The Power of Reason

Are we to understand you were happy with that conclusion? asked Pliny the Elder after reading my blog yesterday.

What conclusion? I asked.

That the colour of the sky was the colour of fire which was the colour that the sky was just then, said Pliny, in a tone heavy with irony. A somewhat tautologous conclusion, wouldn't you say?

That was the point I was making, I said. All metaphor is tautologous. You might as well not bother. So I went back inside

That is too deep even for me, said Pliny. Did you see any dolphins?

Yes, twice we saw one or two of them, swimming about 50 metres from the boat, I said.

Ah, the dolphin! said Pliny. The swiftest and cleverest of animals. If its mouth were not below its snout, almost in the middle of its stomach, no fish would escape its speed. But Nature's foresight adds an element of delay, because dolphins cannot snatch their prey except by turning on their back.

Pliny, I said, are you seriously suggesting that dolphins have to flip upside down in mid chase in order to swallow their prey?

Yes, said Pliny sententiously. It stands to reason. If it were not the case there would be precious few fish in the sea.