Theban lady. Now one of the appellations of Zeus was Ves,
which was applied to him as being the god of rains and dews--the
wet divinity. Thus Hercules was Vesouuios, the son of Ves. How
this name should have become corrupted into "Vesuvius," you can be
at no loss to perceive.

Vesuvius was not always a volcano. It was for many ages a very
peaceable and well-behaved mountain. Ancient writers describe it as
having been covered with gardens and vineyards, except at the top
which was craggy. Within a large circle of nearly perpendicular
cliffs, was a flat space sufficient for the encampment of an army.
This was doubtless an ancient crater; but nobody in those times
knew anything of its history. So little was the volcanic nature of
the mountain suspected, that the Roman towns of Stabiae, Pompeii,
and Herculaneum had been erected at its base, and their inhabitants
dwelt in fancied security.

In the year A.D. 63, however, the dwellers in the cities got a
great fright; for the mountain shook violently, and a good many
houses were thrown down. But soon all became quiet again, and the
people set about rebuilding the houses that had fallen. They
continued to live in apparent safety for some time longer. They
danced, they sung, they feasted; they married, and were altogether
as merry a set of citizens as any in southern Italy. But the 24th
of August A.D. 79 at length arrived. Then, woe to Stabiae! woe to
Pompeii! woe to Herculaneum!

Pliny the elder was that day in command of the Roman fleet at
Misenum, which was not far off. His family were with him, and,
among others, his nephew, Pliny the younger, who has left an