 Section 1 of the Natural History, Volume 1. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Natural History, Volume 1 by Pliny, the Elder, translated by John Bostick and Henry Thomas Reilly, Section 1. Preface The only translation of Pliny's Natural History, which has hitherto appeared in the English language, is that by Philemon Holland, published in the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth. It is no disparagement to Holland's merits, as a diligent and generally faithful translator, to say that his work is unsuited to the requirements of the 19th century. In the present translation, the principal editions of Pliny have been carefully consulted and no pains have been spared, as a reference to the notes will show, to present to the reader the labors of recent commentators, among whom stands preeminent the celebrated couvière. It has been a primary object to bring to the illustration of the work whatever was afforded by the progress of knowledge and modern discoveries in science and art. Without ample illustration, Pliny's valuable work would want much of the interest which belongs to it, and present difficulties scarcely surmountable to anyone who has not made the author his special study. In the first two books, the text of Harouin, as given in Le Mans' edition, Paris, 1827, has been followed. In the remainder, that of Sillig, 1851-53, accepting in some instances where, for reasons given in the notes, it has been deemed advisable to depart from it. The first two books and portions of others are the performance of the late Dr. Bostock, who contemplated a translation of the entire work, but, unfortunately for the interest of science, he was not permitted to carry his design into execution. Upwards of a hundred pages had been printed off before the present translator entered on his duties, and as they had not the advantage of Dr. Bostock's superintendents through the press, some trifling oversights have occurred. These are, for the most part, corrected in a short appendix. The Life in Writings of Pliny Gaius Plinius Secundus was born either at Verona or Novum Comum, now Comu, in Kisalpine Gaul in the year AUC 776 and AD 23. It is supposed that his earlier years were spent in his native province, and that he was still a youth when he removed to Rome to attend the lectures of the Gramerian Apion. It was in about his sixteenth year that he there saw Lolia Paulina, and in the following she was divorced by Caligula, and it was probably in his twentieth that he witnessed the capture of a large fish at Ostia by Claudius and his attendants, and in his twenty-second that he visited Africa, Egypt, and Greece. In his twenty-third year, Pliny served in Germany under the Legatus Pomponius Secundus, whose friendship he soon acquired, and in consequence promoted to the command of an Allah or troop of cavalry. During his military career he wrote a treatise, now lost, on the use of the Javelin by cavalry, and traveled over that country as far as the shores of the German Ocean, besides visiting Belgium Gaul. In his twenty-ninth year he returned to Rome and applied himself for a time to forensic pursuits, which however he appears soon to have abandoned. About this time he wrote the life of his friend Pomponius, and an account of the wars in Germany in twenty books, neither of which are extant. Though employed in writing a continuation of the Roman history of Alphidius Bassus from the time of Tiberius, he judiciously suspended its publication during the reign of Nero, who appointed him his procurator in Nero, Spain, and not improbably honored him with equestrian rank. It was during his sojourn in Spain that the death of his brother-in-law, Gaius Caicilius, left his nephew Gaius Plinius Caicilius Secundus, the author of the letters, an orphan, whom immediately upon his return to Rome, AD 70, he adopted, receiving him and his widowed mother under his roof. Having been previously known to Vespasian in the German wars, he was admitted into the number of his most intimate friends, and obtained an appointment at court, the nature of which is not known, but Resonico conjectures that it was in connection with the imperial treasury. Though Plini was on intimate terms also with Titus, to whom he dedicated his natural history, there was little ground for the assertion, sometimes made, that he served under him in the Jewish wars. His account of Palestine clearly shows that he had never visited that country. It was at this period that he published his continuation of the history of Alphidias Basus. From the titles which he gives to Titus in the dedicatory preface, it is pretty clear that his natural history was published AD 77, two years before his death. In AD 73 or 74 he had been appointed by Vespasian, prefect of the Roman fleet at Messinum, on the western coast of Italy. It was to this elevation that he owed his romantic death, somewhat similar it has been remarked, to that of Empedocles, who perished in the crater of Mount Edna. The closing scene of his active life, simultaneously with the destruction of Heracloneum and Pompeii, cannot be better described than in the language employed by his nephew, in an epistle to his friend Tacitus, the historian. My uncle was at Messinum, where he was in personal command of the fleet. On the ninth day before the callons of September, at about the seventh hour, 1 p.m., my mother, observing the appearance of a cloud of unusual size and shape, mentioned it to him. After reclining in the sun he had taken his cold bath. He had then again lain down, and after a short repast, applied himself to his studies. Immediately upon hearing this he called for his shoes and ascended a spot, from which he could more easily observe this remarkable phenomena. The cloud was to be seen gradually rising upwards, though from the great distance it was uncertain from which of the mountains it arose. It was afterwards, however, a certain to be Vesuvius. In appearance and shape it strongly resembled a tree. Perhaps it was more like a pine than anything else, with a stem of enormous length, reaching upwards to the heavens, and then spreading out in a number of branches in every direction. I have little doubt that either it had been carried upwards by a violent gust of wind, and that the wind dying away it had lost its compactness, or else that, being overcome by its own weight, it had decreased in density, and became extended over a large mass. At one moment it was white, at another dingy and spotted, just as it was more or less charged with earth or with ashes. To a man so eager as he was in the pursuit of knowledge, this appeared to be a most singular phenomena, and one that deserves to be viewed more closely. Accordingly, he gave orders that a light, lebernian vessel to be got ready, and left it at my option to accompany him. To this, however, I made answer that I should prefer continuing my studies, and, as it so happened, he himself had just given me something to write. Taking his tablets with him, he left the house. The sailors stationed at Retina alarmed at the imminence of the danger, for the village lay at the foot of the mountain, and, the sole escape was by sea, sent to entreat his assistants in rescuing them from this frightful peril. On this he instantly changed his plans, and what he had already begun from a desire for knowledge he determined to carry out is a matter of duty. He had the galleys put to sea at once, and went on board himself with the intention of rendering assistance, not only to Retina, but to many other places as well, for the whole of this charming coast was thickly populated. Accordingly he made all possible haste towards the spot, from which others were flying, and steered straight onwards into the very mist of the danger. So far indeed was he from every sensation of fear, that he remarked and had noted down every movement and every change that was to be observed in the appearance of this ominous eruption. The ashes were now falling fast upon the vessels, hotter and more thickly the nearer they approached the shore. Showers of pumice, too, intermingled with black stones, all seen and broken by the action of the flames. The sea suddenly retreated from the shore, where the debris of the mountain rendered landing quite impossible. After hesitating for a moment whether or not to turn back, upon the pilot strongly advising him to do so. Fortune favors the bold, said he, conduct me to Pomponianus. Pomponianus was then, at Stabai, a place that lie on the other side of the bay, for in those parts the shores were winding, and as they gradually trend away the sea forms a number of little creeks. At this spot the danger at present was not imminent, but still it could be seen, and it appeared to be approaching nearer and nearer. Pomponianus had ordered his baggage on board the ships, determined to take the flight, if the wind, which happened to be blowing the other way, should chance the lull. The wind, being in this quarter, was extremely favorable to his passage, and my uncle soon arrived at Stabai. Pomponianus embraced his anxious friend, and did his best to restore his courage, and the better to reassure him by evidence of his own senses of their safety, he requested the servants to conduct him to the bath. After bathing he took his place at table and dined, and that too in high spirits, or at all events what equally shows his strength of mind with every outward appearance of being so. In the meantime vast sheets of flame and large bodies of fire were to be seen arising from Mount Vesuvius. The glare and brilliancy of which were beheld in bolder reliefs, as the shades of night came on a pace. My uncle, however, in order to calm their fears, persisted in saying that this was only the light given by some villages which had been abandoned by the rustics in their alarm to the flames, after which he retired to rest, and soon fell fast asleep. For his respiration, which with him was heavy and loud, in consequence of his corpulence, was distinctly heard by the servants who were keeping watch at the door of the apartment. The courtyard which led to his apartment had now become filled with cinders and pumice-stones, to such a degree that if he remained any longer in the room it would have been quite impossible for him to leave it. On being awoke he immediately arose, and rejoined Pomponianus, and the others who had in the meanwhile been sitting up. They then consulted together whether it would be better to remain in the house or take their chance in the open air, as the buildings was now rocking to and fro with the violence and repeated shocks, while the walls, as though rooted up from their very foundations, seemed to be at one moment carried in this direction, and another in that. Having adopted the latter alternative, they were now alarmed at the showers of light, calcined pumice-stones that were falling thick about them. Their risk, however, to which as a choice of evils they had to submit. In taking this step I must remark that, while with my uncle it was reason, triumphant over reason, with the rest it was only one fear, getting the better of the other. Taking the precaution of placing pillows on their heads, they tied them on with towels, by way of protection against the falling stones and ashes. It was by now day in other places, though there it was still night, more dark and more profound than any ordinary night. Torches, however, in various lights and some, measure served to dispel the gloom. It was then determined to make for