[...] A black and terrible cloud, rent by
snaking bursts of fire, gaped open in huge flashes of flames; it
was like lightning, but far more extensive [...]
Soon afterwards, the cloud lowered towards the earth and covered
the sea [...]Then my mother began to beg [...] me to try to escape
as best I could [...]
Ashes were already falling, but not yet thickly. .. When night
fell, not one such as when there is no moon or the sky is cloudy,
but a night like being in a closed place with the lights out. One
could hear the wailing of women, the crying of children, the
shouting of men; they called each other, some their parents,
others their children, still others their mates, trying to
recognize each other by their voices. Some lamented their own
fate, others the fate of their loved ones. There were even those
who out of their fear of death prayed for death[...]
It lightened a little; it seemed to us not daylight but a sign of
approaching fire. But the fire stopped some distance away;
darkness came on again, again ashes, thick and heavy. We got up
repeatedly to shake these off; otherwise we would have been buried
and crushed by the weight. [...] At last that fog thinned and
dissipated in a kind of smoke or mist; soon there was real
daylight; the sun even shone, though wanly, as when there is an
eclipse. Our still trembling eyes found everything changed, buried
by a deep blanket of ashes as if it had snowed [...]. Fear
prevailed, since the earthquake tremors went on, and many, out of
their senses, were mocking their own woes and others’ by awful
predictions. But we, even though we had escaped some perils and
expected others, we did not think even of going away until we
should have news of my uncle.[...]
