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Ch. XXIV. J 



ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS, A.D. 79. 



GO-' 



Q 



character than such as the naturalist might infer, from the 

 analogy of its structure to other volcanos. These were recog- 

 nised by Strabo, but Pliny did not include the mountain in 

 his list of active vents. The ancient cone was of a very 

 regular form, terminating not as at present, in two peaks, 

 but with a summit which presented, when seen from a dis- 

 tance, the even outline of an abruptly truncated cone. On 

 the summit, as we learn from Plutarch, there was a crater 

 with steep cliffs, and having its interior overgrown with wild 

 vines, and with a sterile plain at the bottom. On the ex- 

 terior, the flanks of the mountains were clothed with fertile 

 fields richly cultivated, and at its base were the populous 

 cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. But the scene of repose 

 was at length doomed to cease, and the volcanic fire was re- 

 called to the main channel, which at some former unknown 

 period had given passage to repeated streams of melted lava, 



sand, and scoriae. 

 Renewal of its eruptions. — 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 descrip- 

 tion of the awful scene. A dense column of vapour was first 

 seen rising vertically from Vesuvius, and then spreading it- 

 self out laterally, so that its upper portion resembled the 

 head, and its lower the trunk of the pine, which characterises 

 the Italian landscape. This black cloud was pierced occa- 

 sionally 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 marine animals were seen on the dry sand. 



