Atlantis Online
March 29, 2024, 09:39:12 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Update About Cuba Underwater Megalithic Research
http://www.timstouse.com/EarthHistory/Atlantis/bimini.htm
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

PLINY The Elder

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: PLINY The Elder  (Read 1592 times)
0 Members and 48 Guests are viewing this topic.
Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« on: May 30, 2007, 08:13:22 am »





                                                                 P L I N Y
 
                                                           T H E   E L D E R
 

YOUTH

Gaius Plinius Secundus -or, to use his English name, Pliny- was born in 23 or 24 at Novum Comum (modern Como), a small city in the region known as Gallia Transpadana. We do not know much about his family, except for the fact that he had a sister, and that his father was wealthy enough to be a member of the equestrian class, which means that he possessed at least 400,000 sesterces (100,000 normal day wages). 

As a result, Pliny was able to study, and in the 30's he was in Rome. In his Natural history, the encyclopedia that he was to write forty years later, he recalls several incidents of which he had been an eyewitness. For example, when he describes the statue known as the Apoxyomenos of Lysippus, he tells this.

It was dedicated by Marcus Agrippa in front of his Baths. Tiberius also much admired this statue   and removed the Apoxyomenos to his bedroom, substituting a copy. But the people of Rome were so indignant about this that they staged a protest in the theater, shouting 'Bring back the Apoxyomenos!' And so despite his passion for it, Tiberius was obliged to replace the original statue.
[Natural history 34.62;

Was the boy present during in the theater? We can not be certain, but it is certainly possible. 
 
Like all Roman boys, Pliny had to study rhetoric, which is essentially the art to speak in public. However, since a speech is only convincing when the speaker looks reliable, there was a lot more to rhetoric than only speaking: it was a complete program of good manners and general knowledge. After 37, Pliny's teacher was Publius Pomponius Secundus, who was regarded as the best tragic poet of his age, and sometimes stayed at the imperial court of Caligula and Claudius. Pliny considered Caligula's wife a parvenue.

I have seen Lollia Paulina  celebrating her betrothal covered with alternating emeralds an pearls, which glittered all over her head, hair, ears, neck and fingers, to the value of 50 million sesterces. She was ready, at the drop of a hat, to give written proof of her ownership of the gems.

Pomponius gave Pliny the connections that were needed to make a career, and is probably responsible for his pupil's odd style of writing. 
 
The Low Countries

In 45, when he was twenty-one years old, Pliny left Italy and went to Gallia Belgica, where he served as military tribune. This administrative office was a very common step in the career of a young men of the senatorial or equestrian order, especially when they aspired to a position in the government of the empire. Pliny, however, developed a liking of the military, and was soon promoted to prefect of a cavalry unit. He was a fighting officer. His unit was stationed at Xanten (Castra Vetera) in Germania Inferior on the Lower Rhine. One day, he must have lost the bridle of his horse, because after many centuries, it was found back by archaeologists. 
 
In 47, the new commander of the army of the lower Rhine, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, arrived, and invaded the country of the Frisians and Chauci along the Wadden Sea. It is possible that the two men already knew each other, because Corbulo's sister had been married to Caligula. However this may be, Pliny's unit took part in this campaign. Later, he recalled Lake Flevo, which the Romans had had to cross before they reached the country of the Frisians and Chauci:
The shores are occupied by oaks which have a vigorous growth rate, and these trees, when undermined by the waves or driven by blasts of wind, carry away vast islands of soil trapped in their roots. Thus balanced, the oak-trees float in an upright position, with the result that our fleets gave often been terrified by the 'wide rigging' of their huge branches when they have been driven by the waves -almost deliberately it would seem- against the bows of ships riding at anchor for the night; consequently, our ships have had no option but to fight a naval battle against trees!   
 
