Plutarch's Natural Questions by Plutarch
Plutarch's "Natural Questions" is a collection of inquiries and discussions on various natural phenomena, exploring the reasons behind them through philosophical and scientific lenses. The work delves into topics such as the nourishment of plants, the properties of sea and rainwater, and the effects of different environmental conditions on living organisms. Plutarch examines the nature of water, its role in sustaining life, and the differences between fresh and saltwater in supporting plant growth. He considers the impact of rain on agriculture, the behavior of animals in response to environmental changes, and the influence of celestial bodies on earthly phenomena. The text also addresses the properties of different substances, such as salt and oil, and their interactions with living organisms and the environment. Plutarch explores the reasons behind the behavior of animals, such as the polypus and its ability to change color, and the instincts of various creatures in seeking remedies for ailments. He discusses the effects of temperature and weather on natural processes, including the fermentation of wine and the growth of crops. Throughout "Natural Questions," Plutarch employs the ideas of ancient philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and Empedocles, integrating their theories with his observations and interpretations. The work reflects a blend of empirical investigation and philosophical reasoning, characteristic of Plutarch's approach to understanding the natural world.
By Plutarch · First published 100 · Genre: Natural Philosophy, Scientific Treatise, Philosophical Essay · 39 chapters · 6,418 words
First lines
Is it not for the same reason that it nourishes not earthly animals? For Plato, Anaxagoras, and Democritus think plants are earthly animals.
Nor, though sea-water be aliment to marine plants, as it is to fishes, will it therefore nourish earthly plants, since it can neither penetrate the roots, because of its grossness, nor ascend, by reason of its weight; for this, among many other things, shows sea-water to be heavy and terrene, because it more easily bears up ships and swimmers.
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Plutarch's Natural Questions is listed on Textopian as an essay by Plutarch, dated 100 CE.
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- Work type: Essay
- Author: Plutarch
- Date: 100 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Natural Philosophy, Scientific Treatise, Philosophical Essay, Classical Literature, Encyclopedic Writing
- Length: 6,418 words
- Structure: 39 chapters, 152 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for Plutarch's Natural Questions by Plutarch
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Natural Philosophy — Explores the causes and properties of natural phenomena through systematic inquiry.
- Scientific Treatise — Examines physical and biological processes in a methodical and observational manner typical of early science.
- Philosophical Essay — Utilizes philosophical reasoning to interpret and explain the nature and behavior of the natural world.
- Classical Literature — Written in a rhetorical and stylistically classical form, characteristic of ancient texts.
Tags
ancient natural philosophy · classical science · natural phenomena · Greek thought · environment studies · meteorology · earth science · astronomy · biology · geology · philosophical inquiry · empirical observation
Contents
- What is the Reason that Sea-Water Nourishes not Trees?
- Why do Trees and Seeds Thrive Better with Rain than with Watering?
- Why do Herdsmen Set Salt before Cattle?
- Why is the Water of Showers which Falls in Thunder and Lightning Fitter to Water Seeds? and they are Therefore Called Thunder-Showers
- How Comes it to Pass, that Since there be Eight Kinds of Tastes, we Find the Salt in no Fruit Whatever?
- What is the Reason that, if a Man Frequently Pass Along Dewy Trees, those Limbs that Touch the Wood are Seized with a Leprosy?
- Why in Winter do Ships Sail Slower in Rivers, but do not so in the Sea?
- Why, Since all other Liquors Upon Moving and Stirring about Grow Cold, does the Sea by being Tossed in Waves Grow Hot?
- Why in Winter is the Sea Least Salt and Bitter to the Taste? for they Say that Dionysius the Hydragogue Reported this
- Why do Men Pour Sea-Water Upon Wine, and Say the Fisher Men had an Oracle Given them, Whereby they were Bid to Dip Bacchus into the Sea? and why do they that Live Far from the Sea Cast in some Zacynthian Earth Toasted?
- Why are they Sicker that Sail on the Sea than they that Sail in Fresh Rivers, Even in Calm Weather?
- Why does Pouring Oil on the Sea Make it Clear and Calm?
- Why do Fishermen's Nets Rot more in Winter than in Summer, Since other Things Rot more in Summer?
- Why do the Dorians Pray for Bad Making of their Hay?
- Why is a Fat and Deep Soil Fruitful of Wheat, and a Lean Soil of Barley?
- Why do Men Say, Sow Wheat in Clay and Barley in Dust?
- Why do Men Use the Hair of Horses Rather than of Mares for Fishing-Lines?
- Why is the Sight of a Cuttle-Fish a Sign of a Great Storm?
- Why does the Polypus Change Color?
- What is the Reason, that the Tears of Wild Boars are Sweet, and the Tears of the Hart Salt and Hurtful?
- Why do Tame Sows Farrow Often, some at One Time and Others at Another; and the Wild but once a Year, and all of them about the same Time at the Beginning of Summer, Whence it is Said,-
- Why are the Paws of Bears the Sweetest and Pleasantest Food?
- Why are the Steps of Wild Beasts most Difficultly Traced in Spring-Time?
- Why are the Tracks or Wild Beasts Worst Scented about the Full Moon?
- Why does Frost Make Hunting Difficult?
- What is the Reason that Brutes, when they Ail any Thing, Seek and Pursue Remedies, and are Often Cured by the Use of them?
- Why does Must, if the Vessel Stand in the Cold, Continue Long Sweet?
- Why, of all Wild Beasts, does not the Boar Bite the Toil, Although both Wolves and Foxes do this?
- What is the Reason that we Admire Hot Waters (_i. E
- Why are Vines which are Rank of Leaves, but Otherwise Fruitless, Said Τραγᾶν?
- Why does the Vine Irrigated with Wine Die, Especially the very Wine Made from its own Grapes?
- Why Doth the Palm Alone of all Trees Bend Upward when a Weight is Laid Thereupon?
- What is the Reason that Pit-Water is Less Nutritive than Either that which Ariseth out of Springs or that which Falleth down from Heaven?
- Why is the West Wind Held Commonly to be the Swiftest According to this Verse of Homer:
- Why Cannot Bees Abide Smoke?
- Why will Bees Sooner Sting those who Newly before have Committed Whoredom?
- Why do Dogs Follow after a Stone that is Thrown at them and Bite it, Letting the Man Alone who Flung it?
- Why at a Certain Time of the Year do all she-Wolves Whelp Within the Compass of Twelve Days?
- How Cometh it that Water, Seeming White Aloft, Showeth to be Black in the Bottom?
More by Plutarch
- Whether 'Twere Rightly Said, Live Concealed (100)
- An Abstract of a Comparison Betwixt Aristophanes and Menander (1898)
- Of Banishment, or Flying One's Country (1898)
- Of Brotherly Love (1898)
- Wherefore the Pythian Priestess Now Ceases to Deliver Her Oracles in Verse (100)
- Plutarch's Symposiacs (120)
- Of Moral Virtue (1898)
- Of Those Sentiments Concerning Nature with Which Philosophers Were Delighted (1898)
- All works by Plutarch