Fig. 37.—The Macellum, restored.

In two small pictures in the black panels of the north entrance Cupids took the place of men. The Pompeians were very fond of the representation of Cupids as engaged in human occupations; it gave opportunity for the poetic treatment of everyday life, which was thus carried over into fairyland. So in one picture sprightly, winged little figures are celebrating the festival of Vesta, the tutelary divinity of millers and bakers, who on this day, just as appears in the painting, wreathed with garlands their mills and much belabored asses that once a year were thus admitted to a share in the festal celebrations of their masters; the reference to trade in bread and flour is obvious.

In the other picture the Cupids are plaiting and selling wreaths; in view of the extensive use of garlands at banquets and on gala days the inference is warranted that they, too, were sold in this market. In the market room for meat and fish there is another interesting picture representing the local divinities of Pompeii—personifications of the Sarno, of the coast, and of the country round about, suggesting that here the products of the sea, the river, and the land might be obtained.

Besides the rooms thus far considered, which served a practical end, we find in the Macellum two other rooms which gave to the building a religious character and placed it under the special protection of the imperial house. One, at the middle of the east end (5), is a chapel consecrated to the worship of the emperors. The floor is raised above that of the rest of the building, and the entrance is reached by five steps leading up from the rear of the colonnade. On a pedestal against the rear wall, and in four niches at the sides, were statues, of which only the two in the niches at the right have been found; these represent Octavia, the sister of Augustus (Fig. 38), and Marcellus (Fig. 39), the hope of Augustus and of Rome, whose untimely death was lamented by Virgil in those touching verses in the sixth book of the Aeneid. An arm with a globe was also found, doubtless belonging to the statue of an emperor that stood on the pedestal at the rear. The chapel contains no altar; sacrifice was probably offered on a portable bronze coal pan in the form of a tripod. Several beautiful examples of these movable altars have been found, and there are numerous representations of them in reliefs and in wall paintings.

The Macellum in its present form was at the time of the eruption by no means an ancient building. While finished and no doubt in use at the time of the earthquake of 63, it had been built not many years before, in the reign of Claudius or of Nero, in the place of an older structure which dated from the pre-Roman period. The earlier Macellum, of which scanty but indubitable traces remain, could not have contained a chapel for the worship of the emperors; this was probably introduced into the plan of the structure at the time of the rebuilding. The most reasonable supposition is that the chapel was built in honor of Claudius, and that his statue with the globe as a symbol of world sovereignty stood on the pedestal at the rear, while in the niches at the left were his wife Agrippina and adopted son Nero.

We can hardly doubt that Claudius was worshipped in Pompeii during his lifetime; it is known from inscriptions that even before the death of Claudius Nero was honored with the services of a special priest. That Octavia and Marcellus, another mother with a son who was heir to the throne, should be placed opposite Agrippina and Nero, was quite natural. Claudius, who through his mother Antonia was the grandson of Octavia, had great pride in this relationship, through which alone he was connected with the family of Augustus; and from Octavia, Agrippina and Nero also were descended, the former as a daughter of Germanicus, Claudius's brother, and the latter through his father Gnaeus Domitius, who was a son of the older daughter of Octavia, also called Antonia. This thought was suggested by the grouping of Octavia and Marcellus with Agrippina and Nero: Octavia's descendants are now on the throne, as Augustus intended that they should be; and Nero is the pride and hope of the emperor and the Roman people, as once Marcellus was.

The room at the left of the imperial chapel, with a wide entrance divided by two columns (6), was also consecrated to the worship of the emperors. It contains a low altar (shown on the plan) of peculiar shape. A slab of black stone rests on two marble steps; it has a raised rim about the edge with a hole in one corner. Evidently this is an altar for drink offerings; in this room sacrificial meals were partaken of, at which the long estrade at the right, like a counter, nearly three feet high, was perhaps used as a serving table. Such meals had an important place among the functions of the Roman colleges of priests, and some priesthood connected with the worship of the emperors apparently had its place of meeting here; but whether this was the college of the Seviri Augustales, composed of freedmen, or a more aristocratic priesthood modelled after the Sodales Augustales at Rome, cannot be determined. The purpose of the niche in the corner, with the platform in front of it approached by steps, is unknown.

In this room, also, there were two pictures containing Cupids. In one they were represented as drinking wine and playing the lyre; in the other, as engaged in acts of worship—both appropriate decorative subjects for a room intended for sacrificial banquets.

The Macellum was entered from three sides. At the front, facing the Forum, was a portico consisting of two orders of white marble columns, one above the other, supporting a roof. Fragments of the Ionic or Corinthian columns belonging to the lower order, and of the well proportioned intermediate entablature, have been preserved. Statues stood at the foot of the columns, as also at the ends of the party walls between the shops at the rear of the portico, and beside the two columns of the little vestibule at the entrance; between the two doors was a small shrine, and here, too, was a statue.

The difference in direction between the front of the Macellum and the side of the Forum is concealed by increasing the depth of the shops from south to north, so that the depth of the portico remained the same. The room at the extreme right, being so shallow that it could not be used as a shop, was made into a shrine; the image or images set up in it must have been very small. What divinities were worshipped here, unless the Street Lares, cannot be conjectured.

