LOVE reading pliny the elder and coming across a passage where he says shit like "so some people say that if a horse steps in a wolf's tracks it will fucking EXPLODE"

immediately before you die at vesuvius

i know that a lot of what pliny the elder says is kind of bullshit but i’ve never wanted to believe him more in my life than when he says that hedgehogs collect apples for the winter by rolling onto them so the apples stick on their spines and they can carry them off

oh my god…

when you think about it tho pliny the elder is kind of the funniest guy in the world like. he wrote all these books about natural history that he was wrong about where he confidently claims things like “some animals only have blood during certain parts of the year” and then when mt. vesuvius erupted and destroyed pompeii and herculaneum he said “oh mt vesuvius is exploding? let me go check it out” and then he died

the man was committed to science. he wasn’t very good at it. but he was committed

I know I make fun of Pliny the Elder a lot, but I genuinely can’t stop thinking about this approach to taxonomy:

[There is a fish called the tursio, which bears a strong resemblance to the dolphin; it differs from it, however, in a certain air of sadness, and is wanting in its peculiar vivacity.]

Like, imagine someone describing an animal to you, but the only information they’ll provide is that it’s sort of like another animal, but much much sadder.

okay so apparently the word “Tursio” is what people in Pliny’s time called the porpoise. for reference, here is a dolphin:

and here is a porpoise:

anyways long story short Pliny was entirely correct stop bullying him

“you ruined a perfectly good dolphin is what you did. look at it, it’s got depression” - Pliny, apparently

I know I make fun of Pliny the Elder a lot, but I genuinely can’t stop thinking about this approach to taxonomy:

[There is a fish called the tursio, which bears a strong resemblance to the dolphin; it differs from it, however, in a certain air of sadness, and is wanting in its peculiar vivacity.]

Like, imagine someone describing an animal to you, but the only information they’ll provide is that it’s sort of like another animal, but much much sadder.