[46]Op. cit., p. 174.
[46]Op. cit., p. 174.
Of no extinct reptile are the materials for a complete and exact restoration more abundant and satisfactory than of the Ichthyosaurus they plainly show that its general external figure must have been that of a huge predatory abdominal fish, with a longer tail, and a smaller tail-fin: scale-less, moreover, and covered by a smooth, or finely wrinkled skin analogous to that of the whale tribe.
The mouth was wide, and the jaws long, and armed with numerous pointed teeth, indicative of a predatory and carnivorous nature in all the species; but these differed from one another in regard to the relative strength of the jaws, and the relative size and length of the teeth.
Masses of masticated bones and scales of extinct fishes, that lived in the same seas and at the same period as the Ichthyosaurus,have been found under the ribs of fossil specimens, in the situation where the stomach of the animal was placed; smaller, harder, and more digested masses, containing also fish-bones and scales have been found, bearing the impression of the structure of the internal surface of the intestine of the great predatory sea-lizard. These digested masses are called “coprolites.”
In tracing the evidences of creative power from the earlier to the later formations of the earth’s crust, remains of the Ichthyosaurus are first found in the lower lias, and occur, more or less abundantly, through all the superincumbent secondary strata up to, and inclusive of, the chalk formations. They are most numerous in the lias and oolite, and the largest and most characteristic species have been found in these formations.
This most gigantic species, so called on account of the crown of the tooth being more flattened than in other species, and having sharp edges, as well as a sharp point, was first discovered in the has of Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire. Fossil remains now in the British Museum, and in the museum of the Geological Society, fully bear out the dimensions exhibited by the restoration of the animal as seen basking on the shore between the two specimens of Long-necked Plesiosaurs. The head of this species is relatively larger in proportion to the trunk, than in theIchthyosaurus communisorIchthyosaurus tenuirostris: the lower jaw is remarkably massive and powerful, and projects backwards beyond the joint, as far as it does in the crocodile. In the skull of an individual of this species, preserved in the apartments of the Geological Society of London, the cavity for the eye, or orbit, measures, in its long diameter, fourteen inches. The fore and hind paddles are large and of equal size.
The lias of the valley of Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, is the chief grave-yard of theIchthyosaurus platyodon; but its remains are pretty widely distributed. They have been found in the lias of Glastonbury, of Bristol, of Scarborough and Whitby, and of Bitton, in Gloucestershire; some vertebræ, apparently of this species, have likewise been found in the lias at Ohmden, in Germany.
Behind theIchthyosaurus platyodon, is placed the restoration of theIchthyosaurus tenuirostris, or Slender-snouted Fish-lizard. The most striking peculiarity of this species is the great length and slenderness of the jaw-bones, which, in combination with the large eye-sockets and flattened cranium, give to the entire skull a form which resembles that of a gigantic snipe or woodcock, with the bill armed with teeth. These weapons, in the present species, are relatively more numerous, smaller, and more sharply pointed than in the foregoing, and indicate that theIchthyosaurus tenuirostrispreyed on a smaller kind of fish. The fore-paddles are larger than the hind ones. In the museum of the Philosophical Institution, at Bristol, there is an almost entire skeleton of the present species which measures thirteen feet in length. It was discovered in the lias of Lyme Regis. Portions of jaws and other parts of the skeletons of larger individuals have been found fossil in the lias near Bristol, at Barrow-on-Soar, in Leicestershire, and at Stratford-on-Avon. TheIchthyosaurus tenuirostrishas also left its remains in the lias formation at Boll and Amburg, in Wirtemberg, Germany.
Of this species, which was the most “common,” when first discovered in 1824, but which has since been surpassed by other species in regard to the known number of individuals, the head is restored, as protruded from the water, to the right of the foregoing species.
TheIchthyosaurus communisis characterised by its relatively large teeth, with expanded, deeply-grooved bases, and round conical furrowed crowns; the upper jaw contains, on each side, from forty to fifty of such teeth. The fore-paddles are three times larger than the hind ones. With respect to the size which it attained, theIchthyosaurus communisseems only to be second to theIchthyosaurus platyodon. In the museum of the Earl of Enniskillen, there is a fossil skull of theIchthyosaurus communiswhich, measures, in length, two feet nine inches, indicating an animal of at least twenty feet in length.
The discovery of this genus forms one of the most important additions that geology has made to comparative anatomy. Baron Cuvier deemed “its structure to have been the most singular, and its characters the most monstrous, that had been yet discovered amid the ruins of a former world.” To the head of a lizard it united the teeth of a crocodile, a neck of enormous length, resembling the body of a serpent, a trunk and tail having the proportions of an ordinary quadruped, the ribs of a chameleon, and the paddles of a whale. “Such,” writes Dr. Buckland, “are the strange combinations of form and structure in the Plesiosaurus, a genus, the remains of which, after interment for thousands of years amidst the wreck of millions of extinct inhabitants of the ancient earth, are at length recalled to light by the researches of the geologist, and submitted to our examination, in nearly as perfect a state as the bones of species that are now existing upon the earth.” (Op. cit., vol. v. p. 203).
