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FOOTNOTES:

1 The weight of testimony inclines to the latter. The mere titles of the works which have been written on the subject would fill a volume.

2 At a wedding feast, as mentioned by him in B. ix. c. 58. She was then the wife of Caligula.

3 Related in B. ix. c. 5.

4 Here at Tusdrita, he saw L. Coisicius, who it was said had been changed from a woman into a man. See B. vii. c. 3. Phlegon Trallianus and Ausonius also refer to the story.

5 See B. xvi. c. 2, and B. xxxi. c. 19.

6 Plinii Ep. B. vi. Ep. 16.

7 Twenty-fourth August.

8 “Fortes fortuna juvat.”

9 B. iii. Ep. 5.

10 Nero Claudius Drusus, the son of Livia, afterwards the wife of Augustus. He was the father of the Emperor Claudius, and died in Germany of the effects of an accident.

11 “Studiosus.” This work has perished.

12 “De Dubia Sermone.” A few scattered fragments of it still survive.

13 23rd of August.

14 For astrological presages.

15 At midwinter, this hour would answer at Rome to our midnight.

16 At midwinter, this would be between six and seven in the evening.

17 “Electorum Commentarii.”

18 B. viii. c. 34. His acrimony may however, in this instance, have outstripped his discretion. Though indebted to them for by far the largest amount of his information on almost every subject, he seems to have had a strong aversion to the Greeks, and repeatedly charges them with lying, viciousness, boasting, and vanity. See B. ii. c. 112; B. iii. c. 6; B. v. c. 1; B. xv. c. 5; B. xix. c. 26; B. xxviii. c. 29; B. xxxvii. c. 74.

19 Of Vespasian and Titus for certain; and probably of Nero, who appointed him “procurator Cæsaris” in Spain.

20 Even on that point he contradicts himself in the next Book. See B. viii. c. 19, and 64, in reference to the lion and the horse.

21 See B. vii. c. 51.

22 “Summa vitæ felicitas.” B. vii. c. 54.

23 B. vii. c. 53.

24 He loses no opportunity of inveighing against luxury and sensuality.

25 The question as to a future existence he calls “Manium ambages,” “quiddities about the Manes.” B. vii. c. 56.

26 See B. vii. c. 53.

27 We have already seen that in his earlier years he was warned in a vision by Drusus to write the history of the wars in Germany; but there is a vast difference between paying attention to the suggestions of a dream, and believing in the immortality of the soul, or the existence of disembodied spirits.

28 B. vii. c. 53.

29 B. vii. c. 58, 59, 60.

30 Mankind must surely have agreed before this in making the instruments employed in shaving.

31 “Discours Premier sur l’Histoire Naturelle.”

32 Biographie Universelle. Vol. 35. Art. Pline.

33 This, however, is not the fault of Pliny, but the result of imperfect tradition. To have described every object minutely that he has named, and of which he has given the peculiar properties, would have swollen his book to a most enormous size, almost indeed beyond conception.

34 Lemaire informs us, in his title-page, that the two first books of the Natural History are edited by M. Alexandre, in his edition.

35 “Jucundissime;” it is not easy to find an epithet in our language which will correctly express the meaning of the original, affectionate and familiar, at the same time that it is sufficiently dignified and respectful.

36 Lamb’s trans.; Carm. i. 4. of the original.

37 “Conterraneus;” we have no word in English which expresses the idea intended by the original, and which is, at the same time, a military term. There is indeed some reason to doubt, whether the word now inserted in the text was the one employed by the author: see the remarks of M. Alexandre, in Lem. i. 3; also an observation in Cigalino’s dissertation on the native country of Pliny; Valpy, 8.

38 “Permutatis prioribus sætabis;” Carm. xii. 14; xxv. 7; see the notes in Lamb’s trans. pp. 135 & 149.

39 These names in the original are Varaniolus and Fabullus, which are supposed to have been changed from Veranius and Fabius, as terms of familiarity and endearment; see Poinsinet, i. 24, and Lemaire, i. 4.

