) This
constellation
appears to have been one of
the earliest that were observed b) .
the earliest that were observed b) .
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
Schlciermacher re-
gards it as supposititious. --32. 'AvTtpaorai, "The
Rivals," also entitled 'Kpaorai, $ wept <j>i\ooo$iac,
"The Lovers, or concerning Philosophy. " A very
feeble dialogue, the object of which is to show that
Socrates estimated virtue and justice above every-
thing else, and cared very little for purely speculative
researches. --33. '\Ttizapxoe, fi ^iXoxepdijc, " Hippar-
chut, or the Lover of Gain. " This dialogue, which is
very probably mutilated, is deficient in plan. It treats
of the false ideas that men entertain respecting the ac-
quisition and love of gain. The author advances in
the course of it some historical paradoxes. Socher,
who defends several dialogues against the attacks of
Sctileiermacher and Ast, acknowledges, with them,
and also with Wolf (Prolegom. ad Horn. , p. cliv. ), that
this is not one of Plato's productions Valckcnaer
{ad Herod. , 5, f)5) had already expressed the same
opinion. -- 34. Mt'vor, fj Ttepi vouov, " Minos, or con-
cerning Law. " Socrates discourses, in this dialogue,
with a certain Minos on the nature of law, which he
lakes, in its most extended sense, as the rule of all our
actions. We here find the first elements of the doc-
trine of modern philosophers respecting the law of na-
ture and the moral law. The authenticity of this dia-
logue has been ably attacked by Bockh, with whom
Socher agrees. (Bockh, Comment, in Platonis dialog.
? i vutgo inscribitur Min. , cVc, Hahe, 1806, 4to )--
? ? . K? . et"04K. "'V, fj irpoTpexTtKoc, " Clitophon, or the Ex-
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? PLATO
P LA
"v Plato to Sicilv, and to the intrigues of which this
stand was the theatre, in consequence of the tyranny
of the younger Dionysius and the movements of Dion.
The correspondence in question appears to have been
published by some of the followers of Plato with the
view of exculpating their master and themselves from
the charge of fomenting troubles in Syracuse. Cicero
seems to have entertained no doubt of these letters
being genuine, and he cites one of them as "prttclara
eputola Platonit. " (Tutc. Disp . 5, 35. ) The fol-
lowing modern scholars have denied their authenticity:
Mcincrs, CommeiUat. Soc. , Goit. , 1783, p. 51, tcqq. --
Gruddcck,Lileratur-Guchichle. --Ticdemann, Griech-
enlands ertle Philotophcn, p. 476, ttqq. --Alt, Pin-
ion* Leben und Schriften, p. 376, teqq. -- Socher,
Veber Platon* Schriften, Munchtn, 1820. --In de-
fence of their genuineness we may name, Schlotttr,
Plato* Briefe uhertetzt (Schmid und Sncll, Philot.
Journ. , vol. 2, p. 3, Gietten, 1795). --Tennemann,
Lchrcn und Mcinungen der Sokratiker, p. 17, *eqq.
--Id. , System der Plat. Philot. , p. 106, ttqq. --Mor-
gtnsltrn, Entuntrf von Plato* Leben, etc. --Grimm,
Ve Epistolit Platonis, an genuinct vcl tupposilititz
tint, Berol. , 1815. --We have six lives of Plato re-
maining, three others by Speusippus, Porphyry, and
Aristoxenus being lost. The most ancient of these
six lives is that by Apuleius, in the first book of his
work, "De habitudine doctrinarum -( de nativitate
Platoni*. " The other five are written in Greek; of
these, one is by Diogenes Laertius, and is found in
Jie third book of his compilation; another is by Olym-
piodorus, and is given at the head of his commentary on
the first Alcibiades; the third is by Hesychius of Mi-
letus; the fourth and fifth are anonymous. All these
lives are scanty and crowded with fables. Two of the
best modern biographies of the philosopher are those
of Tennemann and Ast. The former of these has
been translated by the Rev. Mr. Edwards, professor
in the Theological Seminary at Andover, and forms
part of a work, entitled " Selection* from German Lit-
erature, by B. B. Edioardt and E. A. Park, Prqfct-
tort Tkeol. Sent. Andmer," 1839. Valuable mate-
rials have been obtained by us, from this, for our bi-
ographical sketch of Plato. The commentaries on
Plato are still numerous, though very many have been
last. A Platonic Lexicon by Timaeus has come down
to us, of which Ruhnken published an excellent edi-
tion in 1754; and to the same modern scholar we
owe the publication of some valuable Platonic scholia
(Lugi. Bat, 1800, Rvo). A new edition of the Lex-
icon of Timaeus, by Koch, appeared from the Leipsic
press in 1828. --Of the MSS. of Plato, two possess
great value on account of their early date. One of
these belongs to the tenth century, and is at present in
the Royal Library at Paris, being known among its
collection of MSS. as No. 1807. The other is the
celebrated one brought over from Groece by Dr.
Clarke, the well-known traveller. It is now in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford. This is the earlier of
the two, having been written in 896 A. D. It contains
the first twenty-four dialogues, with the titles precisely
as they are given in the Basic edition of 1534. In the
margin are written scholia in a very ancient hand.
The MS. is on vellum. In 1812, Professor Guisford
published an account of it, in his " Catalogue, tint
\olitia Manutcriptorum. quiacel. E. D. Clarke com-
parali, in Bibliotkcca Bodleiana adtcrvantur," etc. ,
? ? Oxen. , 1812, its. In 1820, the same scholar publish-
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? PLA
PLAUTUS.
charged with having made use of his exorbitant power
to oppress the people, and to excite the vindictive
passions of his master. By the marriage of his daugh-
ter Plautilla with Caracalia, who had already, for some
years, enjoyed the rank of Augustus, he obtained ad-
mittance into the imperial household; where his pride,
and the influence which he possessed over the emper-
or, rendered him an object of suspicion and dislike.
Being it last accused privately to the emperor of aim-
ing at the succession, he was slain by a soldier, at the
order of Caracalia, in the presence of Severus. Plau-
tilla wan banished by Severus, along with her brother
Plautus, to the island of Lipara, where, seven years
after, she was put to death by order of Caracalia, A. D.
311. (Herodtan, 3, 10. --Dio Cass. , 76, 14, seqq. --
Spar Han. , Vit. Sev. )
Plautus, M. Accius, a celebrated comic poet, the
son of a freedman, and born at Sarsina, a town of l. 'm-
bria, about 525 A. U. C. He was called Plautus from
his splay-feet, a defect common to the Umbrians.