The first remains of this animal were discovered in the lias of Lyme Regis, about the year 1823, and formed the subject of the paper by the Rev. Mr. Conybeare (now Dean of Llandaff), and Mr. (now Sir Henry) De la Beche, in which the genus was established and named Plesiosaurus (from the Greek words,plesiosandsauros, signifying “near” or “allied to,” and “lizard”), because the authors saw that it was more nearly allied to the lizard than was the Ichthyosaurus from the same formation.
The entire and undisturbed skeletons of several individuals, of different species, have since been discovered, fully confirming the sagacious restorations by the original discoverers of thePlesiosaurus. Of these species three have been selected as the subjects of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins’s reconstructions and representations of the living form of the strange reptiles.
The first of these has been called, from the relatively larger size of the head, thePlesiosaurus macrocephalus(No. 15), (Gr.macros, long,cephale, head). The entire length of the animal, as indicated by the largest remains, and as given in the restoration, is eighteenfeet, the length of the head being two feet, that of the neck six feet; the greatest girth of the body yields seven feet.
No. 15. Plesiosaurus macrocephalus.
No. 15. Plesiosaurus macrocephalus.
Although Baron Cuvier and Dr. Buckland both rightly allude to the resemblance of the fins or paddles of the Plesiosaur to those of the whale, yet this most remarkable difference must be borne in mind, that, whereas the whale tribe have never more than one pair of fins, the Plesiosaurs have always two pairs, answering to the fore and hind limbs of land quadrupeds; and the fore-pair of fins, corresponding to those in the whale, differed by being more firmly articulated, through the medium of collar-bones (clavicles), and of two other very broad and strong bones (called coracoids), to the trunk (thorax), whereby they were the better enabled to move the animal upon dry land.
Remains of thePlesiosaurus macrocephalushave been discovered in the lias of Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, and of Weston, in Somersetshire.
Further to the left, on the shore of the Secondary Island, is a restoration of thePlesiosaurus dolichodeirus, or Long-necked Plesiosaurus (No. 16). The head in this remarkable species is smaller, andthe neck proportionally longer than in thePlesiosaurus macrocephalus. The remains of the Long-necked Plesiosaur have been found chiefly at Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire. The well known specimen of an almost entire skeleton, formerly in the possession of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham, is now in the British Museum.
The most perfect skeletons of the Plesiosaurus are those that have been wrought out of the lias at Street, near Glastonbury, by Mr. Thomas Hawkins, F.G.S., and which have been purchased by the trustees of the British Museum. A restoration is given by Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, at No. 17, of a species with characters somewhat intermediate between the Large-headed and Long-necked Plesiosaurs, and which has been called, after its discoverer,Plesiosaurus Hawkinsii.
The Plesiosaurs breathed air like the existing crocodiles and the whale tribe, and appear to have lived in shallow seas and estuaries. That the Long-necked Sea-lizard was aquatic is evident from the form of its paddles; and that it was marine is almost equally so, from the remains with which its fossils are universally associated; that it may have occasionally visited the shore, the resemblance of its extremities to those of a turtle leads us to conjecture; its motion, however, must have been very awkward on land; its long neck must have impeded its progress through the water, presenting a striking contrast to the organisation which so admirably adapted the Ichthyosaurus to cut its swift course through the waves. “May it not, therefore, be concluded that it swam upon, or near the surface,” asks its accomplished discoverer, “arching back its long neck like a swan, and occasionally darting it down at the fish that happened to float within its reach? It may perhaps have lurked in shoal-water along the coast, concealed among the sea-weed, and, raising its nostrils to a level with the surface from a considerable depth, may have found a secure retreat from the assaults of dangerous enemies; while the length and flexibility of its neck may have compensated for the want of strength in its jaws, and its incapacity for swift motion through the water, by the suddennessand agility of the attack which it enabled it to make on every animal fitted for its prey which came within its reach.”[47]
[47]“Transactions of the Geological Society,” Second Series, vi. 503. 1841.
[47]“Transactions of the Geological Society,” Second Series, vi. 503. 1841.
For the Secondary Island three species of the Plesiosaurus have been restored, thePlesiosaurus macrocephalus, thePlesiosaurus dolichodeirus(Gr.dolichos, long,deire, neck), and thePlesiosaurus Hawkinsii. The name “long-necked” was given to the second of these species before it was known that many other species with long and slender necks had existed in the seas of the same ancient period: the third species is named after Mr. Thomas Hawkins, F.G.S., the gentleman by whose patience, zeal, and skill, the British Museum has been enriched with so many entire skeletons of these most extraordinary extinct sea-lizards.
