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tion of Herculaneum and of Pompeii. And here, as we have seen, 
it was the non-contemporary, Dion Cassius, who alone gave precise 
information. From no other author could Lord Lytton have taken, 
as he did, a clear and emphatic motto for his tale. 
3. We must expect to find a wide difference in the amount of 
testimony accessible before and after the invention of printing. Not 
only has printing saved many documents from perishing, and induced 
numbers to write, who would not otherwise have taken the trouble, 
but publication — witness that of the Greville memoirs in our own day 
— calls forth counter criticism, and lends fresh aid to investigation. 
This remark may appear too obvious to be worth making. But I am 
convinced that, for us, who live in an age of cheap newspapers and 
telegrams, it requires a real effort of the imagination to conceive the 
lack of information in the ages when printing was unknown. And 
this effort is not always made when it ought to be. 
4. My closing assertions open up a distinct chapter in the history 
of the human mind. It cannot be more than suggested, but it is 
impossible to pass it by. The comparative silence of antiquity 
respecting the fate of these unfortunate cities was not caused solely 
by the want of the printing press, the railway, and the telegraph ; it 
also arose from a limitation of sympathy. In our own day we cannot 
imagine such a catastrophe so heedlessly passed by. The Emperor 
Titus, to his lasting honour, did do something for the sufferers ; but 
I cannot find a hint of such an idea occurring to any one besides. 
The first impulse arising out of such a belief is one of satisfaction at 
the improved condition of mankind. And yet I feel, with Dean 
Merivale, that there is a real danger of our overstating the case 
against classic paganism : and if I could suppose an advocate on its 
behalf to arise and to challenge us with full knowledge of our past, 
as well as of his own side, he might possibly address us in language 
of this sort, — “ You claim the possession of a purer light, of a truly 
philanthropic creed. For that very reason we have a right to ask 
for justice at your hands. State, if you will, the case that can be 
made out against us, and for yourselves ; but state it fairly, and 
state it as a whole.” To examine the problems here suggested 
would be not merely an unwarrantable demand upon your time, 
which I have already occupied so long, but it might involve, I fear, 
something like a breach of trust as introducing themes unsuited for 
