No names are given with the figures in the other scene; a kind of
genre picture is presented. The skeleton in the middle is placing a
wreath of flowers upon his head. The one at the right holds in one
hand a skull which he examines contemplatively--we are reminded of
Hamlet in the scene with the gravedigger; in the other hand (not seen
in the illustration) is a wreath of flowers. The third of the
principal figures holds in his right hand a bag exceedingly heavy, as
indicated by the adjustment of the bones of the right arm and leg;
over the bag is the word φθόνοι, 'envyings.' The object in the left
hand is so light that its weight is not felt; it is a butterfly, held
by the wings, and above it is inscribed ψύχιον, a diminutive of ψυχή,
'soul'; we shall later find another instance of the representation of
a disembodied soul as a butterfly (p. 398). It was perhaps the design
of the artist to represent the figure as holding the bag behind him
while presenting the butterfly to the one who is putting on the
wreath.
[Illustration: Fig. 217.--Silver cup with skeleton groups.
From the Boscoreale treasure.]
On either side of the middle figure are two others less than half as
large. One, under the butterfly, is playing the lyre; over his head is
the word τέρψις, 'pleasure.' The second is clapping his hands, and
above him is a Greek inscription which gives the thought of the whole
design: 'So long as you live take your full share' of life, 'for the
morrow is uncertain.'
Both cups had evidently long been in use; there are still some traces
of gilding, which, however, seems not to have been applied to the
skeletons. While the explanatory inscriptions are in Greek, a Latin
name, Gavia, is inscribed on the under side of the second cup, in the
same kind of letters as the record of weight (p. 508). The Gavii were
a family of some prominence at Pompeii; we are perhaps warranted in
concluding that the cups were made by a Greek for this Pompeian lady,
and that afterward they came into the possession of another lady,
Maxima, who formed the collection.
PART III
TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS
CHAPTER XLVII
_THE TRADES AT POMPEII.--THE BAKERS_
In antiquity there was no such distinction between trades and
professions as exists to-day. In the Early Empire all activity outside
the field of public service, civil and military, or the management of
estates, was considered beneath the dignity of a Roman; the practice
of law, which had received its impulse largely from the obligation of
patrons to protect their clients, was included among public duties.
The ordinary work of life was left mainly to slaves and freedmen. Not
only the trades, as we understand the term, but architecture and
engineering,--in antiquity two branches of one occupation,--the
practice of medicine, and teaching, were looked upon as menial. A
Roman of literary or practical bent might manifest an interest in such
vocations, but it was considered hardly respectable actively to engage
in them.
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