The letters in the corner, are, "_Campani victoria una cum Nucerinis peristis_." _Campanians, you perished in the victory along with the Nucerians._ This was a jest of some merry fellow making fun of the inhabitants of Nuceria, a neighbouring city, and of some other parts of Campania, over whom they had gained a victory in a squabble. We are told that the Nucerians, when they were dead beaten, went like cowards to the Emperor Nero, and laid their case before him. He decided in their favour, and punished the Pompeians in what may seem a strange way to you,--he forbade them to have any amusements in their theatre for ten years. However, from what we know of the general disposition and habits of the ancient Greeks and Romans, this was a very severe punishment to them. From the scarcity of books, arising from their being copied by hand, instead of being printed, but few of them could spend their leisure time in reading, as so many of us do now; and in consequence of this, the theatre was to them at once the principal source of literary improvement and of amusement. [Illustration] [Illustration: PLATE XI. FALLS OF NIAGARA] CHAPTER X. PARLEY DESCRIBES THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. The river Niagara runs out of Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, and you may see the direction it takes if you look in the map of North America. You may likewise observe that Lake Erie is connected with three other vast Lakes, and as its level is lower than theirs, the whole of their waters pass through it into the Niagara. Nearly half way between the Lakes Erie and Ontario, where the river is about three quarters of a mile wide, it tumbles over a precipice of 160 feet in height. I shall try to describe to you what I saw when I visited this place; but I am quite certain I shall not be able to do justice to the scene. You must form your conceptions of it rather from the bare facts I tell you respecting the mass of water and the height of the rocky ledge over which it falls. As we travelled along from the town of Waterloo on a level road on the west bank, we saw the river gradually become wider till it was cut into two streams by a long narrow island some miles in length. The streams after passing the island, unite into one again, which continues its course as before. There is a sullen unpretending majesty about this part of the river, as if it did not think it worth while to remind the traveller of the vast distance which its mighty waters have come, or of the stupendous scene to which they are travelling onward. There is nothing remarkable in its appearance, and that very circumstance, coupled with what we knew and what we shortly expected to see, made us full of intense feeling; and often and often did we put our ears to the ground to hear whether the sound of the falls could reach us, and then remount and impatiently spur on our horses.