Essay on Pompeii
It was still very early in the morning, I would have said about seven. I should have known what time it was, but my time-keeping glass shattered on the floor during the night. My servant Thernius reported to me that earth tremors caused it to happen. I saw no need to pursue the matter further, simply because I believed him: I was woken up a few times during the night by my bed shaking and dogs barking. I sent Thernius to go and find out the time by running down to Claudius’ house, hoping that his glass had not broken along with mine.
Although it was only early the sun had risen, yet still low above the horizon, I could feel the rays starting to warm up my back. I strolled over to the window, and surveyed the scenery. Vesuvius was still there as ever, towering above the skyline, a formidable beast, his presence always known. But the giant was sleeping peacefully; he had been since I moved to the picturesque Pompeii. I gazed out of the window, up the gentle slope. I had only been living in Pompeii for a year, so no work had been done on the garden. At the moment it consisted of long grass and a few randomly scattered bricks. I stared dreamily out, and my mind was drawn to the movement of the grass. With every slight gust of wind, a row of grass would lurch and sweep up the entire length of my garden and as the grass started to thin out, it fell down and disappeared.
The ground started vibrating, the glasses on the table toppled over and rolled onto the mosaic floor, the vibrating weakened and died. It was followed by another lurch. Whereupon I was thrown backwards, landing on my back. I pushed myself to my feet and noted the blunt pain throbbing in my shoulder blades.
Thernius soon returned from his errand, announcing that Claudius’s time glass had smashed too, but the sundial showed it to be eight o’clock.
The subject soon turned to the earth tremors. No one seemed to know why they were happening. Some people, particularly the elders, said that it was a message from the gods reminding us to be grateful for such a good life. I did not agree with them, until later when I knew that was exactly what it was.
The remainder of the morning passed without any tremors, nothing happened of any interest, people pursued their activities as normal. Until the gods made themselves known.
It was just after midday it happened. I was eating luncheon, when the loudest bang I had ever heard, accompanied by the largest earth tremor yet, it swept across the bay. Everyone was flung off their chairs, the sound carried on, but the tremor soon subsided, and everyone brought themselves to their feet. We walked to the window, to see what had caused this. Vesuvius was on fire.
The summit of Vesuvius was throwing a huge column of smoke high up into the air, and the column was growing rapidly.
I heard babies crying, men shouting, women screaming, and animals making noises of terror. There were a few who watched in silent.
The Gods had come. Some people were scared some were not. I was. However I did not want to leave, Pompeii was my home, and the fact that it wasn’t invincible to the power of the gods, never crossed my mind. It quite obviously crossed other people’s minds. Many people left, but equally as many stayed. Servants had no choice in the matter; they stayed or went according to the will of their masters.
The column of smoke rose for hours, by two o’clock the sky was black, dusk had fallen and night had settled in. The smoke blocked out the sun and with it any light apart from the glow of fires and candles in Pompeii. Then came the stone, stone from the heavens. Small pieces of rock rained down, soon covering the floor outside. I was outside when it started to fall, a few pieces hit my head, but it did not hurt. It was light as a feather. However larger, heavier chunks of rock fell with it too. A rabbit, lay several paces in front of me, its head contorted and the dark crimson colour of blood staining its fur.
Why was God punishing the animals?
Soon the animals became people, bodies lying on the streets, however it was not long before people wised up to it. The streets were nearly deserted save the occasional homeless person sheltering in a corner. The people of Pompeii were inside.
Hours passed, the feather rock built up on the roof until the joists were creaking under strain…they were only built to withstand rain. Every so often I heard shrill screams accompanied by crashing sounds. I wondered what was happening, it took me several minutes to realise. The roofs were collapsing.
Now, I decided, was the time to pray. I prayed for two hours to the gods, begging to know why they were punishing us like this.
Then I heard a thunderous roar. It was almost as loud as the one that came first. And I looked out my window to see that one side of the column had fallen down and was speeding down the mountain at an alarming rate. I closed up the windows, and hid under the bed, hoping to avoid the smoke heading my way.
A rumbling noise approached, sounding like a stampede, it approached. Then all of a sudden Thernius’ head appeared under the bed.
“Master, what are we to do?” he asked My reply was cut off as the rumbling got louder and the room quickly got hotter and hotter. Thernius collapsed in the heat and the smoke. It got hotter and hotter still until I could not feel a thing but blinding pain. And then nothing.
