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Linnæus was very stupid at Latin until an enlightened physician, who was aware of his passion for botanical study, suggested his reading Plinius; and although he may not have imbibed very accurate information about natural history from that philosopher, he succeeded in making immediate progress in the Latin language.
Breasted: Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, New York, 1912, p. 84. The Historie of the World, commonly called the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus, translated into English by Philemon Holland, Doctor in Physieke, London, 1601, Vol. II, p. 371, Bk. XXX, Chap. I, Sect. 1.
Et sciatis quod tam hic quam alibi mare apparet satis altius suo littore, imo qui a remotis aspicit videt suspensum quasi ad nubes. Et de hoc admiratus fuissem, nisi quod scriptum sciui mirabiles elationes maris. De multis alijs Insulis Meridionalibus, de quibus et Plinius, et Munsterus.
My masters, the ancient Pantagruelists, have confirmed that which I say, and withal declared it to be not only possible, but also maintained the lawful birth and legitimation of the infant born of a woman in the eleventh month after the decease of her husband. Hypocrates, lib. de alimento. Plinius, lib. 7, cap. 5. Plautus, in his Cistelleria.
However, having received the expected, or rather the required, compliment on his sobriety, the Baron proceeded 'No, sir, though I am myself of a strong temperament, I abhor ebriety, and detest those who swallow wine gulce causa, for the oblectation of the gullet; albeit I might deprecate the law of Pittacus of Mitylene, who punished doubly a crime committed under the influence of 'Liber Pater'; nor would I utterly accede to the objurgation of the younger Plinius, in the fourteenth book of his 'Historia Naturalis. No, sir, I distinguish, I discriminate, and approve of wine so far only as it maketh glad the face, or, in the language of Flaccus, recepto amico.
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