period, "was turned into night, and light into darkness; an inexpressible quantity of dust and ashes was poured out, deluging land, sea, and air, and burying two entire cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii, while the people were sitting in the theatre!" Centuries afterwards, the excavations, not yet completed, were begun; and the traveller in Italy can now wander up and down the streets of these once luxurious towns, and see how the inhabitants of Italy lived in the early years of the Christian era. We shall present our readers with one or two of the scenes which have been imagined as likely to occur in Pompeii when destruction overtook it; but first as to the exact mode of the ruin of the two cities. "Various theories as to the exact mode by which Pompeii was destroyed have been invented by the ingenious; that which is the most generally received, and which, upon inspecting the strata, appears the only one admissible by common sense, is a destruction by showers of ashes and boiling water, mingled with frequent irruptions of large stones, and aided by partial convulsions of the earth. Herculaneum, on the contrary, appears to have received not only the showers of ashes, but also inundations from molten lava; and the streams must be considered as destined for that city rather than for Pompeii. Volcanic lightnings were evidently among the engines of ruin at Pompeii. Papyrus, and other of the more inflammable materials, are found in a burnt state Some substances in metal are partially melted; and a bronze statue is completely shivered, as by lightning." The spectacle, as viewed from the theatre with open roof, where all the rank and wealth of Pompeii were assembled, has been thus described :— : "The eyes of the crowd beheld, with ineffable dismay, a vast vapour shooting from the summit of Vesuvius, in the form of a gigantic pine-tree; the trunk, black ness, the branches, fire!-a fire that shifted and wavered in its hues with every moment, now fiercely luminous, now of a dull and dying red, that again blazed terrifically forth with intolerable glare! There was a dead, heart-sunken silence-through which there suddenly broke the roar of the lion, which was echoed back from within the building by the sharper and fiercer yells of its fellowbeast. Dread seers were they of the Burden of the Atmosphere, and wild prophets of the wrath to come! Then there arose on high the universal shrieks of women; the men stared at each other, but were dumb. At that moment they felt the earth shake be. neath their feet; the walls of the theatre trembled; and, beyond in the distance, they heard the crash of falling roofs; an instant more and the mountain-cloud seemed to roll towards them, dark and rapid, like a torrent; at the same time, it cast forth from its bosom a shower of ashes, mixed with vast fragments of burning stone! Over the crushing vines, -over the desolate streets,—over the amphitheatre itself,-far and wide,with many a mighty splash in the agitated sea. - fell that awful shower! No longer thought the crowd of sport: safety for themselves was their sole thought. Each turned to fly-each dashing, pressing, crushing, against the other. Trampling recklessly over the fallen-amidst groans, and oaths, and prayers, and sudden shrieks, the enormous crowd vomited itself forth through the numerous passages. Whither should they fly? Some, anticipating a second. earthquake, hastened to their homes to load themselves with their more costly goods, and escape while it was yet time; others, dreading the showers of ashes that now fell fast, torrent upon torrent, over the streets, rushed under the roofs of the nearest houses, or temples, or sheds-shelter of any kind-for protection from the terrors of the open air. But darker, and larger, and mightier, spread the cloud above them. It was a sudden and more ghastly Night rushing upon the realm of Noon!" The Romans, not content with their own monstrous array of divinities, had adopted the gods of other countries which they had subjugated, but these were powerless to help the terrified inhabitants of Pompeii in this awful hour. "Amidst the other horrors, the mighty mountain now cast up columns of boiling water. Blent and kneaded with the half-burning ashes, the streams fell like seething mud over the streets in frequent intervals. And full, where the priests of Isis had now cowered around the altars, on which they had vainly sought to kindle fires and pour incense, one of the fiercest of those deadly torrents, mingled with immense fragments of scoria, had poured its rage. Over the bended forms of the priests it dashed: that cry had been of death-that silence had been of eternity! The ashes-the pitchy stream sprinkled the altars, covered the pavement, and half concealed the quivering corpses of the priests! The cloud, which had scattered so deep a murkiness over the day, had now settled into a solid and impenetrable mass. It resembled less even the thickest gloom of a night in the open air than the close and blind darkness of some narrow room. But in proportion as the blackness gathered, did the lightnings around Vesuvius increase in their vivid and scorching glare. Nor was their horrible beauty confined to the usual hues of fire'; no rainbow ever rivalled their varying and prodigal dyes. Now brightly blue as the most azure depth of a southern sky-now of a livid and snakelike green, darting restlessly to and fro as the folds of an enormous serpent-now of a lurid and intolerable crimson, gushing forth through the columns of smoke, far and wide, and lighting up the whole city from arch to arch-then suddenly dying into a sickly paleness, like the ghost of their own life! In the pauses of the showers, they heard the rumbling of the earth beneath, and the groaning waves of the tortured sea; or, lower still, and audible but to the watch of intensest fear, the grinding and hissing murmur of the escaping gases through the chasms of the distant mountain. Sometimes the cloud appeared to break from its solid mass, and, by the lightning, to assume quaint and vast mimicries of human or of monster shapes, striding across the gloom, hurtling one upon the other, and vanishing swiftly into the turbulent abyss of shade; so that, to the eyes and fancies of the affrighted wanderers, the unsubstantial vapours were as the bodily forms of gigantic foes, -the agents of terror and of death. The ashes in many places were already knee-deep; and the boiling showers which came from the steaming breath of the volcano forced their way into the houses, bearing with them a strong and suffocating vapour. In some places, immense fragments of rock, hurled upon the house roofs, bore down along the street masses of confused ruin, which yet more and more, with every hour, obstructed the way; and, as the day advanced, the motion of the earth