Pliny: Natural History, Vol. I (Loeb)

and not for entertainment. Its compilation has occupied the leisure left to the author by the claims of public duty. The authorities drawn upon are faithfully recorded. The matter-of-fact title, in place of some fanciful label, indicates the author's aim, and the practical object of the work is aided by the table of contents that forms Book I, enabling the reader to turn to any particular subject that he desires to look up.

Book I: Table of Contents of the remaining thirty-six Books, the contents of each Book being followed by a list of the previous writers used as authorities.

Book II (see Book I init. original: "at the beginning"): Cosmology, astronomy, meteorology, geography, geology.