OF THE UNIVERSE. ROMAN EMPIRE. 



197 



viz., that of a comparative study of nature. The germs of 

 such higher views, not merely orographic, but truly geo- 

 gnostic, were to be found in Eratosthenes and Strabo ; but 

 the works of the former were made use of by Pliny only in 

 one instance, and those of the latter not at all. Nor has he 

 learned from Aristotle's anatomical history of animals, either 

 the division into great classes based upon the principal diver- 

 sities of internal organisation, or the method of induction, 

 the only safe means of generalisation of results. 



Commencing with pantheistic contemplations and con- 

 siderations, Pliny descends from the celestial spaces to 

 terrestrial objects. Eecognising the necessity of presenting 

 the powers and the majesty of nature (naturae vis atque 

 majestas) as a great and concurrent whole, (I refer here to 

 the motto on the title of my work), he aWb distinguishes, 

 in the beginning of the third book, between general and 

 special geography ; but this distinction is soon again for- 

 gotten and neglected when he plunges into the dry nomen- 

 clature of countries, mountains, and rivers. The greater 

 part of books viii. to xxvii., xxxiii. and xxxiv., xxxvi. and 

 xxxvii. is filled with catalogues of the three kingdoms of 

 nature. The younger Pliny, in one of his letters, charac- 

 terises his uncle's work with great justness as "a work 

 learned and full of matter; no less various than nature 

 herself (opus diffusum, eruditum, nee minus varium quam 

 ipsa natura)." Much which has been made a subject of 

 reproach to Pliny as needless and extraneous admixture, I 

 am inclined to regard rather as deserving of praise. I view 

 with particular pleasure the frequent references which he 

 makes, with evident predilection, to the influence of nature 



