MEMOIR OF PLINY. 
.3.3 
liy tlie sudden retreat of tlie sea, but also from the 
vast fragments which rolled down the sides of the 
mountain, and obstructed all the sliore. Here lie 
stopped to consider whether lie should return back, 
to which the pilot advising him, ‘ Fortune (said he) 
befriends the brave ; steer to Pomjionianus.’ That 
officer was then at Stabim, a place separated by a 
gulf which the sea, after several inconsiderable wind- 
ings, forms upon that coast, and liad already sent 
his baggage on board; for though he was not at that 
time in actual danger, yet being within the view of 
it, and indeed extremely near, he had determined, if 
it should in the least increase, to put to sea as soon 
as the wind should change. It was favourable, how- 
ever, for carrying my uncle to Pomponianns, whom 
he found in the greatest consternation ; and embra- 
cing him with tenderness, he encouraged and exhort- 
ed him to keep up his spirits. The more to dissi- 
pate his fears, he ordered his servants, with an air 
of unconcern, to carry him to the baths ; and after 
having bathed, he sat down to supper with great, or 
at least (what is equally heroic) with all the appear- 
ance of cheerfulness ; whilst in the mean time the 
fire from Vesuvius flamed forth from several parts of 
the mountain with great violence, which tlie dark- 
ness of the night contributed to render still more vi- 
sible and awful. But my uncle, in order to calm 
the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was 
only the conflagration of the villages which the coun- 
try people had abandoned. After this he retired to 
