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thousand years, and probably for many centuries before. Situated within a few miles of the sea, its ravages have extended across the intermediate space, laying waste vineyards and fields, and destroying the villages and cities which lie in the course of its eruptions.

The earliest eruption of Vesuvius on record, and one of the most fatal, took place in the year 79 of the Christian era, being the first year of the reign of the Emperor Titus. All the southern part of Italy was alarmed by its violence; and Campania, as the adjoining district is called, was devastated to a great distance. On this occasion the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii were overwhelmed and lost, and a great number of their inhabitants perished.

As a favorite place of occasional residence to families of distinction from Rome, Pompeii at the time contained, or had in its neighborhood, several Romans whose names are familiar to the readers of history; among others, Cesius Bassus, a poet, and Agrippa, son of Claudius Felix, the well-known governor of Judea, both of whom became victims of the eruption. Pliny the elder, it appears, was residing at Misenum, on the northern promontory of the Gulf of Naples, along with his nephew, known to us as Pliny the younger. Fortunately, two letters written by the nephew to his friend Tacitus, describing the catastrophe which killed his uncle and overwhelmed Pompeii and other cities, have been preserved.

In one of these letters he says, “My uncle was at the time with the fleet under his command at Misenum. On the 23d of August, about one o'clock in the afternoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud, which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just returned from the bath, and, having taken a slight repast, had retired to his study: he immediately arose, and went out upon an eminence from which he might more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance. It was not at that distance discernible from what mountain this cloud issued, but it was found afterwards to ascend from

Mount Vesuvius. I cannot give you a more exact description of its figure than by comparing it to that of a pine-tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top into a sort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of which decreased as it advanced upwards; or the cloud itself, being pressed back again by its own weight, expanded in this manner. It appeared sometimes bright, and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders.

This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle's philosophical curiosity to take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I rather chose to continue my studies; for, as it happened, he had given me employment of that kind. As he was coming out of the house, he received a note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her; for, her villa being situated at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way for her to escape but by sea. She earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He accordingly changed his first design, and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued with an heroical, turn of mind.

He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board, with an intention of assisting not only Rectina, but several others; for the villas stand extremely thick upon this beautiful coast. When hastening to the place from which others fled with the utmost terror, he steered in a direct course to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence of mind, as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon the motion and figure of that dreadful scene. He was now so nigh the mountain, that the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, together with pumice stones, and black pieces of burning rock. They were likewise in danger not only of being aground by the sudden

retreat of the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he stopped to consider whether he should turn back again, as the pilot advised him. Fortune favors the brave,' said he; carry me to Pomponianus.'

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"Pomponianus was then at Stabiæ, separated by a gulf, which the sea, after several insensible windings, forms upon that shore. He had already sent his baggage on board; for, though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet, being within the view of it, and, indeed, extremely near, if it should in the least increase, he was as soon as the wind should change. however, for carrying my uncle to found in the greatest consternation. tenderness, encouraging and exhorting him to keep up his spirits; and the more to dissipate his fears, he ordered, with an air of unconcern, the baths to be got ready; and, after having bathed, he sat down to supper with great cheerfulness. In the mean while, the eruption from Mount Vesuvius flamed out in several places with much violence, which the darkness of the night contributed to render still more visible and dreadful. But my uncle, in order to soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was only the burning of the villages, which the country people had abandoned to the flames. After this, he retired to rest, and it is most certain he was so little discomposed as to fall into a deep sleep.

"The court which led to his apartment being now almost filled with stones and ashes, had he continued there any longer, it would have been impossible for him to have made his way out; it was thought proper, therefore, to awaken him. He got up, and went to Pomponianus and the rest of his company, who were not unconcerned enough to think of going to bed. They consulted together whether it would be most prudent to trust to the houses, which now shook from side to side with frequent and violent concussions, or fly to the open fields

where the calcined stones and cinders, which, though light indeed, yet fell in large showers, and threatened destruction. In this distress, they resolved for the fields, as the less dangerous situation of the two; a resolution which, while the rest of the company were hurried into it by their fears, my uncle embraced upon cool and deliberate consideration.

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They went out then, having pillows tied upon their heads with napkins; and this was their whole defence against the storm of stones that fell round them. Though it was now day every where else, with them it was darker than the most obscure night, excepting only the light which proceeded from the fire and flames. They thought proper to go down farther upon the shore, to observe whether they might safely put out to sea; but they found the waves were still extremely high and boisterous. There my uncle, having drank a draught or two of cold water, threw himself down upon a cloth which was spread for him, when immediately the flames, and a strong smell of sulphur, which was the forerunner of them, dispersed the rest of the company, and obliged him to arise. He raised himself up, with the assistance of two of his servants, and instantly fell down dead, suffocated, as I conjecture, by some gross and noxious vapor, having always had weak lungs, and frequently being subjected to a difficulty of breathing. As soon as it was light again, which was not till the third day after this melancholy accident, his body was found entire, and without any marks of violence upon it, exactly in the same posture as when he fell, and looking more like a man asleep than dead."

During these occurrences on the Pompeian side of the bay, we learn from the second letter that the younger Pliny and his mother remained at Misenum, which was also enveloped in thick darkness, and dreadfully convulsed by the throes of the mountain. On the first morning after the eruption, the light was exceedingly faint and languid, and the buildings continued to totter; so that the mother and son resolved to quit the

town, the people following them in the utmost consternation. Having got to a convenient distance from the houses, they stood still in the midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. Their chariots pitched backwards and forwards, though drawn out on level ground, and blocked up with large stones; the sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven upon its banks by the convulsive motion of the earth; and many sea animals were left upon the shore, from which the water had receded.

Pliny's mother conjured him to make his escape, which, being young, (he was then eighteen years of age,) he might easily do; but he refused to leave her, and led her on from the scene of danger. The ashes began to fall upon them, though in no great quantity; but a thick, sulphureous smoke, like a torrent, came rolling after them. Pliny proposed, while they had any light, to turn from the highway, lest his aged parent should be pressed to death in the dark, by the crowd which followed; and they had scarcely stepped aside when utter darkness overspread them. Nothing was then to be heard, says he, but the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the cries of men; some calling for their husbands, and only distinguishing each other by their voices; one lamenting his own fate, another that of his family; some wishing to die, from the very fear of dying; some lifting up their hands to the gods; but the greater number imagining that the last day had come, which was to destroy both the gods and the world together.

At length a glimmering light appeared, which, however, was not the return of day, but only the forerunner of an approaching burst of flames. The mass of hot cinders and stones luckily fell at a distance from them; then again they were enveloped in thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes rained upon them, which they were obliged every now and then to shake off, to prevent being crushed and bruised in the heap. At length this dreadful darkness was dissipated by

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