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051 - Book 5 Chapter VI · Last Days of Pompeii

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  Speaker 1: Book five, chapter six 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. Bulward Lytton, Book five, chapter six. Calenus and Burbo,
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  Speaker 1: diomed and Claudius, the girl of the Amphitheater and Julia.
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  Speaker 1: The sudden catastrophe which had, as it were, riven the
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  Speaker 1: very bonds of society and left prisoner and jailer alike free,
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  Speaker 1: had soon rid Calanus of the guards to whose care
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  Speaker 1: the pratur had consigned him. And when the darkness and
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  Speaker 1: the crowd separated the priest from his attendants, he hastened
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  Speaker 1: with trembling steps towards the temple of his goddess. As
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  Speaker 1: he crept along and ere the darkness was complete, he
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  Speaker 1: felt himself suddenly caught by the rope, and a voice
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  Speaker 1: muttered in his ear. Hist Calenus, an off flower, Aye
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  Speaker 1: by my father's head. Who art thou? Thy face is
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  Speaker 1: dim and thy voice is strange, know not thy Burbo
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  Speaker 1: fie Gods, how the darkness gathers ho ho by yon,
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  Speaker 1: terrific mountain, What sudden blazes of lightning, how they dart
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  Speaker 1: and quiver? Hades is loosed on earth? Tush, thou believest
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  Speaker 1: not these things, Calenus. Now is the time to make
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  Speaker 1: our fortune. Ha Listen. Thy temple is full of gold
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  Speaker 1: and precious moneries. Let us load ourselves with them, and
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  Speaker 1: then hasten to the sea and embark. None will ever
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  Speaker 1: ask an account of the doings of this day, Burbo,
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  Speaker 1: thou art right, Hush and follow me into the temple.
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  Speaker 1: Who cares now? Who sees now? Whether thou art priest
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  Speaker 1: or not? Follow and we will share. In the precincts
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  Speaker 1: of the temple were many priests gathered around the altars, praying, weeping,
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  Speaker 1: groveling in the dust, impostors in safety, they were not
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  Speaker 1: the less superstitious in danger. Calenis passed them and entered
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  Speaker 1: the chamber, yet to be seen in the south side
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  Speaker 1: of the court. Burbo followed him. The priests struck a
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  Speaker 1: light wine, and vians strewed the table the remains of
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  Speaker 1: a sacrificial feast. A man who has hungered forty eight
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  Speaker 1: hours muttered, Calenis has an appetite even in such a
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  Speaker 1: time he seized on the food and devoured it greedily.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing could perhaps be more unnaturally horrid than the selfish
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  Speaker 1: baseness of these villains. For there is nothing more loathsome
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  Speaker 1: than the valor of avarice, plunder, and sacrilege. While the
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  Speaker 1: pillars of the world tottered to and fro What an
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  Speaker 1: increase to the terrors of nature can be made by
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  Speaker 1: the vices of man? Wilt thou never have done? Said Burbo, impatiently,
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  Speaker 1: Thy face purples, and thine eyes start already. It is
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  Speaker 1: not every day one has such a right to be hungry,
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  Speaker 1: Oh Jupiter, What sound is that? The hissing of fiery water?
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  Speaker 1: What does the cloud give rain as well as flame? Ha?
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  Speaker 1: What shrieks and Burbo? How silent all is? Now? Look
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  Speaker 1: forth amidst the other horrors. The mighty mountain now cast
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  Speaker 1: up columns of boiling water, blent and kneaded with the
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  Speaker 1: half burning ashes. The streams fell like seething mud over
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  Speaker 1: the streets in frequent intervals and full where the priests
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  Speaker 1: of Isis had now cowered around the altars on which
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  Speaker 1: they had vainly sought to kindle fires and pour incense.
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  Speaker 1: One of the fiercest of those deadly torrents, mingled with
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  Speaker 1: immense fragments of scoria, had poured its rage over the
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  Speaker 1: bended forms of the priests. It dashed. That cry had
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  Speaker 1: been of death, that silence had been of eternity. The ashes,
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  Speaker 1: the pitchy streams, sprinkled, the altars, covered the pavement, and
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  Speaker 1: half concealed the quivering corpses of the priests. They are dead,
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  Speaker 1: said Burbo, terrified for the first time, and hurrying back
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  Speaker 1: into the cell, I thought not, the danger was so
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  Speaker 1: near and fatal. The two wretches stood staring at each other.
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  Speaker 1: You might have heard their hearts beat. Calanus, the less
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  Speaker 1: bold by nature, but the more gripping, recovered. First. We
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  Speaker 1: must to our task, and away, he said in a
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  Speaker 1: low whisper. Frightened at his own voice, he stepped to
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  Speaker 1: the threshold, paused, crossed over the heated floor and his
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  Speaker 1: dead brethren to the sacred chapel, and called to Burbo
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  Speaker 1: to follow. But the gladiator quaked and drew back. So
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  Speaker 1: much the better, thought Calenus, the more will be my booty.
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  Speaker 1: Hastily he loaded himself with the more portable treasures of
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  Speaker 1: the temple, and thinking no more of his comrade, hurried
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  Speaker 1: from the sacred place. A sudden flash of lightning from
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  Speaker 1: the mount showed to Burbo, who stood motionless at the threshold,
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  Speaker 1: the flying and laden form of the priest. He took heart.
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  Speaker 1: He stepped forth to join him, when a tremendous shower
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  Speaker 1: of ashes fell right across his feet. The gladiator shrank back.
