Part 5

Next to the candelabra may be mentioned under the head of domestic utensils more or less costly vases, which were frequently displayed on handsome tables or the tripods described above. Of these too a great number have been found in Pompeii and deposited in the Museo Nazionale at Naples. Thus figure 98 shows a large vessel of bronze, a crater or mixing bowl, the elegant twisted handles of which are fastened to the body of the vase by means of a winged Medusa mask. That its purpose was merely ornamental is shown by the circumstance that it is placed on a separate basis supported by lion’s claws. A more bowl-like vessel, also supported by lion’s claws, is represented on page 107.--On each side of this two united bodies of lions connected with serpents are employed as handles. The jugs in figure 99 display different shapes, in the one the handle is formed by a soaring bird with broad bill (a swan or perhaps a goose), while an eagle sits enthroned above the mouth; in the other the body of the vessel consists of a head with eyes separately inlaid, but now lost. Numerous too are the ornamental vessels of silver. Two cups famous above all are represented in figure 95, on one side of which is placed a male centaur, on the other a female. On their backs are seated Erotes (Loves). Although both cups are without doubt intended as companion pieces which belong so to speak to the same set, yet there are distinctions in details. These cups, so finely chiselled, are provided with a smooth lining inserted specially for the reception of the liquid, a circumstance illustrating a well-known passage in the speech of Cicero against Verres. There it is stated that Verres in Sicily had in preference to everything seized the silver vessels, that he had not however set so much value on the silver, but had restored the cups _emblemate_ or _sigillo avulso_. Now the _emblemata_ or _sigilla_ are nothing else than the outer cases adorned with work in relief, which were united by solder to the smooth inner cases.

If we would form a more accurate estimate of the valuables with which the show tables (_abaci_) were loaded, we can avail ourselves of a recent discovery not indeed made in Pompeii itself, but yet in its entire character belonging to Pompeii. In Bosco Reale, a small town situated nearer Vesuvius, where in ancient times there seems to have been a sort of suburb of Pompeii, a villa had been discovered in 1894 on the estate of Cav. de Prisco, buried under the ashes from Vesuvius, and in this every chamber was found in an undisturbed state. In one apartment, the storeroom, there were found large vessels full of corn and pulse, in another place the explorers came upon a great heap of agricultural implements, a furnace for baths was unearthed, in which all the water pipes with their taps were preserved (the same that is now placed in position behind the Forum), in short everything was found intact, exactly in the condition (except of course changes brought about by length of time) in which the villa was on the 24th of August in the year 79. But still greater treasures were destined to come to light from the villa. On the 13th of April 1896 the skeleton of a man was suddenly discovered: he had fallen with his face on the ground, stifled under the hot showers of ashes which pressed upon him from every side. In his convulsively clasped hands he grasped bracelets and a long gold chain; many gold coins with the heads of the Emperors from Augustus to Vespasian, several of them still quite fresh as if they had just been issued by the mint, lay scattered near him on the ground. He had sunk to the earth before a little niche, in which he had doubtless just laid down a part of his burden, and where he had wished to put also the remainder that he was carrying, in order to protect all from unbidden intruders.

In the niche itself, wrapped in a piece of coarse woollen stuff, lay a great treasure of silver, which through the liberality of Baron Edm. de Rothschild has reached the Louvre. It falls into two categories, in the first place such vessels as can be designated objects of use (these however also merit careful observation on account of the fine ornament that appears on them); and secondly a series of cups, bowls, and other utensils which are adorned with artistic representations. Though the others are also interesting we can here deal only with the latter of the two classes, so far as representations of them are available. Chief among them is a bowl that in size and shape compares best with the Minerva bowl of the Hildesheim Treasure. In quite free form there raises itself from the ground as a centrepiece the bust of a goddess who wears on her head the spoils of an elephant, so that the trunk projects over the centre of her forehead and the tusks on both sides over her temples. She is clad in a light chiton with many folds, fastened over the arm by numerous studs; the overlapping portion of the chiton is gathered together at the breast into a roll in which appear ears of corn with grapes and all kinds of fruit. In her left hand the goddess holds a cornucopia containing bunches of grapes, pomegranates &c., in her right a Uraeus serpent. There is no question that the tutelary deity of Alexandria alone can be intended by the figure (fig. 100).

