THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII

by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton




BOOK THE FIRST



Chapter I.

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF POMPEII.

'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