Having turned his attention to the stage, he soon
realized a considerable fortune by the popularity of his
dramas; but, by risking it in trade, or spending it, ac-
cording to others, on the splendid theatrical drosses
which he wore as an actor, and theatrical amusements
being little resorted to on account of the famine then
prevailing at Rome, he was quickly reduced to such
necessity as forced him to labour in a mill for his
daily support. (Aulas Gcllius, N. A. , 3, 3. ) Many
of his plays were written in these unfavourable cir-
cumstances, and, of course, have not obtained all tho
perfection which might otherwise have resulted from
nis increased knowledge of life and his long practice
in the dramatic art. Twenty plays of this writer have
come down to us. But, besides these, a number of
comedies now lost have been attributed to him. Au-
Ins Gellius (A'. A. , 3, 3) mentions that there were
about a hundred and thirty plays which, in his age,
passed under the name of Plautus; and of these nearly
forty titles, with a few scattered fragments, still remain.
I'rom the time of Varro to that of Aulus Gellius, it
seems to have been a subject of considerable discus-
sion what plays were genuine; and it appears that the
best-informed critics had come to the conclusion that
a great proportion of those comedies which vulgarly
passed for the productions of Plautus were spurious.
Such a vast number were probably ascribed to him
from his being the head and founder of a great dramat-
ic school; so that those pieces which he had, perhaps,
merely retouched, came to be wholly attributed to his
pen. "There ia no doubt," says Aulus Gellius, "but
that those plays, which seem not to have been written
by Plautus, but were ascribed to him, were by certain
ancient poets, and afterward retouched and polished
by him. " Even those comedies written in the same
taste with his came to be termed Fabtdaz Plauttna or
Plautiana, in the same way as we still speak of ,-fcso-
pian fable and Homeric verse, "Plautus quidem,"
says Macrobius, "ea re clams fv. it, tit post mortem
? qv* comeedia, qua inccrta ferebantur, Plauttna tamen
esse, de jocomm copia, agnoscercntur. " (Sat. , 2, 1. )
It is thus evident, that a sufficient number of jests
? tamped a dramatic piece as a production of Plautus
in the opinion of the multitude. But Gellius farlher
mentions, that there was a certain writer of comedies
ivhose vame was Plautius, and whose plays, having
? is inscription Plauii, were considered as by Plautus,
? ? ? lien they were, in fact, named not Plautina from
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? PLAUTUS.
PL. K
easing and artless to those Romans who lived in an
ge of excessive refinement and cultivation; but this
apparent merit was rather accidental than the effect
of poetic art. Making, however, some allowance for
this, there can be no doubt that Plautus wonderfully
improved and refined the Latin language Irom the rude
form to which it ha<<" been moulded by Ennius. That
he should have effected such an alteration is not a little
remarkable. Plautus was nearly contemporary with
the Father of Roman song; according to most ac-
counts, he was bom a slave; he was condemned, du-
ring a great part of his life, to the drudgery of the low-
est manual labour; and, as far as we leam, he was
not distinguished by the patronage of the great, nor
admitted into patrician society. Ennius, on the other
hand, if he did not pass his life in affluence, spent it
in the exercise of an honourable profession, and was
the chosen and familiar friend of Cato, Scipio Africa-
nus, Fulvius Nobilior, and Lslius, the most learned
and polished citizens of the Roman republic, whose
unrestrained conversation and intercourse must have
bestowed on him advantages which Plautus never en-
joyed. But perhaps the circumstance of his Greek
original, which contributed so much to his learning
and refinement, and qualified him for such exalted so-
ciety, may have been unfavourable to that native pu-
rity of Latin diction, which the Umbrian slave imbibed
from the unmixed fountains of conversation and na-
ture. --The chief excellence of Plautus is generally
reputed to consist in the wit and comic force of his
dialogue; and, accordingly, the lines in Horace's Art
of Poetry, in which he derides the ancient Romans for
having foolishly admired the "Plautmos sales," have
been the subject of much reprehension among critics.
That tho wit of Plautus often degenerates into buf-
foonery, scurrility, and quibbles, sometimes even into
obscenity; and that, in his constant attempts at mer-
riment, he too often tries to excite laughter by exag-
gerated expressions as well as by extravagant actions,
cannot, indeed, he denied. This was partly owing to
the '. :. . . ncnaity of the Roman theatres and to the masks
sf the actors, which must have rendered caricature
and grotesque inventions essential to the production
of that due effect which, with such scenic apparatus,
could not be created unless by overstepping the mod-
esty of nature. It must always be recollected, that
the plays of Plautus were written solely to be repre-
sented, and not to be read. Even in modern times,
and subsequent to the invention of printing, the great-
est dramatists, Shakspeare, for example, cared little
about the publication of their plays; and in every age
or country in which dramatic poetry has flourished, it
has been intended for public representation, and adapt-
ed to the tastes of a promiscuous audience. In the
days of Plautus, the smiles of the polite critic were
not enough for a Latin comedian, because in those
daye there were few polite critics at Rome; he re-
quired the shouts and laughter of the multitude, who
could be fully gratified only by the broadest grins of
comedy. Accordingly, many of the jests of Plautus
are such as might be expected from a writer anxious
to accommodate himself to the taste of the times, and
naturally catching the spirit of ribaldry which then
prevailed. It being, then, the great object of Plautus
to excite the merriment of the rabble, he, of course,
was little anxious about the strict preservation of the
dramatic unities; and it was a greater object with him
? ? to bring a striking scene into view, than to preserve
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? PLI
PLiNIUS.
B question moved away from its own constellation,
and became the third or middle one in the tail of the
Greater Bear, where it received the name of'AAwmjf,
"the Fox. " (Ideler, Sternnamcn, p. 145. )--From
their rising in the spring, the Pleiades were called by
the Romans Vergilia. (Feslus. -- Isidor. , Orig. ,3,
70.
) This constellation appears to have been one of
the earliest that were observed b) . nc Greeks. It is
mentioned by Homer (II. , 18, 483, seqq. -- 0(2. , 5,
272, seqq. ); and in Hesiod an acquaintance with it is
supposed to be so widely spread, that the daily la-
bours of the farmer can be determined by its rising
and setting. (He:, Op. et IK 383, 615. ) The met-
rical form of the name is UTj/. tjidicc and ttckcitldee,
and hence some have been led into the erroneous opin-
ion, that the name of the constellation was derived
from xt'Acia, a "pigeon" or "dove," in allusion to the
fancied appearance of the cluster. (Schwcnk, Mylhol.
Skixx. ,p. 2. )--The Pleiades are assigned on the ce-
lestial sphere to a position in the rear of Taurus. (Hy-
gin. . Poet. Astron. , 20. ) Proclus and Geminus, how-
ever, place them on the back of the animal; while
Hipparchus makes them belong, not to Taurus, but to
the foot of Perseus. (TA<<on. ad Aral. , Pkan. , 254.
