MEMOIR OF PLINY. 35 



further 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. 

 Then my uncle having drank a draught or two of 

 cold water, laid himself down upon a sail-cloth 

 which was spread for him ; but immediately the 

 flames, preceded by a strong smell of sulphur, dis- 

 persed the rest of the company, and obliged him to 

 rise. Scarcely had he raised himself up, with the 

 assistance of two of his servants, when he instantly 

 fell down dead ; suffocated, as I conjecture, by some 

 gross and noxious vapour, having always had weak 

 lungs, and being frequently subject to a difficulty in 

 breathing. As soon as it was light again, which 

 was not till the third day after this melancholy acci- 

 dent, his body was found entire and without any 

 marks of violence, exactly in the posture that he fell, 

 and looking more like a man asleep than dead." 



" During all this time (continues the same writer 

 in another epistle, adverting now to his own situa- 

 tion), my mother and I were at Misenum. We Went 

 out into a small court belonging to the house, which 

 separated the sea from the buildings. As I was at 

 that time but eighteen years of age, I know not 

 whether I should call my behaviour in this danger- 

 ous conjuncture courage or rashness ; but I took up 

 Livy and amused myself in turning over that author, 

 and even making extracts from him, as if all about 

 me had been in full security. While we were in this 

 situation, a friend of my uncle's, who was just come 



