ses of the showers, you 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 vapors
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 vapor. In some
places, immense fragments of rock, hurled upon the house roofs, bore
down along the streets 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
fires 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, endeavored 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.

Frequently, by the momentary light of these torches, parties of
fugitives encountered each other, some hurrying towards the sea, others
flying from the sea back to the land; for the ocean had retreated
rapidly from the shore--an utter darkness lay over it, and upon its
groaning and tossing