La pureza de corazón evangélica (14-I-81/18-I-81)

Nothing, then, was to be heard but the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the cries of men; some calling for their children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and only distinguishing each other by their voices; one lamenting his own fate; another that of his family; some wishing to die, from the very fear of dying . ... Among these were some who augmented the real terrors by imaginary ones; and made the frighted multitude falsely believe that Misenum was actually in flames- Pliny the Younger (Melmoth 1809, 307).

These words, retrieved from a letter written to Tacitus, the Roman senator and historian, several years after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, represent Pliny the Younger’s recollection of the scene during the Pompeii disaster which resulted in the estimated death of more than 10,000 people. Pliny the Younger, who later achieved acclaim as an author, lawyer, and magistrate in ancient Rome, was 17 years of age at the time of the eruption of Pompeii and he had witnessed the devastation and ensuing chaos, first hand, from the town of Misenum on the Bay of Naples. His uncle, Pliny the Elder, the Roman naturalist and philosopher, had succumbed to respiratory complications from the inhalation of volcanic ash fall during an attempt to provide support to the citizens of Pompeii. Similar vivid accounts of disasters have been retold in varied forms throughout history after events ranging from the Antioch earthquake

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in A.D. 526 to the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Although there are unique aspects associated with each disaster occurrence, there is some degree of consistency with respect to the range of human emotions and behaviors that are evident during the response and recovery phases of disasters. Pliny the Elder died in a heroic attempt to provide aid to the people of Pompeii. Pliny the Younger maintained an extensive set of letters that provided details of Roman life during the 1st century A.D. and he had sufficiently recovered from the mental duress associated with his exposure to the devastation of Mt. Vesuvius to pursue a career as an attorney in A.D. 80, the year after the Pompeii disaster. The citizens who had lost family, friends and neighbors exhibited an array of stress-related responses and the role of emotional comfort and community support after the disaster inevitably played a substantial role in the recovery process. This is represented in a correspondence to Pliny the Younger from a friend of his uncle:

At this point, my uncle’s friend from Spain spoke up still more urgently; if your brother, if your uncle is still alive, he will want you both to be saved; if he is dead, he would want you to survive him- why put off your escape? We replied that we would not think of considering our own safety as long as were uncertain of his

(Sigurdsson and Carey 2002, 40).

These sentiments are indicative of the mutual concerns that are shared by survivors of disasters and the potential to ameliorate the adverse effects of disaster events by support mechanisms ranging from individual aid to government intervention. Community support was not limited to individual outreach after the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The news of the disaster traveled rapidly to Rome and the Emperor Titus Flavius acted rapidly to provide relief to

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disaster survivors. Titus Flavius had become emperor two months before the eruption of

Vesuvius and upon learning of the disaster he immediately left Rome for the region of Campania where he organized aid and reconstruction efforts (Sigurdsson and Carey 2002; Suetonius 2007). The emperor used the funds obtained from the value of estates belonging to deceased disaster victims without heirs to assist in the reconstruction efforts and he supplemented the necessary disaster relief with his own personal accounts. Suetonius (2007, 326), the Roman historian, informs us that, “with regard to the public buildings destroyed by fire in the City, he (the Emperor Titus) declared that nobody should be a loser but himself.” Survivors from the devastated areas of Pompeii and surrounding communities fled the area and sought refuge in other cities. Titus Flavius provided special privileges to the cities that were willing to

accommodate the survivors of the disaster (Sigurdsson and Carey 2002). Titus Flavius returned the following year to evaluate the reconstruction efforts in Campania and during his travels, there was a devastating fire and a resultant plague in Rome. Once again, the emperor provided relief to the afflicted citizenry and “for the relief of people during the plague, he employed in the way of sacrifice and medicine, all means both human and divine” (Suetonius 2007, 326). These extensive measures of government support were undoubtedly integral to the well-being of the populace that was affected by the event and the actions undertaken by Titus Flavius in response to the Pompeii disaster are consistent, in many aspects, with present day federal disaster policies and protocols in the United States.

It is worth noting that the Roman Empire in A.D. 79 had a social structure that was based on several classes of citizenry with slaves residing at the lowest end of the social ladder.

Approximately 40 percent of the population of Pompeii was estimated to be slaves. Many of the slaves were unable to leave the city during the disaster as they did not own horses or carriages

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and some were found chained to wheat grinders along with mules in the archaeological

excavation of the ruins of Pompeii (Dyson 2006). The benefits of government intervention and community support were not as easily accessed by the slave class. Pliny the Younger

unintentionally attests to the differential status of slaves in describing the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder:

Upon this, an outbreak of flame and smell of sulphur, premonitory of further flames, put some to flight and roused him. With the help of two slave-boys he rose from the ground, and immediately fell back, owing (as I gather) to the dense vapour obstructing his breath and stopping up the access to his gullet, which with him was weak and narrow and frequently subject to wind. When day returned.... his body was found whole and uninjured, in the dress he wore; its appearance was that of one asleep rather than dead Pliny the Younger (Lewis 1890)

The unanswered question is what became of the slave-boys? While it is understandable that Pliny the Younger’s recollection of the tragic events of the day were focused on his uncle’s suffering and heroic efforts, the reality of the situation reveals the fact that the slave-boys who attended to Pliny the Elder were exposed to the same risk and their story remains untold. These selective and abridged recounts of disaster scenarios are common in historical writings with respect to the misfortune of the “underclass”, as will be seen in narratives from disasters in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The concept of culturally competent intervention after disasters is antithetical to the plight of those groups that were disenfranchised

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from the equitable consideration of suffering and, in some cases blamed, for the social unrest that ensued after the crisis.

Nearly two millennia removed from the Pompeii disaster, we are able to see the

similarities between this historically tragic event and present day disaster interventions that are designed to improve psychosocial well-being. The past can serve as a prologue to the future with respect to behavioral health outcomes after disasters. The letters of Pliny the Younger and the findings of the excavation of Pompeii reveal a story of emotional comfort, community support, and government intervention, albeit selective, to assist in post-disaster recovery. The following analysis of historical events provides additional insight into the perceptions and behaviors of individual actors, the role of government and community support, and the necessity for cultural competence in disaster response and recovery.