The hanging lamps were sometimes made with a single nozzle, as the curious one having the shape of a mask shown in Fig. 197, at the left; sometimes with two nozzles (Fig. 193). Bronze hanging lamps with three arms, each of which contained a place for a wick, are occasionally found; an example is given in Fig. 197, at the right. Still more elaborate are those with a large number of nozzles, as the one represented in the same illustration, which had nine wicks.

The name of the maker is often stamped upon the bottom of the lamp, sometimes in the nominative case, as Pulcher, in the example given in Fig. 192, more often in the genitive and in an abbreviated form.

The variety displayed in the ornamentation of lamps was as great as that manifested in the forms. Ornament was applied to all parts,—the body, the handle, the cover, and even the nozzle. The covers of the two bronze lamps shown in Fig. 196 are adorned with figures. On one is a Cupid struggling with a goose. The chain attached to the right hand of the figure on the other is fastened to a hooked needle for pulling out the wick.

The object of which we give a representation in Fig. 198, often erroneously classed as a lamp, is a nursing bottle, biberon. The material is clay, and the figure of a gladiator is stamped on it, symbolizing the hope that the infant will develop strength and vigor. On some bottles of this kind the figure of a thriving child is seen, on others a mother suckling a child.

The lamp standards, of bronze, are often of graceful proportions and ornamented in good taste. The feet are modelled to represent the claws (Fig. 199) or hoofs of animals. The slender shaft rises sometimes directly from the union of the three legs at the centre, sometimes from a round, ornamented disk resting on the legs. Above the shaft is usually an ornamental form, a sphinx, as in our illustration, a head, or a vase-like capital sustaining the round flat top on which the lamp rested. Occasionally the shaft is replaced by a conventional plant form.

Adjustable standards also occur; the upper part slides up and down in the hollow shaft of the lower part, so that the height can be changed at will.

The bronze lamp holders were sometimes designed to support a single lamp (Fig. 200). Frequently the main part divides into two branches, each of which sustains a small round disk for a lamp; often the arms or branches were designed to carry hanging lamps. The example shown in Fig. 201 is from the villa of Diomedes.

In the lamp holders conventional plant forms are more frequently met with than in the standards. The trunk of a tree with spreading branches is especially common (Fig. 202).

The lamp stands, which resemble diminutive bronze tables, are found in a pleasing variety of form and ornament. The top is sometimes a round disk resting on a single leg supported by three feet; sometimes, as in the example presented in Fig. 203, the legs are carried to the top, and the intervening spaces are utilized for ornamentation. The lamp seen in this illustration is the same as that shown more clearly in Fig. 196, at the right.

Kitchen utensils of bronze and red earthenware have been found in great quantity; table furnishings more rarely. A group of typical examples is presented in Fig. 204. The forms are so similar to those of the utensils found in modern households that few words of explanation are needed.

The pastry mould (s) is of good size and neatly finished, and must have left a clear impression. Besides the two types of table spoons illustrated here (n, v) a third is represented by examples found at Pompeii, the cochlear, which had a bowl at one end and ran out into a point at the other. The point was used in picking shellfish out of their shells, the bowl in eating eggs.

The two long ladles were used in dipping wine out of the mixing bowl into the cups. The ancients ordinarily drank their wine mingled with water; for mixing the liquids they used a large bowl of earthenware or metal, which was often richly ornamented. The mixing bowl presented in Fig. 205 was found in a house on Abbondanza Street, near the entrance of the building of Eumachia. It is in part inlaid with silver, and nearly twenty-two inches high.

This heater (Fig. 206) has the form of an urn. In the middle is a tube, the bottom of which is closed by a diminutive grate; the arrangement is shown in the section at the right. In this tube the coals were placed, and when the water in the urn was hot, it could be drawn off by means of a faucet at the side. Back of the faucet is a small vertical vent tube.

In some cases the appearance of a heater was more suggestive of its purpose. One (Fig. 207) has the form of an ordinary brazier, the water being heated in the hollow space about the fire pan. In another instance (Fig. 208) the brazier is ornamented with towers and battlements like those of a diminutive fortress; the faucet can be seen in our illustration, on the left side.

