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Poison: Nature’s Argument for the Roman Empire in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia
- Classical World
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 106, Number 1, Fall 2012
- pp. 51-74
- 10.1353/clw.2013.0013
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
In Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia poisonous plants and animals are intimately associated with their countries of origin. Moreover, Pliny often focuses on those poisonous substances found in lands where Rome had carried out major campaigns, particularly Egypt and Pontus. The power and influence of poisons in these locations is deliberately emphasized in order to justify Italy (and by implication Rome) as a natural physician of the world ideally suited to subdue untamed poisons and make them over as powerful and life-saving medicines. In this way Pliny structures his view of natura to justify the existence and rule of the Roman Empire.