No More Learning

a slight repast, sleep a very little, and then pursue Hot cinders and pumice stones now fell thickly
his studies till the time of the coena. During this upon the vessels, and they were in danger of
meal some book was read to, and commented on by being left aground by a sudden retreat of the sea.
him. At table, as might be supposed, he spent He hesitated for an instant whether to proceed or
but a short time. Such was his mode of life when not ; but quoting the maxim of Terence, forics
in the midst of the bustle and confusion of the city. fortuna adjurat, directed the steersman to conduct
When in retirement in the country, the time spent him to Pomponianus, who was at Stabiae, and whom
in the bath was nearly the only interval not allotted he found preparing to set snil. Pliny did his best
to study, and that he reduced to the narrowest to restore his courage, and ordered a bath to be
limits ; for during all the process of scraping and prepared for himself. He then, with a cheerful
rubbing he had some book read to hirn, or himself countenance, presented himself at the dinner-table,
dictated. When on a journey he had a secretary endeavouring to induce his friend to believe that
by his side with a book and tablets, and in the the flames which burst out with increased violence
winter season made him wear gloves that his were only those of some villages which the pea-
writing might not be impeded by the cold. He sants had abandoned, and afterwards retired to
once found fault with his nephew for walking, as rest, and slept soundly. But, as the court of the
by so doing he lost a good deal of time that might house was becoming fast filled with cinders, so
have been employed in study. By this incessant that egress would in a short time have become
application, persevered in throughout his lifetime, impossible, he was roused, and joined Pompo-
he amassed an enormous amount of materials, and nianus. As the house, from the frequent and
at his death left to his nephew 160 volumina of violent shocks, was in momentary danger of fall-
notes (electorum commentarii), written extremely ing, it appeared the safer plan to betake themselves
small on both sides. While procurator in Spain, into the open fields, which they did, tying pillows
when the number of them was considerably less, upon their heads to protect them from the falling
he had been offered 400,000 sesterces for them, by stones and ashes. Though it was already day,
one Largius Licinius. With some reason might the darkness was profound. They went to the
his nephew say that, when compared with Pliny, shore to see if it were possible to embark, but
those who had spent their whole lives in literary found the sea too tempestuous to allow them to do
pursuits seemed as if they had spent them in so. Pliny then lay down on a sail which was
nothing else than sleep and idleness. When we spread for him. Alarmed by the approach of
consider the multiplicity of his engagements, both flames, preceded by a smell of sulphur, his com-
public and private, the time occupied in military panions took to flight. His slaves assisted him
services, in the discharge of the duties of the to rise, but he almost immediately dropped down
offices which he held, in his forensic studies and again, suffocated, as his nephew conjectures, by
practice, in visits to the emperor, and the per- the vapours, for he had naturally weak lungs.
formance of the miscellaneous commissions en- His body was afterwards found unhurt, even his
trusted to him by the latter, the extent of his clothes not being disordered, and his attitude that
acquisitions is indeed astonishing. From the ma- of one asleep rather than that of a corpse.
terials which he had in this way collected he com- It may easily be supposed that Pliny, with his
piled his celebrated Historia Naturalis, which he inordinate appetite for accumulating knowledge
dedicated to Titus, and published, as appears from out of books, was not the man to produce a
the titles given to Titus in the preface, about A. D. scientific work of any value. He had no genius,
77.
as indeed might have been inferred from the bent
The circumstances of the death of Pliny were of his mind. He was not even an original ob-
remarkable. The details are given in a letter of server. The materials which he worked up into
the younger Pliny to Tacitus (Ep. vi. 16). Pliny his huge encyclopaedic compilation were almost
had been appointed admiral by Vespasian, and in all derived at second-hand, though doubtless he
A. D. 79 was stationed with the fleet at Misenum, has incorporated the results of his own observation
when the celebrated eruption of Vesuvius took in a larger number of instances than those in
place, which overwbelmed Herculaneum and Pom- , which he indicates such to be the case. Nor did
peii. On the 24th August, while he was, as he, as a compiler, show either judgment or dis
usual, engaged in study, his attention was called crimination in the selection of his materials, so
by his sister to a cloud of unusual size and shape, that in his accounts the true and the false are
rising to a great height, in the form of a pine found intermixed in nearly equal proportion,-
tree, from Vesuvius (as was afterwards disco- the latter, if any thing, predominating, even with
vered), sometimes white, sometimes blackish and regard to subjects on which more accurate inform-
spotted, according as the smoke was more or less ation might have been obtained ; for, as he wrote
mixed with cinders and earth. He immediately on a multiplicity of subjects with which he had no
went to a spot from which he could get a better scientiñc acquaintance, he was entirely at the
view of the phaenomenon ; but, desiring to ex- mercy of those from whose writings he borrowed
amine it still more closely, he ordered a light his information, being incapable of correcting their
vessel to be got ready, in which he embarked, errors, or, as may be seen even from what he has
taking his tablets with him. The sailors of the borrowed from Aristotle, of determining the relar


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416
PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
He was,
1
a
tive importance of the facts which he selects and skill or the products of human faculties. Pliny,
those which he passes over.
