E. J. SEWELL, ESQ., ON POMPEII. 



125 



exclusively with legal business, so that our adjective " forensic " 

 is almost synonymous with " from a legal point of view." But 

 this is a mistake, as the character of some of the principal 

 buildings adjacent to the Forum at Pompeii will at once show. 



The Forum of Pompeii was first of all a market-place ; here,, 

 all day long, tradespeople exhibited their wares, so that the 

 Forum always remained the business centre of the place. 



It served, too, as the favourite promenade and lounging- 

 place wiiere men met to discuss matters of mutual interest or to- 

 gossip. We can best form an idea of the bustle and activity of 

 the Fornm by thinking of what the piazza stands for in the life 

 of a modern Italian city, and bearing in mind how much has 

 been taken from the piazza itself by the cafes, and by the insti- 

 tution of newspapers. All that men now learn from their 

 newspaper and from the constant and animated conversation 

 of the cafe was in Pompeii centred in the Forum. 



The life of the Forum seemed so interesting to one of the 

 citizens of Pompeii that he devoted to the portrayal of it a 

 series of paintings on the walls of a room. These pictures,, 

 though not much elaborated, give a vivid representation of the 

 features of the daily life of a small Roman town. 



First, in front of the equestrian statues near tlie colonnade^ 

 are represented dealers of every description, shoe-makers, one 

 supplying and fitting women, another men, cloth-dealers and a 

 man selling copper vessels and iron utensils, who sits so lost in 

 thought that a friend is calling his attention to a possible pur- 

 chaser wdio is just coming up. Another man is selling portions 

 of food warm from a kettle ; then comes a woman selling fruit 

 and vegetables, and a man selling bread. 



In another place, a man sitting with a writing tablet and 

 stylus listens closely to wdiat is being said by another man 

 standing close by, just as to-day, more than 1,800 years later, 

 the street letter-writers in Naples write letters for those wdio 

 are unable to write for themselves. 



Other men are very obviously loungers taking a walk, a 

 woman is giving money to a beggar, and two children play hide- 

 and-seek round a column, while, in another place, four men are 

 reading a notice posted on a long board fastened to the pedestals 

 of three equestrian statues. 



Although the Forum was practically the open air, the colon- 

 nades and adjacent buildings furnished a ready shelter from rain^ 

 or from the heat of the mid-day sun; accordingly, it is interesting 

 to observe that in all these scenes all the men are shown with 

 their heads uncovered. The women, on the other hand, are 



