Writing in the second book of his Natural History (Naturalis Historia), Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus), whilst recounting the many interesting facts he has learned and collected about the Moon, suddenly breaks from his explanations to wax critical upon the “disease of the human mind” that causes scant attention to be paid to those who discover such important and useful facts about the physical world, and too much to be paid to those famous for only the wanton destruction they have wrought upon those inhabiting it:
“The first human being to observe all these facts about her was Endymion – which accounts for the traditional story of his love for her. We forsooth feel no gratitude toward those whose assiduous toil has given us illumination on the subject of this luminary, while owing to a curious disease of the human mind we are pleased to enshrine in history records of bloodshed and slaughter, so that persons ignorant of the facts of the world may be acquainted with the crimes of mankind.”
– Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book II, chapter VI, 43 (trans. H. Rackham)
It is – most unfortunately – a disease that is very much still plaguing us.
