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Show 330 CllltiSTIAN ERA. VESUVIUS BEFORE THE • . . d ll tb cattle in the 1sland of h. h Ihilate a e v· manations w IC ann . . 17S0:Vf. Bory St. mcent e f the Cananes, m h d . Lancerote, one o . l b' ds fell lifeless tot e groun ' mentions, that in the sa~e IS e. ~ s us that he picked up and Sir William Hamilton. m orm ruption The Solfatara, V . dunn()' an e . If dead birds on esuvms. o b still considered as a ha - also, near P uzzuo li ' whiCh maby teh e accounts of Strab o and. extinguished crater, appearsl, YCl 'sti'an era in very much the b before t 1e lfl ' others, to have een .. 0' vent continually to aqueous same state as at pr~sent, gll~ll1o us and muriatic acid gases, ur toO'ether with su P Jureo. vapo ' o l d b v csuvms. similar to those evo ve Y. 1 . tlle subterranean fires ob-tl e pomts w leie h Such, then, were 1 . . d to which tradition reac es f th earhest peno tained vent, rom e f the Christian era; but we back down to the first centhury ol I'c action of this district ' · · in t e vo can . then arrive at a c~Isis . 0' events witnessed by man dur~ng -one of the most mterestmo h' h he has observed the physiCal the brief period throughout; lC From the first colonization h th's sur1acc. 1 changes on t e ear 1 Vesuvius afforded no ot ler of Southern Italy by tl~e Gl ree <ts, than such as the naturalist f . l me c 1arac er indications o lts vo ca f . ts structure to other vo1 c anos. miO'ht infer, from the analogSy o bl but Pliny did not include o · d by tra o, . These were recogmse . . nts The anCient cone t . . h' h t of active ve · . he mountam m IS s . t'nO' not as at present, m 1 form termma 1 o' . f was of a very regu ar '. 1 mi't where the remams o · th flattls 1 sum ' · two peaks, but Wl a d u had left a s1ight depress10~l, an ancient crater, nearly fill:ld P: es and with a sterile plam . . · by w1 vm , Covered in Its mter10r . the flanks of the moun- 0 the exteriOr, d t 't at the bottom. .nl ~ ile fields richly cultivated, an a l .. s tain were covered Wlt 1 ert. . . f Herculaneum and Pompe11. base were the populous cltle: lo no-th doomed to cease, and the But the scene of repose ~as a 1 ee ;ain channel, which, at some volcanic fire was recalle to t 1. assage to repeated streams former unknown period, had gi~en P The first symptom of the of melted lava, sand, and ~corire. was the occurrence of an . 1 of the energies of tlns volcan? h' 11 did considerable rev1va 63 ft Christ w lC 79 earthquake in the ye~r . ~ . er Fro~ that time to the year . . to the cities in Its VlClmty. . h th of August of that ~my . t~dmtemoo slight shocks were frequen ' . bruch auf der Insel Lanzerote. • Vo n B uc h1 Ub• einen vulcawsch. Aus ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS, A.D. ,9, 331 year they became more numerous and violent, till they ended at length in an eruption. ·The elder Pliny, who commanded the Roman fleet, was then stationed at Misenum ; and in his anxiety to obtain a near view of the phenomena, he lost his life, being suffocated by sulphureous vapours. His nephew, the younger Pliny, remained at l\1isenum, and has given us, in his Letters, a lively description of the awful scene. A dense column of vapour was first seen rising vertically from Vesuvius, and then spreading itself out latera1ly, so that its upper portion resembled the head, and its lower the trunk of the pine, which characterizes the Italian landscape. 'I.,his black cloud was pierced occasionally by flashes of fire as vivid as lightning, succeeded by darkness more profound than night. Ashes fe11 even upon the ships at Misenum, and caused a shoal in one part of the seathe ground rocked, and the sea teceded from the shores, so that many marine animals were seen on the dry sand. The appearallces above described agree perfectly with those witnessed in more recent eruptions, especially those of Monte Nuovo in 1538, and of Vesuvius in 18~~. In all times and countries, indeed, there is a striking uniformity in the volcanic phenomena; but it is most singular that Pliny, although giving a circumstantial detail of so many physical facts, and enlarging upon the manner of his uncle's death, and the ashes which fell when he wns at Stabire, makes no allusion whatever to the sudden overwhelming of two large and populous cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii. All naturalists who have searched into the memorials of the past, for records of physical events, must have been surprised at the indifference with which the most memorable occurrences are often passed by, in the works of writers of enJightened periods ; as also of the extraordinary exaggeration which usually displays itself in the traditions of similar events, in ignorant and superstitious ages. But, of all omissions, the most inexplicable, perhaps, is that now under consideration ; and we have n? hesitation in saying, that had the buried cities never been discovered, the accounts transmitted to us of their tragical end would have been discredited by the majority, so vague and general are the other narratives, or so long subsequent to the event. Tacitus, the friend and contemporary of Pliny, when adverting .in general terms to the convulsion, says merely that |