LANDMARKS OF BOTANICAL HISTORY — GREENE I 57 



Pliny's untimely death. ^ The facts must here be presented in brief. 



In the summer of a.d. 79 Pliny had command of the Roman 

 fleet, then in the Tyrrhene Sea, at anchor behind what is now 

 known as the Punta di Miseno. On the 2 2d of August of that 

 year, at about noonday a terrific earthquake and rain of ashes 

 accompanied that frightful eruption of Vesuvius which buried 

 the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. A cloud in the shape 

 of a huge Italian pine, with straight trunk and horizontal branches, 

 seemed to arise from the crater of the volcano. Immediately, on 

 a small and light sailing vessel Pliny set forth in the direction 

 of the mountain to gain a nearer view of the phenomenon. Soon 

 discovering that by the dread progress of the eruption the lives 

 of the whole population along the mountain's base were imperilled, 

 and that they had no way of escape but by sea, he ordered the 

 larger ships to sail to the rescue, and went with them. At one 

 time, when a shower of stones and ashes was falling on his ship, and 

 the sailors were trembling in mortal terror, the commander was 

 seen to be quietly dictating his own observations to the amanuensis. 

 They made land at a point where some friend of Pliny had a country 

 seat. The villagers were found already provided with the means 

 of escape by sea, only a strong contrary wind prevented embarkation; 

 meanwhile the dangers of remaining on land increased with every 

 hour. Pliny, when nightfall came, as if to inspire courage in others, 

 took his bath as usual, then dined, and composed himself as for a 

 night's rest; but the inhabitants of the place remained awake. 

 Towards morning the fall of stones and ashes so increased, and 

 the earthquake shocks became so much more frequent, that the 

 people awakened Pliny, fearing the closing up of the porch on 

 which he had made his bed. The demolition of buildings appeared 

 imminent, while out of doors the stones fell still more thickly. 

 People bound cushions and pillows about their heads and rushed 

 down to the beach; but winds and waves are still high and there 

 is no boarding the ships. It is now daytime, but the blackness 

 of night is still over land and sea, interrupted only by flashes of 

 lightning or flames bursting forth now and then from the fissures of 

 the earth. The people rush to and fro in the frenzy of despair. 

 The fumes of sulphur threaten to suffocate them. Pliny, helped by 

 two slaves, arises from his couch, and falls dead. 



The Historia Naturalis is Pliny's monument ; no other work of 

 his having survived. The following outline of the contents of the 

 work may be useful here. Book II, Cosmology and Meteorology; 



1 Pliny the younger, Book vi, Epistle 16. 



