G04 



ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS, A.D. 79. 



[Ch. XXIV 



The appearances above described agree perfectly with those 



more 



Nuovo 



and of Vesuvius in 1822. 



The younger Pliny, although giving a circumstantial detail 

 of so many physical facts, and describing the eruption and 

 earthquake, and the shower of ashes which fell at Stabise, 

 makes no allusion to the sudden overwhelming of two large 

 and populous cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii. In explana- 

 tion of this omission, it has been suggested that his chief 



object was simply to give Tacitus a full account of the par- 

 ticulars of his uncle's death. It is worthy, however, of re- 

 mark, that had the buried cities never been discovered, the 

 accounts transmitted to us of their tragical end might well 

 have been discredited by the majority, so vague and general 

 are the narratives, or so long subsequent to the event. Taci- 

 tus, the friend and contemporary of Pliny, when adverting in 

 general terms to the convulsions, says merely that 'cities 



were consumed or buried.' * 



Suetonius, although he alludes to the eruption inciden- 

 tally, is silent as to the cities. They are mentioned by 



imm 



historian who 



m bv name 



t 



who flourished about a century and a half after Pliny. He 



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om 



of the inhabitants, and to have recorded, without discrimina- 

 tion, all the facts and fables which he could collect. He tells 

 us, ' that during the eruption a multitude of men of super- 

 human stature, resembling giants, appeared, sometimes on 



that stones 



the mountain, and sometimes in the environs— 

 and smoke were thrown out, the sun was hidden, and then 

 the giants seemed to rise again, while the sounds of trumpets 

 were heard, &c. &c. ; and finally/ he relates, ' two entire 

 cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii, were buried under showers 

 of ashes, while all the people were sitting in the theatre.' 

 That many of these circumstances were invented, would have 

 been obvious, even without the aid of Pliny's letters; and 

 the examination of Herculaneum and Pompeii enables us to 





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* 'Hausta? aut obrulae urbes.' — Hist. lib. i. 



f Hist. Rom. lib. lxvi. 





