PLINY, plin'y (GAIUS Pultrus Seamus), commonly called Pliny the Elder, Roman au thor: b. Novum Comum, 23 A.D. ; d. Stabim, 79 A.D. He came to Rome at an early age where he availed himself of the best teachers. He served in Germany under Dominus Corbulo and Pornponius Secundus, and obtained the command of a troop of cavalry. During the intervals of his military duties he composed the treatise 'De Jaculatione Equestri,' and began a 'History of the Germanic War.> which he subsequently completed in 20 books. Appar ently he fought in the Jewish war and was made procurator of Syria. It is known that he was also appointed procurator of the emperor in Spain. His nephew, Pliny the Younger (q.v.), has left an account of his life at this period, which was one of constant study. He made extracts from all the books he read or had read to him, and at his death left his nephew 160 volumes of these notes. His 'Natural History,' compiled from materials ac cumulated in this way, was published about 77. This is his only extant work. He perished in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which over whelmed Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79. The Naturali0 is divided into 37 books, and is, according to his own account, a com pilation from upward of 2,000 volumes. It em braces the domain of natural history in the widest sense, including astronomy, geography and meteorology. It even goes beyond what
natural history in any sense would include- treating of the fine arts and human institutions and inventions. The first edition was pub ished at Venice in 1469. The edition of Har douin 1685 is the first critical edition. The edi tion of Panckoake (1829-33), with a French translation, and notes by eminent modern naturalists and scientific men, including Cuvier, is of great value. The best editions of the text are those of Sillig (1851-58) and Detlefsen (1866-73). Pliny was translated into English by Philemon Holland (1601, two vols. folio). There is a translation (1855) in Bohn's Classic Library by Bostock and Riley. Pliny has been the chief source from which historians have obtained color and detail to embellish their de scriptions of life at the opening of the Chris tian era. While his accumulations were not scientific in the modern sense, and while he did not have the trained sense of a modern encyclopedist, yet he was an indefatigable worker, and has passed on to the modern a vast amount of early erudition which otherwise would have been lost. Consult Mayhof's re publication of Jan's 1875 edition of Pliny's works (1909).