His nephew , Pliny the Younger , wrote of him in a letter to the historian Tacitus : Pliny the Younger refers to Tacitus ’s reliance upon his uncle 's book , the '' History of the German Wars '' . Pliny the Elder died in AD 79 in Stabiae while attempting the rescue of a friend and his family by ship from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius , which had already destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum . The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the volcano ’s eruption did not allow his ship to leave port , and Pliny probably died during that event
eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79
Pliny the Elder