An interesting group of toilet appliances for the bath was found in the Baths north of the Forum (Fig. 209). Hanging from a ring were an unguent flask, four scrapers (strigiles), and a shallow saucer with a handle in which the unguent was poured out when it was to be applied. One of the scrapers is repeated in a side view at the right, and both side and front views of the unguent saucer are given.

Small articles of toilet are discovered in a good state of preservation. The forms in most cases do not differ greatly from those to which we are accustomed.

The fine comb seen in Fig. 210 a is of bone; the two coarse combs (Fig. 210 b and Fig. 214 d) are of bronze.

The ends of the hairpins were often ornamented with figures. The specimens shown in Fig. 211 are of ivory. The designs in which female figures appear are in keeping with the use, but the ornamentation for the most part seems excessive.

The toilet boxes, of glass or ivory, were used for a variety of purposes. Of those presented in our illustrations, one (Fig. 211, at the right) probably contained perfumed oil. The round glass box (Fig. 212) was used for cosmetics, as was also the ivory box seen in Fig. 214, the outside of which is carved in low relief.

The mirrors were of metal, highly polished. The one seen in Fig. 214 was designed to stand upon a dressing case; the other three (Fig. 213) are hand mirrors. The frame of the rectangular mirror is modern; whether or not this had a handle is not clear.

Jewellery of gold and silver and other small objects wrought in the precious metals have now and then been found. A characteristic example of the jewellery is the large gold arm band in the form of a serpent, with eyes of rubies, found in the house of the Faun (Fig. 215). It weighs twenty-two ounces; to judge from the size, it must have been intended for the upper arm.

Much more important, from the aesthetic point of view, are the cups and other articles of silver designed for table use. As these do not differ essentially from objects of the same class found elsewhere, we should not be warranted in entering upon an extended discussion of them here; a few examples must suffice.

Of the three cups with repoussé reliefs shown in Fig. 216, one (a) has a simple but effective decoration of leaves. Another (c) presents the apotheosis of Homer; the bard is being carried to heaven by an eagle, while on either side (detail in b) sits an allegorical figure—the Iliad with helmet, shield, and spear, and the Odyssey with a sailor's cap and a steering paddle. On the third (d, detail in Fig. 216 e) we see a male and a female Centaur, with Bacchic emblems, conversing with Cupids posed gracefully on their backs. This last is one of a pair found in 1835.

Of the purely decorative pieces the finest is the shallow bowl (phiala, patera) 8⅞ inches in diameter, with an allegorical representation of the city of Alexandria, in high relief (Fig. 187). The city is personified as a female divinity—alert, powerful, majestic. Upon her head are the spoils of an elephant; the trunk and tusks project above, while the huge ears, hanging down behind, are skilfully adjusted to the outline of the goddess's neck.

In the fold of her chiton, held by the right hand, and in the cornucopia resting on the left arm, are fruits of Egypt, among which grapes and pomegranates are easily distinguished. A representation of Helios appears in low relief upon the upper part of the cornucopia; below is the eagle, emblem of the Ptolemies. A lion is mounted on the right shoulder of the goddess; in her right hand she holds an asp, sacred to Isis, with head uplifted as in the representation described by Apuleius (Met. XI. 4); facing the asp is a female panther.

Around the group in low relief are the attributes (not all distinguishable in our illustration) of various divinities—the bow and quiver of Artemis, the club of Hercules, the sistrum of Isis, the forceps of Vulcan, the serpent of Aesculapius entwined around a staff, the sword of Mars in a scabbard, and the lyre of Apollo. A dolphin in the midst of waves (under the right hand) symbolizes the maritime relations of the city.

The central medallion (emblema) was made separately and attached to the bottom of the patera. Between it and the outer edge of the bowl is a band of pleasing ornament, composed of sprays of myrtle and laurel. The surface of the medallion was all gilded except the undraped portions of the goddess. The ears of the goddess were pierced for ear-rings, which were not found. The date of the patera can not be determined; it is perhaps as old as the reign of Augustus.

Among the cups, sixteen in number, two are especially noteworthy. They are four inches high, and form a pair; they are ornamented with skeletons in high relief, so grouped that each cup presents four scenes satirizing human life and its interpretation in poetry and philosophy.

