X 
LIFE AITD WEITIKGS OF PLINT. 
The ashes were now falling fast upon the vessels, hotter 
and more and more thickly the nearer they approached the 
shore ; showers of pumice too, intermingled with black 
stones, calcined and broken by the action of the flames : 
the sea suddenly retreated from the shore, where the debris 
of the mountain rendered landing quite impossible. After 
hesitating for a moment whether or not to turn back, upon 
the pilot strongly advising him to do so : — " Fortune favours 
the boldV said he, " conduct me to Pomponianus." Pom- 
ponianus was then at Stabise, a place that lay on the other 
side of the bay, for in those parts the shores are winding, 
and as they gradually trend away, the sea forms a number 
of little creeks. At this spot the danger at present was not 
imminent, but still it could be seen, and as it appeared to be 
approaching nearer and nearer, Pomponianus had ordered 
his baggage on board the ships, determined to take to 
flight, if the wind, which happened to be blowing the other 
way, should chance to lull. The wind, being in this quarter, 
was extremely favourable to his passage, and my uncle soon 
arriving at Stabise, embraced his anxious friend, and did his 
best to restore his courage ; and the better to re-assure him 
by evidence of his own sense of their safety, he requested the 
servants to conduct him to the bath. After bathing he took 
his place at table, and dined, and that too in high spirits, or 
at all events, what equally shows his strength of mind, with 
every outward appearance of being so. In the mean time 
vast sheets of flame and large bodies of fire were to be seen 
arising from Mount Vesuvius ; the glare and brilliancy of 
which were beheld in bolder relief as the shades of night 
came on apace. My uncle however, in order to calm their 
fears, persisted in saying that this was only the light given 
by some villages which had been abandoned by the rustics 
in their alarm to the flames : after which he retired to rest, 
and soon fell fast asleep : for his respiration, which with him 
was heavy and loud, in consequence of his corpulence, was 
distinctly heard by the servants who were keeping watch at. 
the door of the apartment. The courtyard which led to his 
apartment had now become filled with cinders and pumice- 
stones, to such a degree, that if he had remained any longer 
in the room, it would have been quite impossible for him to 
^ " Fortes fortuna juvat." 
