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The natural history of Pliny
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First published January 1, 77
About the author
Pliny the Elder
924 books87 followersGaius Plinius Secundus (23 AD – August 25, 79 AD), better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. Spending most of his spare time studying, writing or investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field, he wrote an encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia, which became a model for all such works written subsequently. Pliny the Younger, his nephew, wrote of him in a letter to the historian Tacitus:
"For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions."
Pliny the Younger is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncle's now missing work on the History of the German Wars. Pliny the Elder died on August 25, 79 AD, while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The prevailing wind would not allow his ship to leave the shore. His companions attributed his collapse and death to toxic fumes; but they were unaffected by the fumes, suggesting natural causes.
"For my part I deem those blessed to whom, by favour of the gods, it has been granted either to do what is worth writing of, or to write what is worth reading; above measure blessed those on whom both gifts have been conferred. In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions."
Pliny the Younger is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncle's now missing work on the History of the German Wars. Pliny the Elder died on August 25, 79 AD, while attempting the rescue by ship of a friend and his family from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that had just destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The prevailing wind would not allow his ship to leave the shore. His companions attributed his collapse and death to toxic fumes; but they were unaffected by the fumes, suggesting natural causes.
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January 28, 2018
Naturalis Historia by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder (0023-0079)
The author had evidently intended to establish a complete record, a sort of encyclopedia of natural history in his time.
Pliny's information is based on translations of countless documents by Greek and Latin authors from ancient times from Hesiod, Herodotus, to Virgilio, Cato, Varro, and many more.
He writes in a most pleasant and relaxed style like in conversation, and in addition to historical records, he offers his considerable knowledge on many subjects.
In countless digressions from the main subject, he tells of anecdotes about unexplained and mystical events which are amusing to read, while many pages might be lengthy and tedious.
This edition covers 19 books of his work:
I and II. Heaven and Earth, the Solar system the way it was understood.
III. to VI. Geography, the Nations, the Oceans, Cities, Harbours, Mountains, Rivers, Measurements, Populations from ancient times to his contemporaries.
VII. Human being, Institutions, Art.
VIII. Study of terrestrial animals.
IX. Aquatic Life.
X. About Birds.
XI. Insects.
XII. Trees.
XIII. Tropical trees and Perfume.
XIV and XV. Fruit trees.
XVI. Forest trees.
XVII. Cultivated trees.
XVIII. Cereals.
XIX. Linen and Horticulture.
Pline’s scientific understanding is that of his time and cannot be compared with modern knowledge.
Reading this book is mostly of historical interest and is a reminder of the hysterical superstition of these times.
Before any decision in civil life, politics, war, as well as in agriculture, Gods and Goddesses of higher or lower degree would be consulted, sacrifices and prayers were necessary.
Especially in agriculture, moon, and sun, the zodiacal position of stars in seasons was strictly believed and adhered to.
Wind and weather, lightning and thunder, a flight of birds, all were understood as Godly instructions in favour or against any human project.
This a book recommendable to readers with a great interest in ancient Greek and Roman History, to complete knowledge of previous readings.
Pliny the Elder (0023-0079)
The author had evidently intended to establish a complete record, a sort of encyclopedia of natural history in his time.
Pliny's information is based on translations of countless documents by Greek and Latin authors from ancient times from Hesiod, Herodotus, to Virgilio, Cato, Varro, and many more.
He writes in a most pleasant and relaxed style like in conversation, and in addition to historical records, he offers his considerable knowledge on many subjects.
In countless digressions from the main subject, he tells of anecdotes about unexplained and mystical events which are amusing to read, while many pages might be lengthy and tedious.
This edition covers 19 books of his work:
I and II. Heaven and Earth, the Solar system the way it was understood.
III. to VI. Geography, the Nations, the Oceans, Cities, Harbours, Mountains, Rivers, Measurements, Populations from ancient times to his contemporaries.
VII. Human being, Institutions, Art.
VIII. Study of terrestrial animals.
IX. Aquatic Life.
X. About Birds.
XI. Insects.
XII. Trees.
XIII. Tropical trees and Perfume.
XIV and XV. Fruit trees.
XVI. Forest trees.
XVII. Cultivated trees.
XVIII. Cereals.
XIX. Linen and Horticulture.
Pline’s scientific understanding is that of his time and cannot be compared with modern knowledge.
Reading this book is mostly of historical interest and is a reminder of the hysterical superstition of these times.
Before any decision in civil life, politics, war, as well as in agriculture, Gods and Goddesses of higher or lower degree would be consulted, sacrifices and prayers were necessary.
