46 MEMOIR OF PLINY. 



in many places his diction is marked by an obscurity 

 which arises less from the subject than from a desire 

 of appearing sententious and condensed. 



As to his general plan, Pliny is wonderfully regu- 

 lar and methodical, considering the enormous number 

 and diversity of topics which his work embraces. It 

 was not merely a Natural History that he undertook 

 to compose, in the restricted sense in which we em- 

 ploy the phrase at the present day ; that is, a treatise 

 more or less detailed, respecting animals, plants, and 

 minerals ; his project was far more comprehensive, 

 including astronomy, geography, physics, agricul- 

 ture, commerce, medicine, and the arts, as well as 

 natural science properly so called. Moreover, he 

 continually mingles with his remarks on these sub- 

 jects a variety of observations relative to the moral 

 constitution of man, and the history of nations. 



The work is divided into thirty-seven books, and 

 is dedicated, as already mentioned, to Vespasian ; 

 although some French writers have supposed, from 

 the change of style and other internal evidence, 

 that the dedication was not written by Pliny. The 

 first book gives merely a kind of summary or table 

 of contents, and the names of the authors who are 

 to supply him with facts and materials. The second 

 book treats of the universe ; the form, figure, and 

 motions of the heavens ; the seven planets, in the 

 midst of which moves the sun, the ruler of all things ; 

 the four elements, fire, air, earth, and water ; the 

 nature of the fixed stars ; eclipses of the sun arid 



