FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   >>  
, because she was afraid; she had fallen in running, with her face to the ground, and not being able to rise again, had rested her young, frail head upon one of her arms. One of her hands was half open, as though she had been holding something, the veil, perhaps, that covered her. You see the bones of her fingers penetrating the plaster. Her cranium is shining and smooth, her legs are raised backward and placed one upon the other; she did not suffer very long, poor child! but it is her corpse that causes one the sorest pang to see, for she was not more than fifteen years of age. The fourth body is that of a man, a sort of colossus. He lay upon his back so as to die bravely; his arms and his limbs are straight and rigid. His clothing is very clearly defined, the greaves visible and fitting closely; his sandals laced at the feet, and one of them pierced by the toe, the nails in the soles distinct; the stomach naked and swollen like those of the other bodies, perhaps by the effect of the water, which has kneaded the ashes. He wears an iron ring on the bone of one finger; his mouth is open, and some of his teeth are missing; his nose and his cheeks stand out promimently; his eyes and his hair have disappeared, but the moustache still clings. There is something martial and resolute about this fine corpse. After the women who did not want to die, we see this man, fearless in the midst of the ruins that are crushing him--_impavidum ferient ruinae_. I stop here, for Pompeii itself can offer nothing that approaches this palpitating drama. It is violent death, with all its supreme tortures,--death that suffers and struggles,--taken in the very act, after the lapse of eighteen centuries. ITINERARY. AN ITINERARY. In order to render my work less lengthy and less confused, as well as easier to read, I have grouped together the curiosities of Pompeii, according to their importance and their purport, in different chapters. I shall now mark out an itinerary, wherein they will be classed in the order in which they present themselves to the traveller, and I shall place after each street and each edifice the indication of the chapter in which I have described or named it in my work. In approaching Pompeii by the usual entrance, which is the nearest to the railroad, it would be well to go directly to the Forum. See Chap. II. The monuments of the Forum are as follows. I have _italicized_ the most curious: _Th
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   >>  



Top keywords:
Pompeii
 

corpse

 

ITINERARY

 

supreme

 

suffers

 
struggles
 
tortures
 

eighteen

 
lengthy
 

confused


render

 

centuries

 
rested
 

violent

 
crushing
 

impavidum

 
ferient
 
ruinae
 

fearless

 

palpitating


ground

 

approaches

 

grouped

 

entrance

 

nearest

 

railroad

 

approaching

 

indication

 

chapter

 

directly


italicized

 
curious
 

monuments

 

edifice

 

street

 
purport
 

importance

 
chapters
 

curiosities

 
itinerary

traveller
 

afraid

 
present
 
classed
 

running

 

fallen

 
easier
 

holding

 
bravely
 

covered