Mark Twain, from "An Innocent Abroad". He was much moved by the "statuary" made by pouring plaster into the voids created by the bodies dissolving away in the hot packed ash....
"But perhaps the most poetical thing Pompeii has yielded to modern research, was that grand figure of a Roman soldier, clad in complete armor; who, true to his duty, true to his proud name of a soldier of Rome, and full of the stern courage which had given to that name its glory, stood to his post by the city gate, erect and unflinching, till the hell that raged around him burned out the dauntless spirit it could not conquer. We never read of Pompeii but we think of that soldier; we cannot write of Pompeii without the natural impulse to grant to him the mention he so well deserves. Let us remember that he was a soldier -- not a policeman -- and so, praise him. Being a soldier, he stayed, -- because the warrior instinct forbade him to fly. Had he been a policeman he would have stayed, also --because he would have been asleep."
3 comments:
'Lo there. I read most of Innocents Abroad a couple of years ago--really quite funny--but I think it is best in small doses. I will have to read some of it when I get back to the states.
DJ
Mark Twain is quite a wordsmith. You really have to appreciate someone who can stir you, put such an image in your mind of such a proud figure... then promptly turn around and kick a cop in the nads.
Funny stuff...I've never had the pleasure of reading Innocents Abroad. I might have to look into it. :)
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