 
 
 staircases indicate tlie former existence of upper rooms. Here 
 they found oil, in vases, with olives still swimming in it. 
 
 7. House of the Coloured Capitals (1833-34). A very large 
 
 house near the so-called Pantheon. 
 
 It is a magnificent specimen of arrangement and decoration. 
 The long range of colonnade, forming a second peristyle or de¬ 
 corated garden, is peculiar to this habitation. (Plan given in Mus. 
 Bor., vol. x., tav. A & B.) 
 
 8. House of the Dioscuri (1828-29). This beautiful mansion has 
 been known by a great variety of names— The Quaestor , the Centaur , 
 Castor and Pollux. The latter name (Dioscuri also) is derived from 
 the spirited figures of the sons of Leda , painted reining in their 
 horses on the side walls of the left-hand vestibulum. A running 
 Mercury , with purse in hand, was painted on one of the posts of 
 the same entrance. The exterior of this house is much more care¬ 
 fully decorated than was usual among the Pompeians. Many of the 
 stucco ornaments have been picked out with colour. Highly- 
 decorated wooden chests, fined and bound externally with iron, 
 were found in the atrium, at the entrance of the left-hand ala, 
 which still contained a few gold and silver coins that had escaped 
 the grasp of some one who had returned to the spot after the 
 destruction of the city, and made excavation, evidently directed to 
 that particular spot. 
 
 This house is one of the finest for the grandeur and taste dis¬ 
 played in every part of it. The celebrated paintings, Perseus and 
 Andromeda , Medea and her Children , were found on the piers at 
 the lower angles of the great central Peristyle. The great Exedra, 
 or Triclinium, at its extremity, was closed with folding doors, the 
 sockets of which still remain, and the floor was decorated with 
 the famous circular mosaic of The Lion crowned with Garlands by 
 young Cupids. (Engraved in Mus. Bor., vol. vii., tav. 61.) (Plan 
 given in Gell’s Pompeiana, vol. ii., pi. 63.) 
 
 9. House of the Female Musician (1847). Known by the 
 Italian name Della Sonatrice, called likewise House of the 
 Triumphant Bacchus. It is a very interesting excavation, dis¬ 
 playing much magnificence and elegance of decoration. It may be 
 regarded as a double house of three stories. Several of the 
 paintings of the Sydenham Court have been copied from the walls 
 of this mansion. The name of the house is derived from a painting 
 in one of the chambers representing a young actress in a mask playing 
 the double flute. A picture was found near the foot of the stairs 
 displaying writing materials, such as tablets, stylus , atramentum , 
 
42 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 or ink-bottle, and a sealed letter, which preserves the direction on 
 it, e< To the Decnrion Marcus Lucretius.” Hence, the house is 
 not unfrequently called by his name, in the supposition that he 
 must have been the owner. Mr. Falkener was present during the 
 excavation of this house, and has published a very interesting 
 account of his observations in the Museum of Classical Antiquities. 
 The arrangement of the portion beyond the tablinum is very singular, 
 consisting of a fountain and basin surrounded by a variety of small 
 figures arranged in front of it. The house seems, at the period 
 of its destruction, to have been undergoing alteration. Many 
 of the central pictures had been taken out from the walls, pre¬ 
 paratory to the insertion of fresh ones. The artists appear to 
 have sometimes painted on wood for that purpose. Many years 
 ago, the workmen came to an apartment at Stabise, where the 
 pictures had been separated from a wall preparatory to removal, 
 which the ruin of the city prevented : the paintings therefore were 
 found leaning against the wall of the apartment. (The plan of this 
 house is given in Mus. Bor., vol. xiv., tav. A and B.) 
 
 10. Plan of some private dwellings copied from the celebrated 
 fragments of a map of Rome, engraved on marble about the time 
 of Septimius Severus. (Bellorius Ichnographia, Tab. 7, page 35.) 
 
 The House oe Pansa. (1811-14.) One of the largest of the 
 superior class of mansions hitherto discovered. It has an extensive 
 garden, and the rooms were distributed with great regularity. This 
 house is more generally referred to in illustration of a Pompeian 
 house, and for that reason has been made the subject of a larger 
 and more elaborate plan than the rest. In one of the bed-rooms, five 
 female skeletons were found, some of them -with gold ear-rings. 
 The name of the house is derived from the red letters pansam. jeb. 
 paratvs. rog. daubed upon the door-post. (The plan of this house 
 is given large at the end of this book.) 
 
 The House oe Ceres (1827). Called also the House of Zephyrus 
 and Flora, from an interesting painting of the Marriage of Zephyrus 
 and Flora ; it is also known as the House of the Ship (NTaviglio), 
 which latter name is derived from a painting in one of the shops. 
 Another name, also, is of the Bacchantes. The beautiful seated 
 divinities, Bacchus and Ceres , between the Tablinum and Alse of 
 this court, were copied from this House of Ceres. A third sitting 
 deity, Jupiter , with a round plate behind his head, like the nimbus 
 of saints in old pictures, belonged to this series. It is remarkably 
 dignified. (See Mus. Bor., vol. vi., tav. 52.) 
 
 The House oe the Faun (1829-31). So called from the dis- 
 
HISTORY OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 43 
 
 covery of the beautiful little Faun introduced in this court, copied in 
 the original material, bronze. This house is celebrated for its great 
 mosaic, representing Alexander and Darius at the Battle of Issus , 
 The apartments were very numerous and on a grand scale. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 The original intention in constructing the Pompeian Court in 
 the Crystal Palace was to appropriate it for purposes of refresh¬ 
 ment. In furtherance of this plan, more especial attention would 
 have been devoted to the mural decorations and the arrangements 
 for public accommodation and convenience. The nature and 
 extent of the gigantic structure within which this court was to be 
 erected, determined, in a great measure, the breadth of space to 
 be left open. A glance upwards will show the spectator how the 
 supports of the galleries are arranged, and also the necessity that 
 exists for incorporating these within the walls of the smaller erec¬ 
 tion. The refreshment chambers must necessarily have been much 
 larger in extent than any of the rooms in the houses at Pompeii ; 
 the general disposition of their chambers, however well suited they 
 might have been for the purposes of ancient life, were totally 
 inadequate to the requirements of modem visitors ; consequently 
 this plan was abandoned, and the present Pompeian Court insti¬ 
 tuted in its stead. 
 
 The original design for this house was made by Mr. Digby 
 Wyatt, at Naples ; and, in conjunction with Mr. Owen Jones, his 
 companion in the tour for the collection of works of art for the 
 decoration of the Crystal Palace generally, he entered into arrange¬ 
 ments on the spot with Signor Abbate, the official draughtsman to 
 the King for the Pompeian excavations, to come over to England 
 the following spring, with cartoons and tracings, from Pompeii, in 
 order to decorate the building, then to be prepared for him at 
 Sydenham, with facsimiles of the different paintings at Pompeii 
 selected by Mr. Wyatt for the decoration of the respective rooms. 
 The King of Naples granted permission to Signor Abbate for the visit, 
 and, accordingly, this distinguished artist arrived in England fully 
 prepared to perform his task. Although the plan of devoting the 
 Pompeian Court to refreshment was meanwhile given up, the 
 measurement of the walls that had been given to Signor Abbate 
 for the preparation of his cartoons prevented any general change 
 of design, and the shortness of the period originally fixed for his 
 stay in this country prevented any important alterations being 
 
44 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 undertaken. The decorative painting of the Pompeian house was 
 entirely under the management of Signor Abbate, Mr. Parris, Jun. 
 acting as his deputy. They had thirty assistants, ten of whom 
 were English. The principal figure painters were Mundici and 
 Gow, and the names of the chief ornamentalists are Leslie, Luetyens, 
 Wassner, Yahn, Munsch, Moevius, and Meyer. The entire arrange¬ 
 ment and building are due to Mr. Digby Wyatt, furthered by the 
 zeal and energy of Mr. Thomas Hayes, his deputy. 
 
 It will be seen in the following description of the Court, that 
 each part has been copied from some existing authority; and 
 the few exceptions that do occur, in which originality was neces¬ 
 sary, have been carefully noted. 
 
 Some of the leading works which contain illustrations of 
 Pompeii, will be found enumerated in the list of books at the end of 
 the description of the Roman Court, and others of more immediate 
 importance have been referred to in the text when requisite. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 The outer walls are supposed to be surrounded by the street, 
 and the entire house forms what the Romans called an insula; 
 that is, a detached building. The tiling, more conspicuous from 
 the gallery, has been faithfully copied from an ancient example, 
 from the House of the Female Musician. The roof of a house 
 was found complete in April, 1853, with the upper part of the 
 ridge carefully guarded by cement. The principal entrance faces 
 the nave ; it is flanked by two pilasters, the capitals of which are 
 copied from the back entrance of a house excavated in 1834 (Mus. 
 Bor., vol. x., tav. A, B), and from sketches taken on the spot. 
 
 The general proportions of the doorway are taken from the 
 house of Pansa (Gell, Pompeiana, series i., pi. 34.) ; the grating, 
 or lattice-work * over the door, is introduced upon the authority 
 of Mr. Donaldson in his work upon doorways. The external win¬ 
 dows are devised to throw more light into the chambers, and to 
 afford a more ready means of looking into the inner recesses. 
 This apparent innovation is authorised by the windows of the 
 Tragic Poet’s house which open upon the street, although much 
 higher up, being raised more than six feet above the level of the 
 foot-pavement. They seem to have been closed by sliding shutters 
 and were sometimes glazed. Glass was much used at Pompeii 
 
 * Called by Vitruvius Hypaetrum. Smith, s. v. Janua. p. 626. Compare 
 a latticed window in vol. i., p. 229 of “ Pitture d’Ercolano.” 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 45 
 
 both for drinking vessels and windows ; sheets of glass have 
 been found there, and a convex glass for a lamp remained 
 in the wall, dividing two apartments in the public baths near the 
 forum. The front part of the entrance was called Vestibulum; 
 the remaining part of the passage, Prothyrum , which latter was 
 bounded by a second door which closed in the Atrium. The door 
 is quadrivalve, and the panelling is taken from the false door 
 painted on the wall of the Chalcidicum near the statue of Eumachia 
 (Gell, Pompeiana, 2nd series, page 21, plate 9). 
 
