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BOHN’S CLASSICAL LIBRARY.
PLINY’S
NATURAL HISTORY.
TRANSLATED,
WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
MDCCCLV.
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
The only translation of Pliny’s Natural History whichhas hitherto appeared in the English language is that byPhilemon Holland, published in the latter part of the reignof Elizabeth. It is no disparagement to Holland’s merits,as a diligent and generally faithful translator, to say thathis work is unsuited to the requirements of the nineteenthcentury.
In the present translation, the principal editions ofPliny have been carefully consulted, and no pains havebeen spared, as a reference to the Notes will show, topresent to the reader the labours of recent Commentators,among whom stands pre-eminent the celebrated Cuvier. Ithas been a primary object to bring to the illustration of thework whatever was afforded by the progress of knowledgeand modern discoveries in science and art. Without ampleillustration, Pliny’s valuable work would want much of theinterest which belongs to it, and present difficulties scarcelysurmountable by any one who has not made the Author hisespecial study.
In the first two Books, the text of Hardouin, as given inLemaire’s edition (Paris, 1827), has been followed; in theviremainder that of Sillig (Gotha, 1851-3), excepting in somefew instances, where, for reasons given in the Notes, ithas been deemed advisable to depart from it. The firsttwo Books, and portions of others, are the performance ofthe late Dr. Bostock, who contemplated a translation ofthe entire work; but, unfortunately for the interests ofscience, he was not permitted to carry his design intoexecution.
Upwards of a hundred pages had been printed off beforethe present Translator entered on his duties; and as theyhad not the advantage of Dr. Bostock’s superintendencethrough the press, some trifling oversights have occurred.These are, for the most part, corrected in a short Appendix.
Caius Plinius Secundus was born either at Verona orNovum Comum1, now Como, in Cisalpine Gaul, in the yearA.U.C. 776, and A.D. 23. It is supposed that his earlier yearswere spent in his native province; and that he was still ayouth when he removed to Rome, and attended the lecturesof the grammarian Apion. It was in about his sixteenth