Pompeii: A Novel

Attilius keeps his "increasing anxiety" (227) to himself as he helps the men repair the aqueduct. Just before dawn, the repairs are complete enough to hold until a more thorough job can be done in the autumn. Spotting a white substance on the distant Mount Vesuvius, he wonders aloud whether it could "perhaps be ash" (229). The men refuse to accept this theory as they cannot see any fire on the mountain. They blame the giants for the strange sight, the stillness in the air, and the tremoring ground.

Corelia refuses Attilius's suggestion that she and the documents return to her father's house. She wants to return to Misenum with Attilius rather than obey her father and marry Popidius. In trying to convince her, Attilius discusses how his dead wife, Sabine, died "in childbirth" (233). When asked by the doctors, Attilius told them to save the life of his wife rather than his child. Ultimately, however, he lost both. Eventually, Corelia returns "meekly" (234) to Pompeii on horseback.

In Misenum, Pliny dictates his memoirs to a scribe as a "welcome distraction" (235).