Note 33 — LETTER V.

Strabo, in his fifth book of Geography, says, "Supra hæc loca situs est Vesuvius mons agris cinctus optimis: dempto vertice, qui magna sui parte planus, totus sterilis est, adspectu cinæreus, cavernasque ostendens fistularum plenas et lapidum colore fuliginoso, utpote ab igni exesorum, ut conjecturam facere possit ista loca quondam arsisse, et crateras ignis habuisse, deinde materia deficiente restincta fuisse."

Diodorus Siculus, in his fourth book, describing the voyage of Hercules into Italy, says, "Phlegræus quoque campus is locus appellatur a colle nimirum, qui Ætnæ instar Siculæ magnam vim ignis eructabat; nunc Vesuvius nominatur, multa inflammationis pristinæ vestigia reservans." And Vitruvius, in the sixth chapter of the second book, says, "Non minus etiam memoratur antiquitus crevisse ardores et abundasse sub Vesuvio monte et inde evomuisse circa agros flammas." Tacitus, mentioning the eruption of Vesuvius in the reign of Titus, seems to hint likewise at former eruptions, in these words: "Jam verò novis cladibus, vel post longam sæculorum repetitis afflictæ, haustæ aut abrutæ fecundissima Campaniæ ora et urbs incendiis vastata."