His love of the however, has not kept within even these extensive
marvellous, and his contempt for human nature, limits. He has broken in upon the plan implied
lead him constantly to introduce what is strange by the title of the work, by considerable digres-
or wonderful, or adapted to illustrate the wicked- sions on human inventions and institutions (book
ness of man, and the unsatisfactory arrangements vii. ), and on the history of the fine arts (xxxv. -
of Providence,
as Cuvier remarks, xxxvii. ). Minor digressions on similar topics are
(Biograph. Univ. art. Pline, vol. xxxv. ), “an also interspersed in various parts of the work, the
author without critical judgment, who, after hav- arrangement of which in other respects exhibits
ing spent a great deal of time in making extracts, but little scientific discrimination. The younger
has ranged them under certain chapters, to which | Pliny fairly enough describes it as opus diffusum,
he has added reflections which have no relation to eruditum, nec minus vurium quam ipsa Natura
science properly so called, but display alternately (Epist. iii. 5). It comprises, as Pliny says in the
either the most superstitious credulity, or the preface ($ 17), within the compass of thirty-six
declamations of a discontented philosophy, which books, 20,000 matters of importance, drawn from
finds fault continually with mankind, with nature, about 2000 volumes, the works of one hundred
and with the gods themselves. " His work is of authors of authority, the greater part of which
course valuable to us from the vast number of were not read even by those of professedly literary
Bubjects treated of, with regard to many of which habits, together with a large number of additional
we have no other sources of information, But matters not known by the authorities from which
what he tells us is often unintelligible, from his he drew. Hardouin has drawn up a catalogue of
retailing accounts of things with which he was the authors quoted by Pliny in the first book, or
himself personally unacquainted, and of which he in the body of the work itself, amounting to be-
in consequence gives no satisfactory idea to the tween 400 and 500. When it is remembered
reader. Though a writer on zoology, botany, and that this work was not the result of the undis-
mineralogy, he has no pretensions to be called a tracted labour of a life, but written in the hours of
naturalist. His compilations exhibit scarcely a leisure secured from active pursuits, interrupted
trace of scientific arrangement; and frequently it occasionally by ill health (Praef. $ 18), and that
can be shown that he does not give the true sense too by the author of other extensive works, it is,
of the authors whom he quotes and translates, to say the least, a wonderful monument of human
giving not uncommonly wrong Latin names to industry. Some idea of its nature may be formed
the objects spoken of by his Greek authorities. from a brief outline of its contents.
That repeated contradictions should occur in such a The Historia Naturalis is divided into 37 books,
work is not to be wondered at. It would not, of the first of which consists of a dedicatory epistle to
course, be fair to try him by the standard of Titus, followed by a table of contents of the other
modern times ; yet we need but place bim for an books. It is curious that ancient writers should
instant by the side of a man like Aristotle, whose not more generally have adopted this usage. No
learning was even more varied, while it was in Roman writer before Pliny had drawn out such a
comparably more profound, to see how great was table, except Valerius Soranus, whose priority in
his inferiority as a man of science and reflection. the idea Pliny frankly confesses. (Praef. § 26. )
Still it is but just to him to add, that he occa- Pliny has also adopted a plan in every way worthy
sionally displays a vigour of thought and express of imitation. After the table of the subject-matter
sion which shows that he might have attained a of each book he has appended a list of the authors
much higher rank as an author, if his mental from whom his materials were derived ; an act of
energies had not been weighed down beneath the honesty rare enough in ancient as well as modern
mass of unorganized materials with which his times, and for which in his prefatory epistle (SS
memory and his note-tablets were overloaded. In 16, 17) he deservedly takes credit. It may be
private life his character seems to have been esti- noticed too, as indicating the pleasure which he
mable in a high degree, and his work abounds took in the quantity of the materials which he ac-
with grave and noble sentiments, exhibiting a cumulated, that he very commonly adds the exact
love of virtue and honour, and the most unmi- number of facts, accounts, and observations which
tigated contempt for the luxury, profligacy, and the book contains.
