Entry 54 · Book chapter 55

March 22 1944

Lewis travels through falling ash and volcanic debris to report on the threatened town of San Sebastiano as lava approaches.

Reflections

Faith in permanence against Vesuvius's certainty

Visiting San Sebastiano as lava approaches, Lewis marvels that its people build to last centuries and refuse to admit the town's eventual destruction is a mathematical certainty — civic permanency treated as an article of religious faith.

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