Pompeii, Its Life and Art. August 1840-1909 Mau
We learn, also, that soon after the founding of the colony disputes arose between the old residents and the colonists, about the public walks (ambulationes) and matters connected with the voting; the arrangements for voting had probably been so made as to throw the decision always into the hands of the colonists. The controversy was referred to the patrons of the colony, and settled by them. From this time on, the life of Pompeii seems not to have differed from that of the other small cities of Italy.
As the harbor of Pompeii was on the Sarno, which flowed at some distance from the city, there must have been a small settlement at the landing place. To this probably belonged a group of buildings, partly excavated in 1880–81, lying just across the Sarno canal (canale del Bottaro), about a third of a mile from the Stabian Gate. Here were found many skeletons, and with them a quantity of gold jewellery, which was afterward placed in the Museum at Naples. The most reasonable explanation of the discovery is, that the harbor was here, and that these persons, gathering up their valuables, fled from Pompeii at the time of the eruption either in order to escape by sea or to take refuge in Stabiae. Flight in either case was cut off. If ships were in the harbor, they must soon have been filled with the volcanic deposits; if there was a bridge across the river it was probably thrown down by the earthquake.
A second suburb sprang up near the sea, in connection with the salt works (salinae) of the city. Our knowledge of the inhabitants, the Salinenses, is derived from several inscriptions painted upon walls, in which they recommend candidates for the municipal offices, and from an inscription scratched upon the plaster of a column in which a fuller by the name of Crescens sends them a greeting: Cresce[n]s fullo Saline[n]sibus salute[m]. From another inscription we learn that they had an assembly, conventus, possibly judicial in its functions; for in connection with a date, it speaks of a fine of twenty sesterces, which would amount to about 3½ shillings, or 85 cents: VII K. dec. Salinis in conventu multa HS XX, 'Fine of twenty sesterces; assembly at Salinae, November 25.' Still another inscription speaks of attending such a meeting on November 19: XIII K. dec. in conventu veni.
The suburb most frequently mentioned was at first called Pagus Felix Suburbanus, but after the time of Augustus, Pagus Augustus Felix Suburbanus. Its location is unknown. As it evidently took the name of Felix from the Dictator Sulla, who used this epithet as a surname, we may assume that its origin dates from the establishment of the Roman colony; it may have been founded to provide a place for those inhabitants of Pompeii who had been forced to leave their homes in order to make room for the colonists. The existence of a fourth suburb is inferred from two painted inscriptions in which candidates for office are recommended by the Campanienses; this name would naturally be applied to the inhabitants of a Pagus Campanus, who, perhaps, had originally come from Capua.
Of the government of Pompeii in the earliest times, before the Samnite conquest, nothing is known. The names of various magistrates in the Samnite period, however, particularly the period of alliance with Rome (290–90 B.C.), are learned from inscriptions. Mention is made of a chief administrative officer (mediss, mediss tovtiks); of quaestors, who, probably, like the quaestors in Rome, were charged with the financial administration and let the contracts for public buildings; and of aediles, to whom, no doubt, was intrusted the care of streets and buildings, together with the policing of the markets. The Latin names of the last two officials suggest that their offices were introduced after 290. There was also an assembly called kombenniom, with which we may compare the Latin conventus; but whether it was an assembly of the people or a city council cannot now be determined.
Fig. 4.—Venus Pompeiana.
From a wall painting.
After the establishment of the Roman colony, Pompeii was named Colonia Cornelia Veneria Pompeianorum, from the gentile name of the Dictator Sulla (Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix) and from the goddess to whom he paid special honor, who now, as Venus Pompeiana, became the tutelary divinity of the city. This goddess is represented in wall paintings. In that from which our illustration is taken (Fig. 4), she appears in a blue mantle studded with golden stars, and wears a crown set with green stones. Her left hand, which holds a sceptre, rests upon a rudder; in her right is a twig of olive. A Cupid stands upon a pedestal beside her, holding up a mirror.
From this time the highest official body, as in Roman colonies everywhere, was the city council, composed of decurions. The administration was placed in the hands of two pairs of officials, the duumvirs with judiciary authority, duumviri iuri dicundo, and two aediles, who were responsible for the care of buildings and streets and the oversight of the markets. When the duumvirs and the aediles joined in official acts they were known as the Board of Four, quattuorviri. Down to the time of the Empire it appears that the aediles were not designated officially by that name, but by a title known to us only in an abbreviated form, duumviri v. a. sacr. p. proc. This probably stands for duumviri viis, aedibus, sacris publicis procurandis, 'duumvirs in charge of the streets, the temples, and the public religious festivals.' The title of aedile seems to have been avoided because it had been in use in the days of autonomy, and the authorities thought it prudent to suppress everything that would suggest the former state of independence. Nevertheless, the word retained its place in ordinary speech, as is shown by its use in the inscriptions painted on walls recommending candidates for office; thence it finally forced its way back into the official language. The duumvirs of every fifth year were called quinquennial duumvirs, duumviri quinquennales, and assumed functions corresponding with those of the censors at Rome; they gave attention to matters of finance, and revised the lists of decurions and of citizens.
All these officials were elected annually by popular vote. The candidates offered themselves beforehand. If none came forward, or there were too few—for the city officials not only received no salary, but were under obligation to make generous contributions for public purposes, as theatrical representations, games, and buildings—the magistrate who presided at the election named candidates for the vacancies; but each candidate so named had the right to nominate a second for the same vacancy, the second in turn a third. The voting was by ballot; each voter threw his voting tablet into the urn of his precinct. No information has come down to us regarding the precincts (curiae) into which the city must have been divided for electoral purposes.
The election of a candidate was valid only in case he received the vote of an absolute majority of the precincts. If the result was indecisive for all or a part of the offices, the city council chose an extraordinary official who bore the title of prefect with judiciary authority, praefectus iuri dicundo. This prefect took the place of the duumvirs, not only when an election was indecisive, but also when vacancies arose in some other way, or when peculiar conditions seemed to make it desirable to have an officer of unusual powers, a kind of dictator; or finally, when the emperor had received the vote; in the last two cases, the prefect was undoubtedly appointed by the emperor. Thus, in the years 34 and 40 A.D., the Emperor Caligula was duumvir of Pompeii; but the duties of the office were discharged by a prefect. A law passed in Rome toward the end of the Republic on the motion of a certain Petronius contained provisions regarding the appointment of prefects; one chosen in accordance with them was called praefectus ex lege Petronia, 'prefect according to the law of Petronius.'
There were also in Pompeii priests supported by the city, but only a few of them are mentioned in the inscriptions. References are found to augurs and pontifices, to a priest of Mars, and to priests (flamen, sacerdos) of Augustus while he was still living; Nero had a priest even before he ascended the throne. Mention is made of priestesses, too, a priestess of Ceres and Venus, priestesses of Ceres, and others, the divinities of whom are not named.
The suburbs could scarcely have had a separate administration; they remained within the jurisdiction of the magistrates of the city. In the case of the Pagus Augustus Felix mention is made of a magister, 'director,' ministri, 'attendants,' and pagani, 'pagus officials'; but apparently these were all appointed for religious functions only, in connection with the worship of the emperor. The magister and the pagani, in part at least,