 The inlaid marble on the threshhold, representing a dog, is 
 found at the entrance to the House of the Tragic Poet (Mus. Bor., 
 vol. ii., tav. 56). A similar device was painted at the entrance of 
 Trimalchio’s house, described by Petronius, who was alarmed at 
 the first sight of the furious animal at the full stretch of his chain 
 so skilfully represented in the original mosaic (Petronius, Satyricon, 
 ch. 29). The inscription on both is the same, cave canem, which 
 means “Beware of the dog.” 
 
 The Prothyrum * or Ostium, was the passage between the 
 street door (janua), and the house door (ostium), and corresponds 
 to our entrance hall ; a small square room on one side was 
 sometimes devoted to the door-keeper or porter (janitor or ostiarius). 
 They were called Cellce Ostiarice. 
 
 The walls and ceilings of these side apartments are white, with 
 a red dado, that is, the lower part of the wall, answering to 
 our surbase. The decoration of these rooms is imitated from 
 the House of the Second Fountain. The walls of the Prothyrum 
 itself are red, with a winged Cupid in a panel on each side. They 
 are from the House of the Dioscuri. The dado is black, the ceilings 
 of these three apartments are white and slightly arched. 
 
 Most of the ceilings in Pompeii were of this description, and 
 composed of segmental vaults painted in fresco, like the walls 
 beneath, only in lighter colours or more delicate and thinner pat¬ 
 terns on a white ground. A small stucco cornice highly enriched 
 with colour follows the lines of the archivolt. In the Villa of 
 Diomed are some flat ceilings, and other examples have been pub¬ 
 lished in the Pitture d’Ercolano. 
 
 ATRIUM. 
 
 The view of this spacious apartment at the moment of entrance is 
 very imposing ; the only difference between this and a real Pompeian 
 
 Rich, s. v. 
 
46 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 house consists in the greater diffusion of light, and the increased scale 
 of the apartment better suited to a palace in the capital of the Empire. 
 For the purpose of fully displaying the beauties of the mural 
 decorations, much more light has been admitted into this apart¬ 
 ment than is usually found in the same division of the Pompeian 
 houses. To this end, the central aperture, which ought to have 
 been of the same size as the reservoir below, has been considerably 
 widened. Windows also have been introduced in order to give the 
 spectator a better view of the decorations within the side cham¬ 
 bers. At a glance the eye recognises the various parts of the 
 building previously described. In the centre below is the square 
 basin to collect the water, called the impluvium, and the corre¬ 
 sponding aperture above would be the compluvium. At the further 
 end, facing the entrance, a graceful female figure is seen playing 
 the lyre—these paintings will be described hereafter. In many 
 houses this extremity is painted sky blue, with shrubs and 
 trees to imitate a distant garden—this was the case in the peristyle 
 of the Tragic Poet’s House (Gell, vol. i., p. 159), also in the 
 Houses of the Qusestor and Actaeon (Gell, pi. 20, page 175). The 
 dark square central part forming as it were a frame to our view 
 of the peristyle, is the tdblinum , the side-passages are the fauces , 
 and the smaller apertures round the sides of the Atrium will be 
 recognised as conducting to the cubicula. Each of these apart¬ 
 ments we propose to examine minutely, after having taken a general 
 view of the Atrium. This important space in a Roman house 
 was called also the Cavum JEdium, or Cavcedium , as Pliny writes 
 it. There were various kinds of Atria; the simplest with no 
 support in the centre—as this—called the Atrium Tuscanicum. 
 Where the roof was supported by four columns in the centre it 
 was called Tetrastylum. If the columns surrounding the implu- 
 rium were numerous, it was called Corinthium , and when, as rarely 
 has been found, no opening was left in the centre, the apartment 
 was said to be Testudinatum. Sometimes a roof was so arranged 
 as to throw off the water outside, and then the term displuviatum 
 was employed. 
 
 The Atrium, as viewed from the door, is oblong, in a position 
 reversed from that in which it is generally found in Pompeian 
 houses : although an authority for this arrangement exists in the 
 House of Queen Caroline. The impluvium in the centre is of 
 marble, and the exquisite small marble statue of a faun, serving 
 at the same time as a fountain, is copied from the house called 
 after the grand Duke of Tuscany. The floor is an excellent 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 47 
 
 imitation of ancient mosaic work, executed by Messrs. Minton ; 
 the various patterns are taken from different Pompeian houses. 
 Many of the floors at Pompeii exhibit some of the finest 
 examples of mosaic work in which elaborate paintings with every 
 variety of colour have been produced. They are composed solely 
 of small pieces of coloured stone or glass fitted closely together 
 and highly polished. It is the most durable of all methods of 
 painting, and is generally set in a strong bed of cement. The 
 modern Romans practise this art with such success, that a mosaic 
 can scarcely be distinguished from a picture carefully painted with 
 the brush. Every altar-piece but one, now in St. Peters’, has been 
 made by this process. The celebrated mosaic of the Doves drinking, 
 described by Pliny, is now in the capitol at Rome, and many 
 descriptions of pictures executed in this mode are to be found in 
 ancient authors. This process must be carefully distinguished from 
 inlaying , which the ancients also practised, and may be seen here 
 in the vestibules and some of the side chambers leading out of the 
 peristyle. 
 
 The prevailing colour of the atrium is white. All round the doors 
 and the windows of the Cubicula the wall is painted bright blue 
 with red dado. The pilasters are white with the lower part yellow ; 
 their capitals white heightened by blue and red ; they are from the 
 House of the Centaur. In square compartments, on a white 
 ground, between the capitals of pilasters, are elegant groups of 
 female figures on marine animals, and Cupids in chariots ; some of 
 the small enriched mouldings are from the cornice of the tomb of 
 Calventius Quietus, and the atrium frieze above tablinum is copied 
 from a side apartment in the Tragic Poet’s House (Mus. Bor. vol. ii., 
 tav. A). It is composed of white figures of combatants in armour 
 on foot and in chariots ; shields and dead bodies he prostrate. The 
 ground of this frieze is purple, but the ground of the original is 
 described as white, and the figures are said to be clothed in blue, 
 green, and purple draperies. The females are Amazons, dis¬ 
 tinguished by the pelta or lunated shield (see Statue No. 194 of 
 the Greek Court.) The rest of the frieze is white, with patterns of 
 bright-coloured hues in simple forms. Over each pilaster the 
 frieze is broken by double figures of Victory, yellow and gold, 
 which serve to support the beams which project to the- edge 
 of the compluvium. They were modelled by Mr. Monti, under the 
 superintendence of Signor Abbate, from a drawing by Mr. Wyatt. 
 
 The compluvium is bordered with red standing tiles called 
 antifixa, and the arrangement of Mazois in his restoration of 
 
43 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 the House of Diomed has been followed. The antifixa may be seen 
 also on the model of the Parthenon in the bas-relief gallery 
 adjoining the Greek Court. The angle tiles, with a spout to 
 discharge the rain water, merit attention. The sloping roof of 
 the atrium, composed of light beams with panelling between them, 
 has been chiefly restored from existing paintings ; but few traces of 
 woodwork remain in any part of these ancient cities without 
 having been seriously disturbed ; the atrium ceilings being of wood, 
 were consequently destroyed ; pictorial records are therefore our 
 only authorities. Fortunately for us, the ancients seem to have 
 delighted in depicting themselves and their ways of living, so 
 that it is not improbable that the architectural specimens that 
 we see on their walls are only the transcripts of the slender con¬ 
 structions which were in fact confined to the upper stories. This 
 is the more probable as the background of these architectural scenes 
 is generally sky, and where vegetation does appear among them 
 it consists commonly of plants growing in pots, or else the tops of 
 trees as they would appear from the upper part of a house. 
 
 CUBICULA. 
 
 We must now go into the detail of the house and pass into 
 each room as consecutively numbered in the plan, beginning in this 
 instance on the left hand of the principal entrance, keeping the wall 
 of Atrium always to the left. 
 
 1. Cubiculum. This small chamber has the walls totally black 
 with a white ceiling. It is an exact copy both in size and 
 decoration, of a room in the House of the Bronzes at Pompeii, 
 called la stanza nera. Facing the door is a square picture 
 representing a “ Sacrifice to Minerva ” (engraved in Mus. Bor., 
 vol. xiii., tav. 8). In the centre a round shield—the Argolic 
 buckler—with serpent painted on it, mounted on a square pedestal ; 
 above this appears a helmet placed on the top of a square 
 pillar; a winged Cupid seems to be adjusting the shield ; in front of 
 the pedestal is a smaller circular altar, and Psyche with butterfly 
 wings, clothed in yellow and pink, stands on the left, as if about 
 to cast incense upon the altar. On the other side a Cupid, with 
 blue wings of the same peculiar curve observable in the Marl¬ 
 borough gem, representing the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, 
 brings a white lamb to the altar for sacrifice. Among the arabesques 
 to the right and left of this picture are graceful vases. Half doors 
 of a light wooden construction may be observed, and a curious 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 49 
 
 method of displaying pictures is shown here ; they are represented 
 upon the wall very much sloped forward and with folding shutters 
 to them. (See Malkin’s Pompeii, vol. ii., p. 123.) The arabesques 
 at each end of this cubiculum are especially beautiful. They have 
 been wonderfully copied in Gruner’s specimens of Ornamental Art, 
 the size of the originals. The effect of their rich colours upon 
 a perfectly black ground is remarkable, contributing to increase 
 the apparent size of the room very considerably. Few at first 
 sight would imagine this little apartment to measure only 22 feet 
 9 inches by 6 feet 9 inches. The window openings to the atrium 
 have been explained at page 44. 
 
