ONCE upon a time there stood a town in Italy, at the foot of Mount Vesu"vius, which was to Rome what Brighton or Hastings is to London-a fashionable watering-place. There Roman gentlemen and members of the Senate built villas, to which they were in the habit of retiring from the fatigues of business or the broils of politics.
The outsides of all the houses were adorned with frescoes,①and every shop glittered with all the colours of the rainbow. At the end of each street there was a charming fountain, and any one who sat down beside it to cool himself had a delightful view of the Mediterranean, then as beautiful, as blue and sunny as it is now.
On a fine day, crowds might have been seen lounging here; some sauntering up and down in gala dresses of purple, while slaves passed to and fro bearing on their heads splendid vases;ATRIUM OF A HOUSE IN POMPEIIothers sat on marble benches, shaded from the sun by awnings, and having before them tables covered with wine, and fruit, and flowers. Every house in that town was a little palace, and every palace was like a temple, or one of our great public buildings.
Any one who thinks a mansion in Belgravia② the height ofsplendour, would have been astonished, had he lived in those days, to find how completely the abodes of those Roman lords outshone "the stately homes of England." On entering the former, the visitor passed through a vestibule decorated with rows of pillars, and then found himself in the atrium ,③ in which the household gods kept guard over the owner"s treasure, which was placed in a safe, or strong-box, secured with brass or iron bands. In this apartment guests were received with imposing ceremony; and there the patron heard the complaints, supplications, and adulations of his great band of clients or dependants, who lived on his smiles and bounty, but chiefly on the latter. Issuing thence, the visitor found himself in the tabli"num ,④ an apartment paved with mosaic⑤ and decorated with paintings, in which were kept the family papers and archives. The house contained also dining and supper rooms, and a number of sleeping rooms hung with the softest of Syrian cloths; -cabinets filled with rare jewels and antiquities, and sometimes a fine collection of paintings; -and last ofall, a pillared per"istyle , opening out upon the garden. Therethe finest fruit hung temptingly in the rich light of a golden sky; and fountains, which flung their waters aloft in every imaginable form and device, cooled the air and discoursed sweet music to the ear. From behind each shrub there peeped a statue, or the bust of some great man, carved from the purest white marble, and placed in charming contrast with bouquets of rare flowers springing from stone vases. On the gate, or in mosaic on the pavement within, there was always the image of a dog, and beneath it the inion, Cave canem -that is, "Beware of the dog!""BEWARE OF THE DOG!"The frescoes on the walls represented scenes in the Greek legends, such as "The Seizure of Euro"pa," "The Battle of the Am"azons,"&c.; many of which are still to be seen in the museum at Naples. The pillars in the peristyle⑥ of which we have just spoken were encircledwith garlands of flowers, which were renewed every morning.
The tables of citron-wood were inlaid with silver ar"abesques;the couches were of bronze, gilt and jewelled, and were furnished with thick cushions, and tapestry embroidered with marvellous skill.
When the master gave a dinner party, the guests reclined upon these cushions, washed their hands in silver basins, and dried them with napkins fringed with purple; and having made a libation on the altar of Bacchus,⑧ ate oysters brought from the shores of Britain, kids which were carved to the sound of music, and fruits served up on ice in the hottest days of summer. While the cup-bearers filled their golden cups with the rarest and most delicate wines in the world, other attendants crowned them with flowers wet with dew, and dancers executed the most graceful movements, and singers accompanied by the lyre poured forth an ode of Hor"ace or of Anac"reon.
After the banquet, a shower of scented water, thrown from invisible pipes, spread perfume over the apartment; and everything around, even the oil, and the lamps, and the jets of the fountain, shed forth the most grateful odour; and suddenly from the mosaic of the floor tables of rich dainties, of which we have at the present day no idea, arose, as if by magic, to stimulate the palled appetites of the revellers into freshTHE FORUM OF POMPEIIactivity. When these had disappeared, other tables succeeded them, upon which senators, and consuls, and proconsuls gambled away provinces and empires by the throw of dice; and last of all, the tapestry was suddenly raised, and young girls, lightly attired, wreathed with flowers, and bearing lyres in their hands, issued forth, and charmed sight and hearing by the graceful mazes of the dance.