meanness which by his time had so deeply stained The second book treats of the mundane system,
the Roman people. To philosophical speculation the sun, moon, planets, fixed stars, comets, meteoric
on religious, moral, or metaphysical subjects he prodigies, the rainbow, clouds, rain, &c. , eclipses,
does not seem to have been much addicted. All the seasons, winds, thunder and lightning, the
that is very distinctive of his views on such shape of the earth, changes in its surface, earth-
matters is that he was a decided pantheist. quakes, the seas, rivers, fountains, &c. He makes
With the exception of some minute quotations no attempt to distinguish between astronomy and
from his grammatical treatise (Lersch, Sprach- meteorology, but jumbles both together in utter con-
philosophie der Alten, vol. i. p. 179, &c. ), the only fusion. The book opens with a profession of the pan-
work of Pliny which has been preserved to us, theistic creed of the author, who assails the popular
(for it does not appear that any reliance can be mythology with considerable force on the ground
placed on the statement that the twenty books on of the degrading views of the divine nature which
the Germanic wars were seen by Conrad Gesner in it gives (ii. 5, or 7). The consideration of the
Augsburg,) is his Historia Naturalis. By Natural de basing, idle and conflicting superstitions of man-
History the ancients understood more than mo- kind draws from him the reflection : Quae singula
dern writers would usually include in the subject. improvidam mortalitatem involvunt, solum ut inter
It embraced astronomy, meteorology, geography, ista certum sit nihil esse certi, nec miserius quidquam
mineralogy, zoology, botany, — in short, every homine, aut superbius. Similar half gloomy, half
thing that does not relate to the results of human contemptuous views of human nature, and com-


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PLINIUS.
417
PLINIUS.
plaints against the arrangements of Providence, / garding the size of the earth and the distance
are of frequent occurrence with Pliny. His own between various points of it
appetite for the marvellous however frequently The four following books (iii. -ri. ) are de-
leads him into an excess of credulity scarcely dis- voted to geography, and this somewhat small space
tinguishable from the superstition which he con. Pliny has still further narrowed hy digressions
demns ; though we must at the same time remem- and declamations, so that his notices are confined
ber that with Pliny Nature is an active and chiefly to the divisions of the countries and the
omnipotent deity ; and that his love for the mar- mere names of the places in them. Of these he
vellous is not mere gaping wonder, but admiration has preserved a very large number which would
of the astonishing operations of that deity. It is otherwise have been utterly lost, though the lists
a distinctly recognised maxim with him : Mihi are considerably swelled by the unconscious repe-
contuenti se persuasit rerum natura nihil incredibile tition of the same names, sometimes several times
existimare de ea. (H. N. xi. 3. ) The mundus is over, in slightly varied forins. Pliny was himself
in his view divine in its nature, eternal, infinite, but a poor gcographer, and his erroncons conception
though resembling the finite, globular in form, the of the forms of different countries often materially
sun being the animus or mens of the whole, and affected the way in which he made use of the
itself a deity (ii. 4). He of course supposed this information which he obtained. This part of his
mundus to revolve round an axis in 24 hours. work contains a curious medley of the geographical
The earth he looked upon as globular, being knowledge of different ages, not distinguished and
fashioned into that shape by the perpetual revo- corrected, but pieced together into one whole in the
lution of the mundus round it, and inhabited on best way that the discordant statements allowed.
all sides. The fact that such is its shape he de- This discrepancy Pliny sometimes points out, but
monstrates by a variety of pertinent arguments frequently he omits to do this, and strives to blend
(ii. 64—71). His ideas with regard to the universe, the ancient and modern accounts together, so that
the nature of the stars, &c. , their important rela- he often makes the earlier writers speak as though
tion to us as the origin of human souls (ii. 26), they had used and been familiar with names not
are in the main very much the same as those in vogue till some time later. (Comp. iv. 27,
which through the influence of the Stoic school xxxvii
. 11. ) He does not altogether discredit the
became generally prevalent among the Roman stories of early times, and speaks of the Rhipaean
philosophers, though on various subordinate points mountains and the Hyperboreans with at least
Pliny had some singular notions, whether his own, as much confidence as of some other better
or copied from authors with whom we are un authenticated races. His geography of Italy,
acquainted, many of them ingenious, still more Greece, and Asia Minor is that of the times of
puerile. The notion which he adopted from the Strabo. For the N. E. portion of Asia we have
earlier propounders of it, that the germs of the that of the time of Eratosthenes. For the southern
innumerable forms of animals, &c. , with which Asiatic coast up to India we have ancient and
the stars and the universe abound, find their way recent accounts intermingled ; for the North of
to the earth, and there frequently become inter- Europe we have the knowledge of his own times,
mingled, producing all kinds of monstrous forms at least as it appears through the somewhat dis-
(c. 3), accounts for the readiness with which he torted medium of his imperfect notions. With
admits the most fabulous and impossible monsters regard to India and Ceylon he has some very
into his zoology.
recent and trustworthy accounts.