Especially in agriculture, moon, and sun, the zodiacal position of stars in seasons was strictly believed and adhered to.
Wind and weather, lightning and thunder, a flight of birds, all were understood as Godly instructions in favour or against any human project.
This a book recommendable to readers with a great interest in ancient Greek and Roman History, to complete knowledge of previous readings.
Shelved as 'partially-read'
June 2, 2021There is not one person to be found among the Greeks who has tackled single-handedly all departments of the subject.
As Domitius Piso says, it is not books but storehouses that are needed; consequently by perusing about two thousand volumes, very few of which, owing to the abstruseness of their contents, are ever handled by students, we have collected in thirty-six Books twenty thousand noteworthy facts obtained from one hundred authors that we have pored, with a great number of other of facts in addition that were either ignored by our predecessors or have been discovered by subsequent experience.
Nor do we doubt that there are many things that have escaped us also; for we are but human, and beset with duties, and we pursue this sort of interest in our sore moments, that is at inght—lest any of your house should think the the night hours have been given to idleness. The days we devote to you, ands e keep our account with sleep in terms of health, content even with this 09reward alone, that, while we are dallying (in Varro’s phrase) with these trifles, we are adding hours to our life—since of a certainty to be alive means to be awake.
You will deem it a proof of this pride of mine that I have prefaced these volumes with the names of my authorities. I have done so because it is, in my opinion, a pleasant thing and one that shows an honourable modesty, to own up to those who were the means of one’s achievements, not to do as most of the authors to whom I have referred did. —Pliny, Preface
__________
I bought this set a long time ago, after first beginning to learn about the Ancient Greeks and Romans. I'd heard it described by someone as "the first encyclopaedia." Being new to both literary works in general and (physical) books, I was won over by the beauty of this Folio Society set and decided to get myself a copy without fully thinking about what an ancient encyclopaedia would actually read like; back then it wouldn't have occurred to me to look up the work online before purchasing.
Having said that, I enjoyed reading the first couple of books about astronomy, but after that, Pliny goes into detailed descriptions of geography and animals, not to mention other things (astronomy, mathematics, ethnography, anthropology, human physiology, zoology, botany, agriculture, horticulture, pharmacology, mining, mineralogy, sculpture, art, and precious stones), all of which I just decided to skim (and noted down some of the more unusual or amusing anecdotes) as I was absolutely not interested in reading factually incorrect observations about animals and medicine (which form a large part of the work).
No doubt a monumental and important work when it was produced and for however many years after, but now, unless you have a particular interest in any of the topics he talks about (or have a great interest in all of them), or perhaps an interest in an ancient perspective on these topics, this is definitely one ancient work which can be skipped altogether or skimmed.
I did enjoy Pliny's occasional pessimistic/misanthropic thoughts on humanity (a few of which can be found below).
__________
Only nobody must abandon the hope that the generations are constantly making progress. (2.13)
It is marvellous to what length the depravity of man’s intellect will go when lured on by some trifling success . . . (2.21)
No addition whatever is being made to knowledge by means of original research, and in facts even the discoveries of our predecessors are not being throughly studied. (2.45)
Marcia, a lady of high station at Rome, was struck by lighting when enceinte, and though the child was killed, she herself survived without being otherwise injured. (2.52)
Lightning accompanied by thunder occurs more often by night than in the daytime. Man is the on creature that is not always killed when struck--all others are killed on the spot; nature doubtless bestows this honour on man because so many animals surpass I’m in strength. All things (when struck) fall in the opposite direction to the flash. A man does not die unless the force of the blow turns him right around. Men struck from above collapse. A man struck while awake is found with his eyes shut; while asleep, with them open. It is not lawful to cremate a man who loses his life in this manner; religious tradition prescribes burial. No living creature can be burnt by lightning without being killed. The temperature of the wound of those struck is lower than the rest of the body. (2.55)
Besides these events in the lower sky, it is entered in the records that in the consulship of Manius Acilius and Gaius Porcius it rained milk and blood, and that frequently on other occasions there it has rained flesh, for instance in the consulship of Publius Volumnius and Servius Sulpicius, and that none of the flesh left unplundered by birds of prey went bad; and similarly that it rained iron in the district of Lucania the year before Marcus Crassus was killed by the Parthianans and with him all the Lucanian soldiers, of whom there was. Large contingent in the army; the shape of the iron that fell resembled sponges; the augurs prophesied wounds from above. But in the consulship of Lucius Paullus and Gaius Marcellus it rained wool in the vicinity of Compsa Castle, near which Titus Annius Milo was killed a year later. It is recorded in the Annals of that year that while Milo was pleading a case in court it rained baked bricks. (2.57)