-- Vblckcr, Mylhol. der lap. Geschl. , p. 78. )--II. The
name of Pleiades was also given to seven tragic wri-
ters, and the same appellation to seven other poets, of
the Alexandrcan school. (Vid. Alexandrina Schola,
near the conclusion of the article. )
Pleionk, one of the Oceanides, who married Atlas,
king of Mauritania, by whom she had twelve daughters,
and a son called Hyas. Seven of the daughters were
changed into a constellation called Pleiades, and the
rest into another called Hyades. (Ovid, Fast. , 5,84. )
Plemmyiuum, a promontory of Sicily, in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of Syracuse, and facing the island
of Ortygia, forming with this island the entrance to the
groat harbour of that city. Its modern name is Mas-
sa tTOlivera. (Dorvill. Sic. , p. 191. -- Thucyd. , 7, 4.
-- Wesscling, ad Diod. Sic. , vol. 8, p. 555, ed. Bip. )
It was fortified by Nicias during the siege of Syracuse
by the Athenians, as being well adapted by its situa-
tion for receiving supplies by sea; and here also he
erected three forts or castles, the largest of which con-
tained all the warlike implements, and the provisions
of the army. At a subsequent period of the v. ar, the
Athenians were compelled to abandon this post, and
fortified themselves near Dascon, in its vicinity. (Thu-
cyd. , 1. e. --Id. , 7, 23. ) The position of Plemmyrium
may be regarded as one of the early causes of the fail-
ure of the expedition against Syracuse; for, as the
place was destitute of freshwater, and the soldiers had
to go to a distance for it, numbers of them were cut
off from day to day by the Syracusans. (Letronne, ad
Thueyd. , 7, 4, p. 76. --G'iUer, de situ et origine Syr-
icusarum, p. 76, seqq. )
Pr. KtiMiixii. a people of Gallia Belgica, tributary to
the Nervii. Their precise situation is unknown. Le-
maire places them in the vicinity of Tornacum, now
Tournay. (Ind. Geogr. ,ad C<w. , p. 339. --Cas. , B.
G. , 5, 39. )
Plinius, I. f ecundus, C, surnamed the Elder, and
also the Naturalist, a distinguished Roman writer,
bam of a noble family, in the ninth year of the reign
of Tiberius, A. D. 23. St. Jerome, in his Chronicle
of Eusebius, and a Life of Pliny ascribed to Sueto-
nius, make him to have been a native of Comum; but
? ? since, in the dedicatory epistle prefixed to his Natural
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? H. INIC9.
PLINITJ3
without doubt, a grammatical treatise on the precise
signification and use of words. And yet it is difficult,
if we follow chronological computation, not to believe
that Nero named him his procurator in Spain; for it
is certain, from the words of his nephew, that be filled
this office: he himself mentions certain observations
made by him in this country, and we find no other
period in his life in which he could have gone thither.
We may presume that he continued in Spain during
the civil wars of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, and even
during the first years of the reign of Vespasian. It
was during this period that he lost his brother-in-law;
and, being unable, by reason of his absence abroad, to
become his nephew's guardian, the care of the latter
was intrusted to Virginius Rufus. On his return,
Pliny would seem to nave stopped for a time in the
south of Gaul; for he describes, with remarkable ex-
actness, the province of Narbonensis, and, in particular,
the fountain of Vaucluse. He informs us that he saw
in this quarter a atone said to have fallen from heaven.
Vespasian, with whom he had been on intimate terms
during the wars in Germany, gave him a very favour-
able reception, and was in the habit of calling him to
him every morning before sunrise; which, according
to Suetonius and Xiphilinus, was a privilege reserved
by that emperor only for his particular friends. It
cannot be affirmed, with any great degree of certainty,
that Vespasian elevated Pliny to the rank of senator.
Some writers state, moreover, though without any
proof, that Pliny served in the war of Titus against the
Jews. What he remarks concerning Judaea is not
sufficiently exact to induce us to believe that he speaks
from personal observal;on; and, besides, we can hard-
ly assign to any other part of his life except this, the
composition of his work on the History of his own
Times, in thirty-one books, and forming a continua-
tion of that of Aufidius Bassus. If Pliny, however,
did not serve in the Jewish war, he was not less the
friend of Titus on that account, having been his com-
panion in the course of other contests; and it was to
'his prince that he dedicated the last and most impor-
ant of his writings, his Natural History, in thirty-seven
jocks. The titles given to Titus in the dedication
show that this laborious work was concluded in the
78th year of our era; and it is evident that it must
have occupied the greater part of his life to collect
together the materials. This great work is the only
me of Pliny's that has come down to us. It forms,
<<t the same time, one of th<> most valuable monuments
left us by antiquity, and is a proof of the most aston-
shing industry in a man whose time was so much oc-
:upied, first by military affairs, and subsequently by
those of a civil nature. In order fully to appreciate
this vast and celebrated work, we must regard it un-
der three different aspects; its plan, its facts, and its
style. The plan is an immense one. Pliny does not
propose to himself to write merely a natural history, in
,he restricted sense in which we employ the phrase
at the present day, that is, a treatise, more or less de-
'ailed, respecting animals, plants, and minerals; he
embraces in his plan astronomy, physics, geography,
agriculture, commerce, medicine, and the arts, as well
as natural history properly so called; and he contin-
ually mingles with his remarks on these subjects a
variety of observations relative to the moral constitu-
tion of man and the history of nations: so that, in
many respects, his work may be regarded as having
? ? been in its day a sort of encyclopedia. After having
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? PLI HL'S
PLINIV8.
nting, or the ir;ictches hj is in the habit of making
? g. iinst Providence. He docs not, it ia true, extend
? n equal degree of credence to everything that he re-
lates, but it is at mere random that he wither doubts or
affirms, and the most puerile tales are i. ot always those
which most excite his incredulity. There is not, for
example, > "ingle fable of the Greek travellers, con-
cerning men without heads, others without mouths,
concerning men with only one foot, or very long ears,
which ho does not place in his seventh book, and that,
too, with so much confidence as to terminate this cat-
alogue of wonders with the following remark: "Htrr
alque tnlia ex hominum genere, ludibria aibi, nobis
niracula, ingeniosa fecit nalwra. " We may without
difficulty, therefore, after observing this facility in giv-
ing credence to ridiculous stories about the human
species, form an idea of the degree of discernment
which Pliny has exercised in his selection of authori-
ties respecting animals either entirely new or but little
known. Hence the most fabulous creations, niarti-
chori with human heads and the tails of eccrpions,
winged horses, the catoblcpas whose sight alone was
able to kill, play their part in his work by the side of
the elephant and lion. And yet all is not false, even
in those narratives thil are most replete with falsities.
