"Little by little it grew light again. We did not think it the light of day, but a proof that the fire was coming nearer. It was indeed fire, but it stopped afar off; and then there was darkness again, and again a rain of ashes, abundant and heavy, and again we rose and shook them off, else we had been covered and even crushed by the weight.... At last the murky vapor rolled away, in disappearing smoke or fog. Soon the real daylight appeared; the sun shone out, of a lurid hue, to be sure, as in an eclipse. The whole world which met our frightened eyes was transformed. It was covered with ashes white as snow." Young Pliny and his mother returned to Misenum, and survived the perils to which they were exposed. It was during this eruption that a large part of the old crater was blown off the mountain by the tremendous force at work. There have been many eruptions of Vesuvius since the great eruption of A. D. 79. One of these occurred during the reign of Severus, A. D. 203. It was during this eruption that an additional part of the old crater of Somma was blown away. Another great eruption occurred A. D. 472. Then great quantities of volcanic dust were thrown up into the air, and falling, covered practically all parts of Europe, producing darkening of the sun and great fear as far as the city of Constantinople. But what was perhaps a still greater eruption occurred during December of 1631. This eruption spread great quantities of ashes over the country for hundreds of miles around, and great streams of mud rushed down the slopes of the mountain. Buccini gives the following account of this eruption: