139 SUBTERRANEOUS WONDERS. 
The destiny of the Pompeians must have been 
It was not a stream of tire which encompassed their Jit 
they could then have sought refuge in flight. 
an earthquake swallow them up ; sudden 
w 
■ould then have spared them the pangs of a 
ua>^> ojyc»A'wv« — q- — 
death. A rain of ashes buried them alive bt d®® k^. 
tvlli read the delineation of Pliny.— “ A d^(' 
We tvlli read the delineation of Pliny.—" A 
suddenly overspread the country ; not like the darK _ , 
'vrl'“; 
Dtuiucut^ ^ , Jn " 1 
a moonless night ; but like that of a closed room, ^ ,r 
tlie light is on a sudden extinguished. Women 
children moaned, men cried. Here, children wei^ A 
ously calling their parents ; and there, parents were .ji* 
• .1 r._ 'l-i KtioVv'iii/lc fltMtr •uriir/iQ • Jill 
oust}' ^ 
ing their children, or husbands their wives ; all rtci. 
each other only by their cries. The forniei' la™r-nte 
own fate, anu. me 
Many wished for death, from the fear of dying. 
on the gods for assistance : others despaired of 
ence of the gods, and thought this tlie last eternal 
the world. Actual dangers w'ere magnified by tinWj- 
rors. The earth continued to shake, and men, l'' 
traded, to reel about, exaggerating their own ’ 
those of others, by terrifying predictions.” / 
Such is the frightful but true picture which 
and the latter that of those deare.st 1® -jllr 
— ■ jk ' • 
118 of the horrors of those who were, however, * K, 
But what must hi>'^^ F 
the extremity of their misery. . . o- u- ■ 
the feelings of the Pompeians, when the j 
mountain, and the quaking of the earth, awakf ^i' 
from their first sleep ? They also attempted to 
wrath of the gods ; and. seizing the most valuan J 
f -■* — « o ■ ,1 C 
they could lay their hands upon in the darkness an 
Sion, to seek their safety in flight. In this stree|’j|,ji 
front of the house marked with the friendly ^ahh .,t 
its threshold, seven skeletons were found: the ‘ fp, 
ried a lamp, and the 1-651 had still between the bone^ _ 
fingers something that they wished to save, 
jhey were overtaken by the storm which dcscen 
jeaven, and buried in the grave thus made 
Before the above-mentioned country-house was 
skeleton, standing with a dish in his hand ; 
wore on his finger one of those rings which wet®^ fo 
to be worn by Homan knights only, he is *upP°*Li)e^ 
bem tile master of the house, who had just oP 