40 The narrative of Suetonius may serve to illustrate the observation of Pliny: “Triumphavit (Titus) cum patre, censuramque gessit una. Eidem collega et in tribunicia potestate, et in septem consulatibus fuit. Receptaque ad se prope omnium officiorum cura, cum patris nomine et epistolas ipse dictaret, et edicta conscriberet, orationesque in Senatu recitaret etiam quæstoris vice, præfecturam quoque prætorii suscepit, nunquam ad id tempus, nisi ab Equite Romano, administratum.” (viii. 5.)

41 “Perfricui faciem.” This appears to have been a proverbial expression among the Romans; Cicero, Tusc. Quæs. iii. 41, employs “os perfricuisti,” and Martial, xi. 27. 7, “perfricuit frontem,” in the same sense.

42 Suetonius speaks of Domitian’s taste for poetry, as a part of his habitual dissimulation, viii. 2; see also the notes of Poinsinet, i. 26, and of Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 351.

43 “Non eras in hoc albo;” see the note of Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 8. A passage in Quintilian, xii. 4, may serve to illustrate this use of the term ‘album’; “... quorum alii se ad album ac rubricas transtulerunt....”

44 It appears that the passage in which Cicero makes this quotation from Lucilius, is not in the part of his treatise De Republica which was lately discovered by Angelus Maius; Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 9. Cicero refers to this remark of Lucilius in two of his other works, although with a variation in the expression and in the individuals specified; De Orat. ii. 6, and De Fin. i. 3.

45 “Qui primus condidit styli nasum.”

46 “Sed hæc ego mihi nunc patrocinia ademi nuncupatione.”

47 “Pecunias deponerent.” Ajasson, i. 11, remarks on these words, “Qui videri volebant ambitu alienissimi, pecuniam apud sanctum aliquem virum deponebant, qua scilicet multarentur, si unquam hujus criminis manifesti fierent.”

48 This expression is not found in any of the works of Cicero which are now extant, nor, indeed, is it certain that it was anything more than a remark made in conversation.

49 “Provocatio,” calling forth.

50 Horace, Epist. ii. 1. 143; Ovid, Fast. iv. 746 and v. 121, and Tibullus, i. 1. 26 and ii. 5. 37, refer to the offerings of milk made by the country people to their rural deities.

51 “... id est, artium et doctrinarum omnium circulus;” Alexandre in Lem. i. 14.

52 These words are not found in any of the books of Livy now extant; we may conclude that they were introduced into the latter part of his work.

53 “Quem nunc primum historiæ Plinianæ librum vocamus, hic non numeratur, quod sit operis index.” Hardouin in Lem. i. 16.

54 Nothing is known of Domitius Piso, either as an author or an individual.

55 The names of these authors will be found, arranged by Hardouin alphabetically, with a brief account of them and their works, in Lem. i. 157 et seq.; we have nearly the same list in Valpy, p. 4903.

56 “Musinamur.” We learn from Hardouin, Lem. i. 17, that there is some doubt as to the word employed by our author, whether it was musinamur or muginamur; I should be disposed to adopt the former, as being, according to the remark of Turnebus, “verbum a Musis deductum.”

57 “A fine Aufidii Bassi;” as Alexandre remarks, “Finis autem Aufidii Bassi intelligendus est non mors ejus, sed tempus ad quod suas ipse perduxerat historias. Quodnam illud ignoramus.” Lem. i. 18. For an account of Aufidius Bassus we are referred to the catalogue of Hardouin, but his name does not appear there. Quintilian (x. 1) informs us, that he wrote an account of the Germanic war.

58 “Jam pridem peracta sancitur.”

59 This sentiment is not found in that portion of the treatise which has been lately published by Angelus Maius. Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 19.

60 The following is probably the passage in the Offices to which Pliny refers: “Panæcius igitur, qui sine controversia de officiis accuratissime disputavit, quemque nos, correctione quadam exhibita, potissimum secuti sumus....” (iii. 2.)

61 “Cum præsertim sors fiat ex usura.” The commentators and translators have differed respecting the interpretation of this passage; I have given what appears to me the obvious meaning of the words.

62 “Lac gallinaceum;” “Proverbium de re singulari et admodum rara,” according to Hardouin, who quotes a parallel passage from Petronius; Lemaire, i. 21.

