Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/464

474 darkness and a plentiful shower of ashes and cinders fell, which we were obliged every now and then to shake off, or we should have been buried in the heap. At length this pitchy darkness was gradually dispersed; day appeared in reality and with it the sun, though shining but feebly and as at the approach of an eclipse. Every thing looked changed to our uncertain sight, and we beheld nothing which was not covered with ashes as with snow. On our return to Misenum, where we all refreshed ourselves as well as we could, we passed a night between fear and hope, though indeed fear had the preponderance, as the ea r thquake continued.” Titus came to the aid of the unfortunate cities, or rather inhabitants; saved all who could be saved, and gave help and encouragement, even personal, to all the sufferers. Some of the towns were rebuilt, but others were abandoned altogether, every thing of value being removed from them. Pompeii was left in its grave of ashes for eighteen centuries. It was in the year 1748, when a peasant sinking a well in a vineyard at Sarno first discovered traces of the forsaken city. Carlo Borbone, King of Naples, under the name of Carlo III, became possessor of the ground and commenced the excavations with great assiduity, and Pompeii with its temples and fountains, its columns and frescos, its public and private buildings the image of the life of classical antiquity, was laid open to the day, as we see it at the present time.