Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . nd wall-frescoes ; and beyond again, you see the third, and in mostcases the largest division, called the peristylium, which is not approached direct fromthe tablinum, but by means of the /auees or covered corridors. The peristylium (calledalso cavecdium) is larger than the atrium, and its central space, open to the sky, issurrounded by roofed and pillared arcades. There was a marble basin for water here; 398 ITALY. and in many houses, elegant springing fountains. Behind this again, and reaching to thefurthest boundary wall of the house was the viridarium or
Italy from the Alps to Mount Etna . nd wall-frescoes ; and beyond again, you see the third, and in mostcases the largest division, called the peristylium, which is not approached direct fromthe tablinum, but by means of the /auees or covered corridors. The peristylium (calledalso cavecdium) is larger than the atrium, and its central space, open to the sky, issurrounded by roofed and pillared arcades. There was a marble basin for water here; 398 ITALY. and in many houses, elegant springing fountains. Behind this again, and reaching to thefurthest boundary wall of the house was the viridarium or garden. Although the exterior of the Pompeian houses—even the richest—displays scarcelyany ornamentation, the interior was always splendidly decorated, as is testified to thisday by the well-preserved mosaic pavements, formed of marble, pottery, and glass, andby the fine wall paintings. We colder peoples, who live almost divorced from art, canhardly conceive to ourselves how an entire population came to be so penetrated by the. LAKE OF FLSARO NEAR BAL-E. love of art and pictures, that in the interior of their houses there was scarcely the smallestspace to be found free from artistic decoration. The citizen heaps up he summons the artist to glorify all his splendour,And lend to prosaic comfoit the forms of ideal beauty. But not alone the skilful architect, and the painter, were employed to make Pompeiiinto an asylum of the arts ; sculptors and casters of bronze furnished statues for theadornment of temples, halls, and gardens. All trades and callings endeavoured toproduce pure and beautiful forms. How happy were those who were permitted to viewthe city while it was still perfect, resting in the full harmony of its beauty under the softskies of the south ! What an enchanting picture must have presented itself to oneapproaching Pompeii by sea ! He beheld the bright cheerful Grecian temples spreadingout on the slopes before him ; the pillared forum, the rounded mar
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcavagnasangiulianidig, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870
