RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. XX111 



cular were the utmost advantages afforded. Ani- 

 mals, rare, valuable, and extraordinary, were 

 transported from all parts of the known world 

 to Rome; and the sports of the circus, while 

 they degraded the man, tended to promote a 

 knowledge of the brute. 



It does not, however, appear that Zoology 

 was cultivated among the Romans to even a 

 trifling extent, until the time of Pliny. Whe- 

 ther Seneca the philosopher was addicted to 

 this study or not is uncertain. Pliny is, how- 

 ever, the only Roman naturalist worth notice ; 

 and though far inferior to Aristotle, there is 

 much in his works of considerable value. 

 Like Aristotle he had an expanded mind 

 and an all-grasping genius ; but his powers, 

 though great, were not proportioned to his 

 gigantic enterprises. This much, however, 

 is certain : he may be almost considered as 

 the prototype of Encyclopedists. His ob- 

 ject was to embrace the whole empire of hu- 

 man knowledge as it existed in his times — to 

 learn all, to describe all. This vast project to 

 a certain extent, he may be said to have exe- 

 cuted. Astronomy, the history of men, of 

 plants, and animals ; a description of the libe- 

 ral and mechanical arts, medicine, antiquities, 

 customs, commerce, navigation — all are to be 



