433 
of Edinburgh , Session 1881-82. 
6. Suetonius is also brief, but somewhat more explicit. Among 
the sad events of the brief reign of Titus, he enumerates the 
conjlagratio Vesevi montis in Campania , and proceeds to praise the 
not merely princely, but even parental solicitude displayed by the 
emperor towards the sufferers by this, as by other calamities. “ He 
chose by lot from the list of men of consular dignity Curatores for 
the restoration of Campania. The goods of those who perished on 
Vesuvius, but left no heirs, he assigned to the restoration of the 
damaged cities ( restitutioni ajjlictarum civitatum).” This language 
also gives the reign of Titus, and distinctly connects with the eruption 
damage done to some unnamed cities. But so far as this biographer 
of the Caesars is our guide, the cities have been damaged only. 
Who would have supposed that they had been swallowed up or 
overwhelmed ? 
7. It is high time to come to the last contemporary witness on my 
list. I have mentioned in conversation to at least a dozen scholars 
the unsatisfactory character of the evidence for the destruction of 
Pompeii and of Herculaneum by Vesuvius, and they have one and 
all replied : — “Surely, Pliny has told us all about it.” About what 1 ? 
I am compelled to ask. About the death of his uncle, about the 
destruction of the small town of Stabise, about his misgivings respect- 
ing his conduct in not accompanying his uncle, about his devoted 
care for the safety of his mother, about his feelings during the 
escape ? Yes. About the destruction of these two considerable cities 1 
No. The two letters, which the younger Pliny wrote at the request 
of Tacitus, occupy in ordinary editions some six pages. But there 
is only one sentence which contains so much as a reference to the 
overthrow of Herculaneum and Pompeii ; and even that sentence is 
expressed in terms of a most vague and general character. 
Now in such a case it is easy, through the influence of a conscious 
or unconscious bias, to warp an author’s words, and make a transla- 
tion serve the purpose of a commentary. Distrustful of myself, I 
appealed to a brother Fellow of this Boyal Society, one whose 
authority will be recognised far beyond the limits of these walls or 
even of Scotland, the Professor of Humanity in the University of 
Edinburgh. The kindly interest evinced by Professor Sellar in the 
matter induced me to ask his opinion on so many other points, that 
I almost began to fear that he would wish the cities re-buried. On 
