30 MEMOIR OF PLINY. 



pressed to the nephew a wish to he acquainted with 

 the particulars of that catastrophe, that he might 

 mention them in his writings. The narrative is not 

 only intimately connected with the subject of this 

 Memoir, but so curious in itself, as containing the 

 relation, by an eye-witness, of the first great eruption 

 of Mount Vesuvius on record, by which the cities of 

 Herculaneum and Pompeii were destroyed, that we 

 shall lay the entire epistle before the reader. 



" PLINY to TACITUS. Your request that I would 

 send you an account of my uncle's death, in order 

 to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, 

 deserves my acknowledgments ; for if the circum- 

 stances which occasioned this accident shall be ce- 

 lebrated by your pen, the manner of his exit will be 

 rendered for ever illustrious. Notwithstanding he 

 perished by a misfortune, which as it involved at the 

 same time a most beautiful country in ruins, and 

 destroyed so many populous cities, seems to promise 

 him an everlasting remembrance ; notwithstanding 

 he has himself composed many works which will de- 

 scend to latest times ; yet I am persuaded the men- 

 tioning of him in your immortal writings, will great- 

 ly contribute to eternalize his name. Happy I es- 

 teem those to be whom the gods have distinguished 

 with the abilities either of performing such actions 

 as are worthy of being related, or of relating them 

 in a manner worthy of being read. But doubly 

 happy are they who are blest with both these un- 

 common endowments ; in the number of whom my 



