The Republican journal., 1870-01-13

L
nier. Translated from the original French
New York: Charles Scrbner & Co
We never tire Of the revelations made by
the uncoyering of this wonderful city Of the
Romans, which the great eruption of Vesuvi-
us surprised in the midst of its luxury and
enjoyment, and buried undera shower of hot
ashes-buried so suddenly Us to surprise the
inhabitants in their everyday occupations, an d
which preserved for our inspection the daily
life OF the Roman people eighteen hundred
years ago. IN the year ~, Immediately
after the appearance on earth Of our Saviour,
during q festival in the city, the volcanic
storm burst upon it with destructive fury.
The city and its inhabitants utterly perished
save the few who hastily escaped in the first
hours OF the eruption.
Thenceforward for nearly IL centuries the
city disappears from history, although the
name seems never to have been wholly lost
A village constructed from its ruins subse-
qucntly arose upon the site but after the de
struction of this by the eruption Of 472, the
Campus Pompeius. rs it was long called, re-
manned until the middle OF the last century
an undisturbed and uninhabitcd plain. AS
if to battle more completely the researches
Of arch1ologists, the eruption Of 79 produced
striking physical changes III the vicinity, and
the sea, which formerly laved the walls of
the city, is now upward Of a. mile from its
site, while the neighboring river Sarno has
been considerably diverted from its ancient
course, Hence the geographer Cluverins,
who investigated the subject in the early
part OF the 18th century, following the de-
scriptions of ancient authors, was induced to
locate Pompcii ut Il distance of several miles
from its actual position. A few years pre-
vious the architect Domcnico Fontana had
carried an aqucduct over q large portion of
| the buried city, without having his attention
aroused by the remains of temples and pub
| lie buildings which must have been constant
| ly encountered. In this instance the over
| sight is somewhat remarkable, as the super
incumbent deposit of ashes and cindcrs had
an average depth Of not more than IL feet,
and portion of the great theatre was still
visible, For nearly 4 century and Il halt
| longer Pompei remained undisturbed, and it
| was not until the exhumaton in l74S of sew
eral statues and other objects Of antiquity
| in sinking q well that public attention, al
ready awakened by the partial excavation
| of Ucrculaneum, was drawn to the subject.
| From that time the excavations have been
pursued with more or less yigor, until a
| large part of the city has been uncovered.
| The revelations are the most curious it is
| possible to conceive OF, and the treasures of
statuary. jewelry, pictures, the saddening
relies OF humanity, and other curiosities are
| the most interesting of the kind that the
world has ever seen.
No e, !, r,,1l, 4
rately describes the progress and revelations
| of the work-certainly more so than any one
that has fallen under our notice. AS Il speci-
men of the contents we copy the chapter
| which describes the catastrophe of the over
Whelming of the city
1t was during one of these festivals, on the 23d
of November, II, that the terrible eruption which
| overwhelmed the city burst forth. The testimony
OF the ancentS, the ruins of POmpeli, the layers
npon layers of ashes and scOr1 that covered it, the
skeletons surprised in attitudes Of agony death,
! all concur to tell Us of the catastrophe. The i'm
ttSinaun add nothing to 1t; the picture is there
before our eyes; we are present at the scene; we
behold it. Seated in the amphtheatre, we take to
flight at the first convuslons, at the first lurid
flashes which announce the confiagration and the
| crumbling of the mountain. The ground is shaken
repeaedly something like awhirwind of dust that
grows thicker and thicker, has gone rushing and
spanning across the heavens. For some days past
there has been talk of gigantic FORMS which, some
! times on the mountain and sometimes on the plain,
swept through the air; they are up again now and
rear themselves to their whole height in the eddies
| of smoke, from amid which is heard strange
sound, Il fearful moaning followed the clapS of
| thunder that crash down peal on peal Night, too,
has come on-l night of horror; enormous flames
kindle the darkness like the blaze of a furnace.
People scream, out in the streets, Vcsuvius is on
| fire."
| On the instant, the Pompeians, terrified, bewil-
| dered, rush from the amphtheatre Happy in finding
so many places of exit through which they can
pour forth without crushing each other, and the
open gates of the city only short distance beyond
However, after the first explosion after the deluge
of ashes comes the deluge of fire, light stones,
all ablaze, driven by the wind-one might call it Il
burning notwithstanding slowly, ineXorably, IA
tally, without cessation intermsson, with pitt
| less persistence. This solid flame blocks up the
streets, piles itself in heaps on the roofs and breaks
| through into the houses with the crashing tiles
| and the blazing rafters The fire thus tumbles in
from story to story, upon the pavement of the
| courts, where, accumulating like earth thrown in
to fill trench it receives fresh fuel from the red
and fiery flakes that slowly, fatally, keeps shower
| ing down, falling, falling, without respite.
The inhabitants flee in every direction; the
strong, the youthful those who care only for their
| lives escape. The amphtheatrc is emptied in the
twinkling Of an eye, and none remain in it but the
dead gladatOrs. But to those who sought
shelter in the shops, under the arcades of the thea
tire, or in the underground retreats The ashes
surround and stit]e them Woe, above all, to those
whom avarce or cupdty held back; to the wife
of Procuus, to the favorte of Saust to the daugh-
ters of the house of the Poet who have tarried to
gather up their jewels! They will fall suffocated