The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1920-06-02

oA'>A' Ai'ii' optsi ihtSiS VI lOOtl, DuC llo
chief sustenance that nerved his feeble
limbs was revenge!
""rhe priest Calenus! Calenusr
cried the mob. rs 1t he? No, 1t is q
dead man!'
ut is the priest Calenuy,' 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 death
ny famine, that the gods have raised
me to proclaim his crime! Release
the Athenian-he is lnnocentr
! 1T is for this, then, that the lion
3, spared him. A miracle! miracler
cried Pansa.
A miracle miracler = shouted the
/ people; remove the Athenan-
Arbaccs to the lionr
"rhc power of the practor was as O
/ reed beneath the whirlwind; still, 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
| lccbie barrier; the waves OF the hui
/ man Scn halted for q moment, to en-
able Arl,aces to count the exact mo-
mont Of his doom! In despair ard in
q terror which heat 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 vclaria, he bcheld
n strange and awful apparition; he
behcld, and his craft restored his cour-
! age!
"1Ic stretched his hand on high;
over his lofty brow and royal features
there came an expression of unutter-
able splcmnity and command.
BEHOLD" he shouted with 4 voice
of thunder which stilcd the roar of
the crowd; behold how the gods pro-
tect. the guiltlcss! The fires of the
avcnging Orcus burst forth against
the false witness OF my accusers ="
The fires Of the "avenging Orcus"
were those Of the great eruption of
Vesuvius in 70 A. d. Toward such
by Nature, the author had been spin
ning 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
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 copy of Rome ut the begin
ming of the Christian era The story
centers around Glaucus the Athenan,
brilliant, gay, witty. descendant of a
nohler 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
was child of Greece. And alongside
this tale OF love runs the pathetic
story Of Nydia, the blind slave girl
who ccnters all her hopes Of haDpi.
ness In winning the affection of Glnu-
Gus. TO this end she gains possession
of love potion which the opulcnt
Julia has had prepared in the belief
r
sired Glaucus. In reality the potion
Is poison which will drive the un-
fortunate drnker mad. 1t Is designed
by the sinister Egyptian Arbaces TO
clear his path to lone from his rival
Gaucus. In his raving, Glaucus comes
upon Arbaccs Just as the latter has
killed 1ones brother Apaecidcs 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
cnlcnuS was 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 Vesll-
vius, they boheld "a fire that shifted
md wavcrcd in its huoS with every
moment. now fiery luminous, now of
II duh and dying red, that again blazed
icrrifically forth with intolcrable
glare. Then there arose on high the
stared at each other, but were dumb.
at that moment they felt the earth
shake beneath their feet the walls
OF the thcater trcmblcd 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, like
II torrent; at the same time it cast
forth from its bosom shower of
ashes mixed with vast fragments of
burning stone! Over the crashing
a.,