ME.MOiR OF PLINY. 
39 
he distinguished himself so much by his eloquence, 
tliat he and his friend Tacitus were reckoned the 
two greatest orators of their age. 
The death of the elder Pliny occurred on the 24lh 
of August, in the Gfty-sixth year of his age, and 
seventy-ninth of the Chnstian era; and the date is 
remarkable as synchroni^jing the fatal eruption of the 
same mountain whicli happened during the present year 
(1834*), witli tl)at which took place nearly eighteen 
centuries ago. * Of his moral character we have 
• Although that mentioned here is the first great erup- 
tion of Vesuvius on record, there is evidenceof others hav- 
ing occurred at some more remote period. After this the 
mountain continued to burn for nearly a thousand years, 
the fire then appeared to become extinct ; but since the be- 
ginning of the sixteenth century, there have been eruptions 
at intervals, the most remarkable of which happened in 
loOC and 1783, which destroyed many towns and about 
40,000 people ; and in the month of August of the present 
year 1834, on the same day of the month on which Pliny 
perished, which is represented as one of the most terrific ever 
kno^vn. Tlie following account of it, given in a private letter 
from Naples, dated August 30th, deserves a place as a se- 
quel to the interesting descrijition of the younger Pliny. 
“ What has been dreaded has at length come to pass in 
the most melancholy manner. For several weeks past the 
wells at Resina Ottajano, ami other places at the foot of 
Vesuvius, were dry, which is an infallible sign of an ap- 
proaching eruption. On Sunday'the 24th, a small opening 
was perceived in the middle of the rnoiintain, out of which 
a very insignificant stream of lava flowed, in the direction 
of Bosco Tre Case, but it ran with considerable rapidity. 
At the same time a considerable noise and rustling were 
heard in the interior of the volcano, ami towards the direc- 
tion of the hermits two or three other streams of lava broke 
forth, without, however, passing beyond the waste space 