Two scenes from one of the cups are shown in Fig. 217. At the left the Stoic Zeno appears, standing stiffly with his philosopher's staff in his left hand, his wallet hanging from his neck; with right hand extended he points the index finger in indignation and scorn at Epicurus, who, paying no heed to him, is taking a piece of a huge cake lying on the top of a small round table. Beside Epicurus an eager pig with snout and left foreleg uplifted is demanding a share. Over the cake is the inscription: τὸ τέλος ἡδονή, 'the end of life is pleasure.' The letters of the inscription, as of the names of the philosophers, are too small to be shown distinctly in our illustration.

No names are given with the figures in the other scene; a kind of genre picture is presented. The skeleton in the middle is placing a wreath of flowers upon his head. The one at the right holds in one hand a skull which he examines contemplatively—we are reminded of Hamlet in the scene with the gravedigger; in the other hand (not seen in the illustration) is a wreath of flowers. The third of the principal figures holds in his right hand a bag exceedingly heavy, as indicated by the adjustment of the bones of the right arm and leg; over the bag is the word φθόνοι, 'envyings.' The object in the left hand is so light that its weight is not felt; it is a butterfly, held by the wings, and above it is inscribed ψύχιον, a diminutive of ψυχή, 'soul'; we shall later find another instance of the representation of a disembodied soul as a butterfly (p. 398). It was perhaps the design of the artist to represent the figure as holding the bag behind him while presenting the butterfly to the one who is putting on the wreath.

Both cups had evidently long been in use; there are still some traces of gilding, which, however, seems not to have been applied to the skeletons. While the explanatory inscriptions are in Greek, a Latin name, Gavia, is inscribed on the under side of the second cup, in the same kind of letters as the record of weight (p. 508). The Gavii were a family of some prominence at Pompeii; we are perhaps warranted in concluding that the cups were made by a Greek for this Pompeian lady, and that afterward they came into the possession of another lady, Maxima, who formed the collection.

PART III
TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS

CHAPTER XLVII
THE TRADES AT POMPEII.—THE BAKERS

In antiquity there was no such distinction between trades and professions as exists to-day. In the Early Empire all activity outside the field of public service, civil and military, or the management of estates, was considered beneath the dignity of a Roman; the practice of law, which had received its impulse largely from the obligation of patrons to protect their clients, was included among public duties. The ordinary work of life was left mainly to slaves and freedmen. Not only the trades, as we understand the term, but architecture and engineering,—in antiquity two branches of one occupation,—the practice of medicine, and teaching, were looked upon as menial. A Roman of literary or practical bent might manifest an interest in such vocations, but it was considered hardly respectable actively to engage in them.

This attitude of mind, especially toward the higher occupations, is only explicable in the light of the social conditions then existing. Men who kept slaves of every degree of intelligence and training, and were at all times accustomed to command, were not disposed to hold themselves in readiness to do another's bidding, excepting in the service of the State alone; and work committed to slaves and freedmen naturally came to be considered unworthy the employment of a gentleman. The freemen of the same craft were often united in guilds or corporations, for the administration of certain matters of mutual interest; but nothing is known in regard to the activities of such organizations at Pompeii.

In a city as large as Pompeii, all the occupations corresponding to the needs of daily life must have been represented. The remains of the appliances and products of labor are of the most varied character, sometimes far from satisfactory, raising more difficulties than they solve; yet often revealing at a glance the ancient methods of work, and casting light upon the economic background of Greek and Roman culture. The excavations have brought before us three sources of information, inscriptions, paintings, and the remains of buildings or rooms used as workshops.

The inscriptions refer to more than a score of occupations; from farming to innkeeping, and from hairdressing to goldworking. Most of them are election notices, in which the members of a craft unite, or are exhorted to unite, in recommending a certain candidate for a municipal office. These are painted in red letters on the walls along the streets, and are much alike, though some are fuller than others. The simplest form contains only three words, as Trebium aed. tonsores,—'The barbers recommend Trebius for the office of aedile.' The more elaborate recommendations may be illustrated by the following: Verum aed. o. v. f. (for aedilem, oro vos, facite), unguentari, facite, rog[o],—'Do make Verus aedile, perfumers, elect him, I beg of you.' The whole craft of goldsmiths favored the election of Pansa: C. Cuspium Pansam aed. aurifices universi rog[ant],—'All the goldsmiths recommend Gaius Cuspius Pansa for the aedileship.'

