Part 3

ART IN POMPEII.

The Homes of the Wealthy.--The Triangular Forum and the Temples.--Pompeian Architecture: Its Merits and its Defects.--The Artists of the Little City.--The Paintings here.--Landscapes, Figures, Rope-dancers, Dancing-girls, Centaurs, Gods, Heroes, the Iliad Illustrated.--Mosaics.--Statues and Statuettes.--Jewelry.--Carved Glass.--Art and Life. 167

VIII.

THE THEATRES.

The Arrangement of the Places of Amusement.--Entrance Tickets.--The Velarium, the Orchestra, the Stage.--The Odeon.--The Holconii.--The Side Scenes, the Masks.--The Atellan Farces.--The Mimes.--Jugglers, etc.--A Remark of Cicero on the Melodramas.--The Barrack of the Gladiators.--Scratched Inscriptions, Instruments of Torture.--The Pompeian Gladiators.--The Amphitheatre: Hunts, Combats, Butcheries, etc. 199

IX.

THE ERUPTION.

The Deluge of Ashes.--The Deluge of Fire.--The Flight of the Pompeians.--The Preoccupations of the Pompeian Women.--The Victims: the Family of Diomed; the Sentinel; the Woman Walled up in a Tomb; the Priest of Isis; the Lovers clinging together, etc.--The Skeletons.--The Dead Bodies moulded by Vesuvius. 232

DIALOGUE.

(IN A BOOKSTORE AT NAPLES.)

A TRAVELLER (entering).--Have you any work on Pompeii?

THE SALESMAN.--Yes; we have several. Here, for instance, is Bulwer's "Last Days of Pompeii."

TRAVELLER.--Too thoroughly romantic.

SALESMAN.--Well, here are the folios of Mazois.

TRAVELLER.--Too heavy.

SALESMAN.--Here's Dumas's "Corricolo."

TRAVELLER.--Too light.

SALESMAN.--How would Nicolini's magnificent work suit you?

TRAVELLER.--Oh! that's too dear.

SALESMAN.--Here's Commander Aloë's "Guide."

TRAVELLER.--That's too dry.

SALESMAN.--Neither dry, nor romantic, nor light, nor heavy! What, then, would you have, sir?

TRAVELLER.--A small, portable work; accurate, conscientious, and within everybody's reach.

SALESMAN.--Ah, sir, we have nothing of that kind; besides, it is impossible to get up such a work.

THE AUTHOR (aside).--Who knows?

THE

WONDERS OF POMPEII.

THE EXHUMED CITY.