Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-01-08

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| gula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Ohio, vi
tellius and Vespasian, dying A. d. 10,
soon after Titus commenced to reign. II
was custom at Rome to take for granted
| that if a man did one thing well it might
| be presumed that he coulu creditablY do
another. Therefore, the elder Pliny ,
having successfully governed a
| province or two, was Gin com
mission as admiral of a Roman
| fleet when he died. During the ten
years Vespasian had been on the throne
! literature, art and science were not
| merely protected but honored in Rome
| The nobility were astonished when they
saw Quintilian, school master, raised
| to the consulate
Pliny s great work on natural history
was dedicated to the Emperor Titus (ex-
| tended to thirty-seven books, some of
which are LOST, who was Vespasian IS son
and successor. The father had begun
and the son completed that great build
ing, now the grandest and most interest
| ing of all architectural ruins, of which it
| is said:
While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand
And while Rome stands, the world.
On August 81, A. d. 70, the fleet I'M
der Pliny was at Misenum, a promontory
forming the northern extremity of the
Bay of Naples. Behind and beyond it,
sloping almost down to the sea, rose
Mount Vesuvius, then clad from base to
summit with vines and olive trees. Up
to that period there was not even q ira
dition that Vesuvius was volcanic. The
Bay of Naples-then, as now, one of the
lOYeliest places in beautiful Italy-had
a line of handsome villas, the sum
mer retreat of the Roman nObil
ity. There, also, was Bai9, favorite
place of resort for the wealthy Romans,
with the splendid baths and terraces
built out into the sea. Almost every
available spot along the shore had been
built upon, and to supply the want of
room on land the sea itself was built into.
These structures are now covered with
water, and so much fill the shore with
ruins that there is no anchorage among
them. Gliding along in row-boat, the
visitor can see many of these remains in
the clear water below sand in one place
pass over paved road which runs 200
feet into the sea.
Baie, which was very popular during
the reign of Tiberius-perhaps the most
profigate of the twelve Caesars, had a
terribly bad reputation. From the fall
of the republic to that of the empire it
ranked among Italian cities as the most
dissolute in morals. Many of the great
Roman authors spoke slightingly of it.
Clodius reproached Cicero for his attach
ment to so vile place, and Martial de-
scribes the Roman matrons as arriving at
Baie with the reputation of Penelope and
leaving it with that of Helen.
There, too, on the coast of the lovely
bay of Naples was Puteoli, which had
busy harbor in Pliny's time. Now its
remains are exhibited to the curious, and
its very name has been altered to Poz-
zuoli. Also on the shore, in one
continuous line, were Neapolis
(Naples), one of the largest of
the Italian cities, with Herculaneum,
Pompeii and Stabi@. The latter,
now called Castellamare, "came to
grief'' when Pompeii and Herculaneum
were destroyed by an eruption of Yesu-
vius, A. d. 20. The story has been so
plainly told by the younger Pliny that we
have it before us now, after lapse of
eighteen centuries, just as if it had been
"written up" by the wonderful accu-
racy, investigation and fullness of a
corps of newspaper reporters of the pres
ent day.
Pliny was at Misenum, writing in his
study, with his squadron at anchor off
the promOntoTy, when his sisteP-in-law
summoned HIM to look at strange OBJ
ject-a cloud of unusual size, density and
shape, which was visible from that
locality. Rising from one of the many
hills of the district, which the observers
did not then identify as Vesuvius,
it resembled a stone pine with lofty
trunk and cluster of branches at the
top, continually varying in height, and
of a changing hue-sometimes fiery red
sometimes streaked with black. No enc
knew what to make of it. VesuyiuS
nine or ten miles distant, had never be-
fore emitted flames, though earthquakes
were not infrequent in that part of the
country, one of which, sixteen years be-
fore CA. d. 63,) had seriously injured
Herculaneum and Pompeii. But, as a
volcano, VeSuvius had yet made no sign.
Anxious to ascertain the origin of the
new and surprising appearance in the
heavens, Pliny resolved to have look at
it from the sea, ordered Librunian GAL
ley to be prepared for him, and invited
his nephew to accompany him. AT that
time the younger Pliny was only seventeen
years old, but not being very much at
tached at the time to the study of natural
science, pleaded that he must complete
literary task which his uncle had set him.
and went on board with the declared
purpose OF giving all assistance in his
power to the frightened peasantry living
near the shore, who were literally wild
with alarm. He had scarcely left MI
senum when he found that something |
very dangerous was going on. He ordered
all the galleys of his fleet to put to sea, |
cross the bay and go to the opposite side,
where the danger seemed 20 be most i'm |
minent. Showers of cinders, ashes and |
hotg scoTie fell on the ships as they adj |
yanced. Still nearer the opposite shore,
and closer to Vesuyius, pumice stone and |
black fiints fell on them INCREASINGLY.
The soundings of the bay were altered |
and the sea retreated in great waves.
Note book in hand, Pliny wrote down |
the various and alarming appearances of |
these phenomena. He paused with a |
brief hesitation, and the pilot urged him |
to return. no. he cried. sFor-
tune assists the brave,'' and gave or |
ders TO proceed to the little town |
Of Stabi@, near the extreme southern /
end of the bay, where Pompo-
nianuS, his second in command, was re-
siding. Landing there, while his vessels |
were taking crowds of the frightened in
a