Late yesterday, Sunday, I read half of Robert Harris’s historical novel, Pompeii (Random House, 2003). It is such a fine, suspenseful yarn about people living in towns on the Bay of Naples below Vesuvius, that at 10 PM, when my eyes kept closing, I put it down grudgingly.
I was busy this morning, so it wasn’t until two hours ago that I got back to the story. Now, at 4 PM, having finished it, I am satisfied.
Knowing how the hero and his lady fared is a big part of that, but not all. The deeper reward comes from the reminder that our lives and sorrows are short, while history is long. That we are small, too, and Nature great.
In short, it consoles.