There is another entrance on the north side, and a third near the southeast corner. In the latter are steps, and at the left as you come in is a small niche under which two serpents were painted. This humble shrine was probably dedicated to the presiding divinity of the building, the Genius Macelli.

The colonnade of the Macellum was thrown down by the earthquake of 63. At the time of the eruption the stylobate on which the columns rested, and the gutter in front of it, had been renewed; but only the columns on the north side and a part of those on the west side had been set up again. Both the columns and the entablature have entirely disappeared, in consequence of excavations made in ancient times.

CHAPTER XIII
THE SANCTUARY OF THE CITY LARES

In earlier times a street opened into the Forum south of the Macellum. Later, apparently in the time of Augustus, it was closed, and the end, together with adjoining space at the south, was occupied by a building which measures approximately sixty by seventy Roman feet.

In richness of material and architectural detail this was among the finest edifices at Pompeii. Its walls and floors were completely covered with marble. Now we see only rough masonry, stripped of its veneering, but enough vestiges remain to enable us to reconstruct the whole; in Figs. 41 and 42 both rear and side views of the interior are given.

Opening into the main room at the rear is a large apse (Fig. 40, 2), which gives to the building a peculiar character. In the inner part of the apse is a broad foundation about six feet high, on which stood a shrine (aedicula), containing a pedestal for three statues of not more than life size; the foundation projects in front of the pedestal, forming a table for offerings. A base of the same height as the foundation of the shrine runs along the walls of the apse; it supported two columns and two attached half-columns on the right, and the same number on the left.

On either side of the main room is a recess, ala, containing a pedestal for a statue of more than life size. The two entrances were flanked by pilasters nearly two Roman feet square, while each entrance was divided into three parts by two columns. There were three niches about six feet above the floor in each of the side walls of the main room, and two more at the rear; all were originally flanked by small pilasters which rested on a projecting base. The remains of an altar may still be seen in the middle of the room.

The height of both side and rear walls can be approximately computed from the existing remains, the basis of computation for the side walls being the thickness of the pilasters at the entrance. The rear part of the building was certainly not less than 45 feet high, exclusive of the gable, while the sides could not have been more than 30 or at most 35. This difference in height, taken with other indications, obliges us to conclude that the central room was treated as a paved court open to the sky; only the apse and the wings were roofed.

It is evident that we have here a place of worship, yet not, properly speaking, a temple. The shrine in the apse, with its broad pedestal for several relatively small images, presents a striking analogy to the shrines of the Lares found in so many private houses. Cities, as well as households, had their guardian spirits. The worship of these tutelary divinities was reorganized by Augustus, who ordered that, just as the Genius of the master of the house was worshipped at the family shrine, so his Genius should receive honor together with the Lares of the different cities; thus in each city the emperor was to be looked upon as a father, the head of the common household. As the house had its shrine for the Lares, so also had the city; that in Rome was near the spot on which the arch of Titus was afterwards erected.

Undoubtedly we should recognize in this edifice the sanctuary of the Lares of the city, Lararium publicum. On the pedestal of the shrine in the apse the Genius of Augustus probably stood, represented by a statue of the emperor himself, with his toga drawn over the back of his head, offering a libation; on his right and on his left were the two Lares, like those represented in paintings (p. 271) and in the little bronze images so often found in house shrines.

In connection with the Lares the members of a family honored other gods, Penates, to whose special protection the head of the household had committed himself and his interests. As we shall see later, in house shrines diminutive bronze figures representing Hercules, Mercury, Fortuna, and other divinities are often found together with those of the Lares. It is quite possible that other gods were likewise associated with the Lares of the city; and perhaps here in the two chapels at the sides of the main room images of Ceres and of Bacchus were placed. Regarding the statues that stood in the eight niches it is better to refrain from conjecture. On the outside of the building, under the portico of the Macellum, was a small platform (4), the raised floor of which was reached by steps.

At the edge of the Forum in front of the building are eight square blocks of basalt, which still have traces of the iron clamps by which marble veneering was fastened on. These supported the columns of a portico which was joined with the porticos of the Macellum and the temple of Vespasian and took the place of the Forum colonnade. As the main room of the building was open to the sky, the portico also must have been without a roof; there is no trace of any support for the ends of the rafters at the rear. The columns in front, probably of two orders one above the other, were merely for ornament. Possibly awnings were at times stretched over the area of the portico as a protection against sun and rain.

CHAPTER XIV
THE TEMPLE OF VESPASIAN

South of the sanctuary of the City Lares is another religious edifice of an entirely different character. Passing from the Forum across the open space once occupied by the portico—of which no remains have been found—we enter a wide doorway and find ourselves in a four-sided court somewhat irregular in shape (Fig. 43). The front part is occupied by a colonnade (1).

At the rear a small temple (3) stands upon a high podium which projects in front of the cella and reached by two flights of steps. The pedestal for the image of the divinity is built against the rear wall.

