~ 
546 
guum Vol{cinios de ceelo, * Pompeios de fuo 
mante, perfudit ignis. ee Sa 
The burning of Volfcinium, of which 
Tertullian “fpeaks, dates from the year 
93, before the Chriftian era; this we learn — 
from Julius Obfequens, wha fays (c 
cxil.) thatit took place during the conf 
fhip of C. Valerius Flaccus and of I 
Herennius Nepos. It was about 
time, if not at an anterior epoch, 
muft refer the fact relative to P 
which Tertullian here, likewi 
mention. His objeét being to provet 
before the exiftence of Chriftianity, t 
world had experienced cataftrophes fimilar 
to thofe which, in his age, fome were dif- 
pofed to confider as owing to the inftitu-. 
tion of the Chriflian religion; he muft 
therefore, neceflarily only refer to events 
anterior to the birth of Jefus Chrif. If 
thofe which he cites, are only to be dated 
from the reign of Nero, or ftill later, from 
the reign of Titus ; the difafters that took 
place at one or other of thofe two epochs, 
might have been attributed, it matters not 
on what foundation, to the Chrittians. 
We know, for a certainty, that in the year 
§3, or the rrthof the reiga of Nero, in the 
middle of winter, on the 5th of February, 
a very violent terra motus, or earthquake 
was felt throughout all Campania, which 
almoft wholly deftroyed the city of Pom-. 
peti: a portion of the city of Hercula- 
neum was overthrown, and the reft was 
fiaken. At Naples, no public edifice 
fell, but many houfes were damaged : 
this is attefted by Seneca, a contempo- 
rary author, and perhaps, an eye-witnefs. 
The city of Pompeii did not remain al- 
ways in thai tate of defolation. Velpafian 
favoured it with marks of his protection. 
An infeription found emongtt the ruins of 
that city, informs us that the Emperor, in 
the 7th year of his tribunitian power, and 
«in his 7th confulfhip, that is to fay, in the 
‘courfe of the year 76, caufed to be rebuilt 
at Pompeii the temple of the Mother of 
the Gods, which had been overthrown 
by an earthquake. ‘Three years later, in 
the year 79, the firlt of-the reign of Titus, 
the famous eruption took place, the de- 
tails of which have been tran{mitted to us 
by Pliny the younger. That author does 
not appear to have exaggerated in his re- 
cital. This is not the cafe with Statius, 
* It fhould be obferved here that M. Ignarra 
affigns no reafons for the motives that have 
induced him to prefer this reading Pompeois, 
to the common reading, Tarpeois. It cannot 
be denied that the latter appears to be the moft 
plaufible. ; 
Deftruciion of Herculaneum and Pompeii. 
[July 1, 
who was, in like manner, a witnelsof that 
terrible event, and who was certainly alive 
Phy ep ae } =) 
‘at the time when Herculaneum and Pom- 
peii fuffered, in that dreadful difafer. 
Doubtlefs, according to the manner in 
which the poet exprefles himfelf, in a piece 
to Viétorius Marcellus -(Sylvar. lib. iv. 
ver, 78.) one would be led to think, that 
am x no vettige. remained of thofe two cities. 
re suet * aa ad te, Marcelle, fonae 
So bam 
Littoribus, fra€tas ubi Vefuvius erigit iras, 
/®mula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis. 
Mira fides! Credet ne virim ventura propago, 
Cum fegetes iterum, cum jam hec deferta 
virebunt, 
Infra urbes populofque premi, proavitaque toto. 
Rura abiiffe mari? Nec dum letale minari 
Ceffat apex. 
According to the Account of Pliny, it 
was on the 1{t of November, at one o’clock 
at noon, that the explofion took effect in 
its full extent. It. was at the hour when 
the people were wont to repair to the thea- 
tre, and we are told by the (ame Latin 
writer, that the people were actually af- 
fembled there. Camillo Peregrini, and 
after him Lafena were of opinion, that the 
cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii never 
had a theatre, and that the paflage of 
Dion Caffius, wherein mention is made of 
an affemblage of the people in that place, 
fhould be underftood of Naples. The 
difcovery, however, of a theatre at Pom- 
peii, as, likewife, at Herculaneum, prove 
that they were miftaken. The inhabitants, 
aflited by the munificence of Titus, and 
under the direétion of officers appointed 
for that purpofe, by means of the fums 
that devolved on that occafion to the filc, 
or public treafury, for want of heirs, were 
enabled to repair in a great meafure, the 
misfortunes they had experienced. They 
rofe again, and even with luaftre, from 
the fragments and afhes with which they 
had been encumbered.  Statius himfelf, 
gives us to underftand this, and feems to 
intimate, in fome meafure, that we ought 
not to interpret, literzlly, what he had 
before written to Viétorius Marcellus. In 
another piece addreffed to his {fpoufe, and 
wherein he earneiily invites her to meet 
him at Naples, he declares, in exprefs 
terms, that notwithflanding the ravages 
occafioned by the recent eruption of Ve- 
fuvius, the afpect of that fpot had nothing 
_ deje&ted in it, and that’ the towns there 
were in a flourifhing condition. 
Non adeo Yefuvinus apex et flammea diri 
Montis hyems trepidas exhaufit civibus urbes 5 
Stant populifque vigent. 
How long did the two cities enjoy the 
fruits of this refiauration? This is a quef- 
tion 