We may sometimes detect the truth which has served
them for a basis, by recalling to mind that these are
extracts from ihe works of travellers, and by supposing
that ignorance, and the love of the marvellous, on the
part of ancient travellers, have led them into these
exaggerations, and have dictated to them those vague
and superficial descriptions, of which we find so great
a number even in modern books of travels. Another
very important defect in Pliny is that he docs not al-
ways give the true sense of the authors whom he trans-
lates, especially when designating different species of
animals. Notwithstanding the very limited means
possessed by us at the present day of judging with any
degree of certainty respecting this kind of error, it is
. easy to prove that on many occasions he has substi-
tuted for the Greek word, which in Aristotle desig-
nates one kind of animal, a Latin word which belongs
to one entirely different. It is true, indeed, that one
of the greatest difficulties experienced by the ancient
naturalists was that of fixing a nomenclature, and their
vicious and defective method shows itself in Pliny
more than in any other. The descriptions, or, rather,
imperfect indications, which he gives, are almost al-
ways insufficient for recognising the several species,
when tradition has failed to preserve the particular
name; and there is even a large number whose names
alone are given, witnout any characteristic mark, or
any means of distinguishing them from one another.
If it were possible still to doubt respecting the advan-
tages enjoyed by the modern over the ancient meth-
ods, these doubts would be completely dispelled, on
discovering that almost all the ancient writers have
said relative to the virtues of their plants is com-
pletely valueless for us, from the impossibility of dis-
tinguishing the individual plants to which they refer.
Our regret, however, on this account, will be great-
ly diminished, if we call to mind with how little care
the ancients, and Pliny in particular, have designa-
ted the medical virtues of plants. They attribute so
many false and even absurd properties to those plants
which we know, that we may be allowed to be very
. ndifferent respecting the virtues of those which we
? ? do not know. If we believe that part of Pliny's work
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? PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
pearod of a very unusual size and shape. He had just
returned from taking the benefit of the sun, and. after
bathing himself in cold water, and taking a slight re-
past, had retired to his stud;. He immediately arose
and went out upon an eminence, from whence he might
more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance.
It was not, at that distance, discernible from what
mountain this cloud issued, but it was found afterward
10 ascend from Vesuvius. I cannot give you a more
exact description of its figure than by resembling it to
;hat of a pine-tree, for it shot up to a great height in
the form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top
into a eort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either
by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of
which decreased as it advanced upward, or the cloud
itself, being pressed back again by its own weight,
expanded in this manner: it appeared sometimes
bright, and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was either
more or less impregnated with earth and cinders.
This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle's
philosophical curiosity to take a nearer view of it. He
ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me
the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I rath-
er chose to continue my studies, for, as it had hap-
pened, he had given me employment of that kind.
As he was coming out of the house, he received a note
from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the ut-
most alarm at the imminent danger which threatened
her; for the villa being situated at the foot of Mount
Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by the sea;
she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her
assistance. He accordingly changed his first design,
and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued
with a heroic, turn of mind. He ordered the galleys
to put to sea, and went himself on board with an in-
tention of assisting not only Rectina, but several oth-
ers; for the villas stand extremely thick on that beau-
tiful coast. When hastening to the place from'whence
others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his di-
rect course to the point of danger, and with so much
calmness and presence of mind as to be able to make
and dictate his observations upon the motion and
figure of that dreadful scene. He was now so nigh
the mountain, that the cinders, which grew thicker and
hotter the nearer he approached, fell into' the ships,
together with pumice-stones, and black pieces of burn-
ing rock. They were likewise in danger, not only of
being aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, but
also from the vast fragments which rolled down from
the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he
stopped to consider whether he should return back
again; to which the pilot advising him, 'Fortune,'
said he, 'befriends the brave; carry me to Pomponi-
inut. ' Pomponianus was then at Stubiaa, separated
by a gulf, which the sea, after several insensible wind-
ings, forms upon the shore. He had already sent his
haggage ? n board; for, though he was not at that time
in actual danger, yet, being within the view of it, and,
indeed, extremely near, if it should in the least increase,
he was determined to put to sea as soon as the wind
should change. It was favourable, however, for car-
rying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom he found in
the greatest consternation. He embraced him with
eagerness, encouraging and exhorting him to keep up
his spirits; and, the more to dissipate his fears, he or-
dered the baths to be got ready with an air of com-
plete unconcern. After having bathed, he sat down
? ? to supper with great cheerfulness, or, at least (what is
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? PLINIUS.
PLiNR'S.
old custom of our ancestors), he would frequently, in
! ha summer, if he was disengaged from business, re-
pose himself in tin1 sun; during which time some au-
thor was read to him, from which he made extracts
snd observations, as, indeed, was his constant method,
whatever book he read: for it was a maxim of his,
that 'no book was so bad but something might be
. earned from it. ' When this was over, lie generally
went into the cold bath, and, as soon as he came out
of it, just look some slight refreshment, and then re-
,jn-i:d himself for a little while. Thus, as if it had
been a new day, he immediately resumed his studies
till rjpper-time, when a book was again read to him,
upon which he would make some hasty remarks. I
remember once, his reader having pronounced some
word wrong, a person at table made him repeat it
again, upon which my uncle asked his friend if he un-
derstood it. The other acknowledging that he did,
Why, then, said he, would yon make him go back
again 1 We hate lost ly this interruption above ten
tinei: so covetous was this great man of his time.
ID summer he always rose from supper by daylight,
and in winter as soon as it was dark: and this was
an invariable rule with him. Such was his manner of
life amid the noise and hurry of the city; but in the
"ouniry his whole time was devoted 10 study without
intermission, excepting only when he bathed. But in
this exception I include no more than the time he was
actually in the bath, for all the time he was rubbed
and wiped he was employed either in hearing some
book read to him, or in dictating himself. In his
journeys he lost no time from Ins studies, but his mind
it those seasons being disengaged from all other
though! *, applied itself wholly to that single pursuit.
A secretary constantly attended him in his chariot,
who, in the winter, wore a particular sort of warm
gloves, that the sharpness of the weather might not
occasion any interruption to his studies; and, for the
same reason, my uncle always used a chair in Rome.
I remember he once reproved me for walking: 'You
might,' said he, 'employ those hours to more advan-
tage :' for he thought all time lost not given to study.
