Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-07-20
Interestins sketch of sThe City of Sudden
0oafh.D ...


Such is the title of paper in the Rnie ker.
booker Magazine for July, beginning with
this allusion to Sir Walter Scott: ''Many
years ago there trod the lonely streets o.
Pompeii, with feeble step and slow, a gray
haired man. Physical suffering and mental
toll had passed their plow-sbsres over that
noble brow with a subsoil pressure. The
mind within, which, like vase of alabaster,
had once illumined that fine old face, was
burning dimly now, or only fiickered up with
sort of supernatural light, as dying lamps
will, just before they are extnguished. The
powers that had so long delighted the world,
recalling past ages and manners with such
vividness that men believed he had found the
enchanters wand of the great wizard of his
house, were now all gone. But as that old
man paced mournfully through the deserted
streets, and by the hearth-stones cold and
cherries of that exhumed city, his head fell
upon his noble chest, and he murmured,
Take me away from this It's the city of the
dead then wept like a child.n
VI Vesuvius now and on the 22d of Au-
gust, 79- the writer thus speaks: ITO those
who look upon Vesuvius now, grim, blasted
and lifting up his sooty forehead among
clouds of perpetual smoke, the very throne
of Pluto and Vulcan together, no force of
fancy can picture what il must have been
when the Romans built their summer-places
and pavilions on its verdant slopes; a pyra-
mid 1000 feet from base to apex, painted all
over with forest, garden, vineyard and
orchard; zoned with eolonades, turrets
golden roofs and marble porticoes; with the
deep azure of the Campanian sky for o can.
opy; the classic Mediterranean washing its
base and the whole glittering in the colors
Of sunrise, noon and evening, like the rich
and high piled woof of Persia's looms, let
down from the steps Of some heaven-lifted
and resplendent throne.
"All this magniicence was turned into
einders, lava, and hot water, in the year OF
the Christian era, T9. The Kissing streams OF
lava like fiery snakes ran hither and thitheI
down the slopes of the mountain, scorching
and consuming everything in their glowing
pathway, while the mountain hurled high 10
air the red-hot lava and the sulphurous ashes
with noise that shook the very armament
The entire continent throughout its northern
and southern range, felt the vigorous
awakening Of the volcano. Imperial Rome.
hundreds of miles away, was covered with
the ashes of which Northern Africa, Egypt.
and Asia minor received their full share The
sun was turned into blood, and people very
naturally thought that the end of the world
had come. Well might Plny the younger
say, in his graphic letter to Tacitus; Nothing
then was heard but the shrieks of women.
the screams of children, and the
cries of men; some calling foI
their children, others for their husbands, aud
only distinguishing each other by theii
voices. One lamenting his own fate, an
other that of his family; some lifting their
hands to the gods; but the greater part i'm
agining that the last and eternal night had
come, which was to destroy the gods and the
world together
AT the close of this first fearful eruption,
Vesuvius loomed forth the grim-looking giant
he is at this hour. The sky was stained with
wi xuhi oh aff
halo round the mountains SCARED and shat
tered brow. The plain at his foot, where
Herculaneum and Pompeii had once shone
forth in all their beauty, was covered many
feet deep with debris of ashes and lava.
while the smoke of the city went up as the
smoke of furnace
OF the discovery of the tomb of two cities
there are various accounts. Mrs. Harriet
Beecher Stowe, who recently visited Hercu-
taneum and Pompeii, says that the first dis
corery OF the town was from the sinking OF
well for the convenience of 4 family above, |
which well nigh came into the theater; bui |
the writer in the Rnickerbocker gives this |
version:
About the year I'LL, duke digging for |
marbles to burn in mortar, with which to
make lime, found statue of Hercules per
feet heap of fractured beauties, q row OF |
Greek columns, and small temple Again |
the cities slumbered, when in 1888 King OF |
Naples, upon whom light may the earth |
rest commenced digging in real earnest, and |
Pompeii with its temples and theaters once |
more lay open TO the sun.
Beside the garden gate of the villa of |
Dromed, just beyond the walls, two skeletons |
were discovered; one presumed to be the |
master of the house, from having in his hand |
the key of the gate; the other stretched be-
side him withsome silver vases, was proba-
bly, apoor slave charged with their trans |
portation. In the cellar the skeletons of |
several persons were found huddled together |
who had here in vain sought an assylum from
the fiery shower. From the circumstance oi |
one of these skeletons, woman, beinp
adorned with necklace and bracelets of
gold, il has with good reason been supposed
that she was the mistress of the elegant man.
sion; and the print OF her bosom as il tpressed
against the wall, piece of the stucco having
been preserved, can be seen at this day i6
the Museo Borborico at Naples.
"Olose 70 the gate Of Herculaneum. in a
niche, was found the skeleton of man stand.
ing erect, with his armor and helmet on. and
spear in hand. 1t was the Roman sentinel
It the city gate, faithful in death as In life
Melancholy memento of the stern discipline
If ancient Rome: as
on, On the human tides rush through the gates.
rt y nBe b the req mountain blazing tul In view
hss Rsa, noman sentinel doth contemplate.
nollohless as statue thus he grew; |
.Sulnposea ms lace, though liY1d IN It's hue
'teTn nsss WIN awe in his uudaunted eye;
d. AZ hIihly Nv tns hely tempest round him hew,
to nhe the nero had not been taught 10 nv.
scatheo, blasted at his post, the w ior etood 10 d