 2. Cubiculum. The next chamber, forming one corner of the quad¬ 
 rangle, and lighted by a window in the outer wall, has also a white 
 coved ceiling. The upper part of the walls is white, the dado black, 
 and the remaining interval blue. Three graceful female figures 
 floating in separate panels are Bacchantes ; they have no wings. The 
 picture surrounded by blue opposite the door, represents a sitting 
 Endymion ; he holds a branch in his right hand, and a staff leaning 
 on his left shoulder ; the drapery is pink ; at his feet a stag,* with 
 horns and blue collar, may be regarded as the emblem of Diana, 
 whose favourite he was. (See Greek Court, No. 33). The back¬ 
 ground is composed of rocks with a square tower in the centre. 
 The subject of Endymion was a very favourite one among the 
 Pompeians. He was sometimes represented, as here, entranced 
 awaiting the arrival of the goddess, at other times sleeping, and the 
 goddess gazing upon him, with his dog starting in surprise at the 
 visitor. Not unfrequently a Cupid is introduced leading Diana by 
 the hand, holding a whip, as if she had just descended from her 
 chariot of night. Whenever the goddess is present Endymion is 
 always represented asleep. On the wall next the door facing the 
 other picture is a square painting of Venus fishing. She sits on a 
 rock on the right hand side, her yellow hair bound with a myrtle 
 wreath, the lower part of her figure enveloped in green drapery ; a 
 fish has attached itself to the line of the rod which she holds in 
 her right hand, and Cupid with blue wings, sitting on a rock across 
 the water, expresses great joy at his mother’s success, which is 
 evinced by his lively action. A piece of red drapery upon which 
 he kneels adds greatly to the harmony of the picture. This 
 
 * On a closer examination I perceive that the animal is wounded, and the 
 picture therefore represents Cyparissus, who killed a favourite stag by acci¬ 
 dent, and was transformed into the cypress. The picture is mentioned by 
 Mr. Falkener (page 51). 
 
 K 
 
50 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 subject of Venus angling is also frequently repeated ; sometimes 
 Cupid holds the fish basket, and in other cases he angles also. (See 
 cubiculum 15.) 
 
 3. Cubiculum. The next room in order flanks a side entrance. 
 It is white with a yellow dado. The wall facing the atrium has a 
 square picture of a poet or bookseller, and a comedian. On each 
 side of this picture are painted tall, thin, yellow columns, with 
 yellow shields suspended between them. Medusa and Lion heads 
 are in the centre of these shields, as they were found in the house 
 described by Mr. Falkener (p. 46). The poet, in the picture oppo¬ 
 site the door, sits on the left, with his legs crossed. His head is 
 crowned with ivy, and the lower part of his figure wrapt in blue 
 and red drapery. He holds an open scroll in his left hand, and 
 with his right seems to be giving instructions to the player, who 
 stands before him with his mask raised over his head, as. may also 
 be seen in the mosaic from the tablinum of the Tragic Poet’s house. 
 (Gell, Pompeiana, pi. 45, vol. i. p. 174). The comedian is dressed 
 in a purple tunic with sleeves, and a full yellow mantle like a 
 pallium thrown over it. In his left hand he holds a lituus or 
 curved stick much used by the players. It resembles the crooked 
 staff borne by the augurs, and so often seen upon gems, Roman 
 coins, and Etruscan paintings. It was generally carried by actors. 
 (Wieseler, Theatergebaiide, &c. PL 11, No. 3, PI. 12, Nos. 23 to 
 28 ; and Pitture d’Ercolano, vol. ii. tav. 3. p. 19). The lituus 
 was curved more than the pedum or shepherd’s crook, which is 
 simply a stick with a hook at the end of it. 
 
 At the foot of the sitting figure is a round box called capsa or 
 scrinium, it has rings and cords on the outside. This box is, in 
 fact, a library, it contains the volumes or rolls such as have been 
 discovered in the villa at Herculaneum (see ante , p. 20), one of 
 which the poet may be supposed to have taken out and to be 
 holding in his hand. Many instances of these scrinia occur among 
 the Pompeian paintings, with tickets or titles of the books 
 hanging out at the top. (See also a statue of Sophocles, No. 322, 
 where the scrinium is open and- the rolls clearly displayed.) 
 
 Above this composition, is a landscape in an oblong frame. 
 It contains a long villa and trees with awnings extended for 
 shade, a yellow isolated column and a separate sediculum. This 
 is one of the examples of landscape painting prevalent during 
 the time between Nero and Titus. Landscape painting did not at 
 first become a separate branch of art but Ludius appears to have 
 introduced the style. The ancients rarely indulged in the modern 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 51 
 
 taste for representing wild and romantic scenery ; all their compo¬ 
 sitions are made of long lines of building, basilicas, villas, trees 
 pleasantly disposed, bird’s-eye views of sea ports and artificially 
 arranged gardens. Places in fact to go to and not in accordance with 
 the feeling of our own times, which leads us to enjoy a grand scene, 
 a combination of earth and sky without any desire to move from 
 the spot upon which we have been placed. A description of the 
 Yale of Tempe in JElian has always been referred to as implying 
 that the ancients had some feeling for the picturesque, and surely 
 the back grounds to many of their figures show considerable in¬ 
 vention and romantic appreciation, although deficient in the modem 
 arts of aerial perspective and chiaroscuro. Above this landscape, 
 is a female figure, the lower part draped, with an elephant’s trunk 
 on the head, and a lion at her right side. In this manner Africa 
 is personified on coins both of Hadrian and Septimius Severus, 
 (Millin, Gal. Myth., Nos. 371 and 372). # The left foot of this 
 figure is placed on an elephant’s head, of which the trunk and 
 tusks only appear (compare Falkener, page 52, note). The yellow 
 dado is ormented with white swans, holding purple ribands. On 
 the left wall, opposite the side vestibule, is a pretty little group of 
 a winged Cupid leading an ibex or chamois, painted on a very 
 dark purple ground. 
 
 4. Vestibulum. The side entrance, light and narrow. The 
 ceiling consists of one flat sunk panel, white, with blue and red 
 stars. The lower part of wall red, the dado black. The salve 
 inlaid in the pavement is taken from the house of the Vestals. 
 
 5. The Ala : here, of necessity, very shallow, but in many 
 Pompeian houses of much greater depth, has a white curved 
 ceiling, with broad blue, red, and green lines on it. The upper 
 part of walls white, a frieze of black below it, yellow panels with 
 white borders, black dado. 
 
 The paintings of the Ala have been taken from a house near the 
 Basilica. The great picture is called Cupid Condemned to Labour. 
 The height of the mountain in the background is very remarkable. 
 
 The picture is surrounded with red, and flanked with white 
 columns, having bright patterns spirally arranged upon them. On 
 either side of the chief picture are two floating figures upon a 
 yellow ground, surrounded by a chaste white patterned border, that 
 
 * The skin with trunk and tusks of an elephant’s head may be seen applied 
 in a similar manner upon the coins of the Bactrian Demetrius. Compare also 
 a small double Hermes in the Roman Gallery, No. 385. 
 
 e 2 
 
52 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 lias been published by Zahn. To the left are two Cupids bearing a 
 square pharetra or quiver. To the right a lovely Cupid with 
 crimson drapery, carrying a lyre such as Apollo sometimes plays : 
 he is assisted in the operation by a Psyche with purple butterfly 
 wings, a purple undervest and green over it, wearing pale blue 
 boots. These little figures are copied from a house near the forum. 
 In the spandril is an architectural scroll-work in gay colours, with 
 two lions leaping through it, a peculiarity to be seen in the Temple 
 of Isis, at Pompeii, and in the Theatre of Myra, in Lycia. 
 
 6. The wall adjoining the Ala, and forming part of the Atrium, 
 has been very gracefully decorated. It is occupied by a highly 
 finished picture of Bacchus enthroned. The god of wine in the 
 bloom of youth and beauty is crowned with the vine ; a fawn’s 
 skin—the nebris—is tied across his chest ; in his right hand he 
 holds the cantharus—a two-handled cup sacred to Bacchus—and 
 with the other he grasps the thyrsus. His sandalled feet rest on 
 a square foot-stool, and a leopard sits on the ground to the right 
 of the throne ; a drum or tympanum is placed at the opposite side. 
 The main ground of this composition is blue, the architecture of 
 the shrine or canopy around the figure green, yellowish-brown and 
 red. The central group is engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. vi., 
 tav. 53. The dado coloured rich deep red. From the House of 
 Ceres. 
 
 7. Next to this is the left-hand Fauces or passage to the interior, 
 and more private parts of the house. The white ceiling is delicately 
 covered and spangled with blue and red stars. The right side of 
 the fauces is white at the top, with alternate divisions below of 
 red and blue having arabesques upon them. The dado black, with 
 green and yellow patterns upon them, published by Zahn. 
 
 8. THE TABLINUM. 
 
 This broad central space, both as regards its dimensions and 
 decorations, is wholly copied from the Tablinum of the house of 
 Apollo. The entire upper part is white, with delicate lines of 
 bright colours forming elegant patterns upon it. In the centre 
 of the ceiling, which is gently curved, is a naked Venus upon a 
 green hippocamp or sea monster. A flying Cupid holds reins, 
 and another flying Cupid holds a mirror with a long handle. Mus. 
 Bor., vol. viii., tav. 10. Pitture d’Ercalano, vol. ii., p. 247. The 
 ground of the original group, found at Herculaneum, is black. The 
 Museo Borbonico text describes the second Cupid as holding an 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 53 
 
 umbrella, but the form is peculiarly that of a mirror, and Appuleius, 
 Met. 4, in his account of the train attending Yenus as she pro¬ 
 ceeded to the palace of Oceanus, makes especial mention of one 
 holding a mirror. The passage is so illustrative of the ideas of the 
 age that produced these paintings, that some part of it may be 
 transcribed with advantage. 
 
 “ The daughters of Nereus, too, were present singing in tuneful 
 harmony ; Portunus, too, rough with his azure-coloured beard ; and 
 Salacia, weighed down with her lapful of fish; with little Palaemon, 
 their charioteer, upon a dolphin, and then troops of Tritons 
 furrowing the main in all directions. One softly sounded his 
 melodious shell; another with a silken canopy protected her from 
 the sun ; a third held a mirror, while others, again, swam yoked to 
 her car.” 
 
