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044 - Book 4 Chapter XVI · Last Days of Pompeii

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  Speaker 1: Book four, Chapter sixteen of Last Days of Pompeii. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. This recording by Amy Benton. Last Days
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  Speaker 1: of Pompeii by Edward G. Bulwer Lytton Book four, Chapter sixteen,
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  Speaker 1: The Sorrow of Boon, Companions for our afflictions, the Dungeon
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  Speaker 1: and its victims. It was now late on the third
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  Speaker 1: and last day of the trial of Glaucus and Olynthus,
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  Speaker 1: a few hours after the court had broken up and
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  Speaker 1: judgment when given, a small party of the fashionable youth
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  Speaker 1: at Pompeii were assembled round the fastidious board of Lepidus.
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  Speaker 1: So Glaucus denies his crime to the last, said Clodius. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: But the testimony of Arbaces was convincing. He saw the
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  Speaker 1: blow given, answered Lepidus. What could have been the cause
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  Speaker 1: why the priest was a gloomy and sullen fellow? He
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  Speaker 1: probably rated Glaucus about his gay life and gaming habits,
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  Speaker 1: and ultimately swore he would not consent to his marriage
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  Speaker 1: with Ione. High words arose. Glaucus seems to have been
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  Speaker 1: full of the passionate God, and struck in sudden exasperation.
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  Speaker 1: The excitement of wine, the desperation of abrupt remorse brought
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  Speaker 1: on the delirium under which he suffered for some days.
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  Speaker 1: And I can readily imagine poor fellow, that, yet confused
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  Speaker 1: by that delirium, he is even now unconscious of the
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  Speaker 1: crime he committed. Such, at least is the shrewd conjecture
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  Speaker 1: of Arbaces, who seems to have been most kind and
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  Speaker 1: forbearing in his testimony. Yes, he has made himself generally
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  Speaker 1: popular by it. But in consideration of these extenuating circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: the Senate should have relaxed the sentence, and they would
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  Speaker 1: have done so but for the people. But they were outrageous.
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  Speaker 1: The priest had spared no pains to excite them, and
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  Speaker 1: they imagined the ferocious brutes because Glaucus was a rich
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  Speaker 1: man and a gentleman, that he was likely to escape,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore they were inveterate against him, and doubly resolved
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  Speaker 1: upon his sentence. It seems, by some accident or other,
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  Speaker 1: that he was never formally enrolled as a Roman citizen,
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  Speaker 1: and thus the Senate is deprived of the power to
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  Speaker 1: resist the people. Though after all, there was but a
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  Speaker 1: majority of three against him. O the Chaiant, he looks
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  Speaker 1: sadly altered, but how composed and fearless. Hey, we shall
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  Speaker 1: see if his firmness will last over tomorrow. But what
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  Speaker 1: merit and courage when that esthetical hound olynthus manifested the
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  Speaker 1: same the blasphemer, Yes, said Lepidus, with pious wrath. No
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  Speaker 1: wonder that one of the decurions was but two days
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  Speaker 1: ago struck dead by lightning in a serene sky. The
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  Speaker 1: gods feel vengeance against Pompeii, while the vile desecrator is
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  Speaker 1: alive within its walls. Yet so lenient was the Senate that,
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  Speaker 1: had he but expressed his penitence and scattered a few
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  Speaker 1: grains of incense on the altar of Sybel, he would
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  Speaker 1: have been let off. I doubt whether these Nazarenes, had
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  Speaker 1: they the state religion, would be as tolerant to us,
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  Speaker 1: closing we had kicked down the image of their deity,
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  Speaker 1: blasphemed their rights and denied their faith. They give Glaucus
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  Speaker 1: one chance. In consideration of the circumstances. They allow him
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  Speaker 1: against the lion the use of the same stylus, wherewith
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  Speaker 1: he smote the priest, hast thou seen the lion, Hast
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  Speaker 1: thou looked at his teeth and fangs, And wilt thou
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  Speaker 1: call that a chance? Why sword and buckler would be
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  Speaker 1: mere reed and papyrus against the rush of the mighty beast. No,
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  Speaker 1: I think the true mercy has been not to leave
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  Speaker 1: him long in suspense. And it was therefore fortunate for
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  Speaker 1: him that our benign laws are slow to pronounce but
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  Speaker 1: swift to execute, and that the games of the amphitheater
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  Speaker 1: had been by a sort of providence so long since
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  Speaker 1: fixed for tomorrow. He who awaits death dies twice. As
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  Speaker 1: for the atheist, said Clodius, he is to cope the
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  Speaker 1: grim tiger naked handed. Well, these combats are past betting
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  Speaker 1: on who will take the odds? A peal of laughter
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  Speaker 1: announced to the ridicule of the question, Poor Clodae, said
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  Speaker 1: the host I. To lose a friend is something, but
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  Speaker 1: to find no one to bet on the chance of
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  Speaker 1: his escape is a worse misfortune to be why it
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  Speaker 1: is provoking. It would have been some consolation to him
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  Speaker 1: and to me to think he was useful to the last.
