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



127 



as recoinniended by a trade-guild, as in an inscription in red paint 

 on a wall — G. Cuspium Pansani aed. aurifices universi rog[ant]. 

 " The goldsmiths unanimously recommend Gains Cuspius Pansa 

 for the asdileship." 



This method of advocating a man's candidature easily led to 

 sarcastic recommendations by his enemies. There is a painted 

 notice on a wall in Augustales Street — Yatiam aed. furunculi 

 rog[ant]: "The sneak-thieves beg the election of Yatia as sedile " ; 

 and according to another notice near by : All the late drinkers 

 (seribihi universi) and all the people who are asleep (dormiente.^ 

 unicersi) recommended the election of the same unlucky Yatia. 



Another amusing poster runs : Claudium ii vir. animula 

 facit — " Claudius's sweetheart is making him duumvir." 



Modern as some of these methods seem, it does not appear that 

 anyone in the first century had hit npon the idea of a picture- 

 poster. 



Other notices deal with ordinary business affairs ; one is the 

 notice of the finding of a mare which had strayed ; another offers 

 a reward for the recovery of a stolen copper pot and an additional 

 reward for the capture of the thief ; there are also advertise- 

 ments of particular brands of wine, of olives, hsh-sauce, pickle 

 and other edibles. 



These things should not, I think, be dismissed as mere 

 trivialities. We are apt to think and say that the greater 

 concerns and realities of life, such as Death, Sorrow, Sin, 

 and Heaven, cannot get attention in modern times because of 

 the rush and bustle of modern life, and the extent to which 

 men's minds are taken up with their business, their amusements, 

 and the details of everyday life. It is just as well to be 

 reminded that in every town and city of the lioman Empire the 

 pioneers of Christianity in its hrst century found the very same 

 difficulties to contend with, that life was then quite as busy and 

 full and interesting to those who lived it as it is now, and that 

 Christianity, a new and unfamiliar mode of thought, advocated 

 to a great extent by poor men, connected in most men's minds 

 with the hated and despised race of the Jews, and without the 

 eighteen centuries of history that lie behind it for us, neverthe- 

 less overcame all these obstacles, and is now the greatest and most 

 lasting moral and spiritual influence which the world can show. 



But, to pass on. The plan of the Forum shows it surrounded 

 by temples, and the differing characters of these temples in a 

 small town like Pompeii are a thorough object-lesson as to the 

 state, from a religious point of view, of the Koman world in the 

 first' Christian century. 



