DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61617#0046
i6
POMPEII
To the sources of revenue which contributed to the pros-
perity of Pompeii we may add the presence of wealthy Romans,
who, attracted by the delightful climate, built country seats in
the vicinity. Among them was Cicero, who often speaks of his
Pompeian villa (Pompeianum). That the imperial family also had
a villa here is inferred from a curious accident. We read that
Drusus, the young son of the Emperor Claudius, a few days
after his betrothal to the daughter of Sejanus, was choked to
death at Pompeii by a pear which he had thrown up into the air
and caught in his mouth. These country seats, no doubt, lay
on the high ground back of Pompeii, toward Vesuvius; they
probably faced the sea. But the identification of a villa exca-
vated in the last century, and then filled up again, as the villa of
Cicero, is wholly without foundation.
Sdive lucrum, ‘Welcome, Gain!’ Such is the inscription
which a Pompeian placed in the mosaic floor of his house.
Lucrum gaudium, ‘ Gain is pure joy,’ we read on the threshold
of another house. A thrifty Pompeian certainly did not lack
opportunity to acquire wealth.
How large a population Pompeii possessed at the time of the
destruction of the city it is impossible to determine. A pains-
taking examination of all the houses excavated would afford
data for an approximate estimate; but the results thus far ob-
tained by those who have given attention to the subject are
unsatisfactory. Fiorelli assigned to Pompeii twelve thousand
inhabitants, Nissen twenty thousand. Undoubtedly the second
estimate is nearer the truth than the first; according to all indi-
cation the population may very likely have exceeded twenty
thousand.
This population was by no means homogeneous. The origi-
nal Oscan stock had not yet lost its identity; inscriptions in the
Oscan dialect are found scratched on the plaster of walls deco-
rated in the style prevalent after the earthquake of the year 63.
From the time when the Roman colony was founded no doubt
additions continued to be made to the population from various
parts of Italy. The Greek element was particularly strong.
This is proved by the number of Greek names in the accounts
of Caecilius Jucundus, for example, and by the Greek inscrip-
POMPEII
To the sources of revenue which contributed to the pros-
perity of Pompeii we may add the presence of wealthy Romans,
who, attracted by the delightful climate, built country seats in
the vicinity. Among them was Cicero, who often speaks of his
Pompeian villa (Pompeianum). That the imperial family also had
a villa here is inferred from a curious accident. We read that
Drusus, the young son of the Emperor Claudius, a few days
after his betrothal to the daughter of Sejanus, was choked to
death at Pompeii by a pear which he had thrown up into the air
and caught in his mouth. These country seats, no doubt, lay
on the high ground back of Pompeii, toward Vesuvius; they
probably faced the sea. But the identification of a villa exca-
vated in the last century, and then filled up again, as the villa of
Cicero, is wholly without foundation.
Sdive lucrum, ‘Welcome, Gain!’ Such is the inscription
which a Pompeian placed in the mosaic floor of his house.
Lucrum gaudium, ‘ Gain is pure joy,’ we read on the threshold
of another house. A thrifty Pompeian certainly did not lack
opportunity to acquire wealth.
How large a population Pompeii possessed at the time of the
destruction of the city it is impossible to determine. A pains-
taking examination of all the houses excavated would afford
data for an approximate estimate; but the results thus far ob-
tained by those who have given attention to the subject are
unsatisfactory. Fiorelli assigned to Pompeii twelve thousand
inhabitants, Nissen twenty thousand. Undoubtedly the second
estimate is nearer the truth than the first; according to all indi-
cation the population may very likely have exceeded twenty
thousand.
This population was by no means homogeneous. The origi-
nal Oscan stock had not yet lost its identity; inscriptions in the
Oscan dialect are found scratched on the plaster of walls deco-
rated in the style prevalent after the earthquake of the year 63.
From the time when the Roman colony was founded no doubt
additions continued to be made to the population from various
parts of Italy. The Greek element was particularly strong.
This is proved by the number of Greek names in the accounts
of Caecilius Jucundus, for example, and by the Greek inscrip-