 The campaign was successful. The Frisians and Chauci surrendered, and Corbulo was already building a fort for a garrison, when he received an order that he had to return. We do not know why the emperor Claudius issued this order, but it is probable that he did not want to get involved in a war in Germania when the conquest of Britain had not been completed.

Pliny seems to have stayed in the Rhine army for some time, because in 50/51, he took part in the campaign against the Chatti, a tribe that lived opposite Mainz. His commander was his former teacher Publius Pomponius Secundus. It was a remarkable campaign, not in the least because the Romans discovered in the Germanic villages several old slaves, who turned out to be former Roman soldiers taken captive in the battle in the Teutoburg Forest, forty years before. During this campaign, Pliny visited the thermal sources at Wiesbaden and the sources of the Danube.

In these years, Pliny wrote his first book, a short treatise on spear throwing from horseback, now lost. It has been assumed that he had seen how the Germans threw spears, and wanted to learn this technique to his fellow Romans.

In 52, he was Italy. He was probably escorting Pomponius to Rome. Pliny was present when the emperor Claudius organized a very special spectacle:

I have seen Agrippina, the wife of the emperor Claudius, at a show where he was presenting a naval battle, seated by him, wearing a military cloak made entirely of gold cloth.
 
This naval battle took place on the Fucine lake, and Pliny tells us that Claudius had drained this large lake by digging a channel through a mountain. The author of the Natural history was impressed by the operations, which had been carried out in darkness.
In these years, Pliny wrote a second book, The Life of Pomponius Secundus. Probably, the teacher had died, and the pupil felt he owed this book as an act of homage to Pomponius. From a literary point of view, this was an important work, because the Romans had not yet developed the biographical genre.

Pliny returned to the Rhine army, and wrote a long History of the Germanic wars in twenty volumes. His nephew Pliny the Younger tells about his uncle:

He began this during his military service in Germania, as the result of a dream; in his sleep he saw standing over him the ghost of Drusus, who had triumphed far and wide in Germania and died there. He committed his memory to my uncle's care, begging him to save from the injustice of oblivion.

It is not known when Pliny published this work, but it is intriguing that he states that Drusus, the father of the emperor Claudius, had to be saved from oblivion. Is this a silent commentary on Claudius' unambituous Germanic policy? Did Pliny try to influence the new emperor Nero, hoping that he would renew Drusus' program to move the frontier from the Rhine to the Elbe?
In these years, Pliny also met Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the son of another Titus Flavius Vespasianus. Both men were to rule as emperors: father Vespasian from 69 to 79, his son Titus from 79 to 81.

In 59, Pliny returned to Italy, thirty-six years old. A remarkable man, already: the author of three books, and a bachelor. A serious man, who had trained himself to live with the minimum of sleep, and wanted the world to benefit from his knowledge. He may have had some ambitions when he arrived in Rome, and could expect an appointment as procurator. However, things turned out differently.

                                                                                                           continued >
   
Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2007, 08:24:02 am »





PLINY THE ELDER                                                                                           continued 
 
 
 
Scholar

When Pliny returned to Rome in 59, he was thirty-six years old, a reliable officer in search for a new occupation. A procuratorship would have been possible. However, this did not happen. We do not know why. Of course, his patron Pomponius was dead, but Pliny was a veteran officer and had published two important books on military matters and a biography, so it is not exaggerated to say that he was "someone". He did not really need a patron to proceed his career.

The real reason must have been a change in the political climate. Claudius was by now dead, Nero was in the fifth year of his reign, and other rules applied. Under the old emperor, historians had been welcome, but Nero was more interested in musicians, singers, dancers, and other performers. 59 was the year in which Nero disgraced himself by giving a recital - something a member of a royal family simply was not supposed to do. This was not the kind of court in which the serious veteran could play a role.

Perhaps, Pliny understood that worse was to come. A performing emperor was not only a disgrace to his high office, but also a danger to the quality of government. There were rumors that Nero had murdered his mother. Pliny must have known that he was not the man to cope with this type of situation. He retired from public life -after all, he was a wealthy man- and devoted his talents to the study of literature. The result is described by Pliny the Younger: three books.