The remains of all these species occur in the lias at Lyme Regis, and at Street, near Glastonbury; but thePlesiosaurus Hawkinsiiis the most abundant in the latter locality.
Secondary Island
“Trias” is an arbitrary term applied in geology to the upper division of a vast series of red loams, shales, and sandstones, interposed between the lias and the coal, in the midland and western counties of England. This series is collectively called the “New Red Sandstone formation,” to distinguish it from the “Old Red Sandstone formation,” of similar or identical mineral character, which lies immediately beneath the coal.
The animals which have been restored and placed on the lowest formation of the Secondary Island, are peculiar to the “triassic,” or upper division of the “New Red Sandstone” series, which division consists, in England, of saliferous (salt-including) shales and sandstones, from 1000 to 1500 feet thick in Lancashire and Cheshire, answering to the formation called “Keuper-sandstone” by the German geologists; and of sandstone and quartzose conglomerate of 600 feet in thickness, answering to the German “Bunter-sandstone.”
The largest and most characteristic animals of the trias are reptiles of the order
The name of this order is from the Greek wordbatrachos, signifying a frog: and the order is represented in the present animal-population of England by a few diminutive species of frogs, toads, and newts, or water-salamanders. But, at the period of the deposition of the new red sandstone, in the present counties of Warwick and Cheshire, the shores of the ancient sea, which were then formed by that sandy deposit, were trodden by reptiles, having the essential bony characters of the Batrachia, but combining these with other bony characters of crocodiles and lizards; and exhibiting both under a bulk which is made manifest by the restoration of the largest known species, (No. 16), occupying theextreme promontory of the Island, illustrative of the lowest and oldest deposits of the secondary series of rocks. The species in question is calledthe—
or the Salamander-like Labyrinthodon; the latter term being from the Greek, signifying the peculiar structure of the teeth, which differ from all other reptiles in the huge Batrachia in question, by reason of the complex labyrinthic interblending of the different substances composing the teeth. The skull of the Labyrinthodon is attached to the neck-bones by two joints or condyles, and the teeth are situated both on the proper jaw-bones, and on the bone of the roof of the mouth called “vomer:” both these characters are only found at the present day in the frogs and salamanders. The hind-foot of the Labyrinthodon was also, as in the toad and frog, much larger than the fore-foot; and the innermost digit in both was short and turned in, like a thumb.
No. 18. Labyrinthodon Salamandroides.
No. 18. Labyrinthodon Salamandroides.
Consecutive impressions of the prints of these feet have been traced for many steps in succession (as is accurately represented inthe new red sandstone part of the Secondary Island) in quarries of that formation in Warwickshire, Cheshire, and also in Lancashire, more especially at a quarry of a whitish quartzose sandstone at Storton Hill, a few miles from Liverpool. The foot-marks are partly concave and partly in relief; the former are seen upon the upper surface of the sandstone slabs, but those in relief are only upon the lower surfaces, being, in fact, natural casts, formed on the subjacent foot-prints as in moulds. The impressions of the hind-foot are generally eight inches in length and five inches in width: near each large footstep, and at a regular distance—about an inch and a half—before it, a smaller print of the fore-foot, four inches long and three inches wide, occurs. The footsteps follow each other in pairs, each pair in the same line, at intervals of about fourteen inches from pair to pair. The large as well as the small steps show the thumb-like toe alternately on the right and left side, each step making a print of five toes.
Foot-prints of corresponding form but of smaller size have been discovered in the quarry at Storton Hill, imprinted on five thin beds of clay, lying one upon another in the same quarry, and separated by beds of sandstone. From the lower surface of the sandstone layers, the solid casts of each impression project in high relief, and afford models of the feet, toes, and claws of the animals which trod on the clay.
Similar foot-prints were first observed in Saxony, at the village of Hessberg, near Hillburghausen, in several quarries of a gray quartzose sandstone, alternating with beds of red sandstone, and of the same geological age as the sandstones of England that had been trodden by the same strange animal. The German geologist, who first described them, proposed the name ofCheirotherium(Gr.cheir, the hand,therion, beast), for the great unknown animal that had left the foot-prints, in consequence of the resemblance, both of the fore and hind feet, to the impression of a human hand, and Dr. Kaup conjectured that the animal might be a large species of the opossum-kind. The discovery, however, of fossil skulls, jaws, teeth, and a few other bones in the sandstones exhibiting the footprints in question, has rendered it more probable that both the footprints and the fossils are evidences of the same kind of huge extinct Batrachian reptiles.