The recommendations of the fruit sellers are particularly conspicuous. On one occasion they joined with a prominent individual in the support of a ticket: M. Holconium Priscum II vir. i. d. pomari universi cum Helvio Vestale rog.,—'All the fruit sellers, together with Helvius Vestalis, urge the election of M. Holconius Priscus as duumvir with judiciary authority.' There may have been some special reason why the fruiterers wished to keep in favor with the city authorities, and so took an active part in the elections; the dealers in garlic (aliari) also had a candidate.

Among the representatives of other employments that joined in the support of candidates were the dyers (offectores), cloak-cutters (sagarii), pack-carriers (saccarii), mule-drivers (muliones), and fishermen (piscicapi). The inscription in which reference is made to the gig-drivers is mentioned elsewhere (p. 243).

The paintings in which we see work going on are numerous. By far the most pleasing are those in which the workmen are Cupids, busying themselves with the affairs of men. Several pictures of this kind have already been described (pp. 97, 332-337); but we ought to add to those mentioned two scenes from Herculaneum, often reproduced, in which Cupids are represented as carpenters and as shoemakers.

Among the more important paintings in which the figures of men appear are those which picture the life of an inn and those that present the processes of cleaning cloth; both groups are reserved for later discussion. In a house in the ninth Region (IX. v. 9) a stuccoer is pictured at work putting the finishing touches on a wall with a smoothing tool, and in the house of the Surgeon an artist is seen painting a herm (Fig. 133).

In only a few instances are the remains of workshops sufficiently characteristic to indicate their purpose. Among the most impressive, to the visitor at Pompeii, are the ruins of the bakeries, with their large millstones (Fig. 218). Equally important, also, are the remains of the fulleries, and of a large tannery, which, as well as those of the inns and winerooms, will be discussed in separate chapters.

A few out of the hundreds of shops opening on the streets contain remains of the articles exposed for sale. The discovery of charred nuts, fruits, and loaves of bread in the market stalls north of the Macellum has already been noted (p. 96). We know the use of other shops from the remains of paints found in them. The arrangements of such places of business were discussed in connection with those of the Pompeian house.

Several establishments which contain large lead kettles set in masonry, with a place for a fire underneath, have been identified as dyehouses. In the case of one on Stabian Street (VII. ii. 11), the identification seems complete. Nine such kettles stood in the peristyle, which has a direct connection with the street; in a closet were numerous bottles, part of which contained coloring materials. There was formerly a painting on the wall of the entrance, representing a man carrying on a pole an object which had the appearance of a garment fresh from the dye.

A potter's workshop, with two ovens, is located outside the Herculaneum Gate, where the streets divide opposite the villa of Diomedes (Plan V, 29-30). The ovens, which are not large, have an upper division, in which were placed the vessels to be baked, and a firebox underneath, the floor above being pierced with holes to let the heat through. The vault of one of the ovens was constructed of parallel rows of jars fitted into one another.

There was a shoemaker's shop on the northwest corner of Insula VII. i opening upon two streets. It is connected with the entrance hall of the adjoining house (No. 40), and near the middle is a small stone table. The identification rests upon the discovery here of certain tools, particularly leather-cutters' knives with a crescent-shaped blade; there was also an inscription on the wall, making record of some repairing done 'July 14, with a sharp-cornered knife (scalpro angulato) and an awl.' Apparently the porter of the house (ostiarius) was at the same time a cobbler, as frequently in Italy to-day.

On the same wall is another scribbling: M. Nonius Campanus mil. coh. VIIII pr. 𐆛 Caesi,—'Marcus Nonius Campanus, a soldier of the ninth praetorian cohort, of the century led by Caesius.' The name of the centurion, M. Caesius Blandus, is scratched twice on the columns of the peristyle in the same house. Captain and private may have come from Rome in the escort of an emperor. Perhaps the centurion was quartered in this house; the soldier, waiting to have his shoes mended, scratched his name upon the wall.

The better houses were so freely adorned with statuettes and other ornaments of marble that there must have been marble-workers in the city. The workshop of one was found, in 1798, on Stabian Street, near the Large Theatre. It contained various pieces of carving, as herms, table feet, and table tops; there was also an unfinished mortar, together with a slab of marble partly sawed, the saw being left in the cut.

