﻿224 THE DEATH OF PLINY THE ELDER. 



epistle, it appears to me highly probable that the elder Pliny got his death, not from 

 suffocation or asphyxia, as is commonly believed, but from some more specific and 

 natural disease. The following is a part of the translation by Mr. Melmoth of this 



epistle : — 



" In the mean while, the fire from Vesmdus flamed forth from several parts of the 

 mountain with great violence, which the darkness of the night contributed to render 

 still more visible and dreadful. But my uncle, in order to calm the apprehensions of 

 his friend, assured him that it was only the conflagration of the vUlages which the 

 country people had abandoned. After this, he retired to rest, and it is most certain he 

 was so little discomposed as to fall into a deep sleep ; for, being corpulent and breathing 

 hard, the attendants in the antechamber actually heard him snore. The court which 

 led to his apartment being now almost filled with stones and ashes, it would have been 

 impossible for him, if he had continued there any longer, to have made his way out. 

 It was thought proper, therefore, to awaken him. He got up, and joined Pomponianus 

 and the rest of the company, who had not been sufficiently unconcerned to think of 

 going to bed. They consulted together whether it would be most pioident to trust 

 to the houses, which now shook from side to side with frequent and %iolent concus- 

 sions, or flee to the open fields, where the calcined stones and cinders, though levigated 

 indeed, yet fell in large showers, and threatened them with instant destruction. In 

 this distress, they resolved upon the fields, as the less dangerous situation of the two ; 

 a resolution which, while the rest of the company were hurried into by their fears, my 

 uncle embraced upon cool and deliberate consideration. They went out then, having 

 pillows tied upon their heads with napkins ; and this was their whole defence against 

 the storm of stones which fell around them. It was now day everjTvhere else, but there 

 a deeper darkness prevailed than in the blackest night, which, however, was in some 

 degree dissipated by torches and other lights of various kinds. They thought it ex- 

 pedient to go down farther upon the shore, in order to observe if they might safely put 

 out to sea; but they found the waves still running extremely high and boisterous. 

 There my uncle, having drunk a draught or two of cold water, laid himself down upon 

 a sail-cloth which was spread for him ; when immediately the flames, preceded by a 

 strong smell of sulphur, dispersed the rest of the company and obliged him to rise. 

 He raised himself up with the assistance of two of his servants, and instantly fell down 

 dead, suffocated, I conjecture, by some gross and noxious vapor, ha%-ing always had 

 weak lungs, and being frequently subject to a difficulty of breathing." 



Notwithstanding the elegance and general accuracy of Mr. Melraoth's translation, 

 there is room for doubting the exactness of that part which contains the closing scene 



