St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-02-10
sfistelIann.
POMPEII.

IOOr. ruined. melancholy Pompcll !!
about the saddcst place human eyes
can rest on! There, on the solid cubes
that pave the streets, are the ruts
worn by swift chariot-whccls two
thousand years ago how many a
gallant youth sped along here with
prancing courscrs And here arc the
baths how often did the loungers
make these old sad roofs echo with
laughter as carclcssly they chatted
below ! and here is the banqucting
room ; there the winc-coolers ; beyond,
the silent fountain to the left, what
cozy chambers how often was loves
tale not in vain whispered yonder
how often did the purple night look in
on the sleep of beauty; how often has
the sailing moon silvered those lonely
columns, played on the leaping foun-
tain, and softly lighted up the sweet
scented flowers in the stately vases!
What coarse, oppressive, and mean
ingless trash our tiaring wall papers,
strcakcd and dotted over with flowers
and shrubhery and parallels and tri-
angles, look when compared with the
light and airy panel on the Pcmpeian
walls d! with here nymph, and
there a dancing girl here q wreath
of summer flowers, there some gro
tesquc and playful group of birds or
beasts, traced in bright tints and fairy
outlines on the smooth cxpanse divid.
ed into squares and oblongs by slen-
der pilasterS or columns rich with del
icate ornamcntation. We must make
one charge against these ancient ar
fists, howcvcr-that of immortality
The designs in more than one saloon
and bedchamber are such as would
have offended any taste not dcpraved,
and shocked any feelings not rendered
coarse by Righteousness. Indeed,
these paintings, as well as the designs
on many of the articles of furniture
and establishment, alcng with other
silent witnesses called forth from the
tomb, give sad evidence against these
luxurious old Campanian sinners.
Pompcii shared the doom of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and it seems to have
deserved its fate as richly as they did,
for it must have been pollution
on the face Of the fair earth Yet
here art and literature and science
bore their richest fruits What do the
philosophers who believe in an nsthet-
ic and intellectual regeneration of
mankind say to this ? How do they
account for the combination of the
greatest refinement, the most educat-
cd intelligence, and the highest art,
with the grossest prohigacy and the
loosest vice?
Alas ! and all is now the most des-
olate of desolations shown by cal
lous clcer0ae to the wandering foreign
er, as the strangest spectacle in Cam.
pania. 1t must have been most
stately and fair little city ere that fa-
tai shower of ashes. The streets
though narrow as Italian streets are
to this day-were well paved, and
lined with elegant houses and the
ground floor was, in many cases, let
as a shop and tastefully decorated :;
all through the town the fountaned
gardens i'll the pillared courts threw
their fragrance on the wind. Many
of the houses were painted on the ex-
terror, or had their lower story inlaid
with variously colorcd marbles. The
streets had triumphal arches, frequent
rose the symctrical temples of the
gods, among which the mystic iris
claimed the most costly shrine here
stood the Doric colonade of the Forum;
there the Pantheon further off rose
the tiers of the Amphitheatre, besides
which there were two theatres for the
amusement of pleasurc-loving children
of the sunshine. Then, as now, the
warm sun and clear sky tempted the
inhabitants to be constantly out Of
doors the thoroughfares were throng-
ed with vivacious, restless, gayly-
costumed crowds. The Sarnus then
was "a shining river" rushing to the
halcyon sea that filled the port, and
came to murmur and ripple close to
the city walls; now the river is a
shrunken stream, and the blue sea has
drawn back afl,righted, and the city is
4 skeleton.