- In this letter Pliny is writing to the historian Tacitus about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pliny begins the letter by stating that he stopped his departure with his mother in order to seek shelter.(Egressi tecta consistimus.) He also says that the carts that were being led by his household on the stone streets were shaking since the ground was trembling(...fulta in eodem vestigio quiescebant.)
- He saw the ground shake like it was being consumed beside the ocean(Praeterea mare... repelli videbamus), and he also stated that along the shore the sand contained animals that had dried up from the sea.(multaque animalia maris...detinebat)
- Next, Pliny describes how black clouds formed and how the lava was shooting out of the volcano like lightning (latere nubes...ignei spiritus tortis...fulguribus...) He also describes how ashes were rare but a dense fog was beginning to form(densa caligo tergis imminebat).
- Pliny tells his mom to turn aside so they won't get trampled on since the streets were filled with people frantically running and it was so dark out(Deflectamus...turba in tenebris obteramur.) However they aren't able to sit down because it became so dark that it looked like night, which Pliny compares to a light going out in a closed room.(illunis aut nubila...locis clausis lumine exstincto)
- He observes the cries of babies, women, and men,(Audires ululatus, feminarum, infantum, virorum...) who are searching for people(alii parentes alii liberos...requirebant.) Pliny tells us that some people were found by the sound of their voice.(vocibus noscitabant)
- Lastly, Pliny states how in the end people were praying because they were fearing death.(metu mortis mortem precarentur.)
Background Research:
- Mount Vesuvius is a volcano that is located in Southern Italy near Naples. It's most famous eruption was on August 24th, 79 A.D. This eruption destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, covering the cities with volcanic ash. Roughly 16,000 people were killed during the eruption including Pliny the Elder. These cities were completely destroyed and were never built back again. The only evidence of ancient life remains buried under molten rock, icluding the remains of people who were buried alive. Mount Vesuvius is still active today, however the most recent eruption occured in 1944. Today the area around Mount Vesuvius is densely populated.
- In this letter Pliny is writing to the Emperor Trajan about the Sinopians lack of water. He tells Trajan that 16 miles away you can see a good and abundant water supply(videtur...ab sexto decimo miliario...)
- Pliny investigated the stability of the land, with his own money, and saw that it was soft enough to build an aqueduct, which was his initial plan to get water to Sinope.(...locus suspectus et mollis)
- Trajan replies by acknowledging the fact that Pliny checked the stability of the land(explora diligenter...quem suspectum habes)
- He also replies by agreeing that the Sinopians need a water supply(perducenda sit in coloniam Sinopensem)
- However Trajan says that the Sinopians should help in the construction of the aqueduct(modo ea viribus suis assequi potest...) so that they could have a healthy water supply.
Background Research:
- The first aqueduct called the Aqua Appia was built in 312 BC
- Aqueducts are stone channels that were built to solve sewage problems by carrying clean water to towns
- They had to be carefully constructed at different slopes in order to make sure the water wasn't coming into the town too fast
- Most Roman water system ran below the ground