The Scholar - three volumes divided into six sections on account of their length, in which he trains the orator from his cradle and brings him to perfection.

Problems in grammar - eight volumes; this he wrote during Nero's last years when the slavery of the times made it dangerous to write anything at all independent or inspired.
 
A Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus - thirty-one volumes.
[Pliny the Younger, Letters, 3.5.5-6;

As the younger Pliny seems to admit, these were not "independent or inspired" works. The Scholar was a haphazard collection of incidents and suggestions, which was quoted ironically by the great rhetorician Quintilian, and forgotten. The same fate befell the works of the man who had taught Pliny rhetoric, Pomponius Secundus. The style of writing of Pliny and his master were considered strange, and we may assume that the Problems in Grammar suffered the same fate. The Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus must have dealt with the years after 47 (the year in which Pliny had taken part in the campaign against the Chauci), and was not finished when Nero died.
Meanwhile, Pliny had become uncle. His sister Plinia had given birth to a son, Gaius Caecilius Secundus (62). Unfortunately, the boy's father Lucius Caecilius died soon after, and Pliny, who had no wife and children, would adopt his nephew (posthumously). As was usual, the young men would adopt his uncle's name and become known as Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, or, to use his English name, Pliny the Younger. He was educated in his uncle's Roman house.

In the meantime, the political situation was deteriorating. Nero was becoming more and more of a tyrant and many people were killed, or forced to commit suicide, as was the fate of Corbulo, the general whom Pliny had served. In 68, the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gaius Julius Vindex, revolted, but the general of the army of the middle Rhine, Lucius Verginius Rufus (a friend of Pliny), suppressed the rebellion. However, the Senate declared that Nero was an enemy of the state and proclaimed Servius Sulpicius Galba, an ally of Vindex, emperor. Nero committed suicide.

This was the beginning of a terrible civil war. Galba despised the soldiers of the Rhine army, who first offered the throne to Verginius Rufus (who refused) and then to the general of the army of the lower Rhine, Aulus Vitellius. Galba panicked, made mistakes, and was lynched by soldiers of the imperial guard, which placed a rich senator named Marcus Salvius Otho on the throne, but he was defeated by the army of Vitellius. He had only just reached Rome, when the news arrived that in the east, where the Romans were fighting a war against the Jews, another general had revolted: Vespasian, the father of Pliny's friend Titus. The armies of the Danube immediately sided with the new pretender and defeated Vitellius' army.
 
All this happened in 69. A very incomplete incomplete inscription from Aradus suggests that Pliny was in the east, perhaps serving as Titus' comrade in arms, but he may also have been in the city. He must have heard eyewitnesses about the death of Galba, he must have seen how Vitellius entered Rome, he must have seen how the Capitol was afire. This must have been the subject matter of the Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus, and it is likely that Pliny's history influenced the Histories of his younger contemporary Tacitus.
 
Procurator and prefect

Because he was befriended with the new emperor and his son Titus, Pliny suddenly had a spectacular career: he obtained several procuratorships, which took him through the entire western part of the Roman world. In 70, he was in Gallia Narbonensis, in 72 in Africa, in 73 in Hispania Terraconensis, and in 75 in Gallia Belgica. During the two first jobs, Pliny was not only responsible for the emperor's personal possessions and finances, but also for the administration of justice. During the two last procuratorships, Pliny was responsible for all taxes of his provinces.
He was never in Rome and can not have done much for the education of his nephew. A guardian was appointed: Verginius Rufus, the man who in 68 had refused the throne. To him, there was no chance upon a further career, and he founded a literary salon. It had several important members, such as the famous orator Nicetes of Smyrna, who became the younger Pliny's teacher in Greek and rhetoric.

