tudy; a secretary constantly
attended him with books and tablets, and in winter wore very warm gloves
so that the cold weather might not interrupt my uncle's work; and, for
the same reason, when in Rome, he was always carried in a chair. I
remember he once reproved me for going for a walk, saying that I might
have used the hours to greater advantage; for he thought all time was
lost which was not given to study. It was by this extraordinary
application that he found time to write so many volumes, besides a
hundred and sixty books of extracts which he left me, written on both
sides in an extremely small hand, so that their number might be reckoned
considerably greater.

_To Cornelius Tacitus_

I understand you wish to hear about the earthquake at Misenum. After my
uncle had left us on that day, I went on with my studies until it was
time to bathe; then I had supper and went to bed. But my sleep was
broken and disturbed. There had been many slight shocks, which were very
frequent in Campania, but on this night they were so violent that it
seemed as though everything must be overthrown. My mother ran into my
room, and we went out into a small court which separated our house from
the sea. I do not know whether to call it courage or rashness on my
part, as I was only eighteen years old; but I took up Livy and read and
made extracts from him. When morning came the light was faint and
sickly; the buildings around us were tottering to their fall, and there
was great and unavoidable danger in remaining where we were. We resolved
to leave the town. The people followed us in consternation, and pressed
in great crowds about us on our way out. Having gone a good distance
from the house, we stood still in the midst of a dreadful scene. The
carriages for which we had sent, though standing upon level ground, were
being thrown from side to side, and could not be kept still even when
supported by large stones. The sea appeared to roll back upon itself,
driven from its shores by the convulsive movements of the earth; a large
portion of the sea-bottom was uncovered, and many marine animals were
left exposed. Landward, a black and dreadful cloud was rolling down,
broken by great flashes of forked lightning, and divided by long trains
of flame which resembled lightning but were much larger.

Soon afterwards the clouds seemed to descend and cover the whole surface
of the ocean, hiding the island of Capri altogether and blotting out the