In the middle of the court is an altar faced with marble and adorned on all four sides with reliefs of moderately good workmanship. The sacrificial scene shown in the accompanying illustration (Fig. 44) is on the front side, facing the entrance to the court. A priest with a toga drawn over his head in the manner prescribed for those offering sacrifice, pours a libation from a shallow bowl, patera, upon an altar having the form of a tripod. With him at the left are two lictors with their bundles of rods, a fluteplayer, two boys, camilli, carrying the utensils for the sacrifice, and an attendant; at the right a bull intended for sacrifice is being brought to the altar by the slayer, victimarius, and an assistant. In the background is a tetrastyle temple, doubtless the temple before us; the scene represents the dedicatory exercises. The middle intercolumniation of the portico, as indicated by the relief and shown in the plan, is wider than the other two.

On the sides of the altar some of the utensils and ceremonial objects used in sacrificing are represented: at the left the napkin (mantele), the augural staff (lituus), and the box in which the incense was kept (acerra); at the right the libation bowl (patera), a ladle (simpulum), and a pitcher.

The reliefs on the back of the altar, which consist simply of a wreath of oak leaves with a conventional laurel on either side, are of special significance and give a clew to the purpose of the edifice. On the thirteenth of January, 27 B.C., the Senate voted that a civic crown—that is, one made of oak leaves, of the kind awarded to a soldier who had saved the life of a Roman citizen—should be placed above the door of the house in which Augustus lived, and that the doorposts should be wreathed with laurel. From that time the civic crown and the laurel were recognized as attributes denoting imperial rank. This temple, therefore, was built in honor of an emperor. From the inscriptions of the Arval Brethren, we learn that in the case of a living emperor a bull was the suitable victim, but that an ox was sacrificed to an emperor who had been deified after death. As the victim on our altar is a bull, the temple must have been dedicated to an emperor during his lifetime. With these facts in mind it will not be difficult to ascertain to whose worship the building was consecrated.

The coins of Augustus have both the civic crown and the laurel, but those of his immediate successors have only the former. In the year 74 the laurel again appears with the crown on the coins of Vespasian and Titus, and we may suppose that the distinction formerly conferred on Augustus was about this time revived in honor of Vespasian. It was indeed quite natural that men should think of Vespasian and Augustus together. Both restored peace and order after disastrous civil wars; both adopted severe repressive measures against luxury and immorality, and both adorned Rome with great public buildings. The temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline, which Augustus had repaired and made more magnificent, Vespasian rebuilt from the foundation after it was burned in 69.

The Senate, which had suffered so seriously at the hands of Nero, had reason to be deeply grateful to Vespasian, who treated it with marked respect, in this also following the example of Augustus. If the annals of the reigns of the Flavian emperors were not so meagre, we should very likely find a decree of the Senate honoring Vespasian with the civic crown and the laurel. Such a decree might well have suggested the founding of a temple, and the placing of these symbols of peace and victory upon its altar.

The temple itself was built, together with the court, after the earthquake of 63, and at the time of the eruption the work was not entirely completed. The walls of the cella and of the entrance from the Forum had received their veneering of marble and were in a finished state; but those of the court, divided off into a series of deep panels above which small pediments alternated with arches (Fig. 45), had received only a rough coat of stucco and were still awaiting completion. The temple must have been built in the time of Vespasian, who reigned from 68 to 79 A.D.; and as this emperor possessed too great simplicity of character to allow men to worship him as a god while he was still alive, it was probably dedicated to his Genius.

The rooms at the rear of the temple (shown on the plan) were entered by a door at the right. They may have served as a habitation for the sacristan, or as a place of storage for the sacrificial utensils. The north room was also connected with rooms belonging to the sanctuary of the Lares, the purpose of which is unknown.

CHAPTER XV
THE BUILDING OF EUMACHIA

The plan of the large building on the east side of the Forum, between the temple of Vespasian and Abbondanza Street, is simple and regular. In front is a deep portico (1), facing the Forum. The interior consists of a large oblong court with three apses at the rear and a colonnade about the four sides (9); on three sides there is a corridor behind the colonnade, with numerous windows opening upon it (12). The corridor could be entered by three doors, two at the front end of the court, connecting with the colonnade, and a third at the rear, entered from the end of a passage leading up from Abbondanza Street (14), the grade of which at this point is considerably below the pavement of the building (Fig. 50).

An inscription appears in large letters on the entablature of the portico, and again on a marble tablet over the side entrance in Abbondanza Street: Eumachia L. f., sacerd[os] publ[ica], nomine suo et M. Numistri Frontonis fili chalcidicum, cryptam, porticus Concordiae Augustae Pietati sua pequnia fecit eademque dedicavit,—'Eumachia, daughter of Lucius Eumachius, a city priestess, in her own name and that of her son, Marcus Numistrius Fronto, built at her own expense the portico, the corridor (cryptam, covered passage), and the colonnade, dedicating them to Concordia Augusta and Pietas.'

The word pietas, in such connections, has no English equivalent, and is difficult to translate. It sums up in a single concept the qualities of filial affection, conscientious devotion, and obedience to duty which in the Roman view characterized the proper conduct of children toward their parents and grandparents. Here mother and son united in dedicating the building to personifications, or deifications, of the perfect harmony and the regard for elders that prevailed in the imperial family.

