Once attributed to Virgil, the hexameter poem Aetna seeks to explore the causes of volcanic action. It may well be close in date to Manilius' Astronomica. Etna is chosen because the poet believes Vesuvius extinct: the poem was evidently written beofore AD 63

     [Lava-flow]
    For when the rushing Winds begin to blow
    And threat an angry Deluge far below,
    A rocking Earthquake shakes the solic Ground,
    And sullen Groans, and Murmurs dire resound,
    And Flakes of livid Flames burst forth around:
    Then to some distant Hill's securer Height,
    With utmost Speed precipiate your Flight,
    For hisssing Streams o'erflow the ruin'd Coast,
    And Fragments of the Rock aloft are tost,
    With hideous Roar, and blacken all the Sky.
    These horrid Inmates thus dismist, the Hill
    Relents, and its convulsive Pangs are still.
    The Tempest past, huge Heaps are seen around
    Of mingled Ruins, that o'erspread the Ground;
    Like slaughter'd Soldiers, prostrate on the Plain,
    Before the Ramparts they assail'd in vain.
    The Stones, thus burnt, in a coarse Scurf expire,
    Like the base Dregs of Metals purg'd by Fire;
    And the dire Deluge of the mingled Mass
    Of molten Flints, shot thro' the narrow Pass,
    (For in the Mountain's Womb the raging Flame
    Dissolves them, as the Forge's heated Frame)
    In copious Streams do's from the Summit flow,
    And rapid rolling ruin all below;
    Twelve Miles in Length extends their wasteful Course,
    Nor rising Mounds retard their fatal Force;
    If Forests, or high Hills oppose, with Scorn
    The Hills they master, and the Forest burn,
    Sweep all before them with resistless Sway,
    nd th' unctuous Soil recruits them in the Way.

    (trans. Jabez Hughes, wr.before1731; pr.posth. 1737)