The vidette., 1920-05-13


1 Arbaces. sas. His releasers mad
given him sparingiy of food: but the
chief sustenanee that nerved mis- feeble
limbs was revengei
~'The priest Calenusi Calepus
cried the mob. Is it he? No. it is a
dead nanr
ait is the priest Calenus. said the
praetor. bravely. What hast thou to
sayT
.'Arbaces Of Egypt is the murderer
of Apaecides, the priest of isis:
these eyes saw him deal the blow.
1t is from the dungeon into which
he plunged me, It is from the
darkness and horror of a death
by famine, that the gods have raised
me to proclaim his crime Release
the Athenian-he is Innocentr
att is for this. then, that the lion
spared him. A miraclel miracier
cried Pansa.
IA miracle miracle r shouted the
people; remove the Athenian--
Arbaees to the lion'
1.-THE power of the praetor was as q
reed beneath the whirlwind; stiI, at
his word the guards had drawn them
selves along the lower benches, on
which the upper classes sat separate
from the vulgar. They made but a
feeble barrier; the waves OF the hu-
man sea halted for moment. to en-
ArAa 81 hn oof
ment of his doomi In despair. and in
a terror which beat down even pride.
he glanced his eyes over the rolling
and rushing crowd, when, right above
them, through the wide chasm which
had been left In the velaria, he beheld
| beheld, and his craft restored his cour-
agel
'4He stretched his hand on high;
over his lofty brow and royal features
| there came an expression of unutter-
able solemnity and command.
"'Beholdv he shouted with a voice
of thunder. which stilled the roar of
| the crowd; behold how the gods pro-
| tect. the guiltless! The fires of the
avenging Orcus burst forth against
the false witness of my accusersr"
The fires of the "avenging Orcus"
were those of the great eruption of
Vesuvlus in 70 A. ID. Toward such
melodramatic climax, furnished him
by Nature. the author had been spin
ming the lives of his characters in the
little city which nestled under the
shadow of the volcano.
The converging threads of the story
are many giving In the final weaving
a complete picture of the life of Pom
peii-its shops, tiny palaces, baths,
forum, theater, circus, and all that
daily took place in the energetic life
of this toy copS of Rome at the begin.
ming Of the Christian era. The story
centers around Glaucus the Athenian,
brilliant, gay, witty. descendant of a
nobler race frivolling himself away
amid the coarser pleasures of the Ro-
mans, until finally all that was fine
in him was brought forth by his love
for lone of Naples. who, like himself,
1
this tale OF love rvss the pathetic
story af Nydia, the blind slave girl,
who centers ali her hopes of happi.
ness in winning the affection of Glau-
Gus. To this end she gains possession
of love potion which the opulent
Julia has had prepared in the belief
that 1t will bring to her the much-de-
sired Glaucus. In reality the potion
Is poison which will drive the un-
fortunate driDker mad. 1t is designed
by the sinister Egyptian Arbaces to
clear his path to lone from his rival
Glaucus. I'm his raving, Glaucus comes
upon Arbaces just as the latter has
killed Ione's brother Apaecides, a
young priest of Isis. who, much to the
annoyance of Arbaces, has embraced
the new Christian faith. Arbaces
throws the guilt upon poor Glaucus
with apparent success But the priest
Calenus was a hidden witness. with
the final result shown in the great cpl.
sode of the book. AS the crowd in the
circus turned their eyes toward vesu-
vius, they beheld "a fire that shifted
and wavered in it's hues with every
moment, now fiery luminous, now OF
a dull and dying red, that again blazed
terrifically forth with intolerable
glare. Then there arose on high the
universal shrieks of women; the men
stared at each other, but were dumb
At that moment they felt the earth
shake beneath their feet; the walls
of the theater trembled, and beyond in
the distance they heard the crash
of falling roofs; an instant more and
the mountain-cloud seemed TO roll to.
wards them, dark and rapid, Ike
a torrent; at the same time it cast
forth from its bosom a shower OF
ashes mixed with vast fragments OF
burning stonel Over the crashing
vines, over the desolate streets, over
the amphitheater itself. far and wide
with many a mighty splash in the agi
tated sea, fell that awful shower! Nc
longer thought the crowd of justice OF