

Upper 

 Gallery. 



Table-case 

 in Recess 4 



162 



VESUVIUS. 



" From the first colonization of Southern Italy by the 

 Greeks, Vesuvius afforded no other indications of its vol- 

 canic character than such as the naturalist might infer, 

 from the analogy of its structure to other volcanoes. The 

 ancient cone (of which Somma forms a part) was of a very 

 regular form, with a flattish summit, where the remains of 



an 



ancient crater, nearly filled up, had left a slight de- 

 presssion, covered in its interior by wild vines, and with a 

 sterile plain at the bottom. On the exterior, the flanks of 

 the mountains were clothed with fertile fields richly culti- 

 vated, and at its base were the populous cities of Hercu- 

 laneum and Pompeii. But the scene of repose was at length 

 doomed to cease, and the volcanic fire was recalled to the 

 main channel, which, at some former unknown period, had 

 given passage to repeated streams of melted lava, sand, and 



scoriae. 



" The first symptom of the revival of the energies of 



this volcano was the occurrence of an earthquake in the 



year 63 after Christ, which did considerable injury to the 



cities in its vicinity. From that time to the year 79, slight 



shocks were frequent; and in the month of August of that 



year they became more numerous and violent till they ended 



at length in an eruption. The elder Pliny, who commanded 



the Roman fleet, was then stationed at Misenum ; and in his 



anxiety to obtain a near view of the phenomena he lost his 



life, being suffocated by sulphureous vapours. His nephew, 



the younger Pliny, remained at Misenum, and has given us, 



in his "Letters," a lively description of the awful scene. A 



dense column of vapour was first seen rising vertically from 



Vesuvius, and then spreading itself out laterally, so that 



its upper portion resembled the head and its lower the trunk 



of the pine, which characterizes the Italian landscape. 



This black cloud was pierced occasionally by flashes of fire 



as vivid as lightning, succeeded by darkness more profound 



than night. Ashes fell even upon the ships at Misenum, 



and caused a shoal in one part of the sea— the ground 



rocked, and the sea receded from the shores, so that many 



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