ERUPTIONS OF VESUVIUS. 



199 



rior with wild vines, with a barren plain at the bot- 

 tom. On the exterior, the flanks of the mountains 

 were clothed with fertile fields, richly cultivated, 

 and at its base were the populous cities of Hercu- 

 laneum and Pompeii. In the year 63 after Christ, 

 there was an earthquake which did some injury to 

 the cities in its vicinity. From that time to the 

 year 77, slight shocks were experienced, and in 

 August of that year a tremendous explosion took 

 place, in which the elder Pliny lost his life. It ap- 

 pears that he commanded at that time the Roman 

 fleet, which was stationed at Misenum, and in his 

 anxiety to obtain a near view of the phenomena, 

 he was suff'ocated by sulphureous vapours. The 

 younger Pliny, his nephew, gives a very vivid de- 

 scription of the scene in one of his letters. He 

 represents a dense column of vapour as first seen 

 rising vertically from Vesuvius, and then spreading 

 itself out laterally, so that its upper portion resem- 

 bled the head, and its lower the trunk of the pine. 

 This black cloud was occasionally pierced by flashes 

 of fire, as vivid as lightning, preceded 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 re- 

 ceded from the shores, so that marine animals were 

 seen on the dry sand. 



It is a remarkable fact, that neither Pliny, nor 

 Tacitus, nor Suetonius should allude to the destruc- 

 tion of Herculaneum and Pompeii, which were 

 overwhelmed during this eruption, and that the first 

 historian who mentions them is Dion Cassius, who 

 flourished 150 years after Pliny. He states " that 

 during the eruption a multitude of men of super- 

 human stature, resembling giants, appeared some- 

 times on the mountain and sometimes in tlie envi- 

 rons ; that stones and smoke were thrown out, the 

 sun was hidden, and then the giants seemed to rise 

 again, while the sound of trumpets were heard," &c.; 



