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The ''Natural History'' ((ラテン語:Naturalis Historia)) is an early encyclopedia in Latin by Pliny the Elder, who died in 79 AD. It is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover all ancient knowledge. The work's subject area is thus not limited to what is today understood by natural history; Pliny himself defines his scope as "the natural world, or life".〔''Natural History'' I:13〕 The work is divided into 37 books, organised into ten volumes. These cover topics including astronomy, mathematics, geography, ethnography, anthropology, human physiology, zoology, botany, agriculture, horticulture, pharmacology, mining, mineralogy, sculpture, painting, and precious stones. The ''Natural History'' became a model for later encyclopedias and scholarly works as a result of its breadth of subject matter, its referencing of original authors, and its index. The work is dedicated to the emperor Titus, son of Pliny's close friend, the emperor Vespasian, in the first year of Titus's reign. It is the only work by Pliny to have survived and the last that he published. He began it in 77, and had not made a final revision at the time of his death during the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius. ==Overview== Pliny's ''Natural History'' was written alongside other substantial works (which have since been lost). Pliny (23–79) combined his scholarly activities with a busy career as an imperial administrator for the emperor Vespasian. Much of his writing was done at night; daytime hours were spent working for the emperor, as he explains in the dedicatory preface addressed to Vespasian's elder son, the future emperor Titus, with whom he had served in the army. As for the nocturnal hours spent writing, these were seen, not as a loss of sleep, but as an addition to life: for, as he states in the preface, ''Vita vigilia est'', "to be alive is to be watchful", in a military metaphor of a sentry keeping watch in the night.〔''Natural History''. Dedication to Titus: C. Plinius Secundus to his Friend Titus Vespasian〕 Pliny claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work, in his prayer for the blessing of the universal mother:〔''Natural History'' XXXVII:77〕
The ''Natural History'' is encyclopaedic in scope, but its format is unlike a modern encyclopaedia. A modern reader will not find dedicated articles on the natural history of the chameleon, the medical uses of cabbage, or the effects of goat's blood on diamond. The work does however have structure: Pliny uses Aristotle's division of nature (animal, vegetable, mineral) to recreate the natural world in literary form.〔"Introduction" to ''Natural History'', Bks. I–II, Loeb Classical Library (rev. ed. 1989), pp. vii-x.〕 Rather than presenting compartmentalised, stand-alone entries arranged alphabetically, Pliny's ordered natural landscape is a coherent whole, offering the reader a guided tour: "a brief excursion under our direction among the whole of the works of nature ..."〔''Natural History'' VIII:44 (Loeb)〕 The work is unified but varied: "My subject is the world of nature ... or in other words, life," he tells Titus.〔 Nature for Pliny was divine, a pantheistic concept inspired by the Stoic philosophy which underlies much of his thought. But the deity in question was a goddess whose main purpose was to serve the human race: "nature, that is life" is human life in a natural landscape. After an initial survey of cosmology and geography, Pliny starts his treatment of animals with the human race, "for whose sake great Nature appears to have created all other things".〔''Natural History'' VII:1 (Rackham et al.)〕 This teleological view of nature was common in antiquity and is crucial to the understanding of the ''Natural History''.〔''Natural History'' VII〕 The components of nature are not just described in and for themselves, but also with a view to their role in human life. Pliny devotes a number of the books to plants, with a focus on their medicinal value; the books on minerals include descriptions of their uses in architecture, sculpture, painting and jewellery. If Pliny's premise seems remote from modern ecological theories, the result is a compendium of an entire culture.〔"Introduction" to ''Natural History'', Books III-VII, Loeb Classical Library (rev. ed. 1989), pp. xi-xiii.〕 Pliny's work frequently reflects Rome's imperial expansion which brought new and exciting things to the capital: exotic eastern spices, strange animals to be put on display or herded into the arena, even the alleged phoenix sent to the emperor Claudius in AD 47 – although, as Pliny admits, this was generally acknowledged to be a fake. Pliny repeated Aristotle's maxim that Africa was always producing something new. Nature's variety and versatility were claimed to be infinite: "When I have observed nature she has always induced me to deem no statement about her incredible."〔''Natural History'' XI:2 (Rackham et al.)〕 This led Pliny to recount rumours of strange peoples on the edges of the world. These monstrous races – the Cynocephali or Dog-Heads, the Sciapodae, whose single foot could act as a sunshade, the mouthless Astomi, who lived on scents – were not strictly new. They had been mentioned by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC, but Pliny made them better known.〔''Natural History'' VII:2〕 "As full of variety as nature itself",〔 stated Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger, and this verdict largely explains the appeal of the ''Natural History'' since Pliny's death in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Pliny had gone to investigate the strange cloud – "shaped like an umbrella pine",〔 according to his nephew – rising from the mountain.〔Pliny the Younger's (''Letters'' ); see also (Project Gutenberg: ''The Letters of Pliny the Younger'' ).〕 The ''Natural History'' was one of the first ancient European texts to be printed, in Venice in 1469.〔Healy, 2004. Introduction:xxxix〕 Philemon Holland's English translation of 1605 has influenced literature ever since.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Natural History (Pliny)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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