SOURCE: H. N. Wethered, "Of Magic and Religion," in The Mind of the Ancient World: A Consideration of Pliny's Natural History, Longmans Green and Co., 1937, pp. 156-72.

In the following excerpt, Wethered uses extensive quotes from Natural History to highlight Pliny's contempt for what he considered superstition and to examine his beliefs regarding the "philosophical aspect of religion."

Pliny was no atheist. He believed in a power that dealt justly with evil-doers, and followed Aristotle in visualising Nature as a spirit of divine energy operating in the world—natura naturans, a principle of Nature creating nature. Therefore the history, which he undertook, in his estimation expressed the highest achievement open to the human understanding. Pliny's beliefs as a Stoic led him not so much to explain how creation came about as to describe the results attained. There was also the strong ethical position of Stoicism which impelled him...