The Greek spirit of parody, applied even to the most sacred subjects, however it may have declined in Greece, was revived at Rome, and we find examples of it on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum. They show the same readiness to turn into burlesque the most sacred and popular legends of the Roman mythology. The example given (cut No. 11), from one of the wall-paintings, is peculiarly interesting, both from circumstances in the drawing itself, and because it is a parody on one of the favourite national legends of the Roman people, who prided themselves on their descent from Æneas. Virgil has told, with great effect, the story of his hero's escape from the destruction of Troy--or rather has put the story into his hero's mouth. When the devoted city was already in flames, Æneas took his father, Anchises, on his shoulder, and his boy, Iulus, or, as he was otherwise called, Ascanius, by the hand, and thus fled from his home, followed by his wife-- _Ergo age, care pater, cervici imponere nostræ; Ipse subibo humeris, nec me labor iste gravabit. Quo res cumque cadent, unum et commune periclum, Una salus ambobus erit. Mihi parvus Iulus Sit comes, et longe servat vestigia conjux._ --Virg. Æn., lib. ii. l. 707. Thus they hurried on, the child holding by his father's right hand, and dragging after with "unequal steps,"-- _dextræ se parvus Iulus Implicuit sequiturque patrem non passibus æquis._ --Virg. Æn., lib. ii. 1. 723. And thus Æneas bore away both father and son, and the penates, or household gods, of his family, which were to be transferred to another country, and become the future guardians of Rome-- _Ascanium, Anchisemque patrem, Tencrosque penates._--Ib., 1. 747. [Illustration: _No. 12. The Flight of Æneas._]