INTRODUCTION 



erroneous and even absurd have now in not a few 

 cases been curroborated by modern research. The 

 book is valuable as an anthropological document : 

 it is a storehouse of scattered facts exhibiting the 

 history of mans reaction to his environment — the 

 gradual growth of accurate observation, of syste- 

 matic nomenclature and of classification, i.e. of 

 Natural Science. 



PHny's own general attitude towards life, Hke that 

 of other educated men of his day, may be styled 

 a moderate and rational Stoicism. 



A vnvid account of his authorship written by his 

 nephew mav be appended here. The younger 

 PHnv in reply to an enquiry from a friend, a great 

 admirer of his uncle, gives (Episfles. III, v) a full 

 Hst of his works, numl^ering seven in all and filling 

 102 libri or volumes. Of these the Naturae historiarum 

 (liLri) tripnta septem is the latest. He calls it (S 6) 

 opus diffusum, eriiditum, nec viinus variiim qriam ipsa 

 natura ; and he goes on to describe by what m.eans a 

 busv lawyer, engrossed in important afFairs and the 

 friend of princes, contrived to find time for all this 

 authorship (§7): ' He had a keen intelHgence, in- 

 crcdible devotion to study, and a remarkable capacity 

 for dispensing wth sleep. His method was to start 

 during the last week of August rising by candlelight 

 and long before daybreak, not in order to take 

 auspices but to study ; and in winter he got to work 

 at one or at latest two a.m., and frequently at 

 12 p.m. He was indeed a very ready sleeper, some- 

 times dropping ofF in the middle of his studies and 

 then waking up again. Before dawn he used to 

 wait on the Emperor Vespasian, who also worked 

 during the night ; and then he went off to the duty 



