The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-10-19
poMPEI. IN 1871.
The Result of tho Latest Explorations.

tii'tb IL lllC tul W pIcCCtllllS- Ming DOlllDa
could never understand that the place was
not ''uncanny." Elf something should
turn up against the Bible, what would
become cf me ?' was the question perpet-
ually on his lips. Under Victor Emanuel,
two essential provisions haye been made
an appropriation of sufficient funds, and
the best antiquarian in Italy, Fiorelli, as
director of the excavations.
This year the cxcavators have been at
work down the street of the goldsmiths
The work is begun at the top of the soil,
sixty feet or more from the level of the
streets. Trees and vegetation are clear
cd from the surface. men with picks and
spades loosen and throw out the earth, and
troops of black-eyed, sunny-cheekcd girls,
with baskets and paniers bear it away to
the wagons. Arrived down to the ,oofs,
the Workmen proceed more carefully
Adopts crumble the scoria in their hands
to lind antiques. From the hollows of
every chamber they clean out the ashes
with great precaution. The objects are
THUS found exactly as they were left in the
hurry and confusion with which the occu-
pants escaped. Most houses can be
recognized for what they We're. Inscrip-
tons on their walls, signs on their porches,
carved emblcms, proh pudor) 1T their
doorWays, tell their story. Thus there
are private mansions and taverns, work
shops and laundries, dancing halls and
bagnios, indiscriminately lighted upon
Wall paintings, sometimes of great ex-
cellence, are found The diggers un-
covered one this summer 'Bacchus and
Ariadnc"-tresh in color as new picture
Of Bierstadt. The young wine-god
srown-taccd, lusty, and covered with vine
leaves, is regarding a sleeping girl on a
bank with rapt admiration. Her fair hair
beautiful figure and diaphonious drapery
made the tresco master piece for draw
ING and coloring. Covering one side of
the dining-room opposite the lect, it was
always in full view of the dinners In the
garden Of this house the workmen showed
us holes where trees had grown, and a
marble fountain that played in the midst
of 4 flower bed. An adjacent house had
evidently been in q state of repair when
the volcanic storm buried it. Painters,
decorators and cleaners were masters Of
the situation. Dinner, however, had been
forgotten. A solitary pot stood on the
stove. And Il bronze dish, upon which
was 4 sucking pig ready for baking, stood
waiting at the ovens mouth for removal
of 4 batch of bread. 1t never entered,
nor did the loaves come ont till after 4
delay Of seventeen hundred years NJ.
florclli has them now, twenty-one in
number hard and black, but perfectly
preserved.
We took a random walk through the
streets recently unearthed. The southern
sun was shining in at open doors and
through broken roofs. In the dwellings
everything was pitilcssly bright The
secrets OF every chamber We're revealed
The carriage road between the two foot
paths is of smooth flags, Irregular in
shape, deity fitted, like stones in a church
tower. Modern Florence is so paved.
We turn corner and are startled by the
figure Of 4 dead man lying inside door
way. He lies as he fell. His attitude is
preserved exactly by a process recently
adopted. In the hurry of the storm he
had sought refuge in a porch. But he
never crossed its threshold again, and you
can see how death grapp!ed with him
there and threw him struggling and fight
ing for life. In the bakers shop is the
arched oven, with fireplace and tlucs. all
perfect for baking bread to-day. Mills
for grinding-cones of grit stone, convex
and concave, turned capstan- fashion by Il
bar-stand in the shop In his
neighbor's the fuller's shop, are the
charges for WORK done chaked upon the
walls. There they are, said our guide.
''1our cNcclencies can doubtless read
Latin. But the poor man was never
paid y more pretentious tradesman
was the leather cutter not far off Within
was the table, gashcd with knife marks,
upon which the man cnt his last strands
He had once been soldier Of the Ninth
Cohort, and 50 announced under his name.
There was in Pompeii t glut of public
houses sometimes four or five IN 4 street
But, like the Neapolitan tipplers of to-day,
who make Il great tubbub, but seldom
get downright drunk, the registering Pom
peians probably kept themselves well in
bounds. The wines of Nesuvius are mild,
and in virtue Of the climate, which makes
existence u delight, the temptation to in
ebriety is small. We stopped at an inn,
on the walls of which is painted an ele-
phant, and beneath it the Latin words,
which, translated, We're: "Sittus has es-
tabllshed the Elephant, Ostcria Triclinium,
with Three beds Every comfort" Inside
are the Triclinium, OF dining-room, the
dinner table, and three divans for con-
wives. 1t must have been common
place in its best days, and as for its COM
fort, Pompeians, in common with modern
Neapolitans, were apparently not exact
ing. The house Of SiricIs, lower down
the street, is curious. His name is writ
ten up in two places-in chamber and
over the front door Or his threshold is
cut "Salve Lucrum." The interior is
we'll appointed, with nice garden in the
rear, and trellises, rockerics and decora-
tions, suggestive of woman's handiworll.
Skeletons of q little dog, tortoses and
two goats, indicates that pet animals
were about. The windows and doors are
bordered with graceful designs; the walls
of the sleeping apartments are covered
with traceres of flowers, lestoons, birds,
dolphns and bacchantes, and the choice
domicilc called RaphealesIue. Raphael
startled the artists Of this day by his paint
ings in this style on the arcades of the
Vatican. Pompeii was then undiscovered.
But it is now known that he caught the
idea from the ceilings of the ruins of
Nero's golden house. Who Siricus was
not even NJ. Fiorrcli can make apparent.
Turning into another street, the visitor
comes upon the bagnios, They are of
three distinct classes, two of which are
happily unknown to the modern world.
Each class is designated by an emblem
carved in stone, placed beside the door.
In refinement of morality, Pompeii was u
miniature Corinth. st. Paul, in his holy
indignation of this dshonor Of nature,
tells all that should be told in the twenty
sixth and twentySeventh verses Of the
first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans.
From the common halls, where courte-
zans danced with gladiators, to the sump-
tuous boudoirs that invited aristocratic
matrons, or the luxurious cabinets fire.
quented only by the patrician order, pro-
tligate life is pictured in colors and shad-
ings upon every door and wall. Indeli-
cate verses are scribbled on the doors.
Vile epigrams staring the unblushing
habitues from every corner. And double
entendres, the wit of which is smothercd
in nastiness, hide ashamed behind corni-
ces and fretwork. Evidently Of the
dwellers in the doomed city, it was equally
true as in Rome, that "God gave them up
unto vile Affections A dyer's shop, in
the same infamous street, is remarkable
OnlV for ifc c1uindow-chuttnrS They wnrn