566 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



4,000 feet. The summit of this mountain was formed by a circular depressed 

 plain, nearly three miles in diameter, within which the gladiator Spartacus, 

 with his followers, were besieged by a Roman army (p. 83 ) . 



The above description is reinforced by a figure of a truncate 

 colossus, supposed to represent Vesuvius in the time of Strabo, a 

 graphic portra) r al that has been popular ever since the first attempt in 

 this direction was essayed by Camillo Peregrino, 12 in 1651. Strange as 

 it may seem, some writers have been misled into supposing that such 

 was the actual form presented by the mountain in the middle of the 

 seventeenth century. As a matter of fact, all these fanciful restora- 

 tions of the Somma form of crater, however cleverly they may interpret 

 geological evidence, and to that extent suggest remote prehistoric condi- 

 tions, can not be considered as having any real historical founda- 

 tion. For we have no right to interpret literary documents in a manner 

 wholly discordant with what is known of the structure and behavior of 

 the mountain itself, but rather should first seek to establish their 

 credibility by scrutinizing them in the light of ascertained facts. If 

 it has been easy to misconstrue Braccini's account of the crater in the 

 first quarter of the seventeenth century, should we not be wary of 

 accepting the usual rendering of ancient authors ? And who is so bold 

 as to claim that the huge truncate cone of which Strabo is commonly 

 understood to speak finds any visible support in Pompeiian wall fres- 

 coes, of which several representing Vesuvius in a more or less idealized 

 fashion have been discovered ? Impressionistic as all of these paintings 

 are, it is not difficult to perceive that the local scene which caught the 

 artist's fancy was after all not very different from that which still meets 

 our gaze from within or hard by the disinterred city. 13 



We may affirm, then, this conclusion : there is no good reason to 

 suppose that Vesuvius appeared materially different in the yesterday of 

 one or two thousand years ago than it does to-day. The summit of the 

 younger cone, still partially encircled by the ancient Somma rim, has 

 been undergoing comparatively slight modification throughout probably 

 the whole course of human history. And we must perforce believe it 

 to have been existent even before the race of man had appeared on the 

 face of the earth, and had begun to acquire dominion over it. 



12 'Discorsi della Campania Felice,' p. 309. (Naples, 1651.) 

 13 For a recent and interesting discussion of this whole matter, and also of 

 the events of the Plinian eruption, one may consult the following: Enrico 

 Coechia, ' La forma del Vesuvio,' an essay reprinted in Volume III. of his 

 ' Saggi Filologici ' (Naples, 1902) ; and S. Herrlich, 'Die antike Ueberlieferung 

 liber den Vesuv-Ausbruch im Jahre 79.' Beitr.zur alten Gesch.,Vo\. IV. (1904), 

 pp. 209-220. 