By this extraordinary application he found time to
write so many vclumes, besides one hundred and sixty
which he left me, consisting of a kind of common-
place, written on both sides, in a very small character;
so that one might fairly reckon the number consider-
ably more. " (Cuvier, Biogr. Univ. , vol.
gards it as supposititious. --32. 'AvTtpaorai, "The
Rivals," also entitled 'Kpaorai, $ wept <j>i\ooo$iac,
"The Lovers, or concerning Philosophy. " A very
feeble dialogue, the object of which is to show that
Socrates estimated virtue and justice above every-
thing else, and cared very little for purely speculative
researches. --33. '\Ttizapxoe, fi ^iXoxepdijc, " Hippar-
chut, or the Lover of Gain. " This dialogue, which is
very probably mutilated, is deficient in plan. It treats
of the false ideas that men entertain respecting the ac-
quisition and love of gain. The author advances in
the course of it some historical paradoxes. Socher,
who defends several dialogues against the attacks of
Sctileiermacher and Ast, acknowledges, with them,
and also with Wolf (Prolegom. ad Horn. , p. cliv. ), that
this is not one of Plato's productions Valckcnaer
{ad Herod. , 5, f)5) had already expressed the same
opinion. -- 34. Mt'vor, fj Ttepi vouov, " Minos, or con-
cerning Law. " Socrates discourses, in this dialogue,
with a certain Minos on the nature of law, which he
lakes, in its most extended sense, as the rule of all our
actions. We here find the first elements of the doc-
trine of modern philosophers respecting the law of na-
ture and the moral law. The authenticity of this dia-
logue has been ably attacked by Bockh, with whom
Socher agrees. (Bockh, Comment, in Platonis dialog.
? i vutgo inscribitur Min. , cVc, Hahe, 1806, 4to )--
? ? . K? . et"04K. "'V, fj irpoTpexTtKoc, " Clitophon, or the Ex-
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? PLATO
P LA
"v Plato to Sicilv, and to the intrigues of which this
stand was the theatre, in consequence of the tyranny
of the younger Dionysius and the movements of Dion.
The correspondence in question appears to have been
published by some of the followers of Plato with the
view of exculpating their master and themselves from
the charge of fomenting troubles in Syracuse. Cicero
seems to have entertained no doubt of these letters
being genuine, and he cites one of them as "prttclara
eputola Platonit. " (Tutc. Disp . 5, 35. ) The fol-
lowing modern scholars have denied their authenticity:
Mcincrs, CommeiUat. Soc. , Goit. , 1783, p. 51, tcqq. --
Gruddcck,Lileratur-Guchichle. --Ticdemann, Griech-
enlands ertle Philotophcn, p. 476, ttqq. --Alt, Pin-
ion* Leben und Schriften, p. 376, teqq. -- Socher,
Veber Platon* Schriften, Munchtn, 1820. --In de-
fence of their genuineness we may name, Schlotttr,
Plato* Briefe uhertetzt (Schmid und Sncll, Philot.
Journ. , vol. 2, p. 3, Gietten, 1795). --Tennemann,
Lchrcn und Mcinungen der Sokratiker, p. 17, *eqq.
--Id. , System der Plat. Philot. , p. 106, ttqq. --Mor-
gtnsltrn, Entuntrf von Plato* Leben, etc. --Grimm,
Ve Epistolit Platonis, an genuinct vcl tupposilititz
tint, Berol. , 1815. --We have six lives of Plato re-
maining, three others by Speusippus, Porphyry, and
Aristoxenus being lost. The most ancient of these
six lives is that by Apuleius, in the first book of his
work, "De habitudine doctrinarum -( de nativitate
Platoni*. " The other five are written in Greek; of
these, one is by Diogenes Laertius, and is found in
Jie third book of his compilation; another is by Olym-
piodorus, and is given at the head of his commentary on
the first Alcibiades; the third is by Hesychius of Mi-
letus; the fourth and fifth are anonymous. All these
lives are scanty and crowded with fables. Two of the
best modern biographies of the philosopher are those
of Tennemann and Ast. The former of these has
been translated by the Rev. Mr. Edwards, professor
in the Theological Seminary at Andover, and forms
part of a work, entitled " Selection* from German Lit-
erature, by B. B. Edioardt and E. A. Park, Prqfct-
tort Tkeol. Sent. Andmer," 1839. Valuable mate-
rials have been obtained by us, from this, for our bi-
ographical sketch of Plato. The commentaries on
Plato are still numerous, though very many have been
last. A Platonic Lexicon by Timaeus has come down
to us, of which Ruhnken published an excellent edi-
tion in 1754; and to the same modern scholar we
owe the publication of some valuable Platonic scholia
(Lugi. Bat, 1800, Rvo). A new edition of the Lex-
icon of Timaeus, by Koch, appeared from the Leipsic
press in 1828. --Of the MSS. of Plato, two possess
great value on account of their early date. One of
these belongs to the tenth century, and is at present in
the Royal Library at Paris, being known among its
collection of MSS. as No. 1807. The other is the
celebrated one brought over from Groece by Dr.
Clarke, the well-known traveller. It is now in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford. This is the earlier of
the two, having been written in 896 A. D. It contains
the first twenty-four dialogues, with the titles precisely
as they are given in the Basic edition of 1534. In the
margin are written scholia in a very ancient hand.
The MS. is on vellum. In 1812, Professor Guisford
published an account of it, in his " Catalogue, tint
\olitia Manutcriptorum. quiacel. E. D. Clarke com-
parali, in Bibliotkcca Bodleiana adtcrvantur," etc. ,
? ? Oxen. , 1812, its. In 1820, the same scholar publish-
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? PLA
PLAUTUS.
charged with having made use of his exorbitant power
to oppress the people, and to excite the vindictive
passions of his master. By the marriage of his daugh-
ter Plautilla with Caracalia, who had already, for some
years, enjoyed the rank of Augustus, he obtained ad-
mittance into the imperial household; where his pride,
and the influence which he possessed over the emper-
or, rendered him an object of suspicion and dislike.
Being it last accused privately to the emperor of aim-
ing at the succession, he was slain by a soldier, at the
order of Caracalia, in the presence of Severus. Plau-
tilla wan banished by Severus, along with her brother
Plautus, to the island of Lipara, where, seven years
after, she was put to death by order of Caracalia, A. D.
311. (Herodtan, 3, 10. --Dio Cass. , 76, 14, seqq. --
Spar Han. , Vit. Sev. )
Plautus, M. Accius, a celebrated comic poet, the
son of a freedman, and born at Sarsina, a town of l. 'm-
bria, about 525 A. U. C. He was called Plautus from
his splay-feet, a defect common to the Umbrians.
