Pliny The Elder (Broccoli I)
Pliny the Elder, The Loeb Library and Maybe the Greatest Books Of Their Time
On the first of September I snapped a photo of one of my broccoli plants in bloom with the intention of writing a little bit about the plant… the history, interesting (to me) facts, that sort of thing. We are now well into October, just got our first dusting of snow and this damned broccoli essay is still taking me places. I have 25 pages so far and haven't yet dealt with any kind of nutritive issues or the subject of broccoli fractals. It is safe to say that this thing has gotten away from me. And I don't even like broccoli!
Image: Pliny the Elder "an imaginative 19th century portrait. No contemporary depiction of Pliny has survived." - From wikipedia: PlinyI took another look at my working draft this morning with the hope to cut it down before I began my workday (and therefore I wouldn’t have to think about this essay again before I sleep). This little post is culled from my Magna Broccoli.
The origins of Broccoli in culture are unclear, though we know they are ancient and probably Italian-ish. I write Italian-ish because this food/plant might have been part of the culture of Italians before they moved to Italy. Way back. But it is hard to say because of some unique characteristics of what broccoli is. In short, broccoli has its fair share of mystery. It is suspected that the Roman soldier, author and natural philosopher, Gaius Plinius Secundus, (23 -79 CE) better known as Pliny the Elder, (another link here) wrote about broccoli is his landmark Naturalis Historia… which is quite a work. Really.
The last lines sum it up nicely:"This line [above] is crucial to understanding the text, which is above all a Roman text. In fact, Pliny is Romanizing science, which had until then been a Greek territory. He really tries to offer descriptions of every aspect of the world. And it must be said: Pliny lives up to the expectations. In thirty-seven volumes, he does describe the full complexity of nature. And more than that, because in Pliny's view, which was common in Antiquity, "nature" includes things that we would call "culture."[i]"Greetings, Nature, mother of all creation, show me your favor in that I alone of Rome's citizens have praised you in all your aspects."
Natural History 37.205;
translated by J. Healy
One should scan the titles of these 37 volumes. The word "comprehensive" comes to mind. It is interesting how he divides the topics of the world: water, magic, metal, how to run a farm, sea animals - on and on. The list is a window to an ancient worldview. The volumes themselves are portals for time travel.
Penguin Classics has an abridged version (450 pages or so) of Pliny's Naturalis Historia, called Natural History: A Selection and I have had it for some time. It's fine. But it isn't a resource but more of an "object read." I'd been looking for the complete translated and unabridged set.That's not really true.
I haven't been… uh… looking. More like: "I'd been hoping that a complete unabridged translation would miraculously appear on my bookshelves with little of no effort on my part." Yeah… that's accurate.A couple of days ago I actually started looking… and I found what I was after (funny how that happens). Along the way, I found something else, something so wonderful that I couldn't believe it existed at all: The Loeb Classical Library.
The Loeb has its own great history and is now part of the Harvard University Press. It is a special collection… really something for a dilettante like myself. In the words of Virginia Woolf:Needless to say, I'm very excited and have ordered the Loeb volumes of Pliny.[ii] I haven't received them yet. And when I do, they will be ten hardcover books. (Pliny's Naturalis Historia was 37 volumes but the Loeb condensed them into ten.) This is a ten volume set that represents the sum of western knowledge at the time of Pliny… imagine that! I'll read this and know what Augustus knew. If only I didn't read so slowly…"The Loeb Library, with its Greek or Latin on one side of the page and its English on the other, came as a gift of freedom… The existence of the amateur was recognised by the publication of this Library, and to a great extent made respectable… The difficulty of Greek is not sufficiently dwelt upon, chiefly perhaps because the sirens who lure us to these perilous waters are generally scholars [who] have forgotten… what those difficulties are. But for the ordinary amateur they are very real and very great; and we shall do well to recognise the fact and to make up our minds that we shall never be independent of our Loeb."
-- Times Literary Supplement, 1917
Imagine: A nobody-non-scholar businessman with a mediocre education can have the complete Naturalis Historia translated and delivered to his door… what a life this is!
Anyway, I'm excited about Pliny even if it was a particularly runaway case of web "telephone" that led me to him this time. (By "telephone" I mean the 'game' where a phrase is repeated and re-repeated until it becomes unrecognizable as the original while being generally regarded as authentic.) You see, hundreds of sites reference Pliny the Elder as identifying broccoli in his Naturalis Historia. Proudly. Definitively.Thing is, Pliny didn't actually mention broccoli by name… and he wasn't too specific… and due to what broccoli is, it's hard to describe it without being specific. You'll see.
