THE THIRD BOOK 



HISTORY OF NATURE 



WRITTEN BY 



C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS. 



THE PREFACE. 



we have written of the Position and 

 Wonders of the Earth, Waters, and Stars : also 

 of the Proportion and Measure of the whole 

 World. Now we proceed to the Parts thereof; 

 although this also be judged an infinite Piece 

 of Work, and not lightly to be handled without 

 some Reprehension : and yet in no kind of Enterprise is 

 Pardon more due ; since it is little Wonder, if he who is born 

 a Man knoweth not all Things belonging to Man. And 

 therefore, I will not follow one Author particularly, but 

 every one as I shall think him most true in each Part. Be- 

 cause it hath been common, in a Manner, to them all, to de- 

 scribe the Situations of those Places most exactly, from 

 whence themselves proceeded : and, therefore, neither will I 

 blame nor reprove any Man. The bare Names of Places 

 shall be simply set down ; and that with as much Brevity as 

 I can : the Excellency, as well as the Causes, being deferred 

 to their several Treatises : for now the Question is touching 

 the Earth in general. And, therefore, I would have Things 

 to be taken as if the Names of Countries were put down void 

 of Renown, and such only as they were in the Beginning, 



