The Dickenson County herald. [volume] (Clintwood, Va.) 1927-1930, 1927-09-08
POMPEIpS FALL
TOLD BY PL|NY
Excavation Work by Italy
Recalls Narrative by
Eyewitness.

started into life, hurting blazing rocks
and smoke clouds high into the air as
If in protest at the unearthing of q
) city it had buried 1,S4S years ago
But, according to scientists, there Is
little danger of Mount Vesuvius re-
peating the terrific outbursts of 70 A.
d., and 60 the celebrating throngs
made merry, even into the night, when
brilliant fireworks lighted up the Bay
of Naples, vying with the bursts OF
flame high up in the volcanoes crater.
1t is different picture that Pliny
the Younger draws-a picture of ter
ror-ridden days and nights, presaged
by violent earth trAmors that leveled
many houses before the awful spec
tacle of fire was dimly seen through
a rain of blazing stone and ash by a
doomed humanity. Yet concerning
the disaster he writes with philo-
sophical detachment that makes one
wonder at his powers of observation
and presence of mind in such 8
panicky time.
Eighteen at Time of Disaster.
Pliny the Younger was only eighteen
at the time of Mount Vesuvius' erup-
ton, yet remarkably precocious and
devoted to study Born to riches in
an honorable family, the early death
of his father led to his adoption as
son by the elder pliny, his uncle. Caius
Plinius Caecilious Secundus was the
youths name, his mother being PIMA,
the elder Pliny's sister, and his father,
Caius Caecilius, of a plebeian family
that nevertheless numbered consuls
and other men of note In Its ranks.
The fathers health, however, prob
ably was responsible for the fame his
son achieved for the elder Pliny, re-
nowned naturalist and man of letters,
saw to it that his adopted son was
given the best of education and
schooled in the literary and philosoph-
zeal learning that meant SO much to
him.
Vespasan, first emperor of the Fla
Wan dynasty, came to the end OF his
worthy rule over Rome in the year
tragedy stallled in the Bay of Naples.
The dissolute times of Nero had been
followed with the bloodshed of civil
wars under the Emperors Galba, Otho,
ana yitellius before Vespasian was
placed at the empires head to restore
good times. He passed on to his son,
Titus, the rule of Rome, and the de-
struction of pompeii and Heculaneum,
in the first summer of Titus short
reign, was one of three tragedies that
married his otherwise excellent dispo-
sition of Roman government A IRE
In Rome nearly rs bad as that OF
Nero's day and time of plague when
followed it were the other two.
no Indication Of Eruption.
To the Romans clustered along the
beautiful shores of the Bay of Naples
in villas and close-built cities In 70
A d., there was no indication that
Mount Vesuvius might erupt. Earth
uuakes were not uncommon In the
region; In fact one in 63 A. ID. had
been of devastating nature. The
Roman towns grouped along the cres'
cent SHAPED bay shore, starting at the
northern promontory We're: Misenum
Daac, Pute0li, Neapolis, Herculaneum,
pompeii and Stabiae.
At Misenum existed naval station,
Raiae was a popular bathing resort,
Noapolis was one of the largest Ro-
man metropoli Pompeii was more
or less commercial center, and Her
culaneum the summer resort Of the
wealthy. For this reason the task or
digging 1t from beneath 100 feet OF
lava and volcanic mud Is expected to
reveal finer literary and art treasures
thrA those uncovered at Pompeii in
the past.
Pliny the Younger, in 70 A. D., was
snending the summer with his uncle
and mother near Misenum, the elder
piny being in command of the Roman
fleet stationed there. To the south
and east rose the vine and tree-clad
mountain slopes, completely covering
Vesuvius In such manner that there
was no suspicion Of volcanic forces
slumbering there.
Saw Death CT Uncle.
Here Pliny, who began practice as
an advocate a year later, witnessed
the eruption and saw his uncle go to
his death in an effort to rescue people
caught on the hay shore closer to the
volcanoes mouth. 4iny's description
of the disaster the world owes to the
historian Tacitus, who some years la.
ter wrote asking for the details sur
rounding the older Piny's death and
for an account of the dangers which
the youth himself escaped.
''On the 9th of August" Pliny first
wrote, "ahout one in the afternoon
my mother desired him (the elder
pliny) to observe a cloud which ap
peared of very unusual size an6
shape He had just taken turn ir
the sun, and, after bathing himself In
cold water, and making light lunch
con, gone back to his books; he imme
diately arose and went out upon {
rising ground from whence he NIGH
get better sight of this very uncom
mon appearance.
"a cloud, from which mountain was
uncertain at this distance, was ascend
Ing, the appearance of which ! can
not Uiya ynu n moro axact dissertation