A second bowl has as its central ornament the upper portion of a man’s body boldly projecting from the surface, which may be noted as extremely characteristic. The shortcropped hair lies closely on the head, the large ears protrude, many a wrinkle furrows the brow, clearly marked crow’s feet enable us to infer that the subject is pretty well advanced in age. The cheeks have fallen in, and so leave the cheek bones standing forth in strong relief. The attribution of the figure to the Emperor Claudius is assuredly groundless, still the features remind one of members of the House of the Claudii, and above all this one thing cannot be questioned that we have to deal with a Roman and no Greek. Of the companion bowl with a woman’s bust the centrepiece has come to London. On the other hand the Louvre has secured two hand mirrors once belonging to the _mundus muliebris_, the toilet apparatus of a Pompeian lady; one with elegant handle formed of twigs intertwined bears as an ornament in the middle of its back a wonderful bust of Ariadne (fig. 101); the head slightly inclined towards the left arm is crowned with a wreath of ivy, and the drapery leaves free the left breast shaped with wondrous beauty. A second mirror bears as ornament for the back (the polished front always serves as the actual reflecting surface) the representation of Leda with the swan. Leda almost nude is seated on a rock, and while she supports herself on the rock with her left hand, holds out with her right a bowl to the swan standing before her.

Besides these there are comprised in the treasure four eggshaped cups with large handles rising above the rim, and twisted feet, two of which have the exterior adorned with storks in low relief which are seeking food in the neighbourhood of their nest, while both the others represent the life of cranes, how they search for food, struggle over their booty, and engage their rivals with powerful blows of their beaks. Other vases remind us of the great bell-shaped vessel of the Hildesheim treasure. From a graceful calyx grows up a flower-stem divided into joints, on which as they spread out are introduced groups of animals fighting, while elegant arabesques springing from flower cups fill the body of the vase with their charming windings and twinings. Of wonderfully fine execution also are two low vessels, each provided with two handles, round the body of which twine two olive branches with berries. (Fig. 102.) Other cups are ornamented with so-called “Still Life” (fig. 103); others have allusions to literary efforts. There we see skeletons of poets as Euripides and Menander (fig. 89), or philosophers as Zeno and Epicurus in various actions, with inscriptions appended which show the connection. One and all preach the doctrine of Epicurus, enjoy life while you may, life passes away only too quickly. The placing of such scenes on vessels destined to minister to the keener enjoyment of life is for antiquity no unusual thing; I need refer only to the above mentioned mosaic of a death’s head which served as the ornament of a table, and to the well-known scene from Trimalchio’s Banquet (in Petronius), who has a silver skeleton with movable limbs brought upon the table, and invites his guests to brighter enjoyment of life with the words “Alas for us poor wretches! What a nothing we are! Like this skeleton shall we all be as soon as Orcus carries us off; so let us enjoy life while we may!”

Fine tables laden with such and similar vases must have been found in every one of the better class of houses in Pompeii, so they could not be passed over in describing the furniture. Yet some may miss in the catalogue of furniture the mention of looking-glasses. In Pompeii however these would be sought in vain. There were indeed mirrors enough for the toilet, as we have seen in the treasure from Bosco Reale, but only hand mirrors, mostly of metal, occasionally, as it seems, also of glass, yet always only so small that even if fixed on a stand they are to be treated as articles of the toilet, not as constituent parts of the furniture. We may suppose that refined luxury in individual cases may have led to the employment of larger mirrors (cf. Lessing, _Rettung des Horaz_), but these things have nothing to do with Pompeii, to judge at least by what has been found there.

Now that we have gained an idea of the Pompeian house in general and of its equipment, it is possible to examine more thoroughly individual houses of special note. We begin with the Casa di Pansa, or, as the house has been officially named from a painted inscription, which has now disappeared, the Domus Cn. Allei Nigidi Mai. For two appellations have usually to be distinguished, a popular one, often due to the presence of people of rank on the occasion of the excavation (e. g. in the case of the Casa dell’ Imperatore di Germania), or derived from special objects discovered (Casa del Fauno); frequently too the electioneering inscriptions which are written on the houses have led to (unauthorised) conclusions as to the owner. On the other hand the second, the official appellation, is founded on the discovery of seals or inscriptions within the house that allow of a conclusion as to the former possessor. The so-called House of Pansa then (fig. 104) is situated in the Street of Nola, opposite the Baths. It displays a façade of tufa, of the Samnite epoch, with unusually lofty doorway, which runs back from the street and so forms a _vestibulum_. Through the doorway we catch sight of the _Atrium_ with its very deep _impluvium_, and behind this the _tablinum_, from which two steps lead to the peristyle. The tufa columns of the peristyle are of the Ionic order, but by a coat of stucco were turned into Corinthian. Behind the peristyle an entrance leads to the kitchen garden, the beds of which were still discernible at the time of the excavation. A large portion of the ground pertaining to the house is taken up by shops and a bakery with three mills. It is worth while to examine such a bakery somewhat more in detail.

