A.D. 23 – 79

Pliny the Elder

Worth knowing

A Roman commander and administrator who compiled the Natural History, an encyclopaedia of everything then known about the world.
He names his sources, which was unusual in his time. He also repeats a great deal that is untrue.
He died at Vesuvius in A.D. 79, having sailed toward the eruption to get a closer look and to take people off the shore.

In Scholar’s Dream, Pliny the Elder has one book

Nat. HistoryPliny the Elder, Natural HistoryRationalityHistory

Pliny the Elder’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Pliny the Elder that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“Nature is to be found in her entirety nowhere more than in her smallest creatures.”
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 11.2 (trans. adapted from Bostock & Riley, 1855, public domain) — his own stated method, in thirty-seven volumes that tried to shelve ALL knowledge. He died investigating Vesuvius firsthand.public domain

How it works in the game: the move Thirty-Seven Volumes

RationalityArgument · power 50 · 100% accurate

In the gameEverything the ancients knew — and several things they merely repeated.

Learned byNat. History (Lv 1)

Words Pliny the Elder’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
James 1:19 (WEB).

How it works in the game: the move Steelman

RationalityType shift

In the gameRestate the foe’s position in its strongest form — exposing its true weak point. Lowers the foe’s Defend. Always fair; never a bad move to use.

Learned byNat. History (Lv 8)

Who else was alive

Pliny the Elder against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 1A.D. 50A.D. 100A.D. 150A.D. 200A.D. 250A.D. 300A.D. 350A.D. 400A.D. 450

Matthew Paul John Mark Pliny the Elder Clement of Rome Ignatius An early Christian community Polycarp Claudius Ptolemy Hermas Justin Martyr Aristides Quadratus Melito Unknown authors writing under borrowed names Irenaeus The author of the Epistle to Diognetus Athenagoras Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Marcus Minucius Felix Origen Cyprian Plotinus Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Eustathius of Sebaste Apollinaris of Laodicea Cyril of Jerusalem Epiphanius of Salamis Gregory of Nazianzus Basil of Caesarea Eunomius of Cyzicus Gregory of Nyssa Ambrose of Milan Jovinian Augustine The Macedonians Helvidius

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate61 authors sit outside this window