History, memory, and Plinian narrative

Abstract

Pliny the Elder composed many works in the first century of our era. Nevertheless, Naturalis Historia, his last composition, is the only work that came to our hands preserved in its integrity. It comes to be a controversial work, whether for its contents and for the genre in which it was composed, as well as the author’s commitment and its size. The literary critic has both denied and redeemed this author over the centuries. I will point out how the author employed the memory to reveal the grandeur of the roman citizen and that of the nature herself. First, I will show some definitions of history and memory, chiefly citing Le Goff’s work (2000). Next, I proceed to analyze memory in contrast with Plinian writing in general, to continue, then, the analysis of the constitution of the book XXX, whose subject is the History of Magic, as an example for the study of memory. Finally, I cite how the author uses the word memoria along his work to evoke Roman’s past history.