Part 19 (2/2)
A few days after their ascent of Vesuvius, the whole party started off to visit Poht Bob had now completely recovered his health and spirits Clive's poetic interest in so renowned a place was roused to the highest pitch of enthusiasm David's classical taste was sti was excited by the thought of a place that so far surpassed all others in interest; and Uncle Moses evidently considered that this was the one thing in Europe which could repay the traveller for the fatigues of a pilgrie Thus each, in his oay, felt his inmost heart stirred within hith, when they reached the entrance to the place, it is difficult to say which one felt the strongest excitement
They found a nu of representatives of all nations--Russians, Gerentleelo ith theuide-book could have been
The first emotions of ahich filled their radually faded away, and they began to exa that struck their attention was the extreme narrowness of the streets There was only rooe to pass at a tie-way There were crossing-stones that stood high above the pavee-ith lava blocks, which were very neatly joined together Clive took a piece of brick as a relic, and David broke off a frag-stones for the same purpose
They soon caelo called the Basilica It o hundred feet in length, and seventy in width At one end still remained the Tribunal or Seat of Justice, seven feet above the pavement; and all around the walls were columns formed of brick, covered with plaster The boys picked off so this, they went on and caelo called the Temple of Venus It was built round a courtyard, with porticos Here David and Clive obtained some more relics
Beyond this was an open square surrounded by pillars, of which only the lower parts remained This was the Forum Civile; and beyond this stood the Te that was particularly interesting After this Michael Angelo took them to a place which he said was the Public Bakery
Here they saw millstones, ovens, water-vessels, and souess the use Not far aere some bakers' shops In these shops loaves of bread were found by the diggers Of course they were burned to charcoal; but they retained their original shape, and showed marks upon them which were probably intended to indicate the bakery from which they ca down the street where these were situated, they caates of the city Beside this was a niche in the wall, used as a sentry-box, upon which, all the party gazed with a profound interest; for in that sentry-box those who disentombed the city found a skeleton, in the armor and with the equipment of a Roman soldier Evidently the sentry had died at his post
They took a good look at the walls here, which they found to be about twenty-five feet high, and forether without ce through this gate, they found theelo called the ”Street of To down it, they noticed a nu it on either side These were the tombs of wealthy citizens
They visited several of them, and found the pierced with niches, in which were deposited the urns that held the ashes of the dead This was the first ti of this kind, and they examined it with deep and sole soelo led them to as once the finest mansion of the city, non as the Villa of Dioh the halls, and rooms, and courtyards
They saw rich mosaic pavements; the basins of what once were fountains; the lower parts of ed to stately colonnades They saw some rooms that once had been used for cold baths, and others that had been used for vapor baths
Dining-rooms, reception-rooms, bed-rooms, kitchens, libraries, opened up all around, and told them of that vanished past which had once peopled all these apartments with busy human life Far more than basilicas, or telimpse into the home of a household; and they traversed that deserted hoh all the house, they descended into the cellars These were very spacious, and extended beneath the entire villa Here, at one end, they sahat is called the Wine Cellar Many wine jars were standing there--huge earthen vessels, as large as a hogshead, ide mouths and round bottoms, which made it iainst some support
In these wine jars there was noine, however, but only dust and ashes
Here Michael Angelo had much to tell them
He told them that several skeletons had been found in these vaults, belonging to hapless wretches who had, no doubt, fled here to escape the stor above One of these skeletons had a bunch of keys in its bony fingers; and this circumstance led some to suppose that it was the skeleton of Dioed to his steward Whoever he was, he had fled here only to es in the far distant future
Leaving this place, they visited another house, which is called the Villa of Caius Sallust At one corner of the house they saw soular
It was nothing else than a shop, small in size, fitted up with shelves and counters; a row of jars was fixed on one side, and in the rear were furnaces Michael Angelo inforht it excessively odd that the occupants of such a house--people, too, who bore such a name as Sallust--should tolerate such an establishment; but there was the undeniable fact before their eyes Afterwards their surprises diminished; For in many other houses in Pompeii--they found shops of the same kind, and saw that the ancient Pompeians were not above trade; and that, if they did not keep the shops the to hire the fronts of their houses to other parties who did wish to do so In Sallust's house they saw the traces of very elegant ornaelo that many of the articles discovered here showed that it must once have been the abode of a luxurious and refined faant house of the Dioscuri was visited next It is in the Via dei Mercurii, and is a very interesting and extensive ruin, and contains sos After this they visited many other houses, a description of which is not necessary; they were all like the Villa of Dio theeneral character In all these only the lower stories reh in a few a small part of the second story was visible
As the chief part of the Poround floor, the loss of the upper story did notthese they found another tens of great for, and nearly two hundred feet wide An altar is still standing, around which are twelve pedestals, upon which once stood twelve statues A few houses and teelo inforreatest curiosities in the city
The building to which he led them was in much better preservation than the e as many that they had seen It was about sixty feet wide, and a little longer, being nearly square in shape, and was evidently a temple of some kind
”What is this?” asked David
”This is the Teelo
”The Teer excitement ”Is it, indeed!” and he looked around with a face full of intense interest Hitherto, though all the boys had shown much interest, yet, David had surpassed them all in his enthusiasm This was partly on account of his taste for classical studies, and his love for all connected with classical antiquity, but more especially from the fact that he had very recently read Bulwer's _Last Days of Pompeii_; and on this occasion that whole story, with all its descriptions and all its incidents, was brought vividly before hi scene Most of all was the Temple of Isis associated with that story, and it see else that he had found in the city Glaucus and Ione, the Christian Olynthus, and the dark Arbaces seemed to haunt the place
In one of the cha,--even while leading the way to that chae skeleton, with an axe beside it; talls had been beaten through by that axe, but the desperate fugitive could go no farther In another part of the city had been found, another skeleton, carrying a bag of Coins and some ornaelo's account with strange interest, for it seeh the fabled characters of Bulwer's story were endoith actual reality by Michael Angelo's prosaic statements