Mr. Joyce
formerly attributed this sinking solely to the slow settling of the
ground. That there has been some settling is highly probable, and
it may be seen in Fig. 15 that the pavement for a width of 5 feet
over the southern enlargement of the room, which must have been
built on fresh ground, has sunk a little more than on the old
northern side. But this sinking may possibly have had no
connection with the enlargement of the room; for in Fig. 13 one
half of the pavement has subsided more than the other half without
any assignable cause. In a bricked passage to Mr. Joyce's own
house, laid down only about six years ago, the same kind of sinking
has occurred as in the ancient buildings. Nevertheless it does not
appear probable that the whole amount of sinking can be thus
accounted for. The Roman builders excavated the ground to an
unusual depth for the foundations of their walls, which were thick
and solid; it is therefore hardly credible that they should have
been careless about the solidity of the bed on which their
tesselated and often ornamented pavements were laid. The sinking
must, as it appears to me, be attributed in chief part to the
pavement having been undermined by worms, which we know are still
at work. Even Mr. Joyce at last admitted that this could not have
failed to have produced a considerable effect.
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