Near the town of Harpasa in Asia stands a jagged rock that can be moved with one finger, but that also resists a push made with the whole body. On the peninsula of Tauri in the state of Parasinum there is some earth which heals all wounds. But in the neighbourhood of Assos in the Troad a stone is produced that causes all bodies wo waste away; it is called the Flesh-eater. There are two mountains near the River Indus, the nature of one of which is to hold all iron and that of the other to reject it; consequently if a man has nails in his shoes, on one of the mountains at each step he is unable to tear his foot away from the ground and on the other he cannot set it down on the ground. (2.98)
But who would be surprised by these things? (2.110)
In what terms to describe the coast of Campania taken by itself, with its blissful and heavenly loveliness, so as to manifest that there is one region where nature has been at work in her joyous mood. And then again all that invigorates healthfulness all the year round, the climate so temperature, the plains so fertile, the hills so sunny, the glades so secure, the groves so shady. Such wealth of various forests, the breezes from so many mountains, the great fertility of its corn and vines and olives, the glorious fleeces of its sheep, the sturdy neck of its bulls, the many lakes, the rich supply o rivers and springs flowing over all its surface, its many seas and harbours and the bosom of its lands offering all sides a welcome to commerce, the country itself eagerly running out into seas as it were to aid mankind. (3.5)
Some people are born with parts of the body possessing special remarkable properties, for instance King Pyrrhus in the great toe of his right foot, to touch which was a cure for inflammation of the spleen; but is recorded that at his cremation it proved impossible to burn the toe with the rest of the body, and it was stored in a chest in a temple. (7.2)
The poet Anacreon attributes 150 years to Arganthonius king of the Tartesii, 10 years more to Cinyras king of Cyprus, and 200 to Aegimius. Theopompus gives 157 to Epimenides of Cnossus. Hellanicus sauys that some members of the clan of the Epii in Aetolia complete 200 years, and he is supported by Damastes who records that one of them, Pictoereus, a man of outstanding nature and strength, even lived 300 years; Ephorus records Arcadian kings of 300 years; Alexander Cornelius says that a certain Dando in Illyria lived 500 years. Xenophon in his Coasting Voyage says that. A king of the island of the Lutmiilives to 600, and—as though that were only a modest fabrication—that his son lived to 800. All of these exaggerations were due to ignorance of chronology, because some people made the year coincide with the summer, the winter being a second year, others marked it by the periods of the four seasons, for example the Arcadians whose years were three months long, and some by the waning of the moon, as do the Egyptians. Consequently with them even individuals are recorded to have lived 1,000 years. (7.48)
The natural philosopher Demetrius also records an equally remarkable story about a panther, which out of desire for human aid lay in the middle of a road, where the father of a certain student of philosophy named Philnus suddenly came in sight of it. The man, so the story goes, began to retreat, but the animal rolled over on its back, obviously trying to cajole him, and tormented by sorrow that was intelligible even in a panther: she had a litter of cuban that had fallen into a put some distance away. The first result of his compassion therefore was not to be frightened, and the next to give her his attention; and he followed where she drew him by lightly touching his clothes with her claws, and when he understood the causes of her grief and at the same time the recompense due for his own security, he got the cubs out of the pit; and the panther with her young escorted him right to the edge of the desert, guiding him with gestures of delight that made it quite clear that she was expressing gratitude and not reckoning on any recompense, which is rare even in a human being. (8.21)
This makes me all the more surprised that some people have held the view that aquatic animals possess no senses. (9.67)
The fact is that other customs have come into vogue, and the minds of men are occupied about other matters: the only arts cultivated are the arts of avarice . . . later generations have been positively handicapped by the expansion of the world and by our multiplicity of resources. After senators began to be selected and judges appointed on the score of wealth, and wealth became the sole adornment of magistrate and military commander, after lack of children to succeed one began to occupy the place of highest influence and power, and legacy-hunting ranked as the most profitable profession, and the only delights consisted in ownership, the true prizes of life went to ruin, and all the arts that derived their name ‘liberal’ from liberty, the supreme good, fell into the opposite class, and servility began to be the sole means of advancement. This deity was worshipped by different men in different manners a, although every man’s prayer was directed to the same end and to hopes of possessing; indeed even men of high character everywhere preferred to cultivate the vices of others rather than the good gifts that were their own. The consequence is, I protest, that pleasure has begun to live and life itself has ceased. (14.1)