the shore, and to a certain whether the sea would now admit of their embarking. It was found, however, to be still too stormy and too boisterous to allow of their making the attempt. Upon this my uncle laid down on a sail which had been spread for him, and more than once asked for some cold water which he drank. Very soon, however, they were alarmed by the flames and the sulfurous smell which announced their approach, upon which the others at once took to flight, while my uncle arose, leaning upon two of the servants for support. Upon making this effort he instantly fell to the ground, the dense vapor, having, I imagine, stopped the respiration and suffocated him, for his chest was naturally weak and affected, and often troubled with violent palpitations. When day was at last restored, the third, after the closing one of his existence, his body was found untouched and without a wound. There was no change to be perceived in the clothes, and its appearance was rather that of a person asleep than of a corpse. In the meantime my mother and myself were at mycenum. That however has nothing to do with the story, as it was only your wish to know the details connected with his death. I shall therefore draw to a conclusion. The only thing that I shall add is the assurance that I have truthfully related all these facts, of which I was either and I witnessed myself, or heard them at the time of their occurrence, a period when they were most likely to be correctly related. You of course will select such points as you may think the most important, for it is one thing to write a letter, another to write a history, one thing to write for a friend, another to write for the public. Farewell. Section 2. The Life and Writings of Pliny, Part 2. Of the mode of life pursued by Pliny, and of the rest of his works, an equally interesting account has been preserved by his nephew in an epistle addressed to Maceir. We cannot more appropriately conclude than by presenting this epistle to the reader. I am highly gratified to find that you read the works of my uncle with such a degree of attention as to feel a desire to possess them all, and that with this view you inquire, what are their names? I will perform the duties of an index, then, and not content with that while state in what order they were written, for even that is a kind of information which is by no means undesirable to those who are devoted to literary pursuits. His first composition was a treatise on the use of the Javelin by Cavalry in one book. This he composed with equal diligence and ingenuity when he was in command of a troop of horse. His second work was the life of Quintus Pamponius Secundus in two books, a person by whom he had been particularly beloved. These books he composed as a tribute, which was justly due to the memory of his deceased friend. His next work was Twenty Books on the Wars in Germany, in which he has compiled an account of all the wars in which we have been engaged with the people of that country. This he had begun while serving in Germany, having been recommended to do so in a dream. For in his sleep he thought that the figure of Drusus Nero stood before him, the same Drusus, who, after the most extensive conquest in that country, there met his death. Commending his memory to Pliny's attentive care, Drusus conjoined him to rescue it from the decaying effect of Oblivion. Next to these came his three books entitled The Student, divided on account of the great size into six volumes. In these he has given instructions for the training of the Orator, from the cradle to his entrance on public life. In the latter years of Nero's reign he wrote eight books on difficulties in the Latin language, that being a period at which every kind of study, in any way free-spoken or even elevated style, would have been rendered dangerous by the tyranny that was exercised. His next work was his Continuation of the History of Alphidius Bassus in thirty-one books, after which came his natural history. In thirty-seven books, a work remarkable for its comprehensiveness and erudition, and not less varied than nature herself. You will wonder how a man so occupied with business could possibly find time to write such a number of volumes, many of them on subjects of a nature so difficult to be treated of. You will be even more astonished when you learn that, for some time he pleaded at the bar as an advocate, that he was only in his fifty-sixth year at the time of his death, and that the time that intervened was equally trenched upon and fritted away by the most weighty duties of business, and the marks of favor shown him by princes. His genius, however, was truly quite incredible, his zeal indefatigable, and his power of application wonderful in the extreme. At the festival of the Volcanalia, he began to set up at a lake hour by candlelight, not for the purpose of consulting the stars, but with the object of pursuing his studies, while in the winter he was set to work at the seventh hour of the night, or the eighth at the very latest, often indeed at the sixth. By nature he had the faculty of being able to fall asleep in a moment, indeed slumber would sometimes overtake him in his studies, and then leave him just as suddenly. After daybreak he was in the habit of attending the Emperor of Espasian, for he too was one who made an excellent use of his nights, and then betook himself to the duties, with which he was charged. On his return home he devoted all the time which was remaining to study. Taking an early repast, after the old fashion, light and easy of digestion, in the summertime, if he had any leisure to spare, he would lie down in the sunshine, while some book was read to him, he himself making notes and extracts in the meanwhile. For it was his habit never to read anything without making extracts, it being the maxim of him that, that there is no book so bad, but that some good maybe got out of it. After thus enjoying the sunshine he generally took a cold bath, after which he would sit down to a slight repast, and then take a short nap. On awaking, as though another day had now commenced, he would study to the hour of the evening meal, during which some book was generally read to him, he making comments on it in a cursory manner. I remember, on one occasion, a friend of his interrupting the reader, who had given the wrong pronunciation to some words, and making him go over them again. "'You understood him, didn't you?' said my uncle. "'Yes,' said the other. "'Why then? Did you make him go over it again?' "'Through this interruption of yours we have lost more than ten lines.' So thrifty a manager was he of time. In summer he rose from the evening meal by daylight, and in winter during the first hour of the night, just as though there had been some law which made it compulsory on him to do so. This is how he lived in the misdivism ployments and the bustle of the city. When in retirement in the country the time spent in the bath was the only portion that was not allotted by him to study. When I say, in the bath, I mean while he was in the water, for while his body was being scraped with a striggle and rubbed, he either had some book read to him or else would dictate himself. While upon a journey, as though relieved from every other care, he devoted himself to study and nothing else. By his side was his secretary, with a book and tablets, and in the wintertime the secretary's hands were protected by gloves that the severity of the weather might not deprive his master for a single moment of his services. It was for this reason also that, when at Rome, he would never move about except in a litter. I remember that on one occasion he found fault with me for walking. You might have avoided losing all those hours, said he, for he looked upon every moment as lost that was not devoted to study. It was by means of such unremitting industry as this that he completed so many works and left me 160 volumes of notes, written extremely small on both sides, which, in fact, renders the collection doubly voluminous. He himself used to relate that when he was the procurator in Spain he might have parted with his commonplace book to Ligarius Likinius for four hundred thousand sistercies, and at that time the collection was not so extensive as afterwards. When you come to think of how much he must have read, of how much he has written, would you not really suppose that he had never been engaged in business and had never enjoyed the favor of princes? And yet, on the other hand, when you hear what labor he expended upon his studies, does it not almost seem that he has neither written nor read enough? For in fact what pursuits are those that would not have been interrupted by occupations such as his? Well again, what is there that such unremitting perseverance as his could not have affected? I am in the habit, therefore, of laughing at it when people call me a studious man, me, who, in comparison with him, am a downright idler, and yet I devote to study as much time as my public engagements on the one hand and my duty to my friends on the other will admit of. Who is there, then, out of all those who have devoted their whole life to literature, that ought not, when put in comparison with him, to quite blush at a life that would almost appear to have been devoted to slothfulness and inactivity? But my letter has already exceeded its proper limits, for I had originally intended to write only on the subject, as to which you had made inquiry, the books of his composition that he left. I trust, however, that these particulars will prove no less pleasing to you than the writings themselves, and that they will not only induce you to peruse them, but excite you by a feeling of generous emulation to produce some work of a similar nature. Farewell. Of all the works written by Pliny, only one, the Historia naturalis, has survived to our times. This work, however, is not a natural history in the modern acceptation of the word, but rather a vast encyclopedia of ancient knowledge and belief upon almost every known subject. Not less varied the nature herself, as his nephew says. It comprises, within the compass of thirty-seven books, twenty thousands matters of importance collected from about two thousand volumes, nearly all of which have now perished. The works, as Pliny himself states, of one hundred writers of authority, together with a vast number of additional matters unknown to those authorities, and many of them the results of his own experience in observation. Arduin has drawn up a catalog of the authors, quoted by Pliny, the amount in the number to between four hundred and five hundred. The following is a brief sketch of the plan of this wonderful monument of human industry. After a dedicatory epistle to Titus, followed by a table of contents of the other books, which together form the first book, the author proceeds to give an account of the prevailing notions as to the universe, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the more remarkable properties of the elements. Partes naturi. He then passes on to a geographical description of the face of the earth as known to the ancients. After the geography comes what might, in strict propriety, be termed natural history, including a history of man, replete indeed with marvels, but interesting in the highest degree. Having mentioned a considerable length, the land animals, fishes, birds, and insects, he passes on to botany, which in its various aspects occupies the larger portion of the work. At