Signs of shops are not often seen in Pompeii, but two or three may be mentioned. In the wall of a shop-front in the block containing the Baths north of the Forum, there is a terra cotta plaque with a goat in relief, to indicate the place of a milk dealer; and not far away we find a sign of a wineshop, a tufa relief of two men carrying between them an amphora hung from a pole supported on their shoulders.

Not all such reliefs, however, are signs of shops. Near the Porta Marina (at the northwest corner of Insula VII. xv), a tufa block may be seen near the top of the wall, showing a mason's tools in relief; above it is the inscription, Diogenes structor, 'Diogenes the mason.' This is not a sign—the inscription can hardly be read from below; it is, moreover, on the outside of a garden wall, with no house or shop entrance near it. It is rather a workman's signature; Diogenes had built the wall, and wished to leave a record of his skill.

In antiquity the miller and the baker were one person. We rarely find in Pompeii—and then only in private houses—an oven without mills under the same roof. There were many bakeries in the city. The portion already excavated contains more than twenty, each of them with three or four mills; bread was furnished, therefore, by a number of small bakeries rather than by a few large establishments.

The appearance of a bakery to-day, with its mills and its large oven, may be seen in Fig. 218. The arrangements can more easily be explained, however, from the plan of another establishment, one of the largest, in the third Insula of Region VI. (Fig. 219). Entering from the street through the fauces, we find ourselves in an atrium of simple form (8) with rooms on either side; the tablinum (14) is here merely an entrance to the mill room (15). In the corner of the atrium is a stairway leading to a second story, which was particularly needed here, because the living rooms at the rear were required for the bakery; the floor of the second story was supported by brick pillars at the corners of the impluvium, joined by flat arches.

The four mills (b), were turned by animals; the floor around them is paved with basalt flags like those used for the streets. In the same room, at d, were the remains of a low table; at c there is a cistern curb, with a large earthen vessel for holding water on either side, while the wall above was ornamented with a painting representing Vesta, the patron goddess of bakers, between the two Lares. On one side of the oven (17) is the kneading room (18), on the other the storeroom (19). The room at the left (16) is the stall for the donkeys that turned the mills.

The mills of Pompeii, with slight variations, are all of one type; if there were watermills on the Sarno, no trace of them has been found. The millstones are of lava (p. 15). The lower stone, meta, has the shape of a cone resting on the end of a cylinder, but the cylindrical part is in most cases partially concealed by a thick hoop of masonry, the top of which was formed into a trough to receive the flour, and was covered with sheet lead (Fig. 220). A square hole, five or six inches across, was cut in the top of the cone, in which was inserted a wooden standard; this supported a vertical iron pivot on which the frame of the upper millstone turned.

The shape of the upper millstone, catillus, may best be seen in Fig. 221. It was like a double funnel, the lower cavity being fitted to the cone of the lower millstone, while that in the upper part answered the purpose of a hopper. The two cavities were connected at the centre by an opening similar to that of an hourglass, which left room for the standard and allowed the grain to run down slowly, when the catillus was turned, to be ground between the two stones. The flour ran out at the base of the cone and fell into the trough, ready to be sifted and made into bread.

The upper millstone was nicely balanced over the lower, the surface of which it touched but lightly; it could not have rested on the under stone with full weight, for in that case the strength of a draft animal would not have sufficed to move it. The stones could be set for finer or coarser grinding by changing the length of the standard.

The arrangement for turning the mill was simple. In shaping the upper millstone, strong shoulders were left in the narrowest part (Fig. 220), on opposite sides. In these square sockets were cut, in which the ends of shafts were inserted and firmly fastened by round bolts passing through the shoulders (Fig. 221). The shafts were tied to the ends of the crossbeam above by curved vertical pieces of wood, or by straps of iron, which were let into grooves in the stone and so made firm. The crosspiece above, which turned on the pivot in the end of the standard, was sometimes of iron, sometimes of wood with an iron socket fitting the pivot. The framework must necessarily have been exceedingly strong. One of the mills at Pompeii (IX. iii. 10) has lately been set up with new woodwork, and grinds very well.