And if anybody cares to consider the matter more carefully, there is no department of man’s life on which more labour is spent—as if nature had not given us the most healthy of beverages to drink, water, which all other animals make use of, whereas we compel even our beasts of burden to drink wine! and so much toil and labour and outlay is paid as the price of a thing that perverts men’s minds and produces madness, having caused the commission of thousands of crimes, and being so attractive that a large part of mankind knows nothing else worth living for. Nay, what is more, to enable us to take more, we reduce its strength by means of a linen strainer, and other enticements are devised and even poisonous mixtures are invented to promote drinking, some men taking a dose of hemlock before they begin, in order that fear of death may compel them to drink, while others take powdered pumice and preparations which I am ashamed to teach the use of by describing them. (14.28)
Out authorities attribute to urine also great power, not only natural but supernatural; they divide it into kinds, using even that of eunuchs to counteract the sorcery that prevents fertility but of the properties it would be proper to speak of I may mention the following: the urine of children not yet arrived at puberty is used to counteract the spittle of the ptays, as asp so called because it spits venom into men’s eyes; for albugo, dimness, scars, argema and affections of the eyelids; with flour of vetch for burns; and for pus or worms in the ear if boiled down to one-half with a headed leek in new earthenware. Its stream too is an emmenagogue. Salpe would foment the eyes with urine to strengthen them, and would apply it for two hours at a time to sunburn, adding the white of an egg, by preference that of an ostrich. Urine also takes out ink blots. Men’s urine relieves gout, as is shown by the testimony of fullers, who for that reason never, they say, suffer from this malady. Old urine is added to the ash of burnt oyster-shells to treat rashes on the bodies of babies, and for all running ulcers. Pitted sores, burns, affections of the anus, chaps, and scorpion stings, are treated by applications of urine. The most celebrated midwives have declared that no other lotion is better treatment for irritation of the skin, and with soda added for sores on the head, dandruff, and spreading ulcers, especially on the genitals. Each person’s own urine, if it be proper for me to say so, does him the most good, if a dog bite is immediately bathed in it, if it is applied on a sponge or wool to the quills of an urchin that are sticking in the flesh, or is ash kneaded with it is used to treat the bite of a mad dog, or a serpent’s bite. Moreover, for scolopendra bite a wonderful remedy is said to be for the wounded person to touch the tip of his head with a drop of his own urine, when his wound is at once healed. (28.18)
The milk of a women, however, who has borne a girl is excellent, but only for curing spots on the face. Lung affections also are cured by woman’s milk, and if Attic honey is mixed with it and the urine of a child before puberty, a single spoonful of each, I find that worms too are driven from the ears. The mother of a boy gives a milk a taste of which, they say, prevents dogs from going mad. (28.21)
July 23, 2011
Une plongée dans le monde de l'antiquité romaine, accompagné par un auteur aimable et curieux, qui relate merveilles,faits et fantaisies sur un sujet vaste et ambitieux : décrire la nature dans son ensemble, non pas de manière systématique mais plutôt agréable et anecdotique. Je regrette que cette édition ne contienne qu'un huitième de l’œuvre originale.
February 10, 2020
Esta selección está organizada básicamente en dos partes: los libros VIII-XI comprenden una zoología de animales terrestres, acuáticos, voladores e insectos; los libros XXVIII-XXXII son la farmacopea del uso medicinal de los animales. La gran gracia de Plinio -que a muchos les parece su mayor defecto- es la mezcla de saberes "(pseudo)científicos" con mitológicos. En mi opinión, esto le entrega un gran interés a las descripciones ya que, básicamente, permite entender todo el saber acumulado hasta el siglo I d.C.
La primera sección me encantó, sobre todo por mi interés por los animales en sí y la manera en la que se entrecruzan anécdotas históricas como también críticas respecto a la sociedad romana mediante el prisma de una filosofía estoica. Nota: 4/5
La farmacopea de usos medicinales de animales me resultó bastante tediosa, salvo momentos en que esgrime críticas que dan cuenta del pensamiento pliniano, estoico o de la sociedad romana en su conjunto. Admito que no pude más y dejé pendientes los libros XXXI y XXXII, relativos al uso medicinal del agua y de los animales marítimos. Nota: 2/5
Nota promedio: 3/5
La primera sección me encantó, sobre todo por mi interés por los animales en sí y la manera en la que se entrecruzan anécdotas históricas como también críticas respecto a la sociedad romana mediante el prisma de una filosofía estoica. Nota: 4/5
La farmacopea de usos medicinales de animales me resultó bastante tediosa, salvo momentos en que esgrime críticas que dan cuenta del pensamiento pliniano, estoico o de la sociedad romana en su conjunto. Admito que no pude más y dejé pendientes los libros XXXI y XXXII, relativos al uso medicinal del agua y de los animales marítimos. Nota: 2/5
Nota promedio: 3/5
May 30, 2011
Books one and two of Pliny the Elder's Natural History... these two books in this volume cover topics ranging from Earth's physiology, elements of nature, stars, planets, observations within the heavens, winds, tides, oceans... ending with information on earth's dimensions and harmonical proportions of the universe mentioning persons who have studied and made varied observations on natural history...