Every bakery was connected with several mills, in which was prepared the flour required for baking. Each mill consists of a conical support (_Meta_) and upper part forming a double funnel (_Catillus_); the latter is so placed over the supporting cone that the upper cavity serves to receive the corn as it is poured in, while by the rubbing between the lower funnel and the fixed cone the grains of corn are reduced to powder. That the turning may proceed more easily the external double funnel rests by means of a cross bar of wood upon an iron point fixed in the cone beneath, at the narrowest point of the _catillus_ holes are made in which are fixed bars by means of which the turning of the mill is effected by a donkey. For this reason the ground round about is paved. Near the space in which the mills stand is the oven, and by this is seen a hollow for the reception of water (fig. 105); to the left was a room in which the bread was put into shape. Here are also often remains of a peculiar contrivance for the kneading of dough, a cylindrical vessel of lava in which the dough was kneaded by means of a roller turning round an iron rod. Shelves on the wall, of which there are still to be seen traces served to display the baker’s wares. It may here be remarked that in the villages of Sardinia at the present day mills are in use which correspond almost exactly to those at Pompeii, and also that the machine for kneading dough is still employed in a similar form at Palermo. From a well closed baking oven eighty-one loaves were taken which naturally were somewhat stale, inasmuch as they were put into the oven as early as the 24th of August 79! (Fig. 107.) Some of them are exhibited in the museum at Pompeii. Next to the House of Pansa comes the House of the Tragic Poet, which plays a part in Bulwer’s romance as the house of Glaucus (fig. 106). It has its name from a painting wrongly explained as a rehearsal (in reality the myth of Admetus and Alcestis is represented), and also a Mosaic relating to the theatre. On account, however, of the magnificent paintings found in the Atrium which refer to Homeric themes (the carrying off of Briseis, Zeus and Hera on Ida _etc._) it is also called Casa Omerica. Here the photograph is taken from the Atrium; the fountain close to the impluvium is seen in the foreground, behind, a step higher, is the tablinum, with mosaic ornament, opening with its whole width on the peristyle. There is still to be seen the little chapel of the Lares in which a statuette of Silenus was found. From this house comes the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, a painting represented on an earlier page.

Bordering on the house of the Tragic Poet is the Fullonica, the house of a fuller, where the arrangements necessary for carrying on the trade are so completely preserved and so clearly illustrated by wall-paintings that one can form an accurate idea of the process of fulling. In figure 108 is given a picture of the second fulling-mill situated in the Street of Stabiae. In the atrium are preserved the marble table and the troughlike basin into which fell the stream of water; in the peristyle beyond the tablinum we have a glimpse of the vats of masonry in which the cleansing of the woollen stuffs took place. In the small entrance which near the tablinum led to the workroom was found at the time of the excavation a great mass of whitish argillaceous earth (_terra fullonica_), which was used for the cleansing of woollen stuffs. The pictures of the other Fullonica (fig. 110) inform us as to the process itself. Vats placed in niches are seen, standing in which the fullers partly wash the material partly tread it with the feet. Beyond we see a workman carrying a frame like a crinoline (on this the clothes were spread to be bleached with sulphur), while another brushes or cards the garment hung up on a bar; beneath on the left sits a woman who seems to be giving a girl instructions as to the treatment of a piece of cloth. Another painting represents the press with which the woollen material when washed was smoothed; it is exactly like those in use at the present day.

If one follows the Street of Nola further towards the East one soon comes to a house which may be designated as one of the most famous and best preserved of those in Pompeii, the Casa del Fauno (fig. 109), so named from the bronze statue of the dancing faun found therein (fig. 77). In the footway before the threshold the visitor is greeted on entrance with the word _Have_ (Hail!). The house has two entrances with two _Atria_, of which the one here represented, the principal Atrium, may serve at the same time as an example of the _Atrium Tuscanicum_, inasmuch as no columns are placed around the impluvium as supports for the beams of the roof.

The house is decorated in the first style, that is to say its decoration consists of an imitation of marble slabs. It is a curious fact that the walls are covered with sheets of lead beneath the stucco to keep all dampness from it. Paintings are not to be found here; on the other hand the house was rich in valuable finely executed mosaics, among which is to be specially mentioned the greatest of all mosaics, Alexander’s Battle. It was in the chamber opening upon the peristyle, the red columns of which are visible in the illustration beyond the tablinum. The columns seen behind belong to a second peristyle embracing the whole breadth of the house, which has taken the place of what must be supposed to have been originally a garden.

