THE MIND' OF THE ANCIENT .- WORLD By Hz IST: Wethered
- This .-book-: (Longmans, I2S. 6d.), ;In spite of its. tide, is tor so much -a cnn- sideration of the mind:of the Ancient - World as Of One of iti most able and comprehensive - minds,- that of. -Pliny the Elder.- Wethered 'has- been attracted by Philemon HblLnid'adelight- ful version of the "Natural History " ; he has made selections from it which exemplify the breadth, the foresight and the credulity of Pliny, and by -classifying them and linking them together with. passages of exposition, commentary, and comparison with the writings of the other Greek and Roman scientists,' mythologists' and_ historians he has contrived a minor encyclopaedia • of the knowledge of the Ancient World. His quotations are happy and have the merit of making one want to turn back to the original again. If not one of the more distinguished Elizabethan transla- tions, Holland's version ',makes pleas= r „reading. Mr. Wethered has picked out many.good stories:and fab1esfro4i the, vast storehouse of the "./sTamr:al History: This is • a refreshing book ; nnit those daunted by the crabbed style of the -will find thoretsaellvesandstiimtsufarteeadt ailength4
"Mr:Wethered'S
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