All Roads Lead to Pliny--UPDATED!

So I found this monster of a turnip on the bottom of my CSA bag this week. Yes, that is a soccer ball next to it--I wanted you to truly appreciate its size.

I went to do some research on turnips this morning (an endlessly thrilling life I lead) and ended up, once again, on a page that made reference to a certain Pliny the Elder.

He has come up before, this Pliny. In fact, all roads seem to lead to Pliny, sooner or later. And today, I said, "Enough! I will learn about Pliny!"

Turns out Pliny the Elder (not be confused with Pliny the Younger, who is actually the senior Pliny's nephew, not son) was a Roman naturalist who lived from the years 25 to 79. He wrote many books, but the only series that has survived is his Naturalis Historia, which consists of 37 separate books that cover topics from geography to human physiology, pharmacology to mineralology, and many other "ologies" in between. For the record, Pliny believed the turnip was one of the most important vegetables of the times because its utility surpasses all others.

So I got curious about Pliny and searched for some famous Pliny quotes. I offer these to you as an early holiday gift. Impress friends and strangers alike at all those parties this holiday season with some dashing comments from our friend Pliny. Can't you just see what a hit it will make you around the buffet table to say, "As Pliny the Elder so aptly put it, many dishes bring many diseases." Hmmm. Maybe we'll skip that one. But try these:

* As land is improved by sowing it with various seeds, so is the mind by exercising it with different studies.
* Hope is the pillar that holds up the world.

* Hope is the dream of a waking man.

* Let that which is wanting in income be supplied by economy.

* Most men are afraid of a bad name, but few fear their consciences.

* Human nature is fond of novelty.

* It has passed into a proverb, that wisdom is overshadowed by wine.

* It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth.

* From the end spring new beginnings.

* The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

* The best plan is to profit by the folly of others.

* There is always something new out of Africa.

And, finally, that real crowd-pleaser:

* When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it.

If you see the mice leaving, grab a plate of goodies and hightail it out of there.

UPDATE! (Later the same day)
Heard from Christy and she has tipped me off that this thing pictured above is a rutabaga, not a turnip (although, apparently, a rutabaga is a cross between a cabbage and a turnip). I found a fabulously interesting (again, I need to get out more) write-up about rutabagas that should really hit home with our FoodShed Planet readers in Northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Wales and eastern Canada.

All Roads Lead to Pliny--UPDATED!