The Casa dei Capitelli Colorati, also called Casa d’ Arianna, is placed obliquely with regard to the Casa del Fauno. We pass from the Street of Nola first into the garden, which is surrounded by a colonnade (figs. 111 and 112); next comes the peristyle with the sittingrooms. The house has received its name from the fact that in the last period of Pompeii the capitals of the Ionic columns dating from the Samnite period were newly covered with stucco and painted.

One more house in the Street of Nola deserves special attention, the Casa del Centenario, so entitled because it was excavated on the occasion of the celebration of the eighteenhundredth year after the overwhelming of Pompeii (fig. 113). Here also are two _atria_ with a large peristyle behind, which had a low railing between the columns as may be seen by the incisions in them. The claim of this house to rank among the most important properties in Pompeii is established by the discovery of many paintings and statuettes of bronze and marble, as well as of ample baths, for warming which the heat from an oven was employed, besides a Shrine of Lares of some importance, in which was a small portable altar. Here too was discovered the picture given on an earlier page, which represents Bacchus entirely made up of grape clusters, in close proximity to a mountain, in which may be recognised the present Monte di Somma before the eruption of Vesuvius.

To the north of the Casa del Centenario lies the Casa delle Nozze d’ Argento, also called Casa dell’ Imperatore di Germania, because the house was excavated in 1893 on the occasion of the Silver Wedding of the King and Queen of Italy in the presence of the Emperor of Germany (fig. 114). The Atrium is _Tetrastylum_, that is the roof beams rest on four columns which are excellently preserved; behind comes the tablinum with a mosaic pavement, and thence one reaches a peristyle which is in an equally good state of preservation.

Here too let there be described a house in the Street of Stabiae, the little garden of which adorned with statuettes has been mentioned above (fig. 76). The house has received its name from a painting representing a letter with the address of Marcus Lucretius, _M. Lucretio flam. Martis decurioni Pompei_; on the left of this is represented a _diptychon_, a doubled wax tablet with the style for writing, on the right, beneath, an inkpot with pen. The house of Lucretius had many well preserved paintings of the last period of the city. Together with this letter the wax tablets may also be mentioned which have been found in the house of Caecilius Jucundus. Figure 115 represents such a tablet.

From another point of view the house depicted above (fig. 116) is noteworthy. As said above on p. 6 the citywall is on the west and southwest sides for the most part broken down and its place taken by houses. Since these houses thus overlapped the wall and descended to the level of the plain below, they gained at the back an additional story on this lower level; and the top of this story formed a terrace from which a marvellous view over plain and sea could be enjoyed. And so many more houses in Pompeii might be examined in detail, were it not that the very abundance warns us to observe due moderation.--We must not however leave Pompeii without taking sufficient notice of one more house, a house that on account of the good condition in which it has risen out of the ashes from Vesuvius, and on account of its great number of paintings, and the decoration of its peristyle will leave a lasting impression on every beholder. This is the house of the Vettii only recently excavated, in which everything that could be left has been left in its original position, in order to produce the most complete idea of a Pompeian house.

The new house lies to the east of the so-called Casa del Labirinto, and is entered from the east side, the Vicolo which represents the continuation of the Vicolo degli scienziati. We first enter the vestibulum (fig. 118 at _a_). To pass hence into the ostium proper persons either availed themselves of the wide opening principal door, or were admitted through a smaller sidedoor on the right. Thence they stepped into the Atrium (_c_), in the centre of which is placed the impluvium with a wastepipe passing into the street; right and left are seen large slabs of stone with remains of the iron chests let into them, the strongboxes of the master of the house. Right and left of the ostium two small chambers open on the atrium, so also on the west of the two strongboxes are situated the two alae and a chamber by each strongbox, one of these chambers, however, has in later times been cut off from the atrium by a low wall, and turned into a kind of storeroom. But here ends the symmetrical arrangement of the atrium; while on the left an apartment opens widely on the atrium as a winter triclinium, on the other side appears the entrance to a second atrium provided with its own impluvium, and at the back with the shrine of the Lares. On this small atrium open several rooms intended for the slaves, and therefore left without ornament; there too lies the kitchen with wide hearth of masonry, on and near which have been found a large number (fig. 117) of utensils serving for boiling and grilling &c. The little room, that could be entered only from the kitchen, evidently the cook’s room, is now kept under lock and key, on account of the somewhat objectionable paintings with which this household dignitary had had his apartment adorned.