On his return from Gallia Belgica, where he must have interviewed people who had witnessed the Batavian revolt (69-70), Pliny must have finished the Continuation of the History of Aufidius Bassus. Perhaps the work was dedicated to the emperor, because Pliny now belonged to the emperor's advisory council and had a function in the imperial palace, the Golden House. We do not know his function, but the prefecture of the fire brigade (the vigiles) is a possibility. The younger Pliny, who seems to have been living in the elder Pliny's urban residence, was impressed:

He would rise half-way through the night; in winter it would often be at midnight or an hour later, and two at the latest. Admittedly, he fell asleep very easily, and would often doze and wake up again during his work. Before daybreak he would visit the emperor Vespasian (who also made use of his nights) and then go to attend to his official duties. On returning home, he devoted his spare time to his work. After something to eat (his meals during the day were light and simple in the old-fashioned way), in summer when he was not too busy he would often lie in the sun, and a book was read aloud while he made notes and extracts. He made extracts of everything he read, and always said that there was no book so bad that some good could not be got out of it.
   After his rest in the sun he generally took a cold bath, and then ate something and had a short sleep; after which he worked till dinner time as if he started on a new day. A book was read aloud during the meal and he took rapid notes.

[Pliny the Younger, Letters, 3.5.8-12;
tr. B. Radice]
The next stage in Pliny's career was a military function again: he was made prefect of one of the two Roman navies. It was stationed at Misenum, and Pliny was responsible for the safety of the entire western half of the Mediterranean. He must have been a terribly busy man, but he was able to finish an encyclopedia, the Natural history, which contained all knowledge he had, both from reading and from autopsy. It was dedicated to his friend Titus, and was
written for the masses, for the horde of farmers and artisans, and, finally, for those who have time to devote time to these pursuits.

[Natural history, Preface 6;
tr. J.F. Healy]
We will discuss this work, which was published in 77, below.
In August 79, Pliny's sister and her son were staying with him at Misenum, when the Vesuvius became active. On the twenty-fourth, after he had been out in the sun and had taken a bath, Plinia drew the admiral's attention to the umbrella-shaped cloud. Pliny the Younger says:

My uncle's scholarly acumen saw at once that it was important enough for closer inspection, and he ordered a fast boat to be made ready, telling me I could come with him if I wished. I replied that I preferred to go on with my studies, and as it happened he had given me some writing to do.

[Pliny the Younger, Letters 6.16.37
tr. B. Radice]
However, the admiral changed his mind. What had begun in a spirit of inquiry, became a humanitarian mission. He gave orders for the warships to be launched, so that the people from the towns around the volcano could be evacuated. But it was impossible to reach the far side of the bay, and Pliny landed at Stabiae, where he spend the night with a friend named Pomponianus. However, he died during the evacuation; the exact cause of his death is unknown, but it seems that he was asthmatic and overcome by the sulphurous fumes.
In this way the elder Pliny died. His nephew erected a literary epitaph, when he wrote:

The fortunate man, in my opinion, is he to whom the gods have granted the power either to do something which is worth recording or to write what is worth reading, and most fortunate of all is he who can do both. Such a man was my uncle.
 
[Pliny the Younger, Letters 6.16.3;
tr. B. Radice] 
 
                                                                                                          continued >
Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.
Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2007, 08:39:46 am »





PLINY THE ELDER                                                                                 continued

 
 
The Natural history

"There is no book so bad that some good can not be got out of it," Pliny the Elder used to say, and he read everything that he could obtain. His nephew Pliny the Younger gives an indication how devoted his uncle was to reading and studying, which was like working to him.
The only time he took from his work was for his bath, and by bath I mean his actual immersion, for while he was being rubbed down and dried he had a book read to him or dictated notes. When traveling he felt free from other responsibilities to give every minute to work; he kept a secretary at his side with book and notebook; and in winter saw that his hands were protected by long sleeves, so that even bitter weather should not rob him of a working hour. For the same reason, too, he used to be carried about Rome in a chair. I can remember how he scolded me for walking; according to him I need not have wasted those hours, for he thought any time wasted which was not devoted to work. It was this application which enabled him to finish all those volumes [of the Natural history].
[Pliny the Younger, Letters 3.5.14
 
Titus
 
(Louvre, Paris) Seeing the elder Pliny's maniacal working habits, one starts to understand why he remained unmarried.

