WEBVTT - Lessons of Vesuvius, Part 1 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.800 Soon afterwards, the cloud began to descend and cover the sea. 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.480 It had already surrounded and concealed the island of Capri 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.080 and the promontory of mycene Him. My mother begged me 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:17.360 to leave her and escape as best I could, but 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:21.120 I absolutely refused, taking her by the hand and making 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.520 her to hurry along with me. Ash was already falling 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.000 by now, though in no great quantity. Then I turned 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.440 and saw a thick black cloud advancing over the land 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.080 behind us like a flood. Let us leave the road 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.559 while we can still see, I said, But we will 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.239 be knocked down and trampled by the crowd. We had 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:43.200 scarcely sat down when darkness came upon us. Not such 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.720 as we have when the sky is cloudy or when 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.440 there is no moon, but that of a room when 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.240 it is shut up and all the lamps put out 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:11.920 Welcome to stuff to blow your mind. A production of 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:21.000 I Heart Radios has to work. Hey, welcome to stuff 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.399 to blow your mind. My name is Robert Lamp and 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.880 I'm Joe McCormick. And if you know your ancient Roman literature, 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.960 you might have guessed from that opening that today we're 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:33.440 gonna be talking about the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Uh. 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.640 This is something that I've wanted to do an episode 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:39.440 on for a long time, mainly because I love some 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.520 of the ancient Roman original documents that we're going to 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.720 be reading from today that they are like so crisp 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:50.200 as a descriptive source of this ancient catastrophe that happened 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.080 in the year seventy nine. Yeah, this is a This 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.200 is a topic I'm excited to get into as well 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:59.240 because I definitely have strong childhood memories of of course 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.560 being fascinated with volcanoes. Volcanoes along with dinosaurs are just 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:06.120 part of being a child. But then also I remember 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:10.040 having a national copy of National Geographic that had all 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:15.840 these beautiful, haunting photographs of the remnants of Pompeii, Uh, 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.760 the the victims of Vesuvius. Yeah, it's funny you should 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.240 bring up dinosaurs, because I think this was sort of 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:23.880 in the back of my mind and I hadn't brought 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.400 it to the front until you said that there's a 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:28.920 weird way that in a lot of the paleo art 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:30.639 that I grew up with as a child. I think 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:33.600 we've actually mentioned this on the show before, that dinosaurs 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:38.639 are often depicted with volcanoes currently erupting in the background. 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:40.880 Do you know what I'm talking about? Yes, absolutely, you 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:45.040 see it all the time. And the thing is, sometimes 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:47.720 I feel like the artists, the paleo artist in question, 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:50.200 is definitely trying to get something across, like this is 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.239 a region in which they were volcanic eruptions, or perhaps 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:57.000 they're discussing the role of volcanoes, the role they may 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.040 have possibly played according to various theories regarding extinction events. 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.359 But other times I think it's this just idea of 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.960 this was this primal dangerous age in which the earth 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:13.560 is opening up, monsters are walking about, feasting on each other. 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.120 It's just that the world is alive with danger. I 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:19.440 think that's correct. But I think there's also something to 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.160 the thing you mentioned first, like the idea that volcanoes 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:26.080 are sometimes invoked as one of the explanatory mechanisms for 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.120 some of the extinction events that killed lots of the dinosaurs, 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:32.239 And because they're thought of this way, we think about 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.920 dinosaurs often, like as if we we mainly think of 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.120 them in like the last moments before they were wiped 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:41.720 from the face of the earth. That's like the defining 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.960 time of their existence. They're frozen and amber, uh in 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.280 the moment right before their doom. And in a strange way, 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.200 that is quite literally the case about the settlements surrounding 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.280 Mount Vesuvius. Absolutely. I mean, that's one of the things 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.960 about Pompei is it is it allows us to to 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.880 look into the path in ways that the remains of 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.480 other ancient cities do not. Yeah, it's for that reason 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.200 that at the same time that it's very grim to 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.240 look at, it's also kind of magical. Uh. So we're 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:13.760 gonna be talking about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:17.760 this catastrophe in the year seventy nine CE that obliterated 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.680 several Roman settlements around the Bay of Naples, including the 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:26.200 city of Pompeii and the town of Herculaneum. And historians 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.200 studying the subject are very lucky because we actually have 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:35.000 access to historical documents describing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:39.360 in seventy nine in extreme detail. Specifically, this is a 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.920 pair of letters written by the first century Roman politician 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.120 and author Plenty the Younger, who is in fact the 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:50.360 nephew of the great Roman author and encyclopedist Plenty the elder, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:52.919 whose natural history we reference on the show all the 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.240 time for insights on what the ancient Romans thought they 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.920 knew about everything from sea monsters to the culinary virtues 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.400 of lead. That's right, I feel it. Scarcely a month 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:04.560 goes by that we don't reference plenty of the Elder. 