And this city with mountains like those of Athens had suddenly become extinguished without being swallowed up by the sea, and with no volcano to cover it with ashes.
Fever, the miasma of the fens, had been the deadly lava for this Pompeii.

The poisonous air had caused the inhabitants to flee, and the few who insisted upon living within the shadow of the ancient temples had had to escape from the Saracen invasions, founding in the neighboring mountains a new country--the humble town of Capaccio Vecchio.

Then the Norman kings, forerunners of Frederick II (the father of Dona Constanza, the empress beloved by Ferragut), had plundered the entire deserted city, carrying off with them its columns and sculpture.
All the medieval constructions of the kingdom of Naples were the spoils of Paestum.

The doctor recalled the cathedral of Salerno, seen the afternoon before, where Hildebrand, the most tenacious and ambitious of the popes, was buried.

Its columns, its sarcophagi, its bas-reliefs had come from this Grecian city, forgotten for centuries and centuries and only in modern times--thanks to the antiquarians and artists--recovering its fame.
In the station of Paestum, the wife of the only employee looked curiously at this group arriving after the war had blocked off the trail of tourists.
Freya spoke to her, interested in her malarial and resigned aspect.
They were yet in good time.