Having turned his attention to the stage, he soon
realized a considerable fortune by the popularity of his
dramas; but, by risking it in trade, or spending it, ac-
cording to others, on the splendid theatrical drosses
which he wore as an actor, and theatrical amusements
being little resorted to on account of the famine then
prevailing at Rome, he was quickly reduced to such
necessity as forced him to labour in a mill for his
daily support. (Aulas Gcllius, N. A. , 3, 3. ) Many
of his plays were written in these unfavourable cir-
cumstances, and, of course, have not obtained all tho
perfection which might otherwise have resulted from
nis increased knowledge of life and his long practice
in the dramatic art. Twenty plays of this writer have
come down to us. But, besides these, a number of
comedies now lost have been attributed to him. Au-
Ins Gellius (A'. A. , 3, 3) mentions that there were
about a hundred and thirty plays which, in his age,
passed under the name of Plautus; and of these nearly
forty titles, with a few scattered fragments, still remain.
I'rom the time of Varro to that of Aulus Gellius, it
seems to have been a subject of considerable discus-
sion what plays were genuine; and it appears that the
best-informed critics had come to the conclusion that
a great proportion of those comedies which vulgarly
passed for the productions of Plautus were spurious.
Such a vast number were probably ascribed to him
from his being the head and founder of a great dramat-
ic school; so that those pieces which he had, perhaps,
merely retouched, came to be wholly attributed to his
pen. "There ia no doubt," says Aulus Gellius, "but
that those plays, which seem not to have been written
by Plautus, but were ascribed to him, were by certain
ancient poets, and afterward retouched and polished
by him. " Even those comedies written in the same
taste with his came to be termed Fabtdaz Plauttna or
Plautiana, in the same way as we still speak of ,-fcso-
pian fable and Homeric verse, "Plautus quidem,"
says Macrobius, "ea re clams fv. it, tit post mortem
? qv* comeedia, qua inccrta ferebantur, Plauttna tamen
esse, de jocomm copia, agnoscercntur. " (Sat. , 2, 1. )
It is thus evident, that a sufficient number of jests
? tamped a dramatic piece as a production of Plautus
in the opinion of the multitude. But Gellius farlher
mentions, that there was a certain writer of comedies
ivhose vame was Plautius, and whose plays, having
? is inscription Plauii, were considered as by Plautus,
? ? ? lien they were, in fact, named not Plautina from
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? PLAUTUS.
PL. K
easing and artless to those Romans who lived in an
ge of excessive refinement and cultivation; but this
apparent merit was rather accidental than the effect
of poetic art. Making, however, some allowance for
this, there can be no doubt that Plautus wonderfully
improved and refined the Latin language Irom the rude
form to which it ha<<" been moulded by Ennius. That
he should have effected such an alteration is not a little
remarkable. Plautus was nearly contemporary with
the Father of Roman song; according to most ac-
counts, he was bom a slave; he was condemned, du-
ring a great part of his life, to the drudgery of the low-
est manual labour; and, as far as we leam, he was
not distinguished by the patronage of the great, nor
admitted into patrician society. Ennius, on the other
hand, if he did not pass his life in affluence, spent it
in the exercise of an honourable profession, and was
the chosen and familiar friend of Cato, Scipio Africa-
nus, Fulvius Nobilior, and Lslius, the most learned
and polished citizens of the Roman republic, whose
unrestrained conversation and intercourse must have
bestowed on him advantages which Plautus never en-
joyed. But perhaps the circumstance of his Greek
original, which contributed so much to his learning
and refinement, and qualified him for such exalted so-
ciety, may have been unfavourable to that native pu-
rity of Latin diction, which the Umbrian slave imbibed
from the unmixed fountains of conversation and na-
ture. --The chief excellence of Plautus is generally
reputed to consist in the wit and comic force of his
dialogue; and, accordingly, the lines in Horace's Art
of Poetry, in which he derides the ancient Romans for
having foolishly admired the "Plautmos sales," have
been the subject of much reprehension among critics.
That tho wit of Plautus often degenerates into buf-
foonery, scurrility, and quibbles, sometimes even into
obscenity; and that, in his constant attempts at mer-
riment, he too often tries to excite laughter by exag-
gerated expressions as well as by extravagant actions,
cannot, indeed, he denied. This was partly owing to
the '. :. . . ncnaity of the Roman theatres and to the masks
sf the actors, which must have rendered caricature
and grotesque inventions essential to the production
of that due effect which, with such scenic apparatus,
could not be created unless by overstepping the mod-
esty of nature. It must always be recollected, that
the plays of Plautus were written solely to be repre-
sented, and not to be read. Even in modern times,
and subsequent to the invention of printing, the great-
est dramatists, Shakspeare, for example, cared little
about the publication of their plays; and in every age
or country in which dramatic poetry has flourished, it
has been intended for public representation, and adapt-
ed to the tastes of a promiscuous audience. In the
days of Plautus, the smiles of the polite critic were
not enough for a Latin comedian, because in those
daye there were few polite critics at Rome; he re-
quired the shouts and laughter of the multitude, who
could be fully gratified only by the broadest grins of
comedy. Accordingly, many of the jests of Plautus
are such as might be expected from a writer anxious
to accommodate himself to the taste of the times, and
naturally catching the spirit of ribaldry which then
prevailed. It being, then, the great object of Plautus
to excite the merriment of the rabble, he, of course,
was little anxious about the strict preservation of the
dramatic unities; and it was a greater object with him
? ? to bring a striking scene into view, than to preserve
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? PLI
PLiNIUS.
B question moved away from its own constellation,
and became the third or middle one in the tail of the
Greater Bear, where it received the name of'AAwmjf,
"the Fox. " (Ideler, Sternnamcn, p. 145. )--From
their rising in the spring, the Pleiades were called by
the Romans Vergilia. (Feslus. -- Isidor. , Orig. ,3,
70.
) This constellation appears to have been one of
the earliest that were observed b) . nc Greeks. It is
mentioned by Homer (II. , 18, 483, seqq. -- 0(2. , 5,
272, seqq. ); and in Hesiod an acquaintance with it is
supposed to be so widely spread, that the daily la-
bours of the farmer can be determined by its rising
and setting. (He:, Op. et IK 383, 615. ) The met-
rical form of the name is UTj/. tjidicc and ttckcitldee,
and hence some have been led into the erroneous opin-
ion, that the name of the constellation was derived
from xt'Acia, a "pigeon" or "dove," in allusion to the
fancied appearance of the cluster. (Schwcnk, Mylhol.
Skixx. ,p. 2. )--The Pleiades are assigned on the ce-
lestial sphere to a position in the rear of Taurus. (Hy-
gin. . Poet. Astron. , 20. ) Proclus and Geminus, how-
ever, place them on the back of the animal; while
Hipparchus makes them belong, not to Taurus, but to
the foot of Perseus. (TA<<on. ad Aral. , Pkan. , 254.
