IX.9.f Pompeii. Small House. Excavated 1888.

Part 1.                   Part 2

 

IX.9.f  Pompeii. May 2005. Entrance doorway (on left)

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Entrance.

 

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. Graffito CIL IV 5296, found on the south (right) side of entrance doorway.

According to Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby (See www.manfredclauss.de) this read as -

 

O utinam liceat collo complexa tenere

braciola et teneris oscula ferre labellis

i nunc ventis tua gaudia pupula crede

crede mihi levis est natura virorum

saepe ego cu(m) media vigilare(m) perdita nocte

haec mecum medita(n)s multos Fortuna quos supstulit alte

hos modo proiectos subito praecipitesque premit

sic Venus ut subito coiunxit corpora amantum

dividit lux et se Aarees quid AAm      [CIL IV 5296]

See Varone, A., 2002. Erotica Pompeiana: Love Inscriptions on the Walls of Pompeii, Rome: L’erma di Bretschneider. (p.101 with notes)

See Garcia y Garcia, L., 2005. Pupils, Teachers and Schools in Pompeii. Roma: Bardi editore. (p.155) 

 

According to Cooley, this translates as -

Oh, if only I could hold your sweet arms around my neck

In an embrace and place kisses on your tender lips.

Go now, entrust your joys to the winds, my darling,

Believe me, fickle is the nature of men.

Often I have been wakeful in the middle of the wasted night

Thinking these things to myself: many men whom Fortune has raised up on high,

Now suddenly rush headlong, and fall, overwhelmed by her.

In this way when Venus has suddenly joined together lover’s bodies,

Light parts them and  ( ------  )

See Cooley, A. and M.G.L., 2004. Pompeii : A Sourcebook. London : Routledge. (p.73), who says it was found in a doorway of IX.8.

 

According to Varone, (p.101 above), the last line of Cooley’s translation carries on with –

“the first light divides them and you will separate their love”.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. May 2005. Entrance doorway.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Looking east along entrance corridor to atrium.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Floor in entrance passage, looking east.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Atrium, looking south-east.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. 

Doorways on east side of atrium, to staircase to upper floor (on left), and tablinum (or triclinium?).

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. 

Doorway to staircase to upper floor, with latrine underneath.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009.

Looking east along south wall of small room, with site of staircase and latrine.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Small room with staircase.

Base of stairs against south wall. Latrine at far end, under stairs.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009.

Doorway to tablinum (or triclinium?) in south-east corner of atrium.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. East wall of tablinum (or triclinium?). 

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. North wall of tablinum (or triclinium), with window to small room.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. West wall of tablinum (or triclinium?) with doorway to atrium.

 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. South-west corner of tablinum (or triclinium?). 

 

 

 

Part 2