 The spandrils formed by the architrave of the peristyle and atrium 
 are filled with green marine animals on white ground. 
 
 9. Left Wall .—The chief central picture is Perseus showing the 
 head of Medusa to Andromeda, reflected in the water at their feet; 
 as the direct sight of the Gorgon’s visage turned all to stone, 
 the conceit here adopted is very pretty. It was popular in 
 Pompeii, and frequently repeated. When Perseus was about to 
 encounter Medusa, Minerva gave him a polished shield, by 
 the assistance of which he cut off her head without the peril 
 that had attended so many others, being guided through his 
 enterprise by the reflection in the shield. The composition of this 
 picture is very elegant. It is surrounded by bright red. On both 
 sides of the centre are rich architectural ranges of columns in 
 two tiers. The coffered ceilings represented are worthy of ob¬ 
 servation. Before the columns, at the lower part, are bright blue 
 doorways, in which lie comic masks. To the right and left of these 
 central compartments are large yellow panels, each containing a 
 floating female figure without wings. The one to the left holds a 
 pedum in her right hand and a vintage basket with fruit in the 
 left. The drapery is blue lined with purple. The female to 
 the right, dressed in white and crimson edged with blue, has bare 
 feet and holds a lyre and plectrum ; both these females have 
 bracelets. Between the masks, under the principal picture, is a 
 black frieze with admirably-painted greenish marine monsters. 
 The dado of these walls is black. The picture and Bacchantes are 
 copied from the House with the Coloured Capitals. 
 
 10. j Right Wall .—The opposite side has exactly the same decora¬ 
 tions, with the exception of the central picture and the two side 
 
54 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 figures. Tlie middle picture represents Venus (Aphrodite), Euploia, 
 borne on the back of a Triton, playing a lyre. She is attended by 
 the Cupids Pothos, Himeros, and Eros. A female figure behind 
 carries a jar, and the heads of Boreas and Zephyros blowing are 
 visible through the dark blue sky. This picture is taken from the 
 house with the coloured capitals. It has been carefully engraved 
 in the Museo Borbonico, vol. xii., tav. 32. See also Panofka 
 Autikensch.au, Berlin, 1850. 
 
 The floating female to the left of central picture holds the 
 tympanum or drum in the right and thyrsus in the left ; her 
 dress is pale purple with white drapery floating behind. This 
 shows well on the yellow panel. Her left breast is covered with a 
 nebris or fawn-skin. The female to the right holds a ewer in her 
 right hand and a patera in her left. A thin gauze drapery is next 
 her skin, having a crimson drapery lined with blue over it. Both 
 these Bacchantes have bracelets and anklets. The four floating Bac¬ 
 chantes of tablinum have been taken from the House with the 
 Coloured Capitals^ 
 
 11. The second fauces is precisely like the other. The broad 
 black line in the pavement edging the floor is characteristic of a 
 Pompeian house. In the one described by Mr. Falkener the black 
 margin, about nine inches broad (page 39), joined the walls. In 
 some instances the colour was red. 
 
 12. Wall corresponding in position and decoration to No. 6. 
 The central figure here enthroned is Ceres, the Demeter of the 
 Greeks. The Goddess of Corn, of Earth, and Agriculture, is 
 crowned with corn. A torch iu her right hand, bearded com on 
 her left arm, and a basket of corn also at her feet. The spiked 
 com is always seen represented in ancient art both in paintings 
 and on coins. It forms a conspicuous symbol on the coins of 
 Metapontum, a city in the same part of Italy as Pompeii. This 
 painting is engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. vi., tav. 54. Also by 
 Zahn, taf. 25. The figure of Ceres is dressed in thin gauze under¬ 
 garment, with pale slate-coloured drapery covering a purple dress, 
 which appears only above the feet. A muslin-like drapery is 
 gathered behind her head and shoulders. The throne, torch, and 
 flame are all of one uniform yellow colour. The basket of corn is 
 in natural colours. From the House of Ceres. 
 
 13. Ala. The general decoration of Ala corresponds with the 
 opposite one. The main central picture of this Ala represents the 
 rescue of Andromeda. This painting affords an interesting com¬ 
 parison with the bas-relief in the Greek Court, No. 35, where the 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 55 
 
 same subject is represented. The treatment of tlie principal 
 figures in the painting is much more sculpturesque than in the 
 bas-relief. In the former the rescued lady stands attitudinizing on 
 a rock, like a statue on a pedestal ; her drapery is unruffled, and 
 there is no sign of emotion in the figure prompted either by love, 
 or the recollection of her recent perilous situation. In the latter 
 there is a wild flutter about the drapery of Andromeda. She is 
 descending from the rock with an evident confidence and 
 dependence on her deliverer ; and his firm manly pose in the 
 sculpture is characteristic of the hero. The freedom, however, 
 in the lines, is more pictorial in the bas-relief. The group as 
 exhibited in our Pompeian picture, is excellently adapted for 
 modelling in isolated statues. Compare Mus. Bor., vol. vi., tav. 50. 
 
 In this picture Perseus has yellow sandals and blue talaria. The 
 action of the hand to conceal the Gorgon’s head is not so successful 
 as in the sculpture ; it is offensive to the spectator to see that 
 openly which is supposed to carry so much horror with it. On the 
 ground, at the feet of Andromeda, is a yellow casket, a white fan 
 with red handle, and several white cockle shells, scattered on the 
 ground, which give an appearance of petty detail. Two females are 
 sitting on the rocks to the left, and seem to be gazing upon the 
 vanquished monster rolling at the feet of Andromeda. The sword 
 which Perseus bears is worth notice. It is th e falx, and has a 
 peculiar hook to it used for pruning. The falx and talaria or heel 
 wings, are characteristic of Perseus. The graceful figures on each 
 side of this central picture are from a house near the forum. To 
 the left, a Cupid, with purple drapery, is supporting a pale-blue 
 vase. Psyche, with purple butterfly wings and blue and green 
 drapery, soars above, and seems helping to lift the vase by the 
 handles. It forms a charming group. To the right of the chief 
 picture are two Cupids carrying a basket with double arched handle. 
 Both these groups are on a yellow ground. 
 
 14. Yestibulum, exactly the same as the one opposite. 
 
 15. Cubiculum or cella familiaris as next the vestibule. This 
 chamber has white walls with yellow dado. The central picture 
 facing Atrium represents Yenus fishing ; she holds the rod in the 
 right hand, and, as usual, leans with the other hand on the seat, 
 having the arm quite straight. A similar subject has already been 
 described in cubiculum 2. Here the figures are larger and close 
 together. Instead of Cupid, is a Genius, # with broad-spreading 
 
 * Called in Mr. Falkener’s book, p. 49, Victory. 
 
53 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 green wings. He holds . a green branch in his right hand ; his 
 drapery purple. Yenus is crowned with a diadem, white drapery 
 hangs behind her left arm, and the lower part of her figure is 
 covered by crimson folds with blue lining. The arrangement of 
 sloping shields on each side is the same as in chamber 3. Above 
 the chief painting is a landscape, with buildings, water and a boat. 
 Over this little picture again is a Victory in a big a or chariot, with 
 the horses painted entirely in yellow. The figure of Victory holds 
 the palm branch in her left, and extends the right arm, grasping a 
 wreath. Her wings are wide spread, but very much distorted. 
 When Cupid was banished from Olympus for his impertinence, it 
 is said that his wings were taken from him and transferred to 
 Victory. In early art many of the divinities were winged. Diana 
 on the chest of Cypselus (Pausanias, book v., ch. 19,) and so also 
 is she represented upon the celebrated Clitias vase, at Florence. 
 Many of the large figures of the Assyrian palaces, evidently acting as 
 priests or attendants, are provided with wings, but they are never 
 seen using them. Hebe is represented winged upon the famous cup 
 of Sosias at Berlin, but these all belong to the undeveloped 
 period of art. Among the Athenians Victory was represented 
 unwinged— Apteros. After the battle of Marathon, Minerva is 
 fabled to have confined Victory to her favourite spot, the Acropolis, 
 by depriving her of her wings. A celebrated wooden statue of Wing¬ 
 less Victory, Nike Apteros , was at Athens, and a copy of it made 
 by Calamis was sent to Olympia by the Mantineans. At Athens 
 was the celebrated little temple of Wingless Victory, some of the 
 sculptures from which are described in No. 57 of Greek Court 
 catalogue. The right hand of the great ivory statue by Phidias, 
 in the Parthenon, held a figure of Victory, Greek Court catalogue, 
 pp. 29 and 30. To return to the painted Victory in this apartment. 
 The highly decorated bar which seems attached to the collars of the 
 horses is very peculiar. The gathering of the mane into a knot 
 on the heads of the horses, and their breast collars are exactly like 
 those on the carved lid of the Chimaera tomb from Xanthus, now 
 in the British Museum. The top knot of the horses may be seen 
 in several antique sculptures from Naples and Florence, Nos. 69 and 
 71 of Greek Catalogue, and seems to have been originally an eastern 
 custom. The body of the chariot is quite plain. The horses viewed in 
 front are very clumsily foreshortened. This group has been engraved 
 in Mus. Bor., vol. xiv., tav. 45. On the right hand wall is a little 
 compartment of a winged Cupid, with pedum and basket, running 
 from a sitting lion. These paintings are all from the House of the 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 Girl playing the Double-flute, called della Sonatrice, discovered in 
 
 1847 (H.B. p. 353). 
 
 16. Cubiculum, occupying the corresponding angle to No. 2, 
 also lighted with a window, is blue with black dado ; copied from 
 the House of the Second Fountain. The chief picture on the wall 
 opposite the door is the deserted Ariadne, a subject many times 
 repeated at Pompeii, and with a great variety of treatment. 
 Ariadne is represented sitting on the shore of Naxos just awaking, 
 and beginning to be aware of her forlorn situation ; Cupid, at her 
 side, points to a ship far away, with full-spread sail and many 
 oars, which is bearing off Theseus, her faithless lover. A crimson 
 cord, for necklace, is crossed also over her naked body, a purple 
 drapery covers her lower limbs. The scene is indicated by wild 
 crags, and the horizon is placed remarkably high up in the picture. 
 The wings of Cupid are green, the ship yellow with a white sail. 
 This picture is copied from one in the House of the Tragic Poet ; 
 it has been engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 62., and 
 Zahn, vol. i., pi. 33. Gell’s Pompeiana, vol. i., pi. 43, page 
 169. 
 
