shows much intimate and valuable knowledge. And LITTLE 

 so the list runs down through, treating at great length JOURNEYS 

 of bees, fishes, woods, iron, lead, copper, gold, marble, 

 fluids, gases, rivers, swamps, seas, and a thousand and 

 one things that were familiar to this marvelous man. 

 Q But of all subjects, Pliny shows a greater love for 

 botany than for anything else. Plants, flowers, vines, 

 trees and mosses interest him always and he breaks 

 off other subjects to tell of some flower that he has 

 just discovered. 



Pliny had command of the Roman fleet that was 

 anchored in the bay, off Pompeii, when that city was 

 destroyed in the year seventy-nine. Sir Bulwer Lytton 

 tells the story, with probably a close regard for the fact. 

 The sailors, obeying Pliny's orders, did their utmost to 

 save human life, and rescued hundreds. Q Pliny himself 

 made various trips in a small boat from the ship to the 

 beach. He was safely on board the flag-ship, & orders 

 had been given to weigh anchor, when the commander 

 decided to make one more visit to the perishing city to 

 see if he could not rescue a few more, and also to get 

 a closer view of Nature in a tantrum. 

 He rowed away into the fog. 



The sailors waited for their beloved commander, but 

 waited in vain. He had ventured too close to the flow- 

 ing lava, and was suffocated by the fumes, a victim to 

 his love for humanity and his desire for knowledge. 

 So died Pliny the Elder, aged fifty-six. 



33 



