Nevertheless, a large number of the public buildings of Pompeii were the
gift of private citizens. The Holconii were a great family of the place in
the reign of Augustus. M. Holconius Rufus had been ordinary duumvir five
times, and twice quinquennial duumvir; he was priest of Augustus, and
finally was elected patron of the town.(1276) Such dignities in those days
imposed a corresponding burden. And an inscription tells that, on the
rebuilding of the great theatre, probably about 3 B.C., Holconius Rufus
and Holconius Celer defrayed the expense of the crypt, the tribunals, and
the whole space for the spectators. Women did not fall behind men in their
public benefactions. On the eastern side of the forum of Pompeii there is
a building and enclosure, with the remains of porticoes, colonnades, and
fountains, which are supposed to have been a cloth market. In a niche
stood a marble statue, dedicated by the fullers of Pompeii to Eumachia, a
priestess of the city. And Eumachia herself has left a record that she and
her son had erected the building at their own expense.(1277) The
dedication probably belongs to the reign of Tiberius. The visitor who
leaves the forum by the arch, at the north-east corner, and turns into the
broadest thoroughfare of the town, soon reaches the small temple of
Fortuna Augusta, erected in the reign of Augustus. Both the site and the
building were the gift of one M. Tullius, who had, like M. Holconius,
borne all the honours which the city could bestow.(1278) The amphitheatre
in the south-east corner of the town, the scene of so many gladiatorial
combats recorded in the inscriptions, was erected by two men of the
highest official rank, C. Quinctius Valgus and M. Porcius, probably the
same men who bore at least part of the cost of the smaller theatre of
Pompeii.(1279) The last instance of this generous public spirit which we
shall mention is of interest in many ways. It is well known that in the
year 63 A.D. an earthquake overthrew many buildings, and wrought great
havoc in Pompeii. Among other edifices, the temple of Isis was thrown
down. The temple, of which we can now study the remains, had been built by
a boy of six years of age, Numerius Popidius Celsinus, who, in
acknowledgment of his own, or rather of his father’s liberality, was at
that unripe age co-opted a member of “the splendid order.”(1280) This mode
of rewarding a father by advancing his infant son to premature honours is
not unknown in other inscriptions.(1281)