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:08.120 So it's it's it's great and of course bitter sweet 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.280 to meet up with him again here, right, because this, 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:13.760 of course is the end of the story of plenty 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:15.839 of the Elder. He spent a lifetime collecting all of 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:19.000 this knowledge and pseudo knowledge about the world. But we've 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.960 never discussed before how plenty of the Elder died. It 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.720 was the mountain that killed him. So about these letters 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.960 describing the event. Sometime early in the second century CE, 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:30.800 I think I've seen it placed, maybe around the year 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.040 one oh four, one oh five, something like that. Around 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.880 this time, plenty Of the Younger wrote two letters to 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:41.800 the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus to give his firsthand account 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.880 of the eruption and to explain the ultimate fate of 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:48.360 his uncle. Now, these two letters are famous for their 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.520 vivid description of the events, and so we wanted to 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.640 put you on the ground during the eruption of Vesuvius. 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.320 By reading some selections from these letters. Uh, these will 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.359 come from a couple of different England translations that you 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.320 can easily find online. I sort of made a composite 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.680 out of two different translations, trying to take some of 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.159 the best parts from each one. One is from a 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:13.040 book called Volcanoes of Europe from Dunedin Academic Press from 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:18.640 seventeen by Degal Jeram Alwyn Scarth and Jean Claude Tangai. 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:23.320 And then there's another widely used English translation by William Melmouth. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.280 So those two came together to to create what you're 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.800 about to hear. Yes, these are are typically described as 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:35.359 the the oldest detailed accounts, detailed firsthand accounts of a 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:39.320 volcanic eruption. That's not to say that volcanic eruptions were 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:42.280 not known to to do ancient people's They were known, 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:45.680 um and then we have mentioned of them popping out. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:50.120 There's even I read there's there's an argument that Virgils 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:53.480 mention of an eruption of Mount Etna in the in 0:06:53.560 --> 0:07:00.560 Needed was actually generated via firsthand observation, But even that 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:03.680 would not be the level of detail that we're discussing here, right, 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:07.840 I have not found any evidence of a description of 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:12.280 a volcanic eruption in in literary history older than Plenty's 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.840 description here that contains nearly anywhere close to the amount 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:18.360 of detail we get right, certainly nothing that has survived, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.400 and probably because a lot of the people who might 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.480 have been in a position to write such an account 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:28.360 themselves did not survive. Uh So, Plenty the Younger begins 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.840 his first letter by praising Tacitus's skills as a writer 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.080 of history and talking about his uncle, Plenty of the Elder, 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.760 and he he says, basically, you know, my uncle died 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:41.280 in a misfortune, but there's a chance to redeem his legacy, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.720 because if you put him in your in your history, 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:47.560 if his name becomes associated with the eruption of Vesuvius, 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.120 it will render his name immortal. Uh So, I'm going 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.360 to pick up after that section of of introduction and 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:58.160 just read from Plenty's account within his first letter. At 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.080 the time of the great eruption, my uncle Plenty was 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.240 with the fleet under his command at mycene him on 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:08.840 the August about one in the afternoon. My mother desired 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.520 him to observe a cloud which appeared of a very 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.080 unusual size and shape. He had just taken a turn 0:08:15.080 --> 0:08:18.119 in the sun, and after bathing himself in cold water 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.800 and making a light luncheon, he had gone back to 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:25.000 his books. He immediately arose and went out upon a promontory, 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:27.320 from whence he might get a better site of this 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.080 very uncommon appearance. From that distance, it was not clear 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.760 from which mountain the cloud was rising, although it was 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.600 found afterwards to be vesuvious. The cloud could best be 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:41.280 described as more like an umbrella pine than any other tree, 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.160 for it rose high up like a trunk, and then 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:47.920 divided into branches. I imagined that this was because it 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.920 was thrust up by the initial blast until its power weakened, 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.080 and it was left unsupported and spread out sideways under 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:59.160 its own weight. Sometimes it looked light colored, sometimes it 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.080 looked modeled and dirty, with the earth and cinders it 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.640 had carried up. This phenomenon seemed to a man of 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.640 such learning and research as my uncle, extraordinary and worth 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.960 further looking into. He ordered a light vessel to be 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.640 got ready and gave me leave if I liked it 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.480 to accompany him. I said, I had rather go on 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:22.040 with my work, and it so happened. He had himself 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:25.000 given me something to ride out. As he was coming 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.359 out of the house, he received a note from Retina, 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.679 the wife of Tascus, who was in the utmost alarm 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.040 at the immediate danger which threatened her for her villa. 