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

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

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

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

See Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. IV, Supp 2, Part 2, 1909. Berlin: Reimer. p. 589, p.705.

1888 transcription of graffito by Sogliano, recorded in NdS.

He records this as being from the high grey zoccolo on the part from the right of those who enter.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1888, p.519.

Various slightly differing translations have been made.

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]

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), the last line of Cooley’s translation carries on with –

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

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

According to Garcia y Garcia, the last line read as –

Dividit lux et se(parees quid amant).

He translates this as –

But daylight comes to divide them.

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

IX.9.f Pompeii. May 2005. Entrance doorway with lava threshold.

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

According to NdS, this was the doorway to a small and impoverished dwelling.

The floor was made of somewhat tilted signinum, and the walls with rustic plaster and a high grey zoccolo.

In both of the walls just near the door threshold, and at about 1.40m above the floor level, was a hole in which the beam was placed, to reinforce the closing of the door.

Two other joints made for the usual diagonal beams were seen at the base of the walls, near the entrance into the atrium.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1891, p.263

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

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

According to NdS, the floor of the atrium was also made of signinum and had the remains of plaster on its walls.

The impluvium was adjacent to the south wall, and was surrounded by a wall on the west and north sides, and part of the east side.

The wall was coated with plaster, and at its extremity on the east side, a fragmented terracotta puteal was found.

Near to the impluvium in the south-east corner of the atrium was a type of small and shallow vat or basin.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1891, p.263-4

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.

The base of stairs was against the south wall. The latrine was at the far end, under stairs.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009.

Doorway to tablinum (or triclinium?) in south-east corner of atrium, described in NdS, as having walls of rustic plaster.

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?).  

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Looking west across atrium to doorway to cubiculum, and entrance.

According to NdS, near to the entrance corridor was a doorway to a cubiculum with the usual bed recess and with a window overlooking the atrium.

Perhaps in the later years it was not a cubiculum, as its walls showed the remains of rustic plaster.

So this cubiculum and the entrance corridor were covered with a loft or attic, which jutted out onto the vicolo with a balcony, which was preserved in part.

The balcony was reached by a small staircase situated in the south-west corner of the atrium.

The first step was of masonry and the rest of wood, concealing in part the entrance to the cubiculum.

See Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1891, p.264

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Remains of masonry staircase base in south-west corner of atrium.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Doorway to cubiculum, looking west.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Upper south-east corner of cubiculum, with window to atrium.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. East wall of cubiculum, in south-east corner.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Recess in south-east corner of cubiculum.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. South-west corner of cubiculum.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. West wall of cubiculum. 

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. North wall of cubiculum.

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

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Detail in floor in entrance passage, looking west.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Entrance threshold or sill, looking west.

IX.9.f Pompeii. March 2009. Entrance threshold or sill, looking east.