The Last Days Of Pompeii: Edward Bulwer-Lytton

'What a world of dreams is this Pompeii, where each one seeks to be what he is not.' The classic tale of betrayal, lust, decadence and intrigue set against the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Pompeii, pleasure ground of the wealthy, decadent and rife with corruption. A cast of characters to rival any soap opera: Cloodius, poor yet noble, in love with Julia, the daughter of nouveau riche merchant Diomed, who is trying to forget that his grandfather was ever a slave; Glaucus, the young and wealthy Greek playboy who falls in love with Ione, a wealthy orphan under the wardship of Arbaces, High Priest of Isis, who will stop at nothing to secure Ione and her fortune for the temple; Nydia, the blind slave girl who sells her flowers and yearns for Glaucus; Lydon, the gladiator, the darling of Pompeii, fighting to win enough money to buy the freedom of Medon, his father; there is Apaecides, Ione's brother who learns of Christ from Olinthus, the sail maker...and still more in the cast that make up the last days of the city that was believed to be the wickedest place on earth.