le, tho mighty, consolation, that all mankind were
involved in the same calamity and that I was perishing with the world
itself. At last this dreadful darkness was dissipated by degrees, like
a cloud or smoke; the real day returned, and even the sun shone out,
tho with a lurid light, like when an eclipse is coming on. Every
object that presented itself to our eyes (which were extremely
weakened) seemed changed, being covered deep with ashes as if with
snow. My mother and I, notwithstanding the danger we had passed, and
that which still threatened us, had no thoughts of leaving the place,
till we could receive some news of my uncle.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 137: Addrest to the Emperor Trajan while proconsul in Pontus
and Bithynia. The Melmoth translation revised by Bosanquet. This
letter and the passage in Tacitus printed elsewhere in this volume,
are the only genuine contemporary references to the early Christians
to be found in ancient writings. Pliny's letter was preserved by the
Christians themselves as evidence of the purity of their faith and
practises. Early writers of the Church frequently appeal to it against
calumniators. It was written within forty years of the death of St.
Paul.]

[Footnote 138: Trajan's reply to this letter was as follows: "You have
adopted the right course, my dearest Secundus, in investigating the
charges against the Christians who were brought before you. It is not
possible to lay down any general rule for all such cases. Do not go
out of your way to look for them. If indeed they should be brought
before you, and the crime is proved, they must be punished; with the
restriction, however, that where the party denies he is a Christian,
and shall make it evident that he is not, by invoking our gods, let
him (notwithstanding any former suspicion) be pardoned upon his
repentance. Anonymous information ought not to be received in any sort
of prosecution. It is introducing a very dangerous precedent and is
quite foreign to the spirit of our age."]

[Footnote 139: The translation of William Melmoth, revised by F. C. T.
Bosanquet. Pliny wrote two letters to Tacitus on this subject, each at
the request of the historian. Both are given here.]

[Footnote 140: Pliny the elder was his uncle.]

[Footnote 141: In the Bay of Naples.]

[Footnote 142: About six miles distant from Naples. This eruption of
Vesuvius, in which Herculaneum and Pompeii were buried, happened A.D.
79, in the first year of the