POM 



81 



POM 



p, m|>'ii. rona, having, like that theatre, a narrow proscenium 

 > and three entrances of different sizes from the scenery 

 behind to the stnr. 



.\ trmplr of Isis stands behind the little theatre, and 

 occupies an angular space brt \vi-t n two ,trfrt.. Vari- 

 MaturMif Vrmi*. IViapus, &c. wcrr found in niches 

 of this temple ; but they have been transported, along 

 with the furniture, marble, and picture*, to Portici. 



I'M hind this temple, and on one side of it, is a court 

 surrounded with a portico, and supported with sixteen 

 Doric columns. A sort of pulpit which exists on one side 

 of it, has given rise to the opinion that it had been the 

 place of meeting of some public assembly. There is also 

 here another court, with a simitar portico, surmounted 

 by more than 60 stone pillurs, of the Doric order, but 

 bordering, in their proportion, on the Tuscan. This 

 court communicates with the grand portico of the 

 theatre ; and near it are strewed several fragments of 

 columns of a much larger size, and of a much bolder 

 proportion, which may perhaps have belonged to the 

 temple of Neptune, and may have been thrown into 

 their present situation by the earthquake of A.D. 6*3. 

 The street, which extends from the neighbourhood of 

 the soldiers barracks is only about thirteen feet wide. 

 It is paved with large stones, which are not of a 

 square shape, but are fitted to each other in their ori- 

 ginal form. On each side are foot pavements nearly 

 three feet wide, and elevated tivo feet above the middle 

 pavement, which is marked by two deep rents or fur- 

 rows, which prove that the carriages always kept the 

 same line, and that there was not room for two. 



On both sides of the street, the houses stand quite 

 in contact with each other, as in modern times. They 

 re nearly of the same height and dimensions, being 

 similarly paved and painted. They seem also to have 

 had shops of different kinds. The houses, which are 

 all on a small scale, consist generally of one, but some- 

 times of two stories. The principal apartments are 

 always behind, surrounding a court, with a small 

 piazza about it, and having a cistern of marble in its 

 centre. 



An edifice, supposed to be the house of Sallust, has 

 an unusually showy appearance. The rooms are paint- 

 ed with the figures of gods and goddesses, and the 

 floors decorated with marbles and mosaic pavements. 

 In another house which is large, but less sumptuous in 

 its ornaments, many of the domestic utensils have been 

 preserved ; and the kitchen and the offices are under 

 ground. Two houses had glass windows ; but in others 

 shutters only were used. The decorations are princi- 

 pally basso-relievos in stucco, and paintings in medal- 

 lions. 



In the main street, which passes in front of the 

 temple of Isis, the portico of the theatre has been dis- 

 covered ; and near the same spot, ten feet below the 

 level of the street, was found a human skeleton, and 

 immediately beneath it a large collection of gold and 

 ilver medals in the finest state of preservation, and 

 chiefly belonging to the reign of Domitian. 



Beneath a superb portico in the street of the tombs, 

 a number of skeletons have been discovered, among 

 which are those of a female and several children. 

 Among the bones were found several ear-rings and 

 three finger-rings. Among the vases which were dis- 

 covered, there were two full of water, and having a 

 small quantity of water at the bottom. The water was 

 limpid and tasteless in the one ; but in the other it 

 was of a brownish tinge, and had the taste of lye. 



YOL. XVII. PART I. 



One of the mot curious and most complete objects 

 that ha yet been discovered at Pompeii, it a villa at * 

 little distance from the town. It consists of three courts. 

 I n the lir>t and largest of them is a pond, having in the 

 cciitre an anlicitla, or little temple. There are nume- 

 rous apartments of every description, which are paved 

 with mosaic, and have their walta decorated with 

 paintings in a very superior style. The baths in this 

 villa seem to have been objects of particular care. 



A public edifice i* said to have been recently disco* 

 vered near the Forum of Pompeii. It is (supposed to 

 be the Chalcidicum, and it has an inscription which im- 

 ports that the edifice was built at the expence of th 

 priestess Eumachia. A few days after this discovery, 

 a statue of the same priestess was found in perfect pre- 

 servation. It is said to surpass in grace, elegance, and 

 grandeur, all the works of art that had previously been 

 dug from that town. 



it has been remarked that Pompeii bears a strong 

 resemblance to modern Italian towns, and that, in point 

 of general appearance, it is superior to them. 



The excavations at Pompeii are, we believe, still pro- 

 secuted. More than 500 feet of the town wall have been 

 completely cleared. It is from eighteen to twenty feet 

 high, twelve feet thick, and is fortified at short intervals 

 with square towers. 



Among the recent discoveries at Pompeii may also 

 be enumerated a bronze vase, encrusted with silver, 

 the size and form of which have been much admired ; 

 and a bronze statue of Apollo, of admirable workman- 

 ship. The deity is represented as sacrificing, with his 

 avenging arm, the family of Niobe ; and the beauty of 

 its form, and the life of the figure, are so fine, that it 

 is said to be the finest statue in the Bourbon Mu- 

 seum. 



In the year 181 9 several surgical instruments were 

 discovered in the ruins of a house in the Strada Con- 

 sulare, near the gate adjoining to the burial ground. 

 These instruments consisted of probes, made of iron ; 

 an iron instrument for extracting teeth ; an elevator, 

 used in the operation of trepan ; a cauterising iron ; a 

 female catheter, made of iron ; instruments for bleed- 

 ing ; cutting instruments ; spatulas of different forms ; 

 and a catheter, with double curvature, like the letter 

 S, and containing the very instrument which a cele- 

 brated and respectable French surgeon, Jean Louis 

 Petit, considered as his own invention. All these instru- 

 ments are remarkable for the elegance of their form, 

 and show that the Romans had arrived at great per- 

 fection in this department of the arts. A full account 

 of these different instruments, with a lithographic 

 sketch, was laid before the Medical Society of Emula- 

 tion at Paris, by Dr. Sevenko, of St. Petersburg, and 

 has been published in the Bulletin of that society for 

 November, 1821, p. 452. 



POMPEY, CNEIUS, a celebrated Roman general, 

 was the son of Cneius PompeiusStraboand Lucilia, anil 

 was born in the year 107 before Christ. Pompey be- 

 gan his military career against "Cinna, in the Marian 

 civil war, and served under his father, who commanded 

 an army in the neighbourhood of Rome, and who ren- 

 dered himself unpopular by his avarice and severity. 

 Terentius, a young patrician, having been engaged by 

 Cinna to murder both the father and the son, Pompey 

 got information of his designs, and by retfring from his 

 tent in the night, and placing a guard round the prae- 

 torium, he defeated the intentions of his enemies. Some 

 time afterwards his father was killed by lightning, and . 

 L 