the same time, in accordance with this comprehensive plan, this part includes a vast amount of information on numerous subjects, the culture of the cereals, and the manufacture of oil, wine, and paper, and numerous other articles of daily use. After treating a considerable length of medical botany, he proceeds to speak of medicaments derived from the human body, from which he branches off into discussions on the history of medicine and magic, which last he looks upon as an offshoot from the medical art, and he takes this opportunity of touching upon many of the then current superstitions and notions on astrology. He concludes this portion of his work with an account of the medicinal properties of the various waters, and those of fishes and other aquatic animals. He then presents us with the treatise on mineralogy, in which he has accumulated every possible kind of information relative to the use of gold, silver, bronze, and other metals, a subject which not unnaturally leads him into repeated digressions relative to money, jewels, plate, statues, and statuaries. Mineral pigment next occupies his attention, with many interesting notices on the great painters of Greece, from which he passes on to the various kinds of stone and materials employed in building and the use of marble for the purposes of sculpture, including a notice of that art and the most eminent sculptors. The last book is devoted to an account of gems and precious stones, and concludes with a eulogium on his native country, as alike distinguished for its fertility, its picturesque beauties, and the natural endowments and high destinies of its people. From the writings of Pliny we gather, of course, a large amount of information as to his opinions and the constitution of his mind. His credulity, it must be admitted, is great in the extreme, though singularly enough he severely taxes the Greeks with the same failing. Were we not assured from other sources that he was eminently successful in life, was in the enjoyment of opulence and honored with the favor and confidence of princes, the remarks which he frequently makes on human life in the seventh book more especially would have led us to the conclusion that he was a disappointed man, embittered against his fellow creatures and dissatisfied with the terms on which the tenor of life is granted to us. He opens that book with a preface replete with querulous dissatisfaction and repinings at the lot of man, the only tearful animal, he says. He repines at the helpless and wretched condition of the infant at the moment it is ushered into life, and the numerous pains and vices to which it is doomed to be subject. Man's liability to disease is with him a blemish in the economy of nature. Life, he says, this gift of nature, however long it may be, is but too uncertain and too frail, to those even to whom it is most largely granted, it is dealt out with a sparing and niggerly hand if we only think of eternity. As we cannot have life on our own terms, he does not think at worthy of our acceptance, and more than once expresses his opinion that the sooner we are rid of it, the better. Sudden death he looks upon is a remarkable phenomenon, but at the same time is the greatest blessing that can be granted to us, and when he mentions cases of resuscitation, it is only to indulge in the querulous complaint that, exposed as he is by his birth to the Caprice's affortune, man can be certain of nothing, no, not even of his own death. Though anything but an Epicurean, in the modern acceptation of the word, he seems to have held some, at least of the tenets of Epicurus, in reference to the immortality of the soul. Whether he suppose that the soul at the moment of death is resolved into its previous atoms or constituent elements, he does not inform us, but he states it is his belief that after death the soul has no more existence than it had before birth, that all notions of immortality are a mere delusion, and that the very idea of a future existence is ridiculous, and spoils the greatest blessings of nature, death. He certainly speaks of ghosts or apparitions seen after death, but these he probably looked upon as exceptional cases, if indeed he believed in the stories which he quotes, of which we have no proofs, or rather indeed presumptive proofs to the contrary, for some of them he calls Magua Fabulotas, Most Fabulous Tales. In relation to human inventions, it is worthy of remark that he states that the first thing in which mankind agreed was the use of the Ionian alphabet, the second the practice of shaving the beard, and the employment of barbers, and the third the division of time into hours. We cannot more appropriately conclude this review of the life and works of Pliny, then, by quoting the opinions of two of the most eminent philosophers of modern times, Bufon and Cuvier. Though the former, it must be admitted, has spoken of him in somewhat too high terms of commendation, and, instituting a comparison between Pliny's works and those of Aristotle, has placed in juxtaposition the names of two men who, beyond an ardent thirst for knowledge, had no characteristics in common. Pliny, says Bufon, has worked upon a plan which is much more extensive than that of Aristotle, and not improbably too extensive. He has made it his object to embrace every subject. Indeed he would appear to have taken the measure of nature into a fouter too contracted for his expansive genius. His natural history, independently of that of animals, plants and minerals, includes an account of the heavens and the earth, of medicine, commerce, navigation, the liberal and mechanical arts, the origin of usages and customs, in a word, the history of all the natural sciences and all the arts of human invention. What too is still more astonishing in each of these departments Pliny shows himself equally great. The grandeur of his ideas and the dignity of his style confer an additional luster on the profoundness of his erudition. Not only did he know all that was known in his time, but he was also gifted with that comprehensiveness of view which in some measure multiplies knowledge. He had all that delicacy of perception, upon which depends so materially upon elegance and taste, and he communicates to his readers that freedom of thought and that boldness of sentiment which constitutes the true germ of philosophy. His work, as varied as nature herself, always paints her in the most attractive colors. It is, so to say, a compilation from all that had been written before his time, a record of all that was good or useful, but this record has in it features so grand, this compilation contains matter grouped in a manner so novel, that it is preferable to most of the original works that treat upon similar subjects. The judgment pronounced by Cuvier on Pliny's work, though somewhat less highly colored, awards to it a high rank among the most valuable productions of antiquity. The work of Pliny, says he, is one of the most precious monuments that have come down to us from ancient times and affords proof of an astonishing amount of erudition in one who is a warrior and a statesman. To appreciate with justice this vast and celebrated composition, it is necessary to regard it in several points of view, with reference to the plan proposed, the facts stated, and the style employed. The plan proposed by the writer is of immense extent. It is his object to write not merely a natural history in our restricted sense of the term, not merely an account, more or less detailed, of animals, plants, and minerals, but a work which embraces astronomy, physics, geography, agriculture, commerce, medicine, and the fine arts, and all these in addition to natural history, properly so-called, while at the same time he continually interweaves with his narrative information upon the arts which bear relation to man, considered metaphysically, and the history of nations, so much so indeed that in many respects this work was the encyclopedia of its age. It is impossible in running over, however cursely, such a prodigious number of subjects that the writer should not have made us acquainted with a multitude of facts, which, while remarkable in themselves, are the more precious from the circumstance that at the present day he is the only author, extent who relates them. It has to be regretted, however, that the manner in which he has collected and grouped this massive matter has caused it to lose some portion of its value, from his mixture of fable with truth, and more especially from the difficulty, and in some cases the impossibility of discovering exactly of what object he is speaking. But if Pliny possesses little merit as a critic, it is far otherwise with his talent as a writer, and the immense treasury which he opens to us of Latin terms and forms of expression, these from the very abundance of the subjects upon which he treats, renders his work one of the richest repositories of the Roman language. Wherever he finds it possible to give expression to general ideas or to philosophical views, his language assumes considerable energy and vivacity, and his thoughts present to us a certain novelty in boldness, which tend in a very great degree to relieve the dryness of his enumerations, and with the majority of his readers excuse the insufficiency of his scientific adjudications. He is always noble and serious, full of the love of justice and virtue, detestation of cruelty and baseness, of which he had such frightful instances before his eyes, and contempt for that unbridled luxury which in his time had so deeply corrupted the Roman people. For these great merits Pliny cannot be too highly praised, and despite the faults which we are obliged to admit in him when viewed as a naturalist, we are bound to regard him as the most meritorious of the Roman writers, and among these most worthy to be reckoned in the number of the classics who wrote after the reign of Augustus. Section 3 of the Natural History, Volume 1. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Natural History, Volume 1, by Pliny the Elder, translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Reilly. Section 3. Book 1. Dedication Gaius Plinius Secundus to his friend Titus Vespasian. This treatise on Natural History, a novel work in Roman literature which I have just completed, I have taken the liberty to dedicate to you, most gracious emperor, an appellation particularly suitable to you, while on account of his age that of great is more appropriate to your father. For still thou never wouldest quite despise the trifles that I write, if I may be allowed to shelter myself under the example of Catullus, my fellow countrymen, a military term which you well understand. For he, as you know, when his napkins had been changed, expressed himself a little harshly from his anxiety to show his friendship for his dear little Veranius and Fabius. At the same time this my importunity may affect, which you complained of, by not having done, in another two forward epistle of mine, it will now put upon record, and let all the world know with what kindness you exercise the imperial dignity, you who have had the honor of a triumph, and of the censorship. Have been six times consul, and have shared in the tribunate. What is still more honorable, whilst you held them in conjunction with your father, you have presided over the equestrian order, and have been the prefect of the praetorians. All this you have done for the service of the republic, and at the same time have regarded me as a fellow soldier, and a messmate. Nor has the extent of your prosperity produced any change in you, except that it has given you the power of doing good to the utmost of your wishes. Whilst all these circumstances increase the veneration which other piercings feel for you, with respect to myself, they have made me so bold as to wish to become more familiar. You must therefore place this to your own account, and blame yourself first for any fault of this kind that I might commit. But although I have lain aside my blushes, I have not gained my object, for you still awe me, and keep me at a distance by the majesty of your understanding. When no one, as the force of eloquence, and of cubunition oratory, blaze out more powerfully, with what glowing language do you thunder forth the praises of your father? How dearly do you love your brother? How admirable is your talent for poetry! What a fertility of genius do you possess, so as to enable you to imitate your brother! But who is there that is bold enough to form an estimate on these points, if he is to be judged by you, and more especially, if you are challenged to do so? For the case of those who merely publish their works is very different from that of those who expressly dedicate them to you. In the former case, I might say, Emperor, why do you read these things? They are written only for the common people, for farmers or mechanics, or for those who have nothing else to do. Why do you trouble yourself with them? Indeed, when I undertook this work, I did not expect that you would sit in judgment upon me. I considered your situation much too elevated for you to descend to such an office. Besides, we possess the right of openly rejecting the opinion of men of learning. Marcus Tullius himself, whose genius is beyond all competition, uses this privilege, and, remarkable as it may appear, employs an advocate in his own defense. I do not write for very learned people. I do not wish my works to be read by Manius Perseus, but by Junius Congus. And if Lucullus, who first introduced the satirical style, applied such a remark to himself, and if Cicero thought proper to borrow it, and that more especially in his treatise De Repubblica, how much reason have I to do so, who have such a judge to defend myself against? And by this dedication, I have deprived myself of the benefit of challenge. For it is a very different thing whether a person has a judge given him by a lot, or whether he voluntarily selects one. And we always make more preparation for an invited guest than for one that comes in unexpectedly. When the candidates for office, during the heat of the canvas, deposited the fine in the hands of Cato, that determined a poser of bribery, rejoicing as he did in his being rejected for what he considered to be foolish honors. They professed to do this out of respect to his integrity, the greatest glory which a man could attain. It was on this occasion that Cicero uttered the noble ejaculation, how happy you are, Marcus Porcus, of whom no one dares to ask what is dishonorable. When Lucius Scipio Asiaticus, appeal to the tribunes among whom was Gracchus, he expressed full confidence that he should obtain an acquittal, even from a judge who was his enemy. Hence it follows that he who appoints his own judge must absolutely submit to the decision. This choice is therefore termed an appeal. I am well aware of that, placed as you are in the highest station, and gifted with the most splendid eloquence and the most accomplished mind, even those who come to pay the respects to you do it in a kind of veneration. On this account, I ought to be careful that what is dedicated to you should be worthy of you. But the country people, and indeed some whole nations offer milk to the gods, and those who cannot procure frankincense, substitute in its place, salted cakes, for the gods are not dissatisfied when they are worshiped by everyone to the best visibility. But my temerity will appear the greater by the consideration that these volumes, which I dedicate to you, are of such inferior importance. For they do not admit of the display of genius, nor indeed is my one of the highest order. They admit of no excursions, nor orations, nor discussions, nor any wonderful adventures, nor any variety of transactions, nor from the barrenness of the matter, of anything particularly pleasant in the narration, or agreeable to the reader. The nature of things and life as it actually exists are described in them, and often the lowest department of it, so that in very many cases I am obliged to use rude and foreign or even barbarous terms, and these often required to be introduced by a kind of preface. And besides this my road is not a beaten track, nor one which the mind is much disposed to travel over. There is no one among us who has ever attempted it, nor is there any one individual among the Greeks who has treated of all the topics. Most of us seek for nothing but amusement in our studies, while others are fond of subjects that are of excessive subtlety and completely involved in obscurity. My object is to treat of all those things which the Greeks include in the encyclopedia, which however are either not generally known or rendered dubious from our ingenious conceits. And there are other matters which many writers have given so much in detail that we quite load them. It is indeed no easy task to give novelty to what is old and authority to what is new, brightness to what has become tarnished and light to what is obscure, to render what is slighted acceptable and what is doubtful worthy of our confidence, to give all to a natural manner and to each its peculiar nature. It is sufficiently honorable and glorious to have been willing even to make the attempt, although it should prove unsuccessful. And indeed I am of the opinion that the studies of those are more especially worthy of our regard, who after having overcome all difficulties prefer the useful office of assisting others to the mere gratification of giving pleasure. And this is what I have already done in some of my former works. I confess it surprises me that Titus Livius, so celebrated an author as he is, in one of the books of his history of the city from its origin, should begin with this remark. I have now obtained a sufficient reputation so that I might put an end to my work, did not my restless mind required to be supported by employment. Certainly he ought to have composed this work, not for his own glory, but for that of the Roman name and of the people who were the conquerors of all other nations. It would have been more meritorious to have persevered in his labors from his love of the work, then from the gratification which had afforded himself and to have accomplished it, not for his own sake, but for that of the Roman people. I have included in 36 books, 20,000 topics, all worthy of attention. Four, as Domitius Piso says, we ought to make not merely books, but valuable collections. Gained by the perusal of about 2,000 volumes, of which a few only are in the hands of the studious, on account of the obscurity of the subjects, procured by the careful perusal of 100 select authors. And to these I have made considerable additions of things which were either not known to my predecessors or which have been lately discovered. Nor can I doubt, but that there still remain many things which I have omitted, for I am a mere mortal and one that has many occupations. I have therefore been obliged to compose this work at interrupted intervals, indeed during the night, so that you will find that I have not been idle even during this period. The day I devote to you, exactly portioning out my sleep to the necessity of my health and contenting myself with this reward, that while we are musing on these subjects, according to the remark of Varro, we are adding to the length of our lives, for life properly consists in being awake. In consideration of these circumstances and these difficulties, I dare promise nothing, but you have done me the most essential service in permitting me to dedicate my work to you. Nor does this merely give a sanction to it, but it determines its value, for things are often conceived to be of great value, solely because they are consecrated in temples. I have given a full account of all your family, your father, yourself and your brother, in a history of our own times, beginning where Alphidius Bassus concludes. You will ask, where is it? It has been long completed and its accuracy confirmed, but I have determined to commit the charge of it to my heirs, lest I should have been suspected during my lifetime of having been unduly influenced by ambition. By this means I confer an obligation on those who occupy the same ground with myself and also on posterity, who I am aware will contend with me as I have done with my predecessors. You may judge of my taste for my having inserted in the beginning of my book, the names of the authors that I have consulted, for I consider it to be courteous and to indicate an ingenious modesty to acknowledge the sources once we have derived assistance and not to act as most of those have done whom I have examined. For I must inform you that in comparing various authors with each other, I have discovered that some of the most grave and of the latest writers have transcribed word for word from former works without making any acknowledgement, not avowedly rivaling them in the manner of Virgil or in the candor of Cicero, who in his treatise, Dave Repubblica, professes to coincide in opinion with Plato and his essay on consolation for his daughter says that he follows Crontor and in his offices, Penaikius, volumes which, as you well know, ought not merely to be always in our hands but to be learned by heart. For it is indeed the mark of a perverted mind and a bad disposition to prefer being caught in a theft to returning what we have borrowed, especially when we have acquired capital by usurious interest. The Greeks were wonderfully happy in their titles. One work they called Sweet as a Honeycomb, another a cornucopia, so that you might expect to get even a draught of pigeon's milk from it. Then they have their flowers, their muses, magazines, manuals, gardens, pictures and sketches, all of them titles for which a man might be tempted even to forfeit his bail. But when you enter upon the works, oh ye gods and goddesses, how full of emptiness! Our doler countrymen have acquired their antiquities or their examples or their arts. I think one of the most humorous of them has his nocturnal studies, a term employed by Bibaculus, a name which he richly deserved. Varro indeed is not much behind him when he calls one of his satires a trick and a half and another turning the tables. Diodorus was the first among the Greeks who laid aside this trifling manner and named his history the library. Appian, the grammarian, indeed he whom Tiberius Caesar called the trumpeter of the world, but would rather seem to be the bell of the town crier. Suppose that every one to whom he inscribed any work would then acquire immortality. I do not regret not having given my work a more fanciful title. That I may not, however, appear to convey so completely against the Greeks. I would wish to be considered under the same point of view with those inventors of the arts of painting and sculpture of whom you will find an account in these volumes whose works, although they are so perfect that we are never satisfied with admiring them, are inscribed with a temporary title, such as Apeleis