nd if anyone travelling on the road is caught by this terrible
shower, he cannot possibly survive, and if it falls upon houses, they
too fall under the weight of the great quantity of ashes. But whenever
it so happens that a strong wind comes on, the ashes rise to a great
height, so that they are no longer visible to the eye, and are borne
wherever the wind which drives them goes, falling on lands exceedingly
far away. And once, they say, they fell in Byzantium[151] and so
terrified the people there, that from that time up to the present the
whole city has seen fit to propitiate God with prayers every year; and
at another time they fell on Tripolis in Libya. Formerly this rumbling
took place, they say, once in a hundred years or even more,[152] but in
later times it has happened much more frequently. This, however, they
declare emphatically, that whenever Vesuvius belches forth these ashes,
the country round about is bound to flourish with an abundance of all
crops. Furthermore, the air on this mountain is very light and by its
nature the most favourable to health in the world. And indeed those who
are attacked by consumption have been sent to this place by physicians
from remote times. So much, then, may be said regarding Vesuvius.

FOOTNOTES:

[144] The Porta Ostiensis.

[145] See Book V. vi. 7, note.

[146] The Basilica of St. Paul stood south of the city, outside the
Porta Ostiensis which is still called Porta S. Paolo.

[147] St. Peter and St. Paul.

[148] Tibur.

[149] Chap. iii. 7.

[150] This is an error on the part of Procopius. In point of fact it
lies to the south-east of Naples.

[151] During the eruption of 472 A.D.

[152] Since the great eruption of 79 A.D.--the first in historical
times--eruptions have succeeded one another at intervals varying from
one to more than one hundred years.

V

At this time another army also arrived by sea from Byzantium, three
thousand Isaurians who put in at the harbour of Naples, led by Paulus
and Conon, and eight hundred Thracian horsemen who landed at Dryus, led
by John, the nephew of the Vitalian who had formerly been tyrant, and
with them a thousand other soldiers of the regular cavalry, under
various commanders, among whom were Alexander and Marcentius. And it
happened that Zeno with three hundred horsemen had already reached Rome
by way of Samnium and the Latin Way. And when John with all the others
came to Campania, provided with many waggons b