240 



VESUVIUS AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



[1854. 



The first recorded eruption of Vesuvius is that of A.D. 79, when 

 Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabite were overwhelmed. It is 

 supposed that by this explosion the upper portion of the mountain 

 ■was considerably reduced in its dimensions. Strabo, the geogra- 

 pher, about the year A.D. 25, describes it as a truncated eone 

 covered with vegetation nearly to its summit. Its configuration, 

 as it then presented itself to the eye from Naples, can easily be 

 imagined by supposing the circle of which Monte Somma is a 

 segment to be continued all round, and the line of the present 

 inclination of the mountain on the south-east side to be produced 

 from the slight rise called Pedamentina until it meets this circle, 

 the axis of the whole cone remaining the same as it is now. The 

 portion which we thus in imagination supply, is supposed to have 

 been broken down by the weight of the lava which accumulated 

 in the crater after the re-awakening of the volcano in A.D. 79. 



* The north-eastern side of Somma is to this day a smiling slope 

 of vineyards, gardens, farm-houses, and villages. In the da) T s of 

 Strabo, the south-western slopes presented a similar scene. The 

 poet Virgil, who, as I have already said, was familiar with this 

 Campanian coast, and has celebrated in his verse its most striking 

 localities, does not fail to notice Vesuvius ; but he does not give 

 Us to understand that he was aware of its volcanic character. 

 From Strabo, however, we learn that it was known to be volcanic. 

 Plutarch, in his life of Crassus, mentions a curious use to which 

 the crater in its quiescent state was once put. Spartacus, 

 the Gladiator, who, in B.C. 73, headed a formidable insurrection 

 against the Roman government, entrenched himself here with his 

 forces, after his defeat by Crassus. The swordsman had doubtless 

 defended himself in many an arena before, but in none on so 

 grand a scale as this. Beseiged by the praetor Clodius, who 

 thought it simply sufficient to watch the entrance to the crater — 

 the ravine to which I have already referred as existing between 

 Somma and the present cone — Spartacus and his men let them- 

 selves down over the precipices by means of the wild vines which 

 grew there, and suddenly and successfully attacked their assail- 

 ants in the rear. 



The poet Martial, who saw the mountain a few years after the 

 desolating eruption of A.D. 79, records the lamentable change 

 which had taken place in its appearance. " These heights," he 

 says, " Bacchus loved more than his own Nysa ; here the rustic 

 Satyrs held their dances ; Venus preferred the spot to Lacedfemon ; 

 here Hercules himself had sojourned; but now everything lies 

 prostrate beneath fiery floods and melancholy scoriae." 



It may be here stated that the name Vesuvius — which by 

 Roman writers is variously written Vesevus, Vesvius, Vesbius==— 

 is said by Neapolitan scholars to have been given to the moun- 

 tain by the Phoenicians, who, at periods prior to the old Greek 

 foretime, formed settlements along the Italian coasts. Its Syriac 

 form was Vo-seveev, " the place of flame." Similarly, Hercula- 

 neum has been derived from Iloroh-kalie, " pregnant with fire ;" 

 Pompeii from Pum-pceah, " the mouth of a furnace ;" and 

 Sialics from Seteph, " overflow." 



In the remarks which I now offer on Pompeii, I simply speak 

 of the place as one of the accessories of Vesuvius. To do justice 

 to Pompeii, in an arehreological point of view, would require a 

 separate paper. It is well known that this city was not over- 

 whelmed with molten lava, but by showers of sand, ashes, scoria?, 

 and mud. The persons who lost their lives on the occasion, 

 when compared with the population, were few. The great ma- 

 jority had time to make their escape. To those who first carefully 

 ■ examined the mass as it lay upon the various houses, it was 

 manifest that there had been disturbances in its parts, showing 



that, after the catastrophe, some of the inhabitants returned to 

 recover their effects. The exterior walls of the town, with their 

 gateways and low turrets, are finely disclosed. Towards their 

 base very ancient work is occasionally seen — resembling, in the 

 arrangement of the ponderous irregular masses, the so-called Pe- 

 laso-ic style. In their upper portions a curious mixture of material 

 occurs — of stone with brick-work, carefully stuccoed to resemble 

 stone. Blocks are observed with inscriptions in Oscan — the words 

 and letters appearing reversed, after the manner pf types set up. 

 To a Canadian, who is generally too well acquainted with " burnt 

 districts," the interior of Pompeii has at the first glance the fami- 

 liar look of a town recently devastated by fire. Bare roofless 

 walls of no great altitude are standing about in all directions. 

 Forests of pillars, perfect and imperfect, supply, in some quarters, 

 the place of the chimneys, which, isolated or in stacks, are with us 

 so conspicuous after a conflagration. The ruins, however, do not 

 look black and fire-scathen. The compact pavement of the streets 

 is composed of blocks of ancient lava of irregular shapes, laid 

 together after the manner of the old Vios, resembling somewhat, 

 on the surface at least, the memorable flagging which formed our 

 first attempt at trottoir-making in Toronto. Along the top of 

 some of the walls, rows of modern tiles have been placed for pro- 

 tection by the Neapolitan Government. Upon the exterior of 

 the walls along the streets you see inscriptions laid on with a 

 sort of red paint — the names of the owners of the houses or of 

 persons whom the owners desired to honour as patrons. Upon 

 the walls of the Basilica — or Court-house, as we should say — idle 

 persons, standing about, have scratched their autographs. I have 

 taken down one — that of 0. Pumidius Dipilus, who, more than 

 eighteen centuries ago, thought it worth while thus publicly to 

 record the fact that " he was here on the 7th day of October, 

 B.C. 77," as we should now write the date. "C, Pumidius 

 Dipilus, heic fuit ad nonas Octobreis, M. Lepid., Q. Catul. Cos," 

 The little stones which compose the mosaics on the floors of the 

 larger houses — exhibiting the originals of many of our oil-cloth 

 and carpet patterns — are lava cut up into small blocks. The 

 ancient frescoes on the interior walls — the prototypes of several 

 styles of modern room-paper — are now much faded, though their 

 designs are still clear. Whenever any objects of art and domestic 

 use are unearthed in the excavations which are still occasionally 

 made, they are deposited for safety in the Museo "Bbrbonico in 

 Naples. This museum, which is one of the most interesting in 

 Europe, ought to be well studied by those who desire to have a 

 clear idea of the ancient Grasco-Italian life. Here you see a 

 thousand things in the shape of utensil and ornament, personal 

 and domestic, which show that the old Campanians were men 

 like ourselves, influenced by the same tastes, wants, and weak- 

 nesses. Among innumerable objects of interest, I remember a 

 charred loaf of bread — baked, of course, nearly eighteen centuries 

 ago — bearing the baker's name (Cranius) legibly stamped upon it. 



Thirteen years before the final catastrophe, we learn from Ta^ 

 citus that the luxurious repose of Pompeii had been disturbed by 

 a terrible earthquake. At the time of the last disaster, the inha- 

 bitants had just regained confidence to set about the repairs which 

 had been rendered necessary. It is curious to observe in several 

 quarters the partially new work. In the Forum, for example — 

 the Public Exchange of the city— new lengths in the shafts of 

 the fluted columns, resting on more ancient bases, are to be seen. 

 On the ground are lying portions of columns nearly ready to be 

 put up. Here stone-cutters' tools were found scattered about, as 

 they had been left by their owners. Pillars in Pompeii, how- 

 ever, are not everywhere of stone; many are of brick, stuccoed 

 Indeed I was rather surprised to find in Rome, as well as here, 

 how largely brick and stucco enter into the material of ancient 