or Palicletus was doing this, implying that the work was only commenced and still imperfect and that the artist might benefit by the criticisms that are made of it and alter any part that required it if he had not been prevented by death. It is also a great mark of their modesty that they inscribed their works as if they were the last which they had executed and as still in the hand at the time of their death. I think there are but three works of art which are inscribed positively with an account of the proper place. In these cases it appears that the artist felt the most perfect satisfaction with his own work and hence these pieces have excited the envy of everyone. I indeed freely admit that many may be added to my works not only to this but to all which I have published. By this admission I hope to escape from the carping critics and I have the more reason to say this because I hear that there are certain stoics and logicians and also Epicureans. From the Grammarians I expected as much who are big with something against the little work which I published on Grammar and that they have been carrying these abortions for 10 years together a longer pregnancy this than the elephants. But I well know that even a woman once wrote against theophrostus a man so eminent for his eloquence that he obtained his name which signifies divine speaker and that from this circumstance originated the proverb of choosing a tree to hang oneself. I cannot refrain from quoting the words of Cato the censor which are so pertinent to this point. It appears from them that even Cato who wrote commentaries on military discipline and who had learned the military art under africanus or rather under Hannibal for he could not endure africanus who when he was his general had borne away the triumph from him that Cato I say was open to the attacks of such as caught at reputation for themselves by detracting from the merits of others. And what does he say in his book? I know that when I shall publish what I have written there will be many who will do all they can to deprecate it and especially such as are themselves void of all merit. But I let their harangues glide by me. Nor was the remark of Plancus a bad one when Asinius Polio was said to be preparing an oration against him which was to be published either by himself or his children after the death of Plancus in order that he might not be able to answer it. It is only the ghosts that fight with the dead. This gave such a blow to the oration that in the opinion of the learned generally nothing was ever thought more scandalous. Feeling myself therefore secure against these vile slanderers a name elegantly composed by Cato to express their slanderous and vile disposition for what other object do they have but to wrangle and breed quarrels. I will proceed with my projected work. And because the public good requires that you should be spared as much as possible from all trouble I have subjoined to this epistle the contents of each of the following books and have used my best endeavors to prevent your being obliged to read them all through. And this which was done for your benefit will also serve the same purpose for others so that anyone may search for what he wishes and may know where to find it. This has already been done among us by Valerius Soranus in his work which he entitled on Mysteries. The first book is the preface of the work dedicated to Titus Vespasian Caesar. The second is on the world, the elements and the heavenly bodies. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth books are on geography in which is contained an account of the situation of the different countries, the inhabitants, the seas, towns, harbors, mountains, rivers, and dimensions, and various tribes, some of which still exist and others have disappeared. The seventh is on man and the inventions of man. The eighth is on the various kinds of land animals. The ninth on aquatic animals. The 10th on the various kinds of birds. The 11th on insects. The 12th on odiferous plants. The 13th on exotic trees. The 14th on vines. The 15th on fruit trees. The 16th on forest trees. The 17th on plants raised in nurseries or gardens. The 18th on the nature of fruits and the cerealia and the pursuits of the husband men. The 19th on flax, broom, and gardening. The 20th on the cultivated plants that are proper for food and for medicine. The 21st on flowers and plants that are used for making garlands. The 22nd on garlands and the medicines made from plants. The 23rd on medicines made from wine and from cultivated trees. The 24th on medicines made from forest trees. The 25th on medicines made from wild plants. The 26th on new descentses and medicines made for certain diseases from plants. The 27th on some other plants and medicines. The 28th on medicines procured from man and from large animals. The 29th on medical authors and on medicines from other animals. The 30th on magic and medicines for certain parts of the body. The 31st on medicines from aquatic animals. The 32nd on the other properties of aquatic animals. The 33rd on gold and silver. The 34th on copper and lead and the workers of copper. The 35th on painting, colors and painters. The 36th on marbles and stones. The 37th on gems. End of section three. Section four of the natural history, volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lecter. The natural history, volume one by Pliny the Elder. Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley. Section four. Book two. An account of the world and the elements. Chapter one. Whether the world be finite and whether there be more than one world. The world and whatever that be which we otherwise call the heavens by the vault of which all things are enclosed we must conceive to be a deity. To be eternal without bounds. Neither created nor subject at any time to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man nor can the human mind form any conjecture respecting it. It is sacred, eternal and without bounds all in all. Indeed including everything in itself. Finite, yet like what is infinite. The most certain of all things, yet like what is uncertain. Externally and internally embracing all things in itself. It is the work of nature and itself constitutes nature. It is madness to harass the mind as some have done with attempts to measure the world and to publish these attempts. Or like others to argue from what they have made out that there are innumerable other worlds and that we must believe there to be so many other natures or that if only one nature produce the whole there will be so many suns and so many moons and that each of them will have immense strains of other heavenly bodies. As if the same question would not recur at every step of our inquiry anxious as we must be to arrive at some termination. Or as if this infinity which we ascribe to nature the former of all things cannot be more easily comprehended by one single formation especially when that is so extensive. It is madness, perfect madness to go out of this world and to search for what is beyond it as if one who is ignorant of his own dimensions could ascertain the measure of anything else or as if the human mind could see what the world itself cannot contain. Chapter 2 of the form of the world that it has the form of the perfect globe we learn from the name which has been uniformly given to it as well as from numerous natural arguments. For not only does a figure of this kind return everywhere into itself and sustain itself, also including itself requiring no adjustments, not sensible of either end or beginning in any of its parts and is best fitted for that motion with which as will appear hereafter it is continually turning round. But still more because we perceive it by the evidence of the sight to be in every part convex and central which could not be the case where it of any other figure. Chapter 3 of its nature whence the name is derived. The rising and the setting of the sun clearly proved that this globe is carried round in the space of 24 hours in an eternal and never-ceasing circuit and with incredible swiftness. I'm not able to say whether the sound caused by the whirling about of so great a mass be excessive and therefore far beyond what our ears can perceive nor indeed whether the resounding of so many stars all carried along at the same time and revolving in their orbits may not produce a kind of delightful harmony of incredible sweetness. To us who are in the interior the world appears to glide silently along both by day and by night. Various circumstances in nature proved to us that there are impressed on the heavens innumerable figures of animals and of all kinds of objects and that its surface is not perfectly polished like the eggs of birds as some celebrated authors assert. For we find that the seed of all bodies fall down from it principle into the ocean and being mixed together that a variety of monstrous forms are in this way frequently produced and indeed this is evident to the eye for in one part we have the figure of a wane in another of a bear, of a bull and of a letter while in the middle of them over our heads there is a white circle. With respect to the name I am influenced by the unanimous opinions of all nations for what the Greeks from its being ornamented have termed cosmos we from its perfect and complete elegance have termed mundus. The name Kylum, no doubt, refers to its being engraven as it were with the stars as Varro suggests. In confirmation of this idea we may adduce the zodiac in which are twelve figures of animals through them it is that the sun has continued its course for so many ages. Chapter 4 Of the Elements and the Planets I do not find that anyone has doubted that there are four elements the highest of these is supposed to be fire and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars the next of that spirit which both the Greeks and ourselves call by the same name air it is by the force of this vital principle pervading all things and mingling with all that the earth together with the fourth element water is balanced in the middle of space these are mutually bound together the light are being restrained by the heavier so that they cannot fly off while on the contrary from the light attending upwards the heavier are so suspended that they cannot fall down thus by an equal tendency in an opposite direction each of them remains in its appropriate place bound together by the never ceasing revolution of the world which always turning on itself the earth falls to the lowest part and is in the middle of the hell while it remains suspended in the center and as it were balancing the center in which it is suspended so that it alone remains immovable whilst all things revolve around it being connected with every other part whilst they all rest upon it between this body and the heavens there are suspended in this aerial spirit seven stars separated by determinate spaces which on account of their motion we call wandering although in reality none are less so the sun is carried along in the midst of these a body of great size and power the ruler not only of the seasons and of the different climates but also of the stars themselves and of the heavens when we consider his operations we must regard him as the life or rather the mind of the universe the chief regulator and the god of nature he supplies light to the universe and dispels all darkness he both conceals and reveals the other stars it is he that regulates the seasons and in the course of