The Last Days of Pompeii. Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton

IV

       THE STORY HALTS FOR A MOMENT AT AN EPISODE.

       Chapter V

       THE PHILTRE. ITS EFFECT.

       Chapter VI

       Chapter VII

       Chapter VIII

       A CLASSIC FUNERAL.

       Chapter IX

       IN WHICH AN ADVENTURE HAPPENS TO IONE.

       Chapter X

       Chapter XI

       NYDIA AFFECTS THE SORCERESS.

       Chapter XII

       A WASP VENTURES INTO THE SPIDER'S WEB.

       Chapter XIII

       Chapter XIV

       NYDIA ACCOSTS CALENUS.

       Chapter XV

       Chapter XVI

       Chapter XVII

       A CHANCE FOR GLAUCUS.

       BOOK THE FIFTH

       Chapter I

       Chapter II

       THE AMPHITHEATRE.

       Chapter III

       SALLUST AND NYDIA'S LETTER.

       Chapter IV

       Chapter V

       Chapter VI

       Chapter VII

       THE PROGRESS OF THE DESTRUCTION.

       Chapter VIII

       ARBACES ENCOUNTERS GLAUCUS AND IONE.

       Chapter IX

       THE DESPAIR OF THE LOVERS. THE CONDITION OF THE MULTITUDE.

       Chapter X

       THE NEXT MORNING. THE FATE OF NYDIA.

       Chapter The Last

BOOK THE FIRST

       Table of Contents

Chapter I.

       Table of Contents

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF POMPEII.

       Table of Contents

      'HO, Diomed, well met! Do you sup with Glaucus to-night?' said a young man of small stature, who wore his tunic in those loose and effeminate folds which proved him to be a gentleman and a coxcomb.

      'Alas, no! dear Clodius; he has not invited me,' replied Diomed, a man of portly frame and of middle age. 'By Pollux, a scurvy trick! for they say his suppers are the best in Pompeii'.

      'Pretty well—though there is never enough of wine for me. It is not the old Greek blood that flows in his veins, for he pretends that wine makes him dull the next morning.'

      'There may be another reason for that thrift,' said Diomed, raising his brows. 'With all his conceit and extravagance he is not so rich, I fancy, as he affects to be, and perhaps loves to save his amphorae better than his wit.'

      'An additional reason for supping with him while the sesterces last. Next year, Diomed, we must find another Glaucus.'

      'He is fond of the dice, too, I hear.'

      'He is fond of every pleasure; and while he likes the pleasure of giving suppers, we are all fond of him.'

      'Ha, ha, Clodius, that is well said! Have you ever seen my wine-cellars, by-the-by?'

      'I think not, my good Diomed.'

      'Well, you must sup with me some evening; I have tolerable muraenae in my reservoir, and I ask Pansa the aedile to meet you.'

      'O, no state with me!—Persicos odi apparatus, I am easily contented. Well, the day wanes; I am for the baths—and you … '

      'To the quaestor—business of state—afterwards to the temple of Isis. Vale!'

      'An ostentatious, bustling, ill-bred fellow,' muttered Clodius to himself, as he sauntered slowly away. 'He thinks with his feasts and his wine-cellars to make us forget that he is the son of a freedman—and so we will, when we do him the