LECTURE ON POMPEH.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 106, 26 October 1858, Page 3

LECTURE ON POMPEH.

On the evening of September 21, Mr. A. Gordon delivered a lecture at the School of Arts, Sydney, on the subject of " Pompeii," or Ancient Life in Italy. \ The lecturer requested his hearers to suffer themselves to be in imagination transported through a great distance of time and space, so that he might, hy the*aid of his diagrams, plans, and remarks, he enabled effectually to direct their minds to the suhjcct of his lecture, which was briefly Pompeii; and, as incidental thereto, Ancient Life in Italy. He then proceeded to describe a colored sketch representing the Bay of Naples as it at present appeared, and pointed out with a singular clearness and accuracy all the topographical details of the vicinity—from the far-famed volcano of Vesuvius, with its faint grey cloud of smoke, miles away, down to the exquisite " Restaurative" Hotel, kept hy an Italian, whose wines are, it is fervently to be hoped, far superior to his English. This plan would make the general position of the buried city intelligible, although from the retirement of the sea, for at least two miles, and other less important -causes, the face of the country did not, in these times, present a very exact counterpart to what it afforded on the 23rd of August, a.d. 79—about sixteen years after St. Paul was landed at Puteoli. Pompeii was situated about 13 miles from Naples, and on the eve of its great disaster was a pleasant Roman town, with well paved streets, with rings at intervals along the same for fastening horses,— dwelling-houses, shops, theatres, baths, and other public buildings. The lecturer then proceeded with great felicity to describe himself acting as a cicerone to the audience, leading them as it were from street to street, and mapping out the old town (now again dug out of its deep lava grave) as a basis for further comment. On the right hand of the visitor outside the gate—a structure not much unlike Temple Bar—on the road of the tombs, were those sepulchral monuments from which the street was named. Near these stands what is termed the Villa of Diomedes, and a little further on the tomb of Scorus, then a large bronze statue, and then the aforesaid gate, near which the skeleton and arms of the Roman sentinel were found as he died at his post. Here the street widened from fourteen to twenty-one feet, then came a row of shops which doubtless once drove a thriving trade; a shop for warm drinks, a baker's shop, and others of a similar description. A little further on the road diverges into three streets, and here stands a fountain. Hard by was a dwelling in which were found a large number of surgical instruments, and which has therefore been called the Surgeon's House; and following the road to the left the delighted traveller stands before a beautiful town-house by the Italians the House of the Tragic Poet< but which all who have read the unrivalled romance of Bulwer will doubtless always think of as the House of Glancus. The public baths, a lofty structure with elaborate internal arrangements, as the economy of fuel, &c, stands about 150 yards from the above-named fountain; and close to the baths the back of a magnificent temple facing another street. The forum, with its colonnades and shops and broken statues next arrest the visitors' attention. Into this place, corresponding somewhat to a marketplace, several public buildings opened,—tbe shops filling up the vacancies. The temples to the left of . the forum would next present themselves to his gaze, and near one of them a sort of Exchange, built, as the inscription tells us,hyalady named Eumachia, whose statue adorns the centre, and whose name and public spirit are thus for ever perpetuated. To the left runs a street which, for distinction sake, is called the Street ofthe Silversmiths ; and, in the same direction, the inferior law courts. Then come the Basilica or principal court of law, the public granaries, and the public prison, in the gloomy vaults of which la3t place chained skeletons were found. Returning to the Forum, the observer would remember that in that spot all the business of the -town was transacted in the open air, buying, selling, and even school-keeping. In an adjacent street he would still see the marks of what in those days stood for theatrical advertisements—signifying the good pleasure of Aulus Suet.tius Cereus, or some other popularity-hunting worthy, to regale the PompeiianS witli a terrific combat of gladiators, and so forth. Pompeii had two theatres, the smaller capable jf accommodating 2000 persons, the larger 5000. In addition to these there was also an amphitheatre at the opposite extremity ofthe town capable of containing 10,000 individuals, one half of tlie computed population. After a few further remarks respecting the effects of an earthquake which had discouraged the enterprise of Pompeii, 16 years before its fast calamity, the lecturer then proceeded to direct the attention of the meeting to a capital representation of the forum as restored, .with the island of Capri in the distance. He then read Pliny's graphic and terrible description ofthe eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed and yet preserved Pompeii—preserved it so that after it had been buried, and forgotten for nearly 1700 years, it is again before the world as a thing of yesterday. Crops had grown and waved over the once gay city of which nothino* was left visible but the highest point ofthe baths, which was supposed to be some old cistern, and piece of ruined wall. By reading a catalogue of what had been discovered heresince 1750, it was easy to see what progress had been made, and a deep insight was givei). into the manners and customs of the.ancients. He then more particularly described the street of the tombs, the roads (in which were still the marks of chariot wheels), and gave an elaborate and most interesting description of the house of Diomedes, and the evident fate of its occupants. The Tomb of Scorus was then dwelt upon, cremation, &c, and the touching representation of a mother who had lost her child. J The. lecturer explained by diagrams and paintings the internal arrangement of the shops of that period, and also the mode of grinding corn, Ac. But the great length of his lecture, and the want of space here, preclude the possibility of attempting to abstract any further details. The Surgeon's House, the House of Glaucus—with two front rooms apparently let, horribil edictu, for a shop—with all its peculiar characteristics, were cleverly described-r-the atrium, or hall, the impluvium, or cistern therein, the colonnade, the sham garden, the altar for the penates, and all the other features of this dwelling, were described and illustrated by pictures and by diagrams. The lecturer also reminded his hearers that it was in the interior of^ this building that mythological pictures of rare beauty and value had been discovered. The baths were then described at sonic length—distinguished into the cold, tepid, and hot or vapour baths. From this he passed to the domestic implements'of .the Pompeiians—their candelabra, their strigils, and their wine jars, &c. ; then to their books and tablets, with the various ancient methods of writing. The theatres and the amphitheatre were then passed in review. The amphitheatre, he said, was 430 feet by 335, and was the scene of all those gladiatorial combats, and .fights with wild beasts, in which the dark pagan mind rejoiced. In conclusion, an animated and graphic account .was given of what these gladiatorial combats were, in which many present, doubtless, for the first time did really comprehend the difference between a retiarius and a secutor, and how they fought. The lecturer wound up with an exhortation addressed to the audience (and especially the younger portion of it) to persevere in the acquisition of knowledge, paying a graceful compliment to ' the gentleman who had so worthily occupied his position on the previous week. Mr. Gordon was greeted with loud and continued applause at the end of his lecture, and, a vote of thanks having been passed by acclamation, the meeting separated.