1850.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL, 



14!) 



from the Greeks, or whether the Greeks were indebted to tlie 

 Etruscans. Notwithstanding the tradition of Demaratus of Corinth 

 settling at Tarquinii, with the artists Eiicheir and Eiigramnuis, 

 " cunning hand," and " cunning carver," I am inclined to believe 

 that the love of the arts sprang up amongst eacli jieople indepen- 

 dently, and, perhaps, simultaneously ; and that owing to mutual 

 intercourse, mutual improvement may have taken place. The 

 early, or archaic style, both in Etruria and in (ireece, was stiff and 

 rude ; but as the arts progressed, the tireek and Etruscan schools 

 (if I may so express it) became more distinct. The Etruscans 

 never attained to that perfection in drawing ami matchless grandeur 

 of design, that renders Greek art pre-eminent even at the present 

 day ; but they delineated the scenes and feelings they wished to 

 perpetuate, with a grace and tenderness that has only been sur- 

 passed by the after-dwellers in the same land — the mediaeval 

 artists of Italy. 



Etruscan Early Style, from Antique Vase. 



Etruscan Later Style, from Tomb at Tarquinii. 



The paintings in the sepulchres of Etruria do not represent the 

 avocations of daily life, as in those of Egypt, but generally funeral 

 feasts or processions ; or frequently allegorical subjects, such as 

 the contest between the good and evil spirits for the soul of the 

 departed, or the last sad parting scene, where the inexorable 

 angel of death, with uplifted hammer, is about to strike his de- 

 stined victim, while weeping friends gather round. The Etruscans 

 appear to have used colours conventionally, giving their paintings 

 a somewhat absurd effect to our uninitiated eyes; thus, the coun- 

 tenances of the male figures glow with a brilliant red, emblema- 

 tical of their state of beatitude, and the horses rejoice in black 

 hoofs and blue tails. They, however, made use of the secondary 

 colours, such as greys and violets — so rarely found in ancient art, 

 and their ornamental borders show an advance of taste beyond 

 the stiff and crude patterns of the Egyptians. The Etruscans 

 never excelled in sculpture, probably owing to the w ant of material, 

 (Limo, or Carrara marble, not being then quarried); but in mould- 

 ing in terra-cotta, which Varro calls the mother of statuary, or in 

 metal work, they were unrivalled. We are assured that Etruscan 

 vases of gilt bronze were considered by the Greeks as amongst the 

 most valuable household goods; and the statue of Minerva, the 

 masterpiece of Phidias, was adorned with Tyrrhenian (or Etrus- 

 can) sandals. 



I have mentioned before that the Etruscan government was 

 founded on an exclusive aristocracy; thus the population was 

 divided into the two classes of nobles and serfs; the latter were 

 employed by their masters in task-work, who were thus enabled to 

 carry out those vast undertakings for which they were so cele- 

 brated. We must, however, do the Etruscan lucumones justice, 

 or their clients were not burdened to produce monuments to the 



selfishness and vain glory of their lords, as in the East, but vvere 

 occupied in great public works, for the benefit of the whole com- 

 munity. Etruscan roads extended from one end of Italy to the 

 other, and even across the Alps ; and noble arches of stone were 

 thrown over rivers and ravines ; the Ponte Labadia, and others, 

 still show foundations of Etruscan masonry beneath the Roman 

 repairs. According to Dr. Meyer, the roads were constructed in 

 the following manner : — the ground was dug to the depth of two 

 feet, and beams of charred wood laid as a foundation ; upon this 

 was placed silaria, or a comj)osition of earth and stone ground to 

 paste, and then a layer of basalt over all. Another method was to 

 lay terra-cotta or broken stones first, and then to pave with hewn 

 stones upon this foundation. But the most magnificent achieve- 

 ments of the Pkruscans were the extensive tunnels and draining, 

 by which the country of Italy was changed from an unhealthy 

 swamp to the garden of Europe. Formerly the heights only were 

 habitable, on account of the malaria : the site of Florence was a 

 lake ; and the beautiful Val d'Arno nothing but an unwholesome 

 marsh. A tunnel was cut through Monte Gonfalina, which drained 

 the valley, and enabled it to be brought into cultivation. Tunnels 

 were also excavated at Fiesole, from lakes Meoni and Galano, and 

 other places too numerous to mention : even at the present day, 

 Etruscan emissarii are constantly being discovered. The learned 

 Niebuhr himself first examined the subterranean conduits at Fie- 

 sole, in 1820. They also deepened the channels of the rivers, and 

 straightened their course. Land was gained by draining off lakes 

 that had formed in the craters of extinct volcanoes ; several such 

 craters exist about Perugia, and though the tunnels have never 

 been cleared out, they still continue to act. 



In speaking of the foundation and building of Rome, we have 

 Etruria still under consideration, as far as the arts are coiu'erned ; 

 for, howe\er much historians may differ as to the extent of Etruscan 

 political influence at Rome (Miiller believing Rome under the Tar- 

 quins to have been an integral part of Etruria, and Dr. Ariudd 

 supposing the Tarquins to have been indejiendent kings, though 

 of Etruscan lineage), all agree that Rome looked to Etruria for 

 her architects and artists: nor must this Etruscan influence be 

 forgotten, as subsequently it gave the architecture of the Romans 

 its distinctive character from that of the Greeks. This is not the 

 place in which to repeat the well-known legends of Ronnilus, 

 Numa Pompilius, and the other early kings of Rome, but they 

 cannot be passed by without a regret that so little is known with 

 any certainty about the first few centuries of the once mistress of 

 the world, and that the writings of Numa Pompilius, the thirty 

 books of the Emperor Claudius on the Etruscans, and other works 

 which might have revealed so much, should be lost to the world. 



The hills of Rome are low, but steep and rocky; small villages 

 were already scattered over them, and a colony was established on 

 the Palatine wlien Romulus and Remus arrived to take possession 

 with their shepherd band. They proceeded to mark out the first 

 boundary of the future Rome, about the year 753, B.C. Romulus 

 marked out the pomoerium round the Palatine, according to the 

 Etruscan ceremonial; and it was for contemptuously leaping over 

 the sacred furrow that Remus lost his life. The pomoerium was a 

 space left both within and without the walls of Etruscan cities; — 

 the word is variously derived from 7)o«< murem, or pone niuros, ov 

 procvimum niuro: it was never built upon, nor applied to agricul- 

 tural purposes, but was used by the augurs in taking the city 

 auspices. The pomoerium was carried further out as the city was 

 enlarged, and its boundaries marked by cippi, or termini. When 

 the foundation of a new city was to be laid, a favourable day was 

 ap))ointed by the augurs for marking out the boundary; a line 

 was first drawn with white earth or sand; a copper share was then 

 fixed to a plough, to which were yoked a bullock and a heifer; the 

 plough was guided along the line by the chief or king. Both the 

 animals were to be white, to denote the simplicity and purity in 

 which the citizens ought to live. The bullock was placed on the 

 outside, or next the country, to show that it depended upon the 

 men to cultivate the land and guard the public safety, by watch- 

 ing over what might take place without the walls; the heifer was 

 turned towards tlie city, significant of the household and domestic 

 cares devolving on the female. The plough was guided so that all 

 the clods should fall inwards, another person following to see that 

 none remained outside: this was to teach the people to gather 

 together within tlie city all that could contribute to its increase 

 and pros|ierity, and to leave nothing beyond its limits that could 

 be hurtful to' it, or advantageous to its enemies. The sacred 

 plough was lifted over the place where the gates were to be, other- 

 wise no dead body or unclean thing might have been carried out. 

 The new city was then placed under the protection of some 



