ble statues. In another square theatres were erected, and there also
stood an old Greek temple.

Many rich and eminent Romans loved Pompeii, and built costly villas in
the town or its beautiful environs. One of these was the famous orator
and author, Cicero, whose villa was situated near the north-eastern town
gate. Again and again he went to Pompeii to rest after the noise and
tumult of Rome, and the last time he is certainly known to have
sojourned there was in the year 44 B.C., shortly after the
murder of the great Caesar.

From the vicinity of Cicero's villa ran north-west the Street of Tombs,
bordered with innumerable monuments like the Appian Way outside Rome.
Some were quite simple, others resembled costly altars and temples, and
all contained urns with the bones and ashes of the dead.

Some streets were lined entirely with shops and stores. Most of the
streets were straight and regular, some broad, others quite small; they
were paved with flags of lava and had raised footpaths. Here and there
stones were laid in a row across the street, whereon foot passengers
could cross over dryshod after the heavy torrential rains, which then,
as now, repeatedly converted these lanes into rivers and canals.

Pompeii had several bath-houses, luxuriously and comfortably furnished,
built of stone, dark and cool, and very attractive during the warm,
sultry summer. In the _apodyterium_ the visitor took off his clothes,
and then repaired to the various rooms for warm air, warm baths, and
cold baths. The walls in the _frigidarium_ were decorated with paintings
representing shady groves and dark forests; the vaulted roof was painted
blue and strewn with stars, and through a small round opening the
sunlight poured in. The basin itself was therefore like a small forest
pool under the open sky. The bather was thoroughly scraped and shampooed
by the attendants, and last of all smeared with odorous oils.

The houses of wealthy citizens were decorated with exquisite taste and
artistic skill. Towards the streets the houses showed little besides
bare plain walls, for the old Romans did not like the private sanctity
of their homes to be disturbed at all by the noise of the streets and
the inquisitiveness of people on the public roads. So it is still, if
not in Italy and Greece, at any rate over all the Asiatic East. Pomp and
state were only displayed in the interior. There were seen statues and
busts, flourishing flower-beds under open co