This is why I can't wait to get the unabridged version.(By the way, does the year Pliny died ring any bells? 79 AD? Italy? That's when Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed Pompeii, Herculaneum and Pliny the Elder. Lived a hell of a life. Died in a volcanic eruption.)
[ii] LIST OF PLINY'S NATURALIS HISTORIA VOLUMES
Book 1: table of contents and bibliography
Book 2: cosmology, astronomy and meteorology
Loeb Volume I. Books 1-2
H. Rackham, Translator
Series No. 330 | Revised 1944 | 400 pages | Index
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99364-0
Book 3: Geography of western and southern Europe
Book 4: Geography of eastern and northern Europe
Book 5: Geography of northern Africa and western Asia
Book 6: Geography of the far south and the far east
Book 7: Anthropology and human physiology
Loeb Volume II. Books 3-7
H. Rackham, Translator
Series No. 352 | 672 pages | Indexes
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99388-8
Book 8: Land animals
Book 9: Marine animals
Book 10: Birds
Book 11: Insects
Loeb Volume III. Books 8-11
H. Rackham, Translator
Series No. 353 | 624 pages | Index
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99389-6
Book 12 and 13: Exotic trees
Book 14: The vine
Book 15: Olive and other fruit trees
Book 16: Forest trees and botany
Loeb Volume IV. Books 12-16
H. Rackham, Translator
Series No. 370 | Revised 1968 | 576 pages + Index
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99408-6
Book 17: Other useful plants
Book 18: How to run a farm
Book 19: Horticulture
Loeb Volume V. Books 17-19
H. Rackham, Translator
Series No. 371 | 560 pages | Index
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99409-4
Book 20: Drugs obtained from garden plants
Book 21 and 22: Drugs obtained from flowers and herbs
Book 23: Drugs obtained from the vine and the walnut
Loeb Volume VI. Books 20-23
W. H. S. Jones, Translator
Series No. 392 | 560 pages | Index
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99431-0
Book 24: Drugs obtained from forest trees
Book 25: Drugs obtained from herbs
Book 26: Diseases and remedies
Book 27: Drugs obtained from wild plants
Loeb Volume VII. Books 24-27. Index of Plants
W. H. S. Jones, Translator
A. C. Andrews, Translator
Series No. 393 | Revised by A. C. Andrews, 1980 | 576 pages | Index of Plants
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99432-9
Book 28: Medicines obtained from man
Book 29: Medicines obtained from land animals
Book 30: Magic
Book 31: Water
Book 32: Sea animals
Loeb Volume VIII. Books 28-32. Index of Fishes
W. H. S. Jones, Translator
Series No. 418 | 608 pages | Index of Fishes
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99460-4
Book 33: Gold, silver and mercury
Book 34: Metal
Book 35: Earth
Loeb Volume IX. Books 33-35
H. Rackham, Translator
Series No. 394 | 432 pages | Indexes
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99433-7
Book 36: Stone/Architecture
Book 37: Precious stones
Loeb Volume X. Books 36-37
D. E. Eichholz, Translator
Series No. 419 | 368 pages | Indexes
Amazon: ISBN 0-674-99461-2
That illustration of Pliny looks SHOCKINGLY like Bruce.
Posted by: The County Clerk | October 14, 2006 at 10:06 PM
I sit down to my computer to write a post about apple cake, see your comment, and suddenly here I am reading about broccoli and Plini the Elder! The world wide web makes it very difficult, even for someone who is not as easily distracted as I am, to focus. It's like a web in more than one way...
I hope to someday read your entire essay on broccoli and Plini - the exerpt is very interesting.
Posted by: Anna Maria | October 15, 2006 at 01:20 PM
Anna Maria - i know how you feel. I get distracted by EVERYTHING... water faucets distract me.
Pliny is impressive. What a life. Some of those Romans... wow.
You are Italian yes? The story of broccoli is an Italian story. I'll try to finish this week. (I've gotten hung up with the 1930's mob part of the story... you won't believe this stuff.)
Apple cake? What's that? Apple pie I know. Apple cake? I need some.
Posted by: The County Clerk | October 15, 2006 at 11:24 PM
Broccoli, Plini the Elder and the 1930's mob? Ummm, the plot thickens.
Yes I am part Italian and part "American" - the percentage varies from day to day.
Posted by: Anna Maria | October 16, 2006 at 08:28 PM
Yes, and if only the works of Varro had survived--generally regarded as the most learned man in antiquity--we'd know even more...
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County Clerk: Varro? I'd never heard of Varro! Thank you. This "blog thing" is opening all kinds of doors.
Posted by: Conrad | November 20, 2006 at 11:49 AM