Milford chronicle., 1893-10-13
THE DEAD CITY,

Of course the next day we started to see
some of the work wrought by that frenzied
mountain. "All out for POmpeiir' was
the cry of the conductor. And now we
stand by the corpse of that dead city. AS
we entered the gate and passed between
the walls 1 took off my hat, as one nat
urally does in the presence of some impos-
| ing obsequies. That city had been at one
time a capital of beauty and pomp, the
home of grand architecture, exquisite
painting, enchanting sculpture, unrestrain-
ed carOusal and rapt assemblage. A high
wall, 20 feet thick, three-quarters of it still
visible, encircled the city. On those walls at
distance of only 100 yards from each other
towers rose for armed men who watched
the city. The streets ran at right angles
and from wall to wall, only one street ex-
cepted
In the days Of the city's prosperity its
towers glittered in the sun. Eight strong
gates for ingress and egress-Gate of the
Seashore, Gate of Herculaneum, Gate of
Vesuvius being perhaps the most impor-
tant. Yonder stood the temple of Jupiter,
hoisted at an imposing elevation, and with
its six corinthian columns of immense
girth, which stood like carved icebergs
in the light. There stands the
Temple of the Twelve Gods. Yonder see the
Temple of Hercules and the Temple of Mer-
curry, with altars of marble and bas-relief,
wonderful enough to astound all succeed
ing ages of art, and the Temple Of Kscula
plus, brilliant with sculpture and gorgeous
with painting,
YOnder are the theaters, partly cut into
hills and glorifed with pic
tured walls and entered under arches of
imposing masonry, and with rooms for
eaptivated and applaudatory audiences,
seated or standing, in vast semicircle. Yon-
der are the costly and immense public
baths of the city, with more than the mod
lern ingenuities of Carlsbad. Notice the
warmth of those ancient tepidariums with
lowering radiance of roof, and the vapor of
hose caldariums with decorated alcoves,
ind the cold dash of their frigidariums with
loors of mosaic and ceilings Of all skillful- /
y intermingled hues and walls upholster-
d with all the cOlors of the setting sun and
ofas on which to recline for slumber after /
he plunge.
YOnder are the barracks of the celebrated |
,ladiators. Yonder is the summer home |
# Sallust, the Roman historian and sena-
or, the architecture as elaborate as his |
haracter was corrupt. There is the resi- |
IuCI VI NiAN klbgl tAAistts MAlI u EOlAlk klEssEu
4ouvre and Luxembourg within his walls.
here is the home Of Lucretius with vases
nd antiquities enough to turn the head of
virtuoso. Yonder see the Forum at the
ighest place Of the city. It is entered by
wo triumphal arches. 1t is bounded on
hfee sides by dOric columns.
Yonder, in the suburbs of the city, is the
ONE of Arrius Diomed, the mayor of the
IN burba farraead roefdauoa of bg1Iionoiya z
ON. gardens fountained, statued, colon
AIDED, the cell7r of that villa filled with
ottles of rarest rine, few drops of which
ere found 1,S0O years afterward. Along
le streets Of the city are men of might and
omen Of beauty formed into bronze that
lany centuries had no power to bedim.
attic scenes on walls in colors, which all
me cannot efface. Great city of Pompeii
0 Seneca and Tacitus and Cicero pro-
ounce it.
A WORD PICTURE