63 The titles in the original are given in Greek; I have inserted in the text the words which most nearly resemble them, and which have been employed by modern authors.

64 “Lucubratio.”

65 The pun in the original cannot be preserved in the translation; the English reader may conceive the name Bibaculus to correspond to our surname Jolly.

66 “Sesculysses” and “Flextabula;” literally, Ulysses and a Half, and Bend-table.

67 Βιβλιοθήκη.

68 “Cymbalum mundi” and “publicæ famæ tympanum.”

69 “Pendenti titulo;” as Hardouin explains it, “qui nondum absolutum opus significaret, verum adhuc pendere, velut imperfectum.” Lemaire, i. 26.

70 “Homeromastigæ.”

71 “Dialectici.” By this term our author probably meant to designate those critics who were disposed to dwell upon minute verbal distinctions; “dialecticarum captionum amantes,” according to Hardouin; Lem. i. 28.

72 “Quod argutiarum amantissimi, et quod æmulatio inter illos acerbissima.” Alexandre in Lemaire, i. 28.

73 Pliny the younger, in one of his letters (iii. 5), where he enumerates all his uncle’s publications, informs us, that he wrote “a piece of criticism in eight books, concerning ambiguity of expression.” Melmoth’s Pliny, i. 136.

74 The ancients had very exaggerated notions respecting the period of the elephant’s pregnancy; our author, in a subsequent part of his work (viii. 10), says, “Decem annis gestare vulgus existimat; Aristoteles biennio.”

75 His real name was Tyrtamus, but in consequence of the beauty of his style, he acquired the appellation by which he is generally known from the word θεῖος φράσις. Cicero on various occasions refers to him; Brutus, 121; Orator, 17, et alibi.

76 “Suspendio jam quærere mortem oportere homines vitæque renunciare, cum tantum licentiæ, vel feminæ, vel imperiti homines sumant, ut in doctissimos scribant;” Hardouin in Lemaire, i. 29. We learn from Cicero, De Nat. Deor. i. 33, that the name of this female was Leontium; “... sed meretricula etiam Leontium contra Theophrastum scribere ausa sit.”

77 A. Gellius (vii. 4) refers to this work and gives an extract from it.

78 The hostility which Cato bore to Scipio Africanus is mentioned by Livy, xxxviii. 54, and by Corn. Nepos, Cato, i.

79 Lucius Munatius Plancus took a conspicuous part in the political intrigues of the times and was especially noted for his follies and extravagance.

80 Asinius Pollio is a name which stands high in Roman literature; according to the remark of Alexandre, “Vir magnus fuit, prono tamen ad obtrectandum ingenio, quod arguunt ejus cum Cicerone simultates,” Lemaire, i. 30. This hostile feeling towards Cicero is supposed to have proceeded from envy and mortification, because he was unable to attain the same eminence in the art of oratory with his illustrious rival. See Hardouin’s Index Auctorum, in Lemaire, i. 168.

81 “Vitiligatores.”

82 The table of contents, which occupies no less than 124 pages in Lemaire’s edition, I have omitted, in consequence of its length; the object which the author proposed to effect by the table of contents will be gained more completely by an alphabetical index.

83 “Ἐποπτίδων.” For an account of Valerius Soranus see Hardouin’s Index Auctorum, in Lemaire, i. 217.

84 To the end of each book of the Natural History is appended, in the original, a copious list of references to the sources from which the author derived his information. These are very numerous; in the second book they amount to 45, in the third to 35, in the 4th to 53, in the fifth to 60, in the sixth to 54, and they are in the same proportion in the remaining books.

85 “Spartum;” this plant was used to make bands for the vines and cables for ships.

