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THE TEXT OF PLINY, HN 19.4–5

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2020

John Jacobs
John Jacobs*
Affiliation:
Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, New Jersey, USA
*
tiberiuscatiusasconius@gmail.com
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Extract

In the passage about the flax plant, lini natura et miracula (HN 1.19) at the beginning of Book 19 (1–25) of his Naturalis historia, Pliny launches into a moralizing diatribe on man's assault against Nature, fulminating against the evils which man brings upon himself by taking to the high seas in ships with sails. The passage culminates in the rhetorical outburst audax uita, scelerumque plena (19.4), which serves as something of a moral aphorism for the jeremiad as a whole. Although it has been the subject of much discussion in Plinian scholarship, the text still remains in need of attention (HN 19.4–5):

audax uita, scelerumque plena! aliquid seri, ut uentos procellasque capiat, 5. et parum esse fluctibus solis uehi, iam uero nec uela satis esse maiora nauigiis, sed, cum uix amplitudini antemnarum singulae arbores sufficiant, super eas tamen addi alia uela, praeterque alia in proris et alia in puppibus pandi, ac tot modis prouocari mortem, denique tam paruo semine nasci quod orbem terrarum ultro citro portet, tam gracili auena, tam non alte a tellure tolli, neque id uiribus suis necti, sed fractum tunsumque et in mollitiem lanae coactum iniuria ad summam audaciam peruenire!

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 70 , Issue 1 , May 2020 , pp. 276 - 285
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Copyright © The Classical Association 2020

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Prof. Bruce Gibson and the anonymous reviewer for comments on an earlier draft.

References

1 The text is mine, based on Mayhoff, C. (ed.), C. Plini Secundi Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII, 5 vols. (Leipzig, 1875–1909; vol. 2, 18751, 19092Google Scholar; repr. Stuttgart, 1967–70), 3.247 and on the analysis of the Latin in bold type which follows. In general, see Reeve, M.D., ‘The editing of Pliny's Natural History’, RHT 2 (2007), 107–79CrossRefGoogle Scholar. In the analysis of the textual cruces, I generally cite the following works by author, date and/or title alone: de Valle, R., Compendium memorandorum vires naturales et commoda comprehendens a Plinio data (Paris, 1500), n.p.Google Scholar; Beraldus, N. and Chalderius, R. (edd.), Caii Plynii Secundi Naturalis historiae libri xxxvij (Paris, 1516), CXLVIIrGoogle Scholar; Caesarius, I. (ed.), C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae opus (Cologne, 1524), 161rGoogle Scholar; Erasmus, D. (ed.), C. Plinii Secundi divinum opus cui titulus, Historia mundi, multo quam antehac unquam prodiit emaculatius (Basel, 1525), 346Google Scholar; Pintianus, F., Observationes … in loca obscura aut depravata Historiae naturalis C. Plinij, 3 vols. (Salamanca, 1544–5; repr. [1 vol.] Salamanca, 1593; [1 vol.] Frankfurt, 1603), 2.XXXIr (= 113, 113)Google Scholar; Dalecampius, J. (ed.), C. Plinii Secundi Historiae mundi libri XXXVII (Lyon, 1587), 480Google Scholar; Salmasius, C., Plinianae exercitationes in Caii Iulii Solini Polyhistora (Paris, 1629; repr. [2 vols.] Utrecht, 1689), 260C–1C (= 1.184B–G)Google Scholar; C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae, 3 vols. (Lyon and Rotterdam, 1668–9) (= editio Hackiana), 2.528; Gronovius, J.F., In aliquot libros C. Plini Secundi notae, in C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae, 3 vols. (Lyon and Rotterdam, 1668–9), 3.761–853Google Scholar, at 850 = I.F. Gronovius, In aliquot libros C. 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(Venice, 1844 2), 1.1735Google Scholar; Littré, É. (ed. and transl.), Histoire naturelle de Pline, 2 vols. (Paris, 1848–50; repr. 1855), 1.711Google Scholar; Sillig, I. (ed.), C. Plini Secundi Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII, 8 vols. (Hamburg and Gotha, 1851–8; repr. Hildesheim, 1967), 3.233Google Scholar; Ianus, L. (ed.), C. Plini Secundi Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII, 6 vols. (Leipzig, 1854–70; vol. 1, 18541, 18702), 3.XXIV–XXV, 156Google Scholar; Urlichs, L. (ed.), Chrestomathia Pliniana (Berlin, 1857), 230–1Google Scholar; Detlefsen, D. (ed.), C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historia, 6 vols. (Berlin, 1866–82; repr. Hildesheim, 1992), 3.172Google Scholar; Mayhoff (this note), 3.247; Rackham, H. (ed. and transl.), Pliny: Natural History, vol. 5, libri XVII–XIX (Cambridge, MA and London, 1950), 422Google Scholar; André, J. (ed. and transl.), Pline l'Ancien: Histoire naturelle, livre XIX (Paris, 1964), 24–5, 100Google Scholar n. ad loc.; Semi, F. (ed.), C. Plinius Secundus: Naturalis historia, 13 vols. (Pisa, 1977–9), 6.1315–16Google Scholar; Conte, G.B. (ed. and transl.), Gaio Silio Plinio: Storia naturale, 5 vols. in 6 (Turin, 1982–8), 3.1.864Google Scholar; Plinii Naturalis historia = Plinio Storia naturale, 5 vols. (Pisa, 1984–7), 3.716; R. König (ed. and transl.), C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII, Liber XIX / C. Plinius Secundus d. Ä. Naturkunde, Buch XIX (Zürich and Düsseldorf, 1996), 14. A full review of all the editions could very well complicate matters even further with other readings, but would not, I believe, substantially alter the conclusions reached below. (I believe that I have identified all the discussions of this passage in the scholarship, but I may very well have missed a few items.)

