PLINIAN PERIOD 17 



gods to shield his fields from the pestilence (Eriksson and 

 Henning, 1896 : 7-9). Thus did the Greek philosophers 

 shrewdly speculate as to the cause of these diseases, 

 while the husbandman dedicated such pests to special 

 gods (Ward, 1901 : 86). (See also Sorauer, 1909 : 38, 39.) 



PLINIAN PERIOD 



The PHnian or Roman period extends from 320 B. C. 

 to about the time of the fall of the Roman Empire in the 

 fifth century (476 A. D.). This period is named for the 

 great Roman encyclopedist, Plinius Secundus, who hved /' 

 from 23 to 79 A. D., and who brought together in his ^ 

 writings the knowledge of his day on natural history 

 (E. L. Greene, 1909 : 155). The ancient Romans 

 placed responsibility for diseases and injuries to their 

 crops, along with their other misfortunes, on the gods or 

 the stars. To quote Pliny, "The evil influence of the 

 stars depei^ds entirely upon the Heavens; on this account 

 there must be included among the effects, hail as well 

 as blight and the injury caused by white frost. The 

 blight especially attacks tender plants, if, enticed by the 

 warmth of spring, they venture to break through the 

 ground, and it singes the juicy buds of germinating plants. 

 In blossoms this is called blasting" (Sorauer TransL, 

 1914:43). 



There is abundant evidence in the writings of Pliny 

 and other Roman authors of this period that plant dis- 

 eases were not only common and destructive but also 

 subjects of study by philosophers and of prayer by far- 

 mers. Pliny's observations on the relative severity of the 

 rust on wheat and barley in ancient Rome were just the 

 opposite from those of Theophrastus in Greece: He holds 

 2 