The smaller mills were turned by slaves, the larger by draft animals. Men pushed on the projecting shafts, but animals wore a collar which was attached by a chain or rope to the end of the crosspiece at the top. The links of the chain running to the crossbeam are distinctly shown in a relief in the Vatican Museum (Fig. 222), in which a horse is represented turning a mill. Blinders are over the eyes of the horse, which seems also to be checked up in order to prevent eating. A square hopper rests on the crossbeam, and the miller is bringing a measure of wheat to pour into it. On a shelf in the corner of the room is a lamp.

The ovens were not unlike those still in use in many parts of Europe. They were shaped like a low beehive, generally with some kind of a flue in front to make the fire burn inside while they were being heated. The oven in the bakery described above, however, has a special device for saving as much heat as possible (Fig. 223); it is entirely enclosed in a smoke chamber (b), with two openings above (d) for the draft. Fires were kindled in such ovens with wood or charcoal; the latter was probably used here. When the proper temperature for baking had been reached, the ashes were raked out (in Fig. 223, e is an ashpit), the loaves of bread shoved in, and the mouth closed to retain the heat. A receptacle for water stands in front of our oven (f), a convenience for moistening the surface of the loaves while baking. The front of the oven (at c) was connected with the rooms on either side, as may be more clearly seen by referring to Fig. 219. In the kneading room (18), where were found remains of a large table and shelves, the loaves were made ready, and could be passed through one opening to the front of the oven; the hot loaves could be conveniently passed through the other opening into the storeroom (19).

In many establishments a machine was used for kneading; the best example is in a bakery on the north side of Insula xiv in Region VI. Such kneading machines are seen also in ancient representations of the baker's trade, as in the reliefs of the tomb of Eurysaces, near the Porta Maggiore at Rome.

The dough was placed in a round pan of lava a foot and a half or two feet in diameter. In this a vertical shaft revolved, to the lower part of which two or three wooden arms were attached (three in Fig. 224); the one at the bottom was strengthened by an iron crosspiece on the under side, the projecting centre of which turned in a socket below. The side of the pan was pierced in two or three places for the insertion of wooden teeth, so placed as not to interfere with the revolution of the arms. As the shaft was turned, the dough was pushed forward by the arms and held back by the teeth, being thus thoroughly kneaded. Modern kneading machines are constructed on the same principle, but have two sets of teeth on horizontal cylinders revolving toward each other.

CHAPTER XLVIII
THE FULLERS AND THE TANNERS

The work of the ancient fuller was twofold, to make ready for use the cloth fresh from the loom, and to cleanse garments that had been worn. As the garments used by the Romans were mainly of wool, and needed skilful manipulation to retain their size and shape, they were ordinarily sent out of the house to be cleansed; in consequence the trade of the fuller was relatively important. In the part of Pompeii thus far excavated we find two large fulleries and one smaller establishment that can be identified with certainty; and there were doubtless many laundries, with less ample facilities, the purpose of which is not clearly indicated by the remains. The following account of the processes employed relates exclusively to woollen fabrics.

At the time of the destruction of Pompeii, soap, a Gallic invention, was only beginning to come into use; the commonest substitute was fuller's earth, creta fullonia, a kind of alkaline marl. For raising the nap, teasel does not seem to have been used, as with us, but a species of thorn (spina fullonia) the spines of which were mounted in a carding tool resembling a brush (aena); the skin of a hedgehog also was sometimes utilized for this purpose.

The fulling of new cloth involved seven or eight distinct processes,—washing with fuller's earth, or other cleansing agents, to remove the oily matter; beating and stretching, to make the surface even; washing and drying a second time, for cleaning and shrinking; combing with a carding tool to raise the nap, brushing in order to make it ready for clipping, and shearing to reduce the nap to proper length; then, particularly in the case of the white woollens so commonly used, bleaching with sulphur fumes; and finally, smoothing in a large press. The process of cleaning soiled garments was more simple.

A series of paintings in the largest of the fulleries, on the west side of Mercury Street, picture several of these processes with great clearness. They were on a large pillar at the front end of the peristyle, from which they were removed to the Museum at Naples; they supplement admirably the scenes of the Cupids' fullery in the house of the Vettii, mentioned in a previous chapter (p. 335).