The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-04
RERCULANEUM.
From IAe spsctaIor.

From he Spectator.
Most people imagine that HerculAn@um,
buried by the eruption OF Vesuvius In 70
A. D., has been a. carefully and completely
excavated a. its nelghbor. Pompeli, but
this 10 not 10. Il lies nearer to Naples,
and its ate was the sooner covered with
houses. Two or more villages now stand
above IL. or rather above the hardened mud
seventy feet below which sleeps the little
Oreco-SamnitO town. When the curiosity
OF the eighteenth century started to ex-
plore and 10 dc through this mud houses
were already In existence above the trenches
and tunnels then cut. and the ~excavAtors
had 70 90 with caution, and eventually to
be oontented with a very partial execution
Of their task. Indeed, M corner merely
Of the city was dug out, and then tho matter
was left for want Of funds AMI for fear Of
trouble with tho owners OF the soil above.
Little was done In the nineteenth century;
and while excavation has been busy In other
parts Of the classical lands, and its nsighbor.
more happily situated For Tho explorer,
has been revealed in its entirety, nothing
has been added to tia knowledge OF Hercu-
laneum.
Herculaneum was not 20 much smothered
a. overhowed by "a on wave OF mud
that preserved things by covering them
up before cinders and soovie had time to
set anything ali8ht. Ths town itself was
inhabited, there 10 reason to believe, by
q more cultivated GLASS Of people than the
pleasure seekers Of Pompeii, whose one
anxiety, a. their inscriptions prove, was
that glsdiators might DO many and sport
good. The paintings and sculptures that
have been recovered from Heroulaneum
are OF greater artistic value; and. TO put the
matter beyond question. while Pompeii has
not yielded q single manuscript, the one
house in Herculaneum that has been
thoroughly explored contained numerous
rolls Of papyri. Unfortunately, the house
belonged to o man vho specialized In Epi-
Curean philosophy. for the rolls were all
works by philosophers Of this school. But
the houses In H~erculsneum are numerous,
and It is against all reason 10 suppose that
they were all inhabited by students OF
Epicurus and his doctrines.
Under the mud waves there may lie the
lyric poets OF Greece, whose loss makes,
perhaps, tho worst gap in all ancient liter
ature. Sappho, Alc@us, Simonidee-the
critics speak Of them, but they are hardly
more than names. There also may be the
lost writer's OF tragedy, Ruch as Phryniohus,
whose songs. 30 A~ristophanes tells us, the
veterans OF Marathon hummed a. they
went through the streets at night, and Of
the Old Comedy, the rivals Of Aristophanes
himself, Cratinus and Ameipsias. There,
too, may lie tho writer's Of the New Comedy,
whose loss the ancient critics would have
accounted a. the worst We have to suffer.
Nor are the poets the only writers mon
would wish to recover. The historian OF
Greece and Rome. because OF his scant
material, has TO piece together much OF his
story from inscriptions and later authorities.
He has tho -impenetrable stupidity OF
Diodorus and the anecdotes OF Plutarch,
but he would prefer something more con-
temporary. He would like to read the
rise OF Athens a. recorded by Hellanicus,
and the story Of Sicily as told by the -pusil-
LUIS ~Thuoydides," Philistus, who took part
In his own subject matter and was the con-
temporary of Dionysus. Not least, nc
would wish 30 zee Alexander and his sue
oessors rs they appeared to those with
whom they lived. II his interests were
more With Latin literature, he might then
hope to find In Herculaneum the lost Civil
Wars Of Sallust and the lost Decades Of
Livy. Something, too, might be found
that would give new knowledge, II not Of
early Christianity, yet perhaps OF the early
Christians,
To test these speculations one chief thing
IL wanting-money. The assistance Of the
Italian Parliament would be needed. Even
then the sum required would be large,
perhaps a quarter OF . million. perhaps
more. Want OF money. and that alone,
has prevented the attempt being made; but
tho money should be found somehow.
Here is the greatest romance Of excavation
and discovery waiting.