The reference of the dedication can only be to the relation between the Emperor Tiberius and his mother Livia; it cannot apply to Nero and Agrippina, for the reason that the walls of the building were decorated in the third Pompeian style, which in Nero's time was no longer in vogue. In 22 A.D., when Livia was very ill, the Senate voted to erect an altar to Pietas Augusta. In the following year Drusus, the son of Tiberius, gave expression to his regard for his grandmother by placing her likeness upon his coins, with the word Pietas.

On the coins of colonies also—of Saragossa and another the name of which is not known—the Pietas Augusta appears, apparently about the same time. Not long afterwards the harmonious relations between Tiberius and his mother gave place to mutual suspicion and hostility; the dedication therefore points to the earlier part of the reign of Tiberius, and in this period the building was no doubt erected. The statue of Concordia Augusta, a female figure with a gilded cornucopia, was found in the building; the head, which has not been preserved, probably bore the features of Livia. By this dedication the building of Eumachia, as the Macellum later, was placed under the protection of the imperial house.

While the parts are enumerated in the dedicatory inscription, neither the name of the building as a whole, nor the purpose, is mentioned. A hint of the latter, however, is found in another inscription. A broad niche (13) opens into the corridor at the rear, directly behind the largest apse. Here stood a marble statue of a beautiful woman (Fig. 255), now replaced by a cast; the original is in Naples. Upon the pedestal we read: Eumachiae L. f., sacerd[oti] publ[icae], fullones,—'Dedicated to Eumachia, daughter of Lucius Eumachius, a city priestess, by the fullers.'

This building, in which the fullers had set up, in a specially prominent place, a statue of the person who had erected it, must in some way have served the purposes of their trade. Clearly enough it was not a fullery; on the other hand, it was well adapted for a clothier's exchange, a bazaar for the sale of cloth and articles of clothing. Tables and other furniture for the convenience of dealers could be placed in the colonnade and the corridor; in the corridor, especially, goods exposed for sale in front of the open windows could be conveniently inspected by prospective buyers,—not only by those in the corridor itself, but also by those looking in from the colonnade. The small doors between the corridor and the colonnade could be securely closed, and the entrance from Abbondanza Street could be easily guarded; there was only a narrow door at the end of the passage opening into the corridor, and at the street entrance was a porter's room connected by doors both with the passage and with the street. This evidence of unusual precaution suggests that possibly the side entrance, from its close connection with the corridor, was intended especially for the conveyance of goods to and from the building, in order that the front entrance might be left for the exclusive use of purchasers and dealers.

On the assumption that the building was a cloth market, it is clear that the colonnade would naturally be open at all times, the corridor only during business hours; after business hours the corridor would be closed for the protection of the goods left there over night. The windows may have been closed with shutters as in the Oriental bazaars. Other peculiarities of arrangement also are cleared up by this explanation, but we cannot present them in detail. It is not possible, however, to make out what the purpose was of certain remains of masonry found on the south side of the court (18) which have now disappeared, or of two rectangular elevations at the rear (17), or, finally, of a large stone in the middle of the court in which a movable iron ring is fastened (15). Our information is so scanty that we are unable to determine in all particulars what the requirements of a fuller's exchange might have been.

At the time of the eruption men were still engaged in rebuilding the parts of the edifice that had suffered in the earthquake of 63. The front wall at the rear of the portico was finished and had received its veneering of marble; as shown by the existing remains, it conformed to the plan of the earlier structure. The columns and entablature of the portico had not yet been set in place; considerable portions of them were found in the area of the Forum. The wall at the rear of the court, with the three apses, had been rebuilt, and the workmen had begun to add the marble covering. The other walls had remained standing at the time of the earthquake; but the colonnade had been thrown down and was now in process of erection. The remains of the colonnade were removed in ancient times, probably soon after the destruction of the city; yet from the parts that remain, both of the old building and of the restorations, we can determine the architectural character with certainty. We give two reconstructions of the interior, one showing the front (Fig. 48), the other the rear (Fig. 49).

The colonnade and the portico were characterized by the same peculiarity of construction: they were in two stories, one above the other, but there was no upper floor corresponding with the intermediate entablature. In the case of the portico this is certain from the treatment of the wall at the rear, the ornamentation of which is carried without interruption high above the level of the entablature. If the appearance of this building alone had been taken into account, it would have been simpler and more effective to place at the front of the portico a single order of large columns the height of which should correspond with that of the façade; but as the colonnade about the Forum was in two stories, the front of the portico was made to conform to it. The columns below were of the Doric, those above of the Ionic, order. The material—whitish limestone—was the same as that used in the new colonnade of the Forum. Nevertheless, by the skilful handling of details a certain individuality was given to the columns; while in general appearance they harmonized with those about the Forum, the portico as a whole stood out by itself as something distinct and characteristic.

The columns of the portico were left unfluted, as were those of the new Forum colonnade, and were of the same height; but their proportions were more slender, their ornamental forms were slightly different, and they were set closer together. The pains and skill manifested in harmonizing the particular with the general architectural effect reflect much credit upon the Pompeian board of public works. Under the portico at the foot of each column was a statue, facing the front of the building; the pedestals, which still remain, assist in determining the places of the columns, of which only one was found in position. The spaces between the columns could be closed by latticed gates, as may be seen from traces of them remaining in the marble pavement at the south end of the portico; the pavement elsewhere has disappeared.