 On each side is a graceful floating female figure, the one to the 
 left holding a patera in one hand, and a garland in the other ; the 
 female on the other side, has a similar action, her drapery is 
 yellow: both figures are remarkably elegant. On the opposite wall, 
 next the door, is a picture of a very playful character ; it is a 
 Cupid seller. On the ground is a square strongly constructed 
 cage, such as is used for birds, with an opening at the top, through 
 which an old man is in the act of lifting out a Cupid ; other 
 Cupids are within the bars, and show by their gestures the irk¬ 
 someness of their confinement. The old man dressed in the exomis, 
 a garment peculiar to the working classes, lifts the struggling Cupid 
 by one wing ; he holds the square trap door in his left hand ; a 
 handsome lady who has come as a purchaser stands on the other 
 side and looks up to a Cupid flying above, holding two bright stars; 
 her right hand seems to point to the cage from which the object of 
 her attention may have escaped. Another Cupid has eluded the 
 vigilance of his keeper and hides himself behind the lady’s dress. 
 The scene takes place in a handsome portico with two Ionic 
 columns. This has been engraved in Zahn, 2nd series, taf. 18. 
 Another picture, found at Stabise, of a female Love merchant is 
 much more pleasingly and better composed. There the woman 
 holds up the victim by both wings, and offers it like a live chicken 
 to a lady who is seated on the other side. Another Cupid remains 
 
58 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 within the cage, which is elegantly made and circular. This well- 
 known picture is engraved in the Pitt. Ere., vol. iii., tav. 7., and 
 Mus. Bor., vol. i., tav. 3. To the left of the picture on this wall 
 is a beautiful floating female figure, holding a tympanum or drum 
 in the right hand, with the other raised holding a thyrsus. A 
 nebris , or fawn-skin, passes over her right shoulder, her drapery 
 is red lined with white, feet bare. The effect of colour upon 
 the blue ground is very charming. 
 
 17. Cubicultjm. A black chamber, corresponding to the one we 
 first entered. This room has been copied, both in style and 
 decoration, from the stanza nera of the House of the Bronzes. 
 Opposite the window is a pleasing group of Cupid and Psyche, her 
 drapery is purple and blue, and the wings purple. The picture 
 opposite door represents three Cupids and Psyche surrounding a 
 peacock. In this bird we recognise the favourite of Juno, and the 
 Cupids appear to be feeding it, but the meaning of the subject is 
 very vague. It has been engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. xi., tav. 
 15. Thus we have completed the circuit of the atrium and its 
 smaller chambers ; we propose to pass into the less public parts of 
 the house by the left hand fauces, No. 7. 
 
 PERISTYLE. 
 
 18. Ambulatory , Ambulatio, also called Porticus by the Romans, 
 and Stoa by the Greeks, is a colonnade on four sides, very like 
 the cloisters of our cathedrals. The view looking through the 
 fauces is bounded by a small shrine or chapel, called the Lararium. 
 It is a niche raised on a pedestal, flanked by pilasters, and sur¬ 
 mounted by a pediment. Within this were kept the Lares, the 
 sacred household gods, that accompanied the inhabitants in their 
 flight. No figures of this sort have ever been found in such places at 
 Pompeii, although many representations of them remain depicted 
 on the walls. They were generally represented as young men in 
 short girt tunics, crowned and holding the drinking horn in one 
 hand. (See Milman’s Horace, p. 168.) Their appearance was first 
 ascertained by an inscription over the sculpture of an altar formerly 
 in the Villa Medici, and now at Florence ; a similar altar is in 
 the Vatican, both inscribed laribvs avgvstis. (See Galleria 
 di Firenze, pi. 144 of statue, &c. ; Mus. Pio. Clem., vol. iv., 
 tav. 45 ; and Guattani Mon. Ined, vol. ii. ; Maggio, 1785). The 
 Lares presided especially over the domestic hearth. The cornice 
 and entablature of Lararium are taken from the funeral Triclinium 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 59 
 
 at Pompeii. The wall behind is a rich Pompeian red, with a yellow 
 ornament, forming a panel on it, beautifully painted. 
 
 The roof of the ambulatory is panelled aud decorated according 
 to the prevailing style of the lighter coloured ceilings at Pompeii- 
 The devices are formed of very thin lines of the brightest colours 
 upon white. The Ionic capitals of the columns are from the 
 Basilica. The shafts of the columns are not fluted at the lower part, 
 the remaining unfluted surface, together with the mouldings upon 
 the base, are painted bright red. This is a Pompeian peculiarity. 
 Red is a prevailing colour at Pompeii, but in the House of the 
 Surgical Instruments, the lower part of the columns was blue, a 
 dwarf wall between them being painted red. (Gell, Pompeiana, 
 first series, pi. 25, p. 170.) 
 
 19. Thalamus, an apartment next to the fauces, and entered by 
 a door immediately to the left on entering the ambulatory. 
 
 It is a strictly private apartment, and the bedchamber of the 
 master of the house. The name is taken from the Greek. 
 
 White walls and dark red dado. A charming little Cupid occupies 
 the centre of each of the three panels, which have a peculiar border 
 to them. The upper part of the wall dividing the Thalamus from 
 the fauces has been thrown open for the better admission of light 
 and air. The decorations of this room are copied from the House 
 of the Dioscuri. On the right hand wall are two pictures of 
 great interest and sprightliness. They are taken from the triclinium 
 or exhedra of the house described by Mr. Falkener, and in his work 
 (p. 64) may be seen rough outlines done from memory. # In the 
 original apartment these pictures form side panels to stiH larger 
 compositions. Cupids and Psyches are the only actors in these 
 scenes ; and, in the left-hand picture, a Cupid dances holding an 
 amphora or diota on his left arm. A Cupid seated on the left of 
 the picture plays a lyre, and other Cupids are reclining upon 
 couches, beneath an awning. A statue of a bearded Bacchus appears 
 behind, raised on a round pedestal; holding a thyrsus in his left 
 hand. The corresponding picture has a Psyche dancing in 
 similar company, who recline on a couch beneath a broad-spread 
 
 * The excessive illiberality of the Neapolitan government can hardly he 
 conceived by those who live in a country where leave to copy and publish is so 
 freely accorded. No one is allowed to draw a monument that has not already 
 been published until after the expiration of three years, at the end of which 
 time the paintings are so often changed by the fading of colours and the oblite¬ 
 ration of the details as to render any attempt at copying them hopeless. 
 Falkener, pp. 62 and 65. 
 
60 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 awning supported by branches of trees. The statue at the back is 
 a Psyche holding a bow in the left hand. A Cupid playing the 
 flute sits on the left ; a reclining figure near him holds a scyphus 
 or drinking cup. The dancing Psyche has four butterfly wings 
 and plays the crotala or castanets ; her feet are bare, but she wears 
 bracelets. This picture is engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. xv., 
 tav. 18. Falkener, p. 65. 
 
 The ceiling has a circular aperture, necessary for the admission 
 of light and air, which is authorised by the example in the 
 caldarium of the baths at Pompeii (Gell, Pompeiana, vol. i. pi. 31. 
 Zahn, vol. ii. pi. 94.) The doorway breaking irregularly through 
 the panel is not in accordance with modern notions of order 
 and symmetry. 
 
 20. (Ecus, so called from the Greek word signifying a house, 
 was sometimes a very spacious chamber to accommodate guests at 
 a more extensive banquet than could be held in the triclinium. 
 Here it is broad but not deep. The upper part of the walls white, 
 the dado black, and the intervening spaces red and black sur¬ 
 mounted by a rich architecturally-painted entablature. It consists 
 of architrave, frieze, and cornice. The architrave, or lower 
 portion, green with white garlands ; the frieze above this is purple 
 having red panels bordered with yellow, and producing a capital 
 effect; and yellow figures of Sirens, or winged female monsters, which 
 uphold a bold projecting cornice. The perspective delineation of this 
 comice, with its supports, is very remarkable, especially that of the 
 central projection ; a similar boldness of perspective drawing may 
 be seen in Pitt. Ere., vol. iii., p. 109, where the fullest knowledge 
 is evinced of the distribution of light and shade. 
 
 The black and red divisions of these walls have large broad 
 devices in green and red upon them. The central picture is a 
 collection of silver vessels lined with gold, the variety of forms 
 are well worthy of attention. The pavement of this apartment is 
 inlaid from patterns well known at Pompeii. Zahn, vol. ii., pi. 87. 
 
 21. Bath, Balneum or Balineum , a small chamber appropriately 
 fitted up. Light patterns on wall above, and middle spaces green, 
 red, and blue in broad masses. 
 
 22. A small simply-decorated room, white with red dado. 
 
 23. The end wall of the peristyle. Its paintings are conspi¬ 
 cuously seen from the principal entrance of the house. The 
 general colour is white. Dado red and yellow. The three central 
 compartments are copied from the House of the Augustals, or 
 banqueting house commonly known by the name of the Fantheon. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE POMPEIAN HOUSE. 
 
 61 
 
 Beneath a high canopy, supported by thin and gracefully orna¬ 
 mented columns, stands a lovely female with one foot upon the 
 step of a door. She is in the act of playing the lyre, holding the 
 plectrum with her right hand, and by her song seems to invite 
 strangers to enter the portal. Upon the architrave of this porch 
 is a yellow group of a Winged Victory in a biga driving at full 
 speed, engraved in Zahn, vol. i., pi. 24. The left-hand figure is a 
 priestess with a prefericulum, or small pitcher used for sacrifices, 
 in her right hand, and a bunch of corn and poppies in the other. 
 Her hair is bound by a yellow circlet, and the upper garment or 
 mantle is remarkably similar to that in the dress of the cele¬ 
 brated Flora of the Capitol. (See Catalogue of Greek Court, 
 No. 41.) The lower dress is blue and partly covering her 
 yellow shoes. The architecture, seen through the portal of the hall 
 which the priestess seems to be leaving, is admirably painted. The 
 companion picture on the opposite side, is a young man in purple 
 drapery, turned towards the fair lyrist, and seeming to offer a green 
 wreath. The first two of these figures are engraved in the Museo 
 Bor., vol. iii., tavole 5 and 6. The second one also in Malkin’s 
 Pompeii, vol. ii., p. 315. 
 
