C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 A.D.)

Pliny the Elder, or the Naturalist (Caius Plinius Secundus) (plin’ē). A celebrated Roman compiler of encyclopædic knowledge; born at Novum Comum, the modern Como, 23 A.D.; died 79 A.D. He wrote a ‘Natural History’ in 37 books, compiled, as the author states in the preface, from more than 2,000 volumes. He begins with physics and astronomy, which occupy books 1 and 2; books 3–6 treat of geography; books 7–19 treat of man, the animal kingdom, and plants; in books 20–32 the author notes the medicinal properties of plants; the remaining books are devoted to mineralogy and the medicinal uses of minerals, and to fine art and anecdotes of artists. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).

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