From this town we went to San Giuseppe, where one-hundred and twenty-five people were killed in a church by its roof falling. They had assembled there to pray for deliverance from the rain of small stones that descended upon them, and perished instantly. This rain of stones came in one night, and so weighted down the roofs of the houses that ninety percent of them fell in. At seven in the morning it was like midnight; the people could not go out because the descending stones cut their faces; so they huddled in their dwellings until the roofs crashed down upon them. All the vegetation is gone around here, ashes and scoria covering the ground many feet in depth. It was such a rain of ashes that destroyed Pompeii, only of course much more fell at that time. The dust is suffocating. I cannot imagine how those poor people can stay there; but they huddle around the wreck of their homes, miserable but seemingly resigned. Soldiers are everywhere engaged in tearing down the tottering walls of houses which are a menace to life if left standing.
We found it difficult to get to this town, because the roads were so heavy with ashes. We are very near the foot of the volcano. The streets are filled with Red Cross tents where the injured are being cared for.
We pushed on a way to the town of Ottajano, which is in the same plight as San Giuseppe. Cook’s cog-wheel railway that led up the mountain to the crater has been totally destroyed.
Yesterday we spent the day at Pompeii, but I am going to describe that in another letter. Today I am staying in the hotel, because I am so tired. We shopped a little this morning and are to dine with Mrs. Angeli this evening. By the way, I must speak of a wonderful modern church we stopped to visit at Pompeii, on our way to San Giuseppe. Near it an ancient painting of the Madonna was excavated which was found to possess remarkable healing powers, so the church was built around the Madonna. Those who have been cured by the portrait have brought their offerings to this church, which is built of marble. The interior has a frieze around it two feet deep, of silver, and also boasts many silver panels of great size. The old painting has a halo of diamonds above it, and many more precious stones are scattered over the figure, all votive offerings from the people. The Madonna is suspended over the pulpit, and is under glass.
Yesterday and today we spent at the National Museum, which contains one of the finest exhibits of marble statuary in the world, and the very best collection of bronze statues and utensils in existence. All the bronze masterpieces of the world are here, and to me they are exceedingly beautiful, having a warmth that marble cannot rival. But I love the marbles, too. The Greeks were certainly marvelous sculptors, for they were able to reproduce every muscle and vein of the human body to perfection. Here is Praxiteles’ bust of Psyche, called the masterpiece of Greek art, and the famous Venus Victrix. Some fine figures of gladiators attracted me; one, the Dying Gladiator, is so perfectly executed that it is easy to read the agony upon his face. I admired a superb bust of Homer, and noticed that the celebrated bust of Nero had a weak mouth and chin, such as you would expect in the tyrant. The statue of Tiberius has a cruel mouth, too, and you may see here the reproductions of all the famous Roman Emperors and read their characters in their faces.
Several beautiful figures and busts of Isis prove how extensive was the worship of Isis in Greece and Rome. Most of the bronzes came from Herculaneum and Pompeii, and those of Herculaneum may be distinguished from their darker color. What magnificent cities these must have been in their prime, with all their wealth of art! A great bronze statue of Nero on horseback was found on top a triumphal arch in Pompeii. Other exceptional bronzes are the Dancing Faun and the Drunken Faun, Narcissus, and Mercury in Repose. This last is said to be the most perfect bronze of antiquity. The Drunken Faun lies on an empty wine skin with a merry look on his face. There are many odd figures for fountains, and bronze busts of famous men, such as Demosthenes. The defect in the orator’s speech is clearly indicated by the artist.
The museum has a fine collection of frescoes taken from Pompeii. Many are in perfect condition, and are really wonderful. The subjects are mythological, or pictures of gods and goddesses; but we find birds, dogs, chickens, cats, etcetera, represented. Also many flowers, which they were fond of depicting. An important and very beautiful mosaic was taken from the House of the Faun, at Pompeii, and represents the battle between Alexander the Great and Darius the Persian. There are sixteen horses and 26 men in this piece, the color of the stones so exquisitely blended that they seem like an oil painting. In many mosaics are shown the lotus flower and papyrus of Egypt. One beautiful statue of Isis with the cistern was taken from the Temple of Isis at Pompeii.
