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050 - Book 5 Chapter V · Last Days of Pompeii

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  Speaker 1: Book five, Chapter five of the Last Days of Pompeii.
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  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. The Last Days of Pompeii by
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  Speaker 1: Edward G. Bulwer Lytton, Book five, Chapter five, The Cell
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  Speaker 1: of the Prisoner and the Den of the Dead Grief,
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  Speaker 1: unconscious of horror, stunned by his reprieve, doubting that he
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  Speaker 1: was awake, Glaucus had been led by the officers of
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  Speaker 1: the arena into a small cell within the walls of
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  Speaker 1: the theater. They threw a loose robe over his form,
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  Speaker 1: and crowded round in congratulation and wonder. There was an
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  Speaker 1: impatient and fretful cry. Without the cell, the throng gave way,
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  Speaker 1: and the blind girl, led by some gentler hand, flung
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  Speaker 1: herself at the feet of Glaucus. It was I who
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  Speaker 1: have saved thee, she sobbed. Now let me die, Nydia,
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  Speaker 1: my child, my preserver. Oh, let me feel thy touch,
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  Speaker 1: thy breath. Yes, yes, thou livest, we are not too late.
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  Speaker 1: That dread door methought it would never yield, And calenus,
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  Speaker 1: Oh his voice was as the dying wind among tombs.
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  Speaker 1: We had to wait. Gods, it seemed ours ere food
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  Speaker 1: and wine restored to him something of strength. But thou livest,
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  Speaker 1: thou livest yet, and I I have saved thee. This
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  Speaker 1: affecting scene was soon interrupted by the event just described
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  Speaker 1: the mountain. The earthquake resounded from side to side. The
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  Speaker 1: officers fled with the rest. They left Glaucus and Nydia
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  Speaker 1: to save themselves as they might. As the sense of
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  Speaker 1: the dangers around them flashed on the Athenian, his generous
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  Speaker 1: heart recurred to Olynthus he two was reprieved from the
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  Speaker 1: tiger by the hand of the gods, should he be
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  Speaker 1: left to a no less fatal death in the neighboring cell.
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  Speaker 1: Taking Nydia by the hand, Glaucus hurried across the passages.
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  Speaker 1: He gained the den of the Christian. He found olynthus
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  Speaker 1: kneeling and in prayer, Arise, Arise, my friend, he cried,
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  Speaker 1: save thyself and fly. See Nature is thy dread deliverer.
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  Speaker 1: He led forth the bewildered Christian and pointed to the
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  Speaker 1: cloud which advanced darker and darker, disgorging forth showers of
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  Speaker 1: ashes and pumice stones, and bade him hearken to the
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  Speaker 1: cries and trampling rush of the scattered crowd. This is
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  Speaker 1: the hand of God, God be praised, said Olynthus, devoutly fly,
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  Speaker 1: seek thy brethren, concert with them, thy escape. Farewell. Olynthus
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  Speaker 1: did not answer, neither did he mark the retreating form
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  Speaker 1: of his friend. High thoughts and solemn absorbed his soul,
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  Speaker 1: and in the enthusiasm of his kindling heart, he exulted
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  Speaker 1: in the mercy of God, rather than trembled at the
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  Speaker 1: evidence of his power. At length, he roused himself and
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  Speaker 1: hurried on. He scarce knew whither. The open doors of
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  Speaker 1: a dark, desolate cell suddenly appeared on his path. Through
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  Speaker 1: the gloom within. There flared and flickered a single lamp,
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  Speaker 1: and by its light he saw three grim and naked
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  Speaker 1: forms stretched on the earth in death. His feet were
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  Speaker 1: suddenly arrested, for amidst the terror of that drear recess
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  Speaker 1: the spolarium of the arena, he heard a low voice
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  Speaker 1: calling on the name of Christ. He could not resist
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  Speaker 1: lingering at that appeal. He entered the den, and his
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  Speaker 1: feet were dabbled in the slow streams of blood that
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  Speaker 1: gushed from the corpses over the sand, who said, the
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  Speaker 1: Nazarene calls upon the Son of God. No answer came forth,
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  Speaker 1: And turning round, olynthus beheld by the light of the
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  Speaker 1: lamp an old, gray headed man sitting on the floor,
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  Speaker 1: and supporting in his lap the head of one of
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  Speaker 1: the dead. The features of the dead man were firmly
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  Speaker 1: and rigidly locked in the last sleep. But over the
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  Speaker 1: lip there played a fierce smile, not the Christian's smile
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  Speaker 1: of hope, but the dark sneer of hatred and defiance.
