town buried under the lava and ashes of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. I walked about
the streets of the town and saw the houses, the temples, the theatre, the
squares.... I saw and marvelled at the faculty of the Romans for combining
simplicity with convenience and beauty. After viewing Pompeii, I lunched at
a restaurant and then decided to go to Vesuvius. The excellent red wine I
had drunk had a great deal to do with this decision. I had to ride on
horseback to the foot of Vesuvius. I have in consequence to-day a sensation
in some parts of my mortal frame as though I had been in the Third
Division, and had there been flogged. What an agonising business it is
climbing up Vesuvius! Ashes, mountains of lava, solid waves of molten
minerals, mounds of earth, and every sort of abomination. You take one step
forward and fall half a step back, the soles of your feet hurt you, your
breathing is oppressed.... You go on and on and on, and it is still a long
way to the top. You wonder whether to turn back, but you are ashamed to
turn back, you would be laughed at. The ascent began at half-past two, and
ended at six. The crater of Vesuvius is a great many yards in diameter. I
stood on its edge and looked down as into a cup. The soil around, covered
by a layer of sulphur, was smoking vigorously. From the crater rose white
stinking smoke; spurts of hot water and red-hot stones fly out while Satan
lies snoring under cover of the smoke. The noise is rather mixed, you hear
in it the beating of breakers and the roar of thunder, and the rumble of
the railway line and the falling of planks. It is very terrible, and at the
same time one has an impulse to jump right into the crater. I believe in
hell now. The lava has such a high temperature that copper coins melt in
it.

Coming down was as horrid as going up. You sink up to your knees in ashes.
I was fearfully tired. I went back on horseback through a little village
and by houses; there was a glorious fragrance and the moon was shining. I
sniffed, gazed at the moon, and thought of _her_--that is, of Lika L.