Shattered Dreams

I have been to Pompeii twice. The first time, after the brief exhilaration of standing on the threshold of the ruined city, I could finally say I’d been to Pompeii. I was impatient to get the visit over with.

The site is vast. I think only a third of it has been uncovered. But most suspect that what they are leaving posterity to uncover is only more of the same. Pretty much like L.A., if you've seen any part of it you’ve seen it all. Two or three streets in Pompeii reveal everything there is to be seen in a sprawling but still provincial city. Pompeii makes no statement to history; it was just a very big town.

So it was both times I visited Pompeii: dry, hot, and nothing. The ruined scene stirred no strong feeling nor occasioned any