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  Speaker 1: The people said the grave Pansa are all delighted with
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  Speaker 1: the result. They were so much afraid the sports of
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  Speaker 1: the amphitheater would go off without a criminal for the beasts.
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  Speaker 1: And now to get two such criminals is indeed a
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  Speaker 1: joy for the poor fellows. They work hard, they ought
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  Speaker 1: to have some amusement. There speaks the popular Pansa, who
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  Speaker 1: never moves without a string of clients. As long as
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  Speaker 1: an Indian triumph, he is always prating about the people
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  Speaker 1: God's He will end by being a Grachus. Certainly, I
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  Speaker 1: am no insolent patrician, said Pansa, with a generous air.
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  Speaker 1: Well observed Lepidus. It would have been assuredly dangerous to
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  Speaker 1: have been merciful on the eve of a beast fight.
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  Speaker 1: If ever, I, though a Roman bred and born, come
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  Speaker 1: to be tried. Pray Jupiter, though we may be either
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  Speaker 1: no beasts in the Vivaria or plenty of criminals in
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  Speaker 1: the gal And pray, said one of the party. What
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  Speaker 1: has become of that poor girl whom Glaucus was to
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  Speaker 1: have married a widow without being a bride. That is hard, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: returned Clodius. She is safe under the protection of her
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  Speaker 1: guardian Arbaces. It was natural she should go to him
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  Speaker 1: when she had lost both lover and brother. How by
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  Speaker 1: sweet Venus, Glaucus was fortunate among the women. They say
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  Speaker 1: the rich Julia was in love with him. A mere fable,
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  Speaker 1: my friend, said Clodius cox comically, I was with her
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  Speaker 1: to day. If any feeling of the sort she ever conceived,
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  Speaker 1: I flatter myself that I have consoled her. Hush, gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: said Pansa. Do you not know that Clodius is employed
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  Speaker 1: at the house of diomed In blowing hard at the
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  Speaker 1: torch it begins to burn and will soon shine bright
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  Speaker 1: on the shrine of Hymen? Is it so, said Lepidus,
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  Speaker 1: What Clodius become a married man? Fie never fear, answered Clodius.
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  Speaker 1: Old diomed is delighted at the notion of marrying his
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  Speaker 1: daughter to a nobleman, and will come down largely with
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  Speaker 1: the sesterces. You will see that I shall not lock
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  Speaker 1: them up in the atrium. It will be a white
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  Speaker 1: day for his jolly friends when Clodius marries an heiress,
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  Speaker 1: Say you so, cried Lepidus. Come then a full cup
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  Speaker 1: to the health of the fair Julia. While such was
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  Speaker 1: the conversation, one not discordant to the tone of mind
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  Speaker 1: common among the dissipated of that day, and which might,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a century ago, have found an echo in the
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  Speaker 1: looser circles of Paris. While such, I say, was the
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  Speaker 1: conversation in the gaudy triclinium of Lepidus far different the
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  Speaker 1: scene which scowled before the young Athenian. After his condemnation,
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  Speaker 1: Glaucus was admitted no more to the gentle guardianship of Sallust,
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  Speaker 1: the only friend of his distress. He was led along
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  Speaker 1: the forum till the guards stopped at a small door
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  Speaker 1: by the side of the temple of Jupiter. You may
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  Speaker 1: see the place still. The door opened in the center
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  Speaker 1: in a somewhat singular fashion, revolving round on its hinges,
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  Speaker 1: as it were like a modern turnstile, so as only
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  Speaker 1: to leave half the threshold open. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: through this narrow aperture they thrust the prisoner, placed before
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  Speaker 1: him a loaf and a pitcher of water, and left
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  Speaker 1: him to darkness. And, as he thought, to solitude, so
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  Speaker 1: suddenly had been that revolution of fortune which had prostrated
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  Speaker 1: him from the palmy height of youthful pleasure and successful
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  Speaker 1: love to the lowest abyss of ignominy, and the horror
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  Speaker 1: of the most bloody death, that he could scarcely convince
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  Speaker 1: himself that he was not held in the meshes of
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  Speaker 1: some fearful dream. His elastic and glorious frame had triumphed
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  Speaker 1: over a portion, the greater part of which he had
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  Speaker 1: fortunately not drained. He had recovered sense and consciousness, but
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  Speaker 1: still a dim and misty depression clung to his nerves
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  Speaker 1: and darkened his mind. His natural courage and the Greek
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  Speaker 1: nobility of pride enabled him to vanquish all unbecoming apprehension, and,
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  Speaker 1: in the judgment court, to face his awful lot with
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  Speaker 1: the steady mien and unquailing eye. But the consciousness of
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  Speaker 1: innocence scarcely sufficed to support him. When the gaze of
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  Speaker 1: men no longer excited his haughty valor, and he was
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  Speaker 1: left loneliness and silence, he felt the damps of the
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  Speaker 1: dungeon sink chillingly into his enfeebled frame. He the fastidius,
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  Speaker 1: the luxurious, the refined, He who had hitherto braved no
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  Speaker 1: hardship and known no sorrow, beautiful bird that he was,
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  Speaker 1: Why had he left his far and sunny clime, the
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  Speaker 1: olive groves of his native hills, The music of immemorial streams.
