John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
8724 Pliny the Elder AD 23-AD 79 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 8724 |
| AUTHOR: | Pliny the Elder (A.D. c. 23–A.D. 79) |
| QUOTATION: | Man alone at the very moment of his birth, cast naked upon the naked earth, does she abandon to cries and lamentations. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Natural History. Book vii. Sect. 2. |
| Note 1. He is born naked, and falls a whining at the first.—Robert Burton: Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sect. 2, mem. 3, subsect. 10. And when I was born I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.—The Wisdom of Solomon, vii. 3. It was the custom among the ancients to place the new-born child upon the ground immediately after its birth. [back] |