Although it was only early the sun had risen, yet still low above the horizon, I could feel the rays starting to warm up my back. I strolled over to the window, and surveyed the scenery. Vesuvius was still there as ever, towering above the skyline, a formidable beast, his presence always known. But the giant was sleeping peacefully; he had been since I moved to the picturesque Pompeii. I gazed out of the window, up the gentle slope. I had only been living in Pompeii for a year, so no work had been done on the garden. At the moment it consisted of long grass and a few randomly scattered bricks. I stared dreamily out, and my mind was drawn to the movement of the grass. With every slight gust of wind, a row of grass would lurch and sweep up the entire length of my garden and as the grass started to thin out, it fell down and disappeared.
The ground started vibrating, the glasses on the table toppled over and rolled onto the mosaic floor, the vibrating weakened and died. It was followed by another lurch. Whereupon I was thrown backwards, landing on my back. I pushed myself to my feet and noted the blunt pain throbbing in my shoulder blades.
Thernius soon returned from his errand, announcing that Claudius’s time glass had smashed too, but the sundial showed it to be eight o’clock.
We can write a custom essay on Pompeii for you!
The subject soon turned to the earth tremors. No one seemed to know why they were happening. Some people, particularly the elders, said that it was a message from the gods reminding us to be grateful for such a good life. I did not agree with them, until later when I knew that was exactly what it was.
The remainder of the morning passed without any tremors, nothing happened of any interest, people pursued their activities as normal. Until the gods made themselves known.
It was just after midday it happened. I was eating luncheon, when the loudest bang I had ever heard, accompanied by the largest earth tremor yet, it swept across the bay. Everyone was flung off their chairs, the sound carried on, but the tremor soon subsided, and everyone brought themselves to their feet. We walked to the window, to see what had caused this. Vesuvius was on fire.
The summit of Vesuvius was throwing a huge column of smoke high up into the air, and the column was growing rapidly.
I heard babies crying, men shouting, women screaming, and animals making noises of terror. There were a few who watched in silent.
The Gods had come. Some people were scared some were not. I was. However I did not want to leave, Pompeii was my home, and the fact that it wasn’t invincible to the power of the gods, never crossed my mind. It quite obviously crossed other people’s minds. Many people left, but equally as many stayed. Servants had no choice in the matter; they stayed or went according to the will of their masters.
The column of smoke rose for hours, by two o’clock the sky was black, dusk had fallen and night had settled in. The smoke blocked out the sun and with it any light apart from the glow of fires and candles in Pompeii. Then came the stone, stone from the heavens. Small pieces of rock rained down, soon covering the floor outside. I was outside when it started to fall, a few pieces hit my head, but it did not hurt. It was light as a feather. However larger, heavier chunks of rock fell with it too. A rabbit, lay several paces in front of me, its head contorted and the dark crimson colour of blood staining its fur.
Why was God punishing the animals?
Soon the animals became people, bodies lying on the streets, however it was not long before people wised up to it. The streets were nearly deserted save the occasional homeless person sheltering in a corner. The people of Pompeii were inside.
Hours passed, the feather rock built up on the roof until the joists were creaking under strain…they were only built to withstand rain. Every so often I heard shrill screams accompanied by crashing sounds. I wondered what was happening, it took me several minutes to realise. The roofs were collapsing.
Now, I decided, was the time to pray. I prayed for two hours to the gods, begging to know why they were punishing us like this.
Then I heard a thunderous roar. It was almost as loud as the one that came first. And I looked out my window to see that one side of the column had fallen down and was speeding down the mountain at an alarming rate. I closed up the windows, and hid under the bed, hoping to avoid the smoke heading my way.
A rumbling noise approached, sounding like a stampede, it approached. Then all of a sudden Thernius’ head appeared under the bed.
“Master, what are we to do?” he asked My reply was cut off as the rumbling got louder and the room quickly got hotter and hotter. Thernius collapsed in the heat and the smoke. It got hotter and hotter still until I could not feel a thing but blinding pain. And then nothing.
- CAUTION! Free essay samples & essay examples on Pompeii are 100% plagiarized!!!
At EssayLib.com - professional essay writing service - you can buy custom essays on any topics and disciplines, 100% written from scratch. EssayLib.com employs top-rated Ph.D. and Master's experts only to write superior-quality custom essays, term papers, research papers, thesis & dissertations at affordable rates. EssayLib.com knows HOW effectively to help high school, college & university students with writing the highest grade custom papers online.
Enjoy Our Professional Essay Writing Service!
