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PLINY

1505

PLOVER

Plin'y the Older (GAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS), so called to distinguish him from his nephew of the same name, was born either at Novum Comum (the modern Como) or at Verona in 23 A. D. His education was carried on at Rome under every advantage that wealth could furnish, and at 23 he entered the army, serving on the staff of L. Pomponius Secundus, then conducting a campaign in Germany. Returning to Rome in 52 he practiced "at the bar for a short time, and then withdrew to Como, where, during the greater part of the reign of Nero, he devoted himself to reading and authorship. By incessant and lifelong application he amassed materials enough to fill the 160 volumes of manuscript which he bequeathed to his nephew. His Historia Naturalis, in 37 books, is the only one of his works that has come down to us. Under that title the ancients classified everything of natural origin, not only botany, zoology and mineralogy, but geography and astronomy. Pliny, however, extends this list by comments on human inventions and institutions, and even devotes two books to a history of fine art. Pliny was in command of the Roman fleet off Misenum when the great eruption of Vesuvius occurred in 79 A. D. Eager to witness the phenomenon as closely as possible, he landed at Stabiae, but had not gone far toward the mountain when he was suffocated by the stifling vapors and cinders.

Pliny the Young'er (GAIUS PLINIUS C^ECILIUS SECUNDUS), was born at Novum Comum (Como), Italy, in 62 A. D. His education, after his tenth year when his father died, was conducted by his mother, Pliny the Elder, his uncle, and Virginius Rufus, his 'tutor. He early manifested the highest literary talents, and made such progress that in a few years he was known as one of the most accomplished men of his time. When only 18 he began to plead in the Forum; and at 25, the earliest possible age, he was emperor's quaestor, then praetor, and in 100 consul, when he wrote his panegyric on Emperor Trajan. He was twice married, but died without issue, in what year is not known. It is to his letters that Pliny owes his place in literature. An avowed imitator of Cicero, he caught much of the charm of his model, while his style is hardly, if at all, inferior. From Pliny we derive our impressions of the public and private life of the upper classes in the ist century; and from his correspondence with Trajan we get our clearest knowledge of the feeling with which even one of the most enlightened Romans regarded the then obscure sect of Christians. Pliny consulted the emperor as to what could be done to stop the spread of what he called "a depraved and extravagant superstition," and in reply Trajan recommended that Christians should not be sought out on

suspicion, but that, if accused and convicted of holding that faith, they should be punished. Accusations unsupported by proof were not to be received, while suspected persons were to have an opportunity of clearing themselves by offering prayers to the Roman gods. This official correspondence ended in 113, and Pliny then disappears from, our view.

Plover  (pluv'er), a shore-bird with long wings and slender legs, related to the snipe;

GOLDEN PLOVER

distinguished by small or medium size, plump bodies and short bills. Their food, chiefly animal, is picked up from the surface of the ground. They are swift in running and in flight, utter a mellow whistle, are gregarious save in the nesting season. Not shy, they are birds well-known to man. The lapwing of Europe is a plover. There are about 100 species, but only six are found in eastern North America. They live mostly near the water, but some forms visit uplands and dry fields. The kill-deer is the one most generally known. It and the piping plover are the only ones that nest in the eastern United States. It is about icj inches long, with the upper parts brownish-gray and the tail rusty. The white breast is crossed by two dark bands which are the best field-marks. The ring-necked plover looks like a small kill-deer. It is about 6f inches long, with a single black bar across the breast. It visits our shores on its way north in May, and, again, in August and September, on its journey south. It is so small it is not shot as game. Besides the two mentioned, those less frequently seen in eastern North America are the golden, piping, black-breasted and Wilson plovers. Though furnishing but a morsel of food, more than one of the smaller plovers fall victims to the pot-hunter. The fine game-birds, the black-breasted and the golden plover, in