ANTIQUITIES. 



415 



priests squeezed themselves when 

 they spoke for the statue of the god- 

 dess, nay, to discover the secret 

 stairs by which they ascended into 

 the sanctum sanctonan ; in short, to 

 examine the construction of a temple 

 evidently built long before Pompeii 

 was destroyed, is surely a most in- 

 teresting speculation. Instruments 

 for sacrifice, candelabres, &c. with 

 the skeletons of priests, thought to 

 have been feasting at the time of 

 the eruption, were found here. It 

 appears that this temple had been 

 destroyed by an earthquake pre- 

 vious to the general overthrow of 

 the city, several stumps of columns, 

 which seem originally to have sup- 

 ported the buildings, being still dis- 

 cernible : this earthquake is men- 

 tioned by Seneca : it happened in 

 the year 63. The pillars now 

 standing are composed of brick stuc- 

 coed and painted, the capitals are 

 the same — the whole building like- 

 wise is stuccoed, painted, and beau- 

 tifully polished within and without ; 

 the floor is Mosaic. The houses al- 

 ready excavated are, generally 

 speaking, on a small scale ; most of 

 them, however, were evidently no- 

 thing more than shops, and the ha- 

 bitations of shopkeepers. Some few 

 which seem to have belonged to 

 persons of a higher class are adorned 

 with a handsome portico in front, 

 supported by doric columns, a large 

 entrance, or hall, with a fountain 

 in its centre, and on the sides, bed- 

 rooms which appear to have had 

 little or no light except what came 

 from the hall. In one house, which 

 seems to have been three stories 

 high, there are three halls, and three 

 fountains ; indeed, wherever there 

 is one of these courts, or halls, there 



never fails to be a fountain in the 

 middle of it. The pillars of every 

 portico are composed of brick stuc- 

 coed and painted — the rooms are 

 stuccoed, painted, and beautifully 

 varnished — the roofs arched, with 

 terraces on the top — the floors 

 Mosaic, and scarce two of them 

 alike. The windows were gene- 

 rally closed with wooden shutters ; 

 some ievr, however, had glass, 

 which seems to have been thick, 

 and not transparent — others had 

 isinglass split into thin plates. The 

 paintings in the shops and very 

 small houses seem nearly as elegant 

 as in the large ones. The houses 

 usually pointed out to travellers con- 

 tain — First house — a lion on the 

 door-sill, in Mosaie — a fountain in 

 the middle of the yard. Second 

 house — various paintings, namely, a 

 woman seated, reading a scroll — a 

 landscape — comic and tragic masks 

 — a pretty bed-room, with paintings 

 on the walls, representing Venus 

 attired by the graces, and Venus 

 and Adonis — here, likewise, is a 

 painting of a white stag fastened to 

 a column, and an altar adorned 

 with trophies emblematical of his 

 death. Third house — two snakes, 

 emblems of longevity, done in Mo- 

 saic at the entrance. Fourth house 

 — Salve " welcome,'' in Mosaic 

 on the threshold, aud a curious la- 

 byrinth, or table for playing at an 

 ancient game, in the centre of one 

 of the floors* — paintings represent- 

 ing an altar, with a cock prepared 

 for sacrifice, and instruments for sa- 

 crifice lying by — a figure of iEscu- 

 lapius, and another of Mars — a lady 

 dressing her hair — fighting gladia- 

 tors — a dancing Bacchante — a fine 

 biill'shead — fish — flowers — poultry 



The two just-named Mosaics seem to indicate that this house was an inn. 



