LIFE AND WEITINGS OF PLINT. XIX 



that he states that the first^ thing in which mankind agreed, 

 was the use of the Ionian alphabet ; the second, the practice 

 of shaving^ the beard, and the employment of barbers ; and 

 the third, the division of time into hours. 



"We cannot more appropriately conclude this review of 

 the Life and Works of Pliny, than by quoting the opinions 

 of two of the most eminent philosophers of modern times, 

 Buflbn and Cuvier ; though the former, it must be admitted, 

 has spoken of him in somewhat too high terms of commen- 

 dation, and in instituting a comparison between Pliny's work 

 and those of Aristotle, has placed in juxtaposition the names 

 of two men who, beyond an ardent thirst for knowledge, had 

 no characteristics in common. 



"Pliny," says BufTon', "has worked upon a plan which 

 is much more extensive than that of Aristotle, and not im- 

 probably too extensive. He has made it his object to em- 

 Drace every subject ; indeed he would appear to have taken 

 the measure of Nature, and to have found lier too contracted 

 for his expansive genius. His * Natural History,' inde- 

 pendently of that of animals, plants, and minerals, includes 

 an account of the heavens and the earth, of medicine, com- 

 merce, navigation, the liberal and mechanical arts, the 

 origin of usages and customs, in a word, the history of all the 

 natural sciences and all the arts of human invention. What, 

 too, is still more astonishing, in each of these departments 

 Pliny shows himself equally great. The grandeur of his 

 ideas and the dignity of his style confer an additional lustre 

 on the profoundjQess of his erudition ; not only did he know 

 all that was known in his time, but he was also gifted with 

 that comprehensiveness of view which in some measure mid- 

 tiplies knowledge. He had all that delicacy of perception 

 upon which depend so materially both elegance and taste, 

 and he communicates to his readers that freedom of thought 

 and that boldness of sentiment, which constitute the true 

 germ of philosophy. His work, as varied as Nature herself, 

 always paints her in her most attractive colours. It is, so to 

 say, a compilation from all that had been written before his 



» B. Tii. c. 58, 59, 60. 



' Mankind must surely have agreed before this in making the instru- 

 ments employed in shaving. 



" Discours Premier sur I'Histoire Naturelle." 



hi 