Comparing the Roman statuary with the Grecian you can at once distinguish it by its bulkiness and bigness, Grecian art being more dainty and graceful. The important Roman statuary was mostly found in the Baths of Carracala at Rome.
For several hours today we examined the collection of household utensils and ornaments from Pompeii. Practically everything is of bronze, and even the commonest utensil is artistically designed. Whatever was worthy of use, was to them worthy of being beautiful. Their sauce-pans, spoons, etcetera, were often inlaid with silver; there is a superb figure of Venus inlaid in silver in the center of a colander. Their lamps and candelabra were exquisitely designed. We noticed ivory theatre tickets, dice, knuckle-bones; a wealth of glassware with iridescent tints and delicate shapes; some that had raised work, like cameos; stoves, arranged to heat water and cook at the same time; bedsteads inlaid with silver; exquisite marble tables, some with mosaic tops; scales and weights of all kinds; musical instruments, including flutes and bagpipes; ink-stands — one with ink still in it — and pens such as we use today; many surgical instruments, a large collection being taken from one house in Pompeii now called “The House of the Surgeon,” and including forceps, speculum, catheters, knives and lancets; bronze dental instruments for filling teeth; folding tables; richly engraved silver cups, plates, bowls, spoons, forks, knives; ladies’ toilet articles in bronze and silver and glass, including mirrors and a pot with some rouge still in it; rings of gold set with precious stones (three that were excavated still have the finger-bones inside the rings, showing they were worn at the time of the city’s destruction), elegant gold necklaces, bracelets and earrings set with pearls; moulds for shaping jellies and sixteen large saucepans of solid silver handsomely worked. They must have had more reliable servants than we have today.
I enumerate this list to prove that “there is nothing new under the sun.” Pompeii was buried on the 24th of August, 79 A.D., but two thousand years later we find we have few conveniences they did not possess, and their households were much more artistically furnished than are ours. Taken from the ruined city are garden tools, including a hoe such as is used in Naples today; parts of harness, the buckles and ornaments being often magnificent; fishing tackle of many sorts — in fact, the ancients must have lived much as we do, if we may judge from these evidences. Take their food-stuffs, which are in a separate room of the museum. Eighty-six loaves of bread were found in one bake-oven in Pompeii, and it looks yet as if it might have been good when twenty centuries fresher. The loaves are round and marked with lines like the spokes of a wheel. Also there are olives, wine, oil — these in bottles or jugs — nuts, figs, grain of all kinds, flour, pepper and other spices; beans, candies, etcetera.
There are some beautiful silver baskets taken from Pompeii, and many small busts and figures in bronze and marble that are simply exquisite. I can well imagine how elegant their houses must have been, and how fine it is that these things have been discovered and preserved to teach us the life of a people almost coincident with the time of Christ.
The Naples Museum would entertain us for a month, and we feel that the examination of its treasures has been a liberal education to us.
The ashes from Vesuvius still fall. In the morning we leave by boat for Sorrento.
LETTER XII. POMPEII
Sorrento
Pompeii originally covered a spot two miles in circumference. It was surrounded by two
walls fourteen feet thick and twenty-five feet high. It had eight gates. Only about one-third of the buried city has been excavated, but this seems to be the most important part, for it has uncovered the Forum and the temples. The streets are narrow, the widest being twenty-four feet while the narrow ones average fourteen feet. They are well paved with heavy blocks of lava and the wheels of wagons or chariots have worn deep ruts in them. Next to the buildings were narrow sidewalks raised ten inches above the pavement, to protect foot passengers from reckless drivers, and nearly every intersection of streets had its public fountain. These last were fed with lead pipes, which also conveyed water into the houses, and in some places the pipes and their bronze faucets still remain. High stepping-stones were used for crossings, as in case of a heavy rain the narrow streets would be converted into water-courses. As I walked over these stepping-stones, worn smooth by the passage of many feet, I could not help reflecting upon the unwritten history of the people who had once used them, and wondering what it might be, and what had become of all those who once thronged this voluptuous and pleasure-loving city. The water of the fountains generally flowed from the mouth of a mask. Masks of gods and animals were much affected by the Pompeiians. The houses were freely decorated with frescoes and mosaics, the red and yellow colors predominating. Concrete or brick was the building material, with large stones at the corners, and the exteriors as well as interiors were often surfaced with veneers of marble or staff, the latter being painted and decorated.