The historical and chronological notices with Pliny, like Posidonius, makes the habitable
respect to the progress of astronomy which he earth to extend much farther from east to west
intersperses are very valuable. Of the beneficial than from north to south. By the western coast
effects of the spread of such knowledge he speaks of Europe he understands simply Spain and Gaul ;
with generous enthusiasm (ii. 12).
With re-
after them begins the northern ocean, the greater
spect to the changes in the surface of the earth, part of which he thought had been sailed over, a
produced by the depositions of rivers, and the ap- Roman fleet having reached the Cimbrian penin-
pearance of volcanic islands, he has come valuable sula, and ascertained that a vast sea stretches
and interesting statements (ii. 83, &c. ). These thence to Scythia. He seems to have imagined
changes, and the other startling natural phae- that the northern coast of Europe ran pretty evenly
nomena which present themselves in considerable east and west, with the exception of the break
number and variety in the volcanic region of occasioned by the Cimbrian Chersonesus (iv.
Italy and Sicily, are to Pliny so many proofs of 13, &c. ). Beyond Germany, he says, immense
the manifold divine activity of nature (c. 93). islands had been discovered, Scandinavia, Eningia,
Some of the wonders he adduces are however more &c. He also believed the northern coast of the
than apocryphal. On the tides (of the influence earth to have been explored from the east as far
of the sun and moon upon which he was well as the Caspian sea (which he regarded as an inlet
aware), currents and marine springs, he has some of the northern ocean) in the time of Seleucus and
remarks which show that his official duties in Antiochus. More than one voyage had also been
Spain did not keep him from a careful observation made between Spain and Arabia (ii. 67, 68). He
of natural phaenomena (c. 97). The wonderful evidently considered India the most eastern country
qualities and phaenomena of various waters and of the world (vi. 17). The third and fourth book's
fountains (nam nec aquarum natura a miraculis are devoted to Europe, the countries of which he
cessat, c. 103), supply him with details, many of takes up in a somewhat curious order. He begins
them curious and probably true, others requiring with Spain, specifying its provinces and conventus,
the credulity of Piiny for their belief. From the and giving lists of the towns, the position of some
wonders of water he passes to those of firo (c. of which he defines, while the greater number are
104, &c. ), and then, by a rather curious arrange- merely enumerated in alphabetical order ; men-
ment, closes the book with some statements re- tioning the principal rivers, and noting the towns
1
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418
PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
a
men.
upon them. He gives a few notices of the inhabit. It is unnecessary to follow him in detail through
ants of the different provinces, but no clear or the rest of this part of his work. It is carried on
comprehensive account of the population of the in much the same style. When treating of Africa
country generally, or any intelligible views even he mentions (apparently without disbelief) the
of its physical characteristics. After a similar monstrous races in the south, soine without articu-
account of Gallia Narbonensis, Pliny proceeds to late language, others with no heads, having mouths
Italy. His account of this country is, on the and eyes in their breasts. He accedes to the
whole, the best of the kind that he has given. opinion of king Juba, that the Nile rises in a
Following the division of Augustus, he enumerates mountain of Mauritania, and that its inundations
the different provinces, going round the coast. are due to the Etesian winds, which either force
The extent of coast line was of course favourable the current back upon the land, or carry rast
for defining the positions of places situated on or quantities of clouds to Aethiopia, the rain from
near it. Where the coast or river does not give which swells the river. Of the races to the north
him a convenient method of defining the position and east of the Pontus and on the Tanais he has
of places, he simply enumerates them, usually in preserved a very large number of names. With
alphabetical order. He has been at considerable regard to India he has some accounts which show
pains to specify a number of distances between that amid the conflicting, and what even Pliny
mouths of rivers, headlands, and other salient or calls incredible statements of different writers, a
important points, but his numbers can scarcely ever good deal of accurate information had reached the
be relied on. Many are egregiously wrong. This Romans. It is to be regretted that Pliny was
may be partly the fault of copyists, but there can deterred by the nature of these accounts from giving
be little doubt that it is mainly the fault of Pliny us more of them. It would have been interesting
himself, from his misunderstanding the data of the to know what Greeks who had resided at the
authors from whom he copied. In connection with courts of Indian kings (vi. 17) told their country-
the more important sections of Italy he enumerates We could have spared for that purpose most
in order the races which successively inhabited of the rough and inaccurate statements of distances
them, and where the occasion presents itself men- which he has taken the trouble to put in. Some in-
tions not only the towns which existed in his own tercourse which had taken place with the king of
time, but those which bad been destroyed. The Taprobane in the reign of the emperor Claudius
Tiberis and Padus, especially the latter, he enables Pliny to give a somewhat circumstantial
describes with considerable care. After the pro-account of the island and people. Though of very
vinces on the western coast of Italy, he takes the small value as a systematic work, the books on geo-
islands between Spain and Italy, and then returns graphy are still valuable on account of the extensive
to the mainland.
collection of ancient names which they contain, as
Leaving Italy he proceeds to the provinces on well as a variety of incidental facts which have
the north and east of the Adriatic sea, and those been preserved out of the valuable sources to which
south of the Danube-Liburnia, Dalmatia, Noricum, Pliny had access.