The wall at the rear of the portico, facing the Forum, was richly ornamented. The broad entrance in the middle (6) was bridged at the top by a lintel. At the ends are two large niches more than four feet above the pavement (5), both reached by flights of steps. Between each of these and the doorway is a large apsidal arched niche (4) extending down to the pavement. Lastly in the projecting portions of the wall are four smaller niches for statues. The whole façade was overlaid with various kinds of colored marbles.

None of the statues have been found, but the inscriptions belonging to the two that stood in the small niches at the left are extant and of special interest; the names of the persons represented, Aeneas and Romulus, are given, together with a short enumeration of their heroic deeds. These statues were evidently copies; the originals formed a part of a famous series in Rome.

Augustus set up in his Forum the statues of renowned Roman generals with inscriptions setting forth their services to the State; in this way, he said, the people might obtain a standard of comparison for himself and his successors. At the beginning of the series were Aeneas, the kings of Alba Longa, and Romulus. Not one of these statues has been preserved, but some of the inscriptions have been found in Rome, while others are known from copies discovered in Arezzo, where without doubt, as at Pompeii, they were set up with copies of the statues—a forcible illustration of the striving of the smaller cities to be like Rome. Two other statues, perhaps representing Julius Caesar and Augustus, stood in the niches at the right corresponding with those of Aeneas and Romulus; it is not probable that the rest of the series in Rome was duplicated here, because the remaining pedestals in the portico were all designed for figures of larger size.

The colonnade about the court was of marble. The front part, as one entered from the portico, was higher than that on the sides and rear (Fig. 48); it must have presented a fine architectural effect. The two series of Corinthian columns, one above the other, reached the height of 30 feet; the wall behind was diversified with niches and completely covered with marble. At the right and at the left one could pass down the sides under the colonnade, or through small doors into the corridor. The walls between the colonnade and the corridor, pierced with large windows, were decorated below with a dado of colored marbles and above with painting upon stucco, in the third style.

The two smaller apsidal niches at the rear were no higher than the colonnade, but the central apse projected above and terminated in a marble pediment (Fig. 49), fragments of which are still to be seen in the building. It was entered through three arched doorways, above which apparently there were windows. The image of Concordia Augusta, with the features of Livia, probably stood on the pedestal at the rear of the apse, while the statues of Tiberius and Drusus may have adorned the niches at the sides.

We can readily see why the colonnade was made so high, and in two stories, when a lower structure would have afforded better protection against sun and rain. Had it been limited to the usual height the corridor behind it would have been too dark; and if instead of a double series of small columns, one above the other, there had been a single series of large columns of the usual proportions, the thickness of the latter would have shut out much light and have made the colonnade seem less roomy. The arrangement adopted had the further advantage that it harmonized the aspect of the colonnade with that of the portico, the character of which, as we have seen, was determined by that of the colonnade about the Forum.

The small rooms of irregular shape at the sides of the apse (11) were light courts, left open to the sky in order to furnish light to the corridor at the rear, which was shut off from the colonnade.

The corridor was about fourteen feet in height; its walls still have remains of decoration in the third style.

At the right of the broad niche (13), in which the statue of Eumachia was found, a door opened into the passage leading from Abbondanza Street; in the corresponding position at the left, where there was no entrance, a door was painted upon the wall. This is a folding door in three parts, of a kind quite common at Pompeii; the middle part is hung by means of hinges, like those on doors of the present day, fastened to one of the leaves at the sides, while these are represented as swinging on pivots at the top and the bottom.

A stairway at the southeast corner of the corridor, over the entrance from Abbondanza Street, led to an upper room. A similar stairway was placed in the last of the little rooms between the court and the portico, at the left of the front entrance. The upper rooms, difficult to reach, could hardly have been intended for salesrooms. They must have been low, probably no higher than the difference between the height of the colonnade and that of the corridor. They were most likely used as temporary storerooms for the goods of the dealers.

In front of the entrance from Abbondanza Street, is a fountain of the ordinary Pompeian form; as the material is limestone it is probably of later date than the other fountains, which are generally of basalt. As may be seen in our illustration (Fig. 50), the inlet pipe was carried by a broad standard projecting above the edge of the basin, on the front of which a bust of a female figure with a cornucopia is carved in relief. The right side of the face has been worn away by eager drinkers pressing their mouths against the mouth of the figure, whence the jet issued; it reminds one of the attenuated right foot of the famous bronze St. Peter in Rome. Hands also have worn deep, polished hollows in the stone on either side of the standard. The figure represents Concordia Augusta, but the name Abundantia, given to it when first discovered, still lingers in the Italian name for the street, which might more appropriately have been called Strada della Concordia.

CHAPTER XVI
THE COMITIUM

The last building on the east side of the Forum, south of Abbondanza Street, had undergone a complete transformation a short time before the destruction of the city. Before the rebuilding, a row of pillars separated the interior of the structure from the Forum and from the street. At the edge of the sidewalk along the latter are square holes opposite the pillars (shown on the plan, Fig. 51), evidently designed for the insertion of posts, so that a temporary barrier of some sort could be set up. The end of the space within the barrier where this came to the Forum, and of the rest of the street as well, could be shut off by latticed gates.

