INTRODUCTION 



point out (1) that identification is often uncertain ; 

 (2) that we may know the genus, but not the species 

 of the plant mentioned, and (3) that a leaf is often 

 both fleshy and glossy. 



On the whole, perhaps " fleshy " is the best trans- 

 lation, except in cases where another rendering is 

 obviously desirable. 



Words signifying colours are very troublesome in 

 the botanical parts of Phny ; niger, candidus, alhus, 

 purpureus, bewilder the translator nearly every time 

 they occur. 



I have used " black " and " white " unless there is 

 something in the context that makes " dark " and 

 " hght " more appropriate ; the comparative ?iigrior, 

 for instance, is more hkely to be " darker " than 

 " blacker " when apphed to leaves or stalks. 



Phny has quite a long section (IX, 124-141) deaUng 

 vvith purpura. It is plain from this that the colour 

 referred to was usually a deep red tinged with more 

 or less blue, our " purple " in fact, the most esteemed 

 variety being hke clotted blood. There were many 

 shades of it, a common one being bright red. 



The word purpureus covered a very wide range of 

 meanings ; Pliny applies it to the violet (XXI, 64), 

 to plums (XX, 41), to figs (XV, 69) and to lettuce 

 (probably a form of headed lettuce) (XIX, 126). 

 The last suggests our " brown cos " and " continu- 

 ity." In books XX-XXVII Pliny is mostly trans- 

 lating Greek, and TTopcfivpeos seems to be a some- 

 what wider term than purpureus, which is Phny's 

 equivalent. To these elements of uncertainty 

 must be added the possibihty that flowers may 

 have varied their shades in the last two thousand 



xiii 



