Pliny 6.16 1-12

1. [C. Plīnius Tacitō] suō s. Petis ut tibi avunculī meī exitum scrībam, quō vērius trādere posterīs possīs. Grātiās agō; nam videō mortī eius, sī celebrētur ā tē, immortālem glōriam esse prōpositam.

[Pliny says a greeting to Tacitus] You seek that I write to you about the death of my uncle, so that you may more truly hand down to future generations. I give thanks; for I see that the immortal glory of his death has been put forth, if it is celebrated by you.

2. Quamvīs enim pulcherrimārum clāde terrārum, ut   populī ut urbēs memorābilī cāsū, quasi semper vīctūrus occiderit, quamvīs ipse plūrima opera et mānsūra condiderit, multum tamen perpetuitātī eius scrīptōrum tuōrum aeternitās addet.

Although he fell in the destruction of the most beautiful lands, as the people fell, as the city fell in the most memorable destruction, as of he will always live, although he himself put together many works and things that will remain, the eternity of your writings will add nevertheless to his perpetuity.

3. Equidem beātōs putō, quibus deōrum mūnere datum est aut facere scrībenda aut scrībere legenda, beātissimōs vērō quibus utrumque. Hōrum in numerō avunculus meus et suīs librīs et tuīs erit. Quō libentius suscipiō, dēposcō etiam quod iniungis

Certainly I think they are blessed, to whom thad been given by a gift of the gods either to make things that must be written or to write things that must be read, truly I think whom have been given both are most blessed. My uncle will be in the rank of these men with his books and yours. Therefore I more freely undertake, I even demand that which you impose.

4. Erat Mīsēnī classemque imperiō praesēns regēbat. Nōnum Kal. Septembrēs hōrā ferē septimā māter mea indicat eī appārēre nūbem inūsitātā et magnitūdine et speciē.

He was present in Misenum and was ruling the fleet with his authority. Nine days before the first (Kalends) of September (August 24) around the seventh hour, my mother points out a cloud of unusual size and appearance appears to her.

5. Ūsus ille sōle, mox frīgidā, gustāverat iacēns studēbatque; poscit soleās, ascendit locum ex quō maximē mīrāculum illud cōnspicī poterat. Nūbēs, incertum procul intuentibus ex quō monte; —Vesuvium fuisse posteā cognitum est—oriēbātur, cuius similitūdinem et fōrmam nōn alia magis arbor quam pīnus expresserit.

He having enjoyed the the sun, soon after cold water, he had eaten lying down he was studying; then he demands his sandals, climbs up to a place from which that miracle was able to be seen most greatly. The cloud - was rising uncertain from afar to the ones looking on from which mountain; it was learned afterward to have been Vesuvius - whose likeness and form resembled not another tree more than a pine.

6. Nam longissimō velut truncō ēlāta in altum quibusdam rāmīs diffundēbātur, crēdō quia recentī spīritū ēvecta, dein senēscente eō dēstitūta aut etiam pondere suō victa in lātitūdinem vānēscēbat, candida interdum, interdum sordida et maculōsa prout terram cineremve sustulerat.

In fact, it was being spread with certain branches into the sky just as if a very long trunk having been raised. I believe because the cloud having been carried by the recent breeze, then it was disappearing into the width having been deprived by it’s old age, and also having been overcome by it’s own weight, occasionally white occasionally dirty and spotted, just as if it had raised the ashes or the earth.