O conceito de natureza em Plínio o velho

Abstract

In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder approaches nature as an element at the same time transcendental and alive, mysterious, inexhaustible source of knowledge. Religion and magic are some of the principles where she can manifest herself. From element at first neutral, nature is personified, as she is the one who teaches and exposes what must be transmitted to men, even tough this is an involuntary act. Sympathy and antipathy are resources through which Pliny's nature can manifest her mysteries and marvels. Cosmology, vulgarized in Natural History, reveals that magic and marvelous conception of nature.

Keywords: nature; natural history; Roman antiquity.