There are
Stoical doctrines in the poem. Cf. ll. 33-5, 68-70, on the divinity of
the stars; ll. 173-4, which maintain that the world would come back to
its former state; ll. 536-9, where Heraclitus' doctrine of fire is
recommended. (_b_) The _Epistulae Morales_ only show that Lucilius had a
leaning to Epicureanism, not that he was an Epicurean. Cf. _Ep._ 23,
9, 'Vocem tibi Epicuri tui reddere,' and other playful references.

(5) The views on natural science given in the poem are sometimes the
same as those in Sen. _N.Q._ This would fix the date of the poem
between 65 and 79 A.D. Cf. _Aetna_, 123,

'Flumina quin etiam latis currentia rivis
occasus habuere suos: aut illa vorago
derepta in praeceps fatali condidit ore
aut occulta fluunt tectis adoperta cavernis
atque inopinatos referunt procul edita cursus';

and Sen. _N.Q._ iii. 26, 3, 'Quaedam flumina palam in aliquem specum
decidunt et sic ex oculis auferuntur, quaedam consumuntur paulatim et
intercidunt. Eadem ex intervallo revertuntur recipiuntque et nomen et
cursum.' Cf. also _Aetna_, 96,

'Defit namque omnis hiatu,
secta est omnis humus penitusque cavata latebris
exiles suspensa vias agit';

and Sen. _N.Q._ v. 14, 1, 'Non tota solido contextu terra in imum
usque fundatur, sed multis partibus cava et caecis suspensa latebris.'
So the story of the Catanian brothers (ll. 624-45) is told by Sen. _De
Benef._ iii. 37, 2-3.

Imitations of Lucretius abound. Cf. ll. 219 _sqq._,

'Nunc quoniam in promptu est operis natura solique,
unde ipsi venti, quae res incendia pascit,' etc.

For the author's attacks on superstition, cf. ll. 91-3,

'Debita carminibus libertas ista; sed omnis
in vero mihi cura: canam quo fervida motu
aestuet Aetna novosque rapax sibi congerat ignes.'

A version of the _Phaenomena_ of Aratus is extant, the author of which
is called in the MSS. 'Claudius Caesar,' or 'Germanicus.' He is
generally identified with Germanicus, the adopted son of Tiberius (so
Jerome and Lactantius), though in modern times the poem has been
ascribed to Domitian, who had the title of 'Germanicus' from A.D. 84.
There are also fragments of _Prognostica_, which are independent of
Aratus.

PLINY THE ELDER.

(1) LIFE.

There is a very brief life of Pliny by Suetonius, but most of our
information about him is derived from his own writings and the letters
of his nephew (Plin. _Ep._ iii. 5; v. 8; vi. 16; vi. 20).