Show IF 14 4 w I 1 CONDENSED i CLASSICS aw THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII NY by EDWARD BULWER LYTTON cc deim fl liv hw F W tek fy of Cm Wt ui X j edward george earle lytton litton but bul more familiarly known to ti readers as ai B u I 1 lytton was born barn in lot arm don may aray 25 1803 H was more of 11 i 1 in ills 1 youth and had i a T much more public carper career than most men who ho ahnie ie I e is achieved fame it novelists at th tin nal of IE 15 h he dis by publishing n volume of cit poem and by falli fallins s V violently 0 1 eally it in I 1 loi t tint 1 t tie lie becaro bec h 1 bh 1 v morbid when till his proposal of li narrin ice was not taken seriously by the father of tl till kill girl he love slie she died a tev few years i airs liter M t e r and bulaner said sat that tt the 0 disep als ip embittered lit ills culp life bat at Ci trobridge he h won a medal for or th ahr excellence x nether ailt rice of a poc booti n and published i anollia i i book of verse orte lit in 1827 he hid had recovered rec recover merel ei from hla his premature prenn ture love loe affair to marry against ilia mothers wishes it a brilliant beisty of n society the match wis was fore doomed to be unhappy for both bulwer and hla his alte ire were too ton unrestrained to live 1 e together they them quarreled wore were legally separated anil an continued to quarrel in print for years sears bul er was rapidly winning renown arf als first novels noel were successes but it iva v 11 s not until last days das of pompeii 1334 that ills his tame fame was assured mno years yara later batir appeared appe appt ired ared tile the last 0 of f the he barons w aich many judges j i have consid ered ha best XO work T OV ile he wrote numerous 0 other her stories me novels of is society of L crime ri of my of 11 family life 11 he was tho ho most buce successful is 8 ful dramatist of his time H clab dabbled bled in journalism por for 10 year he be was rt a member of parliament wa lat later e r se e r e lary for the colonies and in 1866 was baa raised to the peerage BS as biron baron lytton ile he died on january 18 19 1873 2873 44 the athenian aga G f thy time little his has come said hald 11 loud and clear voice the alons amilt thee 1 I am ain rady 1 said the athenian no lie had bent his limbs so ns as to give hini self the fIr tiniest li niest nIt postIl posture re at the expected rush ruh of the hip lion hon with its his small anil and S hitting weapons raised on high in n tile the faint hope that one well directed thrust inight perie penetrate through the eye to the brain binan of hlf his grim foe rut but to the unutterable ment of till all the beat beast seemed ried not enen aware of the he presence pro sonio of df the cr criminal int at tile alie first moment of its re 11 loose lense it halted abruptly in the areil arona ft raised itself hilf half on end sni illing tile ilie upward air with impatient sighs own suddenly it sprang in ing forward but lit not on the athenian at half spond it circled round art and round the i ince turning its nast hend head front from sl side I 1 e t to 0 ide with till an mix tolls und and perturbed gare ar as if only sortie some avenue of os cape once or twice it endeavors end oared to to leip up tile llie parapet that divided it from froin the awlie audience nce and on oil falling uttered ratler a baffled how hol its deap bouvil and bingly klinl roar evinced it no sign sin ither t 0 it M ruth etli or hung giunn ir its tall drobik 1 along ilon tile the ind of lashing las liln it its gaunt lint sides and its IP ve though it wandered at t to i bill eug cus rolled ngali letle sly h froll at length n as if tired of aln to I 1 it capt mill it into ant i 11 its i care cage and once more laid itself it df d don dmn mn to rest tho the first of nf file lie ii attile nt lie apathy of if ille he lion drw n 1 into resentment it at ita ll i ind 1 ilia populace merged nir pil their pity tor for the lie fate fall of if into gingry compas lon ion fui for their illi own 11 ll anent ut the manager nia naper cilke to tile keeper 11 biow IR tills this take a coall and ami prick hlin forth und tind then clist the door of the un tell As the keeper with alth oina f 01 r but more was vas ing to obey it a loud ci cry ans fit at vile line ot of the enar ances of the arena there was as a confusion a hustle kolep li of remonstrance acmon tiance sud lenh hi til forth foitl and sudden i silence tit at the lie reply all ali eyes ees turned tumid in fit r toane board ill lii quarter of the the crow I 1 gave fe via anny and slid denly gallit lip peered on oil the senatorial sena torl il buriel ivl lils liala disheveled lin annd hilf half h e ile he cat cn ca t ills his eyvaz PM ns Is tily all around me HIP rarig lanno lt it alio lie he earled harv ha in tv lie he I 1 is innocent arrest alir tit rp thin lie he Is UK lie murderer nun dei r of apie c hideg aart art thou divid 0 illi fit atio praetor rising froin its ils seat lat what means this ranc I 1 11 remove ne moe the Athen liIn in 1 quick I 1 or his bis mood blood be on oil your liea 1 Pr flatter actor delay and you ou answer with lire life to the lie emperor I 1 bring with me ine the eye to the deith benth of the priest room koom therel alu stand back olie give i 1 people of Ilot compell fix every acry eve ee upon arbaces there lie sits goow there tor for the priest caff calc nuell nus pale haggard haR Kard fresh front from the jaws of famine and of death ilia his face fallen his bis eyes ces dull as a vultures his broad frame rame gaunt as a skeleton calends ii lenus wrt was I 1 slip ported into the very ery row rov lit in which 8 arl arbaces aces sat s a t his releasers relea sers had given elven him s sparingly r mi angly of food but the chief sustenance that nerved his fits feeble thrills limbs was revenge I 1 the priest Cule calends Ca lenus calends 11 