2 Mayhoff (n. 1), IX; Münch, G., Wert und Stellung der Handschrift d (cod. Paris. Lat. 6797) in Plinius, Naturalis historia (Breslau, 1930)Google Scholar. Reynolds, L.D. (ed.), Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics (Oxford and New York, 1983), 316Google Scholar speculates on the potential value of this manuscript.

3 Nettleship, H., ‘Notes in Latin lexicography’, JPh 21 (1893), 235–9, at 239Google Scholar.

4 Beraldus and Chalderius, Caesarius, Erasmus, Dalecampius, Salmasius, editio Hackiana, Harduinus, Millerus, Poinsinet de Sivry, Franzius, Brotier, Falconet, Bordoni, Valpy, Alexandre et al., de Grandsagne, Sillig 1831–6 and 1851–8, Domenichi, Littré, Urlichs, Mayhoff, André, Semi, Conte, the Pisa edition of 1984–7, König.

5 editio Hackiana, Franzius, Valpy, Sillig 1851–8, Detlefsen, Mayhoff, André. See also Hernández, F. (transl.), Historia natural de Cayo Plinio Segundo, 2 vols. in 3 (México, 1966–76Google Scholar; repr. [2 vols. in 3] Madrid, 1998; [3 vols. in 1] Madrid, 1999) = Obras completas de Francisco Hernández (ed. G. Somolinos d'Ardois), 7 vols. (Mexico City, 1959–84), vols. 4–5.1–2, at 5.1.354 n. 1: however, as will become clear from what follows below in Section 3, I do not agree that ‘lo demás es claro’.

6 Smith, J., The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul [London, 1848], 152Google Scholar n. *: ‘This is surely a non sequitur; it could be no good reason [sic] for not setting more sail that single spars were sufficient for the size of the yards. Instead of “quamvis,” the reading “cum vix” has been suggested. I am, however, satisfied that the word “non” has been dropped out, and that it ought to be read, “singulae arbores non sufficiant.” In point of fact, single spars are not sufficient for the great yards of the single-masted Mediterranean vessels of the present day; and we find wherever the details are correctly given, that the same was the case in the middle ages, and in ancient times’ (italics original). Smith, J. (transl. Thiersch, H.), Ueber den Schiffbau und die nautischen Leistungen der Griechen und Römer im Alterthum (Marburg, 1851), 15Google Scholar n. * is slightly modified in the translation.

7 The collocation cum (…) uix(dum) also appears in Cic. Cat. 3.8, Fam. 12.4.2 (uixdum), Pis. 89, QFr. 2.3.2, Rab. perd. 21, orat. fr. 14.24; Lucr. 6.859; Hirt. 8.12.5; Varro, Rust. 1.7.3; Nep. Epam. 5.6; Prop. 4.8.72; Verg. Aen. 5.270; Livy 1.31.2, 1.41.4, 10.18.13, 21.55.6, 22.45.3 (uixdum), 23.27.7, 23.29.9, 25.22.16, 27.51.6, 31.13.3, 31.16.8, 31.41.10, 33.20.13, 38.47.12, 39.42.12 (uixdum); Val. Max. 5.2.ext.4, 6.7.2; Vell. Pat. 1.8.5; Phaedrus 5.9.2; Sen. Dial. 6.24.1, Ep. 111.5; Curt. 6.6.14, 8.13.23, 9.5.2; Plin. HN 18.358; Quint. Inst. 8.4.24, Decl. 259.8; [Quint.] Decl. 3.16, 7.6; Frontin. Str. 4.2.9; Tac. Dial. 19.5, Ann. 15.67; Suet. Vesp. 7.3, Gram. et rhet. 7.1; SHA, Maximus and Balbinus 13.5, Tacitus 15.4; Serv. Aen. 1.695; Just. Dig. 42.8.23 pr. Furthermore, cum (…) uix often appears with forms of sufficio, as here in Pliny: Livy 10.18.13, 31.13.3, 33.20.13; Val. Max. 5.2.ext.4; Sen. Ep. 111.5; [Quint.] Decl. 3.16; Just. Dig. 42.8.23 pr. For other instances of uix with forms of sufficio, see Livy 3.6.9, 4.30.7, 9.19.12, 10.47.6, 40.19.4; Val. Max. 2.6.7, 3.8.2; Manilius 4.277–8; Luc. 3.18–19; Curt. 5.1.29; Sen. Dial. 12.6.2, Ben. 3.7.4, 6.31.3, QNat. 3.15.8; [Sen.] HO 833; Calp. Ecl. 7.35; Petron. Sat. 121.1; Stat. Silu. 1.1.56, 2.2.42–4; Sil. Pun. 4.351–2, 14.603; Plin. Ep. 10.18.3; Tac. Dial. 3.4; Suet. Vesp. 10.1; Flor. Epit. 1.22; Calp. Decl. 14; [Quint.] Decl. 9.1; Fronto, Ad M. Caes. 1.3.1; SHA, Maximini 13.2.

8 OLD s.v. antemna includes antenna as an acceptable alternate, but TLL 2.1.151.45 (1901) s.v. antemna condemns antenna as ‘peius’.

9 See e.g. Casson, L., Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (Princeton, 1971 1; Baltimore and London, 19952), 242 n. 75CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Sillig 1851–8, Ianus, Urlichs, Detlefsen, Mayhoff, André, Semi, Conte, the Pisa edition, König.

11 Beraldus and Chalderius, Caesarius, Erasmus, Dalecampius, editio Hackiana, Harduinus, Millerus, Poinsinet de Sivry, Franzius, Brotier, Falconet, Bordoni, Valpy, Alexandre et al., de Grandsagne, Sillig 1831–6.

12 Sillig 1851–8 in the apparatus criticus (with the attribution ‘codd. Gel. et Salmasii’ accidentally for ‘codd. Gronov. et Salmasii’), Domenichi, Littré, Rackham (with the footnote ‘add. Brotier’ in the apparatus criticus, although Brotier was merely one of many scholars to adopt the vulgate), Semi in the apparatus criticus.

13 Fée, A.L.A., Commentaires sur la botanique et la matière médicale de Pline: Composés pour le Pline de la Collection Panckoucke, 3 vols. (Paris, 1833), 2.262Google Scholar also reads denique tam paruo semine nasci, in the lemma to a note on auena later in the sentence.

14 Regardless of the reading adopted, the rhetorical period in 17.71–2 strongly resonates with the flow of ideas in 19.2–5 and deserves to be quoted in full: 71. Cato et furcis crates inponi iubet altitudine hominis ad solem recipiendum atque integi culmo ad frigora arcenda. sic pirorum malorumque semina nutriri, sic pineas nuces, sic cupressos semine satas et ipsas. 72. sic minimis id granis constat, uix ut perspici quaedam possint, non omittendo naturae miraculo e tam paruo gigni arbores, tanto maiore tritici et hordei grano, ne quis fabam reputet. quid simile origini suae habent malorum pirorumque semina? his principiis respuentem securis materiem nasci, indomita ponderibus inmensis prela, arbor es uelis, turribus murisque inpellendis arietes! haec est naturae uis, haec potentia. super omnia erit e lacrima nasci aliquid, ut suo loco dicemus. (The text is Mayhoff [n. 1], 3.84–5, with Mayhoff's emendations unitalicized and with the specific points of resonance in bold.)

15 HN 23.131 semen nigrum, paruum provides the only other example of the collocation paruum semen in the encyclopedia: more generally, see also Cic. Diu. 1.20.2 = fr. 6.43 (De consulatu suo) paruos Mauortis semine natos; Sen. QNat. 2.6.5 paruula admodum semina. For other examples of the substantival use of e(x) paru(ul)o, see Hor. Sat. 1.1.52 (with Porphyrio ad loc.); Celsus, Med. 7.6.2; Petron. Sat. 71.12.

16 Millerus, Poinsinet de Sivry, Franzius, Brotier, Valpy, Alexandre et al., de Grandsagne, Sillig 1831–6, Littré. (Franzius, Valpy and Alexandre et al. also reproduce the note of Harduinus without further comment.) Bordoni and Domenichi conflate the vulgate reading with the emendation: iniuria naturae(,) ac summa audacia, eo peruenire.

17 Strack, C.F.L. (transl.), Cajus Plinius Secundus Naturgeschichte (ed. Strack, M.E.D.L.), 3 vols. (Bremen, 1853–5; repr. Darmstadt, 1968), 2.XGoogle Scholar.

18 Detlefsen, Rackham, André, Conte, the Pisa edition, König. In another rather compressed note in his apparatus criticus (‘Urlichs: ac’), Rackham correctly attributes the change of ac to ad, but he fails to attribute the concomitant change from summa audacia (both forms in the ablative singular) to summa audaciae (accusative plural, genitive singular).

19 Sulla, Hist. 21 ad summam perniciem rem publicam peruenturum esse; Cic. Ad Brut. 14.1 ad summam beneuolentiam peruenit, Brut. 281 ad summam amplitudinem peruenisset, Fin. 4.39 ad summum bonum … peruenire, Verr. 2.5.38 ad summam stultitiam nequitiamque uenisse; Lucr. 5.1457 ad summum … uenere cacumen; Caes. BCiu. 2.42.2 ad summam desperationem nostri perueniunt; Publilius, Sent. N50 ad summum peruenit locum; Livy 1.48.6 peruenissetque ad summum Cyprium uicum; Val. Max. 3.pr.1 ad summum gloriae cumulum peruenturi; Vitr. De arch. 1.1.11 peruenerint ad summum templum architecturae, 5.6.4 ad summas gradationes et tectum perueniet, 7.pr.1 peruenirent … ad summam doctrinarum subtilitatem; Celsus, Med. 2.8.37 ad summam … linguam perueniunt; Sen. Ben. 3.23.2 ad summam desperationem uentum esset; Columella, Rust. 12.49.4 ad summum amphorae labrum perueniat; Petron. Sat. 116.8 ad summos honores perueniunt; SHA, Auidius Cassius 1.1 ad summas dignitates peruenerat, Tyranni triginta 22.2 ad summum rei p. periculum … peruenerunt; Serv. Aen. 8.682 ad summos honores peruenit.

20 Cic. Fin. 5.40 ad summum perueniret, Tusc. 2.5 uenit ad summum; Varro, Ling. 8.78 peruenissemus ad summum; Sen. Suas. 1.3 ad summum peruenit; Sen. Dial. 6.23.3 ad summum peruenit, Ep. 71.34 peruenit ad summum, 79.8 ad summum perueneris, QNat. 7.9.3 ad summum uenerunt; Quint. Inst. 8.4.3 peruenit … ad summum, 8.4.9 ad summum … peruenit.

21 Livy 6.35.2 peruenire ad summa; Sen. Ben. 6.33.2 ad summa peruentum est, Ep. 23.2 ad summa peruenit, 84.13 uenies ad summa; Frontin. Str. 3.9.3 ad summa peruenerat; Quint. Inst. 10.1.4 perueniri ad summa.

22 Mayhoff (n. 1), 3.108 prints ad summa in the latter passage, but I prefer ad summam (the reading of MS d).

23 Gaillard, F., De breviloquentia Pliniana quaestiones selectae (Marburg, 1904), 46–7Google Scholar includes the latter but not the former in a list of ‘adiectiva loci cum genetivo partitivo’.

24 In an early treatment of the passage, Opitz, E., Quaestiones Plinianae (Kaumburg a/S., 1861), 7–10, at 7Google Scholar identifies 19.4–5 as one of ‘eos Plinii locos …, quibus et ipse modum infinitivum cum nominibus substantivis adiectivisque et cum verbis audacius quam priores coniunxit’.

25 Although I am not prepared to offer an alternate reading, I suspect that tam non is incorrect, especially since this collocation appears so rarely elsewhere: Livy 39.15.2; Ov. Met. 15.110; Quint. Inst. 2.5.17; Mart. 4.64.27, 7.69.6. The most likely reading is tamen non (the reading of MS E), but, even then, the passage remains unclear (to me).

26 Scholars have long grappled with the significant challenges associated with the translation of technical works, in particular ancient technical works like the Naturalis historia: for a brief account of the Pliny Translation Group, see Rottländer, R.C.A., ‘The Pliny Translation Group of Germany’, in French, R. and Greenaway, F. (edd.), Science in the Early Roman Empire: Pliny the Elder, his Sources and Influence (Totowa, NJ, 1986), 11–19Google Scholar.

27 Landino, C. (transl.), Historia naturale di C. Plinio Secondo (Venice, 1476)Google Scholar; du Pinet, A. (transl.), L'Histoire du monde de C. Pline Second, 2 vols. (Lyon, 1562)Google Scholar; Hernández (n. 5); Holland, P. (transl.), The Historie of the World: Commonly Called, the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus, 2 vols. (London, 1601; repr. 1634, 1635)Google Scholar; Denso, J.D. (transl.), Plinius Naturgeschichte, 2 vols. (Rostock and Greifswald, 1764–5)Google Scholar.

28 Rackham, H., Jones, W.H.S. and Eichholz, D.E. (edd. and transl.), Pliny: Natural History, 10 vols. (Cambridge, MA and London, 1938–63)Google Scholar; Ernout, A. et al. (edd. and transl.), Pline l'Ancien: Histoire naturelle, 38+ vols. (Paris, 1947–)Google Scholar (almost complete); R. König, G. Winkler et al. (edd. and transl.), C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII / C. Plinius Secundus d. Äl. Naturkunde, 32 vols. in 37 (Zürich – Düsseldorf – Munich, 1973–2004); Conte (n. 1); for a modern Spanish translation (incomplete), see Fontán, A., Casas, A.M. Moure et al. (edd. and transl.), Plinio el Viejo: Historia natural, 4 vols. (Madrid, 1995–2010)Google Scholar.