The Last Days of Pompeii | Page 4

fashion; but his tunic glowed in the richest hues of the
Tyrian dye, and the fibulae, or buckles, by which it was fastened,
sparkled with emeralds: around his neck was a chain of gold, which in
the middle of his breast twisted itself into the form of a serpent's head,
from the mouth of which hung pendent a large signet ring of elaborate
and most exquisite workmanship; the sleeves of the tunic were loose,
and fringed at the hand with gold: and across the waist a girdle wrought

in arabesque designs, and of the same material as the fringe, served in
lieu of pockets for the receptacle of the handkerchief and the purse, the
stilus and the tablets.
'My dear Glaucus!' said Clodius, 'I rejoice to see that your losses have
so little affected your mien. Why, you seem as if you had been inspired
by Apollo, and your face shines with happiness like a glory; any one
might take you for the winner, and me for the loser.'
'And what is there in the loss or gain of those dull pieces of metal that
should change our spirit, my Clodius? By Venus, while yet young, we
can cover our full locks with chaplets--while yet the cithara sounds on
unsated ears--while yet the smile of Lydia or of Chloe flashes over our
veins in which the blood runs so swiftly, so long shall we find delight
in the sunny air, and make bald time itself but the treasurer of our joys.
You sup with me to-night, you know.'
'Who ever forgets the invitation of Glaucus!'
'But which way go you now?'
'Why, I thought of visiting the baths: but it wants yet an hour to the
usual time.'
'Well, I will dismiss my chariot, and go with you. So, so, my Phylias,'
stroking the horse nearest to him, which by a low neigh and with
backward ears playfully acknowledged the courtesy: 'a holiday for you
to-day. Is he not handsome, Clodius?'
'Worthy of Phoebus,' returned the noble parasite--'or of Glaucus.'
Chapter II
THE BLIND FLOWER-GIRL, AND THE BEAUTY OF FASHION.
THE ATHENIAN'S CONFESSION. THE READER'S
INTRODUCTION TO ARBACES OF EGYPT.
TALKING lightly on a thousand matters, the two young men sauntered

through the streets; they were now in that quarter which was filled with
the gayest shops, their open interiors all and each radiant with the
gaudy yet harmonious colors of frescoes, inconceivably varied in fancy
and design. The sparkling fountains, that at every vista threw upwards
their grateful spray in the summer air; the crowd of passengers, or
rather loiterers, mostly clad in robes of the Tyrian dye; the gay groups
collected round each more attractive shop; the slaves passing to and fro
with buckets of bronze, cast in the most graceful shapes, and borne
upon their heads; the country girls stationed at frequent intervals with
baskets of blushing fruit, and flowers more alluring to the ancient
Italians than to their descendants (with whom, indeed, "latet anguis in
herba," a disease seems lurking in every violet and rose); the numerous
haunts which fulfilled with that idle people the office of cafes and clubs
at this day; the shops, where on shelves of marble were ranged the
vases of wine and oil, and before whose thresholds, seats, protected
from the sun by a purple awning, invited the weary to rest and the
indolent to lounge--made a scene of such glowing and vivacious
excitement, as might well give the Athenian spirit of Glaucus an excuse
for its susceptibility to joy.
'Talk to me no more of Rome,' said he to Clodius. 'Pleasure is too
stately and ponderous in those mighty walls: even in the precincts of
the court--even in the Golden House of Nero, and the incipient glories
of the palace of Titus, there is a certain dulness of magnificence--the
eye aches--the spirit is wearied; besides, my Clodius, we are
discontented when we compare the enormous luxury and wealth of
others with the mediocrity of our own state. But here we surrender
ourselves easily to pleasure, and we have the brilliancy of luxury
without the lassitude of its pomp.'
'It was from that feeling that you chose your summer retreat at
Pompeii?'
'It was. I prefer it to Baiae: I grant the charms of the latter, but I love
not the pedants who resort there, and who seem to weigh out their
pleasures by the drachm.'
'Yet you are fond of the learned, too; and as for poetry, why, your

house is literally eloquent with AEschylus and Homer, the epic and the
drama.'
'Yes, but those Romans who mimic my Athenian ancestors do
everything so heavily. Even in the chase they make their slaves carry
Plato with them; and whenever the boar is lost, out they take their
books and their papyrus, in order