Pannonia, Moesia ; and in the fourth book takes The fire following books (vii. -xi. ) are devoted
up the Grecian peninsula. His account of this to zoology. The seventh book treats of man, and
is a good example of his carelessness, indistinctness, opens with a preface, in which Pliny indulges his
and confusion as a geographer. After the provinces querulous dissatisfaction with the lot of man, his
on the western side of northern Greece (Epeirus, helpless and unhappy condition when brought into
Acarpania, &c. ), he takes the Peloponnesus, and the world, and the pains and vices to which he is
then comes back to Attica, Boeotia, and Thessaly. subject.
After bespeaking some measure of belief
His account excludes the Peloponnesus from Hellas for the marvellous accounts that he will have to
or Graecia, which begins from the isthmus, the give, and suggesting that what appears incredible
first country in it being Attica, in which he includes should be regarded in its connection with a great
Megaris (iv. 7). His notices are of the most whole (naturae vero rerum vis atque majestas in
meagre description possible, consisting of hardly any- omnibus momentis fide caret, siquis modo partes ejus
thing but lists of names. All that he says of Attica ac non totam complectatur animo), he enumerates
does not occupy twenty lines. After Thessaly come a number of the most astonishing and curious races
Macedonia, Thrace, the islands round Greece, the reported to exist upon the earth :-cannibals, men
Pontus, Scythia, and the northern parts of Europe. with their feet turned backwards ; the Psylli,
Of the existence of the Hyperboreans he thinks it whose bodies produce a secretion which is deadly
impossible to doubt, as so many authors affirmed to serpents ; tribes of Androgyni ; races of en-
that they used to send offerings to Apollo at Delos chanters ; the Scia podae, whose feet are so large,
(iv. 12). Nor does he express any distrust when that when the sun's heat is very strong they
recounting the stories of races who fed upon horses' lie on their backs and turn their feet upwards to
hoofs, or of tribes whose ears were large enough to shade themselves; the Astomi, who live entirely
serve as a covering for their bodies. His account upon the scents of fruits and flowers; and various
of Britain, which he makes lie over against Ger- others almost equally singular. Haec, he remarks,
many, Gaul, and Spain, is very meagre. From atque talia ex hominum genere ludilria sibi, nobis
Britain he proceeds to Gallia, in his account of miracula, ingeniosa fecit natura. He then proceeds
· which he mixes up Caesar's division according to to a variety of curious accounts respecting the ge
braces with the division according to provinces neration and birth of children, or of monsters in
(Ukert, Geographie der Griechen und Römer, ii. 2. their place. An instance of a change of sex he
p. 238), and so, not unnaturally, is indistinct and affirms to have come within his own knowledge
contradictory. After Gallia he comes back to the (vii. 4). The dentition, size, and growth of
northern and western parts of Spain and Lusitania. children, examples of an extraordinary precocity,
This sketch will give the reader an idea of the and remarkable bodily strength, swiftness, and
clumsy manner in which Pliny treats geography. I keenness of sight and hearing, furnish him with
9


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PLINIUS.
419
PLINIUS.
a
man.
some singular details. He then brings forward a instances he has transformed the symbolical animals
variety of examples (chiefy of Romans) of persons sculptured at Persepolis into real natural pro-
distinguished for remarkable mental powers, moral ductions. With his usual proneness to ramble off
greatness, courage, wisdom, &c. , preserving some into digressions, his account of the sheep furnishes
interesting anecdotes respecting the persons ad. him with an opportunity for giving a variety of
duced. Then follow some notices of those most details regarding different kinds of clothing, and
distinguished in the sciences and arts, and of the novelties or improvements introduced in it (viii.
persons remarkable for their honours or good for. 48 or 73).
