52 MEMOIR OF PLINY 



lings, &C M with the influence of the moon on " vn- 

 timely trauells," and conclude with his philosophi- 

 cal reflections on man. The following are the re- 

 marks which suggest themselves to him on a re- 

 view of the whole subject. " I am abashed much, 

 and very sory to thinke and consider what a poore 

 and ticklish beginning man hath, the proudest crea- 

 ture of all others, when the smell only of the snuffe 

 of a candle put out, is the cause ofttimes that he pe- 

 rishe in the wombe ; and yet, see these great tyrants, 

 and such as delight only in carnage and bloudshed, 

 haue no better origina), Thou, then, that presumest 

 vpon thy bodily strength, thou that standest so much 

 vpon fortune's fauours, and hast thy hands full of 

 her bountifull gifts ; thou, I say, that busiest thy head 

 euermore, and settest thy minde vpon conquests and 

 victories; thou that art, vpon euerie good successe 

 and gale of prosperity, puffed up with pride, and 

 takest thyself for a god, neuer thinkest that thy life, 

 when it was hung vpon so single a thred, with so 

 small a matter might haue miscarried. Nay more, 

 euen at this day thou art in more danger than so, 

 if thou chance to be but stung or bitten with the 

 little tooth of a serpent ; or if but the very kernell of 

 a raisin goe downe thy throat wrong, as it did with 

 the poet Anacreon ; or, as Fabius, a senator of Rome, 

 ventured to swallow a small haire, which strangled 

 him. Of all other creatures, Nature hath brought 

 forth man bare, and cloathed him with the good and 

 riches of others. To all the rest she hath giuen suf- 



