Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionAuthor
certainty
The only certainty is that nothing is certain.
dream hope men
Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.
failure adversity darkness
The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.
something-new
There is always something new out of Africa.
way secure neighbour
Always act in such a way as to secure the love of your neighbour.
wine
In wine, there's truth.
spring new-beginnings ends
From the end spring new beginnings.
marriage education goal
An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.
dog fall wine
Contact with [menstrual blood] turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, grafts die, seed in gardens are dried up, the fruit of trees fall off, the edge of steel and the gleam of ivory are dulled, hives of bees die, even bronze and iron are at once seized by rust, and a horrible smell fills the air; to taste it drives dogs mad and infects their bites with an incurable poison.
wine men water
The perverted ingenuity of man has given to water the power of intoxicating where wine is not procured. Western nations intoxicate themselves by moistened grain.
life men given
Nature has given man no better thing than shortness of life.
wine truth-comes-out
Truth comes out in wine.
sadness wine care
Wine refreshes the stomach, sharpens the appetite, blunts care and sadness, and conduces to slumber.
courage men class
The agricultural population, says Cato, produces the bravest men, the most valiant soldiers, and a class of citizens the least given of all too evil designs.