If the barrier were set up, and the latticed gate at the Forum end left open, the building and the space within the barrier would be shut off from Abbondanza Street, but closely connected with the Forum by the numerous entrances. After the rebuilding only two entrances from the Forum were left, and one from Abbondanza Street.

It is altogether unlikely that so large a building, of irregular shape and with pillars on two sides, was provided with a roof; we have here an open space rather, serving as an extension of the Forum. The walls were covered with marble and adorned with niches, in which, without doubt, statues were placed. On the south side is a large recess the floor of which, reached by a flight of steps, forms a kind of platform or tribune about four feet above the pavement of the enclosure (1). A small door at the right leads into a narrow room containing a similar platform opening on the colonnade of the Forum (2), and to all appearances once accessible from it by steps; afterwards both the steps and the tribune were walled up.

The purpose of these tribunes, and of the building as a whole, is far from clear. An analogy, however, suggests itself. On one side of the Roman Forum near the upper end was a small rectangular open space called the Comitium, used in early times as a voting place. Between the Forum and the Comitium was originally a speaker's platform, the Rostra, so placed that orators by turning toward one side could address an audience in the Comitium and facing about could harangue the Forum. Though the later changes have obscured the original form of our building, yet it is plain that at one time there must have been two connected tribunes, one facing the Forum, the other the enclosed open space; we may at least hazard the conjecture that the colonists of Sulla, taking the arrangements of the capital as their pattern in all things, designed this place as their Comitium.

The enclosure was too small to admit of its use for voting according to the ancient fashion, but general elections in the Comitium had long been a thing of the past; only the unimportant curiate elections were held there, at which each curia was represented by a lictor, and at other times the place was used for judicial proceedings. So our building was probably used, if not for elections, for formalities preliminary to the elections and for business connected with the courts.

CHAPTER XVII
THE MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS

At the south end of the Forum were three buildings similar in plan and closely connected. In front they presented a common façade, the narrow spaces between them being entered by low doors. The building at the right (Fig. 52, 3) was at the corner of the Forum, while the space separating the other two lay on a line dividing the Forum into two equal parts; east of the last building is the Strada delle Scuole.

The three buildings were erected after the earthquake of 63, on the site of older buildings of the same character. In the walls of that furthest east (1), considerable remains of the earlier walls are embodied; in that near the corner the original pavement is preserved, and in the middle building there are traces of the original pavement. Previous to this rebuilding the inner series of columns belonging to the colonnade about the Forum had in part been removed and a barrier set up, by which the space in front of the middle building and that at the left could be shut off (indicated on the plan by broken lines). At the time of the eruption only the building at the left (1) was entirely finished. The others still lacked their decoration on both inner and outer walls.

These three spacious halls must have served the purposes of the city administration. The two at the right and the left are alike in having at the end opposite the entrance an apse large enough to accommodate one or more magistrates with their attendants; they were the official quarters of the aediles and the duumvirs, while the middle hall was the council chamber, curia, where the decurions met.

The middle room was obviously intended to be the most richly ornamented of the three, and was further distinguished from the others by the elevation of its floor, which was more than two feet above the pavement of the colonnade. In front of the entrance is a platform reached at either end by an approach hardly wide enough for two persons, thus suited for a select rather than a large attendance.

Along the sides within runs a ledge a little more than five feet above the floor, on which rested a double series of columns, one above the other, serving both as ornament and as a support for a ceiling like that of the temple of Jupiter. If we picture to ourselves the columns in place, the walls covered with marble, and a rich coffered ceiling above, we are led to form a favorable idea of the recuperative powers of the city which set about the construction of such costly and splendid buildings so soon after the terrible earthquake.

The recess at the rear was designed for a large shrine patterned after the small shrines of the Lares and Penates in private houses. The Penates of the city were above all the emperor and his family. If this shrine had been finished, figures representing Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian would probably have been placed in it, facing the three Capitoline divinities in the temple of Jupiter at the other end of the Forum.

The office of the aediles, situated at the corner of the colonnade and close to the Basilica, and with no barrier to prevent ready access, was particularly convenient for magistrates who, among other duties, were charged with the maintenance of order and the enforcement of regulations in the markets. One or perhaps both aediles sat in the apse; while the rear and middle parts of the room were reserved for those who had business with them. The front part, lower than the rest by two steps (shown on the plan), may have served as a waiting room. At the rear of the apse and in the walls at the sides were niches for the statues of members of the imperial family and of those who had rendered important services to the city.

As the duumvirs not only sat as judges but also had in their hands the financial administration of the city, we can see why the hall set aside for their use was the first to be rebuilt after the earthquake. The magistrates, of course, sat in the apse, along the wall of which was a ledge for statues. The strong front doors were fastened with iron bolts, and there was also a latticed gate on the step in front of the threshold; probably the archives of the duumviral office were kept within. The small side door at the right made it possible to enter and leave the building after business hours or at other times when the large doors were closed.

