PLINY THE YOUNGER Pliny on his uncle's death at Pompeii "The cloud was shaped like an umbrella pine, with a long trunk that branched at the top. It was so remarkable, my uncle wanted to study it closer. He ordered a boat to be prepared. Fearlessly, he headed across the bay, straight for danger, all the while making notes of the movements and shapes of the clouds. Soon, ashes were falling; hot and dense. Next came pumice stones, black and scorched by fire. He came ashore near his friend's villa and hoping to calm him by his own composure, my uncle asked to bathe and rest. "Soon the courtyard outside his room filled with ash. The buildings swayed with heavy tremors. The sky turned blacker than night. Then flames and sulphur fumes sent everyone into flight. He asked for water, then stood up and suddenly collapsed; his breath choked by the thickening fog. Daylight came three days later." (Letter 9.14)