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  Speaker 1: Why had he wantoned on his glittering plumage amidst these
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  Speaker 1: harsh and ungenial strangers, dazzling the eyes with his gorgeous hues,
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  Speaker 1: charming the ear with his blithesome song. Thus suddenly to
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  Speaker 1: be arrested, caged in darkness, a victim and a prey.
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  Speaker 1: His gay flights for ever over, his hymns of gladness,
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  Speaker 1: forever stilled the poor Athenian, his very false the exuberance
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  Speaker 1: of a gentle and joyous nature. How little had his
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  Speaker 1: past career fitted him for the trials He was destined
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  Speaker 1: to undergo the hoots of the mob. Amidst whose plaudits
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  Speaker 1: he had so often guided his graceful car and bounding
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  Speaker 1: steeds still rang gratingly in his ear. The cold and
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  Speaker 1: stony faces of former friends, the co mates of merry revels,
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  Speaker 1: still rose before his eye. None now wereby to soothe,
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  Speaker 1: to sustain the admired, the adulated stranger. These walls opened,
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  Speaker 1: but on the dread arena of a violent and shameful death,
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  Speaker 1: and ione of her too, he had heard nought, no
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  Speaker 1: encouraging word, no pitying message. She too had forsaken him.
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  Speaker 1: She believed him guilty, and of what crime? The murder
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  Speaker 1: of a brother? He ground his teeth, he groaned aloud,
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  Speaker 1: and ever anon a sharp fear shot across him in
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  Speaker 1: that fell and fierce delirium, which had so unaccountably seized
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  Speaker 1: his soul, which had so ravaged the disordered brain, Might he, not,
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  Speaker 1: in unknowing to himself, have committed the crime of which
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  Speaker 1: he was accused. Yet as the thought flashed upon him,
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  Speaker 1: it was as suddenly checked for amidst all the darkness
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  Speaker 1: of the past, He thought distinctly to recall the dim
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  Speaker 1: grove of cybel the upward face of the pale dead,
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  Speaker 1: the pause that he had made beside the corpse, and
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  Speaker 1: the sudden shock that felled him to the earth. He
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  Speaker 1: felt convinced of his innocence. And yet who to the
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  Speaker 1: latest time, long after his mangled remains were mingled with
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  Speaker 1: the elements, would believe him guiltless or uphold his fame.
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  Speaker 1: As he recalled his interview with Arbaces and the causes
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  Speaker 1: of revenge which had been excited in the heart of
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  Speaker 1: that dark and fearful man, he could not but believe
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  Speaker 1: that he was the victim of some deep laid and
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  Speaker 1: mysterious snare, the clew and train of which was lost
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  Speaker 1: in attempting to discover, and ione Arbaces loved her. Might
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  Speaker 1: his rival's success be founded upon his ruin That thought
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  Speaker 1: cut him more deeply than all, and his noble heart
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  Speaker 1: was more stung by jealousy, then appalled by fear again,
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  Speaker 1: he groaned aloud. A voice from the recess of the
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  Speaker 1: darkness answered that burst of anguish. Ooh, it said, is
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  Speaker 1: my companion in this awful hour? Athenian Glaucus, Is it thou? So?
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  Speaker 1: Indeed they called me in mine hour of fortune. They
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  Speaker 1: may have other names for me now, and thy name
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  Speaker 1: stranger is all in this thy comte in the prison
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  Speaker 1: as the trial? What he whom they call the atheist?
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  Speaker 1: Is it the injustice of men that hast taught thee
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  Speaker 1: to deny the providence of the gods? Alas answered Olenhus,
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  Speaker 1: Thou not I art the true atheist, For thou deniest
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  Speaker 1: the soul, true God, the unknown one to whom thy
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  Speaker 1: Athenian fathers erected an altar. It is in this hour
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  Speaker 1: that I know my God. He is with me in
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  Speaker 1: the dungeon. His smile penetrates the darkness. On the eve
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  Speaker 1: of death. My heart whispers immortality, and earth recedes from me.
