664 



ITALY 



The aqueducts were, perhaps, the greatest works of the Romans. There were 2 of great 

 magnitude, the Martian and Claudian ; and a single arch of the latter, makes now the Porta 

 Maggiore, the most imposing gate of Rome. This aqueduct brought the water, in all its wind- 

 ings, about 50 miles ; and ranges of arches still stretch across the campagna, that excite the 

 wonder of the beholder. The outlet of the Lake of Albano, is a monument of what the Ro- 

 mans effected in the comparative infancy of the State. It is excavated through a mountain, 

 principally of rock, for a mile and a half, and it is still an outlet for the lake. It was made 400 

 years before the birtli of Christ. The Cloaca Maxima, or common sewer of the city, in 

 which, though much obstructed by accumulation of earth, the water still flows, was the work 

 of the kings, and was completed by Tarquinius Superbus. It has stood about 3,000 years, 

 and may yet outlast every edifice in Rome. The passage, when clear, was wide enough for a 

 load of hay ; but this should not have too liberal a construction. It is built of large masses of 

 stone, and arched, at least at the outlet. 



Pompeii and Ilercuianeum have 

 been the great "quarry of antiqui- 

 ties" ; here we are admitted into 

 the dwellings of the Romans, 

 where everything is so fresh, that 

 we almost ex])ect to see the mas- 

 ter enter. He has been dead more 

 than 1,700 years, yet we admire 

 the pictures on his walls ; and we 

 gather, from his household arrange- 

 ments and ornaments, something 

 of his individual character. He 

 was a man contemporary with Ti- 

 tus, and perhaps a soldier, who 

 beheld the destruction of the Jew- 

 ish Temple. Pompeii was cover- 

 ed with light scoriae and ashes, by 

 P'^V^ii- a blast of Vesuvius, from which it 



is distant 6 miles, and its place was discovered only in the last century. The circuit of the 

 walls, and one-third of the city, only, are excavated. The ashes are carried away, the streets 

 are swept, and nothing but the roofs seem wanting. The streets are narrow, and paved, and 

 the ruts of the wheels are about 4 feet apart. There is a narrow sidewalk for foot-passengers, 

 though there is none in the modern cities of Italy. The houses are small, and of the form 

 now common in Italy, with a court, and rooms opening from it. The rooms were not well 

 lighted, and some received light only from the door. The public places are commodious and 

 elegant ; and the Romans, without doubt, lived much abroad, like their successors, and like 

 the French. The temples are all elegant, and some are magnificent. The forum, and the 

 very rostrum, with the steps, are entire. 



In the furniture, even that of the 

 kitchen, we are struck with the ele- 

 gance, that the Romans carried into 

 the most humble department of life. 

 There is not a lamp or a vase of an 

 inelegant form. The kitchen uten- 

 sils were of bronze, though some of 

 them were silvered within. Many 

 of them were neatly carved. The 

 signs remain over the doors, and the 

 very scribblings of idlers, on the 

 walls, may still be read. Oil mills 

 were found, such as are now used ; 

 steelyards, like ours ; and Cupid is 

 represented, in a painting, under a 

 parasol. On the walls, many of the 

 paintings are excellent, and some represent familiar things. There is a family at dinner, m 



Sketches on a Wall, at Pompeii. 



