Chapter 31 Summary

The final point of interest in Italy is Pompeii, an ancient city that once thrived until it was buried by the an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Here, among the excavated ruins, Twain finds evidence of a busy town. The amount of work and the detail put into the buildings of Pompeii shows that the people were hard working. The remains of numerous shops are proof of good business sense. Here, there once were temples and theaters and a justice building. Pompeii was an advanced community. Twain ponders the sadness of all the generations of work that was put into building the city, only to have it buried in an instant, and many centuries later, people gawking at the ruins, only guessing at what the town was really like.

The eruption of Vesuvius and its impact on Pompeii is mentioned in the Latin recount...