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 Phny. 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 the 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.; 
