IT was early morning in Italy two thousand, two hundred, and forty years ago. The first faint streaks of daylight were just beginning to appear on the top of a hill where the Roman army was resting and waiting for the dawn. It was not a large army, for Rome had not yet grown to be great and powerful; but every man in it was ready to lay down his life for his country.
Not far away, on one of the lower slopes of Mount Vesuvius, the