Mighty Hermes no! Thou art with one death-like, but not dead. Recognize thy friend and slave."

There was a long silence. Slowly the shudders that passed over the limbs of the Egyptian chased each other away, faintlier and faintlier dying till he was himself again.

"It was a dream, then," said he. Well let me dream no more, or the day cannot compensate for the pangs of night. Woman, how camest thou here, and wherefore?"

I came to warn thee," answered the sepulchral voice of the saga.

Warn me ! The dream lied not, then ? Of what peril?"

"Listen to me. Some evil hangs over this fated city. Fly while it be time. Thou knowest that I hold my home on that mountain beneath which old tradition saith there yet burn the fires of the river of Phlegethon; and in my cavern is a vast abyss, and in that abyss I have of late marked a red and dull stream creep slowly, slowly on; and heard many and mighty sounds hissing and roaring through the gloom. But last night, as I looked thereon, behold the stream was no longer dull, but intensely and fiercely luminous. and while I gazed, the beast that liveth with me, and was cowering by my side, uttered a shrill howl, and fell down and died, and the slaver and froth were round his lips. I crept back to my lair; but I distinctly heard, all the night, the rock shake and tremble ; and, though the air was heavy and still, there were the hissing of pent winds, and the grinding as of wheels, beneath the ground. So, when I rose this morning at the very birth of dawn, I looked again down the abyss, and I saw vast fragments of stone borne black and floatingly over the lurid stream; and the stream itself was broader, fiercer, redder than the night before. Then I went forth, and ascended to the summit of the rock; and in that summit there appeared a sudden and vast hollow, which I had never perceived before, from which curled a dim, faint smoke; and the vapor was deathly, and I gasped, and sickened, and nearly died. I returned home, I took my gold and my drugs, and left the habitation of many years; for I remembered the dark Etruscan prophecy which saith, ' When the mountain, opens, the city shall fall when the smoke crowns the Hill of the Parched Fields, there shall be woe and weeping in the hearths of the Children of the Sea.' Dread master, ere I leave these walls for some more distant dwelling, I come to thee. As thou livest, know I in my heart that the earthquake that sixteen years ago shook this city to its solid base, was but the forerunner of more deadly doom. The walls of Pompeii are built above the fields of the Dead, and the rivers of the sleepless Hell. Be warned and fly!"

" Witch, I thank thee for thy care of one not ungrateful. On yon table stands a cup of gold; take it, it is thine. I dreamed not that there lived one, out of the priesthood of Isis, who would have saved Arbaces from destruction. The signs thou hast seen in the bed of the extinct volcano," continued the Egyptian, musingly, surely tell of some coming danger to the city ; perhaps another earthquake fiercer than the last. Be that as it may, there is a new reason for my hastening from these walls. After this day I will prepare my departure. Daughter of Etruria, whither wendest thou?"

" I shall cross over to Herculaneum this day, and, wandering thence along the coast, shall seek out a new home. I am friendless; my two companions, the fox and the snake, are dead. Great Hermes, thou hast promised me twenty additional years of life!"

"Ay," said the Egyptiain, " I have promised thee, But, woman," he added, lifting himself upon his arm, and gazing curiously on her face, "tell me, I pray thee,wherefore thou wishest to live? What sweets dost thou discover in existence?"

It is not life that is sweet, but death that is awful," replied the hag, in a sharp, impressive tone, that struck forcibly upon the heart of the vain star-seer. He winced at the truth of the reply; and, no longer anxious to retain so uninviting a companion, he said, " Time wanes ; I must prepare for the solemn spectacle of this day. Sister, farewell ! enjoy thyself as thou canst over the ashes of life."

The hag, who had placed the costly gift of Arbaces in the loose folds of her vest, now rose to depart. When she had gained the door she paused, turned back, and said, "'This may be the last time we meet on earth; but whither flieth the flame when it leaves the ashes ? Wandering to and fro, up and down, as an exhalation on the morass, the flame may be seen in the marshes of the lake below; and the witch and the Magian, the pupil and the master, the great one and the accursed one, may meet again. Farewell!"

"Out, croaker !" muttered Arbaces, as the door closed on the hag's tattered robes ; and, impatient of his own thoughts, not yet recovered from the past dream, he hastily summoned his slaves.

It was the custom to attend the ceremonials of the amphitheater in festive robes, and Arbaces arrayed himself that day with more than usual care. His tunic was of the most dazzling white ; his many fibul were formed from the most precious stones ; over his tunic flowed a loose Eastern robe, half-gown, half-mantle, glowing in the richest hues of the Tyrian dye ; and the sandals, that reached half-way up the knee, were studded with gems, and inlaid with gold. In the quackeries that belonged to his priestly genius, Arbaces, never neglected, on great occasions the arts which dazzle and impose upon the vulgar; and on this day, that was forever to release him, by the sacrifice of Glaucus, from the fear of a rival and the chance of detection, he felt that he was arraying himself as for a triumph or a nuptial feast.

It was customary for men of rank to be accompanied to the shows of the amphitheater by a procession of their slaves and freedmen ; and the long, family" of Arbaces were already arranged in order, to attend the litter of their lord.

Only to their great chagrin, the slaves in attendance on Ione, and the worthy Sosia, as jailer to Nydia, were condemned to remain at home.

" Callias.," said Arbaces, apart to his freedman, who was buckling on his girdle, "I am weary of Pompeii ; I propose to quit it in three days, should the wind favor. Thou knowest the vessel that lies in the harbor which belonged to Narses, of Alexandria; I have purchased it of him. The day after tomorrow, we shall begin to remove my stores."

"So soon ! 'Tis well. Arbaces shall be obeyed: and his ward, Ione ?"

"Accompanies me. Enough! Is the morning fair?"

" Dim and oppressive; it will probably be intensely hot in the forenoon."

"The poor gladiators, and more wretched criminals Descend, and see that the slaves are marshaled."

Left alone, Arbaces stepped into his chamber of study, and thence upon the portico without. He saw the dense masses of men pouring fast into the amphitheater, and heard the cry of the assistants, and the cracking of the cordage, as they were straining aloft the huge awning under which the citizens, molested by no discomforting ray, were to behold, at luxurious ease, the agonies of their fellow-creatures. Suddenly a wild strange sound went forth, and as suddenly died away it was the roar of the lion. There was a silence in the distant crowd ; but the silence was followed by joyous laughter they were making merry at the hungry impatience of the royal beast.

"Brutes !" muttered the disdainful Arbaces, "are ye less, homicides than I am? 1 slay but in self-defense ye make murder pastime."

He turned with a restless and curious eye toward Vesuvius. Beautifully glowed the green vineyards round its breast, and tranquil, is eternity lay in the 'breathless skies the form of the mighty hill,

"We have time yet, if the earthquake be nursing," thought Arbaces; and he turned from the spot. He passed by the table which bore his mystic scrolls and Chaldean calculations. "August art!" be thought, I have not consulted thy decrees since I passed the danger and the crisis they foretold. What matter? I know that henceforth all in my path is bright and smooth. Have not events already proved it I? Away, doubt away, pity! Reflect, 0 my heart reflect, for the future but two images Empire and Ione !"