The Natural history, which was dedicated to Titus in 77, was, according to the author's nephew, "a learned and comprehensive work as full of variety as nature itself". The same sentiment is expressed in the last line of the encyclopedia:

Greetings, Nature, mother of all creation, show me your favor in that I alone of Rome's citizens have praised you in all your aspects.
[Natural history 37.205;
tr. J. Healy]

This line is crucial to understanding the text, which is above all a Roman text. In fact, Pliny is romanizing science, which had until then been a Greek territory. Pliny's sometimes irritating polemics against Greek silliness are part and parcel of his project. At the same time, he really tries to offer descriptions of every aspect of the world. And it must be said: Pliny lives up to the expectations. In thirty-seven volumes, he does describe the full complexity of nature. And more than that, because in Pliny's view, which was common in Antiquity, "nature" includes things that we would call "culture".
He deals with the entire creation, which is, in the author's stoic view fundamentally good because it is made by God. Another aspect of this encyclopedia that may cause some surprise to the modern reader, is the use of the word "history", which does not mean that Pliny is interested in the past (although he is), but means "research". The Latin title Historia naturalis could best be translated as "Research of the creation".

The encyclopedia is a marvelous text. Pliny offers all kinds of information critically, mentions his sources, and often sees the fun of certain things. For example, in his catalogue of people who have reached a venerable old age, he mentions one man from Bologna who died when he was 150 years old - at least, he had been a tax payer for 150 years.

The text has some structure. The first book is a catalogue of sources, which is followed by two groups of eighteen books. The first set is a description of nature, the second set describes nature in its relation to mankind. Within the books, there is no real recognizable system, and one must not be surprised to find a description of navigation in the book on horticulture. (After all, sails are made of linen.)
 

Contents of the Natural history

Book 1: table of contents and bibliography 

 
Book 2: cosmology, astronomy and meteorology

A.o. the sky, signs of the zodiac, the four elements, sun, the search for god, fortune, the power of the gods, the planets, eclipses of moon and sun, an eulogy of the first scientists, estimates of the distances between planets, comets, comets as portents, the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea, meteors, St Elmo's fire, the weather, the eight main winds, whirlwinds, thunder, lightning and its effects, miraculous celestial happenings, rainbows, mother earth, the spherical shape of the earth, oceans, the circumnavigation of the world, sunrise and sunset, the sun's altitude, the hours of daylight, sundials, climate and race, earthquakes, historical earthquakes, fire, petroleum, naphtha, volcanoes, the circumference of the earth.
 
 
Book 3: Geography of western and southern Europe
 
A.o. the pillars of Hercules, Hispania, the measurement of distances, Italy, the Tiber, Campania and the bay of Naples, Rome, Sicily.


Book 4: Geography of eastern and northern Europe

A.o., Greece, the Peloponnese, the Black Sea, the Danube, Scythia, Germania, Britain.


Book 5: Geography of northern Africa and western Asia
 
A.o., Africa, the Atlas, the exploration of Africa (including Hanno), Cyrenaica, the interior of Africa, Egypt, the Nile, Syria, Judaea, the Dead Sea, the Essenes, Palmyra, Asia Minor, Cyprus.

 
Book 6: Geography of the far south and the far east

A.o., the Black Sea, Ecbatana, the Caspian Sea, Scythia and China, size of India, rivers of India, the Indus, Sri Lanka, way of life on Sri Lanka, Babylonia, Arabia, the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, Ethiopia.


