PLINY: NATURAL HISTORY 



suspendendo lectulos quorum iactatu aut morbos 

 extemiaret aut somnos adliceret, iam balneas avidis- 

 sima hominum cupidine instituendo et alia multa dictu 

 grata atque iucunda, magna auctoritate nec minore 



15 fama, cum occurrisset ignoto funeri, relato homine 

 ab rogo atque servato, ne quis levibus momentis 

 tantam conversionem factam existimet. id solum 

 possumus indignari, unum hominem e levissima gente 

 sine opibus ullis orsum vectigalis sui causa repente 

 leges salutis humano generi dedisse, quas tamen 



16 postea abrogavere multi. Asclepiaden adiuvere 

 multa in antiquorum cura nimis anxia et rudia, ut 

 obruendi aegros veste sudoresque omni modo ciendi, 

 nunc corpora ad ignes torrendi solesve adsiduo 

 quaerendi, in urbe nimbosa, immo vero tota Italia 

 imperatrice,^ tum primum pensili balinearum usu ad 

 infinitum blandiente. praeterea in quibusdam mor- 



17 bis medendi cruciatus detraxit, ut in anginis, quas 



^ imperatrice codd., vulg. : imbrium creatrice lanu-s : 

 imitatrice Detlefsen : nimborum altrice coni. SUlig : imbrici- 

 trice Mayhoff : immo — imperatrice uncis inclusit Urlich-s. 



" Either revolution in medical practice or change in public 

 opinion. See § 13. Leiibus momentis might mean " vrith slight 

 effects". 



* Urlichs is very likely right in putting within brackets the 

 words immo . . . imperatrice. It reads like a marginal com- 

 ment that has crept into the text. None of the proposed 

 emendations of imperatrice are convincing, nor do they 

 explain how the supposed corruption has arisen. So I keep 

 the reading of all the ]MSS., which may have been written by 

 Pliny in one of his wilder fiights of fancy : " Italy may rule 

 the world, but it cannot control the weather." liicidentally 

 the passage throws strange light on the climate of ancient 

 Italy, or indicates that even in Rome people grumbled at the 

 weather. 



276 



