That sea knew him well. And the lands around it too.
He had frequented them since he lived in Miseno, Plinio the Elder, in his role of praefectus classis Misenensis, meaning commander of the imperial fleet of the Tyrrhenian located in the Phlegrean port. And there he set a story present in his Naturalis historia of him, of which are protagonist a child and a dolphin.
The cetacean had entered the lake of Lucrino from the sea during the principality of Augustus. On the shores of the lake a child of poor origin stopped every day and walked from Baia to Pozzuoli to go to school. During the stops in Lucrino, the child became friend with the dolphin, whom he had called Simone and to whom he always gave a few pieces of bread. The dolphin responded punctually to the call and soon began to take the child upon itself, leading him by sea between Lucrino and Pozzuoli on the outward and return journeys. So Simone, for years, accompanied his little friend to school, until he suddenly died. For days the cetacean, more and more sad, continued to go looking for him in the place where they usually met. And when he understood that the child would not return, the pain of the loss was so strong that Simon also let himself die.
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