An unparalleled collective work of ancient Roman knowledge. Pliny the Elder, Gaius Plinius Secundus (23–79 AD), was a Roman knight from Transpadana (Northern Italy) and the uncle of Pliny the Epigrammatist. He pursued a partially military career in Germany and a partially administrative one in Gaul and Spain under Emperor Vespasian, and became the commander of the fleet in Misenum. He died during the eruption of Vesuvius as he went to see it up close and save friends. A tireless worker, reader, and author, he was the writer of lost works, but his great "Natural History" in thirty-seven books with the extensive collection of facts (and alleged facts) survives, serving as a mine of information, despite its uncritical nature. The contents of the books are as follows: Book 1: table of contents of the others and principles; 2: mathematical and metrological research of the universe; 3–6: geography and ethnography of the known world; 7: anthropology and physiology of man; 8–11: zoology; 12–19: botany, agriculture, and horticulture; 20–27: plant products used in medicine; 28–32: medical zoology; 33–37: minerals (and medicine), fine arts, and precious stones. The Loeb Classical Library edition of the "Natural History" is in ten volumes.