Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-03-25
SOME OF PoMPEIrs SECRETS.
After Seventeen Centuries They Are
Now Exposed.
(New York Herald.)


At last, after perhaps. century OF
more or less intermittent work, Pom
peil the city of ancient Roman pleasure
has been practically cleared Of the vol
canic debris OF seventeen centuries. Now
for the first time since that tatal DAY
whose awful happenings Bulwer deplcls
so graphically-and doubtless so truly-lh
his famous romance, the forum, "hich
was the central feature of the place, ana
the Strada def Sepolcri.' the principal
suburb. can be realized in their mutual
relations
The early work 90 clearing the historic
CITY. pursued with vigor under Murat
when he found himself temporarily in
stalled as King of Naples, was set back
from time TO time by new eruptions oil
Vesuvius AS late as 1873 Miss Berry
records in her Journal:
1--WE set out, a large party, for Pompeh'
The drive of fourteen miles is very dlsd-
greeable Notwithstanding the view OF the
bay and the mountains around
The cinders and the lava of the eruptions
last October QS22) have scarcely yet been
swept TO each side OF the streets, but are
left on the road. Outside Pompeii IL IS
half way up the horses legs"
No such impediments now await the
traveller. and a very prosaic and distinct
" dilatory train deposits him at an I'M
pretentious and not very cleaniy railway
station.
Except to the highly classical and ultra
enthusiastic eye, the first impressions oil
Pompeii are disappointing. The trst place
of interest which is passed is the so
called basilica, supposed to have been
used az a law court. but distinct from the
tribunals. which were at the further side
of the forum, Of which the construction
was not completed when the city was
covered UP. The most striking feature
of this open space is the ruins Of the
Temple of Venus
A main street of Pompeii leading from
the station is that known as the Strada
DELI Abondanza, at the corner of which Is
TO be seen the chalcidicum, or exchange.
one of the most beautiful buildings as yet
revealed. it's central hall having been
surrounded by columns of Parian marble.
In the street of Tombs, however, we
are upon more solid ground FOR not Re"
of the monuments bear the names and the
husts of those TO whose memory they
were erected. At the extreme end Of the
Strada is the so-called villa Of Diomede.
which has attractions alike for the lover
of fact and fiction, for here were found
the bodies Of seventeen women and chill
dren who had sought refuge under the
portico. but were apparently sunocated'
The amphitheatre is even further away
from the centre of the city than the Sep
olcri. and it is on this point that recent
excavations have been chiefly directed
with very important results.
IT must be remembered that BuiWei
Iytton was quite accurate In describing
the games which were in progress at the
time of the fatal eruption Of Nesuvius,
which swallowed up both Pompeii and
Herculaneum, and one Of the results oil
the works carried out here is TO show that
the loss of life on that occasion was
less than formerly supposed. The people
assembled at the amphitheatre had time
to make their escape 10 the open country
beyond.
Scarcely more than 200 bodies have been
discovered. and the perfect state in when
many of them were found is at least neg
alive evidence that time would not have
reduced others TO impalpable dust The
activity. however, of the present Italian
Government will not be relaxed until
Pompeii has been forced TO give up all
its secrets: and in the mean while II is
oivins, m its treasures of marble, bronze
and gold. and bringing to light. among
otber facts. that portrait painting fol
mural decoration was practiced propa-
hlv nv Greek artists for their Roman