-- Vblckcr, Mylhol. der lap. Geschl. , p. 78. )--II. The
name of Pleiades was also given to seven tragic wri-
ters, and the same appellation to seven other poets, of
the Alexandrcan school. (Vid. Alexandrina Schola,
near the conclusion of the article. )
Pleionk, one of the Oceanides, who married Atlas,
king of Mauritania, by whom she had twelve daughters,
and a son called Hyas. Seven of the daughters were
changed into a constellation called Pleiades, and the
rest into another called Hyades. (Ovid, Fast. , 5,84. )
Plemmyiuum, a promontory of Sicily, in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of Syracuse, and facing the island
of Ortygia, forming with this island the entrance to the
groat harbour of that city. Its modern name is Mas-
sa tTOlivera. (Dorvill. Sic. , p. 191. -- Thucyd. , 7, 4.
-- Wesscling, ad Diod. Sic. , vol. 8, p. 555, ed. Bip. )
It was fortified by Nicias during the siege of Syracuse
by the Athenians, as being well adapted by its situa-
tion for receiving supplies by sea; and here also he
erected three forts or castles, the largest of which con-
tained all the warlike implements, and the provisions
of the army. At a subsequent period of the v. ar, the
Athenians were compelled to abandon this post, and
fortified themselves near Dascon, in its vicinity. (Thu-
cyd. , 1. e. --Id. , 7, 23. ) The position of Plemmyrium
may be regarded as one of the early causes of the fail-
ure of the expedition against Syracuse; for, as the
place was destitute of freshwater, and the soldiers had
to go to a distance for it, numbers of them were cut
off from day to day by the Syracusans. (Letronne, ad
Thueyd. , 7, 4, p. 76. --G'iUer, de situ et origine Syr-
icusarum, p. 76, seqq. )
Pr. KtiMiixii. a people of Gallia Belgica, tributary to
the Nervii. Their precise situation is unknown. Le-
maire places them in the vicinity of Tornacum, now
Tournay. (Ind. Geogr. ,ad C<w. , p. 339. --Cas. , B.
G. , 5, 39. )
Plinius, I. f ecundus, C, surnamed the Elder, and
also the Naturalist, a distinguished Roman writer,
bam of a noble family, in the ninth year of the reign
of Tiberius, A. D. 23. St. Jerome, in his Chronicle
of Eusebius, and a Life of Pliny ascribed to Sueto-
nius, make him to have been a native of Comum; but
? ? since, in the dedicatory epistle prefixed to his Natural
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? H. INIC9.
PLINITJ3
without doubt, a grammatical treatise on the precise
signification and use of words. And yet it is difficult,
if we follow chronological computation, not to believe
that Nero named him his procurator in Spain; for it
is certain, from the words of his nephew, that be filled
this office: he himself mentions certain observations
made by him in this country, and we find no other
period in his life in which he could have gone thither.
We may presume that he continued in Spain during
the civil wars of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, and even
during the first years of the reign of Vespasian. It
was during this period that he lost his brother-in-law;
and, being unable, by reason of his absence abroad, to
become his nephew's guardian, the care of the latter
was intrusted to Virginius Rufus. On his return,
Pliny would seem to nave stopped for a time in the
south of Gaul; for he describes, with remarkable ex-
actness, the province of Narbonensis, and, in particular,
the fountain of Vaucluse. He informs us that he saw
in this quarter a atone said to have fallen from heaven.
Vespasian, with whom he had been on intimate terms
during the wars in Germany, gave him a very favour-
able reception, and was in the habit of calling him to
him every morning before sunrise; which, according
to Suetonius and Xiphilinus, was a privilege reserved
by that emperor only for his particular friends. It
cannot be affirmed, with any great degree of certainty,
that Vespasian elevated Pliny to the rank of senator.
Some writers state, moreover, though without any
proof, that Pliny served in the war of Titus against the
Jews. What he remarks concerning Judaea is not
sufficiently exact to induce us to believe that he speaks
from personal observal;on; and, besides, we can hard-
ly assign to any other part of his life except this, the
composition of his work on the History of his own
Times, in thirty-one books, and forming a continua-
tion of that of Aufidius Bassus. If Pliny, however,
did not serve in the Jewish war, he was not less the
friend of Titus on that account, having been his com-
panion in the course of other contests; and it was to
'his prince that he dedicated the last and most impor-
ant of his writings, his Natural History, in thirty-seven
jocks. The titles given to Titus in the dedication
show that this laborious work was concluded in the
78th year of our era; and it is evident that it must
have occupied the greater part of his life to collect
together the materials. This great work is the only
me of Pliny's that has come down to us. It forms,
<<t the same time, one of th<> most valuable monuments
left us by antiquity, and is a proof of the most aston-
shing industry in a man whose time was so much oc-
:upied, first by military affairs, and subsequently by
those of a civil nature. In order fully to appreciate
this vast and celebrated work, we must regard it un-
der three different aspects; its plan, its facts, and its
style. The plan is an immense one. Pliny does not
propose to himself to write merely a natural history, in
,he restricted sense in which we employ the phrase
at the present day, that is, a treatise, more or less de-
'ailed, respecting animals, plants, and minerals; he
embraces in his plan astronomy, physics, geography,
agriculture, commerce, medicine, and the arts, as well
as natural history properly so called; and he contin-
ually mingles with his remarks on these subjects a
variety of observations relative to the moral constitu-
tion of man and the history of nations: so that, in
many respects, his work may be regarded as having
? ? been in its day a sort of encyclopedia. After having
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? PLI HL'S
PLINIV8.
nting, or the ir;ictches hj is in the habit of making
? g. iinst Providence. He docs not, it ia true, extend
? n equal degree of credence to everything that he re-
lates, but it is at mere random that he wither doubts or
affirms, and the most puerile tales are i. ot always those
which most excite his incredulity. There is not, for
example, > "ingle fable of the Greek travellers, con-
cerning men without heads, others without mouths,
concerning men with only one foot, or very long ears,
which ho does not place in his seventh book, and that,
too, with so much confidence as to terminate this cat-
alogue of wonders with the following remark: "Htrr
alque tnlia ex hominum genere, ludibria aibi, nobis
niracula, ingeniosa fecit nalwra. " We may without
difficulty, therefore, after observing this facility in giv-
ing credence to ridiculous stories about the human
species, form an idea of the degree of discernment
which Pliny has exercised in his selection of authori-
ties respecting animals either entirely new or but little
known. Hence the most fabulous creations, niarti-
chori with human heads and the tails of eccrpions,
winged horses, the catoblcpas whose sight alone was
able to kill, play their part in his work by the side of
the elephant and lion. And yet all is not false, even
in those narratives thil are most replete with falsities.
