WE have just had news, my esteemed Lucilius, i 

 that Pompeii, the celebrated city in Campania, has 

 been overwhelmed in an earthquake, which shook 

 all the surrounding districts as well. The city, you 

 know, lies on a beautiful bay, running far back from 

 the open sea, and is surrounded by two converging 

 shores, on the one side that of Surrentum and 

 Stabiae, on the other that of Herculaneum. The 

 disaster happened in winter, a period for which our 

 forefathers used to claim immunity from such 

 dangers. On the 5th of February, in the consulship 2 

 of Regulus and Virginius, this shock occurred, 

 involving widespread destruction over the whole 

 province of Campania ; the district had never 

 been without risk of such a calamity, but had been 

 hitherto exempt from it, having escaped time after 

 time from groundless alarm. 



The extent of the disaster may be gathered 

 from a few details. Part of the town of Hercu 

 laneum fell ; the buildings left standing are very 

 insecure. The colony of Nuceria had painful ex 

 perience of the shock, but sustained no damage. 

 Naples was just touched by what might have proved 

 a great disaster to it ; many private houses suffered, 

 but no public building was destroyed. The villas 3 

 built on the cliffs everywhere shook, but without 



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