MEMOIR OF PLINY. 33 



by the sudden retreat of the sea, but also from the 

 vast fragments which rolled down the sides of the 

 mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he 

 stopped to consider whether he should return back, 

 to which the pilot advising him, ' Fortune (said he) 

 befriends the brave ; steer to Pomponianus.' That 

 officer was then at Stabiae, a place separated by a 

 gulf which the sea, after several inconsiderable wind- 

 ings, forms upon that coast, and had already sent 

 his baggage on board; for though he was not at that 

 time in actual danger, yet being within the view of 

 it, and indeed extremely near, he had determined, if 

 it should in the least increase, to put to sea as soon 

 as the wind should change. It was favourable, how- 

 ever, for carrying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom 

 he found in the greatest consternation ; and embra- 

 cing him with tenderness, he encouraged and exhort- 

 ed him to keep up his spirits. The more to dissi- 

 pate his fears, he ordered his servants, with an air 

 of unconcern, to carry him to the baths ; and after 

 having bathed, he sat down to supper with great, or 

 at least (what is equally heroic) with all the appear- 

 ance of cheerfulness ; whilst in the mean time the 

 fire from Vesuvius flamed forth from several parts of 

 the mountain with great violence, which the dark- 

 ness of the night contributed to render still more vi- 

 sible and awful. But my uncle, in order to calm 

 the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was 

 only the conflagration of the villages which the coun- 

 try people had abandoned. After this he retired to 



VOL. IX. C 



