Born in Como, in 23 A.D.; perished in the eruption of
Vesuvius in 79; celebrated as naturalist; commanded cavalry
in Germany at the age of twenty-three; procurator in Spain
under Nero; wrote voluminously on military tactics, history,
grammar and natural science; his death due to his efforts to
observe more closely the eruption; of all his writings only
his "Natural History" in thirty-seven books has survived.
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