was more sensibly felt-the footing seemed to slide and creep-nor could chariot or litter be kept steady, even on the most level ground. Sometimes the huger stones, striking against each other as they fell, broke into countless fragments, emitting sparks of fire, which caught whatever was combustible within their reach; and along the plains beyond the city the darkness was now terribly relieved; for several houses, and even vineyards, had been set on flames; and at various intervals the fire rose suddenly and fiercely against the solid gloom. To add to this partial relief of the darkness, the citizens had, here and there, in the more public places, such as the porticoes of temples and the entrances to the forum, endeavoured to place rows of torches; but these rarely continued long; the showers and the winds extinguished them, and the sudden darkness into which their sudden birth was converted, had something in it doubly terrible and doubly impressing on the impotence of human hopes, the lesson of despair. Volcanic lightning supplied sometimes the place of these vain artificial lights, and enabled the terrified citizens, by in the utter darkness, were rendered doubly appalling by the crushing sense of helplessness and the uncertainty of the perils around; and clear and distinct through all were the mighty and various noises from the Fatal Mountain; its rushing winds; its whirling torrents; and, from time to time, the burst and roar of some more fiery and fierce explosion. And even as the wind swept howling along the street, they bore sharp streams of burning dust, and such sickening and poisonous vapours, as took away, for the instant, breath and that awful light, to steer and guide their progress: yet little did the view it presented to them cheer or encourage their path. In parts, where the ashes lay dry and uncommixed with the boiling torrents, cast upward from the mountain at capricious intervals, the surface of the earth presented a leprous and ghastly white. In other places, cinder and rock lay matted in heaps, from beneath which emerged the half-hid limbs of some crushed and mangled fugitive. groans of the dying were broken by wild shrieks of women's terror-now near, now distant-which, when heard consciousness; but, suddenly, there was another change, for now the final moment arrived. Suddenly the place became lighted with an intense and lurid glow. Bright and gigantic through the darkness, which closed around it like the walls of hell, the mountain shone-a pile of fire! Its summit seemed riven in two; or rather, above its surface there seemed to rise two monster shapes, each confronting each, as Demons contending for a World. These were of one deep blood-red hue of fire, which lighted up the whole atmosphere far and wide; but, below, the nether part of the mountain was still dark and shrouded, save in three places, adown which flowed, serpentine and irregular, rivers of molten lava. Darkly red through the profound gloom of their banks, they flowed slowly on, as towards the devoted city. Over the broadest there seemed to spring a cragged and stupendous arch, from which, as from the jaws of hell, gushed the sources of the sudden Phlegethon. And through the stilled air was heard the rattling of the fragments of rock, Around ing azure of that delicious sea. the east, thin mists caught gradually the rosy hues that heralded the morning; Light was about to resume her reign. Yet, still, dark and massive in the distance, lay the broken fragments of the destroying cloud, from which red streaks, burning dimlier and more dim, betrayed the yet rolling fires of the mountain of the Scorched Fields.' The white walls and gleaming columns that had adorned the lovely coasts were no more. Sullen and dull were the shores so lately crested painted yesterday,-not a hue faded on the rich mosaic of its floors, in its forum the half-finished columns as left by the workman's hand,-in its gardens the sacrificial tripod,-in its halls the chest of treasure,-in its baths the strigil, -in its theatres the counter of admission,-in its saloons the furniture and the lamp,-in its triclinia the fragments of the last feast,-in its cubicula the perfumes and the rouge of faded beauty, -and everywhere the bones and skeletons of those who once moved the springs of that minute yet gorgeous machine of luxury and of life." lightning flashed over his livid face and polished helmet, but his stern features were composed even in their awe! He remained erect and motionless at his post. That hour itself had not animated the machine of the ruthless majesty of Rome into the reasoning and self-acting man. There he stood, amidst the crashing elements: he had not received the permission to desert his station and escape." Nor is this a mere fancy. Centuries afterwards, those who worked at the excavations, found the skeletons of several Roman sentinels who remained faithful at their posts till death overtook them. There were Christians in that city too-although it might seem like Athens to Paul, wholly given to idolatry-and we may confidently believe that they, resting on hopes of which their pagan fellow-citizens knew nothing, met the King of Terrors with calm and unshaken fortitude-a fortitude that these Yet, amidst the terrible scenes of panic and alarm which were witnessed at the destruction of the city, some spectacles 'there were, too, of noble fortitude. As the frightened fugitives streamed through the gate, "the air was still for a few minutes the lamp from the gate streamed out far and clear: the fugitives hurried on-they gained the gatethey passed by the Roman sentry; the scenes could not disturb. THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. decay, no courage oppose the evils that surrounded it on every side. Were we to enter into a detail concerning the character of the princes of those times, it should rather be of the conquerors than the conquered; it should be of those Gothic chiefs who led a more virtuous and more courageous people to the conquest of nations corrupted by vice and enervated by luxury. E propose to describe briefly the last years of that proud Roman empire which had so long ruled the world. Our proper startingpoint is the division of the empire into the Empire of the East and the Empire of the West; of which the These Barbarians were, at first, unfoundation of Constanti-known to the Romans, and, for some time after, had been only incommodious to them. But they were now become so formidable, and arose in such numbers, that the earth seemed to produce a new race of mankind to complete the destruction of the empire. They had been in nople (on the site of the ancient Byzantium) may be taken as the most marked point. This was in 328 A.D. "From this dreary period, the recovery of the empire was become desperate; no wisdom could obviate its increasing |