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  Speaker 1: Yet on the face still lingered the beautiful roundness of
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  Speaker 1: early youth, the hair curled thick and glossy over the
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  Speaker 1: unwrinkled brow, and the down of manhood, but slightly shaded
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  Speaker 1: the marble of the hueless cheek. And over this face
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  Speaker 1: bent one of such unutterable sadness, of such yearning tenderness,
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  Speaker 1: of such fawn, and such deep despair. The tears of
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  Speaker 1: the old man fell fast and hot, but he did
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  Speaker 1: not feel them. And when his lips moved and he
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  Speaker 1: mechanically uttered the prayer of his benign and hopeful faith,
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  Speaker 1: neither his heart nor his sense responded to the words.
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  Speaker 1: It was but the involuntary emotion that broke from the
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  Speaker 1: lethargy of his mind. His boy was dead and had
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  Speaker 1: died for him, and the old man's heart was broken.
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  Speaker 1: Meaden said Olynthus, pityingly, arise and fly, God is forth
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  Speaker 1: upon the wings of the elements. The new Gomorah is doomed.
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  Speaker 1: Fly ere the fires consume thee He was ever so
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  Speaker 1: full of life, he cannot be dead. Come hither, place
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  Speaker 1: your hand on his heart. Sure it beats. Yet, brother,
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  Speaker 1: the soul has fled. We will remember it in our prayers.
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  Speaker 1: Thou canst not reanimate the dumb clay. Come, Come, hark
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  Speaker 1: while I speak you on crashing walls, harky on agonizing cries.
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  Speaker 1: Not a moment is to be lost. Come I hear nothing,
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  Speaker 1: said Meeden, shaking his gray hair. Poor boy, his love
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  Speaker 1: murdered him. Come, come forgive this friendly force. What who
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  Speaker 1: would sever the father from the son? And Miden clasped
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  Speaker 1: the body tightly in his embrace and covered it with
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  Speaker 1: passionate kisses. Go, said he, lifting up his face for
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  Speaker 1: one moment. Go, we must be alone. Alas said the
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  Speaker 1: compassionate Nazarene. Death has severed ye already the old man
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  Speaker 1: smiled very calmly. No, no, no, muttered, his voice growing
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  Speaker 1: lower with each word. Death has been more kind. With that,
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  Speaker 1: his head drooped to his son's breast, his arms relaxed
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  Speaker 1: their grasp. Olynthus caught him by the hand. The pulse
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  Speaker 1: had ceased to beat. The last words of the father
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  Speaker 1: were the words of truth. Death had been more kind. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: Glaucus and Idia were pacing swiftly up the perilous and
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  Speaker 1: fearful streets. The Athenian had learned from his preserver that
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  Speaker 1: Ione was yet in the house of Arbaces. Thither he
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  Speaker 1: fled to release to save her the few slaves whom
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  Speaker 1: the Egyptian had left at his mansion when he had repaired.
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  Speaker 1: In the long procession to the Amphitheater had been able
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  Speaker 1: to offer no resistance to the armed band of Sallust,
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  Speaker 1: And when afterwards the volcano broke forth, they huddled together,
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  Speaker 1: stunned and frightened, in the inmost recesses of the house.
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  Speaker 1: Even the tall Ethiopian had forsaken his post at the door,
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  Speaker 1: and Gaucus, who left Nydia without the poor Nydia jealous
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  Speaker 1: once more, even in such an hour, passed on through
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  Speaker 1: the vast hall, without meeting one from whom to learn
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  Speaker 1: the chamber of Iony. Even as he passed, however, the
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  Speaker 1: darkness that covered the heavens increased so rapidly that it
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  Speaker 1: was with difficulty that he could guide his steps. The
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  Speaker 1: flower wreathed columns seemed to reel and tremble, and with
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  Speaker 1: every instant he heard the ashes fall cranchingly into the
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  Speaker 1: roofless peristyle. He ascended to the upper rooms breathless. He
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  Speaker 1: paced along, shouting out aloud the name of Iony, and
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  Speaker 1: at length he heard, at the end of a gallery
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  Speaker 1: a voice, her voice in wondering reply. To rush forward,
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  Speaker 1: to shatter the door, to seize Iony in his arms.
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  Speaker 1: To hurry from the mansion seemed to him the work
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  Speaker 1: of an instant. Scarce had he gained the spot where
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  Speaker 1: Nydia was than he heard the steps advancing towards the
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  Speaker 1: house and recognized the voice of Arbaces, who had returned
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  Speaker 1: to seek his wealth and Iony. Ere he fled from
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  Speaker 1: the doomed Pompeii. But so dense was already the reeking
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  Speaker 1: atmosphere that the foes saw not each other, though so near,
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  Speaker 1: save that dimly in the gloom Glaucus caught the moving
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  Speaker 1: outline of the snowy robes of the Egyptian. They hastened
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  Speaker 1: onward those three alas, whither they now saw not a
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  Speaker 1: step before them. The blackness became utter. They were encompassed
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  Speaker 1: with doubt and horror, and the death he had escaped
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  Speaker 1: seemed to Glaucus only to have changed its form and
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  Speaker 1: augmented its victims. End of Book five, Chapter five,