Public-domain ebook
The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 (of 6)
Language: en10,021 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Classics of Literature·History - Ancient·Science - Biology
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #59131.
About this book
The third volume of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History is a pre‑Linnaean survey of the insect world, beginning with a sweeping overview of their diversity and the ancient debates surrounding their respiration and blood. Pliny launches the chapter by cataloguing the myriad forms, winged, wingless, footless, and by marveling at the intricate segmentation that gives insects their name. He then moves from philosophical speculation to detailed observation, describing the fragile yet tenacious bodies of insects, the specialized functions of their senses, and the extraordinary adaptations of creatures such as gnats, beetles, and the wood‑boring teredo. The text proceeds to single out bees, praising their industriousness, social organization, and the products of their labor, before delving into the materials of the hive and the botanical sources of honey and wax. This opening sets a tone of reverent curiosity, inviting readers to follow Pliny’s methodical yet awe‑filled examination of the smallest members of nature.
Written in the expansive, rhetorical style of a first‑century Roman scholar, the work blends empirical description with philosophical reflection. Its language is formal and occasionally digressive, reflecting the encyclopedic ambition of its author. Readers who enjoy the blend of ancient scientific thought, classical prose, and vivid natural observation, particularly those interested in the history of biology, the philosophy of nature, or Roman literature, will find Pliny’s meticulous yet poetic treatment of insects both enlightening and engaging.
Opening lines
shall now proceed to a description of the insects, a subject replete with endless difficulties; 3 for, in fact, there are some authors who have maintained that they do not respire, and that they are destitute of blood. The insects are numerous, and form many species, and their mode of life is like that of the terrestrial animals and the birds. Some of them are furnished with wings, bees for instance; others are divided into those kinds which have wings, and those which are without them, such as ants; while others, again, are destitute of both wings and feet. All these animals have been very properly called “insects,” 4 from the incisures or divisions which separate the body, sometimes at the neck, and sometimes at the corselet, and so divide it into members or segments, only united to each other by a slender tube. …
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