Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1843-08-08
MISCELLANEOCS.
VISIT TO PUNPEll.

fCp--tsyUnGsHcs q III. y 4 IFtHIHt
SApiEs. Muy. 1880.
We n Isprth REACHED tae Et:s Of the tuc,sni g.
IL. Wh..s We lsi OF: carnage lud corDrenreo LIE
s,rsnses, city promenade ever made. We a's' IN
ierec Inc house o; D,oDso, one u ihe ariftorftls %
the cnr. We descsuoed INTO Inc aanp oarE VINE cti
lar y here The bones oF US ttmllr were founn- woiint'
he, ned aed 70. safety fron lbe slurm Of ashes und
IRE ibui ore,uhsIrso lbsm Thee, uEtlnhi tht siot
.: the wall. su3o lie eurthsu wins jar. ihtl ~"
s,coo rs they oIc % the las! day oi thti WIG itinpest'
va the shape Of ios ouisl-etcnsd arms ano ioe orsss'
sno head Of ner NJ hac julien ure,net Il . h-' o.str
agnny. Nothing renamed cri tue .on-s auo l-wtis 10
tel the SAD Story Of her io,tu-e arc su1ocston 10 lhs'
oreso hour BIZ, csnno, 60 INTO details lhey have
yeen written over q hundred times.
There were baths. and dressing and dining rooms,
and workshops. and wheel worn streets, where lie nv
,nz multitude had moved and iu1uriaied and to'leo
We saw lombs .hst wers themselves enlombeo we
saw tbs room for washing the dead, where the hV'ns
wss suddenly buried uu~ashed and uncothned Inc
Is e,-saops with the marks OF the ,umbiers s'iil fresh
10 the smooth marble the mil stones tina, sttil turned
to the hand IN The selEsame way HEY turned nearly
,xo thousand wears sgo. There, tor, vas the h'olhel,
the theatre, and dancing nall. The secret orince
through winch the priest sent his voice 10 The statue,
10 ce!uce The people INTO The belief that God had spo
ken. ~as Box disclosed. walked through the house
Of 9 poet. into he ss;nish.d sleeping apartment, form
,ng. IN their silence, d part n . create. drama than ht
mac evs, conceived stood before the tavern WIN
the rinzs ", enli.e 10 which The horses were fastened,
ard 1atfe Inc bones OF a L1nt0eF ana Hel lHles hH-
cren were found lockec IN each othe. 5 arms.
Temples were ore,,hroxn With their affairs. The
inches IN winch stood the gods were le, empty, ano
The aiia's before them, On winch smoked The saciihce'
were silent and lonely. Column. fallen across each
other IN the courts lust as that sIic hurricane had left
them, pieces Of tie arcbIitare blocking up The entrab-
&c. they had surmounted, ,oic now i-rce the shock ano
overthrow had been. Oae house "as evidently tia, Of
a remarkably rich man Mosaic floors !epresen'ing
battle scenes, prec Gus Stones still Imb-dded IN The pave.
l-. ord II D. tn
pur,ensnces Of luxury at,est-d The unoounced wealth
% the owner. Bu, no bodies were found IN u. The rich
man had fed Hiih his portable wealth bsio'e Inc storm
came. We passed through the temple OF Jupiter, lhe
court OF justice, the forum, the market place, aud emery
ed INTO the country.
/ mounted an old wall covered with earth and look.
ed back on the d,sentombed city, and beyond on We
suvius. There 1t stood, solemn, grand, and lonely,
sending up It's steady column OF smoke, a perpetual and
living tombstone over the dead al lis feet / could
see The track Of the lava on lis Wild and fiery march
for the sea, and could imagine just how the cloud OF
ashes and cincers rose from the summit and came fly
ing towards the deserted city. Foot after foot II piled
itself in the streets, over the thresholds, above The WIN
dows, and so on, AL II reached 20 or 80 feet above the
tops Of the houses ! could behold the sea where the
younger Pliny came, and, impelled by a fatal curiosity,
would LAND, TIL tlinded and suffoca,ed, he too fell with
the victims that persisted.
