he affairs of the empire. But with respect to his
natural disposition, and moral behaviour, the expectations entertained by
the public were not equally flattering. He was immoderately addicted to
luxury; he had betrayed a strong inclination to cruelty; and he lived in
the habitual practice of lewdness, no less unnatural than intemperate.
But, with a degree of virtuous resolution unexampled in history, he had
no sooner taken into his hands the entire reins of government, than he
renounced every vicious attachment. Instead of wallowing in luxury, as
before, he became a model of temperance; instead of cruelty, he displayed
the strongest proofs of humanity and benevolence; and in the room of
lewdness, he exhibited a transition to the most unblemished chastity and
virtue. In a word, so sudden and great a change was never known in the
character of mortal; and he had the peculiar glory to receive the
appellation of "the darling and delight of mankind."

Under a prince of such a disposition, the government of the empire could
not but be conducted with the strictest regard to the public welfare.
The reform, which was begun in the late reign, he prosecuted with the
most ardent application; and, had he lived for a longer time, it is
probable that his authority and example would have produced the most
beneficial effects upon the manners of the Romans.

During the reign of this emperor, in the seventy-ninth year of (475) the
Christian era, happened the first eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which has
ever since been celebrated for its volcano. Before this time, Vesuvius
is spoken of, by ancient writers, as being covered with orchards and
vineyards, and of which the middle was dry and barren. The eruption was
accompanied by an earthquake, which destroyed several cities of Campania,
particularly Pompeii and Herculaneum; while the lava, pouring down the
mountain in torrents, overwhelmed, in various directions, the adjacent
plains. The burning ashes were carried not only over the neighbouring
country, but as far as the shores of Egypt, Libya, and even Syria.
Amongst those to whom this dreadful eruption proved fatal, was Pliny, the
celebrated naturalist, whose curiosity to examine the phenomenon led him
so far within the verge of danger, that he could not afterwards escape.

PLINY, surnamed the Elder, was born at Verona, of a noble family. He
distinguished himself early by his military achievements in the German
war, received the dig