228 Roman Samian Ware. 



introduces Chrysalus, the servant, asking Pistoclarus if he has 

 found Bacchis. " Her of Samos I have found," replies 

 Pistoclarus. " Then/' rejoins the other, " see, I pray, that 

 no one handle her carelessly ; a Samian vessel, you know, is 

 used to be easily broken." 



Ch. Eho, an invenisti Bacchidera ? 

 Pis. Samiam quideni 



Ch. Vide quseso, ne quis tractet illam'indiligens. 

 Scis tu, ufc confringi vas cito Samium solet. 



And in the Mencechmi (actus i. sc. 2), when Peniculus, the 

 parasite, strikes the door too hard, Menaachnms begs hhn to 

 "knock gently/' to which he replies, "I believe you are 

 afraid that the door is Samian ware." 



Me. Placide pulta. 



Pen. Metuis credo ne fores Samise sient. 



Every antiquary knows the brittleness of the red ware to 

 which we have given the name of Samian, and how seldom it 

 is found unbroken, except in sepulchral deposits ; and we may 

 conclude that it was highly valued, from the circumstance that 

 we often find vessels of this ware which, in Roman times, have 

 been broken and skilfully and carefully mended by means of 

 rivets of lead or bronze. 



Pliny adds to what he says of the estimation in which 

 Samian pottery was held, that the pottery made at Arretium 

 in Italy was still held in great esteem ; and that the potteries of 

 Surrentum, Asta, Pollentia, Saguntum in Spain, and Pergamus 

 in Asia Minor, were esteemed for their cups only. The brevity 

 of Pliny's language, perhaps, leaves it doubtful whether he did 

 not mean that the ware made at these places belong all to the 

 class which was called in general Samian, and a remarkable 

 discovery of Roman potteries, and of specimens of the ware 

 made in them, at the first of these localities, Arretium, now 

 Arezzo in Tuscany, seems to throw light on the question. An 

 account of these discoveries, with valuable plates, was pub- 

 lished by Dr. A. Fabroni, director of the Museum of Arezzo, 

 in 1841,* and a comparison of the examples given in this 

 book with the red ware found in Britain and Gaul, will show 

 that they are nearly identical in all their essential peculiarities. 

 The red glaze of the Arretine ware differs only in its rather 

 darker shade ; the workmanship is somewhat superior, and the 

 figures which ornament it are more artistically executed. But 

 the character of the ornaments, and the general selection of 

 subjects, are the same, and they are similarly executed in relief. 

 In both the pottery is stamped with the names of the potters, 

 but with this rather singular difference, that, while in the 



* Storia degli unlichi vasi Jittili Aretini. 8vo. 