nature governs the year as it ever springs in you into birth it is he that dispels the gloom of the heavens and shares his light upon the clouds of the human mind he too lends his brightness to the other stars he's most brilliant and most excellent beholding all things and hearing all things which I perceive is ascribed to him exclusively by the Prince of Poets, Homer Chapter 5 of God I consider it therefore an indication of human weakness to inquire into the figure in form of God for whatever God be if there be any other God and wherever he exists he is all sense, all sight all hearing, all life all mind and all within himself to believe that there are a number of gods derived from virtues and vices of man as chastity, concord, understanding hope, honour, clemency and fidelity or according to the opinion of democraters that there are only two punishment and reward indicates still greater folly human nature, weak and frail as it is mindful of its own infirmity has made these divisions so that everyone might have recourse to that which he supposed himself to stand more particularly in need of hence we find different names employed by different nations the inferior deities are arranged in classes and diseases and plagues are deified in consequence of our anxious wish to propitiate them it was from this course that a temple was dedicated to fever at the public expense on the Palatine hill and to Orbona near the temple of the Laries and that an altar was erected to evil fortune on the Esquiline hence we may understand how it comes to pass that there is a greater population of the Celestials than of human beings since each individual makes a separate god for himself adopting his own Juno and his own genius and there are nations who make gods of certain animals and even certain obscene things which are not to be spoken of swearing by stinking meats and such like to suppose that marriages are contracted between the gods and that during so long a period there should have been no issue from them that some of them should be old and always grey-headed and others young and like children some of a dark complexion winged, lame, produced from eggs living and dying on alternate days is sufficiently pure-island foolish but it is the height of impudence to imagine that adultery takes place between them that they have contests and quarrels and that there are gods of theft and of various crimes to assist man is to be a god this is the path to eternal glory this is the path which the Roman nobles formerly pursued and this is the path which is now pursued by the greatest ruler of our age Miss Paisian Augustus he who has come to the relief of an exhausted empire as well as by his sons this was the ancient mode of remunerating those who deserved it to regard them as gods for the names of all the gods as well as of the stars that I have mentioned above have been derived from their services to mankind and with respect to Jupiter and Mercury and the rest of the celestial nomenclature who does not admit that they have referenced a certain natural phenomena but it is ridiculous to suppose that a great head of all things, whatever it be pays any regard to human affairs can we believe or rather can there be any doubt that it is not polluted by such a disagreeable and complicated office it is not easy to determine which opinion would be most for the advantage of mankind since we observe some who have no respect for the gods and others who carry it to a scandalous excess they are slaves to foreign ceremonies they carry on their fingers the gods and the monsters whom they worship they condemn and they lay great stress on certain kinds of food they impose on themselves dreadful ordinances not even sleeping quietly they do not marry or adopt children or indeed do anything else without the sanction of their sacred rites there are others on the contrary who will cheat in the very capital and will forswear themselves even by Jupiter-tonans and while these thrive in their crimes the others torment themselves with their superstitions to no purpose among these discordant opinions mankind have discovered for themselves a kind of intermediate deity by which our conjectures concerning God become more vague still for all over the world in all places and at all times fortune is the only god whom everyone invokes she alone is spoken of she alone is accused and is supposed to be guilty she alone is in our thoughts is praised and blamed and is loaded with reproaches wavering as she is conceived by the generality of mankind to be blind, wandering inconstant, uncertain, variable and often favouring the unworthy to her are referred all our losses and all our gains and in casting up their counts of mortals she alone balances the two pages of our sheet we are so much in the power of chance that chance itself is considered as a god whereby the very existence of a god is shown to be doubtful but there are others who reject this principle and assign events to the influence of the stars and to the laws of our nativity they suppose that God once for all issues his decrees and never afterwards interferes this opinion begins to gain ground and both the learned and the unlearned vulgar are falling into it hence we have the admonitions of thunder the warnings of oracles the predictions of soothsayers and things too trifling to be mentioned as sneezing and stumbling with the feet reckoned among omens the late emperor Augustus relates that he put the left shoe on the wrong foot the day when he was near being assorted by his soldiers and such things are to these so embarrassed improvident mortals that among all of them this alone is certain that there is nothing certain that there is nothing more proud or more wretched than man for other animals have no care but to provide for their subsistence for which the spontaneous kindness of nature is all sufficient and this one circumstance renders a lot more especially preferable that they never think about glory or money or ambition and above all that they never reflect on death the belief however that on these points the God's super intent human affairs is useful to us as well as that the punishment of crimes although sometimes tardy from the deed to being occupied of business is never entirely remitted and that a human race was not made the next in rank to himself in order that they might be degraded like brutes and indeed this constitutes the great comfort in this imperfect state of man that even the deity cannot do everything for he cannot procure death for himself even if he wished it which so numerous are the evils of life has been granted to man as our chief good nor can he make mortals immortal or recall to life those who are dead nor can he effect that he who has once lived shall not have lived or that he who has enjoyed honors shall not have enjoyed them nor has he any influence over past events but to cause them to be forgotten and if we illustrate the nature of our connection with God by a less serious argument he cannot make twice ten not to be twenty and many other things of this kind by this consideration the power of nature is clearly proved and is shown to be what we call God it is not foreign to the subject to have digressed into these matters familiar as they are to everyone from the continual discussions that take place respecting God End of Section 4 Recording by Lecter Section 5 of the Natural History, Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Linda Dodge The Natural History, Volume 1 by Pliny the Elder Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley Section 5 Chapter 6 of the nature of the stars of the motion of the planets Let us return from this digression to the other parts of nature the stars which are described as fixed in the heavens are not, as the vulgar suppose attached each of them to different individuals the brighter to the rich those that are less so to the poor and the dim to the aged shining according to the lot of the individual and separately assigned to mortals for they have neither come into existence nor do they perish in connection with particular persons nor does a falling star indicate that anyone is dead We are not so closely connected with the heavens as that the shining of the stars is affected by our death when they are supposed to shoot or fall they throw out by force of their fire as if from an excess of nutriment the superabundance of the humor which they have absorbed as we observe to take place from the oil in our lamps when they are burning the nature of the celestial bodies is eternal being interwoven as it were with the world and by this union rendering it solid but they exert their most powerful influence on the earth this, notwithstanding its subtlety may be known by the clearness and the magnitude of the effect as we shall point out in the proper place the account of the circles of the heavens will be better understood when we come to speak of the earth since they all have a reference to it except what has been discovered respecting the zodiac which I shall now detail Anaxamander the Milesian in the 58th Olympiad is said to have been the first who understood its obliquity and thus opened the road to a correct knowledge of the subject afterwards Cleostratus made the signs in it first marking those of Aries and Sagittarius Atlas had formed the sphere long before this time but now leaving the further consideration of this subject we must treat of the bodies that are situated between the earth and the heavens it is certain that the star called Saturn is the highest and therefore appears the smallest that he passes through the largest circuit and that he is at least 30 years in completing it the course of all the planets and among others of the sun and the moon is in the contrary direction to that of the heavens that is toward the left while the heavens are rapidly carried about to the right and although by the stars constantly revolving with immense velocity they are raised up and are hurried on to the part where they set yet they are all forced by a motion of their own in an opposite direction and this is so ordered lest the air being always moved in the same direction by the constant whirling of the heavens should accumulate into one mass whereas now it is divided and separated and beaten into small pieces by the opposite motion of the different stars Saturn is a star of a cold and rigid nature while the orbit of Jupiter is much lower and is carried around in 12 years the next star Mars which some persons call Hercules is of a theory and burning nature and from its nearness to the sun is carried around in little less than two years in consequence of the excessive heat of this star and the rigidity of Saturn Jupiter which is interposed between the two is tempered by both of them and is thus rendered salutary the path of the sun consists of 360 degrees but in order that the shadow may return to the same point of the dial we are obliged to add in each year five days and the fourth part of a day on this account an intercalary day is given to every fifth year that the period of the seasons may agree with that of the sun below the sun revolves the great star called Venus wandering with an alternate motion and even in its surnames rivaling the sun and the moon for when it precedes the day and rises in the morning it receives the name of Lucifer as if it were another sun hastening on the day on the contrary when it sets in the west it is named Vesper as prolonging the light and performing the office of the