From ihis, We went 10 the amphi,heatre, where the
glad ia,oral shows were held. IL is a magniicen nj area
Of an oval form, and sufficiently capac'ous 10 hold If
teen o. twenty thousand spectators. There were Inc
dens where the lions were kept, and there the very
arena in which the men fought and fell. stood al
one end and shouted, and the answering echo came
back clear and distIncta as a second voice. 1t enhanced
the solitude. Some have imagined that spectators
were assembled here a, the tine otlhe overflow OF the
city, and as they felt the first step of the mighty earth
quake that heralded its doom, they rushed IN d'smay
from their seats. But this could not be, for Ponpen
did no, fall by an earthquake, and the mountain, long
before the eruption, gave ominous sound OF the coming
blow. Do relates that spectres lined the summit OF
tie mountain, and uneatlhly shapes fitted around its
trembling sides THIS was doubtless the mist, boiling
up from ITS confinement through the cracks and shoot
ing into the upper ar.
Pliny himself says, in his epis,le, that he saw from
MIsenus, fifteen or twenty miles distant from Naples,
on the other side, a cloud rising from the mountain, IN
The shape of a pine tree, and shortly after embarked
for the city. The grooming mountain was reeiing above
the sea Z; fire that boiled under her, and struggled for
Freedom. 1t was not a time for amusement. Tern
fled men and women ran for the sea-that also fed
back, %atinghted from It's shores, so that even Pilny
could not land before the city, but was forced TO pro-
coed TO Stabre. The believing mountain, the sui.
phurous air, The quiVering earth, would not let a city,
even so d'ssolu,e es Pompei, gather to places of pub
lc amusement. CONSERVATION reigned IN every street,
and drove The frightened inhabitants away from their
dwellings,. This is, doubtless, the reason why so few
bodies were found. Those that persisted were saves,
or those who tarried till some falling column or wall
blocked up their path, and the descending cinders
oiihoeu 'itlF slght as they grOpeu ABOUT LOT a way OF
egress. Fear and darkness, Oor day was turned INTO
n,ght,) might have e%nthralied others beyond the power
of moving. And was standing on the came pave
ment those terror stricken citizens stood on two thou
sand years ago, and was looking on The same mountain
they gazed on with such earnest inquiry and fearful
fofehodIncs Then il rocked and saayed, and thun
dered before the pent up forces, tha, threatened 10 send
IT IN fragments through the Heavens Now, silent and
quiet i, stood on its frin base. Yet 10 me II had a mo-
rose and revengeiul look, as if j, were conscious Of The
ruin at lis feet.
The excavations are more extensive than | supposed,
and the effect Of the clear light Of the sun, and the
open sky on the deserted p%avements, is peculiar and So
!emn. A visit 10 it, is an episode IN a mans life he can
ne yer forget. An old column, or a broken wall, lett of
a once populous city, interests US.
We stand and muse over the ruined pile till it be-
comes eloquent with the history of the past. If one
single complete temple BE- found, how It increases the
int rest! But TO wander through a whole city. stand
ing as its inhabitants left 1t in their sudden fear, in
ereases tenfold The vivldness of The picture. The
little household things meeting you al every turn,
rive speciality 10 the whole. As | strolled from apart.
ment 10 apartment, | almost expected 10 meet some
one within The door | felt like an intruder as pass
ed into the sleeping rooms of o,hers-as If were en-.
teripg the private apartments OF those who were mere.
" absent on q ride or 4 visit. The scenes were faml-
liar, and It appeared but a short time since the eyes Of
those who. occupied the dwellings, rested on the same
objects.
10 turning the corners of the streets it would hardly
have surprised me TO have met The inhabitants Just
returning, and looking on me as a stranger and an
intruder. II required an effort, TO convince myself,
that these streets, and these dwellings. were throng
ed and occupied, for the last time, nearly two thou.
sand years ago. ] assure you, the struggle was NOT
TO call up The past, bu. to shake 1t cf-and when |
finally stood at The gate, and gave q farewell look TO
the lonely city that family shone in the light of the
setting Sun, a feeling Of indescr,bable sadness stole over
me, and | rode away, without the wish ever 10 see ii
again But the view of the bay and the careless
laughing groups we met at every step soon restored my
spirits.
EATING FRurr.-Of Oranges, the spaniards have
this proverb " Gold in the morning, silver at noon,
Lad - n,cbf ~