CHAPTER XVIII
THE TEMPLE OF VENUS POMPEIANA

For some years it had been known that a temple once stood in the rectangular block south of the strada della Marina; and in 1898 workmen excavating here began to uncover the massive foundations. When the volcanic deposits had been removed it was seen that the court of the temple, with the surrounding colonnade, occupied the whole area between the Basilica and the west wall of the long room now used as a Museum. On the podium (Fig. 55) was found a part of a statuette of Venus, of the familiar type which represents the goddess as preparing to enter the bath; it was probably a votive offering set up by some worshipper. In the subterranean passageway entered near the southeast corner (, IV) the excavators found another votive offering, a bronze steering paddle of the kind shown in paintings as an attribute of Venus Pompeiana; an example may be seen in Fig. 4 (p. 12). From these indications, as well as from the size of the temple and its location, near the Forum and on an elevation commanding a wide view of the sea, we are safe in assigning the sanctuary to Venus Pompeiana, the patron divinity of Roman Pompeii.

Prior to the founding of the Roman colony the site of the temple had been occupied by houses, built in several stories on the edge of the hill, which here slopes sharply toward the southwest; remains of the houses, which must have resembled those farther east (an example is the house of the Emperor Joseph II, p. 344), have been brought to light in the course of the excavations. In less than a century and a half the temple was twice built, twice destroyed; a third building was in progress at the time of the eruption.

The first temple was erected in the early years of the Roman colony. An area approximately 185 Roman feet square was prepared for it by levelling off and filling up, terrace walls being built to hold in place the earth and rubbish used for filling. The foundations of the walls about the court (A-B, C-D-E) can still be traced except on the south side, where, perhaps in consequence of the earthquake at the time of the eruption, every vestige has disappeared, and at the southwest corner, where excavations for building materials in modern times have been carried below the Roman level, a part of the foundation of the temple itself having been removed. These walls conformed to the direction of the walls of the Basilica, the corners, as those of the Basilica, showing a noticeable divergence from a right angle.

The front of the earlier colonnade is outlined by the gutter (F-G-G', G"-H-I), constructed of blocks of tufa, which show signs of long use, and the foundation of the stylobate behind the gutter, which is plainly seen (Fig. 55); in places (as indicated in the plan), the layer of mortar spread over this foundation shows the impressions made by the blocks of the stylobate which rested on it. At the middle of the north side (G'-G") both the gutter and the wall under the stylobate were removed when the foundations of the third temple were extended in that direction. Along the gutter were basins for water used in cleaning the floor of the court, which was made of fine concrete. The entrance to the court was at the northeast corner.

On the east side of the court were six rooms, the rear of which was formed by the wall A'B'. Two of these opened on the colonnade in their whole breadth, and four with narrow doors, the thresholds of which, of whitish limestone, are still in place. Their purpose cannot be determined. The cross walls shown in the plan on the west side (x, y, z) belonged to an earlier building, and have nothing to do with the temple.

In front of the temple are remains of a large altar of whitish limestone (III). On the east side of the court is the base of an equestrian statue (V), of the same material, which was afterwards veneered with marble; near it is a pedestal of a standing figure (VI), of masonry covered with stucco, and behind this is the small base of a fountain figure. Near the southeast corner is the entrance (IV) to a subterranean passageway which runs toward the south; it probably led to rooms of earlier houses which were preserved, when the area was filled up, for the use of the attendants of the temple.

The temple itself, as the other edifices, religious and secular, of the first years of the Roman colony, must have been built of common materials and coated with stucco. Of the existing remains only the inner part of the podium (I, II on the Plan) can be assigned to it; a series of small blocks of tufa at the rear end is perhaps a remnant of the cornice which was carried around the upper edge of the podium.

To the Pompeians of the Empire the modest structure of Republican days seemed unworthy of the tutelary divinity of their city. On the same podium they built a temple of marble. Of this are preserved the foundations of the door posts of the cella (Fig. 56 a) and the core of the pedestal (D) on which stood the statue of the divinity, besides some bits of the cella floor, which consisted of a border of white mosaic (b), a broad strip of pavement of small flags of colored marble (c), and an ornamental centre (a) now entirely destroyed. The only remains of the superstructure that can be identified are in a storeroom north of the temple of Apollo. They consist of fragments of large marble columns, nearly thirty-two inches in diameter, and of an entablature of corresponding dimensions.

After the completion of the temple the Pompeians set about rebuilding the colonnade, on a scale of equal magnificence. First of all they enlarged the court by removing the old walls to the foundations, and constructed new outside walls (a-b-c-d), the corners of which form right angles. The wall on the north side, of reticulate work, can be distinguished in Fig. 55. That on the east side is also well preserved, but of that on the south side no trace remains. The deep foundation of the wall on the west side forms the farther wall of the present Museum, the roof of which very nearly represents the level of the floor of the ancient court. The colonnade was to be single on the north, double on the east and west sides. The principal entrance was at the northeast corner (K), with a smaller entrance (L) at the end of the narrow street south of the Basilica.