 In the dado, beneath the figures just described, are large square 
 stalls or recesses. In the centre one is an elegant figure of a girl 
 holding a lyre, she seems to be sitting on the sill or edge of the 
 opening. This figure is engraved in the Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 12., 
 and in Raoul Rochette, Choix de Peintures, pi. 4 ; Zahn, vol. ii., 
 pi. 77. Gell gives it in his second series of Pompeiana, vol. i., pi. 
 14, but surrounded by different groups to the original, although all 
 are to be found within the same building. The group beyond 
 forms a graceful heading to the view from the atrium looking 
 through the right hand fauces, No. 11. It consists of two figures, 
 a Victory with expanded wings holding an incense-burner in her 
 light hand, and a patera in the left. She is crowned with laurel, 
 the leaves of which stand like rays about the head. Behind and 
 above her appears a goddess with a sceptre and tiara, either Venus 
 or Juno, more probably the former; she is in the act of putting some 
 incense into the burner held by the other figure. The patera with 
 offerings like purple fruit on it, has been converted by Gell and 
 Zahn into a painter’s palette and brushes ; in the Mus. Bor. the 
 Victory wears sandals ; but in Zahn and Gell more correctly only 
 ankle rings. The play of line in this group is very pleasing. This 
 group is taken from the portico of the same building as the other 
 figures, viz., the House of the Augustals, commonly called the 
 
62 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 Pantheon. The ground of the original is black, here it is rich red. 
 Engraved in Mus. Bor., vol. ii., tav. 19 ; Gell, voL i., vignette 
 heading to preface ; Zahn, vol. i., pi. 2. 
 
 24. Culina. The apartment forming an angle of the peristyle 
 was the kitchen, which is copied from the House of Sallust, excepting 
 that the stove in this has only one arch instead of two. The painting 
 of an altar, with eggs between two serpents, is of frequent occur¬ 
 rence. Serpents were cherished in ancient dwellings as creatures 
 of good omen, and became domesticated, as quadrupeds are with 
 us. A similar painting of serpents engraved in Pittore Ercolano, 
 vol. iv., p. 65. 
 
 25. Side entrance into the street, immediately facing the bath. 
 
 26. Triclinium, opposite the (Ecus. Large panels, blue, black, 
 and yellow. Black dado, ceiling white, corresponding to that of 
 the cecus opposite. The walls are also decorated in the same 
 manner, with the exception of a frieze of boys carrying large 
 garlands composed of fruits and flowers entwined with a pink 
 and green ribband. The small central picture on a blue ground, 
 represents a dish of fruit—grapes, pomegranates, green fig, dates, 
 apricots, apple, and fircone. 
 
 The triclinium was the dining-room of an ancient Roman house. 
 The guests did not sit at table, they reclined on couches 
 arranged round three sides of a space for the table, leaving the 
 rest open for the servants to arrange the dishes and move the 
 trays. The word triclinium is derived from the three couches 
 occupying the apartment which surrounded the mensa or table in 
 
 
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 7 
 
 Summus 
 
 Medius 
 y -- 5 ? 
 
 Tinxis 
 
 8 
 
 3 f ^\ § 
 
 2 
 
 Medius 
 
 g Mensa § 
 
 Medius 
 
 9 
 
 Tmivs 
 
 
 1 
 
 Stummus 
 
 the manner just described. Much importance was attached, in 
 ancient times, to the disposal of the guests. The right hand couch 
 was the most honourable ; the person reclining upon it, with his 
 left elbow nearest the railing, was the chief person in the assembly. 
 The Romans were accustomed to rest with the left arm upon 
 cushions during them meals, and after dinner to lie upon their 
 
A ROMAN DINNER. 
 
 63 
 
 backs and take their repose. In some Pompeian houses, the three 
 couches forming the triclinium, were permanently fixed. The 
 accompanying woodcut shows the arrangement of the places for a 
 party of nine, the favourite number for a dinner among the Romans. 
 
 The guests, preparatory to reclining on the couches, took off 
 their shoes, and were then provided with napkins, generally fringed, 
 and often richly embroidered. Water was poured over their hands 
 into basins of precious metal, a process repeated many times 
 during an entertainment, and doubtless very necessary, as the 
 fingers were much used in the course of eating. They had 
 knives and spoons, but forks are entirely a modern invention and 
 their mode of eating was very similar to that practised in oriental 
 countries, where the right hand alone is made use of. Women, 
 when admitted to the entertainment, always sat upon the couches. 
 The same custom may be observed on the painted vases and bas- 
 reliefs of the Greeks down to a late time. 
 
 The dinner consisted of three courses ; first, the promulsis , or 
 gustatio, chiefly stimulants to the appetite ; the second contained 
 an immense variety of dishes ; the principal dish was called ccence 
 caput or pompa. Among their chief delicacies were the pheasant, 
 thrush, liver of a capon steeped in milk, and fig-eaters dressed with 
 pepper. Hortensius the orator first introduced the peacock. The 
 favourite fish were the turbot and mullet: eels, also, stewed with 
 prawns. Pork, boar’s-flesh, and venison, were the most highly 
 esteemed meats. The carving was performed to the sound of music, 
 by an especial servant called the scissor , or carptor. The third course 
 was the bellaria , or dessert, which consisted of uncooked fruits, 
 such as occupy the centre of the wall before us. In addition to the 
 fruits of the dessert great varieties of pastry were introduced, 
 modelled in imitation of other articles of food ; showers of perfume 
 and occasional jets d’eau contributed to the luxury of the scene, but 
 these were extravagancies, probably confined to the most wealthy 
 citizens of Rome. The pages of Horace, Juvenal, Petronius, 
 Martial, Athenseus, Suetonius, Aulus Gellius, and Macrobius, 
 afford curious detail of these entertainments, from which we 
 may easily comprehend the enormous sums they are said to 
 have cost. An extraordinary feast is represented, in a painting, 
 at Pompeii, described by Mr. Donaldson. The table is set out 
 with every requisite for a grand dinner. In the centre is a 
 large dish containing four peacocks, their tails forming a magnifi¬ 
 cent dome. Around are lobsters, one of which holds in his claws a 
 blue egg, a second an oyster, and another a little basket full of 
 
04 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 grasshoppers. Four dishes of fish decorate the bottom, above 
 which are several partridges, hares, and squirrels, each holding 
 its head between its paws. These are surrounded by something 
 resembling a German sausage, then a row of yolks of eggs, then a 
 row of peaches, small melons and cherries ; lastly, a row of 
 different vegetables, and the whole seems to be covered by a green 
 coloured sauce. 
 
 Midsum, wine made into a syrup by the addition of honey, was 
 handed round to the guests at the commencement of the feast. 
 Wine was kept in large earthenware jars, called Amphorae, stopped 
 with a cork or wooden plug, covered with resin, or gypsum. These 
 amphorae were sometimes made of glass. On the outside, the jars 
 were marked with the names of the consuls in office at the 
 time of the vintage from which the wine was made, to indicate its 
 age. Sometimes little tickets to this effect were suspended from 
 the necks. They generally had two ears, and were stored up in 
 repositories such as were found in the suburban villa (p. 19). It 
 was customary at great feasts according to Petronius (chap, xxxiv.) 
 for the amphorae to be shown to the guests for them to read the 
 labels before they were opened. Many of these vessels are re¬ 
 presented in the paintings of Pompeii, and several originals from 
 Pome and Alexandria are to be seen in the British Museum. Some 
 of the glass cups and bowls filled with water are admirably repre¬ 
 sented. In one picture a decanter with the glass for drinking 
 turned down over it, is in exact accordance with our modem 
 custom. Elegant glass vases filled with fruit occur also among 
 the paintings of the House of the Augustals, together with small 
 earthen jars, having labels affixed. 
 
 In great houses it was not unusual for the guests after dinner to 
 enjoy their wine in another room. After-dinner drinking, 
 comissatio , or convivium , was equivalent to the symposium of the 
 Greeks. 
 
 27. The winter Triclinium. A large square room, cor¬ 
 responding to the Thalamus. The walls are white, with deep red 
 dado. Ceiling coved, and with a round aperture similar to the one 
 in Thalamus. On the wall opposite the door are two beautiful 
 floating Bacchantes, one with thyrsus and tympanum, the other 
 dressed in pink and blue, holding a thyrsus in her left hand, and a 
 floating scarf with the other. They are engraved in Mus. Bor., 
 vol. ii., tav. 4, and in Zahn. vol. ii., pi. 13. The Bacchante next the 
 door is the same as in cubiculum .16 ; her dress here is pale blue ; 
 she holds the tympanum and thyrsus ; a nebris crosses her breast. 
 
DECORATIVE PAINTING. 
 
 65 
 
 On the left hand wall may be seen a most charming group, 
 exquisitely coloured, of a Faun supporting a Bacchante. The 
 faun holds a bunch of grapes in his right hand^ and with the 
 other encircles her waist ; his drapery is red, and .her delicate form 
 is surrounded by a transparent veil, apparently of gauze. The 
 drapery enveloping the lower part of her figure is purple, heightened 
 with white, shoes blue. The effect of the painting of this group is 
 perfectly fascinating, and entirely realises the treatment required 
 for cheerful subjects. The group is engraved in Mus. Bor., vol. xiii., 
 tav. 16, where the background is described as yellow. The 
 paintings in this room are copied from the House of the Female 
 Flute-player and the House of the Bacchantes. The group last 
 described is in the original of unusually large proportions for such 
 subjects, being three-fourths of life size. 
 