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.920 Lying at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. There was no 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.360 way of escape but by boat. She was terrified by 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.800 the threatening danger and begged him to rescue her. He's 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.680 changed his plan at once, and what he had started 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.600 in a spirit of scientific curiosity, he ended as a hero. 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.200 You know. At this point I always stopped and I wonder, like, 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:56.360 how did he get the note? I imagine it must 0:09:56.400 --> 0:09:59.120 have come to him across the water, right that maybe 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.000 in a smaller boat she was able to send a 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:02.880 noe doubt and to ask him to come back with 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.360 larger boats that she and her family could escape on. 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.440 I imagine, I mean, the only ways it would be 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.960 that or by some manner of bird. Yeah, as long 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.320 as we're interjecting, I want to remind everyone here that 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.680 that Plenty of the Elder would have been about fifty 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:19.840 six years old at this point. If you're trying to 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.760 picture him in your head, and perhaps cast Um an 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.720 actor in the role. Yes, and the younger Plenty also 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.840 says of his uncle that he was that he was 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.080 like brave and stout, But he he also says, he 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.360 was a quite corpulent man, so like he wasn't necessarily, 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:36.679 you know, fit as a fiddle to be running out 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.120 into danger. But anyway, to go back to the account, 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:42.600 uh Plenty continues, he ordered the galleys to be put 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.240 to sea, and he went himself on board with an 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.720 intention of assisting not only Rectina, but the several other 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:53.240 towns which lay thickly strewn along that beautiful coast, hastening 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:55.520 then to the place from whence others fled with the 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.880 utmost terror. He steered his course direct to the point 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.240 of danger, and so much calmness and presence of mind 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.240 as to be able to make and dictate his observations 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.760 upon the motion and all the phenomena of that dreadful scene. 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:11.559 So he's taken notes as he goes. He was now 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:14.199 so close to the mountain that the cinders, which grew 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:18.280 thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:22.600 together with pumice stones and black pieces of burning rocks 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:25.920 shattered by the fire. They were in danger too, not 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.720 only of being a ground by the sudden retreat of 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.199 the sea, but also from the vast fragments which rolled 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.959 down from the mountain and obstructed all the shore. Can 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.319 you imagine that being out on a boat and so 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.760 like the sea is first of all pulling away from 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.439 the shore as you're trying to get into the shore 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.040 to rescue people from the villas along the shoreline, So 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.640 the seas retreating, and then also stuff from the mountain 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:54.120 is now coming down and making its way into the water, right, 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.640 I mean, it must have been like approaching a shore 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.439 upon which there was a battle. Only instead of two 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:01.880 human force is engaged in battle, it is a battle 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:06.640 between civilization and the elements of the earth itself. Unreal. 0:12:06.960 --> 0:12:10.360 He continues. Here he stopped to consider whether he should 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:14.560 turn back, for the pilot was advising retreat. Fortune favors 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:18.920 the brave, he said, Steer to where Pomponius is from. 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:23.400 Ponianus lived at Testavia, a town across the Bay of Naples, 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.400 which was not yet in danger, but would be threatened 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:31.080 if the eruption spread. Pomponianus had already put his belongings 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.640 into a boat to escape as soon as the contrary 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:37.320 onshore wind changed, The wind, of course, was fully in 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.559 my uncle's favor, and quickly brought his boat to Stabia. 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.240 My uncle calmed and encouraged his terrified friend the more 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:48.560 effectually to soothe his fears by seeming unconcerned himself. He 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.600 ordered the drawing of a hot bath, and then, after 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:55.240 having bathed, sat down to supper with great cheerfulness, or 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.040 at least with every appearance of it, which is just 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.040 as brave. Is that? Just as I guess? So, Yeah, 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.440 if you're like trying to calm other people even though 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.320 you are yourself scared, Yeah, I mean, if there's only 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.280 so much you can do, calmness is going to help 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:14.200 and help to maintain a a proper retreat. I mean, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.760 I guess to a certain extent one could again apply 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:20.360 to military metaphor here, you know, and the military backgrounds 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:23.160 of individuals involved. Yeah, So I guess what they're saying 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.160 here is that he's stuck at the house until the 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.880 winds change and they can get out by water, and 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.400 trying to encourage people not to panic while they're while 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:36.000 they're there, so plenty continues. Meanwhile, tall broad flames blazed 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.320 from several places