How far the work had progressed before the earthquake of the year 63 it is not easy to determine. The new gutter along the front of the colonnade had not yet been laid, but the foundations of the rows of columns (e-f-g-h, e'f', g'h') were for the most part ready. From the Corinthian capital and fragments of shafts and entablature lying about the court it is clear that these members were fitted and in place when they were thrown down. Part of the colonnade was therefore finished. It was in two stories, probably without an intervening floor, like the porticoes in front of the Macellum and the building of Eumachia. Not less than three hundred marble columns must have been required to complete the work; undoubtedly the wall back of the colonnade was divided off by pilasters below and half columns above, the intervening spaces being filled with marble. In point of size, the temple with its court formed the largest sanctuary, in richness of materials the most splendid edifice of the entire city.

The great earthquake felled to the ground alike the finished temple and the unfinished colonnade. But the Pompeians, in their time of trouble least of all disposed, we may assume, to forsake their patron goddess, soon commenced the work of rebuilding. Postponing the renewal and completion of the colonnade as of secondary importance, they cleared away the débris of the temple, and on the podium where the cella had stood constructed a temporary place of worship, a small wooden building strengthened at the bottom by a low wall around the outside. Then they proceeded to enlarge the podium; the third temple was to be even more imposing than its predecessor. The old steps were removed from the front. The existing podium was cut back five Roman feet on each side, and four inches at the rear, to form the core of the new podium; on all sides of this a massive foundation wall was commenced, five and a half Roman feet thick, made of large blocks of basalt carefully worked and fitted. A similar wall was carried through the old podium (B—B'), to serve as the foundation for the front wall of the cella. The relative size of the component parts of the new temple is thus clearly indicated. The cella was to extend over the space B—C—C'—B', the portico over that marked A—B—B'; how far the steps were to project in front is uncertain.

At the time of the eruption five courses of basalt had been laid, reaching a height of more than four feet, the space between the core of the old podium and the outer wall being filled with concrete as the work progressed. On the north side of the court are still to be seen a number of blocks of basalt not yet trimmed and fitted, just as they were abandoned by the workmen when the work was stopped forever.

CHAPTER XIX
THE TEMPLE OF FORTUNA AUGUSTA

Passing out from the Forum under the arch at the northeast corner, we enter the broadest street in Pompeii. On the right a colonnade over the sidewalk runs along the front of the first block, at the further corner of which, where Forum Street opens into Nola Street, stands the small temple of Fortuna Augusta. The front of the temple is in a line with the colonnade, which seems to have been designed as a continuation of the colonnade about the Forum; the builders apparently wished to have it appear that the temple was located on an extension of the Forum rather than on a street. The colonnade is certainly not older than the earlier years of the Empire, and the temple dates from the time of Augustus.

The divinity of the temple and the name of its builder are both known to us from an inscription on the architrave of the shrine at the rear of the cella: M. Tullius M. f., d. v. i. d. ter., quinq[uennalis], augur, tr[ibunus] mil[itum] a pop[ulo], aedem Fortunae August[ae] solo et peq[unia] sua,—'Marcus Tullius the son of Marcus, duumvir with judiciary authority for the third time, quinquennial duumvir, augur, and military tribune by the choice of the people, (erected this) temple to Fortuna Augusta on his own ground and at his own expense.'

Such inscriptions were ordinarily placed on the entablature of the portico. The portico of this temple, however, had been thrown down by the earthquake of 63, and had not yet been rebuilt. The cella may have been damaged also, but in order that the worship might not be interrupted the shrine was restored; the inscription was temporarily placed over it.

The remains of the walls, columns, and entablature make it possible to reconstruct the edifice with certainty (Fig. 58). The plan (Fig. 57) in several respects closely resembles that of the temple of Jupiter, from which the architect copied the projecting platform in front of the podium, with its altar and double series of steps. The eight columns sustaining the portico had Corinthian capitals. The walls of the cella were veneered with marble. In the shrine at the rear stood, without doubt, the image of Fortuna as guardian of the fortunes of Augustus and protectress of the imperial family (Fig. 59).

There were also in the walls of the cella four niches for statues, of which two have been found. The face of one, a female figure, had been sawed off in order to replace it with another, which has not come to light; the features of the other statue were said in the reports of the excavations to resemble those of Cicero, but the resemblance is purely fanciful, suggested by the name Marcus Tullius in the dedicatory inscription. Both statues were of persons connected with the priesthood, not of members of the imperial family. Probably statues of the latter were set up elsewhere, so that the cella was left free for less important personages.

The worship of Fortuna Augusta was in charge of a college of priests, consisting of four slaves and freedmen, who were called Ministri Fortunae Augustae,—'Servants of Fortuna Augusta.' Our information in regard to them is derived from five inscriptions, of which two were found in the temple, the others in different places; but none of them where they originally belonged. These all relate to the small statues, signa, of which one was set up by the college every year. One inscription, of the year 3 B.C., speaks of the 'first servants (ministri primi) of Fortuna Augusta.' The priesthood was therefore established in that year, and the temple was probably built only a short time before.

In donating the land for the temple Tullius retained the ownership of a narrow strip of irregular shape at the right. Here a rough block of basalt was set up with the inscription: M. Tulli M. f. area privata,—'Private property belonging to Marcus Tullius, son of Marcus.'