 Thus, then, we have completed the giro of the Pompeian house. 
 The ancients, although they have provided the graceful salutation 
 for comers on their threshold in the word salve, do not afford the 
 corresponding word vale to “ speed the parting guest.” Their 
 manes, probably gratified by the interest now manifested in these 
 monuments of their habits, requirements, and enjoyments, desire 
 us to linger within these fairy walls, and to indulge in the thoughts 
 of those who would, ages ago, have found nothing strange and 
 nothing amiss here, excepting the appearance of the thronging 
 visitors, whose costume and manners could never have been 
 anticipated. The house, as we see it, is really a house such as the 
 excavations might reveal. We have already shown that every part 
 has its prototype at Pompeii. 
 
 The style of decorative painting during the earliest times of the 
 empire merits attention. It is here exhibited on a larger scale 
 and in a much more extensive series than ever before attempted 
 in England ; affording, in fact, the sole method by which such 
 decorations can be fully understood. The subjects of the small 
 central wail panels, and a few of the grotesque devices, have been 
 often published, and are familiar to us through the medium both 
 of prints and coloured copies ; isolated portions, however, cannot 
 suffice to give an idea of the harmonious effect that may be pro¬ 
 duced in mural decoration, by masses of even crude colour, when 
 conjoined in proper proportion with others equally crude.* The 
 eye at Pompeii is never offended by a want of balance in 
 
 * These colours could not appear equally crude to the ancients on account of 
 the necessary darkness that pervaded their apartments. See ante, p. 31 . 
 
66 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 arrangement ; and the system of confining the heaviest colours to 
 the lower part of the room has been already noticed. Even copies 
 of the same picture that come to England, on comparison, exhibit 
 variations which destroy all feeling of confidence in their accuracy. 
 They are for the most part so small as to conceal many important 
 peculiarities of style, and can only serve as souvenirs. Here we 
 see nothing on a reduced scale (except in Thalamus, Ho. 27), the 
 paintings are not only of the same size as at Pompeii, but even 
 the exactitude of the outlines is guaranteed to us by the fact of 
 their having been traced from the originals. 
 
 The scale and finish of the patterns have to a great extent been 
 regulated by the size of the rooms which they adorn ; and it will 
 be seen that in the smaller rooms patterns must necessarily be 
 more minute, and the form of the wall itself less regarded than in 
 a larger apartment where they are viewed at a greater distance. 
 The lightness of the architectural representations and their con¬ 
 nection has been already mentioned. The painters seem to have 
 delighted in representing every variety of pavilion, colonnade, 
 balcony steps, rooms and corners, in short, all the ins and outs and 
 ups and downs peculiar to buildings erected to form upper floors. 
 They are, in fact, at variance with the ground stories actually 
 remaining at Pompeii, where all columns and piers of brick and stone 
 are comparatively massive, without any traces whatever of interme¬ 
 diate supports of wood Or metal, such as are represented in the 
 paintings. The arabesque devices which occupy so much of the 
 wall space of Pompeii are replete with imagination and ingenious 
 variety. There is, notwithstanding the censures of Vitruvius, 
 which are inserted in page 69, such a playfulness and elegance 
 in the combination of objects so unexpectedly brought together, 
 that we tolerate incongruities, and regard the whole as a dream¬ 
 like succession of images, passing easily from one to the other, 
 without any consideration of that which has gone before. The 
 children rising out of flowers are charming ; and the living lions, 
 rushing through scroll work of the brightest hues, such as no 
 living lions ever saw, are purely ornamental conceits. Again, the 
 reeds for columns, with all the botanical details, of nodes and 
 internodes , are extremely graceful; and with their rich colour and 
 firm appearance, notwithstanding an extreme slenderness, they 
 should be very suggestive to our metal workers as means of support. 
 The monsters sometimes perched upon them, in perfect illustration 
 of the words of Vitruvius, excite our surprise, and being frequently 
 ugly in themselves, incline us to agree with the illustrious 
 
LANDSCAPE PAINTING. 
 
 67 
 
 architect in •wishing them away ; bnt at the same time, without 
 such paintings before us, how impossible it would be to comprehend 
 the passages in his book relating to such matters, and depending 
 for their effect upon the eye alone. The beautiful devices of the 
 stanza nera, cubiculum No. 1. are sufficient illustrations of the grace 
 with which incongruities may be combined, and how in a very small 
 apartment, where minute decorations are appropriately introduced, 
 each portion is to be read, as it were, by itself, or, if regarded 
 generally, to seem merely a playful arrangement of colours relieving 
 the monotony of the wall. 
 
 Landscapes as seen in cubicula 3 and 15 are said to be peculiarly 
 the invention of Ludius, who lived in the early period of the 
 empire. His conceits, as described by Pliny, have something 
 almost Chinese about them, and his chief desire seems to have 
 been to amuse and occupy the spectators. Extensive landscape 
 views were found in the House of the Dioscuri in the four cubicula 
 on the extreme right, seen in plan (No. 8, on page 39). An 
 extensive painting of a sea-port was discovered in the House of the 
 Small Fountain (plan No. 6). Some very quaint coast scenes, with 
 enormous gallies, are engraved as vignettes in Pitture d’Ercolano, 
 vol. iii., pp. 7 and 13. An extensive scene of a crowded mole, 
 adorned with statues and arches, with a distant town and crowded 
 boats on the water, is engraved at page 47 of the same vol. At 
 page 279 of the same, is a curious representation of various 
 figures on a wet, slippery ground, as described by Pliny in the 
 paintings of Ludius. An extensive scene of a port, with shipping, 
 numerous statues raised on columns, houses, gardens, people in 
 boats and angling on the shore, was found at Stabiae ; it is en¬ 
 graved in vol. ii., page 295, of Pitture d’Ercolano. Eight small 
 circular views of land and sea, animated by numerous figures, 
 were also found at Stabise. They are engraved in the same 
 volume at pp. 277, 281, 285, and 289, and form very important 
 illustrations of ancient life and scenery. Curious buildings may 
 be seen in vignettes on page 105 of same volume. A remarkable 
 painting of a creek with four large ships filled with armed soldiers, 
 with three rows of oars, is engraved in vol i., page 243. The 
 gallies filled with armed troops are seen also in page 239. A 
 curious latticed window in a landscape in page 229. These land¬ 
 scape views are all admirably engraved, in a faithful imitation of the 
 masses of light and shade, and with careful attention to the smallest 
 detail. In the Museo Borbonico, on the contrary, the style of 
 engraving fails to render any one of the peculiarities of their 
 
68 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 execution. Many vignette landscapes are characteristically copied 
 in vol. ii. of Gell’s Pompeiana, but they have not the complete¬ 
 ness or richness of the Pitture d’Ercolano. Some curious illustra¬ 
 tions of the social life of the Pompeians may be found in a series 
 of pictures representing the ancient Forum of that city, thronged 
 with the same variety of people that may be seen in the market 
 places of Naples and other Italian cities, all occupied in similarly 
 varied occupations of buying and selling, talking and idling ; they 
 supplied Bulwer with several incidents for his description, and have 
 been engraved in vol. iii., page 213 to 231 of Pitture d’ Ercolano. 
 
 Notwithstanding the frequent occurrence elsewhere of ancient 
 paintings inscribed with the names of persons they are intended 
 to represent, scarcely any instances have been met with in the 
 cities overwhelmed by Vesuvius. The word didv is written in one 
 picture in white characters near the head of a figure. The fragment 
 was found at Stabise ; it is engraved in vol. iii., page 231, of Pitture 
 d’Ercolano. On the celebrated marble slab, monocrome drawings 
 by Alexander of Athens ; the artist has not only inscribed his own 
 name, but those of the five females in his composition. It repre¬ 
 sents the visit of Niobe and her daughters to Latona. This picture 
 was found at Herculaneum, May 24, 1746. A very beautiful little 
 mosaic was inscribed with the name of Dioscorides, of Samos, as 
 the artist ; thus : 
 
 AI02K0TPIAH2 2AMI02 EnOIHSE. 
 
 There is great diversity of opinion amongst antiquarians as to 
 the meaning of some of the most important pictures discovered 
 at Pompeii and Herculaneum, which might have been obviated had 
 the names of the characters been written upon them, as we see upon 
 the ancient Greek vases, and upon the paintings of Polygnotus, and 
 the chest of Cypselus, described by Pausanias, and, to descend to 
 later and very different times, the well-known Bayeux tapestry, 
 illustrating the history of William the Conqueror. In default of 
 inscription, the Pompeian pictures can only be interpreted by 
 their similarity to the descriptions of other ancient paintings left us 
 by Pausanias, Lucian, AElian, and Philostratus. The following 
 extract from Vitruvius, book vii., chap. 5, affords a most impor¬ 
 tant view of what innovations took place in his time, showing also, 
 that even before the time of Augustus, mural decorations were 
 composed of extensive architectural fancies, as well as harbours, 
 landscapes, and sea-pieces. 
 
VITRUVIUS ON PAINTING. 
 
 69 
 
 EXTRACT FROM VITRUVIUS. 
 
 Book vii., Chap. 5. 
 