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  Speaker 1: Once more. Darkness closed him in, but the shower continued
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  Speaker 1: fast fast. Its heaps rose high, and suffocatingly. Deathly vapors
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  Speaker 1: steamed from them. The wretch gasped for breath. He sought,
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  Speaker 1: in despair again to fly. The ashes had blocked up
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  Speaker 1: the threshold. He shrieked as his feet shrank from the
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  Speaker 1: boiling fluid. How could he escape? He could not climb
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  Speaker 1: to the open space. Nay, were he able, he could
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  Speaker 1: not brave its horrors. It were best to remain in
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  Speaker 1: the cells, protected at least from the fatal air. He
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  Speaker 1: sat down and clenched his teeth. By degrees, the atmosphere
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  Speaker 1: from without, stifling and venomous, crept into the chamber. He
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  Speaker 1: could endure it no longer. His eyes, glaring round, rested
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  Speaker 1: on a sacrificial axe which some priest had left in
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  Speaker 1: the chamber. He seized it with the desperate strength of
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  Speaker 1: his gigantic arm. He attempted to hew his way through
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  Speaker 1: the walls. Meanwhile, the streets were already thinned. The crowd
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  Speaker 1: had hastened to disperse itself under shelter. The ashes began
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  Speaker 1: to fill up the lower parts of the town. But
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  Speaker 1: here and there you heard the steps of fugitives, cranching
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  Speaker 1: them warily, or saw their pale and haggard faces by
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  Speaker 1: the blue glare of the lightning, or the more unsteadied
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  Speaker 1: glare of torches, by which they endeavored to steer their stae.
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  Speaker 1: But ever and anon, the boiling water, or the straggling ashes,
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  Speaker 1: mysterious and gusty winds, rising and dying in a breath,
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  Speaker 1: extinguished these wandering lights, and with them the last living
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  Speaker 1: hope of those who bore them. In the street that
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  Speaker 1: leads to the gate of Herculaneum. Claudius now bent his
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  Speaker 1: perplexed and doubtful way. If I can gain the open country,
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  Speaker 1: thought he doubtless. There will be various vehicles beyond the gate,
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  Speaker 1: and Herculaneum is not far distant, Thank Mercury, I have
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  Speaker 1: little to lose, and that little is about me. Holdah,
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  Speaker 1: help there, help, cried a querulous and frightened voice. I
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  Speaker 1: have fallen down, My torch has gone out. My slaves
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  Speaker 1: have deserted me. I am Diomed, the rich Diomed ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand sisterces to him who helps me. At the same moment,
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  Speaker 1: Claudius felt himself caught by the feet ill fortune to thee.
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  Speaker 1: Let me go fool, said the gameler. Oh help me up,
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  Speaker 1: give me thy hand. There rise is this Claudius, I
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  Speaker 1: know the voice. Whither fliest thou towards herculaneum. Blessed be
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  Speaker 1: the gods. Our way is the same. Then, as far
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  Speaker 1: as the gate, why not take refuge in my villa?
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  Speaker 1: Thou knowest the long range of subterranean cellars beneath the
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  Speaker 1: basement that shouder what shower can penetrate? You? Speak well,
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  Speaker 1: said Claudius, musingly. And by storing the cellar with food,
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  Speaker 1: we can remain there even some days. Should these wondrous
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  Speaker 1: storms endure so long, Oh, blessed be he who invented
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  Speaker 1: gates to a city, cried Diomed. See they have placed
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  Speaker 1: a light within yon Arch. By that let us guide
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  Speaker 1: our steps. The air was now still. For a few minutes,
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  Speaker 1: the lamp from the gate streamed out far and clear.
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  Speaker 1: The fugitives hurried on. They gained the gate, they passed
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  Speaker 1: by the Roman sentry. The lightning flashed over his livid
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  Speaker 1: face and polished helmet, but his stern features were composed
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  Speaker 1: even in their awe. He remained erect and motionless at
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  Speaker 1: his post. The hour itself had not animated the machine
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  Speaker 1: of the ruthless Majesty of Rome into the reasoning and
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  Speaker 1: self acting man. There he stood amidst the crashing elements.
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  Speaker 1: He had not received the permission to desert his station
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  Speaker 1: and escape. Diamed and his companion hurried on, when suddenly
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  Speaker 1: a female form rushed athwart their way. It was the
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  Speaker 1: girl whose ominous voice had been raised so often and
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  Speaker 1: so gladly in anticipation of the merry show. Oh diomed.
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  Speaker 1: She cried, Shelter, shelter, see, pointing to an infant clasp
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  Speaker 1: to her breast. See this little one, it is mine,
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  Speaker 1: the child of shame. I have never owned it till
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  Speaker 1: this hour, but now I remember I am a mother.
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  Speaker 1: I have plucked it from the cradle of its nurse.
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  Speaker 1: She had fled, who could think of the babe in
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  Speaker 1: such an hour. But she who bore it, save it,
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  Speaker 1: save it, curses on thy shrill voice. Away Harlot, muttered
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  Speaker 1: Claudius between his ground teeth. Nay, girl said the more
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  Speaker 1: humane Diomed follow, if thou wilt this way, this way
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  Speaker 1: to the vaults. They hurried on. They arrived at the
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  Speaker 1: house of Diomed. They laughed aloud as they crossed the threshold,
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  Speaker 1: for they deemed the danger over. Diomed ordered his slaves
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  Speaker 1: to carry down into the subterranean gallery before described a
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  Speaker 1: profusion of food and oil for lights. And there Julia, Claudius,
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  Speaker 1: the mother and her babe, the greater part of the slaves,
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  Speaker 1: and some frightened visitors and clients of the neighborhood sought
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  Speaker 1: their shelter. End of Book five, Chapter six two