The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 63, and had not been entirely rebuilt when the ashes from Vesuvius entombed it in 79. The houses were usually two-storied, the servants being quartered above, and there is little variety of architecture shown. The houses of the people were all small, those of the nobles very large and built around a central court. Every house, however, had separate apartments for men and women. A reservoir was placed in the center of each court, and the roofs sloped toward it and extended so that the rain-water fed the pool. Stone or marble pillars supported the roof. Many small rooms, including bed chambers, opened upon this court, and here the master of the house received his guests. The rooms had no windows, light and air coming from the doorways. Facing the entrance was generally the shrine of the household gods. Back of the first court and connected with it by a hall was the inner court, rich in flower beds and bronze and marble statuary, with many terms of gods and goddesses. A favorite decoration of these courts was a row of grinning masks, made of marble or staff. Off from the inner court were the drawing rooms, dining and banquet rooms, kitchens and cellars. The family lived here, mostly occupying the beautiful uncovered court.
The friezes and decorations of all the rooms were elaborate and brilliant, yet in excellent taste. The dining rooms were decorated with fish, fowl and fruits, the chambers with flowers or dancing Bacchantes, the halls and reception rooms with mythological subjects and revelries of the gods and goddesses. Excellent art is often displayed, and also much that is coarse and sensual. The most beautiful house yet excavated is the House of the Vettei, which has been restored so that it fairly resembles the condition in which it formerly existed. Here the paintings and marbles are exquisite. In the kitchen the bronze utensils still remain upon the stove or hanging upon the walls — just as they were two-thousand years ago. The House of the Golden Cupids has lately been excavated, so called because the prevailing color of the decorations was golden yellow and the subjects mostly cupids. Here are many beautiful marbles and fine mosaic floors. The Mosaic floor I saw in the museum, depicting the battle between Darius and Alexander, was taken from the House of the Faun — named from the bronze statue of the Dancing Faun, which was found there. Frequently the word “Have” or “Salve” is inlaid in mosaics at the entrance, and in the case of the House of the Tragic Poet (which Bulwer made famous) the vestibule has a fine mosaic of a black dog, with the legend “Cave Canem.”
We entered Pompeii from the Sea Gate, which is still standing but divested of its marble. The museum is near the entrance, and here are the twisted and revolting forms of many who perished when the city was buried. It appears that when they fell in an open place the ashes hardened around them and made a mold of their bodies. In time the bodies themselves disintegrated, but the mold remained, as did the bones inside them. The excavators, when they came across these natural molds, poured plaster of paris into them, and so obtained a perfect cast of those ancient ones who thus miserably perished. Many were lying on their faces, and usually their limbs are contorted with agony.
We next entered the Basilica, which was the Hall of justice and the market place in rainy days, being roofed. It was undergoing repairs from the earthquake of 63, and being improved, as marble columns were replacing those of tufa. The Temple of Apollo has a court of forty-eight columns, back of which is a raised platform approached by steps, with the altar before it. There is a sun-dial in the court, which is decorated with plaster casts of the gods. We visited the Forum next, which impressed me with its size and beauty. It is in the exact center of the town. To the right is a temple to Jupiter, to the left a colonnade. At one end is the large platform, approached by a flight of stairs, where the public debates and addresses were made. There were twenty-two pedestals for statuary, five of which bear inscriptions of dedication. In a niche was found a table upon which were standard weights and measures. Passing two large triumphal arches, formerly covered with marble, we came to the Baths of the Forum, where there is a large court for the bathers to exercise. The bath was one of the most popular luxuries of this people, it seems. There were cold and hot pools, showers and private tubs, barber rooms, rest rooms with reclining benches, rooms for anointing and perfuming the body. One room had lockers for clothing. All the walls were elaborately decorated.