moon Pythagoras the Sammian was the first to discover its nature about the 62nd Olympiad in the 222nd year of the city it excels all the other stars in size and its brilliancy is so considerable that it is the only star which produces a shadow by its rays there has consequently been great interest made for its name some have called it the star of Juno others of Isis and others of the mother of the gods by its influence everything in the earth is generated for as it rises in either direction it sprinkles everything with its genial dew and not only matures the productions of the earth but stimulates all living things it completes the circuit of the zodiac in 348 days never receiving from the sun more than 46 degrees according to Timaeus similarly circumstance but by no means equal in size and in power next to it is the star Mercury by some called Apollo it is carried in a lower orbit and moves in a course which is quicker by 9 days shining sometimes before the rising of the sun and at other times after its setting but never going farther from it than 23 degrees as we learn from Timaeus and Sosigenes the nature of these two stars is peculiar and is not the same with those mentioned above for those are seen to recede from the sun through one third or one fourth part of the heavens and are often seen opposite to it they have also larger circuits in which they make their complete revolutions all be described in the account of the great year but the moon which is the last of the stars and the one most connected with the earth the remedy provided by nature for darkness excels all the others in its admirable qualities by the variety of appearances which assumes it puzzles the observers mortified that they should be the most ignorant concerning the star which is nearest to them she is always either waxing or waning sometimes her disc is curved into horns sometimes it is divided into two equal portions and at other times it is swelled out to a full orb sometimes she appears spotted and suddenly becomes very bright she appears very large with her full orb and suddenly becomes invisible now continuing during all the night now rising late and now aiding the light of the sun during a part of the day becoming eclipsed and yet being visible while she is eclipsed concealing herself at the end of the month and yet not supposed to be eclipsed sometimes she is low down sometimes she is high up and that not according to one uniform course being at one time raised up to the heavens and at other times almost contiguous to the mountains now elevated in the north now depressed in the south all which circumstances having been noticed by endymion a report was spread out that he was in love with the moon we are not indeed sufficiently grateful to those who with so much labor and care have enlightened us with this light while so diseased is the human mind we take pleasure in writing the annals of blood and slaughter in order that the crimes of men may be made known to those who are ignorant of the constitution of the world itself being nearest to the axis and therefore having the smallest orbit the moon passes in 27 days and the one third part of a day through the same space for which Saturn the highest of the planets as was stated above requires 30 years after remaining for two days in conjunction with the sun on the 30th day she again very slowly emerges to pursue her accustomed course I know not whether she ought not to be considered as our instructor in everything that can be known respecting the heavens as that the year is divided into the 12 divisions of the months since she follows the sun for the same number of times until he returns to the commencement of his course and that her brightness as well as that of the other stars is regulated by that of the sun if indeed they all of them shine by the light borrowed from him such as we see floating about when it is reflected from the surface of water on this account it is that she dissolves so much moisture by a gentle and less perfect force and adds to the quantity of that which the rays of the sun consume on this account she appears with an unequal light because being full only when she is in opposition on all the remaining days she shows only so much of herself to the earth as she receives light from the sun she is not seen in conjunction because at that time she sends back the whole stream of light to the source when she has derived it that the stars generally are nourished by the terrestrial moisture is evident because when the moon is only half visible she is sometimes seen spotted her power of absorbing moisture not having been powerful enough for the spots are nothing else than the dregs of the earth drawn up along with the moisture but her eclipses and those of the sun the most wonderful of all the phenomena of nature and which are like prodigies served to indicate the magnitude of these bodies and the shadow which they cast chapter 7 of the eclipses of the moon and the sun for it is evident that the sun is hid by the intervention of the moon and the moon by the opposition of the earth and that these changes are mutual the moon by her interposition taking the rays of the sun from the earth and the earth from the moon as she advances darkness is suddenly produced and again the sun is obscured by her shade for night is nothing more than the shade of the earth the figure of this shade is like that of a pyramid or an inverted top and the moon enters it only near its point and it does not exceed the height of the moon for there is no other star which is obscured in the same manner while a figure of this kind always terminates in a point the flight of birds when very lofty shows that shadows do not extend beyond a certain distance their limit appears to be the termination of the air and the commencement of the ether above the moon everything is pure and full of an eternal light the stars are visible to us in the night in the same way that other luminous bodies are seen in the dark it is from these causes that the moon is eclipsed during the night the two kinds of eclipses are not however at the stated monthly periods on account of the obliquity of the zodiac and the irregularly wandering course of the moon as stated above besides that the motions of these stars do not always occur exactly at the same points Chapter 8 of the magnitude of the stars this kind of reasoning carries the human mind to the heavens and by contemplating the world as it were from thence it discloses to us the magnitude of the three greatest bodies in nature for the sun could not be entirely concealed from the earth by the intervention of the moon if the earth were greater than the moon and the vast size of the third body the sun is manifest from that of the other two so that it is not necessary to scrutinize its size by arguing from its visible appearance or from any conjectures of the mind it must be immense because the shadows of rows of trees extending for any number of miles are disposed in right lines as if the sun were in the middle of space also because at the equinox he is vertical to all the inhabitants of the southern districts at the same time also because the shadows of all the people who live on this side of the tropic fall at noon toward the north and its sunrise point to the west but this could not be the case unless the sun were much greater than the earth nor unless it much exceeded Mount Ida in breadth but he be seen when he rises passing considerably beyond it to the right and to the left especially considering that it is separated by so great an interval the eclipse of the moon affords an undoubted argument of the sun's magnitude as it also does of the small size of the earth for there are shadows of three figures and it is evident that if the body which produces the shadow be equal to the light then it will be thrown off in the form of a pillar and have no termination if the body be greater than the light the shadow will be in the form of an inverted cone the bottom being the narrowest part and being at the same time of an infinite length if the body be less than the light then we shall have the figure of a pyramid terminating in a point now of this last kind is the shadow which produces the eclipse of the moon and this is so manifest that there can be no doubt remaining that the earth is exceeded in magnitude by the sun a circumstance which is indeed indicated by the silent declaration of nature herself for why does he recede from us at the winter half of the year that by the darkness of the nights the earth may be refreshed which otherwise would be burned up as indeed it is in certain parts so great is his size End of Section 5 Section 6 of the Natural History Volume 1 This is a Librebox recording All Librebox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit Librebox.org Recording by Linda Dodge The Natural History Volume 1 by Pliny the Elder Translated by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley Section 6 Chapter 9 An account of the observations that have been made on the heavens by different individuals The first among the Romans who explained to the people at large the cause of the two kinds of eclipses was Sopichius Gallus who was consul along with Marcellus and when he was only a military tribune he relieved the army from great anxiety the day before King Perseus was conquered by Paulus for he was brought by the general into a public assembly in order to predict the eclipse of which he afterwards gave an account in a separate treatise Among the Greeks Thales the Melisian first investigated the subject in the fourth year of the 48th Olympiad predicting the eclipse of the sun which took place in the reign of Alliates in the 170th year of the city After them, Hipparchus calculated the course of both these stars for the term of 600 years including the months, days and hours the situation of the different places and the aspects adapted to each of them All this has been confirmed by experience and could only be acquired by partaking as it were in the councils of nature These were indeed great men superior to ordinary mortals who having discovered the laws of these divine bodies relieved the miserable mind of man from the fear which he had of eclipses as foretelling some dreadful events or the destruction of the stars This alarm is freely acknowledged in the sublime strains of Stesachorus and Pindar as being produced by an eclipse of the sun and with respect to the eclipse of the moon mortals imputed to witchcraft and therefore endeavour to aid her by producing discordant sounds In consequence of this kind of terror it was that Nicias, the general of the Athenians being ignorant of the cause was afraid to lead out the fleet and brought great distress on his troops Hail to your genius, ye interpreters of heaven Ye who comprehend the nature of things and who have discovered a mode of reasoning by which ye have conquered both gods and men For who is there in observing these things and seeing the labours which the stars are compelled to undergo since we have chosen to apply this term to them that would not cheerfully submit to his fate as one born to die I shall now, in a brief and summary manner touch on those points in which we are agreed giving the reasons where it is necessary to do so for this is not a work of profound argument nor is it less wonderful to be able to suggest a probable cause for everything than to give a complete account of a few of them only Chapter 10 on the recurrence of the eclipses of the sun