86 “Mundus.” In translating from one language into another, it is proper, as a general principle, always to render the same word in the original by the same word in the translation. But to this rule there are two exceptions; where the languages do not possess words which precisely correspond, and where the original author does not always use the same word in the same sense. Both these circumstances, I apprehend, apply to the case in question. The term Mundus is used by Pliny, sometimes to mean the earth and its immediate appendages, the visible solar system; and at other times the universe; while I think we may venture to assert, that in some instances it is used in rather a vague manner, without any distinct reference to either one or other of the above designations. I have, in almost all cases, translated it by the term world, as approaching nearest to the sense of the original. The word mundus is frequently employed by Lucretius, especially in his fifth book, and seems to be almost always used in the more extended sense of universe. There are, indeed, a few passages where either meaning would be equally appropriate, and in one line it would appear to be equivalent to firmament or heavens; “et mundi speciem violare serenam,” iv. 138. Cicero, in his treatise De Natura Deorum, generally uses the term mundus in the sense of universe, as in ii. 22, 37, 58 and 154; while in one passage, ii. 132, it would appear to be employed in the more limited sense of the earth. It occasionally occurs in the Fasti of Ovid, but it is not easy to ascertain its precise import; as in the line “Post chaos, ut primum data sunt tria corpora mundo,” v. 41, where from the connexion it may be taken either in the more confined or in the more general sense. Manilius employs the word very frequently, and his commentators remark, that he uses it in two distinct senses, the visible firmament and the universe; and I am induced to think that he attaches still more meaning to the term. It occurs three times in the first eleven lines of his poem. In the third line, “deducere mundo aggredior,” mundus may be considered as equivalent to the celestial regions as opposed to the earth. In the ninth line, “concessumque patri mundo,” we may consider it as signifying the celestial regions generally; and in the eleventh, “Jamque favet mundus,” the whole of the earth, or rather its inhabitants. We meet with it again in the sixty-eighth line, “lumina mundi,” where it seems more properly to signify the visible firmament; again in the 139th, “Et mundi struxere globum,” it seems to refer especially to the earth, synonymous with the general sense of the English term world; while in the 153rd line, “per inania mundi,” it must be supposed to mean the universe. Hyginus, in his Poeticon Astronomicon, lib. i. p. 55, defines the term as follows: “Mundus appellatur is qui constat in sole et luna et terra et omnibus stellis;” and again, p. 57, “Terra mundi media regione collocata.” We may observe the different designations of the term mundus in Seneca; among other passages I may refer to his Nat. Quæst. vii. 27 & iii. 30; to his treatise De Consol. § 18 and De Benef. iv. 23, where I conceive the precise meanings are, respectively, the universe, the terrestrial globe, the firmament, and the heavenly bodies. The Greek term κόσμος, which corresponds to the Latin word mundus, was likewise employed to signify, either the visible firmament or the universe. In illustration of this, it will be sufficient to refer to the treatise of Aristotle Περὶ Κόσμου, cap. 2. p. 601. See also Stephens’s Thesaurus, in loco. In Apuleius’s treatise De Mundo, which is a free translation of Aristotle’s Περὶ Κόσμου, the term may be considered as synonymous with universe. It is used in the same sense in various parts of Apuleius’s writings: see Metam. ii. 23; De Deo Socratis, 665, 667; De Dogmate Platonis, 574, 575, et alibi.

87 Cicero, in his Timæus, uses the same phraseology; “Omne igitur cœlum, sive mundus, sive quovis alio vocabulo gaudet, hoc a nobis nuncupatum est,” § 2. Pomponius Mela’s work commences with a similar expression; “Omne igitur hoc, quidquid est, cui mundi cœlique nomen indideris, unum id est.” They were probably taken from a passage in Plato’s Timæus, “Universum igitur hoc, Cœlum, sive Mundum, sive quo alio vocabulo gaudet, cognominemus,” according to the translation of Ficinus; Platonis Op. ix. p. 302. The word cœlum, which is employed in the original, in its ordinary acceptation, signifies the heavens, the visible firmament; as in Ovid, Met. i. 5, “quod tegit omnia, cœlum.” It is, in most cases, employed in this sense by Lucretius and by Manilius, as in i. 2. of the former and in i. 14. of the latter. Occasionally, however, it is employed by both of these writers in the more general sense of celestial regions, in opposition to the earth, as by Lucretius, i. 65, and by Manilius, i. 352. In the line quoted by Cicero from Pacuvius, it would seem to mean the place in which the planets are situated; De Nat. Deor. ii. 91. The Greek word οὐρανὸς may be regarded as exactly corresponding to the Latin word cœlum, and employed with the same modifications; see Aristotle, De Mundo and De Cœlo, and Ptolemy, Mag. Const. lib. i. passim; see also Stephens’s Thesaurus, in loco. Aratus generally uses it to designate the visible firmament, as in l. 10, while in l. 32 it means the heavenly regions. Gesner defines cœlum, “Mundus exclusa terra,” and mundus, “Cœlum et quidquid cœli ambitu continetur.” In the passage from Plato, referred to above, the words which are translated by Ficinus cœlum and mundus, are in the original οὐρανὸς and κόσμος; Ficinus, however, in various parts of the Timæus, translates οὐρανὸς by the word mundus: see t. ix. p. 306, 311, et alibi.