The Temple of Mercury has a marble altar with beautiful reliefs carved upon it. Other interesting sights were the Herculaneum Gate, erected in the time of Augustus; the small but beautiful Temple of Isis; the House of the Surgeon; the great theatre, divided into three sections for persons of different ranks and capable of seating five-thousand people; the barracks for the gladiators, back of the theatre, and the prison. In this prison were found three bodies with their feet in iron stocks. Many gladiatorial weapons were found near the barracks. It is said all the performances at the theatres took place in the daytime. A small theatre, seating 1,500, is much better preserved than the large one.
I think I neglected to say that many of the dwelling houses had shops located in the part facing the street, those of the wealthier nobles being no exception; but these shops had no connection with the residence part. Many marble counters and huge jars of oil and wine were found in these shops, which are very numerous. In the bakeries they ground the grain to flour as well as baked it, and the mills and ovens are still intact. Also there were laundries, with tubs and racks for drying clothes.
The large amphitheatre seated twenty-thousand people, and has three series of seats and a gallery.
All the while we were in Pompeii the ashes from Vesuvius fell steadily upon it, and while this lent a certain historic charm to the place that a similar rain of ashes had once destroyed, it made dirty walking and cast a haze over the landscape. We could not see the volcano at all — only thick clouds of smoke.
I will close this rambling description of Pompeii by pointing out where modern politicians got their electioneering methods. On many of the walls facing the streets are big signs in red letters advising the people to vote for this or that man and recounting his merits and public services. One says: “Marcellus loves the poor; the poor will vote for Marcellus.” I suppose Marcellus loved the poor until after election.
LETTER XIII. SORRENTO AND AMALFI
Sorrento
In the gardens of the Hotel Victoria, filled with avenues of noble trees, good statuary, flowers and climbing vines of wisteria, I have been resting from my recent energetic sightseeing and L. F. has been finishing a book. We have some busy weeks ahead of us, and must renew our strength now or not
at all.
They dance the tarantella here in the old-fashioned way, a troupe of peasants being trained especially for the performance. We have seen them twice, in a hall in the basement of the hotel, where they dance every night in the season, accompanied by a fine mandolin orchestra of twenty pieces. The tarantella is a graceful, pretty dance, and the peasants in native costume are laughing and gay and seem to enjoy it as much as the spectators. Sorrento is famous for its inlaid wood work, some specimens of which are really wonderful in execution. It is a quaint, delightful town, extending about a mile along the bluff that overhangs the sea. In the square is a fine statue of Tasso, whose birthplace was Sorrento.
The drive to Amalfi has been our greatest pleasure. We made it in one day, rolling along the smooth road that winds in and out the cliffs and overhangs the sea from one hundred to five hundred feet. The road is on the very edge, being cut from the cliff itself and protected only by a low stone parapet from the terrible gulf below. The way is one succession of beautiful pictures; towns clinging to the mountain side, or perched on little peaks, or clustered in deep coves at the edge of the sea; old Saracen ruins, watch-towers erected to prevent the landing of pirates; orange and lemon groves; vineyards that overhang the road on trellises, and below us always the bright blue sea. Never for more than a few moments is the road straight; point after point juts out toward the sea, and we have to follow its outline.
We reached Amalfi about noon and lunched in an old Cappuccini convent which has now become a hotel. The chapel connected with it and the cloisters — dating from the 11th century — are still intact and very interesting. We had to walk up two-hundred steps to get to this place, and from the vine covered cloisters is obtained one of the most beautiful views in Italy.
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 901