An entire skull of the largest species discovered in the new red sandstones of Wurtemberg; a lower jaw of the same species found in the same formation in Warwickshire; some vertebræ, and a few fragments of bones of the limbs, have served, with the indications of size and shape of the trunk of the animal yielded by the series of consecutive foot-prints, as the basis of the restoration of theLabyrinthodon salamandroides, in the Secondary Island. It is to be understood, however, that, with the exception of the head, the form of the animal is necessarily more or less conjectural.
Nos. 19 & 20. Section of Tooth of Labyrinthodon.aPulp-cavity:b binflected folds of ossified capsule of tooth.
Nos. 19 & 20. Section of Tooth of Labyrinthodon.
aPulp-cavity:b binflected folds of ossified capsule of tooth.
This name, signifying the Thick-jawed Labyrinthodon, was given by its discoverer to a species of these singular Batrachia, found in the new red sandstone of Warwickshire, and which bears to the largest species the proportion exhibited by the head and fore-part of the body, as emerging from the water, for which parts alone the fossils hitherto discovered justify the restoration.[48]
[48]Conybeare, Geol. Trans., i. 388.
[48]Conybeare, Geol. Trans., i. 388.
In 1844 Mr. Andrew G. Bain, who had been employed in the construction of military roads in the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, discovered, in the tract of country extending northwards from the county of Albany, about 450 miles east of Cape Town, several nodules or lumps of a kind of sandstone, which, when broken, displayed, in most instances, evidences of fossil bones, and usually of a skull with two large projecting teeth. Accordingly, these evidences of ancient animal life in South Africa were first notified to English geologists by Mr. Bain under the name of “Bidentals;” and the specimens transmitted by him were submittedat his request to Professor Owen for examination. The results of the comparisons thereupon instituted went to show that there had formerly existed in South Africa, and from geological evidence, probably, in a great salt-water lake or inland sea, since converted into dry land, a race of reptilian animals presenting in the construction of their skull characters of the crocodile, the tortoise, and the lizard, coupled with the presence of a pair of huge sharp-pointed tusks, growing downwards, one from each side of the upper jaw, like the tusks of the mammalian morse or walrus. No other kind of teeth were developed in these singular animals: the lower jaw was armed, as in the tortoise, by a trenchant sheath of horn. Some bones of the back, or vertebræ, by the hollowness of the co-adapted articular surfaces, indicate these reptiles to have been good swimmers, and probably to have habitually existed in water; but the construction of the bony passages of the nostrils proves that they must have come to the surface to breathe air.
Some extinct plants allied to the Lepidodendron, with other fossils, render it probable that the sandstones containing the Dicynodont reptiles were of the same geological age as those that have revealed the remains of the Labyrinthodonts in Europe.
The generic name Dicynodon is from the Greek words signifying “two tusks or canine teeth.” Three species of this genus have been demonstrated from the fossils transmitted by Mr. Bain.
TheDicynodon lacerticeps, or Lizard-headed Dicynodon, attained the bulk of a walrus; the form of the head and tusks is correctly given in the restoration (No. 21); the trunk has been added conjecturally, to illustrate the strange combination of characters manifested in the head.
A second species, with a head so formed as to have given the animal somewhat of the physiognomy of an owl, has been partially restored at No. 22.
No. 8. Dinornis.
No. 8. Dinornis.
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRYERS.
POMPEIAN COURT.ERECTED BY M. DIGBY WYATTPUBLISHED FOR THE CRYSTAL PALACE LIBRARY, BY BRADBURY & EVANS, 11 BOUVERIE STP.H. DE LA MOTTLarge plan.
POMPEIAN COURT.
ERECTED BY M. DIGBY WYATT
PUBLISHED FOR THE CRYSTAL PALACE LIBRARY, BY BRADBURY & EVANS, 11 BOUVERIE ST
P.H. DE LA MOTT
Large plan.
THEPOMPEIAN COURTIN THECRYSTAL PALACE.DESCRIBED BY GEORGE SCHARF,Jun.,F.S.A., F.R.S.L., &c.SealCRYSTAL PALACE LIBRARY;ANDBRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON.1854.
DESCRIBED BY GEORGE SCHARF,Jun.,F.S.A., F.R.S.L., &c.
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CRYSTAL PALACE LIBRARY;ANDBRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON.1854.
BRADBURY AND EVANS,PRINTERS TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE COMPANY,WHITEFRIARS.