and the moon It is ascertained that the eclipses complete their whole revolution in the space of 223 months that the eclipse of the sun takes place only at the conclusion or the commencement of a lunation which is termed conjunction while an eclipse of the moon takes place only when she is at the full and is always a little farther advanced than the preceding eclipse Now there are eclipses of both these stars in every year which take place below the earth at stated days and hours and when they are above it they are not always visible sometimes on account of the clouds but more frequently from the globe of the earth being opposed to the vault of the heavens It was discovered two hundred years ago by the sagacity of Hipparchus that the moon is sometimes eclipsed after an interval of five months and the sun after an interval of seven also that he becomes invisible while above the horizon twice in every thirty days but that this is seen in different places at different times but the most wonderful circumstance is that while it is admitted that the moon is dark and by the shadow of the earth this occurs at one time on its western and at another time on its eastern side and farther that although after the rising of the sun that darkening shadow ought to be below the earth yet it has once happened that the moon has been eclipsed in the west while both the luminaries have been above the horizon and as to their both being invisible in the space of fifteen days this very thing happened while the Vespasians were emperors the father being consul for the third time and the son for the second chapter eleven on the motion of the moon it is certain that the moon having her horns always turned from the sun when she is waxing looks toward the east when she is waning towards the west also that from the second day after the change she adds forty seven and a half minutes each day until she is full and again decreases at the same rate and that she always becomes invisible when she is within fourteen degrees of the sun this is an argument of the greater size of the planets than of the moon since these emerge when they are at a distance of seven degrees only but their altitude causes them to appear much smaller as we observe that during the day the brightness of the sun prevents those bodies from being seen which are fixed in the firmament although they shine then as well as in the night that this is the case is proved by eclipses and by descending into very deep wells chapter twelve on the motions of the planets and the general laws of their aspects the three planets which as we have said are situated above the sun are visible when they come into conjunction with him they rise visibly in the morning when they are not more than eleven degrees from the sun they are afterwards directed by the contact of his rays and when they attain the trine aspect at the distance of one hundred twenty degrees they take their morning stationary positions which are termed primary afterwards when they are in opposition to the sun they rise at the distance of one hundred and eighty degrees from him and again advancing on the other side to the one hundred twentyth degree they attain their evening stations which are turned secondary until the sun having arrived within twelve degrees of them what is called their evening setting becomes no longer visible Mars as being nearer to the sun feels the influence of his rays in the quadrature at the distance of ninety degrees whence that motion receives its name being termed from the two risings respectively the first and the second no-naginarian this planet passes from one station to another in six months or is two months in each sign the two other planets do not spend more than four months in passing from station to station the two inferior planets are in like manner concealed in their evening conjunction and when they have left the sun they rise in the morning the same number of degrees distant from him and having arrived at their point of greatest elongation they then follow the sun and having overtaken him at their morning setting they become invisible and pass beyond him they then rise in the evening at the distances which were mentioned above after this they return back to the sun and are concealed in their evening setting the star Venus becomes stationary when at its two points of greatest elongation that at the morning and that of the evening according to their respective risings the stationary points of Mercury are so very brief that they cannot be correctly observed Chapter 13 why the same stars appear at sometimes more lofty and at other times more near the above is an account of the aspects and the occultations of the planets a subject which is rendered very complicated by their motions and is involved in much that is wonderful especially when we observe that they change their size and color and that the same stars at one time approach the north and then go to the south and are now seen near the earth and then suddenly approach the heavens if on this subject I deliver opinions different from my predecessors I acknowledge that I am indebted for them to those individuals who first pointed out to us the proper mode of inquiry let no one then ever despair of benefiting future ages but these things depend on many different causes the first cause is the nature of the circles described by the stars which the Greeks term apsides for we are obliged to use Greek terms now each of the planets has its own circle and this is a different one from that of the world because the earth is placed in the center of the heavens with respect to the two extremities which are called the poles and also in that of the zodiac which is situated obliquely between them and all these things are made evident by the infallible results which we obtain by the use of the compasses hence the apsides of the planets have each of them different centers and consequently they have different orbits and motions since it necessarily follows that the interior apsides are the shortest the apsides which are the highest from the center of the earth are for Saturn when he is in Scorpio for Jupiter in Virgo for Mars in Leo for the sun in Gemini for Venus in Sagittarius and for Mercury in Capricorn each of them in the middle of these signs while in the opposite signs they are lowest and nearest to the center of the earth hence it is that they appear to move more slowly when they are carried along the highest circuit not that their actual motions are accelerated or retarded these being fixed and determinant for each of them but because it necessarily follows that lines drawn from the highest apsis must approach nearer to each other at the center like the spokes of a wheel and that the same motion seems to be at one time greater and at another time less according to the distance from the center another cause of the altitudes of the planets is that their highest apsides with relation to their own centers are in different signs from those mentioned above Saturn is in the 20th degree of Libra Jupiter in the 15th of Cancer Mars in the 28th of Capricorn the sun in the 19th of Aries Venus in the 27th of Pisces Mercury in the 15th of Virgo and the moon in the 3rd of Taurus the third cause of the altitude depends on the form of the heavens not on that of the orbits the stars appearing to the eye to mount up and to descend through the depth of the air with this cause is connected that which depends on the latitude of the planets and the obliquity of the zodiac it is through this belt that the stars which I have spoken of are carried nor is there any part of the world habitable except what lies under it the remainder which is at the poles being in a wild desert state the planet Venus alone exceeds it by two degrees which we may suppose to be the cause why some animals are produced even in these desert regions of the earth the moon also wanders the whole breadth of the zodiac but never exceeds it next to these the planet Mercury moves to the greatest space yet out of the 12 degrees for there are so many degrees of latitude in the zodiac it does not pass through more than 8 nor does it go equally through these two of them being in the middle of the zodiac four in the upper part and two in the lower part next to these the sun is carried through the middle of the zodiac winding unequally through the two parts of his torturous circuit the star Mars occupies the four middle degrees Jupiter the middle degree and two above it Saturn like the sun occupies two the above is an account of the latitudes as they descend to the south or us in to the north hence it is plain that the generality of persons are mistaken in supposing the third cause of the apparent altitude to depend on the stars rising from the earth and climbing up the heavens but to refute this opinion it is necessary to consider the subject with very great minuteness and to embrace all the causes it is generally admitted that the stars at the time of their evening setting are nearest to the earth both with respect to latitude and altitude that they are at the commencement of both at their morning risings and that they become stationary at the middle points of their latitudes what are called the ecliptics it is moreover acknowledged that their motion is increased when they are in the vicinity of the earth and diminished when they are removed at a greater altitude a point which is most clearly proved by the different altitudes of the moon there is no doubt that it is also increased at the morning risings and that the three superior planets are retarded as they advance from the first station to the second and since this is the case it is evident that the latitudes are increased from the time of their morning risings since the motions afterwards appear to receive less addition but they gain their altitude in the first station since the rate of their motion then begins to diminish and the stars to recede and the reason of this must be particularly set forth when the planets are struck by the rays of the sun in the situation which I have described, i.e. in their quadrature they are prevented from holding on their straightforward course and are raised on high by the force of the fire this cannot be immediately perceived by the eye and therefore they seem to be stationary and hence the term station is derived afterwards the violence of the rays increases and the vapor being beaten back forces them to recede this exists in a greater degree in their evening risings the sun being then turned entirely from them when they are drawn into the highest absities and they are then the least visible since they are at their greatest altitude and are carried along with the least motion as much less indeed as this takes place in the highest signs of the absities at the time of the evening rising the latitude decreases and becomes less as the motion is diminished and it does not increase again until they arrive at the second station when the altitude is also diminished the sun's rays then coming from the other side the same force now therefore propels them towards the earth which before raised them into the heavens from their former triangular aspect so different is the effect whether the rays strike the planets from below or come to them from above and all these circumstances produce much more effect when they occur in the evening setting this is the doctrine of the superior planets that of the others is more difficult and has never been laid down by anyone before me End of section 6