tune, in connection with which he does not forget In the ninth book he proceeds to the different
to point out how the most prosperous condition is races inhabiting the water, in which element he
frequently marred by adverse circumstances. He believes that even more extraordinary animals are
then mentions a number of instances of great lon- produced than on the earth, the seeds and germs of
gevity. Men's liability to discase draws from him living creatures being more intermingled by the
some pettish remarks, and even some instances agency of the winds and waves, so that he assents
which he mentions of resuscitation from apparent to the common opinion that there is nothing pro-
death only lead to the observation : haec est conditio duced in any other part of nature which is not
mortalium ; ad has et ejusmodi occasiones fortunae found in the sea, while the latter has many things
gignimur, uti de homine ne morti quidem debcat peculiar to itself. Thus he finds no difficulty in
credi (vii. 52). Sudden death he looks upon as believing that a live Triton, of the commonly re-
an especially remarkable phaenomenon, and at the ceived form, and a Nereid, had been seen and heard
same time the happiest thing that can happen to a on the coast of Spain in the reign of Tiberius, and
The idea of a future existence of the soul that a great number de Nereids had been
he treats as ridiculous, and as spoiling the greatest found on the beach in the reign of Augustus, to say
blessing of nature-death (c. 55 or 56). It inust nothing of sea-elephants and sea-goats. The story
have been in some peculiar sense, then, that he be of Arion and the dolphin he thinks amply confirmed
lieved in apparitions after death (c. 52 or 53). by numerous undoubted instances of the attach-
The remainder of the book is occupied with a di- ment shown by dolphins for men, and especially
gression on the most remarkable inventions of men, boys. It seems that these creatures are remark-
and the authors of them. He remarks that the ably apt at answering to the name Simon, which
first thing in which men agreed by tacit consent they prefer to any other (c. 8). Pliny, however,
was the use of the alphabet of the Ionians ; the rightly terms whales and dolphins beluae, not pisces,
second the employment of barbers ; the third though the only classification of marine animals is
marking the hours.
one according to their integuments (ix. 12 or 14,
The eighth book is occupied with an account of 13 or 15). His account of the ordinary habits of
terrestrial animals. They are not enumerated in the whale is tolerably accurate ; and indeed, gene-
any systematic manner. There is, indeed, some rally speaking, the ninth book exhibits much less
approximation to an arrangement according to size, of the marvellous and exaggerated than some of
the elephant being the first in the list and the the others. He recognises seventy-four different
dormouse the last, but mammalia and reptiles, kinds of fishes, with thirty of Crustacea (14 or 16).
quadrupeds, serpents, and snails, are jumbled up The eagerness with which pearls, purple dye, and
together. For trustworthy information regarding shell-fish are sought for excites Pliny to vehement
the habits and organisation of animals the reader objurgation of the luxury and rapacity of the age
will commonly look in vain : a good part of almost (c. 34). On the supposed origin of pearls, and the
every article is erroneous, false, or fabulous. Pliny's mode of extracting the purple dye, he enters at
account is, of course, filled with all the most extra considerable length (c. 34–41). Indeed, as he
ordinary stories that he had met with, illustrating sarcastically remarks: abunde tractata est ratio qua
the habits or instinct of the different animals. The se virorum juxta feminarumque forma credit amplis-
elephant he even believes to be a moral and reli- simam fieri
gious animal, and to worship the sun and moon The tenth book is devoted to an acconnt of
(viii. 1). His entertaining account of the elephant birds, beginning with the largest — the ostrich.
and the lion will give somewhat favourable samples As to the phoenix even Pliny is sceptical ; but
of the style in which he discusses natural history he has some curious statements about eagles, and
(viii. 1-11, 16). The reader of the seventh book several other birds. The leading distinction which
will be prepared to find in the eighth the most ex- he recognises among birds is that depending on
traordinary and impossible creatures figuring by the the form of the feet (z. 11 or 13). Those, also,
side of the lion and the horse. Thus we have the which have not talons but toes, are subdivided
achlis, without joints in its legs (c. 16) ; winged into oscines and alites, the former being distin-
horses armed with horns (c. 30); the mantichora, guished by their note, the latter by their different
with a triple row of teeth, the face and ears of a sizes (c. 19 or 22). He notices that those with
man, the body of a lion, and a tail which pierces crooked talons are usually carnivorous ; that those
like that of a scorpion (ib. ); the monoceros, with which are heavy feed on grain or fruits; those that
the body of a borse, the head of a stag, the feet of fly high, on flesh (c. 47). The validity of augury
an elephant, the tail of a boar, and a black horn on he does not seem to question. Though he had
its forehead two cubits long (c. 31); the catoblepas, found no difficulty in winged horses (viii
. 21),
whose eyes are instantly fatal to any man who he regards as fabulous winged Pegasi with horses'
meets their glance (c. 32); and the basilisk, pos- heads. The substance of the bird when hatched
sessed of powers equally remarkable (c. 33). Pliny he states to be derived from the white of the egg,
certainly was not the man to throw out the taunt: the yolk serving as its food (c. 53). From his
mirum est quo procedat Graeca credulitas (viii
. 22 account of eggs he digresses into a general dis-
or 34). He cites Ctesias with as much confidence cussion of the phaenomena of generation in animals
as Aristotle ; and it is not unlikely that in some of all kinds (c. 62, &c. ), in connection with which
;
a
а
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he has several most extraordinary statements, as, | eighteenth book opens with an apology, in Pliny's
e. gr. , that the spinal marrow of a man may turn peculiar style, on behalf of the earth, the benign
into a serpent (c. 66), and that mice can generate parent of all, whom men have unjustly blamed for
by licking each other. The genemtion and fe- the mischievous use which they themselves have
cundity of these little creatures he regards as made of some of her products. The rest of the
especially astonishing ; and what becomes of them book is occupied with an account of the different
all he cannot think, as they are never picked up sorts of grain and pulse, and a general account of
dead, or dug up in winter in the fields (c. 65). agriculture. This and the preceding are by far
He then proceeds to some statements as to the the most valuable of the botanical books of the
relative acuteness of the senses in different ani- | Iistoria Naturalis, and exhibit a great amount of
rals, and other miscellaneous matters. The reading, as well as considerable observation.