July 30, 2013
Mehr als die anderen Schriftsteller seiner Epoche widmet sich Plinius d. Ä. der Erfahrung und damit allen Lebensbereichen, in denen nützliche Erfahrungen gemacht werden. So sammelte er Erfahrungswissen aus aller Welt, Wissen aus allen vier Himmelsrichtungen – angefangen bei den Berichten über die Kugelgestalt der Erde – und sollte darin erst von einer späteren Epoche übertroffen werden, in welcher die Informationstechnologien mit der Erfindung des Computers revolutioniert wurden.
September 9, 2016
Boring at times, but this nobleman died trying to save victims of Vesuvius, so I felt obligated to hear him out.
January 18, 2024
"Der Mensch aber, wahrhaftig, er verdankt seine meisten Übel dem Menschen selbst."
"Was wird das für ein Ende nehmen, wenn die Erde nach Jahrhunderten erschöpft und ausgebeutet sein wird?"
2000 Jahre später sind wir auch noch nicht klüger.
Oder wie mein Vater sagt: "Reg dich nicht über die Menschheit auf, das bringt nichts - wir sind schon seit mindestens 2000 Jahren so."
"Es ist doch geradezu eine seltsame Krankheit des menschlichen Geistes, dass es uns gefällt, in unseren Geschichtsbüchern nur Kriege und Blutvergießen festzuhalten, so dass man von der menschlichen Schlechtigkeit erfährt, aber gleichzeitig nichts weiß über das Walten der Natur."
"Was wird das für ein Ende nehmen, wenn die Erde nach Jahrhunderten erschöpft und ausgebeutet sein wird?"
2000 Jahre später sind wir auch noch nicht klüger.
Oder wie mein Vater sagt: "Reg dich nicht über die Menschheit auf, das bringt nichts - wir sind schon seit mindestens 2000 Jahren so."
"Es ist doch geradezu eine seltsame Krankheit des menschlichen Geistes, dass es uns gefällt, in unseren Geschichtsbüchern nur Kriege und Blutvergießen festzuhalten, so dass man von der menschlichen Schlechtigkeit erfährt, aber gleichzeitig nichts weiß über das Walten der Natur."
January 31, 2021
Pliny sets the pace for science in the Roman period. I find his work fascinating and he also writes a lot on ethnology, in particular, the Scythians, Indians, etc.
Read
September 22, 2016À ce propos, nous ajouterons encore une remarque concernant certaines descriptions d’êtres étranges qui se rencontrent dans ces récits : comme ces descriptions datent naturellement tout au plus de l’antiquité « classique », dans laquelle il s’était déjà produit une incontestable dégénérescence au point de vue traditionnel, il est fort possible qu’il s’y soit introduit des confusions de plus d’une sorte ; ainsi, une partie de ces descriptions peut en réalité provenir des « survivances » d’un symbolisme qui n’était plus compris - L’Histoire Naturelle de Pline, notamment, semble être une « source » presque inépuisable d’exemples se rapportant à des cas de ce genre, et c’est d’ailleurs une source à laquelle tous ceux qui sont venus après lui ont puisé fort abondamment.
[Le Règne de la Quantité et les Signes des Temps,
Chapitre XIX - LES LIMITES DE L’HISTOIRE ET DE LA GÉOGRAPHIE ]
[Le Règne de la Quantité et les Signes des Temps,
Chapitre XIX - LES LIMITES DE L’HISTOIRE ET DE LA GÉOGRAPHIE ]
December 27, 2018
Ja obožavam da čitam ove stare spise. Ne može na bolji način da se dočara neko vreme dok se ne pročita neki savremenik. Najbolji nači da se oseti kako ljudi žive i razmišljaju. Svako poglavlje je dopunjeno odličnim komentarima i objašnjenjima prevodilaca za srpski jezik.
November 14, 2020
It was the same as History by Herodotus. The world had a bit different geography but not so much
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews