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68-708: The name Frisiavones is only mentioned in one classical text, the Naturalis Historia by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder , published in 77 AD. In Roman-era epigraphy , however, it appears several times. The earliest inscriptions referring to the Frisiavones date back to the early 2nd century AD, and are found on votive, funerary and military monuments. Six Roman military diplomas in particular, issued by Roman emperors in Britain in

136-477: A Proto-Celtic form reconstructed as * Menak ī or * Manak ī , whose meaning remains uncertain, perhaps the 'mountain people' or the 'high-living people' (from the root * mon - 'mountain'; cf. MWelsh mynydd , OBret. monid , OCo. menit ), or from the root * men - ('think, remember'; cf. OIr. muinithir 'think', Welsh mynnu 'wish'). The city of Cassel , attested on Peutinger's Tabula as Castellum Menapiorum ( Cassello in 840–75, Cassel in 1110),

204-460: A summarium, or list of contents, at the beginning of the work that was later interpreted by modern printers as a table of contents. The table below is a summary based on modern names for topics. Pliny's purpose in writing the Natural History was to cover all learning and art so far as they are connected with nature or draw their materials from nature. He says: My subject is a barren one –

272-714: A goddess, Matres Frisavae Paternea , found on a votive near Xanten , has been interpreted as related to the Frisiavones, although it could also bear the name of the Frisii. The Frisiavones were possibly clients of the Batavi , for whom they supplied auxiliary troops and contingents that came to be incorporated into Batavian units of the Roman army . This situation may have persisted until the Batavian revolt (69–70 AD). According to Nico Roymans, "after

340-479: A meal, which with him, as in the old days, was always a simple and light one, he would lie in the sun if he had any time to spare, and a book would be read aloud, from which he would take notes and extracts. Pliny the Younger told the following anecdote illustrating his uncle's enthusiasm for study: After dinner a book would be read aloud, and he would take notes in a cursory way. I remember that one of his friends, when

408-407: 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 . Pliny's Natural History was written alongside other substantial works (which have since been lost ). Pliny (AD 23–79) combined his scholarly activities with a busy career as an imperial administrator for the emperor Vespasian . Much of his writing

476-454: A painting, a salutary warning that too much effort can be counterproductive. Everything from "a salutary warning" onwards represents the ablative absolute phrase starting with "memorabili praecepto". Pliny wrote the first ten books in AD 77, and was engaged on revising the rest during the two remaining years of his life. The work was probably published with little revision by the author's nephew Pliny

544-450: 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 , art , and jewellery . Pliny's premise is distinct from modern ecological theories, reflecting the prevailing sentiment of his time. Pliny's work frequently reflects Rome's imperial expansion, which brought new and exciting things to

612-521: Is Marcus Terentius Varro . In the geographical books, Varro is supplemented by the topographical commentaries of Agrippa , which were completed by the emperor Augustus ; for his zoology , he relies largely on Aristotle and on Juba , the scholarly Mauretanian king, studiorum claritate memorabilior quam regno (v. 16). Juba is one of his principal guides in botany; Theophrastus is also named in his Indices, and Pliny had translated Theophrastus's Greek into Latin. Another work by Theophrastus, On Stones

680-454: Is encyclopaedic in scope, but its format is unlike a modern encyclopaedia . However, it does have structure: Pliny uses Aristotle's division of nature (animal, vegetable, mineral) to recreate the natural world in literary form. 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

748-529: Is handled in Books XII to XVIII, with Theophrastus as one of Pliny's sources. The manufacture of papyrus and the various grades of papyrus available to Romans are described. Different types of trees and the properties of their wood are explained in Books XII to XIII. The vine, viticulture and varieties of grape are discussed in Book XIV, while Book XV covers the olive tree in detail, followed by other trees including

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816-432: 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". This teleological view of nature was common in antiquity and is crucial to the understanding of the Natural History . The components of nature are not just described in and for themselves, but also with

884-632: Is indirectly named after the tribe. According to descriptions in such authors as Strabo , Caesar , Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy their territory had stretched northwards to the mouth of the Rhine in the north, but more lastingly it stretched along the west of the Scheldt river. In later geographical terms this territory corresponds roughly to the modern Belgian coast, the Belgian provinces of East and West Flanders . It also extended into neighbouring France and

952-431: Is to be watchful", in a military metaphor of a sentry keeping watch in the night. Pliny claims to be the only Roman ever to have undertaken such a work, in his prayer for the blessing of the universal mother: Hail to thee, Nature, thou parent of all things! and do thou deign to show thy favour unto me, who, alone of all the citizens of Rome, have, in thy every department, thus made known thy praise. The Natural History

1020-458: The Notitia Dignitatum (5th c. AD), and under the accusative forms Menapios by Tacitus (early 2nd c. AD) and Menapíous (Μεναπίους) by Cassius Dio (3rd c. AD). The Gaulish ethnonym Menapii has been phonetically compared with Manapii , the name of a tribe from southeastern Ireland mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. These tribal names may ultimately derive from

1088-622: The equites singulares of the Roman Praetorian Guard , which could mean that they were granted Roman citizenship during the Flavian period. Natural History (Pliny) The Natural History ( Latin : Naturalis Historia ) is a Latin work by Pliny the Elder . The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the Natural History compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. Despite

1156-908: The Atrebates in control of them. A cohort of Menapian auxiliaries is attested by inscriptions dating to the 2nd century in Britain . Carausius , the 3rd century commander of the Roman fleet who declared himself emperor of Britain and northern Gaul, was a Menapian, born in Batavia . A legion called the Menapii Seniores is mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum , a 5th-century register of Roman government positions and military commands. They are mentioned as Menapii by Caesar (mid-1st c. BC) and Orosius (early 5th c. AD), Menápioi (Μενάπιοι; var. Μονάπιοι, Μενάσπιοι) by Strabo (early 1st c. AD) and Ptolemy (2nd c. AD), as Menapi by Pliny (1st c. AD) and

1224-587: The Defloratio Historiae Naturalis Plinii Secundi consisting of nine books of selections taken from an ancient manuscript. There are three independent classes of the stemma of the surviving Historia Naturalis manuscripts. These are divided into: The textual tradition /stemma was established by the German scholars J. Sillig , D. Detlefsen, L. von Jan, and K. Rück in the 19th century. Two Teubner Editions were published of 5 volumes;

1292-506: The Festival of Vulcan , not for luck but from his love of study, long before dawn; in winter he would commence at the seventh hour... He could sleep at call, and it would come upon him and leave him in the middle of his work. Before daybreak he would go to Vespasian – for he too was a night-worker – and then set about his official duties. On his return home he would again give to study any time that he had free. Often in summer after taking

1360-703: The Frisii , and locates them in the islands of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta , along with Batavians , Canninefates , Chauci , Sturii and Marsaci . In another passage, he lists the Frisiavones among the Tungri , Baetasi and Sunuci . Tacitus , writing in the second half of the 1st century AD, divides the Frisii into two groups: the Greater Frisii ( maiores ) and the Lesser Frisii ( minores ). Most authors agree that

1428-506: The Germani Cisrhenani by Caesar, which suggests that they settled later in the region, possibly invited by Agrippa during the reorganization of the newly conquered lands in northern Gauls during the second part of the 1st century BC. The Roman writer Pliny , who had visited the region in 47 AD, seems to associate the name Frisiavones with two distinct areas. In one passage, he describes the Frisiavones as an ethnic group distinct from

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1496-684: The Iron Age and the Roman period . The Menapii were persistent opponents of Julius Caesar 's conquest of Gaul, resisting until 54 BC. They were part of the Belgic confederacy defeated by Caesar in 57 BC, contributing 9,000 men. The following year they sided with the Veneti against Caesar. Caesar was again victorious, but the Menapii and the Morini refused to make peace and continued to fight against him. They withdrew into

1564-729: The Nervii , and near the Meuse river. While these authors make it clear that the Menapii still lay north of the Nervii in Roman times, it is not clear if they still bordered directly upon the former territory of the Eburones , as they had been in Caesar's time, and which in imperial times was within the Civitas Tungrorum , or civitas of the Tungri . In any case as mentioned above they bordered in Roman times upon

1632-668: The Roman empire was Cassel in northern France, and later this was moved nearer to a river in Tournai , in present-day Belgium, on the Scheldt. Both of these are near Thérouanne , which was the civitas of the neighbouring Morini tribe, and indeed in the Middle Ages Cassel became part of the Catholic Diocese of Thérouanne . Cassel was therefore in the southern extreme of the Menapii lands. A pattern of placing Roman tribal capitals in

1700-642: The Scheldt , in Strabo 's 1st-century Geographica , they are situated further away than the Nervii and on both sides of the Rhine near its outlets to the sea, apparently not far from the Germanic Sigambri . Apparently following Caesar he said that they "dwell amongst marshes and forests, not lofty, but consisting of dense and thorny wood". They are also referred to in Ptolemy 's 2nd century Geographia , situated "above"

1768-572: The Silver Age . His sentence structure is often loose and straggling. There is heavy use of the ablative absolute , and ablative phrases are often appended in a kind of vague "apposition" to express the author's own opinion of an immediately previous statement, e.g., dixit (Apelles) ... uno se praestare, quod manum de tabula sciret tollere, memorabili praecepto nocere saepe nimiam diligentiam. This might be translated In one thing Apelles stood out, namely, knowing when he had put enough work into

1836-561: The Toxandrians , who apparently lived in the north of the lands of the Nervii and Tungri. South of the Menapii were the Atrebates in Artois, and south-west along the coast were the Morini . The boundary with the Morini in classical times appears to have been the river Aa . In the later Roman empire, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites reports that "Cassel was superseded as capital of

1904-463: The phonology of Frisiavones , the initial f- in particular, suggests a Germanic origin. It is presumed to stem from the tribal name Frisi attached to the suffix -avo- , and may have meant 'those belonging to the Frisii, descending from the Frisii'. However, scholars note that no historical or geographical relation can be established between the Frisii and the Frisiavones apart from the linguistic connection. The Frisiavones are not listed among

1972-558: The Batavian revolt the Frisiavones and the Cananefates were given an opportunity to express their own identity." From the end of the 1st century, the Frisiavones were active participants in the Roman army, and they were given their own ethnic unit, the Cohors I Frisiavonum , formed at the latest around 80 AD. The Cohors was active in Britain during the 2nd century. Some Frisiavones also served in

2040-594: The Frisiavones lived in a Romanized society. According to Wightman, the Marsaci and the Sturii could have been pagi (smaller geographical units) within the civitas of the Frisiavones, or else in that of the Menapii . The areas usually attributed to the Frisiavones do not match with the regions where 'Frisian' pottery has been found, suggesting that the material cultures of the Frisii and Frisiavones were not related. The name of

2108-440: The Frisiavones, and we have no archaeological indication regarding their territory. Based on epigraphic evidence, a number of scholars associate their homeland with the western part of North Brabant , southern South Holland , or Zeeland . One votive inscription from the 2nd century AD refers to the regio frisiavonum as part of Gallia Belgica . Edith Wightman proposed that the borders of Germania Inferior lay west and south of

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2176-556: The Frisii were in fact divided among Greater and Lesser, and they generally place the Lesser Frisii in North Holland , and the Greater Frisii in Friesland and Groningen . However, scholars generally reject the identification of the Lesser Frisii with the Frisiavones since the Frisii and Frisiavones were clearly perceived as two distinct groups by Roman writers of the 2nd century AD. No specific archaeological culture can be associated with

2244-463: The Menapii by Tournai after Gaul was reorganized under Diocletian and Constantine the Great . The civitas Menapiorum became the civitas Turnencensium ." By medieval times, when these Roman districts evolved into medieval Roman Catholic dioceses, Cassel had in fact become part of the diocese of Thérouanne , which had been the civitas of the Morini. Their civitas , or administrative capital, under

2312-608: The Menapii. South of the delta, east of the river Scheldt from the Menapii, and therefore apparently south of the Frisiavones, Pliny mentions the Toxandri , in a position apparently on the northern edge of Gaul. It is known that the Toxandri were associated with the civitates of both the Nervii and the Tungri, so they presumably had a presence in both. While in Pliny the Menapii do not stretch beyond

2380-426: The Meuse rather than around it, thus including the territory of the Frisiavones near the Batavi , Marsaci and Sturii. She mentions one inscription from Bulla Regia that refers to an area comprising the Tungri , Batavians and Frisiavones, and thus stretching over two provinces. Although the capital of their civitas is not known, they were treated as a separated region and had to pay taxes to Rome, suggesting that

2448-551: The Moon is 230,000 miles away. He describes comets , noting that only Aristotle has recorded seeing more than one at once. Book II continues with natural meteorological events lower in the sky, including the winds, weather, whirlwinds, lightning, and rainbows. He returns to astronomical facts such as the effect of longitude on time of sunrise and sunset, the variation of the Sun's elevation with latitude (affecting time-telling by sundials), and

2516-632: The Younger , and this verdict largely explains the appeal of the Natural History since Pliny's death in the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 . Pliny had gone to investigate the strange cloud – "shaped like an umbrella pine", according to his nephew – rising from the mountain. The Natural History was one of the first ancient European texts to be printed, in Venice in 1469. Philemon Holland 's English translation of 1601 has influenced literature ever since. The Natural History consists of 37 books. Pliny devised

2584-516: The Younger, who, when telling the story of a tame dolphin and describing the floating islands of the Vadimonian Lake thirty years later, has apparently forgotten that both are to be found in his uncle's work. He describes the Naturalis Historia as a Naturae historia and characterises it as a "work that is learned and full of matter, and as varied as nature herself." The absence of

2652-490: The apple and pear, fig, cherry, myrtle and laurel , among others. Pliny gives special attention to spices, such as pepper , ginger , and cane sugar . He mentions different varieties of pepper, whose values are comparable with that of gold and silver, while sugar is noted only for its medicinal value. Menapii The Menapii were a Belgic tribe dwelling near the North Sea , around present-day Cassel , during

2720-551: The area was threatened by Frankish tribes from outside the empire. The economic activity of the Menapii was primally extraction of wool from sheep, and the fabrication of primitive cloths, and these were perfected while the Roman Reign in the Region. These cloths were one of the most rare things in terms of goods, because of the geographical location where they were made. Besides, these cloths were exported to Italy and other regions through

2788-410: The author's final revision may explain many errors, including why the text is as John Healy writes "disjointed, discontinuous and not in a logical order"; and as early as 1350, Petrarch complained about the corrupt state of the text, referring to copying errors made between the ninth and eleventh centuries. About the middle of the 3rd century, an abstract of the geographical portions of Pliny's work

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2856-541: 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." This led Pliny to recount rumours of strange peoples on

2924-569: 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 in the fifth century BC by Greek historian Herodotus (whose history was a broad mixture of myths , legends , and facts), but Pliny made them better known. "As full of variety as nature itself", stated Pliny's nephew, Pliny

2992-603: The elder lists the people in these "Gallic Islands" as Batavi and Canninefates on the largest island, Frisii and the Chauci whose main lands were to the north of the deltas, and the Frisiavones , Sturii , and Marsacii . Of these last three, the Marsaci appear to be mentioned in another place by Pliny as having a presence on the coast south of the delta, neighbouring the Menapii, within Gaul itself. The Frisiavones are also mentioned within

3060-492: The first by L. von Jan (1856-78; see external links ) and the second by C. Mayhoff (1892-1906). The most recent critical editions were published by Les Belle Letters (1950-). All 5th century: Definite descendants of E (Paris lat. 6795): Possible descendants of E: Copies of E: Cousin of E: Independent earlier tradition: The work was one of the first classical manuscripts to be printed , at Venice in 1469 by Johann and Wendelin of Speyer , but J.F. Healy described

3128-490: The forests and swamps and conducted a hit-and-run campaign . Caesar responded by cutting down the forests, seizing their cattle and burning their settlements, but this was interrupted by heavy rain and the onset of winter, and the Menapii and Morini withdrew further into the forests. In 55 BC the Menapii tried to resist a Germanic incursion across the Rhine , but were defeated. Later that year, while Caesar made his first expedition to Britain , he sent two of his legates and

3196-458: The greatness of Julius Caesar , outstanding people such as Hippocrates and Asclepiades , happiness and fortune. Zoology is discussed in Books VIII to XI. The encyclopedia mentions different sources of purple dye, particularly the murex snail, the highly prized source of Tyrian purple . It describes the elephant and hippopotamus in detail, as well as the value and origin of the pearl and

3264-419: The invention of fish farming and oyster farming . The keeping of aquariums was a popular pastime of the rich, and Pliny provides anecdotes of the problems of owners becoming too closely attached to their fish. Pliny correctly identifies the origin of amber as the fossilised resin of pine trees. Evidence cited includes the fact that some samples exhibit encapsulated insects, a feature readily explained by

3332-464: The listing for Belgian Gaul, but probably therefore lived in the part of the delta south of the Batavi, northeast of the Menapii. In one inscription, from Bulla Regia , the Tungri , Batavians and Frisiavones are grouped together, apparently confirming that the Frisiavones lived inland. It is suggested that the Marsaci and the Sturii could be " pagi " belonging to the civitas of either the Frisiavones or

3400-625: The majority of his army to the territories of the Menapii and Morini to keep them under control. Once again, they retired to the woods, and the Romans burned their crops and settlements. The Menapii joined the revolt led by Ambiorix in 54 BC. Caesar says that they, alone of all the tribes of Gaul, had never sent ambassadors to him to discuss terms of peace, and had ties of hospitality with Ambiorix. For that reason he decided to lead five legions against them. A renewed campaign of devastation finally forced them to submit, and Caesar placed his ally Commius of

3468-519: The means of one's own achievements." In the preface, the author claims to have stated 20,000 facts gathered from some 2,000 books and from 100 select authors. The extant lists of his authorities cover more than 400, including 146 Roman and 327 Greek and other sources of information. The lists generally follow the order of the subject matter of each book. This has been shown in Heinrich Brunn 's Disputatio ( Bonn , 1856). One of Pliny's authorities

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3536-413: The presence of a viscous resin. Pliny refers to the way in which it exerts a charge when rubbed, a property well known to Theophrastus. He devotes considerable space to bees , which he admires for their industry, organisation, and honey , discussing the significance of the queen bee and the use of smoke by beekeepers at the hive to collect honeycomb . He praises the song of the nightingale . Botany

3604-541: The reader pronounced a word wrongly, checked him and made him read it again, and my uncle said to him, "Did you not catch the meaning?" When his friend said "yes," he remarked, "Why then did you make him turn back? We have lost more than ten lines through your interruption." So jealous was he of every moment lost. Pliny's writing style emulates that of Seneca . It aims less at clarity and vividness than at epigrammatic point. It contains many antitheses , questions, exclamations, tropes , metaphors , and other mannerisms of

3672-566: The remainder at the time of his death during the AD ;79 eruption of Vesuvius . The rest was published posthumously by Pliny's nephew, Pliny the Younger . The work is divided into 37 books, organised into 10 volumes. These cover topics including astronomy , mathematics , geography , ethnography , anthropology , human physiology , zoology , botany , agriculture , horticulture , pharmacology , mining , mineralogy , sculpture , art , and precious stones . Pliny's Natural History became

3740-572: The river deltas of the Southern Netherlands . To the north and east of the Menapii lay the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta . In the time of Caesar, the Menapii had settlements throughout this region and as far as the Rhine in present-day Germany, or at least its branch, the Waal. During Roman times these islands were under the frontier province of Germania Inferior , and inhabited partly by various groups of people who had moved there under Roman rule. Pliny

3808-403: The south is also found in the neighbouring Belgian tribal states, of the Nervii and Tungri . The positions of such Roman tribal capitals frequently didn't correspond to the centre of a tribe's territory in pre-Roman political geography. Similarly, in those neighbouring regions, the centre of Roman civilization was typically moved further south, and on to a major river, in late Roman times, after

3876-436: The subject. Pliny studied the original authorities on each subject and took care to make excerpts from their pages. His indices auctorum sometimes list the authorities he actually consulted, though not exhaustively; in other cases, they cover the principal writers on the subject, whose names are borrowed second-hand from his immediate authorities. He acknowledges his obligations to his predecessors: "To own up to those who were

3944-503: The translation as "distinctly imperfect". A copy printed in 1472 by Nicolas Jenson of Venice is held in the library at Wells Cathedral . Philemon Holland made an influential translation of much of the work into English in 1601. John Bostock and H. T. Riley made a complete translation in 1855. The Natural History is generally divided into the organic plants and animals and the inorganic matter, although there are frequent digressions in each section. The encyclopedia also notes

4012-513: The uses made of all of these by the Romans. Its description of metals and minerals is valued for its detail in the history of science , being the most extensive compilation still available from the ancient world. Book I serves as Pliny's preface, explaining his approach and providing a table of contents. The first topic covered is Astronomy, in Book II. Pliny starts with the known universe, roundly criticising attempts at cosmology as madness, including

4080-638: The variation of day length with latitude. In Books III to VI, Pliny moves to the Earth itself. In Book III he covers the geography of the Iberian peninsula and Italy; Book IV covers Europe; Book V looks at Africa and Asia, while Book VI looks eastwards to the Black Sea, India and the Far East. Book VII discusses the human race, covering anthropology and ethnography , aspects of human physiology and assorted matters such as

4148-541: The view that there are countless other worlds than the Earth. He concurs with the four (Aristotelian) elements, fire, earth, air and water, and records the seven "planets" including the Sun and Moon. The Earth is a sphere, suspended in the middle of space. He considers it a weakness to try to find the shape and form of God, or to suppose that such a being would care about human affairs. He mentions eclipses, but considers Hipparchus 's almanac grandiose for seeming to know how Nature works. He cites Posidonius 's estimate that

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4216-450: The whole of the works of nature ..." 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"

4284-415: The work's title, its subject area is not limited to what is today understood by natural history ; Pliny himself defines his scope as "the natural world, or life". It is encyclopedic in scope, but its structure is not like that of a modern encyclopedia . It is the only work by Pliny to have survived, and the last that he published. He published the first 10 books in AD 77, but had not made a final revision of

4352-498: The world of nature, or in other words life; and that subject in its least elevated department, and employing either rustic terms or foreign, nay barbarian words that actually have to be introduced with an apology. Moreover, the path is not a beaten highway of authorship, nor one in which the mind is eager to range: there is not one of us who has made the same venture, nor yet one among the Greeks who has tackled single-handed all departments of

4420-467: The years 105–178 AD, complemented by five inscriptions found in Roman forts in Britain, mention a cohort named Frisiavonum or Frisiavon . Besides the purely graphic variation Frisaebones , an o -stem * Fris(i)avi may also be attested in the Matribus Frisavis Paternis and the dative singular Frisao , which is probably an inaccurate spelling of * Frisavo . According to Günter Neumann,

4488-477: Was cited as a source on ores and minerals . Pliny strove to use all the Greek histories available to him, such as Herodotus and Thucydides , as well as the Bibliotheca Historica of Diodorus Siculus . His nephew, Pliny the Younger, described the method that Pliny used to write the Natural History : Does it surprise you that a busy man found time to finish so many volumes, many of which deal with such minute details?... He used to begin to study at night on

4556-421: 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 (and to whom the work is dedicated). 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

4624-467: Was produced by Solinus . Early in the 8th century, Bede , who admired Pliny's work, had access to a partial manuscript which he used in his " De natura rerum ", especially the sections on meteorology and gems . However, Bede updated and corrected Pliny on the tides . There are about 200 extant manuscripts, but the best of the more ancient manuscripts, that at Bamberg State Library , contains only books XXXII–XXXVII. In 1141 Robert of Cricklade wrote

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