 “ In other apartments—that is, in those of Spring, Autumn, 
 and Summer, as also in the atrium and peristylium—the ancients 
 have established certain methods of painting. A picture is the 
 representation of things that are, or may be, as men, buildings, 
 ships, and other things ; of which the copy, by having the exact 
 form and outlines of the real body, assumes the likeness. The 
 ancients, who originally instituted this manner of decoration, at 
 first imitated the varieties and marks of marble incrustation, then 
 cornices, disposing between them divers silacious and miniaceous 
 coloured ornaments. They proceeded afterwards to represent 
 edifices with columns and pediments projecting ; but in spacious 
 places, such as exedrse, on account of the amplitude of the walls, 
 they represented the fronts of scenes in the tragic, comic, or 
 satyric manner ; and ambulatories, being of a great length, they 
 ornamented with landscapes, expressing the appearance of particular 
 places, painting harbours, promontories, sea coasts, rivers, foun¬ 
 tains, canals, temples, groves, mountains, cattle, and shepherds ; 
 in some places, also, large paintings of figures, representing the 
 gods, or fabulous histories, the Trojan war, or the wanderings of 
 Ulysses, and other subjects of a similar kind, which are conform¬ 
 able to the nature of things. 
 
 u But these subjects, which our forefathers copied from nature, 
 are now, by our depraved manners, disapproved ; for monsters, 
 rather than the resemblances of natural objects, are painted on the 
 stucco, reeds are substituted for columns, and for the pediments, 
 fluted harpaginetuli, with curling foliage and volutes ; also cande¬ 
 labra supporting the forms of little buildings, their pediments 
 rising out of roots, with numerous volutes and tender stalks, 
 having, contrary to reason, images sitting on them ; so also the 
 flowers from stalks have half figures springing therefrom, with heads, 
 some like those of men, some like those of beasts, which things 
 neither are nor can be, nor ever were : and this new mode so pre¬ 
 vails that those who are not judges disregard the arts—for how is 
 it possible for reeds to support a roof—or candelabra buildings 
 and the ornaments of pediments—or stalks, which are so slender 
 and soft, sitting figures—or the flowers of stalks produce half 
 images ? Yet men, being accustomed to the sight of these 
 absurdities, do not censure, but are pleased with them, without 
 considering whether they be proper or not ; the judgment, depraved 
 
70 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COUET. 
 
 by habit, examines not whether they be according to propriety 
 and the rules of decor ; for pictures should not be approved unless 
 they be conformable to truth, even although they be well executed, 
 they ought, therefore, to be immediately condemne:! unless they can 
 bear the trial of rational examination without being disapproved. 
 
 “ Thus at Tralles, when Apaturius of Alabanda had excellently 
 well painted a scene in the little theatre, which with them is called 
 the Ecclesiasterion, and instead of columns had placed statues and 
 centaurs, supporting the epistylium, the circular roof of the dome, 
 and projecting corners of the pediments, and ornamented the 
 cornice with lions’ heads, all which have reference to the roofing 
 and eaves of edifices ; above these, nevertheless, in the episcene, 
 domes, porticos, semipediments, and all the various parts of 
 buildings were again painted ; wherefore upon the appearance of 
 this scene, when by reason of its enrichment it was found pleasing 
 to all, and they were ready to applaud the work, Licinius, the 
 mathematician, then advanced and said, ( the Alabandines are 
 sufficiently intelligent in all civil affairs, but for a trifling impro¬ 
 priety are deemed injudicious ; for the statues in their gymnasium 
 are all in the attitude of pleading causes, while those in the forum 
 are holding the discus, or in the attitude of running or playing 
 with balls ; so that the unsuitableness of the attitudes of the 
 figures to the purposes of the places, throws a public disgrace upon 
 the city. Let us then take care that by the scene of Apaturius we 
 are not deemed Alabandines, or even Abderites ; for who among 
 you places upon the tiles of the roofs of your houses columns or 
 pediments ? These things are placed upon the floors, not upon 
 the tiles. If then we approve in painting what cannot be in fact, 
 we of this city shall be like those who, on account of the same 
 error, are deemed illiterate.’ Apaturius dared not to reply, but 
 took down the scene and altered it so as to be consistent to truth ; 
 after which it was approved. I, with the immortal gods, would 
 restore Licinius to life, that he might correct this folly and 
 fashionable disfigurement of our stucco work ; but why a false 
 overcomes a just mode it will not be foreign to the purpose to 
 explain. 
 
 <e The ancients, with labour and application, endeavoured to make 
 their works be approved by the excellences of art ; this is now 
 supplied by the beauty of colours, and the use of those of the most 
 costly kind ; and that value which was formerly given to works by 
 the skill of the artist, is not desired since the expense of the 
 proprietor supplies its place. Who among the ancients is known 
 
PLINY’S ACCOUNT OF LUDIUS. 
 
 71 
 
 to have used minium otherwise than sparingly and as a medicine ? 
 But now it is everywhere laid over the whole wall; it is the same 
 with crysocolla, ostrum, and armenium, which, when laid, although 
 without any art, appear very brilliant to the sight, and they are so 
 costly, that it is usually specified in the articles of agreement that 
 they shall be purchased by the proprietor, and not by the 
 contractor. ” 
 
 Pliny, also, who perished, it must be remembered, during the 
 conflagration of the cities (see page 8), affords some curious tes¬ 
 timony to the popularity of this mode of decoration, and of one 
 particular painter, Ludius. He says, book xxxv., chapter 10— 
 
 EXTRACT FROM PLINY’S NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Ludius was he who first devised to beautify the walls of a 
 house with the pleasantest painting that is in all variety ; to wit, 
 with the resemblance of manors, farms, and houses of pleasure in 
 the country ; havens, vinets, flower-work in knots ; groves, woods, 
 forests, hills, fish-pools, conduits and drains, rivers, riverets, with 
 their banks, and people, some walking and going to and fro on 
 foot, others sailing and rowing up and down the stream upon the 
 water, or else riding by land to their farms, either mounted upon 
 their mules and asses, or else in waggons and coaches ; there a 
 man should see folk, in this place fishing and angling, in that 
 place hawking and fowling ; some hunting here, the hare, the fox, 
 or deer, both red and sallow ; others busy there, in harvest or 
 vintage. In this manner of painting, a man should behold of his 
 workmanship, fair houses, standing among marshes, into which all 
 the ways that lead be ticklish and full of bogs ; where you should 
 see the paths so slippery, that women as they go are afraid to let 
 one foot afore another ; some at every step ready to slide, others 
 bending forward with their heads, as though they carried some 
 burdens upon their neck and shoulders, and all for fear lest, their 
 feet sliding under them, they should catch a fall ; and a thousand 
 more devices and pretty conceits as these, full of pleasure and 
 delight. The same Ludius devised walls without doors, and 
 abroad in the open air, to paint cities standing by the sea-shore : 
 all which kind of painting pleaseth the eye exceedingly well, and 
 is besides of little or no cost. Howbeit, neither he nor any 
 artificers of this kind—howsoever otherwise respected—grew ever 
 to be famous and of great name ; that felicity attained they only 
 unto who used to paint in tables, and therefore in this regard, 
 
72 
 
 THE POMPEIAN COURT. 
 
 venerable antiquity we have in greater admiration ; for painters in 
 old time loved not to garnish, walls for to pleasure the master only 
 of the bouse, nor yet to bedeck in houses that manner that cannot 
 stir out of the place nor shift and save themselves when fire 
 cometh, as painted tables may that are to be removed with ease.” 
 
 The reconstruction of an ancient house from the descriptions of 
 ancient authors has been several times attempted. 
 
 Pirro Ligorio, a Neapolitan architect, erected the villa Pia, 1570, 
 for Pope Pius Y. It was built in imitation of the houses of the 
 ancients, whose architecture he had particularly studied. Mazois, 
 whose large work on Pompeii has formed, as it were, the basis of 
 almost all Pompeian studies, wrote an elaborate essay on the 
 palaces of the ancient Romans, under the title “ Le Palais de 
 Scaurus.” In this all the descriptions of ancient authors were 
 supposed to be comprised. His work, however, was confined to the 
 pen ; and it is to be regretted that Mazois did not undertake an 
 architectural reproduction, as an actual copy of one of the houses he 
 explored whilst they were comparatively perfect, and for which he 
 was so thoroughly qualified. Only one undertaking of this kind 
 has preceded the Pompeian Court at Sydenham. It was prompted 
 by the taste of a monarch, remarkable for his interest in the fine 
 arts of all nations and all ages. The ex-king of Bavaria had a villa 
 built at Aschaffenburg, which was the complete restoration of an 
 ancient Roman house found at Pompeii. It was erected by the 
 celebrated architect, Gartner, and is an exact copy of the House of 
 the Dioscuri. 
 
 The visitor to Pompeii is but too frequently disappointed at the 
 crumbling condition of the disentombed city ; and the majority 
 take little trouble to trace the origin of this first and unfavourable 
 impression. They do not reflect upon the relation between different 
 portions of the ruins, the use or particular object originally served, 
 the custom that produced it, or the former appearance of the details 
 in the harmony of their original arrangement, with the groups of gaily 
 attired inhabitants giving animation to the scene. Like the greater 
 portion of the curious who throng the Elgin Saloon of the British 
 Museum, for the purpose of taking a peep at the mutilated frag¬ 
 ments of the marbles contained within its walls, such visitors to 
 Pompeii look for excellencies that do not exist, and a harmony 
 incompatible with the actual condition of the remains ; and, discon¬ 
 tented at finding things in opposition to their own conceptions, 
 they depart with imperfect and even prejudiced ideas of what they 
 really have beheld. Few arrive at Pompeii with even a general 
 
VALUE OF THE DISCOVERIES. 
 
 73 
 
 idea of the appearance of an ancient Homan house, and are thus 
 incapable of judging of the actual importance of the crumbling 
 remains of the buried cities. 
 
 Repeated visits, and careful and laborious investigation, are 
 necessary for perfect comprehension of the value of the ruins, in 
 guiding the observer towards an accurate idea of the state of the 
 city in its prime. To the careless and the uninitiated these few 
 scattered fragments, snatched from the very jaws of desolation, will 
 afford but a faint reflection of the glory and the triumphs that have 
 for ever passed away. 
 
 Such were the persevering studies of Cockerell, Digby Wyatt, 
 Donaldson, Falkener, Gell, Hayes, Mazois, and Zahn; and to 
 their investigations we are indebted for all the conclusions displayed 
 in this interesting building. We behold at a glance the result of 
 the experience of many years, and the combined exertions of our 
 most distinguished architects, and may safely assert that no more 
 agreeable method than that afforded by this reconstruction could 
 be devised for making the public acquainted with the details of a 
 Pompeian house. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 In the Atrium are placed two handsome marble benches, such as the clients 
 might have sat upon whilst waiting for audience with their patron. The ends, 
 which are elaborately carved, have been copied from an original model in the 
 Vatican Museum, and the whole has been presented to the Crystal Palace 
 Company by the London Marble Working Company, through their secretary, 
 Mr. Clare. 
 
 BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS. 
 
 G