reciprocal enmities and attachments of different The next eight books (xx. xxvii. ) are devoted,
animals are frequently touched upon by him. generally speaking, to medical botany, though the
The first part of the eleventh book is occupied reader must not expect a writer like Pliny to
with an account of insects. The phaenomena of adhere very strictly to his subject. Thus, a great
the insect kingdom Pliny regards as exhibiting part of the twenty-first book treats of flowers,
the wonderful operations of nature in even a more scents, and the use of chaplets ; and some of the
surprising manner than the others. He, however, observations about bees and bee-hives are a little
only notices a few of the most common insects. foreign to the subject. Indeed, the 20th and
On bees he treats at considerable length. He finds part of the 21st book are rather a general account
space, however, to mention the pyralis, an insect of the medical, floral and other productions of
which is produced and lives in the fire of furnaces, gardens (see c. 49, end). Then, after giving an
but dies speedily if too long away from the flame account of various wild plante, and some general
(c. 36). The remainder of the book (c. 37 or botanical remarks respecting them, Pliny returns
44, &c. ) is devoted to the subject of comparative to the subject of medicines. The classification of
anatomy, or at least something of an approximation these is chiefly according to the sources from
to that science. Considerable ingenuity has been which they are derived, whether garden or other
shown by those from whom Pliny copies in bring- cultivated plants (xx. —xxii. ), cultivated trees
ing together a large number of coincidences and (xxiii. ), forest trees (xxiv. ), or wild plants (xxv. );
differences, though, as might have been expected, partly according to the diseases for which they are
there are many errors both in the generalisations adapted (xxvi. ). Cuvier (l. c. ) remarks that almost
and in the particular facts.
all that the ancients have told us of the virtues of
Botany, the next division of natural history their plants is lost to us, on account of our not
taken up by Pliny, occupies by far the largest knowing what plants they are speaking of. If we
portion of the work. Including the books on might believe Pliny, there is hardly a single
medical botany, it occupies sixteen books, eight on human malady for which nature has not provided
general botany (xii. -xix. ), and eight more on a score of remedies.
medicines derived from plants. Pliny's botany is In the twenty-eighth book Pliny proceeds to
altogether devoid of scientific classification. The notice the medicines derived from the human
twelfth book treats of exotics, especially the spice body, and from other land animals, commencing
and scent bearing trees of Indian Arabia, and with what is tantamount to an apology for intro-
Syria. Of the trees themselves Pliny's account is ducing the subject in that part of the work.
extremely unsatisfactory: frequently he merely Three books are devoted to this branch, diversified
names them. The book is chiefly occupied with by some notices respecting the history of medicine
an account of their products, the modes of collect-|(xxix. 1-8), and magic, in which he does not
ing and preparing them, &c. The first part of the believe, and which he considers an offshoot from
thirteenth book is occupied with a general account the art of medicine, combined with religion and
of unguents, the history of their use, the modes of astrology (xxx. 1, &c). The thirty-first book treats
compounding them, and the plants from which of the medical properties of various waters ; the
they are chiefly derived. Palms and other exotics, thirty-second of those of fishes and other aquatic
chiefly those of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, taken up creatures.