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In the following account of the Pompeian Court, my chief aim has been to combine simplicity with truth; relying for success on that interest which so alluring a subject is certain to create. With much gratification I avail myself of the privilege granted to an author, in his preface, of returning my best thanks to those friends who have lent me their aid in this arduous undertaking. Mr. Digby Wyatt is entitled to the gratitude of all engaged in the works of art at the Crystal Palace for the opportunities he has afforded to each artist for the display of his particular talents, and I sincerely thank him for his kindness in accompanying me through the building and affording minute information to my numerous enquiries when he could with difficulty spare the time. I beg also cordially to thank Mr. Samuel Phillips for important suggestions respecting the conduct of my work, and for his interest and encouragement in its progress. Mr. Edward Falkener is entitled to my best acknowledgments, not only for the valuable assistance rendered in his published account of a Pompeian house, but for his kindness in looking over the proofs of these pages before they were committed to press. It is to be hoped that many of his observations may appear at greater length in the next edition of this Handbook, without prejudice to the magnificent work he is contemplating on the “Domestic Architecture of Pompeii.” I sincerely thank my friend, Mr. James Morant Lockyer for the benefit of hislong architectural sojourn in Pompeii; regretting, at the same time, that the public has not had the advantage of his extensive knowledge and experience.
The excellent paintings produced here in the Pompeian Court, under the direction of Signor Abbate require no commendation from me; but I feel that I shall be only expressing the sentiment of others in wishing that we may at some future period see an extension of this ancient palace, or another series of apartments in which the same abilities shall afford us accurate copies of still more of the pictorial celebrities—such as the Theseus and the Minotaur, and Hercules and Telephus, found at Herculaneum; the Sacrifice of Iphigenia and the Anger of Achilles, from the House of the Tragic Poet; also the Zephyrus and Flora, and some of the picture mosaics, the Choragus one, for instance, and the far-famed Alexander and Darius at the battle of Issus.
THE POMPEIAN COURT.DESCRIBED BY GEORGE SCHARF,Jun.
“Many a calamity has befallen the world ere now, yet none like this replete with instruction and delight for remote generations.”—Goethe.
View of Naples and Mount Vesuvius.
View of Naples and Mount Vesuvius.
Near the modern city of Naples, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, once stood the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Whilst the former was considerably removed from the volcano, the latter was seated immediately at the base of the mountain, on a promontory projecting into the bay.
Vesuvius was not considered dangerous by the ancient occupants of the soil, as no eruption had ever been known to take place. Strabo noticed the igneous character of its rocks, but the whole district being covered with vines and plantations, undisturbed since the memory of man, he thence assumed the fires to be extinct for want of fuel. Even the sides of the mountain were overgrown with trees, and the summit alone continued barren and rough. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood were probably less inclined to consider the possibility of danger to themselves from the existence of two active volcanoes not far from them which seemed to serve as a vent for all subterranean commotions—the one, Mount Ætna; the other, Mount Epopeus in the island now called Ischia. Ætna, the majestic snowy mountain of Sicily, more than three times the height of Vesuvius, has been known, from the earliest times, as an active volcano; and many passages in Æschylus, Pindar, Thucydides, and Diodorus Siculus might be adduced, commemorating particular eruptions, &c. Pausanias mentions an instance of the piety of two youths who saved their parents at Catana (Book 10., ch. xxviii.) during the descent of the lava which threatened to surround them. In the year 73B.C., Spartacus, a fugitive slave, at the head of a troop of gladiators and revolters, encamped on the summit of Vesuvius, where they were blockaded. The natural ruggedness of the place, and the density of the vines, favoured their subsequent escape. This is the earliest mention of the actual appearance of the volcano. The natural beauties of the district, then called Campania, are glorified by most writers; it was more particularly celebrated for its fertility and the luxuriant magnificence of its scenery.
The convulsions of nature have indeed changed the outline of the mountain, but the varied charms of the beautiful coast remain in undiminished attraction. Deep shades and crystal streamlets, sunny banks and refreshing groves, display the natural loveliness of a locality, favoured with the most luxuriant vegetation, and the finest climate in the world. These enable us fully to comprehend the pains and trouble bestowed by the ancient Romans in building villas and marine residences in so charming a situation. Thus, in the earliest times of the empire, the more wealthy and luxurious Romans established what we moderns should denominate watering places, for fashionable resort, on the coast, Baiæ, Dicæarchia, afterwards Puteoli, Cumæ, Neapolis, and Herculaneum, but the warm springs of the first two rendered them the most favourite resorts, and they became the Bath and Brighton of that era.