on Vesuvious and glared out through the 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:42.080 darkness of the night. But my uncle, in order to 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.120 soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him it was 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.000 only the burning of the villages which the country people 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:51.880 had abandoned to the flames. After this he retired to rest, 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:54.280 and it is most certain that he was so little 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:58.000 disquieted as to fall into a sound sleep, for his breathing, 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.520 which on account of his corpulence, was rather heavy and sonorous, 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.479 was heard by the attendants outside his door. But eventually 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:09.040 the courtyard outside began to fill with so much ash 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.680 and pummice that if he had stayed in his room, 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.480 he would never have been able to get out. So 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.280 he was awakened, and he went to Pompony Inis and 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.640 the rest of the company, who had stayed up all 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.040 night and were feeling too anxious to think of going 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.200 to bed. They consulted together whether it would be most 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.920 prudent to trust to the houses, which now rocked from 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.320 side to side with frequent and violent concussions, as though 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:36.160 shaken from their very foundations, or fly to the open fields, 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.920 where the stones and cinders, though light and porous, fell 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:44.280 in large showers and threatened destruction. In this choice of dangers, 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.600 they resolved for the fields, a resolution which, while the 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.560 rest of the company were hurried into by their fears, 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.840 my uncle embraced upon cool and deliberate consideration. They went 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:58.440 out then having pillows tied upon their heads with napkins, 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.000 for this was their whole defense against the storm of 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.200 stones that fell around them. And I have to admit 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.040 that is that is a slightly comical mental image. Yes, 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:08.880 it is put in your head. Well it's it's like 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.120 both at the same time. It's like funny, but it's 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.720 also so grim and so real, Like you can imagine like, Okay, 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:16.840 so the house you're you're afraid the house is going 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:18.800 to collapse. You've got to get away from the house. 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.160 But outside the house, stuff is, rocks are falling from 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.280 the sky. So what do you do? You know, like 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:26.400 it's not safe to be under a roof. So like 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:30.440 they literally were like, okay, we've got to improvise helmets, right, yeah, 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:32.560 So yeah, I agree, it is it is both a 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:34.960 little bit comic but also terrifying. I mean, this whole 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.200 situation is terrifying. And I think one thing to keep 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.480 in mind too, is we read this account is again 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:44.600 thinking about to what extent Plenty is trying to manage 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.160 evacuation and to to to manage their response, a calm 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.120 response to this catastrophe that's taking place, because that is 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.440 going to be vital not only did this scenario, but 0:15:55.560 --> 0:16:01.280 to other scenarios and even future scenarios regarding the clash 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.080 of human civilization and volcanic activity. Yes. Uh, And you 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:07.680 say he's having to manage in evacuation, he's not only 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.440 having to do that, he's having to improvise management of 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.280 an evacuation because they don't know what the best practices are. 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.440 So anyway goes on to the conclusion of the letter here. 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.160 So they've gone out with the pillows tied to their heads, 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:21.480 and then Plenty of the younger says it was now 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.240 daylight everywhere else, but they're a deeper darkness prevailed than 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:27.880 in the thickest night, and they were forced to light 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:30.920 their torches and lamps. My uncle went down to the 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.080 shore to see if there was any chance of escape 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.240 by sea, but the waves were still far too high. 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.560 There my uncle, laying himself down upon a sail cloth 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.000 which was spread for him, called twice for some cold water, 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.840 which he drank. Then immediately the flames, preceded by a 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.280 strong whift of sulfur, dispersed the rest of the party 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.560 and obliged him to rise. He raised himself up with 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:58.520 the assistance of his two servants, and instantly fell down dead, suffocated, 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.600 as I conjecture, by gross and noxious vapor, having always 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.080 had a weak throat which was often inflamed as soon 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.040 as it was light again, which was not till the 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:11.760 third day after this melancholy accident. His body was found 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:15.080 entire and without any marks of violence upon it, in 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.679 the dress in which he fell, and looking more like 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.840 a man asleep than dead. So plenty of the elder 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.480 dies here on the shore, but not everybody in his 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:25.840 party does, because, of course, like the servants and friends, 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.240 are later able to report back to plenty of the 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.520 younger what happened to his uncle right, and and of 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:35.160 course plenty of the younger mentions his his ailing lungs 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:39.360 as being a possible reason that he succumbed to these fumes. 