without any principle of arrangement, are noticed The remaining section of the Historia Naturalis
or described in the remainder of the book. His would doubtless have been headed by Pliny
account of the papyrus (c. 11 or 21–13 or 27) Mineralogy,” though this title would give but a
goes considerably into detail. The fourteenth book small idea of the nature of the contents. In the
is occupied with an account of the vine, and dif- 33d book the subject of metals is taken up. It
ferent notices respecting the various sorts of wines, begins with various denunciations of the wickedness
closing with a somewhat spirited review of the and cupidity of men, who could not be content with
effects of drunkenness. The fifteenth book treats what nature had provided for them on the surface of
of the more common sorts of fruit, the olive, apple, the earth, but must needs desecrate even the abode
fig, &c. The sixteenth passes first to the most of the Manes to ind materials for the gratification
common kinds of forest trees, and then contains a of their desires. Pliny's account of gold and silver
great variety of remarks on general botany, and consists chiefly of historical disquisitions about
other miscellaneous notices, especially on the uses rings, money, crowns, plate, statues, and the other
of wood and timber, into the midst of which there various objects in the making of which the precious
is awkwardly thrust some account of reeds, metals have been used, in which he has presented
willows, and other plants of that kind. The seven- us with a number of curious and interesting no-
teenth book treats of the cultivation and arrange-tices. He also specifies when and how metallic
ment of trees and plants, the modes of propagating products are used as remedies. The mention of
and grafting them, the diseases to which they are bronze (book xxxiv. ) leads him to a digression
subject, with the modes of curing them, &c. The | about statues and statuaries, again chiefly of an
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historical kind, and preserving several interesting / very numerous. The first was published at Ve
and valuable facts (c. 9–19). In the 19th chapter nice 1469, and was rapidly followed by many
he enumerates the chief works of the most cele others ; but the first edition of any great merit
brated statuaries, but the barren inventory is en- was that by Hardouin (Paris, 1685, in 5 vols.
livened by very few remarks which can satisfy the 4to. ; 2nd edition 1723, 3 vols. fol. ), which ex-
curiosity of the artist or the lover of art. The hibits great industry and learning. The edition
introduction of this digression, and the mention of published by Panckoucke (Paris, 1829–1833, in
some mineral pigments, leads Pliny to take up the 20 vols. ) with a French translation by Ajasson de
subject of painting in the 35th book. His account, Grandsngrie is enriched by many valuable notes
however, is chiefly that of the historian and anec- by Cuvier and other eminent scientific and literary
dote collector, not that of a man who understood men of France. These notes are also appended, in
or appreciated the art. The early stages of it a Latin form, in another edition in six volumes
he discusses very summarily; but on its progress (Paris, 1836–38, Panckoucke). The most va-
after it had reached sonie maturity, and the va- lunble critical edition of the text of Pliny is that
rious steps by which it rose in estimation among by Sillig (Leipzig, 1831-36, 5 vols, 12mo. ). The
the Romans, he has many valuable and interest. last volume of this edition contains a collation of a
ing records. In his account of the pigments em MS. at Bamberg of great value (containing, how-
ployed by the ancient painters, he mixes up the ever, only the last six books), which supplies
medical properties of some of them in a way words and clauses in many passages not suspected
peculiarly his own, though not very conducive to before of being corrupt, from which it may be in.
regularity of arrangement. His chronological no- ferred that the text of the earlier books is still in a
tices of the eras of the art and of the most distin- mutilated state, and that much of the obscurity of
guished painters are extremely valuable, and he Pliny may be traced to this cause. A consider-
notices, usually with tolerable clearness, the great able passage at the end of the last book has been
improvers of the art, and the advances which they supplied by Sillig from this manuscript. It appears
respectively made. The reader will find in this from his preface that Sillig is engaged upon a more
part of the work many interesting anecdotes of the extensive edition of Pliny.
great painters of Greece; but will often wish that The Natural History of Pliny has been translated
instead of a great variety of unimportant details, into almost all languages : into English by Holland
and accounts of trivial processes and mechanical (London, 1601); into German by Denso (1764–
excellences, Pliny had given a more full and satis- 65), and Grosse (1781-88, 12 vols. ); besides trans-
factory account of many of the masterpieces of an- lations of parts by Fritsch and Kiilb; into Italian
tiquity, which he only barely mentions. The ex- by Landino (Ven. 1476), Bruccioli (Ven. 1548),
cellent materials which he had before him in the and Domenichi (Ven. 1561); into Spanish by
writings of several of the ancient artists, and Huerta (Madrid, 1624-29); into French by
others which he might have consulted, might have Dupinet (1562), Poinsinet de Sivry (1771-82),
been worked up, in better hands, into a far more and Ajasson de Grandsagne ; into Dutch (Arnheim,
interesting account. After a short notice of the 1617); into Arabic by Honain Ibn Ishak (Joan-
plastic art, a few chapters at the end of the book nitius). A great deal of useful erudition will be
are devoted to the medical and other properties of found in the Exercitationes Plinianae on the Poly-
various mineral products, the use of bricks, &c. | histor of Solinus, by Salmasius. Another valuable
For the 36th book “ lapidum natura restat," as work in illustration of Pling is the Disquisitiones
“ hoc est praecipua morum insania. " Plinianae, by A. Jos. a Turre Rezzonico. Parma,
Marble and the other kinds of stone and kin 1763–67, 2 vols. fol.