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  Speaker 1: But to bring the weary soul nearer and to Heaven,
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  Speaker 1: tell me, said Glaucus abruptly. Did I not hear thy
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  Speaker 1: name coupled with that of Apacides in my trial? Dost
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  Speaker 1: thou believe me guilty? God alone reads the heart. But
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  Speaker 1: my suspicion rested not upon thee on whom then thy accuser,
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  Speaker 1: Arbaces Ha thou cheerest me. And wherefore, because I know
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  Speaker 1: the man's evil breast, and he had cause to fear
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  Speaker 1: him who is now dead. With that, Olenthus proceeded to
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  Speaker 1: inform Glaucus of those details which the reader already knows,
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  Speaker 1: the conversion of Apacides. The plan they had proposed for
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  Speaker 1: the detection of the impostures of the Egyptian upon the
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  Speaker 1: youthful weaknesses of the proselyte, therefore concluded Olenthus. Had the
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  Speaker 1: deceased encountered arbaces reviled his treasons and threatened detection the
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  Speaker 1: place the hour might have favored the wrath of the Egyptian,
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  Speaker 1: and passion and craft alike dictated the fatal blow. It
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  Speaker 1: must have been so, cried Glaucus, joyfully. I am happy.
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  Speaker 1: Yet what oh unfortunate avails to thee now the discovery
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  Speaker 1: Thou art condemned and fated, And in thine innocence thou
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  Speaker 1: wilt perish. But I shall know myself guiltless, and in
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  Speaker 1: my mysterious madness I had fearful, though momentary doubts. Yet
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  Speaker 1: tell me, man of strange creed, thinkest thou that for
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  Speaker 1: small errors, or for ancestral faults, we are forever abandoned
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  Speaker 1: and accursed by the powers above, whatever name thou allottest
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  Speaker 1: to them. God is just and abandons not his creatures
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  Speaker 1: for their mere human frailty. God is merciful and curses
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  Speaker 1: none but the wicked, who repent Not. Yet it seemeth
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  Speaker 1: to me as if in the divine anger, I'd been
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  Speaker 1: smitten by a sudden madness, a supernatural and solemn frenzy,
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  Speaker 1: wrought not by human means. There are demons on earth,
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  Speaker 1: answered the Nazarene fearfully, as well as there are God
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  Speaker 1: and his son in heaven. And since thou acknowledgest not
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  Speaker 1: the last, the first may have had power over thee.
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  Speaker 1: Glaucus did not reply, and there was a silence for
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  Speaker 1: some minutes at length, the Athenian said, and a changed
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  Speaker 1: and soft and half hesitating voice. Christian believest thou among
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  Speaker 1: the doctrines of thy creed, that the dead live again,
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  Speaker 1: that they who have loved here are united hereafter, that
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  Speaker 1: beyond the grave, our good name shines pure from the
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  Speaker 1: mortal mists that unjustly dim it in this groside world.
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  Speaker 1: And that the streams which are divided by the desert
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  Speaker 1: in the rock meet in the solemn hades and flow
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  Speaker 1: once more into one. Believe I that, O Athenian, No,
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  Speaker 1: I do not believe. I know. And it is that
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  Speaker 1: beautiful and blessed assurance which supports me now, O Silen continued,
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  Speaker 1: olenthus passionately, bride of my heart torn from me in
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  Speaker 1: the first month of our nuptials, Shall I not see
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  Speaker 1: THEE yet? And ere many days be passed. Welcome, Welcome
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  Speaker 1: death that will bring me to heaven and THEE. There
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  Speaker 1: was something in this sudden burst of human affection which
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  Speaker 1: struck a kindred chord in the soul of the g
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  Speaker 1: He felt for the first time a sympathy greater than
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  Speaker 1: mere affliction between him and his companion. He crept nearer
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  Speaker 1: towards Olinthus. For the Italians, fierce in some points, were
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  Speaker 1: not unnecessarily cruel in others. They spared the separate cell
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  Speaker 1: and the superfluous chain, and allowed the victims of the
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  Speaker 1: arena the sad comfort of such freedom and such companionship
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  Speaker 1: as the prison would afford. Yes, continued the Christian with
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  Speaker 1: wholly fervor. The immortality of the soul, the resurrection, the
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  Speaker 1: reunion of the dead, is the great principle of our creed,
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  Speaker 1: the great truth. A God suffered death itself to attest
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  Speaker 1: and proclaim, no fabled elysium, no poetic orcus, but a
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  Speaker 1: pure and radiant heritage of heaven itself is the portion
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  Speaker 1: of the good. Tell me then, thy doctrines, and expound
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  Speaker 1: to me thy hopes, said Glaucus earnestly. Olynthus was not
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  Speaker 1: slow to obey that prayer, And there as oftentimes in
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  Speaker 1: the early ages of the Christian creed, it was in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness of the dunch and over the approach of death,
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  Speaker 1: that the dawning Gospel shed its soft and consecrating rays.
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  Speaker 1: End of Book four, Chapter sixteen.