The Wonders of Pompeii | Page 9

of which assumes a
religious meaning.
The Romans built their temples in this wise: The augur--that is to say,
the priest who read the future in the flight of birds--traced in the sky
with his short staff a spacious square, which he then marked on the soil.
Stakes were at once fixed along the four lines, and draperies were hung
between the stakes. In the midst of this space, the area or inclosure of
the temple, the augur marked out a cross--the augural cross, indicating
the four cardinal points; the transverse lines fixed the limits of the
_cella_; the point where the two branches met was the place for the
door, and the first stone was deposited on the threshold. Numerous
lighted lamps illuminated these ceremonies, after which the chief priest,
the pontifex maximus, consecrated the area, and from that moment it
became settled and immovable. If it crumbled, it must be rebuilt on the
same spot, and the least change made, even should it be to enlarge it,
would be regarded as a profanation. Thus had the dwelling of the god
that rises before us at the extremity of the Forum been consecrated.
Like most of the Roman temples, this edifice is elevated on a
foundation (the _podium_), and turned toward the north. One ascends
to it by a flight of steps that cuts in the centre a platform where, perhaps,
the altar stood. Upon the podium there remain some vestiges of the
twelve columns that formed the front portico or pronaos. Twelve
columns, did I say?--three on each side, six in front; always an even
number at the facades, so that a central column may not mask the
doorway and that the temple may be freely entered by the
intercolumnar middle space.
To the right and the left of the steps were pedestals that formerly
sustained statues probably colossal. Behind the pronaos could be
recognized the place where the cella used to be. Nothing remains of it
now but the mosaic pavement and the walls. Traces of columns enable
us to reconstruct this sanctuary richly. We can there raise--and it has
been done on paper--two colonnades--the first one of the Ionic order,
supporting a gallery; the second of the Corinthian order, sustaining the

light wooden platform of painted wood which no longer exists. The
walls, covered with stucco, still retain pretty decorative paintings.
Three small subterranean chambers, of very solid construction, perhaps
contained the treasury and archives of the State, or something else
entirely different--why not those of the temple? In those times the
Church was rich; the Saviour had not ordained poverty as its portion.
[Illustration: THE FORUM.]
What deity's house is it that we are visiting now? Jupiter's, says
common opinion, upon the strength of a colossal statue of which
fragments have been found that might well have fitted the King of the
Gods. Others think it the temple of Venus, the Venus Physica (the
beautiful in nature, say æsthetic philosophers) being the patroness of
Pompeii. We shall frequently, hereafter, meet with the name of this
goddess. Several detached limbs in stone and in bronze, which are not
broken at the extremity as though they belonged to a statue, but are
polished on all sides and cut in such a manner as to admit of being
suspended, were found among the ruins; they were votive offerings.
Italy, in becoming Catholic, has retained these Pagan customs. Besides
her supreme God, she worships a host of demi-gods, to whom she
dedicates her towns and consecrates her temples, where garlands of
ex-voto offerings testify to the intercession of the priests and the
gratitude of the true believers.
On the two sides of the temple of Jupiter--such is the
generally-accepted name--rise arcades, as I have already remarked. The
one on the left is a vaulted entrance, which, being too low and standing
too far forward, does not correspond with the other and deranges, one
cannot exactly make out why, the symmetry of this part of the Forum.
The other arcade is evidently a triumphal portal. Nothing remains of it
now but the body of the work in brick, some niches and traces of
pilasters; but it is easy to replace the marbles and the statues which
must have adorned this monument in rather poor taste. Such was the
extremity of the Forum.
Four considerable edifices follow each other on the eastern side of this
public square. These are, going from south to north, the palace of

Eumachia, the temple of Mercury, the Senate Chamber, and the
Pantheon.
What is the Eumachia palace? An inscription found at that place reads:
"Eumachia, in her name and in the name of her son, has erected to
Concord and to august Piety, a Chalcidicum, a crypt and porticoes."
What is a Chalcidicum? Long and grave have