Leaving this, they went on and came to another ruined edifice,
which Michael Angelo called the Temple of Venus. It was built
round a courtyard, with porticos. Here David and Clive obtained
some more relics.
Beyond this was an open square surrounded by pillars, of which only
the lower parts remained. This was the Forum Civile; and beyond
this stood the Temple of Jupiter, which they visited without finding
anything that was particularly interesting. After this Michael
Angelo took them to a place which he said was the Public Bakery.
Here they saw millstones, ovens, water-vessels, and some other
articles of which they could not guess the use. Not far away were
some bakers' shops. In these shops loaves of bread were found by
the diggers. Of course they were burned to charcoal; but they
retained their original shape, and showed marks upon them which
were probably intended to indicate the bakery from which they came.
Heaps of corn were also found.
Going down the street where these were situated, they came to one
of the gates of the city. Beside this was a niche in the wall,
used as a sentry-box, upon which, all the party gazed with a profound
interest; for in that sentry-box those who disentombed the city
found a skeleton, in the armor and with the equipment of a Roman
soldier. Evidently the sentry had died at his post.
They took a good look at the walls here, which they found to be
about twenty-five feet high, and formed of huge stones, that were
joined together without cement. The gates had evidently been double.
Passing through this gate, they found themselves outside the city,
in what Michael Angelo called the "Street of Tombs." Looking down
it, they noticed a number of edifices of a monumental character,
lining it on either side. These were the tombs of wealthy citizens.
They visited several of them, and found them all alike. The interiors
were all simple, the walls being pierced with niches, in which were
deposited the urns that held the ashes of the dead. This was the
first time that they had seen anything of this kind, and they
examined it with deep and solemn interest. Here, too, Clive and
David succeeded in finding some relics in the shape of some burnt
fragments of human bones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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