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.480 It has also been hypothesized that he could have actually 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.560 even though by all appearances it might have had something 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:48.399 to do with the fumes it also could have simply 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.520 been a stroke or heart attack. Yeah, I mean, obviously 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:55.399 this is a high stress, high exertion situation, um, and 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.680 he wasn't a young man anymore. But so Plenty then 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.480 ends his letter by saying he witnessed a lot of 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:03.440 other stuff, but he didn't include it in the letter 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:06.960 because Tacitus originally had only asked how his uncle had died. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.680 And apparently Tacitus wrote back and wanted to know more. 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.359 He wanted to know details about what the younger Plenty 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.399 and his mother had encountered when they stayed behind it 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.359 Mycene him. And that makes for the content of the 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:21.560 second letter. So maybe we should take a break, and 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.000 then when we come back we can read from plenty 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:30.760 second letter about the eruption. Than alright, we're back. So 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.560 before the break we were discussing how Plenty the elder died, 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:37.439 and now we are essentially going to explore how Plenty 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:40.639 of the younger lived. Yes, so now remember in the 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.280 first letter, Plenty of the younger and his mother stayed 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:45.919 behind at Mycene him while the elder took the fleet 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.440 out to help people who were further along the shore. 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.920 And so plenty picks up his narrative like this. He says, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.600 after my uncle left us, I studied, dined, and went 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.800 to bed, but slept only fitfully. We had had earth 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.160 tremors for several days, which were not especially alarming because 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.560 they happened so often in Campania. But that night they 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.000 were so violent that everything felt as if it were 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.320 being shaken and turned over. My mother came hurrying to 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.080 my room, and we sat together in the forecourt facing 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.760 the sea. As I was at that time but eighteen 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:19.240 years of age. I know not whether I should call 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:23.359 my behavior in this dangerous juncture courage or folly. But 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.760 I looked up to Livy and amused myself with turning 0:19:26.840 --> 0:19:30.680 over that author and even making extracts from him, as 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.800 if I had been perfectly at my leisure. Though it 0:19:33.880 --> 0:19:37.280 was now morning, the light was still exceedingly faint and doubtful, 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.080 The buildings around were already tottering, and we would have 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.040 been in danger in our confined space if our house 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.040 had fallen down. This made us decide to leave town. 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.480 We were chased after by a panic stricken crowd that 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.200 chose to follow someone else's judgment rather than decide anything 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.600 for themselves. I love that detail that he's like he's 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.679 trying to act like he's not afraid, so he's just 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.960 going on with his studies. Is like, I'll just keep 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.720 reading Livy and make some notes. And then again this 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:07.840 is terrifying scene of like every no one knows what 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.159 to do, and so like, of course they're going to 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:14.800 follow uh cliny here, just like like somebody who looks 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.120 like they know what needs to be done, it knows 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:19.399 no where they need to go. They're going to fall 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.080 in behind them. We Also, he was the of a 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.040 family of military command, so his uncle would have been 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.200 known as the commander of the fleet there at the bay. 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.000 So I think if the relatives of the commanders suddenly 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:33.439 start leaving town, everybody is going to see that and 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:35.680 be like, we probably need to get out to Yeah, 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.800 I would. I would say, you know, the comeback here 0:20:38.800 --> 0:20:41.359 would be of course we're following you and not thinking 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:45.040 for ourselves. You're the military, like you're you're a are 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:47.280 you're the one to follow you. We're not going to 0:20:47.320 --> 0:20:50.000 trust your own judgment here you are the Navy. But again, 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:51.840 this would not have been a time when people had 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.399 like a list of safety procedures they could look up 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.400 for a volcanic eruption. I mean you, you have no precedent, 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.359 You have no idea what to do, right, because as 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.600 will as we'll discuss as we get into this topic more. 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.919 This volcano had not erupted in quite a while. It 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.920 had at the very least been centuries. Yeah. Now Plenty 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.159 picks up of this narrative. He says, being at a 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:15.639 convenient distance from the houses, we stood still in the 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.200 midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. The carriages 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.600 we had ordered began to lurch to and fro, although 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.679 the ground was flat, and we could not keep them still, 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:29.359 even when we wedged their wheels with stones. Then we 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:33.240 saw the sea sucked back, apparently by a convulsion of 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:36.439 the earth, and many sea creatures were left stranded on 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:39.960 the dry sand. From the other direction, over the land, 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:44.000 a dreadful black cloud was torn by gushing flames and 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:48.840 great tongues of fire, like much magnified lightning. Soon afterwards, 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.000 the cloud began to descend and cover the sea it 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:55.480 had already surrounded and concealed the island of Capri and 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.840 the promontory of my Sine Him, my mother begged me 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:00.879 to leave her and escape as best I could, but 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:04.679