﻿THE DEATH OF PLINY THE ELDER. 225 



of Pliny's life. The words of the younger Pliny are as follows : " Deiade flammae, 

 flammarumque prsenuntius odor siilfuris, alios in fugam vertunt, excitant ilium. In- 

 nixus servis duobus adsurrexit, et statim concidit, iit ego conjecto crassiore caligine 

 spiritu obstructo, clausoque stomacho, qui illi natura invalidus et angustus et frequen- 

 ter intersestuans erat." The more exact translation of this passage would be as follows : 

 " Then the flames and the odor of sulphur premonitory of the flames put the others to 

 flight and aroused him. He rose, leaning upon two slaves, and immediately fell dead, 

 his breath being obstructed, as I conjecture, by the thick mist (caligine), and his stom- 

 ach being shut up, which in him was by nature weak, narrow, and subject to fi-equent 

 commotion." The fact here is that he fell suddenly dead. The theory of Pliny, his 

 nephew, who was not present, and who was not much versed in anatomy, is, that he 

 died from obstruction of his breath by the " caUgo," a word which means darkness, 

 fog, mist, also metaphorically blindness, dizziness, and ignorance, but does not mean a 

 noxious or irrespirable vapor. 



That this " caligo" was not composed of materials necessarily destructive of life, 

 there is abundant collateral evidence. Pliny had been attended to the spot by a con- 

 siderable party, and two slaves were actually supporting him at the time of his death. 

 Yet it does not appear from record that any of these persons suficred death or detriment 

 from the inhalation of noxious gas on the occasion. The character of the "caligo" is 

 further elucidated by the personal experience of the younger Pliny, who witnessed its 

 efiects during the same eruption, and has described its phenomena in a subsequent 

 letter, the nephew being at Misenum, whUe the uncle was at Stabiae, in the same 

 Aicinity to the mountain. 



" It was now morning, but the light was exceedingly faint and languid. The build- 

 ings aU around us tottered, and though we stood upon open ground, yet, as the place 

 was narrow and confined, there was no remaining without imminent danger. We 

 therefore resolved to leave the toAvn. The people followed us in the utmost consterna- 

 tion, and pressed in great crowds about us in our way out. Being advanced at a con- 

 venient distance from the houses, we stood still in the midst of a most hazardous and 

 tremendous scene. The chariots which we had ordered to be drawn out Avere so agitated 

 backwards and forwards, though upon the most level ground, that we could not keep 

 them steady even by supporting them with large stones. The sea seemed to roll back 

 upon itself, and to be driven from its banks by the convulsive motion of the earth. 

 On the other side, a black and dreadful cloud, bursting with an igneous, serpentine 



vapor, darted out a long train of fire resembling flashes of lightning Soon 



afterwards the cloud seemed to descend and cover the whole ocean, as indeed it en- 

 tirely hid the island of Caprea and the promontory of Misenum 



