Res Gestae

On the twenty-fourth of August, at the first break of day, thick masses of darkling clouds overcast the face of the sky, which had just before been brilliant; the sun’s splendour was dimmed, and not even objects near at hand or close by could be discerned, so restricted was the range of vision, as a foul, dense mist rolled up and settled over the ground.

Then, as if the supreme deity were hurling his fateful bolts[*](Augural language; see Seneca, N.Q. ii. 41; for the usual meaning of manubiae, see Gellius, xiii. 25; he does not seem to know this use of the word.) and raising the winds from their very quarters,[*](Cardines are the four cardinal points, north, south, east, and west. Gellius, ii. 22, in his description of the winds, does not use cardines (probably because he speaks also of winds coming from between the cardines), but loca, regiones (§ 2), limites regionesque (§ 3), regiones caeli (§ 13), caeli partibus (§ 17).) a mighty tempest of raging gales burst forth; and at its onslaught were heard the groans of the smitten mountains and the crash of the wave-lashed shore; these were followed by whirlwinds and waterspouts, which, together with a terrific earthquake, completely overturned the city and its suburbs.

And since most of the houses were carried down the slopes of the hills, they fell one upon another, while everything resounded with the vast roar of their destruction. Meanwhile the highest points re-echoed all manner of outcries, of those seeking their wives, their children, and whatever near kinsfolk belonged to them.

Finally, after the second hour, but well before the third, the air, which was now bright and clear, revealed the fatal ravages that lay concealed. For some who had been crushed by the huge bulk of the debris falling upon them perished under its very weight; some were buried up to their necks

The greater number were killed at one blow, and where there were just now human beings, were then seen confused piles of corpses. Some were imprisoned unhurt within slanting houseroofs, to be consumed by the agony of starvation. Among these was Aristaenetus, vice-governor of the recently created diocese which Constantius, in honour of his wife, Eusebia, had named Pietas; by this kind of mishap he slowly panted out his life amid torments.

Others, who were overwhelmed by the sudden magnitude of the disaster, are still hidden under the same ruins; some who with fractured skulls or amputated arms or legs hovered between life and death, imploring the aid of others in the same case, were abandoned, despite their pleas and protestations.[*](Some refer this to the disabled, others to those who were fleeing. I think it refers to both; of. in a parallel case Curtius iv. 16, 12 qui sequi non poterant inter mutuos gemitus deserebantur. )