354 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOBY. [Book VIII. 



the little serpents at Tirynthus, 65 which are said to spring from 

 out of the earth. In Syria, also, and especially on the banks 

 of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack the Syrians when 

 they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a native who 

 treads upon them, their venom is not felt ; but to persons of 

 any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely at- 

 tack them, causing a death attended with great torture. On 

 this account, the Syrians never kill them. On the contrary, 

 on Latmos, a mountain 66 of Caria, as Aristotle tells us, strangers 

 are not injured by the scorpions, while the natives are killed 

 by them. But I must now give an account of other animals 

 as well, and of the productions of the earth. 67 



SUMMARY. Eemarkable events, narratives, and observations, 

 seven hundred and eighty-seven. 



HOMAN AUTHORS QUOTED. Mucianus, 68 Procilius, 69 Verrius 

 Elaccus, 70 L. Piso, n Cornelius Yalerianus, 72 Cato the Censor, 73 Fe- 

 nestella, 74 Trogus, 75 the Eegister of the Triumphs, 76 ColumeUa, 77 



65 See B. iv. c. 9, 66 See B. v. c. 31. 



67 More especially of trees, plants, flowers, medicinal substances, metals, 

 and gems, which form the most prominent subjects of the remaining Books 

 after the eleventh, which concludes the account of the animals. B. 



68 See end of B. ii. 



69 A Roman historian, and a contemporary of Cicero. He is thought to 

 have written on early Roman history, as Varro quotes his account of the 

 Curtian Lake, and on the later history of Rome, as we have seen Pliny 

 referring to him in e. 2, respecting Pompey's triumph on his return from 

 Africa. He was held in high estimation by Pomponius Atticus, but seems 

 not to have been so highly esteemed as a writer by Cicero. 



70 See end of B. iii. 7l See end of B. ii. 



72 Of this writer nothing seems to be known. He probably flourished 

 in the reign of Tiberius or Caligula. 



73 See end of B. iii. 



74 A Roman historian, who flourished in the reign of Augustus, and 

 died A.I>. 21, in the seventieth year of his age. His great work was called 

 " Annales," and extended to at least twenty-two books, and seems to have 

 contained much minute, though not always accurate, information with re- 

 gard to the internal affairs of the city ; only a few fragments remain, 

 which bear reference to events subsequent to the Carthaginian wars. He 

 is also thought to have written a work called " Epitomge." A treatise 

 was published at Vienna, in 1510, in two Books, " On the Priesthood and 

 Magistracy of Rome," under the name of Fenestella ; but it is in reality 

 the composition of Andrea Domenico Fiocchi, a Florentine jurist of the 

 fourteenth century. 



75 See end of B. vii. 76 See end of B. v. 



77 L. Junius Moderatus Columella. He was a native of Gades, or Cadiz, 



