VESUVIUS. 171 



two peaks now seen, there was a single, somewhat 

 flattish summit, on which a slight depression marked 

 the place of an ancient crater. The fertile slopes of 

 the mountain were covered with well-cultivated fields, 

 and the thriving cities Herculaneum, Pompeii, and 

 Stabias, stood near the base of the sleeping mountain. 

 So little did any thought of danger suggest itself in 

 those times, that the bands of slaves, murderers, and 

 pirates which flocked to the standard of Spartacus 

 found a refuge, to the number of many thousands, 

 within the very crater itself. 



But though Vesuvius was at rest, the region of 

 which Vesuvius is the main vent was far from being 

 so. The island of Pithecusa (the modern Ischia) was 

 shaken by frequent and terrible convulsions. It is 

 even related that Prochyta (the modern Procida) was 

 rent from Pithecusa in the course of a tremendous 

 upheaval, though Pliny derives the name Prochyta 

 (or f poured forth ') from the supposed fact of this 

 island having been poured forth by an eruption from 

 Ischia. Far more probably, Prochyta was formed 

 independently by submarine eruptions, as the volcanic 

 islands near Santorin have been produced in more 

 recent times. 



So fierce were the eruptions from Pithecusa, that 

 several Greek colonies which attempted to settle on 

 this island were compelled to leave it. About 380 

 years before the Christian era, colonists under King 

 Hiero of Syracuse, who had built a fortress on 

 Pithecusa, were driven away by an eruption. Nor 