We may sometimes detect the truth which has served
them for a basis, by recalling to mind that these are
extracts from ihe works of travellers, and by supposing
that ignorance, and the love of the marvellous, on the
part of ancient travellers, have led them into these
exaggerations, and have dictated to them those vague
and superficial descriptions, of which we find so great
a number even in modern books of travels. Another
very important defect in Pliny is that he docs not al-
ways give the true sense of the authors whom he trans-
lates, especially when designating different species of
animals. Notwithstanding the very limited means
possessed by us at the present day of judging with any
degree of certainty respecting this kind of error, it is
. easy to prove that on many occasions he has substi-
tuted for the Greek word, which in Aristotle desig-
nates one kind of animal, a Latin word which belongs
to one entirely different. It is true, indeed, that one
of the greatest difficulties experienced by the ancient
naturalists was that of fixing a nomenclature, and their
vicious and defective method shows itself in Pliny
more than in any other. The descriptions, or, rather,
imperfect indications, which he gives, are almost al-
ways insufficient for recognising the several species,
when tradition has failed to preserve the particular
name; and there is even a large number whose names
alone are given, witnout any characteristic mark, or
any means of distinguishing them from one another.
If it were possible still to doubt respecting the advan-
tages enjoyed by the modern over the ancient meth-
ods, these doubts would be completely dispelled, on
discovering that almost all the ancient writers have
said relative to the virtues of their plants is com-
pletely valueless for us, from the impossibility of dis-
tinguishing the individual plants to which they refer.
Our regret, however, on this account, will be great-
ly diminished, if we call to mind with how little care
the ancients, and Pliny in particular, have designa-
ted the medical virtues of plants. They attribute so
many false and even absurd properties to those plants
which we know, that we may be allowed to be very
. ndifferent respecting the virtues of those which we
? ? do not know. If we believe that part of Pliny's work
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? PLINIUS.
PLINIUS.
pearod of a very unusual size and shape. He had just
returned from taking the benefit of the sun, and. after
bathing himself in cold water, and taking a slight re-
past, had retired to his stud;. He immediately arose
and went out upon an eminence, from whence he might
more distinctly view this very uncommon appearance.
It was not, at that distance, discernible from what
mountain this cloud issued, but it was found afterward
10 ascend from Vesuvius. I cannot give you a more
exact description of its figure than by resembling it to
;hat of a pine-tree, for it shot up to a great height in
the form of a trunk, which extended itself at the top
into a eort of branches; occasioned, I imagine, either
by a sudden gust of air that impelled it, the force of
which decreased as it advanced upward, or the cloud
itself, being pressed back again by its own weight,
expanded in this manner: it appeared sometimes
bright, and sometimes dark and spotted, as it was either
more or less impregnated with earth and cinders.
This extraordinary phenomenon excited my uncle's
philosophical curiosity to take a nearer view of it. He
ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me
the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I rath-
er chose to continue my studies, for, as it had hap-
pened, he had given me employment of that kind.
As he was coming out of the house, he received a note
from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the ut-
most alarm at the imminent danger which threatened
her; for the villa being situated at the foot of Mount
Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by the sea;
she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her
assistance. He accordingly changed his first design,
and what he began with a philosophical, he pursued
with a heroic, turn of mind. He ordered the galleys
to put to sea, and went himself on board with an in-
tention of assisting not only Rectina, but several oth-
ers; for the villas stand extremely thick on that beau-
tiful coast. When hastening to the place from'whence
others fled with the utmost terror, he steered his di-
rect course to the point of danger, and with so much
calmness and presence of mind as to be able to make
and dictate his observations upon the motion and
figure of that dreadful scene. He was now so nigh
the mountain, that the cinders, which grew thicker and
hotter the nearer he approached, fell into' the ships,
together with pumice-stones, and black pieces of burn-
ing rock. They were likewise in danger, not only of
being aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, but
also from the vast fragments which rolled down from
the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here he
stopped to consider whether he should return back
again; to which the pilot advising him, 'Fortune,'
said he, 'befriends the brave; carry me to Pomponi-
inut. ' Pomponianus was then at Stubiaa, separated
by a gulf, which the sea, after several insensible wind-
ings, forms upon the shore. He had already sent his
haggage ? n board; for, though he was not at that time
in actual danger, yet, being within the view of it, and,
indeed, extremely near, if it should in the least increase,
he was determined to put to sea as soon as the wind
should change. It was favourable, however, for car-
rying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom he found in
the greatest consternation. He embraced him with
eagerness, encouraging and exhorting him to keep up
his spirits; and, the more to dissipate his fears, he or-
dered the baths to be got ready with an air of com-
plete unconcern. After having bathed, he sat down
? ? to supper with great cheerfulness, or, at least (what is
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? PLINIUS.
PLiNR'S.
old custom of our ancestors), he would frequently, in
! ha summer, if he was disengaged from business, re-
pose himself in tin1 sun; during which time some au-
thor was read to him, from which he made extracts
snd observations, as, indeed, was his constant method,
whatever book he read: for it was a maxim of his,
that 'no book was so bad but something might be
. earned from it. ' When this was over, lie generally
went into the cold bath, and, as soon as he came out
of it, just look some slight refreshment, and then re-
,jn-i:d himself for a little while. Thus, as if it had
been a new day, he immediately resumed his studies
till rjpper-time, when a book was again read to him,
upon which he would make some hasty remarks. I
remember once, his reader having pronounced some
word wrong, a person at table made him repeat it
again, upon which my uncle asked his friend if he un-
derstood it. The other acknowledging that he did,
Why, then, said he, would yon make him go back
again 1 We hate lost ly this interruption above ten
tinei: so covetous was this great man of his time.
ID summer he always rose from supper by daylight,
and in winter as soon as it was dark: and this was
an invariable rule with him. Such was his manner of
life amid the noise and hurry of the city; but in the
"ouniry his whole time was devoted 10 study without
intermission, excepting only when he bathed. But in
this exception I include no more than the time he was
actually in the bath, for all the time he was rubbed
and wiped he was employed either in hearing some
book read to him, or in dictating himself. In his
journeys he lost no time from Ins studies, but his mind
it those seasons being disengaged from all other
though! *, applied itself wholly to that single pursuit.
A secretary constantly attended him in his chariot,
who, in the winter, wore a particular sort of warm
gloves, that the sharpness of the weather might not
occasion any interruption to his studies; and, for the
same reason, my uncle always used a chair in Rome.
I remember he once reproved me for walking: 'You
might,' said he, 'employ those hours to more advan-
tage :' for he thought all time lost not given to study.
By this extraordinary application he found time to
write so many vclumes, besides one hundred and sixty
which he left me, consisting of a kind of common-
place, written on both sides, in a very small character;
so that one might fairly reckon the number consider-
ably more. " (Cuvier, Biogr. Univ. , vol.