Book 7: Anthropology and human physiology
 
A.o., man as the highest species in the order of creation, racial and individual characteristics, the evil eye, fire-walking, the marvels of India and Ethiopia, Pygmies, longevity among the Indians, changes of sex, pregnancy and birth, characteristics that can be transmitted, children, unusual attributes, examples of strength, sight, voice and memory, Julius Caesar, Pompey the Great, outstanding achievements, exceptional intelligent Romans, outstanding scientists and artists, happiness, Augustus, the shortness of life, signs of impending death, the soul, revival of people pronounced dead, sudden death, cremation, belief in an after-life, the discovery of arts and science, technological progress, sundials, clepsydrae.

 
Book 8: Land animals

A.o., elephants, the games of Pompey, snakes, Aristotle as a zoologist, lions, dromedaries and camels, giraffes, the legendary manticore, basilisk, werewolf, crocodiles, hippopotamus, hedgehogs, dogs, the dog and horse of Alexander the Great, horses, bullfights, holy cows, sheep, wool, embroidery and dyeing woolen cloth, apes.


Book 9: Marine animals

A.o., tritons, dolphins, tunny fish, lampreys, cuttlefish, squid, octopuses, crabs, the decay of morality is caused by the produce of the sea, pearls, the pearls of Cleopatra, purple fish, murex, the use of purple robes, the manufacture of purple dye, sponges, sponge diving, oysters.
 
 
Book 10: Birds

A.o., the ostrich, eagle, the eagle as standard of the legion, cocks, geese, swallows, nightingales, talking birds, carrier pigeons, parrots, parakeets, magpies, ravens, aviaries, animal reproduction, the five senses.
 
 
Book 11: Insects
 
A.o., bees, hives, the sources of honey, the organization of bees, honeycombs, drones, queen bees, portents provided by bees, bee-stings, the silk-moth, silk production, comparative zoology, and taxonomy: eyes, heart, anthropoid apes, bad breath of animals. 
 

Book 12 and 13: Exotic trees

A.o., trees and their products, banyan, pepper, ginger-trees, cane-sugar, cotton-tree, resins, frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, balsam, perfumes, palm-trees, figs, papyrus, paper, varieties of paper, history of paper, citrus-wood, aquatic trees.
Book 14: The vine
A.o., Italian trees, the decay of science and the spread of avarice, the vine, viticulture, varieties of vines and wines, Cato in viticulture, successful vineyards, famous wines, physiological effects of wine, Italian wines, foreign wines, regulations relating to wine, retsina, storage of wine, over-indulgence, famous drinkers, beer.
 
 
Book 15: Olive and other fruit trees

A.o., history of the olive-tree and the production of oil, mistaken ideas about the olive tree, uses of oil, Cato's instructions for olive growing, artificial oil, apples, pears, grafts, storage of fruit, figs, stories about figs, cherry-trees, myrtle. 
 
Tomb of the baker Eurysaces
(Rome; ©**)
Book 16: Forest trees and botany
A.o., the Chauci, military decorations, the Rostra, the award of wreaths, acorns, cork-tree, pitch-pine, ivy, aquatic shrubs and reeds, bamboo, rushes, structure of trees, large trees, wood-borers, veneers, mistletoe.


Book 17: Other useful plants
 
A.o., early farming, treatises on agriculture, Cato on buying a farm, farmhouses, choosing a manager, secrets of good farming, grain, pulses, wheat, barley, porridge, milling, bread, bakers at Rome, harvesting corn, the storage of grain.
 
 
Book 18: How to run a farm
 
 
Book 19: Horticulture
 
 
Book 20: Drugs obtained from garden plants

A.o., man's food and plants, cucumbers, onions, garlic, lettuce, cabbage, pennyroyal, poppies, opium.
 
 
Book 21 and 22: Drugs obtained from flowers and herbs

A.o., thyme, bees and honey, helenium, Greek weights and measures.
 