Lucullus, Pompey and Cæsar, had villas at Baiæ, Nero spent much time there, and Caligula contributed to the celebrity of the scene by his extraordinary bridge of boats. Hadrian died at Baiæ; and, at a later period, Alexander Severus erected many villas in the same neighbourhood. Some of the most splendid palaces were raised upon artificial foundations in the sea itself, and nothing could exceed the luxury and indolence indulged in by the visitors to these regions as depicted by some of the later poets. Horace himself speaks of the pleasant Baiæ as the most delicious place in the world.[49]And so it may have been, and all the neighbouring cities of the bay must have partaken more or less of the same glories. Pompeii was somewhat removed from these enchanting scenes, being on the other side of the bay of Naples, and the situation was not so pleasant as that of its fellow-sufferer Herculaneum. This city stood on a promontory, open, as Strabo says, to the south wind, which made it especially healthy. In fact, the art and style of everything found at Herculaneum show it to have been the resort of a superior class of people. Pompeii is supposed to have stood on the banks of the river Sarnus. The town itself was raised upon a considerable eminence so as to be protected in a great measure from the floods that at certain times of the year devastated the surrounding plain.
[49]“Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis prælucet amœnis.”—Ep. bk. i. 1, line 83.
[49]“Nullus in orbe sinus Baiis prælucet amœnis.”—Ep. bk. i. 1, line 83.
The peace and tranquillity of these beautiful regions were first disturbed by natural convulsions in the year 63A.D.A violent earthquake on the 16th February, threw down many parts of Pompeii, and seriously injured Herculaneum; six hundred sheep were swallowed up at once, statues were split, and many persons became insane. From this period, the Pompeians were disturbed by frequent shocks of earthquake; between the first symptoms in 63 and the dreadful catastrophe which involved their destruction, evidences still exist of the persevering endeavours of the inhabitants at restoration and repair. Many mosaics have been found, which display traces of a very different order of workmanship, in, the repair of damage caused by the earthquake, from that employed in their original construction.
In the reign of the emperor Titus,A.D.79, the celebrated eruption of Vesuvius broke out, suddenly ejecting dense clouds of ashes and pumice-stones, beneath which Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiæ were completely buried. Awful as such a phenomenonmust at all times appear, the event was still more appalling to the inhabitants as they were unable, in the confusion of the moment, to comprehend the source whence these horrors proceeded. An eye witness has fortunately left a detailed account of the event in two letters which are still preserved. We insert the greater part of them as best exhibiting the realities of the scene and the excitement of the unfortunate sufferers.
“Your request that I would send you an account of my uncle’s death, in order to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, deserves my acknowledgments; for if this action shall be celebrated by your pen, the glory of it, I am well assured, will be rendered for ever illustrious. And notwithstanding he perished by a misfortune, which, as it involved at the same time a most beautiful country in ruins, and destroyed so many populous cities, seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance; notwithstanding he has himself composed many and lasting works, yet I am persuaded the mentioning of him in your immortal writings will greatly contribute to eternise his name. Happy I esteem those to be whom Providence has distinguished with the abilities either of doing such actions as are worthy of being related, or of relating them in a manner worthy of being read; but doubly happy are they who are blessed with both these uncommon talents. In the number of which my uncle, as his own writings and your history will evidently prove, may justly be ranked. It is with extreme willingness, therefore, I execute your commands; and should indeed have claimed the task if you had not enjoined it.
“He was at that time with the fleet under his command at Misenum. On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just returned from taking the benefit of the sun, and after bathing himself in cold water, and taking a slight repast, was retired to his study. He immediately arose and went out up on an eminence from whence he might more distinctly view this uncommon appearance. It was not at that distance discernible from what mountain this cloud issued, but it was found afterwards to ascend from Mount Vesuvius. I cannot give you a more exact description of its figure, than by resembling it to that of a pine tree, for it shot up a greatheight in the form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top into sort of branches, occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards, or the cloud itself being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in this manner:—it appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinder. This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle’s philosophical curiosity to take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me the liberty, if I thought it proper, to attend him; I rather chose to continue my studies; for, as it happened, he had given me an employment of that kind. As he was coming out of the house he received a note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her; for her villa being situated at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea; she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He accordingly changed his first design, and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued with an heroical turn of mind. He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board with an intention of assisting, not only Rectina, but several others; for the villas stand extremely thick upon that beautiful coast. When hastening to the place from whence others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his direct course to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence of mind, as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon the motion and figure of that dreadful scene. He was now so nigh the mountain, that the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, together with pumice stones, and black pieces of burning rock. They were likewise in danger not only of being aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he stopped to consider whether he should return back again; to which the pilot advising him, ‘Fortune,’ said he, ‘befriends the brave; carry me to Pomponianus.’ Pomponianus was then at Stabiæ, separated by a gulf, which the sea, after several insensible windings, forms upon the shore. He had already sent his baggage on board; for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet being within the view of it, and indeed extremely near, if it should in the least increase, he was determined to put to sea as soon as the wind should change. It was favourable, however, for carrying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom he found inthe greatest consternation. He embraced him with tenderness, encouraged and exhorted him to keep up his spirits, and the more to dissipate his fears, he ordered, with an air of unconcern, the bath to be got ready; when, after having bathed, he sat down to supper with great cheerfulness, or at least, what is equally heroic, with all the appearance of it. In the meanwhile, the eruption from Mount Vesuvius flamed out in several places with much violence, which the darkness of the night contributed to render still more visible and dreadful. But my uncle, in order to soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was only the burning of the villages, which the country people had abandoned to the flames; after this he retired to rest, and it is most certain he was so little discomposed as to fall into a deep sleep, for being pretty fat, and breathing hard, those who attended without, actually heard him snore. The court which led to his apartment being now almost filled with stones and ashes, if he had continued there any time longer, it would have been impossible for him to have made his way out; it was thought proper therefore to awaken him. He got up and went to Pomponianus and the rest of his company, who were unconcerned enough to think of going to bed. They consulted together whether it would be most prudent to trust to the houses, which now shook from side to side with frequent and violent concussions, or fly to the open fields, where the calcined stones and cinders, though light indeed, yet fell in large showers, and threatened destruction. In this distress they resolved for the fields, as the less dangerous situation of the two. A resolution which, while the rest of the company were hurried into by their fears, my uncle embraced upon cool and deliberate consideration. They went out then having pillows tied upon their heads with napkins, and this was their whole defence against the storm of stones that fell round them. It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the most obscure night; which, however, was in some degree dissipated by torches and other lights of various kinds. They thought proper to go down farther upon the shore, to observe if they might safely put out to sea, but they found the waves still run extremely high and boisterous. There my uncle having drank a draught or two of cold water, threw himself down upon a cloth which was spread for him, when immediately the flames, and a strong smell of sulphur, which was the forerunner of them, dispersed the rest of the company, and obliged him to arise. He raised himself up with the assistance of two of his servants, andinstantly fell down, dead, suffocated, as I conjecture, by some gross and noxious vapour, having always had weak lungs, and frequently subject to a difficulty of breathing. As soon as it was light again, which was not till the third day after this melancholy accident, his body was found entire, and without any marks of violence upon it, exactly in the same posture that he fell, and looking more like a man asleep than dead.
“During all this time my mother and I, who were at Misenum—but as this has no connection with your history, so your inquiry went no farther than concerning my uncle’s death; with that therefore I will put an end to my letter. Suffer me only to add, that I have faithfully related to you what I was either an eyewitness of myself, or received immediately after the accident happened, and before there was time to vary the truth.
“You will choose out of this narrative such circumstances as shall be most suitable to your purpose; for there is a great difference between what is proper for a letter and a history—between writing to a friend and writing to the public. Farewell.”
“The letter which, in compliance with your request, I wrote concerning the death of my uncle, has raised, it seems, your curiosity to know what terrors and dangers attended me, while I continued at Misenum; for there, I think, the account in my former broke off. Though my shocked soul recoils, my tongue shall tell. My uncle having left us, I pursued the studies which prevented my going with him, till it was time to bathe. After which I went to supper, and from thence to bed, where my sleep was greatly broken and disturbed. There had been for many days before some shocks of an earthquake, which the less surprised us as they are extremely frequent in Campania; but they were so particularly violent that night, that they not only shook every thing about us, but seemed indeed to threaten total destruction. My mother flew to my chamber, where she found me rising, in order to awaken her. We went out into a small court belonging to the house, which separated the sea from the buildings. As I was at that time but eighteen years of age, I know not whether I should call my behaviour in this dangerous juncture courage or rashness; but I took up Livy and amused myself with turning over that author, and even making extracts from him, as if all about me had been in full security. While we were in thisposture, a friend of my uncle’s who was just come from Spain to pay a visit, joined us, and observing me sitting by my mother with a book in my hand, greatly condemned her calmness, at the same time that he reproved me for my careless security; nevertheless I still went on with my author. Though it was now morning, the light was exceedingly faint and languid; the buildings all around us tottered, and though we stood upon open ground, yet as the place was narrow and confined, there was no remaining there without certain and great danger; we therefore resolved to quit the town. The people followed us in the utmost consternation, and (as to the mind distracted with terror, every suggestion seems more prudent than its own) pressed in great crowds about us in our way out. Being got at a convenient distance from the houses, we stood still, in the midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. The chariots which we had ordered to be drawn out, were so agitated backwards and forwards, though upon the most level ground, that we could not keep them steady, even by supporting them with large stones. The sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks by the convulsive motion of the earth; it is certain, at least, the shore was considerably enlarged, and several sea animals were left upon it. On the other side a black and dreadful cloud, bursting with an igneous serpentine vapour, darted out a long train of fire resembling flashes of lightning, but much larger. Upon this our Spanish friend, whom I mentioned above, addressing himself to my mother and me with greater warmth and earnestness, ‘If your brother and your uncle,’ said he, ‘is safe, he certainly wishes you may be so too; but if he perished, it was his desire, no doubt, that you might both survive him. Why, therefore, do you delay your escape a moment?’ ‘We could never think of our own safety,’ we said, ‘while we were uncertain of his.’ Hereupon our friend left us, and withdrew from the danger with the utmost precipitation. Soon afterwards the cloud seemed to descend and cover the whole ocean; as indeed it entirely hid the island of Caprea and the promontory of Misenum. My mother strongly conjured me to make my escape at any rate, which, as I was young, I might easily do; as for herself, she said, her age and corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort impossible; however, she should willingly meet death, if she could have the satisfaction of seeing that she was not the occasion of mine. But I absolutely refused to leave her, and taking her by the hand, I led her on: she complied with great reluctance, and not without many reproaches to herself for retarding my flight. The ashes nowbegun to fall upon us, though in no great quantity; I turned my head, and observed behind us a thick smoke, which came rolling after us like a torrent. I proposed, while we had yet any light, to turn out of the high road, lest we should be pressed to death in the dark, by the crowd that followed us. We had scarce stepped out of the path, when a darkness overspread us, not like that of a cloudy night, or when there is no moon, but of a room when it is shut up, and all the lights extinct. Nothing then was to be heard but the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the cries of men; some calling for their children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and only distinguishing each other by their voices; one lamenting his own fate, another that of his family; some wishing to die, from the very fear of dying; some lifting up their hands to the gods; but the greater part imagining that the last and eternal night was come, which was to destroy both the gods and the world together. Among these there are some who augmented the real terrors by imaginary ones, and made the frighted multitude falsely believe that Misenum was actually in flames. At length a glimmering light appeared, which we imagined to be rather the forerunner of an approaching burst of flames (as in truth it was), than the return of day; however, the fire fell at a distance from us: then again we were immersed in thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes rained upon us, which we were obliged every now and then to shake off, otherwise we should have been crushed and buried in the heap; I might boast that, during all this scene of horror, not a sigh or expression of fear escaped from me; had not my support been founded in that miserable, though strong consolation, that all mankind were involved in the same calamity, and that I imagined I was perishing with the world itself. At last this dreadful darkness was dissipated by degrees, like a cloud of smoke; the real day returned, and even the sun appeared, though very faintly, and as when an eclipse is coming on. Every object that presented itself to our eyes (which were extremely weakened) seemed changed, being covered over with white ashes as with a deep snow. We returned to Misenum, where we refreshed ourselves as well as we could, and passed an anxious night between hope and fear, though, indeed, with a much larger share of the latter; for the earthquake still continued, while several enthusiastic people ran up and down, heightening their own and their friend’s calamities, by terrible predictions. However, my mother and I, notwithstanding the danger we had passed, and that which still threatened us, hadno thoughts of leaving the place till we should receive some account of my uncle.
“And now you will read this narrative without any view of inserting it in your history, of which it is by no means worthy; and indeed you must impute it to your own request, if it shall appear scarce to deserve even the trouble of a letter. Farewell.”
Shortly after the catastrophe all memorials of the devoted cities were lost; discussions on the places they had once occupied were excited only by some obscure passages in classical authors. Five successive eruptions contributed to bury them still deeper under the surface, and the sixth, which occurred in the year 1036, is the first instance of an emission of lava. Before that time the only agents of desolation were showers of sand, cinders, and scoriæ, together with loose fragments of rock. Volcanic ashes poured out in a current have been known to darken the air for hours, and even for days. Such must have been the nature of the phenomenon which the younger Pliny saw and compared to a lofty pine. Dion Cassius states that the ashes of this eruption were carried as far as Africa, and that the dust was so abundant as even to darken the air in the neighbourhood of Rome. Steam poured out in vast quantities, and uniting with the ashes that fell upon Herculaneum, formed a torrent of mud, imbedding all in solid tufa, whilst the ashes of Pompeii were not impregnated, and all lay in this city loose and unconsolidated. Stones of eight pounds weight fell on Pompeii, whilst Stabiæ was overwhelmed with fragments of about an ounce in weight, which must have drifted in immense quantities. During a later eruption fine ashes were borne by the wind as far as Constantinople. Whilst the ancient cities thus lay buried and forgotten, Neapolis, the residence and burial-place of Virgil,[50]grew into the great modern city of Naples, extending its suburban villages along the shore, and connecting itself by a chain of houses to the very roots of Vesuvius. The next town to Naples is Portici. It contains 6000 inhabitants. Immediately adjoining Portici is the still larger town of Resina, with a population of 11,000 souls. These bustling and much frequented places are built upon the lava which covers Herculaneum.