88 The following passage from Cicero may serve to illustrate the doctrine of Pliny: “Novem tibi orbibus, vel potius globis, connexa sunt omnia: quorum unus est cœlestis, extimus, qui reliquos omnes complectitur, summus ipse Deus, arcens et continens cœlum;” Som. Scip. § 4. I may remark, however, that the term here employed by our author is not Deus but Numen.

89 We have an interesting account of the opinions of Aristotle on this subject, in a note in M. Ajasson’s translation, ii. 234 et seq., which, as well as the greater part of the notes attached to the second book of the Natural History, were written by himself in conjunction with M. Marcus.

90 The philosophers of antiquity were divided in their opinions respecting the great question, whether the active properties of material bodies, which produce the phænomena of nature, are inherent in them, and necessarily attached to them, or whether they are bestowed upon them by some superior power or being. The Academics and Peripatetics generally adopted the latter opinion, the Stoics the former: Pliny adopts the doctrine of the Stoics; see Enfield’s Hist. of Phil. i. 229, 283, 331.

91 I may remark, that the astronomy of our author is, for the most part, derived from Aristotle; the few points in which they differ will be stated in the appropriate places.

92 This doctrine was maintained by Plato in his Timæus, p. 310, and adopted by Aristotle, De Cœlo, lib. ii. cap. 14, and by Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 47. The spherical form of the world, οὐρανὸς, and its circular motion are insisted upon by Ptolemy, in the commencement of his astronomical treatise Μεγάλη Σύνταξις, Magna Constructio, frequently referred to by its Arabic title Almagestum, cap. 2. He is supposed to have made his observations at Alexandria, between the years 125 and 140 A.D. His great astronomical work was translated into Arabic in the year 827; the original Greek text was first printed in 1538 by Grynæus, with a commentary by Theon. George of Trebisond published a Latin version of it in 1541, and a second was published by Camerarius in 1551, along with Ptolemy’s other works. John Muller, usually called Regiomontanus, and Purback published an abridgement of the Almagest in 1541. For an account of Ptolemy I may refer to the article in the Biog. Univ. xxxv. 263 et seq., by Delambre, also to Hutton’s Math. Dict., in loco, and to the high character of him by Whewell, Hist. of the Inductive Sciences, p. 214.

93 See Ptolemy, ubi supra.

94 This opinion, which was maintained by Pythagoras, is noticed and derided by Aristotle, De Cœlo, lib. ii. cap. 9. p. 462-3. A brief account of Pythagoras’s doctrine on this subject is contained in Enfield’s Philosophy, i. 386.

95 Pliny probably here refers to the opinion which Cicero puts into the mouth of one of the interlocutors in his treatise De Nat. Deor. ii. 47, “Quid enim pulchrius ea figura, quæ sola omnes alias figuras complexa continet, quæque nihil asperitatis habere, nihil offensionis potest, nihil incisum angulis, nihil anfractibus, nihil eminens, nihil lacunosum?”

96 The letter Δ, in the constellation of the triangle; it is named Δελτωτὸν by Aratus, l. 235; also by Manilius, i. 360. We may remark, that, except in this one case, the constellations have no visible resemblance to the objects of which they bear the name.

97 “Locum hunc Plinii de Galaxia, sive Lactea via, interpretantur omnes docti.” Alexandre, in Lemaire, i. 227. It may be remarked, that the word vertex is here used in the sense of the astronomical term zenith, not to signify the pole.

98 De Ling. Lat. lib. iv. p. 7, 8. See also the remarks on the derivation of the word in Gesner, Thes., in loco.

99 “Signifer.” The English term is taken from the Greek word Ζωδιακὸς, derived from Ζῶον; see Aristotle, De Mundo, cap. 2. p. 602. The word Zodiacus does not occur in Pliny, nor is it employed by Ptolemy; he names it λοξὸς κύκλος, obliquus circulus; Magn. Const. i. 7, 13, et alibi. It is used by Cicero, but professedly as a Greek term; Divin. ii. 89, and Arati Phænom. l. 317. It occurs in Hyginus, p. 57 et alibi, and in A. Gellius, 13. 9. Neither signifer taken substantively, nor zodiacus occur in Lucretius or in Manilius.

100 The account of the elements, of their nature, difference, and, more especially, the necessity of their being four, are fully discussed by Aristotle in various parts of his works, more particularly in his treatise De Cœlo, lib. iii. cap. 3, 4 and 5, lib. iv. cap. 5, and De Gener. et Cor. lib. ii. cap. 2, 3, 4 and 5. For a judicious summary of the opinions of Aristotle on this subject, I may refer to Stanley’s History of Philosophy; Aristotle, doctrines of, p. 2. l. 7, and to Enfield, i. 764 et seq. For the Epicurean doctrine, see Lucretius, i. 764 et seq.

101 Although the word planeta, as taken from the Greek πλανήτης, is inserted in the title of this chapter, it does not occur in any part of the text. It is not found either in Lucretius, Manilius, or Seneca, nor, I believe, was it used by any of their contemporaries, except Hyginus, p. 76. The planets were generally styled stellæ erraticæ, errantes, or vagæ, sidera palantia, as in Lucretius, ii. 1030, or simply the five stars, as in Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 51, and in Seneca, Nat. Quæst. vii. 24. Pliny, by including the sun and moon, makes the number seven. Aratus calls them πέντ’ ἄστερες, l. 454.

102 “Aër.” “Circumfusa undique est (terra) hac animabili spirabilique natura, cui nomen est aër; Græcum illud quidem, sed perceptum jam tamen usu a nobis;” Cicero, De Nat. Deor. ii. 91.

103 “universi cardine.” “Revolutionis, ut aiunt, centro. Idem Plinius, hoc ipso libro, cap. 64, terram cœli cardinem esse dicit;” Alexandre, in Lem. i. 228. On this subject I may refer to Ptolemy, Magn. Const, lib. i. cap. 3, 4, 6. See also Apuleius, near the commencement of his treatise De Mundo.

104 “Sidera.” The word sidus is used, in most cases, for one of the heavenly bodies generally, sometimes for what we term a constellation, a particular assemblage of them, and sometimes specially for an individual star. Manilius employs the word in all these senses, as will appear by the three following passages respectively; the first taken from the opening of his poem,

“Carmine divinas artes, et conscia fati

Sidera....”

The second,

“Hæc igitur texunt æquali sidera tractu

Ignibus in varias cœlum laqueantia formas.” i. 275, 276.

The third

“... pectus, fulgenti sidere clarius;” i. 356.

In the Fasti of Ovid, we have examples of the two latter of these significations:—

“Ex Ariadnæo sidere nosse potes;” v. 316.

“Et canis (Icarium dicunt) quo sidere noto

Tosta sitit tellus;” iv. 939, 940.

Lucretius appears always to employ the term in the general sense. J. Obsequens applies the word sidus to a meteor; “sidus ingens cœlo demissum,” cap. 16. In a subsequent part of this book, chap. 18 et seq., our author more particularly restricts the term sidus to the planets.

105 Cicero remarks concerning them; “quæ (stellæ) falso vocantur errantes;” De Nat. Deor. ii. 51.

106 “... vices dierum alternat et noctium, quum sidera præsens occultat, illustrat absens;” Hard. in Lem. i. 230.

107 “ceteris sideribus.” According to Hardouin, ubi supra, “nimium stellis errantibus.” There is, however, nothing in the expression of our author which sanctions this limitation.