 
Book 23: Drugs obtained from the vine and the walnut

A.o., power of vinegar, walnuts. 

 
Book 24: Drugs obtained from forest trees
 
A.o., trees and remedies obtained from them, medicine, remedies from trees and plants, cork-trees, juniper-trees, tree-moss, resin, ivy, holly and brambles, magical plants.
 
 
Book 25: Drugs obtained from herbs

A.o., plants used in medicine, Mithridates's interest in medicine, Greek writers in herbal medicine, moly, mandrake, hemlock, erigeron and toothache.


Book 26: Diseases and remedies

A.o., new skin diseases, leprosy, ancient medicine, Asclepiades.


Book 27: Drugs obtained from wild plants

In a more or less alphabetic order: a.o., aconite, wormwood, and the potency of drugs.


Book 28: Medicines obtained from man

A.o., remedies obtained from man himself, discussion of language, the power of charms, incantations, superstitions, human saliva, will-power, sexual intercourse, remedies from elephants and lions, milk and butter, fat, suet, marrow, gall, blood, poisons, dandruff, baldness, beauty treatment, soporifics, aphrodisiacs.


Book 29: Medicines obtained from land animals
 
A.o., history of the medical profession (a.k.a. as "a long stiff diatribe against doctors"), Hippocrates of Cos, famous doctors, Cato on doctors, bizarre remedies.


Book 30: Magic

A.o., origins of magic, Zarathustra, Magians.


Book 31: Water
 
A.o., water, sea, water creatures, different kinds of water, poisonous waters, waters with petrifying properties, waters with beneficial properties, prospecting for water, wells, pipes, methods of carrying water, hot springs, desalination, salt, soda, sponges.
 

Book 32: Sea animals

A.o., forces of nature, goby, sting-ray, Ovid on fishing, coral, tortoise, oysters, medical uses of oysters, leeches.
 
 
Book 33: Gold, silver and mercury
 
A.o., man's greed and exploitation of the earth's resources, gold at Rome, weapons, history of the equestrian order, history of coinage, greed and its effect on Roman character, physical properties of gold, its popularity, sources of gold, mining techniques, gold produced from orpiment, gold statues, refining, silver, mercury, medical use of metals, cinnabar, touchstone, mirrors, digression on wealth, changing prices. 
 

Book 34: Metal
 
A.o., history of bronze working, bronze statues, Greek and Roman styles of sculpture, famous statues, colossi, the Colossus of Rhodes, famous Greek sculptors, copper, copper slag and copper compounds used in medicine, iron-ores and smelting, lode-stone, lead, tin, medical use of lead.


Book 35: Earth

A.o., portraiture, paint and a history of painting, the painter's palette, white pigments, black pigments, eminent artists, Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius, Apelles, Aristides, Protogenes, Italian painters, women painters, modeling, use of clay, brick-making, sulphur, bitumen, alum, kaolin and chalk.
 
 
Book 36: Stone

A.o.,  marble, marble statues, sculptors, Phidias, Praxiteles, Scopas, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Laocoon group, veined marbles, marble veneers, marble dressing, granite, obelisks, obelisks at Rome, an obelisk used as gnomon, the pyramids, the sphinx, the tower at Pharos, labyrinths, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, the buildings of Rome, sewers, houses, Nero's Golden House, Scaurus' theater, aqueducts, water supply, magnetite, asbestos, haematite, selenite, onyx, mosaics, glass. A paean to fire and an utterly peculiar story in the very last paragraph.


Book 37: Precious stones

A.o., pearls, myrrhine ware, fluorspar, rock-crystal, Greek accounts of the origin of amber, the truth about amber, gemstones, diamonds, emeralds, beryls, tourmaline, amethysts, sapphires, topaz, rainbow stone, and finally a list of "best ofs", including a praise of Italy and a survey of the world's most expensive products.
Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.
Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2007, 10:24:17 am »





Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.
Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy