76 PLINY THE ELDER. 



read to him, from which he carefully took notes. 

 It was a saying of his, that no treatise was so meagre 

 but that some part of it might afford instruction. 

 Afterwards he usually took a cold bath, ate a little, 

 and slept a very short time. He then resumed his 

 labours till the hour of dinner. These were his or- 

 dinary habits while occupied with his public duties, 

 and amid the tumult of the city. In retirement 

 his studies were still more constant. When travel- 

 ling, he seemed to set all other cares aside, and 

 employ himself in literary occupations. He had a 

 secretary by his side with a book and tablets, his 

 hands in winter protected by gloves, 50 that even the 

 inclemency of the weather should not cause any loss 

 of time. For the same reason, when at Rome, he 

 was carried in a sedan chair. By this continued 

 application he accumulated an almost incredible mass 

 of materials, insomuch that his works, had they been 

 preserved, would have formed a library of themselves. 



But it is very obvious that the study of books, to 

 w^hich alone he seems to have been addicted, cannot 

 impart all the information necessary to constitute a 

 naturalist ; and accordingly the writings of Pliny 

 contain less a description of the objects of which 

 they treat than a compilation of all that had been 

 recorded by observers regarding them. As such, 

 however, they are of considerable value. 



At an early age he went to Rome, where he stu- 

 died under Appion. It does not appear that he could 

 have seen Tiberius, who by this time had retired to 

 Capreae ; but it is probable that he was admitted 

 to the court of Caligula. When twenty-two years 

 of age, he resided some time on the coast of Africa, 

 and afterwards served in the cavalry under Lucius 



