POMPEII. 123 



The opening Theatre's * wide gates invite, 

 The choral dance is there, the solemn rite — 

 There breathes th' immortal Muse her spell around, 

 And swelling thousands flood the fated ground. 

 See I where arise before th' enraptur'd throng. 

 The fabled scenes, the shadowy forms of Song ! 

 Gods, that with Heroes leave their starry bowers, 

 Their fragrant hair entwined with radiant flowers, 

 Haunt the dim grove, beside the fountain dwell — 

 Strike the deep lyre, or sound the wreathed shell — 

 With forms of heavenly mould; but hearts that glow 

 With human passion melt with human woe! 

 Breathless they gaze, while white-rob'd priests advance, 

 And graceful virgins lead the sacred dance ; 

 They listen, mute, while mingling tones prolong 

 The lofty accent, and the pealing song, 

 Echo th' unbending Titan's haughty groan, 

 Or in the Colchian's woes forget their own ! f 

 Why feels each throbbing heart that shuddering chill ? 

 The Music falters, and the Dance is still — 

 " Is it pale Twilight stealing o'er the plain ? 

 " Or starless Eve, that holds unwonted reign ? " 

 Hark to the thrilling answer ! who shall tell 

 When thick and fast th' unsparing tempest fell. 

 And stem Vesuvius pour'd along the vale 

 His molten cataracts, and his burning hail : — 

 Oh ! who shall paint, in that o'erwhelmirig hour. 

 Death's varying forms, and Horror's withering power? 

 Earthquake ! wild Earthquake ! rends that heaving plain, 

 Cleaves the firm rock, and swells the beetling main : 

 Here, yawns the ready grave, and, raging, leap 

 Earth's secret fountains from their troubled sleep ; 

 There, from the quivering mountain bursts on high 

 The pillar'd flame, that wars along the sky ! 

 On, on they press, and maddening seek in vain 

 Some soothing refuge from the fiery rain ; — 

 Their home? it can but yield ^ living tomb, 

 Round the lov'd hearth is brooding deepest gloom ; 

 Yon sea ? its angry surges scorching rave. 

 And Deathfires gleam upon the ruddy wave : 



* Eustace, and other modern writers, have thought it improbable that the 

 inhabitants of Pompeii could have assembled to enjoy the amusement of the 

 theatre after the shocks of the earthquake and other symptoms of danger which 

 preceded the eruption ; but as their theatrical representations partook of the 

 nature of religious solemnities, there does not seem sufficient reason to disre- 

 gard the positive assertion of Dio Cassius to the contrary. 



t Ivory tickets of admission were found in the vicinity of one of the theatres, 

 inscribed on one side with the name of a play of iEschylus, and on the other 

 with 'a representation of the theatre itself. One or two of these are preserved 

 in the Studio at Naples. 



