During the time that he was writing the eruption of Vesuvius occurred, and he has described it with the zeal of a witness. "Sic ubi prorupti tonuit cum forte Vesevi Hesperiae letalis apex; vixdum ignea montem Torsit hiems, iamque Eoas einis induit urbes."

What can be better, he asks, than for children to be educated where they are born, so that they may grow to love their native place by residing in it? Pliny was fortunate in having so distinguished an uncle. On the accession of Vespasian, the elder Pliny was called to Rome by the Emperor, and when his nephew vixdum adolescentus joined him in the capital, he took charge of his studies.