Title Page

The Historie of the World.

Commonly called,

THE NATURALL HISTORIE OF
C. PLINIUS SECUNDUS.

Translated into English by PHILEMON HOLLAND
Doctor in Physic.

1601


The Contents

The Dedicatory LetterP. i (unnumbered)
The Preface to the ReaderPP. ii-vii (unnumbered)
ErrataP. viii (unnumbered)
Plinies Epistle to T. VespasianPP. ix-xvi (unnumbered)
Book I (Pliny's table of contents)PP. 1- (unnumbered)
Book II (The earth in general: weather, astronomy, the size of the earth and its nature.)PP. 1-49
Book III (Geography: Europe.)PP. 50-71
Book IV (Geography: Greece, and the Lies of the Greeks.)PP. 72-89
Book V (Geography: Africa and Magna Graecia.)PP. 90-114
Book VI (Geography: Asia. Wondrous shapes of men. Divisions of the Earth.)PP. 114-151
Book VII (The nature of man: length of life, time of gestation, biggest, smallest, life and death, inventions, and many and sundry stories.)PP. 152-191
Book VIII (Terrestrial beasts other than man: elephants, bears, tigers, lions, snails, mice, rats, dormice, along with the more fabulous basilisks and so on.)PP. 192-234
Book IX (Fishes and aquatic animals and their productions: mice of the Nile, pearls, purple, land-fish, lobsters, octopodes, squids, pike, oysters, and shrimp. And so on.)PP. 234-270
Book X (Birds, with digressions on fertility, modes of reproduction, the enmities and friendships of animals one for the other, whether animals sleep and dream, and animal senses. And a few tirades on luxurious diet.) PP. 270-309
Book XI (Insects, supposedly, although they occupy less than half of a very long book; the remainder is parts of animals (necks and gizzards and arms, that is), more asides on diet, and stories about the names of Romans.) PP. 310-356
Book XII (Foreign plants, especially spices.) PP. 356-379
Book XIII (More foreign plants: trees, papyrus and other aquatic plants. Another tirade on luxury, masquerading as a description of fancy tables.) PP. 380-402
Book XIV (Plants of Italy: The vine.) PP. 403-428
Book XV (Fruit-bearing Trees: Olives, apples, pears, nuts and so on.) PP. 428-454

 

Notes on the Text


Back
Other Texts Page
Home
Sir Thomas Browne Page
Forward
Forward


James Eason maintains this page. He welcomes comments, criticism, and reasonable (or at least polite) suggestions.