cried the mob Is it lie he no it Is a dead man linan it Is the priest Ca calends lenus said the praetor letor bravely bia iely what hast thou thoa to say bay AI laces of egypt Is the murderer or of Ap accIdes the priest of isis these ees saw him deal the blow it Is from the dungeon into which he plunged me it Is from the darkness and horror of a death by h famine that tile the gods have raised tile me to proc proclaim lalin his crime I 1 release tin tilt Athe athenian lie he is innocent 1 V it Is for this then that the lion spared ani nl him blin A mira miracles clel a mira clell cried iania A I 1 a miracle V I 1 shouted clouted the e 1 re remote inove the athenian arbaces to tho the lion hon the power of the praetor was wa s as I 1 a rood beneath the whirlwind still at ills word iv oid the guards had drawn themselves along the lower ben benches clies on chih which the upper classes sat seli sp pirate arate fi aiom riom III tilt the they made lut but a fi adle eble barrI barrier pr the wines waves 0 of the hn hit soa 01 hilled tor for a moment ent to en mp arliece aili ids to count the h exact moment kiil it of it aili Ino iri in despair and in a 1 which bairt town donn men even pride lio lie glit nepI ills fits over hp hf rolling lolling till binl rushing crowd when right above throw 11 ohp avide chac chasm till which had li nl been lift left in ohp he ve velaria larla tip lie belfeld hel iril 1 I 1 and awful e belli behl ld and his lit craft u aft restored ills his c cour I 1 rio ile stretched his lii i hind on high over mir ills lofty lofti brow and royal roal fei turps there came tin BI expression of un knutter utter uble lible solemnity and command Ieli old 1 tic lie shouted with will a n voice of thunder stilled the roar of the crowd crow d behold how the gods protect the guiltless I 1 the fires of tho the avenging arcus burst forth against the false v witness atness of my accusers I 1 the tires of the avenging arcus were ivere those of the great erupt ivil of Vesti vesuvius vius in TO 79 A D toward such a climax furnished him by nature the author had been spinning I 1 I 1 ing the lives of lils ills characters in tile the little city which nestled under the lii dow of the volcano alcano the converging co ergang threads of the story are many man giving in the finall final weaving a complete picture of the life of pell its shops tiny palaces baths fortan bortan theater circus and all that dally took place in the energetic life nf if this toy tov copy of rome at the beginning of the christian era the story centers urband glaucus the athenian brilliant gry gny witty descendant of a nobler race fri volling himself away ninlin the coarser pleasures of the komans until finally all that was fine lit in lafin was brought forth by his love e for lone of naples who like hlin elf was w as a child of greece and tit this Is tile late of love loie runs the pathetic story of nydia aidla the blind slave se girl who centers ill all her tier hopes of happiness ness in winning the affection of glau eui cus to this end she gains possession of a love potion which the opulent jul julia la has had prepared in the bellef belief that it will bring to her the much de sired glaucus in reality the potion Is a poison aprison which will drive the unfortunate drinker mud mad it Is designed by the sinister egyptian arbaces to clear his path to lono ione from f om his fits rival glaucus in his raving glaucus comes colnes upon Ar arlees laes just as the latter has killed tones rones brother brot lier a young priest of isis isia who much to the annoyance of arbaces ling has embraced lie new filth falth arbaces Arli ices the hullt gallt upon prior gladous w ith apparent success nut bill the priest was a hidden witness with flit ln final remit shown in the g gibat re t cepl I 1 I 1 sip of ohp lip look book As the lie crowd in tile the circus turned their eps tow tir iril aresu vesuvius vius they the belie fil i lire that shifted and wavered in its lines with evory every now flow nerv luminous now of 11 lull dull and dying red that eliat again blazed forth with intolerable gi genre it re then there nrose on high the universal of women the men stared at each other but were dumb at that moment they felt the earth simile beneath their feet the walls wails 0 of f the lie theater trembled tri milled and beyond la in the I 1 distance they heard tile the crash of fulling falling roofs nn an instant more and the mountain loud clond seemed to roll towards thern them dierk and rapid like a torrent at the same time it cast forth front aiom its bosom a shower of aslies mixed vast fr fragments nent g 0 of f burning etoiel over the crashing vines over the desolate de streets over tin the amphitheater itself far and III wide with many a mighty splash in the lie aal bated sev saoi full fill tint that awful shower no longer thought tit alic crowd of jiust lee or nr of arbaces safety for themselves elvos was anva sole fach turned to n ily each pressing crushing crashing against the other it was sivo save fil himself who nho could in thil tant t night flight of horrors of the many e episodes teen seen in the lahs fIns lieg of light was that of df blind syvlia nycola gulding guiding to tolle inne and then loading leading both to sti fety she the only one tit at home in tile dark tress ness in she had always lived and then when they had gained a ship lind put to sea and all but hydis lind had fallen into exhausted slumber may the gods bless you athenian 1 site she murmured may inny you be happy willa your beloved one may you soule some times remember lydial V I 1 A sailor halt half dozing on the deck heard a slight splash on the waters drowsily he looked up and believed as tile the vessel merrily bo bounded on he fancied lit ho saw li something white above tile the waves copyright 1319 1919 by the post publishing co the Thel Boston post All AUrit rights lita r |